Red Wings Addict

Wasn't "Brunner" one of the shorthand nicknames for Fabian Brunnstrom last year? I suppose with Damien you can just call him by his last name since it already looks and sounds like a shortened name.

It starts...

Meh. I don't want the whistles either but I'm not going to get my hopes up. If we can't stop ourselves from booing Hossa or chanting Crosby sucks then I really don't know if we can prevent ourselves from hitting the whistle.

Next season. Should be pretty nice now that they have a lot of time to plan for it. http://www.letsgowings.com/forums/topic/73462-nick-lidstroms-jersey-to-be-retired-next-season

Will they have a press conference to announce it and give him a jersey with the C on it? If so, when?

Me too but it appears as if that's somewhat the case. Well, I suppose Sammy will provide size, experience or hockey "savvy," and a right handed shot.

Maybe he'll just get a job as a TV analyst like Milbury. Ugh...

Fedorov. No question. And in my mind it's not even close. Or wait should I use the young whippersnapper internet acronym version of that? Ok let me do that again. Fedorov. AINEC.

So I'm thinking the way to remember how to spell his name is to break it down into three parts. First C-O-L Then A-I-A and then C-O-V-O. Kind of like remembering a phone number. Do you need an unspectacular defenseman to strengthen your depth? Call area code COL-AIA-COVO.

Shooting high seems to be a lot easier in 13 in comparison to past versions. At least, that's the way I feel about it. Whenever I tried to shoot high in the past, especially 10 and 11, I always seemed to get the goalie's glove. In 13 I get more crossbars and the glass at times. The realistic skating is quite weird at first but I kind of just look at it as one of those things that I just have to get used to and then the game will be more enjoyable. When I switched from 10 to 11 I had to get used to not being able to move as quickly as I liked and that turned out fine. I guess I appreciate the effort to make the game at least different from past versions. The whole criticism of "They're all the same" doesn't have as much truth to it anymore. At the same time, is it worth the price? Ehh... In my attempt to be as objective as possible I still have to say that I'm not sure yet, I guess. Right now it doesn't feel like it but I've always felt a little uncomfortable with the changes at first. The main thing that I truly dislike about the game with the utmost passion is that Pavel Datsyuk isn't on the cover and the fact that he lost to John Tavares (I mean, really???) is perplexing and infuriating at the same time.

I feel a little uneasy in regards to how outspoken Zetterberg has been about all this, especially with his recent shot at Bettman. All of a sudden Wings games have a referee rotation of only Dan O'Halloran, Denis LaRue and Brad Watson. Then again I suppose Cheli has said worse.

Kronwall-Ericsson Quincey-Smith Colaiacovo-White Spread out the depth maybe?

Patty Eaves:

Doan know much about history... Doan know much biology...

I'd like to see where LGW stands in regards to this issue. The question is pretty self-explanatory. Please vote yes or no. He's a skilled d-man who has excellent timing when it comes to hits. Because he plays against top-six forwards much of the time, chances are that he's going to hit and potentially concuss a skilled player, which some believe is wrong no matter what. What are your thoughts?

Actually I have one more that I'm ashamed to admit. I guess in this case I just tell myself that emotions are inherently irrational but I remember getting extra pissed off whenever Larionov took an untimely penalty. Now, I understand in my head that he definitely wasn't the only one who took untimely penalties but for some reason I just couldn't have enough haterade whenever he in particular did so.

Well that's what I wonder about in a way. Maybe players go after Kronwall after some of his hits because he's always against either skilled players or in general a team's point producers. The job of a top-four dman like Kronwall is to defend against a team's best players. Is the complaint that players shouldn't have to fight after a clean hit on a skilled player unjustified based on the game's history? Because like you said; in the past, if you inflict any kind of harm on a team's point producers then someone would get in your face. Has it always been that way and now all of a sudden we have a league-wide complaint about it that came out of nowhere? If it was that way for Yzerman/Probert-Kocur and Gretzky/McSorley then how or why are people so surprised about a retaliation these days when it happens after a big hit on a team's skilled players? Now, I'm making a lot of assumptions here but I'm just wondering out loud.

That's what kind of sucks with having Kronwall as the #1 dman. I think he played every game last season but overall his history still says injury prone. Definitely a legit concern.

I think they're going to pair Kronwall with Ericsson. They've been telling Ericsson for the past few years to pattern his game after Stuart's. In that sense, it's only fitting that he becomes Kronwall's dmen partner if they believe Ericsson can be a suitable replacement for the Kronwall-Stuart combination that worked well in the past. My impression is that they're more than willing to at least try out the pairing.

Luc Robitaille. The fact that he sucked so bad in his 2nd year in Detroit just added fuel to the fire. I like his wife though. Hehe.

Wow, an overwhelming majority voted no. I shouldn't be too surprised since this is LGW but I didn't think the majority would be that big. Where's the staunch pro-enforcer crowd at eh? It's still interesting to see that 9 out of every 10 fans don't think Kronwall should have to fight after his hits. Some good points by everyone though. I wonder how different the results would be if I had a "Sometimes" option. Oh well, too late for that now.

How do they rank the Red Wings in comparison to the rest of the league? I don't expect it to be too great.

Sometimes it's kind of fun to edit whether certain players fight or not. For example, usually the programmers set Crosby's fighting frequency to "Never" so that when you try to challenge him to a fight he doesn't oblige. If you set it to sometimes or always (or whatever it is) then you can activate an enforcer and pound on him all you want. Hey, it's what video games are for, right? So you can witness phenomena you don't normally see in real life.

I'd honestly be ecstatic and just a little suprised if they simply made the playoffs. Not saying they can't of course. Just some significant unknowns going into this year.