SouthernWingsFan

Good thread. I do agree as well that the Kronwall injury was a blessing in disguise. A similar situation happened to my alma mater's football team two seasons ago. Starting QB got injured in the 4th game of the season, we were 2-1 and not doing so hot during that 4th game when he got injured. He was a great leader and there was no way he was ever coming out unless he got injured. He did though, and the backup QB, who only threw 1 career pass in college before stepping in, led the team back from 18 points down that 4th game, and finished 11-1 that year. The started never returned, and the backup QB never lost and just played so damn good and consistent when nothing was really known about him. The backup QB was starter this past 2006 season and he was stellar for the most part again, leading my alma mater to an 11-2 record this time. It's weird how things like that work themselves out sometimes. I wouldn't say Lilja has been the most consistent d-man, but for how much he gets ripped into in here, I say that he has exceed everybody's expectations in here by a large margin. It has worked out for Quincey so far as well I think. He still needs more experience but he hasn't made many glaring mistakes in his limited ice time. All that being said though, if the Wings are able to advance to the WCF or SCF and Kronwall can get healthy again, I want Kronwall in. It's great however that the latter options in Lilja and Quincey are doing so well though, means you have options that you don't have to worry much about.

*Insert overembelished Holland is a moosefart GM for re-signing Maltby post here* Now that we got that out of the way, I'm a bit surprised at this, but not disappointed. It wouldn't have killed me if Maltby and the Red Wings parted ways, but it's not like he's going to be expensive or command a lot of money, given his role and getting up there in age. And you can never underestimate the value of hard/grinding work whether you have just 5 goals during a season or 50.

Well I know what I'm not having for breakfast tomorrow morning.

Bertuzzi hasn't been the best these past few games, but saying that his game is useless is being a wee bit overdramatic. We need him to create space for other guys and to lay the body into people. Babcock has said time and time again that he doesn't have to be "the guy". Just one of the 18 skaters that dress and try to do his job. No, he's not going to go on a 4th line. With him being resigned, I'd be for it, but for no more than a 1-year deal to see if he can fully recoop from his back injury.

The JBs - Gimme Some More (Live)

Lyn Collins - Rock Me Again

I was never one to join in the *insert new Lilja sucks joke every 5 posts* over the regular season because it was like beating multiple dead horses of an entire family to death, but his play wasn't all that impressive obviously more often than not. Best defenseman in the playoffs? Hardly, but I think he has overexceeded everybody's expecations on here for him during the playoffs, and the expectations probably haven't been high. Cheers to Lilja for doing awesome so far, and here's hoping he keeps it up in the postseason. :chug:

10 points in 10 playoffs games (and that includes forward production as well) not good enough for ya?

Nothing wrong with what Wilson did at all. Even if he called out a few players specifically, it still wouldn't have been "wrong" or not "politically correct". While I won't deny that it might affect the players in some negative fashion, they are professionals. They've worked their whole lives to get here and get paid to play the game, I sure hope they'd handle criticism like big boys as they have been coached and/or criticised playing hockey their whole lives in order to make them better players.

:violin: Boo-hoo. While I would've been happy with an article on Cleary, and yeah I guess he deserves recognition, the last time I checked, the Web site was NHL.com, not any Red Wings related sports sites where it is Red Wings news all day, all the time. The Sharks rookie is a good candidate as well having four goals already in his first ever professional playoff action. There's more to life than our beloved Red Wings.

Well, I've been pretty much stuck anywhere from 145-150. I'd like to get down to the low 140s again but I'm real inconsistent with what I eat (i.e. 1-2 days real healthy, next day bad, etc.) and since I lost so much weight a few years ago from nearly 180 - low 140s, part of me isn't worried about it as much as long as I don't get too much over 150. And I've been working out like a madman lately with cardio work almost every day. I do a big 5-6 mile run usually once over weekends, I do a spinning class most Friday evenings, and if my legs aren't worn out I try to cycle anywhere from 10-20 miles once over the weekend as well. If I finally ever decide to eat a bit better (again) I'd have no trouble losing the few pounds, because I almost always have the motivation to exercise just about every day, and more often than not I am pretty intense and push myself really hard when exercising, espeically when it comes to cardio work. But, as stated, I lost so much weight a while ago that it as not as much of a big deal to me, plus I'm trying to enjoy eating a bit more right now.

Rick James - Super Freak followed by the exact same beat but... MC Hammer - Can't Touch This

That woman is beautiful! Seriously though Grypho, awesome post there, and much more kudos for making that while on the losing end of the stick the last game. That's hard to do. You're the man.

Don Cherry, sometimes entertaining, and sometimes I'd really wish he just shut the f**k up. I sometimes want to kick him in the balls so he shuts the hell up. He's passionate no doubt, but his hate affair on such things like European players is comical. As a result of that and him being obnoxious all the time, I rarely take much of what he says seriously.

And you know this how? I actually don't like Hasek all that much actually and was not happy that he was initially re-signed here. Seems like everybody rallied for a win after being down 2-0 last night. Heaven forbid it be guys like Lang and Hasek as well. We get that he's a pain in the a** with his crease wandering. We just recognize that he is still a good goalie despite a few flaws. You should ask that same question to yourself about different POV.

The Bamboos - Step It Up Some good celebratory music from this morning's victory.

You are a fuzz knocker, you know that? (I could've said something more obnoxious, but decided to be nice) See one of my recent posts. I said clearly I hate his crease wandering. It's not going to change for you, me or anybody else though. Again, this isn't Manny Legace we are talking about. Unless Hasek is just totally stinking up the joint, which is rare, I question any hockey player's sanity that doesn't have confidence in him. Hasek is not stinking up the joint. Good grief... :nonono: Hasek didn't make the road trips to prepare him for just these moments for the playoffs when games were played on consecutive nights. Because they have to sense to realize he's a seasoned veteran who needs rest every now and then. This has absolutely ZERO to do with a confidence issue. This was planned out all season well before the playoffs started.

betterREDthandead, I'm with you in trying to expand outside the LGW box in term of the scheduling aspect and divisional play, but at least for me, I don't care if my main rival is 10 or 1000 miles away, 8 times a year is too much. I do not like this schedule format, let's see all teams at least once a year. This way, the NHL poster boys of today (Crosby and Overchekin) can be seen everywhere with more frequency. Not sure what Bettman is thinking with the officiating either. Kudos to him shooting down shootouts in overtime (hey that's repetitive ). And Versus' coverage of the NHL hasn't sucked. It was terrible at first immediately after the 1st season from the lockout resumed, but it has improved leaps and bounds since then. If you are looking at the TV deal with the viewpoint of ESPN being more available in households and searching for immediate results in a 1-3 year window, you are going to be disappointed. A deal with Versus was struck, at least in my opinion, with long-term implications. Anywhere from 5-10 years out. Versus is doing a damn good job, and it's primarily up to the network, and not so much Gary Bettman, to get the station available in more households. Versus now also broadcasts some college football games now. They are never going to come close to ESPN broadcast coverage in terms of reaching mass markets, but they are becoming a bit more 'mainstream' with sports broadcasts and are shedding their old "Outdoor Life Network" label of primarily hunting/fishing. Look, I question a lot of Bettman's thoughts with him looking through rose-budded glasses on some things. But he has done some good and is trying to think in an innovative fashion. Be patient with the Versus deal and give it some more time. I think it could be a good relationship in about 5-7 years.

And have we all learned something today then like Stan does everyday in South Park? Don’t create threads when you are pissed off and when you aren’t thinking completely straight then, then you won’t be misperceived. Players get critiqued in here all the time. I cannot stand Hasek’s crease wandering and criticize him for that a good bit. Have you seen the endless amount of Lang and Samuelsson bashing threads this season? How about Bertuzzi’s recent thread? If I invested a dollar in every Lang and Samuelsson thread created these past two seasons critiquing those guys, I’d be a multi-millionaire by now. Hasek is not a Greek god, but he is a very good ‘tender now even at over 40, he’s doing a solid job overall during these playoffs, and he can be criticized (and is being criticized during these playoffs) just like any other player. I’m sorry for being snarky in these responses here, but some obvious common sense is lacking in recent posts in this thread. We all need to have some more sense.

Lack of confidence in their goalie? You think the Red Wings have lack of confidence in one of the best players to ever play his position? You must be mistaking Hasek with Manny Legace in last year’s playoffs. It’s very annoying to think that some players can’t do any wrong at any time, and believe me, I will be the first to admit that it happens on here from time to time. Please be more reasonable however. Other than Hasek’s bonehead play that led to the Sharks second goal in game 2 (a game in which he shut the door immediately after the brainfart and helped the team win) and quite possibly game 4 against Calgary, Hasek has done everything REASONABLY asked to help the Wings win in the playoffs. To do what you want him to do requires him to let no more than a goal in every games and have an overall GAA of around 0.50. That’s unrealistic and UNREASONABLE. You must want Mutant Ninja Turtle Hasek, twice the size and strength of human Dominik Hasek, for the goaltending job. A team needs to score goals to help any goalie out, whether it is Dominik Hasek, Dan Cloutier, Patrick Roy, Norm Maracle, Terry Sawchuk, or Greg Goldberg.

Yikes. Just yikes on this post. First, your thread title is “Babcock is not a good coach†and it was made after the Wings lost a tight game where I have a hard time putting much blame on the coach. Bad perception or not, that is going to yield a lot of angry responses from other people thinking you want to give the guy the ax. Second, Scotty Bowman won 10 Stanley Cups, 3 with the Red Wings, 2 before you started watching this game. He is simply one of the best coaches ever in all professional sports. To compare Babcock to Bowman is not fair and unrealistic. And this doesn’t imply that Babcock isn’t doing a good job. He’s fine.

James Brown - Cold Sweat

*Insert next overdramatized ESPN sucks post here*

Grover Washington Jr - Mr Magic

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/si_blogs/...win-game-2.html Neat reading material by Allan Muir of SI.com about last game and what he thinks might happen the rest of the series. More/less he states... Sharks were in this same posiition last year against Edmonton and goofed that up. Hasek needs to settle down the puck playing. Wings deserved to win the game as they eventually worked hard throughout the game after settling down. Sharks have the younger/bigger and probably faster team but they can't take their foot off the gas pedal if they play well early or this series is bye-bye for them. Too many giveaways from both teams.