SouthernWingsFan

Do not post while drunk. Stuff makes a lot more sense when posting sober.

I don't. Which means I don't feel as cool.

Babcock can only play with the cards he's been dealt with, and most of them are not as physical as others. Sometimes it doesn't play into effect, sometimes it does like last night when you aren't able to net a few early goals. If it's low-scoring going late into the game, that usually favors the more physical teams IMO, which puts Detroit behind the 8-ball more often than not. That's not all Babcock's problem, he can only do so much in calling people or or lighting a fire up their rear to play harder. Upper management has got to get the right player personnel as well.

Should we have our expectations for the Wings to bow out in the first round? No. We understand they’ve bowed out early, they’ve choked leads against LA in 2001 and Edmonton last season and such. I certainly understand it, and it is a concern. Let me try to put a different spin on things though. Forget playoffs for a minute. Up to this point in the season before the playoffs are even two months away, what more could you ask of our of the current team in terms of production? They’ve performed above a lot of everybody’s expectations IMO with so much change and uncertainty and are almost at the top of the league. They can only do so much sometimes… Now, I’m not promoting Philadelphia as playoff contenders now, but they are improving over the closing part of the season and still have players who can wreak havoc from time to time in Forsberg, Knuble, Gagne, Zhitnik, Hatcher, etc. They certainly aren’t playing like the worst team in the league right now. And the Wings have played four games in six days with games on back-to-back nights twice, with traveling involved. There is jet lag and fatigue involved, along with your body worn out from playing past games. Your body would be tired from such travel and physical play too, I don’t care who you are, professional or amateur. I know mine would be. I’m not going to declare mayday over one bad game against a team that is not going to make the playoffs and that the Wings rarely see anyway. If they go on an extended losing streak, then we can talk. We don’t really have to worry about Philadelphia or many other teams in the East Conference, regardless of if they are seeded 1st or 16th. One game against one team that we probably should have won at least on paper, but we didn’t, and we aren’t seeing them for a while. It’s done, over with, let’s move on, we won’t see them again for like ten years. A bad game happens where the wheels fall off for every single team where almost nothing goes right, and you cannot predict when. It happened in San Jose over a month ago giving up nine goals. Los Angeles recently beat Nashville at home when Nashville was steamrolling through most teams, and we know where those teams stand. It is unrealistic to think that games like this are a normal activity, for any of the 30 teams in the NHL. I’m not going to pull my hair out over one awful effort that might occur once every 20 games, because you don’t know when that sub-par effort might hit. It might not even happen at all again this season or in the playoffs for the Wings. It is also impossible to expect any team to bring the heat every single night when the schedule has 80+ games when every team has to play back-to-back nights during certain points of the season multiple times. It’s physically demanding on both the tough guys and the finesse/skill players for any team. Let’s cut the team some slack and have some more reasonable expectations throughout the course of the regular season before the playoffs even start. Let’s worry about the playoffs when the end of March or April comes around and the season is concluding. There’s still over a month before that happens and plenty of time to win a lot more games and get some good chemistry going immediately before playoffs whether if it is with the current roster, an extra tough guy or two, or an extra skill guy. While I’m not denying getting a bit grittier/tougher might help, don’t put all your eggs in one basket with that. We might find out it might not be as important as we want. It might be, it might not, we just don’t know yet. I’m definitely not one of these kumbaya, let’s hold hands in a circle and be constantly happy kinda people, but it’s just pre-mature to me to freak out and it’s going to rain thunderstorms for the rest of our lives after just one lackluster loss and when you don’t know exactly what is going to happen, good or bad, two months from now in the games that really matter with the current or somewhat different roster. I’m concerned, yes, and am well aware of some of the Wings flaws, so don’t give me any B.S. like I am in denial, I get it. I really am trying hard to see the other side of the argument and not give a completely 100% rosy, unrealistic sense of things, but it’s like it’s all over before the playoffs have even started from some posts in here. It's just ridiculous sometimes. I understand this mentality to an extent given past recent playoff results, but let’s try to have some shred of optimism, we don’t know what exactly will happen in a few months. Again, one bad game after being worn out from 4 games in 6 days against a team we do not have to face again for a good while, for better/worse. That’s all it is to me right now. Nothing more, nothing less.

You realize that Winnipeg moved to a southern city, Phoenix, b/c Winnipeg couldn't support a franchise, right? That was an onwer's decision. Putting a team in Anaheim only makes sense, given the ridiculous amounts of people that live there and around the L.A. area. Don't forget Atlanta was home of the Flames a while back. Hockey will always be more popular in the Northeast, no doubt about it, but don't come with this B.S. that the NHL didn't do any research whatsoever.

I don't follow minor league hockey all that much, so I never really knew about MacDonald when he was with Grand Rapids but here goes... He's shown the ability to rip some spectacular highlight-reel saves out of his rear end. But he has serious rebound control issues and doesn't seem to quite have full focus, giving up some bad goals, but he's still trying to learn in the big leagues, not even playing 10 games. Nobody in here, to my knowledge, expected him to be the second coming of Patrick Roy and starting next season after just a small handful of games, so I don't know where that gibberish came from. However, if you have professional scouts and coaches and business personnel from an NHL team thinking this kid might make it to regular duty in the NHL someday, then give him a shot. They are certainly smarter and know him better than we do as fans. I think MacDonald has a lot of potential to maybe even be a good NHL goalie in a few seasons, and I'd be thrilled if he's able to make it to that status. But to the casual fan (me), he has a lot of work to do on his decision-making, focus throughout a whole game, and rebound control. If this post gives the perception that he's numero uno and the savior going into next season, I certainly don't see it...

It's only 2 games.........

Yes, because an enforcer is the end-of-all-end solutions that will put the Wings over the top........ Playoff games are rarely played on back-to-back nights. Quit panicing.

Here's a thought...... Oops wait I didn't have one. Carry on.

Don't press it!!!!!!!!! Seriously, 4 games in 6 days will wear you out. They're tired, and you would be do if you played that many in a short time and had to travel. It's not like this team is sweating to make the playoffs. Try to regroup for Dallas and at the very least, you're very well-rested for Saturday's game. Let's all lay off the idiot posting fuel and realize there's plenty of hockey left to be played to figure things out before the post season.

If you're going to vent, at least pick new crap to ***** about then to at least make it halfway entertaining. You can predict venting about Lilja 25 miles away. We know he sucks more often than not. It's getting old and stale.

Um, I haven't read anywhere in here from anybody coming close to saying they can't way until he's the full-time starter...........

If you know you are beating a dead horse, why start a new thread in the first place...

Nobody better be acting surprised right now that it is 1-1. This was going to be a difficult game being the 2nd of consuctive nights and a Flyers team with nothing to lose. I'm not trying to overhype Philly, but they aren't just going to roll over because they are dead last right now. They are playing a good game right now and they got the guys and talent to win more often than not as the season winds down (Forsberg, Knuble, Zhitnik, etc.).

No deadline deal. Seriously, haven't we played musical goalies enough over the past few seasons? I will not act surprised if Hasek's health goes down south before the playoffs (started around this time last season), but he's kicked butt more often than not this season, and I highly doubt Osgood will continue to have bad luck with injuries. If Hasek goes down, I'm comfortable in having an experienced and mentally tough 'tender in Osgood. He's not the best out there but knows what it takes to win in this league still. As much as Osgood has sacraficed in wanting to be a Red Wing again, relegating to the backup role, I highly doubt he or a guy like Martin Biron would be comfortable juggling a #2/#3 role when both are capable of starting for most NHL teams.

LONDON BABY!!!!!!!! Why not? It's not like they're going there to start a new franchise. Definitely wouldn't hurt to generate some more international fan interest with a few glorified scrimmages. It will never trumpet soccer/futbol in those areas but hopefully people will catch on after those few preseason games and learn that a lot of NHLers are from neighboring countries such as Sweden ad the Czech Republic.

If the Wings somehow land a guy like Forsberg or Bill Guerin, tht makes Lang extendable to an extnent. It won't completely kill me if he's traded but if the Wings are quiet by the conclusion of the trade deadine, the Wings are going to need somebody with Lang's size, and it would sting a little bit if he was gone then. No matter how sluggish/slow he looks, he'll pop out of nowhere and make a play or get the job done, and he's one of the few Wings that have produced when it's counted most. His status with the Wings over these next few weeks will be really interesting to observe...

Agreed. While I'm pretty confident the Wings are at least saying not to take this game or this team lightly, despite the mismatch it might look like on paper. Hopefully they won't be gassed out from playing last night. If not, I don't forsee too many problems, but this could be a land mine game like in college football where you have a heavily favored team either lose or barely beat an decent but overmatched opponent more often than not. This is not going to be a walk in the park. 4-2 Wingers....what the hell I'm gonna go with a Datsyuk hat trick and Lidstrom with his 200th.

Go Dallas not San Jose! Do it for me at the very least, cause I could make a fairly not-so-long road trip to Dallas for one of the playoff games.

I was skimming through the local paper down here a while ago and my eyebrows raised on a few things, (1) some dude from a local college here had 40 points in a hoops game last night, and more relevant here (2) that Los Angeles beat the Predators last night. Just goes to show you that no matter how high your team might be in the standings, you don't take the teams that struggle seriously and play around the top of your game, there's a good chance you will be beaten. Also, Wings need to take advantage of Nashville's unexpected goof now! Get at least 3 of 4 points in tonight/tomorrow's games.

Well, I'm no math whiz, but when you have the most points in the league (Buffalo actually has 80 to Nashville's 79 now), that kinda means you are the best team in the league and get the highest seed in the playoffs. Hence me saying Nashville was best in the league at that point in time. I've been called a dumb f**k more than once in life though so I dunno, guess it must be all the alcohol talking right now....

So you'd rather have a guy like Lilja or one of the minor-leaguers have more playing time than Kronwall? :rotflmao:

The best team in the league currently being swept in a series? That's a bold statement to make.

Ouch, first Osgood with his broken finger/hand, and now Hasek with his wrist. Maybe they (seperately ) have been watching too much __________ privately in their own rooms and using their..... (stops joke)

Even AmeriKans and Kanadians?