FlashyG

I'm working through the night and I got bored. This was the result.

Datsyuk and Zetterberg bring better defence than Franzen. What exactly do the other's bring that Franzen doesn't? He's as good or better defensively than the other 3 so it seems to me you're just illustrating my point.

There is a double standard when it comes to Franzen though, as soon as he goes a couple games without registering a pt he gets called out for being streaky, but when compared to the rest of the team he's no streakier than anyone else yet I never see anyone else getting saddled with the label. This is the longest each of our top scorers have gone without a pt. Datsyuk - 4 games Zetterberg - 4 games Franzen - 5 games Nyquist - 5 games Alfredsson - 6 games Tatar - 7 games

92 pts puts our chances at between 85.4% and 87.7 % 93 pts puts our chances at between 95.1% and 96.9% 94 and up puts us at or above 99%

According to Sportsclubstats. The minimum record and # of pts the competing teams will most likely need to maintain playoff chances above 50%. The bracketed number at the end is their playoff chances if they finish with that record. Detroit - (5-5-1) 11 pts (11 games) (71%)............. If we go 5-6 our odds are (48.5%) Toronto - (5-3-1) 11 pts (9 games) (55%) Columbus - (6-5-0) 12 pts (11 games) (51.1%) Washington - (6-4) 12 pts (10 games) (51.1%) New Jersey - (7-1-2) 16 pts (10 games) (61%)

The odds say we need to be .500 or better for the last 11 games of the season to get a playoff spot. We could even make it with a sub .500 record as long as we take a few of them to OT. Nobody is saying we can't use help but just as we can't expect to go 11-0 til the end of the season its not realistic to expect our competition to go 0-10 or 0-9. I'll take any help we can get but really all the Wings have to worry about is winning as many of the remaining games as they can...Their fate is in their own hands. Its teams like New Jersey and to a lesser extent Washington who NEED help to get a spot. Even Toronto is dangerously close to that category.

The only way Philly or Rangers games matter is if Columbus passes them. Otherwise they are guaranteed their spots because of their seeding in their divisions. Right now the teams that matter are Us, Columbus, Toronto, Washington and New Jersey.

Tonights games don't matter all that much. With Philly losing and the Rangers winning our playoff chances remain exactly the same. The other 2 games will probably drop our chances slightly but no more than .1 or .2 % Tomorrow's game is huge though

Rangers win in OT.

Hopefully he comes in like a wrecking ball.

According to Sportsclubstats we still have a 94.7% chance of making the playoffs if we finish with a record of 5-3-4. Its 96.4% if we go 7-5 If we go just .500 (6-6) our chances are still 69.6% Our fate is totally within our own hands.

I'd go with the exact same top 3 lines, although I doubt Babcock will. Abdelkader is missing and he'll definitely be in the line-up, Weiss will too if he gets healthy. Ferraro will definitely be back in Grand Rapids, and its likely Jurco will too If everyone is back from injury. Fully healthy I think the best we can hope for from Babcock is something along the lines of Zetterberg - Datsyuk - Alfredsson Nyquist - Legwand - Franzen Tatar - Weiss - Sheahan Abdelkader - Helm - Miller scratches - Glendening, Bert. Andersson Kronwall - Ericsson Dekeyser - Quincey Lashoff - Smith Kindl

Darren Helm would pull his groin watching that video. that sounded dirtier than I wanted it too.

Statistically we're better off if NY wins. A New Jersey win in regulation drops our playoff chances by 0.2% an OT or shootout win for them drops our chances by 1.5% A Rangers win in OT or Shootout drops our chances by 0.6% but a Rangers win in regulation improves our odds by 1.0%

+0.1% for Chicago's Win. Tomorrows games that affect us are Minnesota v Detroit Toronto v Montreal San Jose v Washington New Jersey v New York R. Philadelphia v St. Louis Dallas v Ottawa Winnipeg v Carolina If we win in regulation or OT our chances improve to 64.8%, Winning in a shootout improves our chances to 64%. Losing in OT or a shootout improves our chances to 54% and losing in regulation drops our chances to 42.5% Best case scenario for us is all the bolded winning in regulation. That would improve our chances to 70.5%

Here are the schedules of the teams we're fighting with. Toronto (3 pts ahead but played 2 more games) Montreal @New Jersey (2nd of back to back) St. Louis(3rd in 4 nights) @Philadelphia Detroit (2nd of back to back) Calgary Boston Winnipeg @Tampa Bay @Florida @Ottawa Rangers (3 pts ahead but played 2 more games) @New Jersey(2nd of back to back) Phoenix (3rd in 4 nights) Philadelphia @Calgary @Edmonton @Vancouver @Colorado Ottawa Carolina Buffalo Montreal Columbus (1 pt ahead but 1 more game played) @Islanders (3rd in 4 nights and 4th in 6 nights) Detroit Penguins @Carolina (2nd of back to back) Colorado @Philadelphia Chicago (2nd of Back to back and 3rd game in 4 nights) Islanders (3rd in 4 nights and 4th in 6 nights) Phoenix @Dallas @Tampa Bay @Florida (2nd of back to back and 3rd in 4 nights) Washington (tied in pts but 2 more games played) @San Jose Los Angeles Boston @Nashville (2nd of back to back) Dallas (3rd in 4 nights) @New Jersey @Islanders (2nd of Back to back) @St Louis @Carolina Chicago (2nd of back to back) Tampa Bay (3rd in 4 nights) Our remaining schedule @Minnesota Minnesota (2nd of back to back and 3rd in 4 nights) @Columbus (4th in 6 nights) Montreal @Toronto Tampa Bay (2nd of Back to Back) Boston Buffalo @Montreal (2nd of back to back and 3rd in 4 nights) @Buffalo @Pittsburgh (2nd of back to back) Carolina (3rd in 4 nights) @St Louis Looks to me that the Rangers and Leafs have far easier schedules than both us and Columbus. I expect Washington drop off in the next few games and the race for that final playoff spot to come down to a dogfight between us and Columbus. Its kind of irritating that the Rangers who have the easiest travel schedule in the entire league also get the benefit of having almost none of their games on back to backs while we have 4 sets of them in the final 14 games.

With Legwand having no history of suspensions I suspect he'll get the maximum fine but no suspension. He'll have the repeat offender tag should he step out of line again. Neal's already deemed a repeat offender and could face a suspension but with Glendening not being hurt and with the possibilty existing that Shanahan sees it as a punch rather than a crosscheck he could avoid discipline as well. Either way both plays were incredibly stupid, especially Legwands given the importance of the game and the time left on the clock.

Abdelkader is a game time decision, if he's out Landon Ferraro will be making his NHL debut. If that's the case I have no idea which line he'll be on. Leafs lines are an educated guess.

It seems the title of the thread was cut off. Its supposed to be titled "There are no Playoffs...There is only Zuul."

Can't compliance buyout Weiss because he was signed after the new CBA, and can't use one on Tootoo because he doesn't make 2 million or more. The Wings wont be using their 2nd.

The Wings are tied with Dallas for the most NM/NTC's in the league with 11 but 6 of the Wings are coming off the books after this season. That will put the wings below the league average. The majority of all UFA's signing will get at least a modified NTC clause from now on. Players want more control over where they play. As long as we only hand them out on short deals I've got no problems with them.

In 3 to 4 years, Datsyuk may be gone, but Z's back will be better than its been in a decade after his surgery, this type of procedure works wonder on the type of pain he's experiencing. Suggesting Franzen's career could be over due to concussions is as likely as suggesting Crosby's will, its a possibility but not one with great probability. It is true though that all 3 will be a lot less productive than they are right now, but Nyquist, Tatar, Jurco and Sheahan will be at their peaks and in some of their cases will be far better players at that point than Ryan Kesler, especially considering Nyquist is already playing better than him. What we need both now and for the future is a #1 defenceman, I think the chances of getting one out of Sproul, Ouellet, Marchenko, or Backman is greater than the chances of getting one via trade. The best we'll get right now is Edler who is another #2 guy. You have to draft and develop defensive anchors, once you have one you never trade it away.

I'm not saying we shouldn't go all in for a chance to win a cup with Datsyuk and Zetterberg around, I'm saying that we'd be better off doing so next season than we are right now. Basically any move we make right now is to improve our chances next season anyways because regardless of what we do, this season is in all likelihood a lost cause as far as cup chances are concerned. The deadline is the worst time to make a trade anyways, prices are through the roof, only a handful of guys are available and a bunch of teams are outbidding one another to get them. If we're going to improve for next season do it at the draft, at least then we know what pick we're giving away, and hopefully we've gotten a better feel on our prospects so we're less likely to give away the good ones.

I don't expect the Wings to tank either, but the odds of us falling to those points are the same as they are of us catching Tampa Bay or Montreal. All 4 are realistic finishing positions for the team. I just don't see the point of giving up on blue chip prospects for a guy like Ehrhoff who is available every trade deadline. He's better than our #2 defenceman, but he's not even the best defenceman available right now. We can bolster the defence just as easily next year when we have a better idea of how Sproul and Ouellet will fit into our long term plans. For all we know Ouellet may be a mainstay on our blueline next season.

We all would, but unless both Zetterberg and Datsyuk are healthy we aren't winning the cup with Kesler and Edler anyways. There will always be players of their caliber available at the trade deadline, and I wouldn't be opposed to trading prospects to get them if I thought it would make us legitimate contenders for the cup, but this year I don't think there is any moves available that put us in that category given our injury situation