krsmith17

How do you figure other teams have more depth? These guys are exactly that, 'depth players', at this point in their careers, they are not our go to guys. The points will come. I know we don't have much to worry / complain about right now, but these guys definitely shouldn't be on that list... Depth is not our issue.

I disagree. Those are not the group of guys that are relied upon to play big roles, in the sense that they should be putting up big numbers. They're all 3rd line / 2nd, 3rd pairing guys. The group of guys that are relied upon to play big roles (Zetterberg, Datsyuk, Franzen, Nyquist and Kronwall) are all producing admirably. Also, I think those other guys are lacking a little luck at the moment, and the puck will start bouncing their way soon enough. Anyway, back to the defense. Like a lot of people here, I'm happy that the DeKeyser - Smith pairing will be reunited. Hopefully it can stick this time.

Kip, no they haven't "produced" up to expectations this year, but all 6 of those guys are playing well. Tatar has been playing very well but has been snake-bitten a lot in the first 10 games. Sheahan has been great down low and along the boards and has created a lot of opportunities but just hasn't been able to capitalize on a lot of them, he has to have hit 3 or 4 posts so far this season... I don't think Jurco has played badly, but I do still think he would benefit from more time down in Grand Rapids. Helm seems to be playing with a lot more poise, despite a few of his gaffs, he still seems to screw up on a lot of his opportunities. Smith has been arguably our best defenseman on most night, and the same can be said about DeKeyser. All in all, I'm not worried about any of these guys, and I think the entire team is playing great hockey.

I said I thought it was Franzen back on page one. Ken and Mick also said that it was Quincey in the pic, I'm pretty sure it's Ericsson... Also...

Fun (or not so fun...) Fact - The last time the Red Wings played on Halloween at the Joe was 1997. They lost 5-1 to the Kings... I'm going to say the Wings win 3-1. Sheahan, Abdelkader, Zetterberg for the Wings and Toffoli for the Kings...

Franzen is expected to be ready for Wednesday's game against Buffalo. Weiss will be placed on short term injured reserve.

dat's sick, I agree that Jurco should be the first to be sent down. I'm not just looking at the fact that he is waiver exempt either. I said before this season even started that I wanted to see Jurco start the season in Grand Rapids. He is going to be a great player, but as of right now there are still a lot of holes in his game and inconsistency is an issue. I'd love to see him sent down and spend the rest of the season ripping up the minors. It would go a long way in his development in my opinion...

And yes, Franzen is what he is, no one is expecting much more from him, but what he is, is a threat every single night. You said yourself and we all know that he is capable of scoring multiple goals any game, those are the types of players that the opposition need to match up against. No, he doesn't give it 110% every single night but you never know when is going to explode and take over a game. He is worth much more than his cap hit, and it's really time for you to realize this. You make him out to be this anchor, when he really is part of the engine.

Leftwinger, "if you want to get technical", Nestrasil has played 9 games in the NHL and has one assist and is a -1. After Nyquist's first 9 NHL games he had 4 assists and was a +2, and then went on to get another assist in each of his next 3 games. So no, 7 points (all assists) through 12 games, is hardly lighting the league on fire, but it is actually really good for a player just entering the league. Nyquist was also a year younger than Nestrasil when they entered the league... Nestrasil is nowhere near the player Nyquist is, so there is no need to compare them. Also, myself like much of the hockey world, probably use the word "elite" loosely. No he is not going to be a Crosby, Malkin, or Stamkos, but I consider elite players to be much more than the top 3 in the league. I consider Zetterberg an elite player, and yes, I do think he could one day be as good as Zetterberg. You don't have to agree, but that's the type of potential I think Nyquist has.

I don't see Nestrasil as ever being more than a third / forth line player in this league. However, my intention was not to bash Nestrasil, but to state that he should not be compared to either Franzen or Nyquist. He's not even close to the potential of those two, in my opinion.

You cannot be seriously comparing Nestrasil to Nyquist? Really? Nestrasil is a border line NHL player while Nyquist is a future elite NHL player... Also Nyquist had 2 goals in his first game last season and 9 points in 16 games before January. So if by, "not doing too much" you meant, not being a top 5 player in the entire league like he was from January on, you're right, he didn't do much...

I agree with much of what you're saying, however, I do believe, in Weiss' case, that it is a good idea to play a couple games down in the minors to get his game going after missing as much time as he has. I expect he will average around 18 minutes or so down in GR over the two games playing in a top 2 line role with similar skilled players he has played with in Detroit. I think it will benefit him to play substantial minutes with the Griffins, against slightly lesser competition, rather than playing 8 minutes in a third line role with the Wings. Confidence is huge in any sport, and if he can feel good about himself after a couple games with the Griffins, I think that will get his game going with the Wings. The key in my opinion is that after this conditioning stint in the minors, Babcock needs to give him in a top 6 role with linemates he can actual play with. There is no point in relegating him to the third right away again, let the guy play his game...

I don't get why people are so hung up on the timing of this. He obviously wasn't ready to go at the start of the season but management clearly weren't fully aware how long it was going to take for him to get back up to speed. They didn't feel it was necessary to send him down to the minors right away, but see it as a good opportunity now, for him to get in some actual games, get his speed and timing up to the pro level while gaining some confidence along the way. Maybe they thought he could get into game shape by just practicing, but that often isn't the case with a player that has been out as long as Weiss has. Also, the fact that they're sending him down for two home games tonight and Friday night, so he can be ready to travel with the team to Buffalo this weekend tells me that they must think he is getting very close. I expect him to be in the lineup on Sunday vs. Buffalo unless they beat Los Angeles 5-2 on Friday... Also, I've been as frustrated as anyone with the number of injuries over the past couple years, but people need to relax with the whole "this team is soft", "we get injured way too often", blah, blah, blah, blah, blaaah... Yeah, we've had our fair share of injuries over the past couple seasons, but it happens. I fully expect us to have a much healthier year this year. Just take a quick glance around the league and you'll see that there are other teams, much worse off than us right now. Some teams have some of their top players out for significant amounts of time, as of right now, our only injury is Franzen and he's day to day, nothing to get all worked up about...

I don't know, but if he is in there, my guess would be that he is the one right behind Lundqvist, with his bowtie untied... or the third guy from the left.. Those guys look a LOT alike...

Great news. Weiss clearly still wasn't 100%. Maybe he's finally getting there now. Hopefully he an get in some good games down in Grand Rapids to get himself ready for the rest of the season with the Wings. I still think he will be a decent second line center for us by Christmas time. I just don't look forward to after his first game with the Griffins, people check the stat sheet, hoping he did bad of course, so they can come back here to say HAH Weiss had zero points and was a -1. He sucks. Trade him for a bag of pucks. Oh yeah, and I told you so...

Well, I rarely drink to get drunk anymore, so that's why I stick with the light beer. If I'm drinking to get drunk, I'll get on the liquor...

Well I can only speak for myself, but when I was younger I used to drink to get drunk, so I'd go for whatever beer had the highest alcohol content, which was Max Ice (7.1%) at the time. Half case of this s*** and I was good for the night... Now that I'm much older and somewhat more mature... I drink whatever beer tastes the best to me, which in my opinion are the light beers, Coors Light (4.2%).

Not that Bud Light would be my preference, but I wouldn't call it a bad beer, considering it is the most popular domestic beer sold... I'm more of a Coors Light drinker myself, although I've been picking up Miller Lite for the games lately, just because it is a Red Wings sponsor, but I'm not a huge fan...

Never mind Hef-Tats look at the Bunny-"tats"...

3 are obvious, who the hell is the guy next to Zetterberg? Franzen?...

I'm well aware of that. It's like you're going out of your way to try to prove my theory (that Smith should be getting more power-play time) wrong... But both years he went from 1:09 to 0:10 they were using the standard 2 point-men formation... What's your point?

I agree haroldsnepsts, Hudler and also Samuelsson were awful on the point on the power-play. Smith would be a massive upgrade. That was the lock-out shortened season that he got all that time on the power-play, before we acquired Danny "the offensive dynamo" DeKeyser. Ever since half way through last season, for whatever reason DeKeyser has been a mainstay on that second unit. Smith went from 1:09 power-play per game pre DeKeyser, to 0:10 per game post DeKeyser... Edit: It may seem like I'm bashing DeKeyser but that's not my intention. He is a great defenseman and he is deserving of power-play time, I just want to see Smith get a look as well...

Datsyuk has been on the blueline for the face-offs on the power-play but once the puck is dropped, if they win the face-off and manage to set-up (I know, that has rarely happened...) he usually drifts to the middle of the ice or to the half boards while Kronwall mans the point. The couple times I did notice him back there last game, he looked alright, but I do agree that he would be much better used in the middle or on the wing.

Completely agree. That was my initial thought about Smith on the power-play as well. He can skate the puck better than any defender on the team, and that includes Kronwall, in my opinion. He would be another much needed option on the second unit for zone entry. He has the skating ability to back off the opposition, gain the zone and set up. As it is right now, Nyquist is the only option on the second unit that has been able to do this. Tatar is capable, but has struggled mightily so far this season. There seems to be a lot of second guessing and hesitation in his game right now, for whatever reason. Smith really needs to get a look on the power-play at the very least. 1:14 of 51:37 total power-play time is just unacceptable for a player of his skillset, especially for a team that has struggled as much as we have on the power-play so far this season. Also, great points on Subban and Wisniewski, neither of those teams have allowed a short-handed goal against. I really don't see Smith as a liability on the point on the power-play. There's no way he can be any worse than any of the other options we've had over the past few years... Alfredsson had a bomb from the point and produced a lot for us on the power-play last year, but he was awful at holding the zone more often than not.

Let's just agree to disagree on this one... I don't think a defenseman in the middle of the diamond makes sense at all, that is the last place I would put Smith. The player in the middle is who you want directing traffic, and can make the quick one touch passes and can also be a trigger man. I also disagree that Smith wouldn't be capable of manning the point, even if he were the last man back in the diamond. He has improved his defensive game immensely and is much smarter with the puck. Even if he does make a mistake, he is our fastest defenseman, so the chance of him recovering is much higher than any of the other d, in my opinion. Either way, I'm done with this. I just want our power-play to improve. It's clearly not getting it done now, whether that's on the system they're using, the coaching strategies or the personnel, who knows...