rick zombo

What in the hopped up mother of f*** is going on?

Honestly. Would you trust Smith on the back end of a PP? IMO that's a short-handed goal deathwish right now. Other guys (DeKeyser, for example) might not have as much offensive punch, but Babcock trusts them to not have melt-downs with the puck.

The thing I like about the Blues is they never had welfare picks handing them Crosby, Malkin, Toews, Kane, etc. Sure they've had high picks (ironically they one 1st was Eric Johnson) but I never get sick to my stomach thinking about them the way I do Chicago and Pittsburgh. They both got s***-ass lucky and sucked at just the right time to land elite generational talent. Hell, look at Edmonton. If they had been this bad from 2004-2006 they would have had Crosby and Ovechkin. Instead, they got Hall and the Nuge. Basically, I like St Louis because I don't think the league gifted them a team. The solid vet will be easy to sign as a UFA. That top offensive D-man is proving near impossible to acquire, and honestly, I don't know how Holland can do it with the assets we have.

I don't think Holland has ever not been given permission to spend to the cap. Beyond that, he can't throw money at this team's problems. I know you know this, so I'm not clear why you'd say "spend whatever it takes". We aren't the Sens. There's no internal cap. The only reason I mention this is that sometimes we think there's an easy fix, or that Holland's not trying/dosn't give a hit anymore. I know Holland has made his GMs share questionable moves. But I need to ask this question: if Illitch or whomever is now running the empire took Holland aside and threatened his job, what exactly could Holland d differently? Do we think he'd suddenly be like "oh s***, I better trade for Weber" as if he hasn't already tried? It will take some time to get things moving in the right deirection, unfortunately. You can thank the NHL owners and Count Cap-ula's "parity". That's true. But losing them didn't help at all.

In fairness, Monster, Andersson and Jurco (and to a lesser extent Bertuzzi) all got hurt since the Legwand deal.

Nothing like a game vs the Hawks to see what this team needs soooooooo badly. Every single one of their D can move the puck. And they have zero clowns on the back end. We have at least 2.

He’s bigger than Luke. And these are Sheahan’s numbers at Notre Dame in his final season of NCAA. 2011-12 Notre Dame GP - 37 G - 9 A - 16 P - 25 So maybe he’s another Sheahan.

Yeah but no one has a top three like that in the entire league right now. St Louis comes close. You could totally win the cup now s***tier D than that.

2 points tonight is a must!

Man, I don’t think the Wings have had a guy that can shoot like that since Hossa. Maybe even Hull. I’d almost lost hope in him based on his stats from his last year in Finland and late last year in GRs (he barely played). But he’s really turning it on. It’s awesome. I mean, I know he was supposed to have a good shot, but it looks that much better when that shot goes in 26 times.

Sick him on Comeau, March 25th.

Panthers.

He went down with the ship. But he didn't get to go glofing in April.

Exactly what I was talking about.

At this point, neither of them are probably good enough defensively to play in Babcock's top six when the team is healthy. Jurco's size makes him a better fit in the top six though. I can see Pulkinen being used like Hudler was back in the day: 3rd line with 2nd line updise. I'd love to see Jurco on Datsyuk's wing in the near future. I feel like he could haul the piano like Abby, but also play it a bit too.

I'd almost rather it be a little lower. This will put the squeeze on teams like Minny who are looking to hoard (Vanek, etc). The Wings will have plenty of space regardless. The lower the cap, the more chance they have to be competitive if they decide to target certain UFAs. A lower cap might actually induce ceiling teams into trading salary as well. This could perhaps help facilitate a trade for a defensemen if needed.

While I agree that we could get better play out of Alfredsson, Ericsson, and maybe Kronwall, I feel like asking these guys to step up and lead the Wings into the playoffs would be sort of like expecting the captain of the Titanic to make it to Newfoundland.

http://kuklaskorner.com/tmr/comments/helm-weiss-and-samuelsson-skating-early Looks like the ines in practice are: 93 - 17 - 8 21 - 15 - 14 44 - 41 - 11 20 - 25 - Pulkinen Playing with Miller and Emmerton on the fourth line should give him ample chance to prove himself At least they have him on the point on the second PP unit.

Whoop-de-doo That'll teach him.

I'd rather suck for the next five years, save those draft picks, and get our own less douch-y Weber + 2 or 3 other future stars.

I wasn't talking about fighters. I was talking about playing a more physical game. For the sake of Jurco's ribs, it's too bad he didn't get 5 and a game on the spot.

Totally. Seeing him play in person really highlights how soft he is in his own end (both physically and mentally). And I swear, for a big man, he looks smaller than Tatar out there.

Honestly, there are so many things this team is missing right now, even when healthy I'm not an pro-enforcer guy, never have been. BUT it would have been nice to go toe-to-toe physically with Columbus last night. It seems to me that other teams would be less likely to really lay it on our guys if they knew we had the ability to dish it back. Not talking fights, rather hits and the odd borderline play. The other thing is, Babcock doesn't like to play that way. he likes to play hockey. So when Holland goes out and gets a Tootoo, he ends up rotting in the minors.

If missing the playoffs serves some greater good then that's fine by me. Last year I was prepared for the streak to end and I relished the idea of an organizational re-think and a high pick. This year I feel the same way. BUT you damn well know that Holland will blame injuries. Our big summer UFA signings will be a healthy Zetterberg, Datsyuk, Weiss, Helm, etc.