kipwinger

Yeah, at the cost of the first line. Once Alfie and Weiss are back though...

I wish Kindl would rush the puck more. He always looks really good when he skates the puck out of the zone. He's much more suspect when trying to pass under pressure.

Well, we looked like a totally different team in that period. In the sense that we looked like a team that knows how to ice skate. I'll take it. However, I'm not really sure why Babs decided to screw around with the lines there at the end of the period...oh wait, I am sure, Babs is an intellectual cripple.

I actually don't think he's nearly as bad as some make him out to be. That said, he does get paid more than he's worth and I see no reason to re-sign him, any more than I see a reason for him to want to stay on this team. Quincey's through here.

Aren't wing dings more appropriate?

I don't get the feeling that Quincey has any special love for Detroit. I'd imagine he walks after this season.

Maybe we could just get Dave Dombrowski to GM both teams. He apparently just traded Prince Fielder for Ian Kinsler. Obviously that guy isn't afraid to pull the string.

Well the good news is that the Detroit News is reporting that Nyquist may finally be called up. The bad news is, he'll play on a line with Zetterberg whose spot on the first line will be taken by Dan Cleary. f*** you Babcock. f*** you to death.

Little bit of double-speak on the topic of Nyquist and Jurco. Yes they're getting pp time in GR and scoring, and yes they wouldn't be guaranteed pp time here, but it's not hard to imagine them earning pp time on the big club given how poor the second pp unit is. If they were on the team and not on the pp, who's going to get that time...Helm? Abby? Cleary? Of course, we'd actually have to get a pp once in a while for that to even matter.

According to "The Fourth Period" the Wings have inquired about Dmitry Kulikov. Wonder what our offer was? Probably Tootoo or Eaves straight up, because anything other than our scraps would be an "overpayment" and god forbid.

I've seriously started five different posts and couldn't finish them. My brain is pissed off in about ten different directions. s***ty roster, stubborn coach, under performing team, and nobody owning up to anything. I wish I were like many hockey fans and could find a way to just pin this on Bettman. But alas, this is our mess. On the bright side, Datsyuk will be 36 next year. Ugh.

Ugh, totally brutal. I honestly do not know what to think right now.

First, I think you're selling both Kulikov and Del Zotto short defensively. They're both noticeably better defensively than Kindl or Smith. Secondly, even if they don't play any defense, they still score more often than our "offensive defensemen" and would therefore be an upgrade. It's not too hard to make the argument that part of the reason we look so bad defensively is because we can't move the puck out of our zone consistently. Look at our turnover numbers so far...they're horrible. Our team gets scored on less by blowing coverage, and more because we turn the puck over. A defenseman who can make good passes, or has the skill to skate the puck out of the zone, would improve our team in that regard and we'd get scored on less. I like stay at home defensemen, I really do. And usually it's not hard to sell me on guys with a Brad Stuart-like skillset. But I genuinely believe that's not our problem. We don't move the puck efficiently, and a stay at home guy isn't going to help much in that regard.

No, we've got two guys who are supposed to be offensive d-men (Kindl and Smith) who aren't very good, and one (Kronwall) who is. If you don't think those types of guys are valuable, notice how terrible our transition game has become. We can barely break out of our zone most nights. Also, I'm not sure where you get that these guys "barely crack their lineups". Kulikov has played every game for the Panthers this season and Del Zotto has played the majority, in spite of the fact that he's the odd man out on a team that boasts three VERY good offensive d-men in Staal, McDonough, and Girardi.

Of your ideas, I like the addition of Ott the best. But he makes too much to be on the fourth line, and we've already got a pretty badass third line center. I don't like Kassian because he doesn't fit our style of play any more than he fits Vancouver's. He'd struggle here. I don't think the problem is that our bottom six aren't tough enough, toughness has never been our hallmark, we win or die based on speed and skill. We're struggling right now because our team lacks a lot of both. The only trade I'd really want to see would be for at top four puck moving d-man. Someone who could help out our transition game (which is f*cking horrible). Dmitry Kulikov comes to mind. In terms of forwards, ideally I'd like to see us promote a couple of skilled forwards from GR and lose the dead weight. But obviously that's not happening anytime soon. So, all things considered here's my custom lineup. Z-Dats-Bert Alfie-Weiss-Abby Tatar-Helm-Franzen Jurco-Andersson-Nyquist Cleary-Miller Kronwall-Ericsson Dekeyser-Kulikov Kindl-Quincey/Smith Lashoff Howard Gus Never going to happen, but I can dream.

Lol. You're a real card.

If the line of Franzen, Helm, and Tatar keep producing well, it would mean more and more nights off for Dan Cleary...or at least a demotion to the fourth line once everyone gets healthy. I can most definitely live with that.

I would lose my s*** if we could find a way to get Nyquist AND Jurco into the lineup. Z-Dats-Bert Alfie-Weiss-Abby Franzen-Helm-Tats Nyquist-Andersson-Juro Talk about speed and puck possession. Alas!

Wow, aside from the Red Wings some of you guys have horrible taste in sports teams. Mets, Bills, Yankess?!? Yuck.

Yeah because he's been so much worse than our other shooters this season.

Wow, at this point it's like a tragicomedy of terrible. I cannot believe that this is a Detroit Red Wings hockey team.

speaking of mustaches...ugh.

Also, Gus' mustache is superb!

Could the Isles sweaters possibly be any uglier? They make the Dallas Stars look dapper.

I had no idea we were playing back to back. I missed the first two period, how does the team look?