Reilly

Who knows, he could be the next Mikael Samuelsson. Guy did do anything until he joined the Wings as a tryout. Brunnstrom clearly won't be a superstar, but he could be a nice second-line winger in a year or two.

Everyone thought Holland overpaid for Kronwall's contract and look how that turned out. I'm not saying Ericsson is going to start dominating or anything. Sometimes you pay for potential and sometimes you pay because you have to. Ericsson's contract was both of those.

Barf

Thank goodness it's only one year.

Yeah, he's not signing any player to a 10-year contract.

Whoever Detroit signs, it needs to be a short-term contract. Wis is ok, but don't lock him up for 4+ years.

lol, one bad video on YouTube from like a decade ago and you're not sold.

No, it just sounds like wants to be smart with his money and doesn't want to sign someone to a long-term deal just because he's got some money.

Tough to really say what needs to be done. You dominate one team in the first round and get swept in the second. I'd look hard at moving Hudler and Filppula, though. Not sure if I'd bring Bert back, either.

Abby is awesome. No need to dump a guy because he's taken a couple high-sticking penalties.

I don't see them winning 4 out of the next 5 games.

So 2-min elbow penalties don't exist anymore?

Ok and? Who else on defense is going to get you 50-60 points besides Lidstrom? The Wings' record without Rafalski shows you how valuable he is to this team.

Howard's rebounds won't be missed....

The problem for Howard is teams know how to beat him. They know his weaknesses (rebounds), so the gameplan to beat Detroit is to get a shot on net and drive to the net for any loose pucks. Howard is going to have to adjust or he will never rebound (pun!).

Did everyone forget about this? http://sports.espn.go.com/nhl/allstar2009/news/story?id=3855534

In the modern era, the Red Wings have never had a goalie that has been known for carrying teams or "stealing" games. The one exception was Hasek, but all he had to do was stop the puck when he needed to, and hey what do you know, they won a Stanley Cup. He didn't have to play like he did in Buffalo, though. He actually complained about not seeing enough shots in some games as a Red Wing. In 2003, they signed Curtis Joseph who was known for stealing games and carrying teams. And look how that turned out. He was average and cost $8 million. The Red Wings style of play - puck possession and controlling the play - is horrible for evaluating their own goaltender. They see little shots and are expected to come up big after seeing no action for a long period of time. I mean, Howard has played over 100 games in the NHL and we still don't even know what kind of goalie he is. Is he actually good? Well, he made some big saves here and there. So I guess? The Wings' style of play means they can win with average goaltending, which means management will never overpay for an elite goaltender ever. They'd rather place their money into defense and forward depth. This is why players like Chris Osgood and Kris Draper keep hanging around. They're cheap and serviceable. Heck, the Red Wings even tried to win with Manny ******* Legace in net as a starter. What I'm saying is until management decides it's time to acquire a goalie like Ryan Miller, Henrik Lundqvist, or Robert Luongo, whether through trades or the draft, fans should expect games like the Islanders to occur.

I didn't think Howard was much at fault for tonight's game. All the goals that went in during regulation were strange. I mean, Lidstrom shot the puck in his own net for God's sake.

To be fair on Rafalski, he's the one that drove to the. Franzen should have stayed back but he got greedy when the puck was loose.

I hope he does, even at 41.

This game was pretty much lost in the first period when the Wings had four PPs and didn't score.

Hope the penalty kill is ready to go next period.

I never want to hear this board complain about not drafting size ever again.