LeftWinger

regarding the goaltenders, it doesn't matter who is winning, it doesn't matter who is the better goalie right now, Holland is NOT going to allow Monster to play all the games while he is paying $5M+ to Jimmy to sit on the bench. IMO, the best goalie they have is in GR right now, but you will NEVER see a move to not dress Jimmy and have Mrazek start with Monster backing him up. Jimmy makes way too much money, but you cannot blame him for cashing in on the market value of goaltenders. But since he is making the top money, he will always be the #1 guy here. Monster could go 20-0, yet Jimmy will still get the starts and the playoffs. In this NHL (sadly) its not really about winning, its about money and not wasting it.

Weiss was not the reason they lost...he took one penalty and cost them one goal...seems to me there were 5 others scored, most of them with Quincey on the ice (one in the box) and Cleary trying to skate with his walker... I agree with some of the heat for Jimmy, but if you are looking for an experiment to be over, the Cleary and Quincey experiments are fermenting!

Cleary should be waived tonight...he has a NTC not a NMC. Tootoo should be recalled. Sad thing is even if the Heaven's opened up and that actually happened, Babs wouldn't play Tootoo or just sit him on the bench.

I know Babcock only can work with what he is given, but for peetes sake, Cleary in the top 6? on the PP? People question why Weiss isn't putting up the numbers...well playing on the 4th line doesn't give him many opportunities...and prior to tonight he was playing with Walter Matthau and Jack Lemmon. Weiss should be the #2 center period. Put ALfie and Tatar next to him and watch the magic. When the top center's went down, who does Babcock put in their place? Franzen at center...that is the crap I question...

I hear ya fanatic! But if anyone has been here long enough knows that I hate Franzen with a passion. When he decides to do good, I look at it as increasing his trade value. Sure he has played well recently, but Holland chose to give up a 40+ goal scorer for Franzen and since then Franzen has churned poop and gotten worse every year since his "serious contract." He is hardly the reason they lost tonight, but even if he scored three goals tonight and finished with 25 again, I still cannot stand him and will never support or root for him. that is just the way it goes and that is why I always talk about getting rid of him...I did the same thing with Hudler, eventually he was gone. I can only hope Franzen follows suit...and not after his contract is up! Soon!

well, here you are wrong...dead wrong. I will NEVER support Cleary, Q, Franzen or Babs dumb ass coaching decisions to play Cleary over Tootoo and ahead of Weiss in the line combos. Those facts will never change even if they win the Cup. And since you have known me on here for years, I am hardly coming out of the woodworks to talk crap about said players...

the common problems here is babdick. Btw, Cleary isn't NHL ready...

btw, Weiss only looks bad because of how Babdick has utilized him. When you have younger guys like Weiss and Tootoo, you cannot be playing Sammy and Cleary...its time for a couple of mysterious upper body injuries... sidenote, jimmy hasn't done crap to make team USA.

ok, you can have Q and Cleary on your team, I will take Tootoo and Ouellet.

...about as much as Franzens goal counts as being our sniper...

Quincey on the ice again... lets see, Hartnell punches our guy, then they score 4 straight...Tootoo anyone? I waive Cleary tonight, I don't care about his cap hit. I also waive Q. If I am gonna lose, I'd rather lose with my kids...

the wheels fell off...game over.

poor Emmerton, sent to GR to play with kids, called back up to play on a line with geriatrics...

damn! Did you see that upper cut? Our powerplay can't do that!

I'd rather have Tootoo out then than Cleary...

yay, Dan Cleary!

if Franzen keeps this up, he'll bring us a heck of a player in return! also, just look how good this team will be when the useless old farts are gone next year!

the curse of Quincey strikes again! btw, looks like a lazy Franzen night...

Weiss is invisible because of his line mates....Babcock is a ******. With Hank and Pav out, the centers should be Weiss, Helm, Andersson, Sheahan...in that order. But I know they are strapped by the Cap, so Sheahan will not be here. Maybe move Abby back to center? Frick Franzen being there...if he does play center, HE should be the 4th liner with Cleary and Sammy...

Yzerman....Sakic....Oates....Lidstrom....Messier....Gretzky.... ....Crosby...ugh, what happened to the NHL? Always liked Joe, he never got involved with the physical part of the rivalry, and barely ran his mouth off about it...

Weiss still number 4? Babcock is an idiot. Let's move Franzen to center and keep a real center buried on the 4th line. How about we put Franzen between Cleary and Sammy? It can be called the "Soon to be X-Wings" line... Sucks about Z, but his back has had issues for years now, I would say that is started right about when he signed his retirement contract...

Trade Quincey and Franzen for a stud #1 D-Man then.

OK, if I am trading Franzen instead of using the buyout, I still maintain that there may be only ONE team that would be interested in his services. The Vancouver Canucks. Especially if Franzen goes to Sochi and just lights it up with the Sedins. Not saying that he will for sure be playing with them, but I am sure he will see some time on their line and when he does, he will show how compatible he is with them. I think, and believe that he would be lights out with them. On the Red Wings, Franzen score 25 goals, with the Sedins he tops 40. I know I have pined for Alex Burrows time and time again, but it seems he has lacked production recently and as I looked over their roster, I noticed that they have David Booth. Booth used to play with Weiss in Florida and could possibly reignite a bit of chemistry if they were reunited. His cap hit is under $4.25M so it isn't too much more than Franzen's and the chemistry potential with Weiss is more than worth the increase. Franzen's contract length is more than worth it to Vancouver for the possible chemistry between the Swede's out there. Sedin - Sedin - Franzen looks like a lethal line for Vancouver... Nyquist - Weiss - Booth looks like a great 2nd line unit for Detroit...it's a win-win for both teams. so, now on to next years roster I would like to see. (entertainment purposes only) Zetterberg - Datsyuk - Steen Nyquist - Weiss - Booth Tatar - Helm - Abdelkader Sheahan - Andersson - Miller Ferraro/Glendening Kronwall - Ericsson DeKeyser - Smith Kindl - Lashoff Ouellet Howard Mrazek I let ALL UFA's walk, including Alfredsson, which will be the tough one, but if this is not his swan song and continues his scoring pace, he will price himself out of Detroit...unfortunately. Also Monster will be hard to let go too, if he decides to make similar salary next season, maybe another go at backing up Jimmy...that wouldn't bother me at all. I love Tootoo, but it really seems Detroit is done with him, as well as Eaves. Here is my capgeek roster with salaries and nice raises for our RFA's: http://www.capgeek.com/armchair-gm/roster/1232 the buyout is still available and may actually not be needed...unless you want to use it on Tootoo instead of waiving him...

Oh ya, duh, forgot about Tomas Steen! Anyway RedWang, I stopped and thought about those lines...I can't even fathom this team having Franzen on it come October 2014, so the only thing I need to go change is my shirt after puking. Franzen NEEDS to be bought out...period. He makes the most sense... (or traded.)

I am all for that! I didn't know he was Swedish. Is he playing on team Sweden?