kickazz

Agree. But what worries me is he might need 1-2 more weeks after he's back in the line up to actually be his magical self since he didn't have much workout this summer and/or training camp. We potentially have one month here without a magic man. They need to get a good amount of wins in.

20 games guys. We're not hitting the panic button until then. Just go along the ride until then Our schedule only gets harder from here btw. We've played most of the s***** teams and lost to them. Maybe we can win against the better teams idk.

I'm just mocking that exact situation, I don't actually mean it.

R-E-L-A-X

Yeah sometimes he pretends like he's Datsyuk. But isn't. He overdoes it for sure. All he needs to do is shoot and score.

I hope so. Because the only person we were missing initially were Datsyuk and we still did bad except Toronto and Tampa games.

I would like the game winner to be Z's 300th. And somehow the season turns around. One can hope. #thebeard

Okay so. What I read from what you said. "Babcock accomplished mediocrity with less talent" Here's why I come up with that conclusion: - Babcock has had first round exists the last 4 years with the exception of Chicago which was round two. That IS mediocrity. If you think that's exceptional then I wonder what you consider Chicago to be. (Who have had 3 stanley cups in what 6 years or so) First round exits are mediocre. Not exceptional. But hey props to Babs for getting mediocrity with less talent. For the record I don't dislike Babcock. I liked him as a coach. I'm just being objective about this though.

Were you a Babcock fan? Because to be honest we were mediocre at best that last 4 years. So if you were a fan of that then realistically speaking you, yourself were a fan of mediocrity. Just saying.

Stanley cup bro. Always my prediction for the Wings.

I never new the Wings were his fav team. That's insane.

Kopitar man... He is Henrik Zetterberg 2.0. Except I'd say Z has a bit of a better hockey IQ. If you watch his highlights he plays exactly like him. I've never seen someone replicate someones play like that except maybe Kobe Bryant/Michael Jordan. Same wide angle goals, same back hand power shot, same slap shot, And he does the forseberg shootout move too. Same exact forehand/backhand deke. The only difference is Kopitar looks like he does all this with less effort since he's a bigger guy. A lot of their highlight reel goals are almost exactly the same it's really freaky. I was planning on making a Z/Kopi "replicative" highlight video a while back but got too lazy.

Meh. I might predict the same but thing is. We have a pretty good roster. There's no reason we shouldn't make the playoffs on paper. We still have two of the better centers in the league. We have two forwards that have the ability to hit 30 goals (actually 3). We have tons of players who have the ability to score 20+ goals. Our prospect is one of the best this year. We have a tandem in our goaltenders - both of who could be starting goalies. We have some of the better grinders in Glendenning and Abby. Our PP is actually inherently very good even if they aren't doing as well as they did last year. Yet. We lack on defense but haven't we for the last 3 years anyway?

Johnson was undrafted player.

What do you mean? You referring to him being to expensive?

If we were in a comfortable spot heading into playoffs and it looks like Z, D, Tatar, Nyquist and Larkin are on fire and projected to make a deep playoff run then I'd give up Mantha and whatever for Byf if he's the recipe to guarantee a cup. A lot of "IFs" involved here.

The general consensus by hockey analysts is that the Wings needs another top 4 D-man

If LA kings don't do well and can't make playoffs again I have a feeling Kopitar will make free agency. He's not even the face of that team like Quick and Brown are.

When Nyquist and Tatar are together their compete level just falls off. I have no idea why. Maybe they just don't enjoy playing with each other. Idk. When Nyquist is with Z, he tries so much harder. I notice it almost every game.

I don't get it though. Jimmy hasn't really played bad. Opinions?

You're right that we have similar players on roster now and maybe even the injuries are not a good excuse. But all bs aside I don't know if you can really blame Blash yet. I mean have you seen the guys play? It's the players not him. They sucked end of last season with Babs too. And they sucked when we had Datsyuk in the line up as well. But what's interesting is these same group of players also were doing extremely well during the first half of the season last year. So they obviously have the talent. I think we should wait till they build some more chemistry. Give it a few more games I'd say. Then. PANIC

Nah you're wrong on this one mate. Babcock juggles the lines more than anyone in the league. And before him Bowman did the same thing. There were countless times where Babcock would split the lines up to "get people going" as he would phrase it. Countless times where I would get super pissed off because he would split the euro twins. I absolutely hated that about his coaching. Because a lot of times it was really unnecessary. So if he can split the euro twins hundres of times in his 10 years here, you better bet he would do that with the Larkin/Z line too.

When Rick Zombo is pissed you know you done f***** up. --- Seriously though. If there's one thing I realized. Blashil's job is very much secure. In addition to the fact that it's the Red Wings who are loyal. It's also the fact that his ties with the state, the minor affiliate and tons of events he's been a part of all summer long. This isn't some Canadian hockey coach they hired that moved from Anaheim. This guy was born and raised here and IS a Detroiter.

Yeah lol. It's probably one of the most active forums out there to be honest. Especially the Wings section.

2013 first game of season against the Blues was terrible. Without Lidstrom. 6-0 loss Datsyuk was so frustrated he got caught yelling "WHAT THE F***" on camera. They had 36 shots on goal we had only 14. Also the first goal of the game was Tarasenko's first NHL goal on a breakaway. And he scored his seconds with a massive deke. And Oshie scored a short handed goal. In conclusion - Maybe it's not THE worst but it's up there in s**** performances.