Wings_Dynasty

You know what Paul McCartney has...? Loyalty. Give him a stick and put him on the point Kenny. He'll only be the 4th oldest UFA you've signed since Bowman left.

Addresses FAs, Cleary, contract extension, Detroit as a destination, and the best players playing. https://soundcloud.com/georgeums/mike-babcock-speaks-to-detroit-sports-1051-thursday-july-17-2014

I think it looks great. Every part of it is exciting. The Wings FINALLY get to play in a modern arena. Comerica Park gets more seats. Actual modern apartments downtown. European style neighborhoods and shopping areas. And the best part is probably the enclosed streets between the arena and the shopping/concession areas which will be open year round. That could be a great tourist area if they do it right. Vegas did it right. On top of it all they are getting a huge portion of building materials and workers from Detroit. Anyone who thought this was a waste of money before today HAS to have changed their minds, especially those fools on the useless city council who voted against it. Now don't @% it all up by calling the arena GoDaddy.com Place.

I was referring to a post saying that Tatar might ask for a huge raise. As an RFA, you shouldn't ask for a raise unless you are indispensable. The only indispensable players on the Wings are 13 and 40. 91 was indispensable and was not at fault for wanting more money. He obviously was worth it. So if he does/is asking for a raise, drop him and don't overpay.

No one on the current Wings roster save Datsyuk and Zetterberg has anywhere near the talent Fedorov had even in his later years on the Wings. Let alone in 98 when he was re-signed and pretty much guaranteed a repeat Cup win and IMHO should have won the Conn Smythe. If anyone on the Wings besides those 2 say anything like "well I deserve to be paid more based on my skills" then they should be let go. It's one thing to ask for more playing time or to be out of the minors, it's another to want to be paid more and to say in publicly/in the media.

No excuses then.

Grant Fuhr. Serious.

Dan Cleary after a pillow fight. Also, here's what he said about the MASSIVE amount of fan/media criticism today, from MLive: "Everybody is entitled to their opinion," Cleary said. "You try not to let any of the negativity – or the positive comments – affect you. We live in the day of social media; anyone can say anything. You can't worry about what people think. You got to do what you do."

Babs will be on the NYR bench soon. E5.

Every signing except the Clearys and Sammy ones were for a reason.

No way Pulk is involved. Give up the ONLY heavy shooting righty in the system for Mike Green???

What? All I'm saying is that we have a lot of pressure back there sometimes and he can be the one to relieve it. Sure, there might be some boil-over from the other D-man he's playing with, but they just need to bear down, keep it loose, and be prepared to go long and deep.... into the post-season.

Tyler Myers can go right out the window. They want a ridiculous amount for him (heard 4 starters and a high round pick) and honestly he's not that good. He's just tall. Byfuglien is an interesting option. He fills a lot of holes on our backend (size, toughness, and a righty). Seems like a better trade partner than BUF who is in our division. Don't know much about Petry.

Maybe a non-star UFA signing gives us a better chance at seeing Mantha in the Wheel this season. That's at least something. I think the Babs/KH regime is on its last legs. Holland has been lame since Bowman left and Babs leaned so hard on Nick that he looks just average with an average roster. And don't bring up Team Canada and gold medals. That is an all-star team and coaches don't win those games. He is an average coach at best who got lucky with the Ducks and got his value overblown. New coach and a new GM will give us new results. May miss the playoffs a couple times after Z and Dats leave, but our young core + Mantha looks very promising. Still need to get a righty on the D and get bigger overall, but we are not a 10th place team right now in the East. Plus, there is always the trade deadline where we may get to cut some obvious dead weight (Q, probably Cleary, Franzen, etc).

Cletus for Predators = Perfection.

I say no simply because he is a d-bag. If we're going to go after a d-bag, let's go after a d-bag that has more than one dimension and isn't 40 years old.

If I had a spare computer I would build an automatic clicking device.

Classy doesn't win Cups. Name a team that won on "class" in the post-Gretzky era. None. Not one. All had an element of grit/toughness that could be quantified by a single player/line that played every game. The Wings didn't have that this season and haven't had that since Dallas Drake. The 1997 and 1998 Wings were both very tough and gritty teams. They could go toe to toe physically with any team in the league every game. That was an overall team toughness that hasn't been seen since on the Wings. It disappeared with the losses of Lapointe, Vladdy, Ward, and Kocur. These guys played minutes every game, and 2 of them were more than just big bodies and fists. In 2002 the Wings won the Cup with pure skill, but there was still a Grind Line. A line that could go out when you were down one and crash and bang and piss the other team off. That didn't exist this season. And hasn't since Downey was dropped. The 2008 Wings were not supposed to win the Cup. They were not as skilled as the Pens offensively and didn't match up physically. The Wings overall grit was better as their more physical players could actually contribute more than PIT's grinders. Plus, Dats and Z were physical and kept Crosby and Malkin in check every shift. Pavel and Z were both hurt this year and were not physical at all vs. BOS. That's bad news when they are supposed to be the shut down line. Kronwall can't be physical either, if he goes out of his way to level a guy it isn't Lidstrom picking up the slack, it's Brendan Smith. Grit, size, goaltending, and balanced lines win Cups in this era. Need at least 3 of those to make it to the Finals. Wings had half of one. Boston has 4.

What's the over/under on dives performed by Bergeron and Marchand per game? I'm saying at least 3.

Nyquist. Honorable mention would be the Kid Line (Sheahan, Tatar, Jurco) if multiple people could be the MVP. Definitely the MVL.

Looking at it from an outsider's POV (not really following the Olympics) I think that on paper it should go to Canada with USA and Russia/Sweden taking the other medals. Canada's goaltending is suspect and they could end up losing a high-pressure game. Their forwards aren't as good as 2010 and I think the US has gotten bigger and stronger since then. So the gold could really go to either depending how each side's goalies play. Still think Howard should be in MI right now. Russia's offense looks decent on paper but light of great NHL talent. Malkin-Datsyuk-Ovechkin is almost impossible to contain, but if you were to pull off keeping them off the scoresheet you better have good 3rd and 4th lines to score your goals against some great Russian goalies. Sweden's defense seems light this year (wonder why). Their offense has some great playmakers but no real power forwards so there will be a lot of finesse but no snarl which will be tough against CAN and USA. But, looking at Finland's goaltending makes me think that they could play spoiler and end up on the podium pretty easily. So, my BRAIN picks: Gold Canada, Silver USA, Bronze Sweden HEART picks: Gold USA, Silver Sweden, Bronze Russia. Cause f*** Crosby.

http://www.mlive.com/redwings/index.ssf/2014/01/mike_babcock_the_best_guys_are.html So right now Zetterberg, Datsyuk, Andersson, and Weiss are out but most likely all will be back after the Olympics. Bert sat last night for Alfredsson and Sammy was waived for Franzen's return. After the Olympics, there will be 3 players currently on the roster who will not be there. Here are some candidates to be sent down/waived: Cleary Bertuzzi Tatar Jurco Glendening Sheahan As the article mentions, Bert and Cleary are struggling offensively and could be waived. Knowing Babs' man-crush for Cleary I am assuming that Danny Boy stays on the team (he has an 'A' on for God's sake!). Bert has struggled but I think he has a net-front presence that can't be easily replaced, even by Franzen. So, at this point there is a hard decision to see who the "best guys" are. My picks to be sent down are Glendening (hate to see his grit go but they want goals), Jurco (similar to Tatar, not as productive as of late), and Sheahan (although he has played very good and the Tatar-Sheahan-Nyquist combo was great against FLA). But barring an injury-free Wings team (HA!) these guys will get plenty more games this season. Weiss has so little wiggle-room to fit into the offensive scheme it almost isn't fair. The young guys are playing like they have something to prove and are proving it. I think he could be the top trade-bait player (does he have an NTC/NMC?) if he doesn't produce immediately.

That guy would have a couple concussions (with no retribution) by now and would be centering the 4th line so Cleary could be in the top 6. Now, if we got these 3...

Jimmy lets in 2 goals in his best dreams.

So, do you work for Bleacher Report?