sliverck

I don't understand how Howard was supposed to progress in Grand Rapids, the team down there wasn't great and his numbers were decent and I believe a little better than Larsson's. The problem is the Wings were telling Howard he was their goalie of the future for so long he probably believes it, and not bringing him up last year probably shattered whatever confidence he had left. Now he has all this pressure on him to be Osgood's backup and he just doesn't look ready for it, he looks shaky and he has rebound control issues. Things he needed more NHL time to work on, add all that to a Red Wings team playing questionable defense and it doesn't look good.

Fleury had a 3.64 GAA in that span, not far from Howard's current 3.42. Problem is Howard is 25 and should have had a couple quality NHL years under his belt already, not decaying in Grand Rapids. The Wings seem to be too afraid to really give a young goalie a shot, it contradicts trying to go after a Stanley Cup every year. They needed to either suck it up and give Howard more starts over the past few years or just trade him and Larsson and kept Conklin or go out and get a good experienced starter and hope McCollum will be ready when the Wings don't have such high Stanley Cup hopes.

19 is way too young to bring up a goalie. Just ask Marc-Andre Fleury, not like he's won a Stanley Cup or anything. We all know the Wings can't bring up a goalie until they are at least 24 years old and have been ruined by playing too long in the minors.

The Wings have never been a great shootout team, I always dread it when a game comes to that. Don't they listen to Mickey? The corners don't move. All three of our shootout players hit Khabibulin with their shot, he didn't really have to do anything. Datsyuk looked ike he just wanted to get it over with and Zetterberg looked half asleep. Williams, Leino and Bertuzzi should be our shootout performers. Yes, Bertuzzi. He could just shoot it into the goalies chest and then bowl him over, that seems legal in todays NHL.

Jeepers. But on a positive note... Think of all the cap space we have!

Since it was Howard's fault the Wings were down early, then we have to give him credit for the Wings tying the game up. Woo hoo, go Howard!

Look at our defense knock those Oiler players down, all that's left now if for our players to give them hugs after they score.

Wow, just... Wow. Good thing we got rid of Quincey when we did. What does Chelio's calendar look like?

Anybody directly blaming Howard for this is pathetic and a poor, sad excuse for a Wings fan and should probably put on the Leno show or give up on life.

Why can't the Wings get a real goalie? I mean with Luongo in net we'd only be down 2-0. I can't believe a goalie who's only played like 13 NHL games in 4 years can't steal us a game. Oh yeah, probably because he's only played 13 games in FOUR YEARS! Totally his fault though, totally. Not our defense at all.

Wings have to be mad about the Nashville game. I'm going Wings 5-2. Dats (2) Mule Lids Drapes

I don't see it. I think I like the pug reference better.

The Wings will be looking to kick some ash Wednesday. Wings: 4 (Zetts, Hudler, Hossa with two) Sharks: 1 Will tonight be the night the Sharks realize the best way to win the Stanley Cup is to become fierce rivals with the Wings. Conklin and Nabokov center ice!

Awesome! And it's about time. How can you make an nhl quality goalie if he never plays any nhl games? Howard should have at least played in a handful of games this season by now. Enough with other teams career backups, Howard is ready. He has been ready, what more can he do in Grand Rapids at this point? He struggled early with a broken finger, now the finger's good and so are his numbers. Time to put Nogood out of his misery.

Stephane Matteau has always been my favorite.

I would take a different approach to the team. We gave it one more shot with our older core and it didn't work out. Time to refresh our team a little. Hasek's style just doesn't work as well as it used to. He was not as good as he should have been, particularly in games 4 and 5. Our goaltending tandem next season should be Osgood and Howard. I also agree with Kindl and Grigorenko should get a chance. Quincey did good and he should also stay up. The Wings need to continue to get younger and stop trying to patch up an aging team.

I found this photo on the internet and thought it was just too perfect. I had to do something with Pronger. He looks so happy.

Here's a little something I did during down time at work.

Fedorov deserves to be booed and I'll tell you why. He should have been a much, much better NHL player than he currently is. He should not be playing on the blueline for the freaking Columbus Blue Jackets. He should have hit 500 goals a long time ago as well. His heart is not as big as his talent and it shows. Maybe you can blame a certain pretend female tennis player for that. Or maybe it was just his disappointment in playing under Yzerman's shadow. His numbers would be great for tons of other NHL players, but for him they are disappointing. Let the fans boo if they choose. They paid good money for those tickets and they can do what they want. Besides, I'm sure they would welcome him back with open arms.

Booter was trying to draw a penalty and it worked. Maybe he wasn't expecting to get wacked but what he did was very effective. So he didn't throw a punch. We won the game, that is the most important part. Bootland actually has the ability to play the game, not just go out there and have his arse handed to him like Norton. It doesn't matter what size player fights what size player as long as somebody fights. Who is the true useless player taking up space on the bench? Maltby!

He's had 59 games to play himself out of this funk. According to his previous statistics he should have at least 2 goals by now. He is just not performing to his talent level. Or at least to his perceived talent level. I would still rather have him in the lineup than Lilja. I think his full cage is going to turn into a Maltby thing. Remember he had to wear the visor because of his eye injury. That was like a decade ago.

There shouldn't be any excuses for the way Kronwall is playing. He is/was a very talented player and his numbers should be way better. In 2004 he played 20 games with the Wings and had 1 goal, 1 assist. In 2006 he played in 27 games and had 1 goal, 8 assists. And in 2007 so far he has played in 59 games and has 1 goal and 19 assists. I'm starting to see a pattern, and it's not looking good. Also I agree with the mask issue, he has had that thing on forever, take it off already. I have been way, way more impressed with Lebda this year than Kronwall.

I'm expecting big things from Booter tonight. Let's hope he's less of a punching bag than Norton is. I need something else to enjoy watching while the pucks fly past Osgood. If you're ever going to stand on your head again Ozzie, now is the time. Go Griffi.... I mean Wings! Not a coincidence.

Wow, I'm forever in debt to your priceless advice.