Nightfall

Thats why you are not coaching the Red Wings. A good period of time is typically 10-20 games. Anything before that is a knee jerk reaction. Have faith in your coaching staff and team.

Give it time. Chemistry takes time to develop.

I am sure all Jimmy cares about is the Win.

I agree with Mickey. Howard was outstanding in this game. He looks like he did at the end of last season.

Did anyone see that they just misspelled Getzlaf's name on that FSD commercial that was advertising the Wings vs Ducks game?

You know they only held him out as a precaution. He was fine the next day, but they wanted to make sure. They do have a sizable investment in him playing. Time for the mule to kick some ass tomorrow.

I think so too. Would be nice to read a small story on where they were taken.

Oh, its blatant homerism at its finest. The first link is to the Canucks home feed, the second is the Wild's home feed. The Canucks announcers tried to put it on the fan, the Wild's announcers called it like it was. Every homer fans love to call it so their fans will agree with them. Its like Fox News pandering to the right.

A couple videos on the incident. The first one the commentators say the fan touched him, which is incorrect. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ubhyzQJnYUU Another perspective. These commentators know whats going on. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KxEJJb5nDxo

IMHO, there is a big difference between questioning a move and saying Holland is an idiot. There is a big difference between being peeved off that Lidstrom made a bad pass that gave up a goal and calling him old and he should retire because he has lost it. Its the difference between being discussing what happened in the course of a game, and bashing a player and an organization. I am not above saying that the Wings management doesn't make errors. Same with the players. That being said, its always easy to look at moves in hindsight and belittle an organization years later. Its also easy to say a move should have been made instead of waiting to see the results of the seeds that you plant today. I guess the thing to realize here is that fans are not patient (except if you live in Minnesota and cheer for the Wild). I do have to agree with you that the negative comments are quite frequent in here, and that sometimes it can be a bit overwhelming. I am a very positive person, and these forums really don't do much when it comes to keeping things on the positive. For an organization as great as the Red Wings, it surprises me just how many Debbie Downers there are on this forum. It really makes me wonder how so many "Red Wing Fans" can be against the team, players, management, and ownership. It really does remind me of these steps in the process..... 1. Team plays well 2. The bandwagon fans roll in expecting perfection 3. Fans and Bandwagon Fans enjoy the team, and find a middle ground. 4. Team falls on hard times 5. Bandwagoners roll out leaving the true fans to enjoy the team. 6. Go to step 1 We have been in step 3 for the last 17 years. Ah well, I guess the bottom line for me is that it grates my gears to see so many fans against so many of the players, management, and ownership. I will try to temper my expectations and be a little more forgiving. Its just hard for me to do.

Hey, I call it like I see it. A true fan stands behind his/her team. A true fan discusses what is going on with the team and supports the management. A true fan doesn't throw the players on their team under a bus. A true fan doesn't bad mouth the management or players when they make a mistake. IMHO, we have a lot of fickle fairweather fans on this forum. We need more supportive fans instead of fans that are all "Debbie Downers" and looking to insult the team, players, or management. Thats my stance.

I 100% agree with this. The best move I ever made was to actually play hockey. I started playing about 10 years ago and I have never given it up. Its the best sport out there and one I am glad I play. That being said, there are a lot of fans on this forum who criticize the goaltending or players who really don't know the game of hockey and how forgiving or unforgiving it can be.

I agree with you 100%. As a true fan of the Red Wings, I can tell you that there are parts of me that want to not come back to these forums. Mainly because of the attitude of some of the posters here. I regularly talk with Wings fans at lunch and have better conversations with them than I do with posters here. I guess a lot of it has to do with the fact that many internet posts can be brutal. People speak their minds, and with anonymity, truly nice people can turn into morons quickly. I lay it out a lot like you do. 1. The management deserves our full support. If not for the consecutive postseason appearances, but for the tradition of winning that has been built. 2. The players deserve our full support. No player is going to be a top line player like Lidstrom for 20 years. Even he is not immune from the negativity, which surprises me. I guess all it took was one non-Norris trophy like season for the commoners to turn on our captain. Anyway, every player deserves to be supported. They all play their hearts out and to chew into them for their mistakes or belittle them is really dumb. That isn't to say that conversation shouldn't happen. Sure, anyone can ask the question if "player A should be signed" or "player B didn't play well". What is just wrong are the attacks against players, management, and ownership from moronic fans. Case in point, look at the "need a goalie" post. Osgood has sucked the last 3 years? 2008 was one of his best seasons! Talk about uninformed and dumb just because of that fact. A majority of posters in these forums are not true Wings fans. They are what I would call bandwagoners. The instant that the team falls on hard times, these posters will be joining up on the Sharks or Hawks forums and claiming that they are fans. Just watch. All it will take is one bad season to make it happen. I certainly hope that doesn't happen, but I suppose there is an advantage if it does happen. Look at the Tampa Bay Lightning. When they won the Stanley Cup, everyone was a Lightning fan. I have a friend who has been a season ticket holder to the Lightning since they started playing. At the start, it was the ticket to have in Tampa Bay, and the general hockey knowledge was pretty low. After the Stanley Cup run, he would describe it as one of the most uninformed hockey fanbase he had ever known. Fans would ride the players and be non-supportive if they weren't doing well. Today, its a great time to be a hockey fan in Tampa Bay because the team is playing well, Yzerman is in charge, and the base of fans is small but they are die hard fans who support the team. That, IMHO, is the best time to be a real fan of the team. Ah well, I have said enough. This is very true. Without the common idiots, it really is not entertaining to go to forums and read the posts.

I saw Franzen leave the ice and head to the dressing room.

Watching this game with a Dallas fan is kinda funny. He ******* about Morrow getting dumped while the Wings were on that power play. Now he is bitching about the refs calling a tripping call on Neal.

I agree with the nice save. I still think Salei is a better signing that Lilja. He blocked more shots, but I think he is a better all around defenseman and more durable to boot. Oh, and cheaper.

Better than Lilja IMHO.

Actually, its also called luck. I can tell you have never played goalie before.

Shhhh! Its the letsgowings forum, not truewingsfanswhoknowhockey forum.

100% correct. A vast majority of Wings fans in here are very fickle. If the team wins, all is good with most people here. If the team loses, the refs, Bettman, Howard, Ozzie, Bert, 3rd liners, and everyone else under the sun is singled out. Its just tiring to hear over and over again. I swear that I get more intelligent hockey posts from the Wings fans on the HFBoards following a loss.

I agree with most of your points, but I will add in a few thoughts of my own. First off, its easy for many of the members here to call out the goaltending or the refereeing as an excuse as to why we lost the game. Thats really a crappy thing to do being as that the Wings as a whole gave Colorado too much room in the offensive zone. A couple goals Howard should have had, but you could say the same about the Avs goalie as well. Neither goalie played their best game. If they were both on top of their game it would have been a 2-2 or a 3-3 game going into OT. Blaming the refs is also lame as hell. I saw an obvious high stick that his Flip that wasn't called. At the same time though, I saw a couple tripping calls on the Wings that weren't called as well. The refs are only human, and they are the human element in the game that makes mistakes just like the players do. Trust me, as a ref myself, its impossible to get everything right and catch everything. The NHL refs are at the top of the ref chain for a reason. The Wings lost that game as a team, pure and simple. Even with a subpar game, they got a shootout loss out of it. That has to count for something.

Thank you man. Your post reminded me just how much of a new fan I am compared to those who were around in the 70-80s when they were called the "dead wings". I didn't get exposed to hockey until 1994 when I went to college at Ferris State. As of that moment when I went to a live college hockey game, I was hooked. I started watching the Wings that season, and getting swept in the finals by the Devils was horrible to experience. You are right, the older fans of the team who have been around for a while have a whole new appreciation for members of the team who gave so much. Things like loyalty are hard to find in sports these days. In the working world, if someone gets cut from their job, its distasteful and backstabbing to do. In the sports world, if someone gets cut from a team, its a necessity because they want the team to win, win, and win some more. I want to win just as much as every other Wings fan. At the same time though, I praise the loyalty of the Wings organization.

Couldn't have said it better myself.

When I read some of the posts in this thread, I am just appalled. Here is a guy that gave his heart and soul to the organization. He was a penalty killer and a grind liner. You don't win four Stanley Cups by accident. Detroit knew what they had here and they treated him well for many years. In return, he gave everything he had to the organization. Yet, some of the fans on this forum piss on him and other players. Even Lidstrom is a target by some people, which is disgusting being as that we are all fans of the Red Wings here. This isn't the HFboards where there are asshats a plenty out there that like to start flame wars with other teams and fans. I expect people here will be supportive of their Red Wings and the management. After all, they deserve to have our support being as that they haven't missed the playoffs in 25 of the last 27 seasons and the last 19 in a row. The players have shown that they care about playing in Detroit by giving it their all season after season after season. Here is Maltby, a player who has given it their all for years. 75% of the posts here have the right attitude, which is supportive and remembering what Maltby brought to the table. The rest of the posters here are true morons. If not for the fact that they don't remember what Maltby did for the organization, but because he is a Red Wing. He will take a job in the front office because the Red Wings care about their players and the players care about playing here. I don't see this kind of commitment from many organizations out there. Support your Red Wings guys. They are your team. If you don't like the team, go bandwagon on the Sharks and Hawks. I heard they need more fans on the bandwagon these days. Happy retirement Maltby! You will be missed.

This is correct. I watched some of the Leafs games and I must say that they put together solid performances in the first couple games. They deserve up there. Same with Dallas and Detroit.