BlueMonk

Fridge should not be fighting at this point. He's had his face caved in twice now and a myriad of concussions over the past few years.

He really is. I remember Willy 29 back in the day really bagging on Nash, saying he was overrated and scored all his goals the cheap way. Like he wasn't really that talented. I'd never heard anyone say those kinds of things about him, and I wondered what he was talking about. At the time, Nash did have a really strange goals to assists ratio, but on that team, he was really on the ice for one reason and one reason only, to score. Looking back now, those criticisms were ridiculous. The guy is a hell of a player.

I hope Babs is in Kenny's ear about the lift Downey brings to this team when he's on the ice. If the Wings had other players with a little more of his edge, he wouldn't be so important. But they don't, so he is. Tonight was a good night for Downey. He did things to get Columbus players off their game, and it led to Detroit power plays that turned into goals.

Wings with the tie, plus the 2 points for the silly field goal kicking contest. We'll take 'em!

Last line change is killing the Wings in Columbus. The Jackets are getting Nash's line out there against guys like Lebda and Lilja.

Dats is crazy with the puck, wow.

Is he on your fantasy team or something?

Good defensive play by Rafalski on the 2-on-1 there. It hasn't happened often lately, good to see.

Sometimes it looks innocuous but does a lot of damage. Remember when Allen slashed Zetterberg a few years ago and broke a bone in his leg? It didn't look bad at all to me when it happened.

We need a content specific ignore feature on here that blocks any posts containing arguments about goaltending. Matt?

Blaming him for the goal against was cheesy, IMO.

One of the highlights of the Tigers' 2006 run was when they clinched a playoff spot and the players mercilessly doused Keating wth champagne in the lockerroom. Hardly anyone else with FSN even got wet, but they unloaded on Keating every time they switched to him. Awesome.

He's terrible at what he does. For an organization like the Wings to keep a guy like him is ridiculous. He's an embarrassment when he interviews players between periods. I saw him in the concourse the last couple of games. It took restraint not to go up to him and tell him he sucks.

Just now, Keating to Downey: "He's not on the scoresheet, but it could be argued Aaron Downey has been a factor in all 3 goals." What a dick.

Osgood has to start from this point forward. It doesn't matter whether Hasek will rebound or not, right now, he's simply not playing well enough to start. The Wings are leaving valuable points on the table while their goaltender is trying to work himself into form, something he may or may not be able to do. It doesn't matter that 8 years ago, Hasek was light years better than Chris Osgood. It's 2007 and Osgood is playing great and Dom looks very slow and uncomfortable out there. The defensive breakdowns are horrendous. Rafalski in particular was brutal in his own end tonight. He's been chipping in the points, but as for being a big defensive upgrade from Schneider, well....

It's tough to pick between the Cup teams. I can't include the '95-'96 team, though. I don't put much stock in the individual stats and regular season awards they won. I really believe the team needed the March 26th bloodbath against Colorado to fully harden into the kind of team that has the tenacity and fortitude to win a Stanley Cup, which is what they went on to do. Bad luck and injuries are a part of why teams don't win a Stanley Cup, but I'm a firm believer that there's a special something teams need to get over the hump and that '95-'96 team hadn't found it yet. I think if I had to pick, I would go with the '96-'97 team. That team had so much talent and a great mix of talent and toughness. They could beat you any way you wanted to play it, with puck possession or by grinding you down.

Are you serious? Racial slurs are not just trash talk, they can be construed as part of a hate crime in the right context. If an NHL official witnesses a racial slur the player will face a suspension by the league.

What kind of parity are you talking about? Even now, some team has to suck. Unless you mean a league of 30 teams that all have the same record. No idea why anyone would be interested in watching that, but to each his own, I guess. The greatest growth of the league came during an era when there were a) dynasties and b) no salary cap.

I really think most of the outrage directed at Avery was fueled by his alleged trash talk involving Blake's cancer. He might be more despised than Tucker at this point regardless, though.

It puts more emphasis on winning the game, but only in a vacuum of one team's consideration. The problem is teams don't just have to rack up points, they ultimately have to rack up more than the other teams in their division/conference. Because of this, I'm not convinced that systems like the one you're outlining will have the desired effect. With teams playing such heavily divisional schedules, there will be lots of nights when it's too risky for a team to lose the full three point swing by taking chances in regulation. I'd be concerned that this would still encourage the safety of "just getting to OT," where the worst that can happen is losing one point in the standings to a rival, as opposed to three. We'll never know until the league puts a system like this in place, of course. But I think these are artificial solutions to a perceived problem with the game itself, and ultimately teams tried to win at least as much back when there were ties and no points for losing in OT, which is ironic.

My position against parity isn't really about being a fan of a formerly free-spending team like the Red Wings. I'm a Lions fan, and I don't care for the parity we've seen in the NFL, either. The hard salary cap is something I'd prefer not to see in a pro sports league, partly (but not exclusively) because of this issue. That being said, teams like the Senators and Red Wings have continued to thrive despite the new CBA. And the New England Patriots certainly haven't let the NFL cap get in the way of sustaining excellence. But overall, it tends to evenly distribute talent. Well, the most exciting hockey I've watched in my lifetime was between teams that shamelessly hoarded talent. The kind of talent one team can't keep anymore. The 70s Habs, the Gretzky Oilers, the Wings and Avs of the 90s; teams stacked with talent on all four lines, playing end to end hockey with great skill, creating great rivalries along the way. And even the teams that aren't among the elite get a full house when the visiting team is one of the great teams in the league. Dynasties fill the seats both at home and away. It's personal preference. I understand both sides. But for me, I'm squarely in the non-parity camp. I'm probably not going to change your mind, and you're probably not going to change mine.

I don't like it either, and we're probably in the minority.

I'm pretty happy with what I'm seeing from Hudler. I think splitting up the top line is probably something to be constantly revisited, depending on how the other lines produce. If they can get good secondary scoring, then fine, leave them alone. But if not, then it's prudent to separate Zetterberg and Datsyuk. It's impressive that a 4'8" man who weighs 74 pounds can be an effective NHL player. :colorspin:

The whole defense corps, except Lidstrom, has been sluggish and sloppy this road trip. Maybe a little too many off-ice distractions. These things happen throughout the course of a season.

The 4 goals are one thing but the momentum is overwhelming now. Coming back in a game like this is much harder for the Wings now than it was for the Blues.