DickieDunn

Sproul isn't ready. I'd rather see Jensen or Marchenko in Kindl's spot, or waive Lashoff and banish Kindl to the press box.

Whatever he says, I'm taking it with a grain of salt. Even if he wants to leave he isn't going to admit it publicly.

When those guys aren't playing up to their ceiling and are experiencing growing pains early on are you going to want them moved and say they have no future, too? Lidstrom wasn't Lidstrom from day one, Kronwall had issues, and Smith is improving. People want rookies in the line up ASAP then don't want to let them develop. Bad rookie year, he sucks and will always suck.

You can't base expectations off last year unless your expectation is that everyone will miss 20-40 games. The talent level of this team is not a team that barely makes the playoffs as long as they're relatively healthy. If the younger guys take a step forward they'll be in the top 4 of the conference.

Babcock is an excellent coach. Even great coaches need to move on eventually. I believe that time is close.

I was under the impression impression it was the good players getting hurt. How would not having Cleary amdd Quincey jelp

Do you really thin that other teams run each other in practice? Hits in practice lead to more injuries, not fewer.

I thought that Sir Paul is a pacifist.

Neither is Cleary

If Probert was playing now (and clean, if he was doing the crap he did back then now he'd never make it) coaches wouldn't want him to fight much. He had enough talent that they'd want him on the ice, not in the box. And zero playoff games. Mark Hartigan played 4 games that run. Downey had zero influence on the Wings winning the Cup that year.

There's a difference between having a guy who will fight and can do other things and having a talentless meatbag who can do nothing but punch people.

Cooke cheap shots someone, other team sends goon out, Cooke's team sends goon out, goons fight. How does that prevent cheap shots?

And the stars on those teams still get run. The last player poll I saw was over whelming in favor of keeping it.

Weiss won't get chemistry with anyone else by playing wing either. Also I'm not sure he's ever played there. I think that they're better served with him at center as long as he's healthy. Also, you know Cleary will be on the lineup a lot early on so he can get his bonus. I just hope he starts on the 4th line.

Don't forget Brandon Inge and Joey Blue skies Harrington.

Nope. No good. That means Abdelkader is on a scoring line.

It depends on why you're just making it. If the team is healthy and it's a talent issue thenajor changes need to be made. If it's because of injuries to all your top forwards then you need to look at the training staff.

Can't be good at least be tough I guess.

They're going to be the most penalized team in the league if these meatheads all make it.

Holland and the Wings helped drive up salaries before the cap. They were pioneers in the front loaded deals with low salary years at the end to lower the hit. Both factors leading to lockouts. If the Wings are relatively healthy they do more than squeak into the playoffs. They did that with most of their good forwards missing a third of the season or more. I think Babcock will play out the season without a deal and see how far they make it and how they look going forward before making a decision.

That was in response to the idea that he's going to be the Wings' best defensemen in a couple years. I don't see him taking a huge leap from where he is now, making him a good second pair d-man on the same level as Brad Stuart. Considering he was undrafted, that's pretty damn good, just like Ericsson being what he is as the last pick of the draft is pretty damn good. There are people on here losing their minds about him though, just like people say Ericsson early on and said "OMG he's big and used to play center and Babcock said something comparing him to Pronger once OMFG FUTURE MULTIPLE NORRIS WINNER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" Instead I look at him, look at what he's done in his short career and his age, and realize he's probably not going to be a good top pair D. At best I think he's going to be Ericsson-esque, a guy who you can use on the top pairing but is better suited to the second pair and who will soon turn into a guy people want on a lower pairing because he's not as good as they thought he'd be. At worst he'll struggle to add muscle and never really get better than what he is now and will be passed by several other younger defensemen.

Babcock has had a salary cap, Bowman did not. That being said, I think that it's time for Babcock to move on. Coaches have a shelf life, and Babcock is at the upper limits of his.

His positioning still isn't where it needs to be, and a lot of his mistakes seem to get overlooked by people who would scream bloody murder if Ericsson, Smith, etc. had done it. He's also physically weak and loses puck battles as a result. Kronwall is far better, as is Ericsson.

Amazing progress? He's a developing 2nd pair D. He's still skinny, he doesn't have high level offensive upside, and he's still learning how to play D at the NHL level. He might be an ok #2 someday, but that's the very top end of his ceiling. There's no way he can develop the offense to be a #1 guy, and he's probably going to be passed by at least one of the prospects before too long. Like Holland said, it takes two to get a deal done. I can't believe that if Dekeyser was willing to sign this 2 months ago it wouldn't have been done then. He was probably trying to put some pressure on the Wings by waiting until now hoping they'd give him more money. Maybe they did up the offer a bit, but probably not much.

Define "lowballing." As has been stated multiple times, Dekeyser had almost no leverage, and there's not track record and few comparables. He got a bit less than I thought, but not much. And his next contract will only be a huge one if he developps offense and isn't passed by a couple other prospects.