BlueMonk

Regardless of what you think about the importance of having an enforcer on the ice, the Wings' philosophy has affected the way the fans feel about the team. Hockey is still a very popular sport around here and it's played at every level, and this team has a lot of followers. But what made fans so passionate about the Red Wings teams of the late 90s were things like the bloody rivalry with Colorado. This team could never be part of a rivalry like that; it's too civil. I'm sure new fans have been drawn to this team that the older editions didn't have, but quite a few have lost interest as well. Whether you think fighting in hockey serves a purpose or is just ornamental, it's still pretty exciting to a lot of fans, and it leads to the kind of bad blood that gets fans fired up and makes the rivalries stronger. I struggle to understand how fans can view the game so differently, but we do. For me, a sport without lots of violence, including clean hits, dirty hits and fighting, is not hockey. I even like the agitators, the guys like Avery, Tootoo, Claude Lemieux, etc. Without them, the sport is less interesting, too. It's good to have villains. More violence = happy BlueMonk

The loss of Dallas Drake alone isn't going to spell disaster for the defending Stanley Cup champions. But right now, the Red Wings are playing without Drake, Downey and McCarty. All three of them could be counted on to do things like hit, stick up for teammates and play with an edge last season. They pretty much had at least one of those guys on the ice every game last year, but they haven't had any of them so far this season. The toughest forward on the team right now is arguably Kopecky; I mean, I could eat a bran muffin, drink two cups of strong coffee and sh** a meaner forward than Kopecky. It's only 5 games into the season and there's the Cup hangover they're clearly dealing with, so drawing sweeping conclusions about the team would be premature. I think they'll adjust personnel to fix these problems as the season goes on.

Just the fact that a 5'1", 105lb. guy is playing in the NHL is pretty cool.

Yeah, you can't blame Laraque for the hugging in that one. Fedoruk was trying to keep the metal plate holding his face up in place.

Speaking of the absurdity of hit totals, Mike Keenan right now talking about the Oilers being credited with out-hitting his Flames 21-8 for the game, somewhat sarcastically pointing out that he didn't think it was quite that lopsided in Edmonton's favor. Yeah, because it's freakin' ridiculous that those numbers are actually recorded as if they're an impartial account of what happened in the game. So silly.

Uh, the game was a sell-out.

I have a hard time finding fault with 3rd jerseys since I saw the one the Dallas Stars used a few years ago; the one that looked like it had ovaries on the front. Man, that thing was horrendous.

It's easy to see why teams struggle after winning the Cup. You know how relatively meaningless these games in October are. You just played hockey at the highest level a few months ago and won the ultimate prize, and there's so little point in ramping your effort up to 100% when the time to really play is April, May and June. The good news is, the Wings can play at full strength for half the game and still win more than they lose.

F**K YEAH HOSSA!!!!!!!!!! I TOLD YOU MOTHERF**KERS!!!!!

Playing with energy, hitting, getting physical, sticking up for one another on the ice, the crowd getting into it... they all go hand in hand, folks. That's how hockey works.

Now there's some real hitting. Hitting can be fun!

Attaboy, Cleary. Yes, it's okay to get mad in hockey. It's still a contact sport.

Hossa playing hard, doing good things. The goals will come.

HUDLER!!!!!

PP. Here's a huge chance. Time for a Hossa goal

Lundqvist is a monster protecting a 1 goal lead. This is gonna be real tough.

The Wings are playing now. They come out like this to start the 3rd and we're not worrying about them scoring the tying goal right now.

It really says it all, the way they let teams push them around. Even if you don't think they need to play rough to win, there's no question that it symbolizes a bond between teammates when they stick up for each other. This team doesn't show any signs of that. Last year, they played like they had something to prove. This year, they're playing like they proved it.

Downey>Kronwall.

Shot totals are next to worthless. For one thing, the scorekeeper inflates the home team's hit totals into meaninglessness. For another, they don't tell you the quality of the hits, as you point out.

Downey>Lebda.

Homer!!

Imagine if the Red Wings used the time-honored hockey strategy of "hitting." I mean, that would would be really cool. The team they're icing right now has no meanness about it at all. I'd like to see that change.

I don't think the part about getting the opposing team's best game is really new to them. Even when the Wings weren't winning Stanley Cups the past few years, let's be honest, they were still the best team all season long. Teams might be a bit more fired up with this latest Stanley Cup on their resume than in the past, but not by a huge amount. On the other hand, the complacency is obvious. It's most pronounced on defense. Last year's team held the opposition to a minuscule shots against average by playing stifling defense. The backchecking was ferocious and they took away the middle of the ice. They haven't played a full game of that kind of D yet this season. One of the most glaring omissions from the team so far is I'm not seeing any real physical play. The defense looks like what you see in an all-star game, when it's all sticks and positioning and nobody gets hit. That's fine for Lidstrom, but for the rest, it's not okay. One forward skating through 2 defenseman and getting a good shot off is inexcusable. Lay the guy on his ass, for Pete's sake. What big hit stands out so far? I can't even name one. The Wings laid more hits in 1 period of any of their playoff games last season than they've assembled in all 4 games this season. I do think having Downey and/or Mac in the lineup would help with the physical play. Those guys make their teammates feel an inch taller and the supplemental violence goes up, which is something they need. This isn't the SCF anymore, where teams are afraid to take a dumb penalty. If Kronwall lays someone out now, the other team is going to come gunning for him and he's got nobody who'll back him up. And the turnovers... can't forget the turnovers. Brutal. Gotta stop passing the puck from behind the goal line directly to an opposing forward skating in on your own net. Yeah. Worth a try, anyway. There's lots of time to fix all this, of course. But they're not going to win games until they start playing defense again.

Weak performance. Being winless at home at this point is sad.