kipwinger

Oh, well you don't think he should be hurt so it's all good. Thank god it's as cut and dry as that. Do you have any idea how Orpik was actually injured, or were you just basing this assessment on your obviously profound medical knowledge? Thornton wasn't being a jackass, Orpik is just not tough enough. Right. Keep blaming the victim dude, that's always a good call.

Watch it again, Orpik didn't fall. Thornton tripped him with his foot, from behind, and began to punch him. It was dirty, cheap, and misdirected. What a puke.

I actually agree with that. I was trying to make a statement to those who defend fighting because of "the code", which is a joke. I've never thought it meant much, and when things like this happen it's even more obvious how silly it is. I don't think it's become worse, I think that nobody even pretends anymore.

I'm not sure what your point is here. That because Brooks Orpik is unlikeable he should be mugged for clean hits and seriously injured? Or that this is ok because it would have been worse in the 70's and 80's? It's a joke. They do it because they can. Hit him with a HUGE suspension and all the sudden his "bad mood" doesn't result in a hospital trip for soemeone else. Orpik didn't knee Marchand, Neal did. Maybe you should look it up.

Why should Orpik have to fight for a clean hit? He didn't cheap shot anyone.

This makes me want to puke. We should roll this into the "retaliation" thread just so everybody can get a good look at what the "code" has become. Hit a guy clean, and some mongoloid comes along and cripples you just for the sake of being a tough guy. Ugh, how can people even pretend that there's some sort of honor in NHL fighting these days?

So I just moved to Washington D.C. for a job and have found it difficult to watch games here. That is, until I found out that former Red Wing Brian "Bugsy" Watson has a hockey bar in Alexandria VA. The place is awesome, decked out in hockey regalia and full of Detroit faithful. If any of you should ever find yourself in the D.C. area and are looking for a game. I highly recommend checking it out.

I wish the refs didn't suck and/or hate the Red Wings so bad. How are we ever supposed to overcome such shoddy officiating? Oh wait, thanx guys!

I was having technical difficulties and didn't see Philly's fourth and fifth goal, what the hell happened?

Babs drives me f*cking crazy! I'm glad that Weiss is up with Franzen and Nyquist...but, if Weiss is the obvious choice to replace Zetterberg in this scenario then he clearly shouldn't be on the fourth line to begin with. If Weiss get's injured in practice today would he use Emmerton on the fourth line? Of course not, Emmerton doesn't have the skill to (even temporarily) center the first line, Weiss does, so get him off the fourth line (and away from the two millstones he's got hanging around his neck).

One could say the same about Quincey, Smith, and Lashoff, and none of them score as much as Kindl does. It's not like he's the only shaky d-man we've got, and it's not like he's the worst of them defensively either. But he scores more than they do, which is what he gets paid to do, and in that regard he's not missing the mark.

Quincey won't be re-signed, because why would he? Smith will be around for a while because he's young, and because he's getting better, and the Wings always give guys time to grow on defense. Finally, in the right package I would certainly move Kindl (or any of them really) but I disagree that Kindl has been bad. He's got 10 pts. a third of the way through the season. During which time most of our offense has struggled to score. If he ended the season with 30 pts. would anybody really be mad? He's not paid to be good defensively.

Until I hear differently, Z will be fine and back in the lineup soon. I wish I had a nickel for every time I heard "Bertuzzi is done, you don't get over this" or "Helm is done, you don't get over this". Zetterberg's got all the access to space aged technology and healthcare that money can buy. He's gonna be fine.

I hope that you're not suggesting that I have recently begun saying Weiss has been bad...he hasn't and I've never said so. I've definitely said that we need him playing better, and that's never going to happen with the two millstones around his neck (Cleary and Sammy). But if you have somehow got the impression that I've changed my tune on Weiss, I assure you, I haven't. He's still a good signing and a really good player. Nobody could score with his wingers.

There you go fabricating things again. We only lost one game due to being physically dominated. You're suggesting that it's a recurring theme. This season, it hasn't happened "three times", it doesn't happen "all the time". It happened once. And here you are to champion the cause of "getting tougher" because it's such a recurring problem. It's so disingenuous it's almost laughable. Also, how am I on a power trip? I literally have ZERO power over anything that happens on this site. I'm not even a mod. I agree, he cleaned up his act. But not because of retaliation, but rather because of the monster suspension he got. It actually proves that retaliation DOESN'T WORK.

Nope, I'm the guy who recognizes when someone uses a non-representative example as evidence in order to try and validate a point of view which is itself off base. It's like saying cars are stupid because yours broke down yesterday, or football players are criminals because Ray Lewis killed a guy. It's not hard to see through, you just need some "critical thinking skills" in fancy first semester psych terminology.

This whole thread is reactionary, and at the same time premeditated. It's hard to be both at once; in fact, it's almost impossible. Yet here we are. Some people obviously want the Wings to play a "more physical" type of game, which typically boils down to more fighting. So we wait, and when we finally lose a game in which we're physically dominated, they jump up and say "See! If we were just tougher then this wouldn't happen." It's opportunistic, and at the same time utterly predictable. Here's the problem with this thread in a nutshell. We lost seven games in a row before the last Ottawa game, and physicality and fighting played no role in any of those losses. Yet, I didn't see people jumping up to start "the Wings need to get faster" threads, or "the Wings need a better positional goalie" thread, or "the Wings need a better transition game" thread. But sure as s***, the first time we get hit a little bit there will be a "the Wings need to get more physical" thread. This isn't about the Wings playing better. It's a post hoc way of justifying your desire to see the Wings get in more fights. If that's how you feel just say so, but don't try to manipulate the truth. And don't make it seem like this is some glaring need because it has barely been a factor this season. The argument is a cheap, unsophisticated attempt to pull the wool over our collective eyes. It would be insulting if it weren't so glaringly obvious.

I was not able to watch last Wednesday or Sunday's games. However, I've been told that Smith played quite well in both. I did see Friday's game and didn't think he looked bad. I've always been quite vocal about how bad Smith was playing, and he was playing quite terribly at one point, but if he's turned the corner on that then he deserves to be recognized for that as well. So "atta boy" Smith.

I certianly don't think that he's earning his money, don't get me wrong. I just also don't think he's been as bad as he's been made out to be around here. That's all. In general this team has been absolutely horrid for quite a while, and I see no reason to single Quincey out as if he's somehow been worse that the rest of the garbage we've put out on the ice recently. I mean, there are people saying Quincey is terrible for having 3 assists, 22 pims, and -12, but giving a pass to Smith and his 1 assist, 26 pims, and -8. Truth is, neither have played very well, but both are better than what their detractors make them out to be. Difference is, Smith has "potential" and occasionally punches a guy, so he gets a pass while Kyle gets the blame.

I don't want to turn this into a blame game, we're all aware of who the LGW whipping boys are. But if you look at the stats, we currently rank 15th in goals against, and 20th in goals for. So, other than copping out and saying "we need to improve both", who does the failure fall on...the offense or the defense? Here's something things to consider... 1) Jimmy has been pretty shaky at times this season, arguably making the defense look worse than it really is. 2) Transition game starts with the defense and it has been bad this year, arguably making the offense look worse. 3) We've given up three or more goals 12 times and scored three or more goals 10 times. 4) Injuries have, so far, disproportionately affected the offense. Presumably making it less productive. Ok discuss. And please don't just start singling people out, it's boring...and intellectually lazy. The first person to do it will be admitting that they are a meat-headed sack of s*** by default.

Well just to play devil's advocate, given how bad our offense is and how hard it is for us to score, one could argue that Quincey (along with everyone else on the team) has an artificially inflated +/-. Also, he's being utilized as a defensive defenseman and doesn't see PP time at all. Therefore, he's not expected to score much. In 2009-2010 Brad Stuart got lots of ice time, scored 20 pts. (with a much better offensive team), and was -12. Yet nobody would ever have said he was our worst defender...let alone our worst player (as some are mentioning). Why? Mostly because people hate Quincey and liked Stuart based on his style of play. And a little bit because sometimes people fail to realize that unlike most other positions in most other sports, defensive defensemen don't have too many individual indicators of success. Their team can make them look REALLY good (2009 Stuart) or REALLY bad (2013 Quincey).

I wasn't so much asking top six forward vs. top four d-man, but rather, whether the offense or the defense should shoulder the responsibility for this mediocre performance...and why they are responsible. Obviously, it only makes sense that you'd want to improve whatever one you picked, but I wanted to avoid the blame game and also the we need to trade for "player x" game.

I never saw it coming. But considering hindsight is 20/20, it makes you wonder if being a forward all those years ago helped him get to the next level? Most defensemen who are his size and taken late in the draft have skating issues. Ericsson skates pretty well. With his size and ability to skate he's got all the tools, he just needed to learn positioning and decision making. But those are teachable. Try teaching someone like Hal Gill to skate like Ericsson. I guess what I'm trying to say is, Ericsson probably looked terrible when he was draft age because he hadn't been playing defense long and his decision making and positioning were likely lacking. But if you looked at it from a "he's huge and can skate" angle, and assumed the other assets would come with experience, then it's not really a surprise that he's as good as he is.

I guess I'm going to put this here because I don't know where else. Anybody have any idea why Phoenix waived Rostaslav Klesla? I mean, I understand he's not a superstar, but I always thought he would at least be a top four shutdown guy on a lot of teams. He's huge, not too old, and seems to be in good health. I can't figure this one.

Well clearly you've chosen to ignore the part where I said that it's not realistic to think you can get rid off ALL injuries, but it is reasonable to think you can get rid of those injuries caused by things that are already against the rules of the game.