BlueMonk

Detroit and Nashville are obviously in rest mode. It's fine with me. It's a little disingenuous, but it's a good idea to get these guys as healthy as possible before the playoffs start.

Maybe not in the regular season, but I wouldn't want to ice a small team in a playoff series. I'm not just talking about absorbing hits, it's the prospect of having to fight through a tight checking defense and creating some space. Detroit and Nashville both look like early round playoff fodder to me. Agreed.

Whoa, Forsberg didn't play? I must have missed that. Why was he out?

Detroit needs to somehow avoid San Jose, Anaheim and Calgary in the first round. Probably the three teams they're most likely to play

The Preds are so small, but they're fast. The Ducks are brutalizing them physically. It's like watching a Red Wings game where Detroit is just getting manhandled all over the ice. The Preds are missing a few key guys with injuries, but man, they're in almost the same tough situation the Wings are come playoff time. The Wings are worse off because at least the Preds have some toughness. But a big team will just pound the sh** out of Nashville in a 7 game series and they'll have to win with speed and skill. And goaltending, of course. Vokoun has been playing great in this game.

Hey, credit to the Preds, they're 3-0 on this trip so far. Impressive.

They're resting Chelios for a sore groin tonight. All this stuff we're hearing about injuries is probably not coming out all at once by coincidence. My guess is they're really trying to rest everyone and take precautions. I believe this probably also means that they're not especially concerned with winning the division. I heard a discussion on XM 204 this morning and Bob McKenzie said that the Predators were privately saying that they had more or less conceded the Central to Detroit because the Wings have such a favorable schedule down the stretch. But now that Detroit is dealing with all these players being out, it's probably a good bet that the Preds can take the division.

I'm not sure I'd aim my sights at beating a team that's making a habit of first round playoff exits.

All the teams I'd like the Wings to play are in the Eastern Conference. The West is brutal. I can't see Detroit being favored to win a series against any of the other top 7 teams in the West, to be honest. They'd have a decent shot against Dallas or Minnesota, I guess. They match up reasonably well against Nashville. After that, forget about it. Younger, tougher teams will grind them down over a best of seven series and the Wings won't hand out nearly enough punishment in return. It's always possible that Hasek stays healthy and gets on a roll and steals a couple of games. But advancing to even the second round in the West is going to be very difficult for Detroit.

Whatever happened to Blues News Forum? That was a great hockey site back in the day. Is Let's Go Blues a reincarnation of that? I don't visit other teams' message boards anymore, I'm not up to speed. The "fixing" of posts was one of the better message board innovations I've seen.

Unbelievable save by Nabokov. Wow. The Sharks are missing Marleau, but they look much sloppier than usual overall. Did they play last night? Great game, though. Lots of end to end play. God help Detroit if they play the Sharks.

Yeah, great matchup. The Preds are shorthanded, but still.

Ruutu wanted NO part of Dion.

I'd buy a Tootoo jersey within 5 minutes of the Red Wings signing him. Love that guy's game. Hate seeing my team play against it, but wish he played for them.

It hurts the Wings' chances at winning the Central, but for the long haul it could be a blessing in disguise. Nobody is going to be asked to do more in the playoffs than Zetterberg. If he can get healthy, the time off might do him good and freshen him up for the postseason.

That's pretty weak. Have you ever visited stlouisblues.com's forums? You could replace all the members with Neanderthal Man and it would take weeks before anyone would notice a difference in the quality of the posts. You've got people physically threatening fans of other teams (not just Detroit's), talking about "Detoilet" and generally carrying on like they're on a 6th grade playground. You're going to find knowledgeable fans and morons in every team's fan base, let alone an internet forum where the idiots show up in disproportionate numbers. The reason fans of teams dislike each other has to do with the rivalry between the teams. Then, the generalizations start and one or two idiots who mouth off become the face of the entire fan base of the other team. If the Blues and Wings didn't share a division and a rivalry on the ice, these conversations wouldn't be taking place. Likewise, if the Blues shared a division with the Islanders or Senators, you'd be saying the same things about their fans. Me? I prefer to engage conversation with the smart fans and leave the rest alone. There are good, quality fans of all the teams. Hell, we've had lots of great fans from rival teams show up here, Blues fans being many of them. We've seen fans of Nashville, Calgary and Edmonton, hell, even Colorado, become good contributors here. Take the good and leave the bad behind, I say.

Yeah, Chicago fans have more hate. The Blues at least have been a playoff team forever, even without any Cups to show for it. The Hawks have been terrible, and their last Cup came in 1961, so they're especially pissed off. The Hawks fans cheer "Detroit Sucks!" during games when the Wings aren't even in the arena. That's some deep hate there.

It's a penalty in a fight not have your jersey tied down. Gives you an unfair advantage because you can grab the other guy but he's got nothing to hold onto.

The Red Wings are unrecognizable in this game. Hitting, playing physical, defending themselves, getting in scrums, fights. This looks like a normal hockey team for one night!

A fighting major in a Red Wings game, and the stock market crashes. Coincidence? You decide.

The first player I'd like to see Bertuzzi lay a brutal body check on is Lilja. Jesus, what a terrible, terrible player.

Exactly. I'm always embarrassed for the players having to answer his questions. And he always has this smarmy grin on his face, like he's extremely pleased with himself, even though his jokes are lame and he's just not funny. He leans too close to the players. You just KNOW he's got bad breath. Last year when the Tigers were celebrating their playoff wins, they made sure to drench Keating with champagne. It was hilarious, because none of the other reporters got it like he did. It became a joke, and it was all in good fun. But you just knew the players were enjoying it all the more because they had to put up with his goofball questions all year.

Ah, he just grates on me with his lounge lizard delivery, so corny.