gcom007

Just read this. It highlights not only my concerns with the goaltending situation but my lack of enthusiasm for certain people returning. Let's just say I'll be thrilled to have Kronwall, Z and Franzen back and happy enough for Cleary and Ericsson's returns. But I think Williams and Flip are redundant parts of this team and especially in regards to Flip, I think his $3 million would be far better spent on a guy who can contribute more consistent offense, in particular, goals. Like I've said all along, Flips a solid player but he's redundant on this team. We're strong defensively and weak offensively, so what good does another $3 million defensive-minded center with a s*** shot do for us? And I'm not hating Williams like I have or like some still do, but he's still just inconsistent and he's always just seemed a bit too apathetic. I think the whole "not gelling" thing really boils down to the lack of balance amongst our forwards. Not enough offensive minded guys, too many defensive minded guys. I tend to think we'll be fine especially if guys like Williams don't automatically get spots back if guys outplay him, but I think this is a bigger question mark than some have acknowledged. And of course, the goaltending issue (bolded) goes along with my biggest concerns for this team in the second half. I think the offense will straighten out especially if we can swing a nice little deal before the deadline. But I still am worried that Babcock's opening up a can of worms with the goalies... http://www.detnews.com/article/20100105/OP...it-in-standings "Reasons to stress Mike Babcock said it best. Will the Wings still work as hard and grind out games once all the talent comes back? They weren't exactly blowing teams away before the injuries started piling up. The offense wasn't clicking early and the defense was spotty. Both Zetterberg and Datsyuk got off to slow starts. There's no guarantee that the injured players will all come back and start lighting it up. There will be another adjustment process. Lines will be re-drawn a few more times. Some players who had been contributing in the first half will lose their ice time and perhaps their roster spot. The chemistry will change. Also, as good as Jimmy Howard has been, at some point Chris Osgood will have to be re-established as the No. 1 goalie. It's unlikely the Wings want to put their playoff hopes on the shoulders of a rookie goalie. Osgood has been the best playoff goalie in the league the last two years. But the process of getting him re-established could be rough. What if Howard continues to keep his save percentage above .920? What if the Wings continue to roll with him in net? When does Osgood get a chance to get his rhythm back? What happens when Osgood comes back and maybe struggles for a game or two? Teams have been torn apart by lesser issues. Finally, which teams in the Western Conference are going to falter? Had the Wings not gone 3-0-1 in their last four, they would have found themselves seven or eight points out of the eighth spot, instead of three. All the teams ahead of them are on winning streaks right now. And with all the three-point games (one point for an overtime or shootout loss), leapfrogging teams is tough. The Wings have given themselves no margin for error. There are no throwaway games from here on out."

I agree that Hasek didn't give Babcock much to screw up, but I think he definitely was showing signs of his age at times. The tenacity he had that made him a big game goalie seemed lacking. He had more than a few occasions where he seemed to be lacking mental toughness, and most didn't end badly enough for people to raise a stink about it as the team was strong most of the season, but hell, you can search for it, I absolutely called it out and questioned how he would respond when the pressure was really on. I wasn't convinced he had what it takes to go the distance, and if he did, it wasn't going to come ignoring the issue. But we were mostly winning, and then all the injuries became the easy thing to focus on. I absolutely agree that our fortune was terrible, but I also think we saw the first signs of the 2008 Hasek in the playoffs as well. I don't think anyone can sit here and tell me that even with injuries accounted for, Hasek would have played such a horrible Game 6 even just a year or two earlier. The guy was a warrior, but he was 42. I'm not saying Babcock should've gone with Osgood then or switched them up or anything, but I just question whether or not Babcock was realistic in assessing what Hasek could handle. Again, the only change would've been things discussed and addressed at various points in time. Basically, I don't think Babcock accounted for the possibility of Hasek s***ting the bed in the biggest game of the season and thus I think it's likely he didn't coach Hasek in a manner that might've gotten him through it. I'm not making this up now either. Hell, like I said, you can search for it if you want. I was saying this s*** through the regular season and the playoffs. I know it's a bit nit-picky, I'm just saying, it's not totally out of left-field either.

Yet they don't. You could say that about almost any team in the league this year, playoff tested or not. I won't argue that the Ducks aren't underachieving this year, but the bottom line is that they're not winning too much, and they're not even dealing with near the amount of injuries we've had to. Scoring is ultimately what killed us again last night, but you're out of your mind if you don't think every Red Wing on the ice, Howard included, simply didn't show up for the first that night. We had no urgency as a team, we gave the puck away and Howard couldn't handle control the puck in rebounds or otherwise at all, let alone staying in position. I certainly don't hold the loss against Howard, but he played as big of a role in it as anyone. This was a game that could have and should have been won.

Howard's ass got saved numerous times in the first by the skaters. That game could've easily been 5-0 if not for blatant saves made by skaters after Howard lost control of the puck again and again. He had no handle whatsoever on the puck in the first last night and the second goal would've never happened had he handled one of the first two shots better. Anaheim wouldn't have had half the chances they did if his puck control wasn't such a disaster in the first. When you give up huge rebounds over and over and get caught out of position in the process, it's just as bad as a giveaway by the defensemen in front of the net. I'm not trying to throw him under the bus, but he absolutely played as s***ty of a game as Osgood in Chicago when it all boils down. Both goalies in both games finished stronger than they started though, so give them that. Osgood had a hell of a 3rd period and Howard didn't crumble and finished pretty solid. And don't minimize the fact that Osgood was getting his first start in awhile against one of the best teams in the league as opposed to Howard who's got the rhythm going heading into Anaheim to play one of the worst teams in the league. If Osgood had been given a start a game or so before Chicago, I highly doubt those goals would've gone in. I don't care who you are, when you sit as long as Osgood's been sitting, especially when you're ultimately an NHL starter used to playing in a rhythm, you're going to have a rougher time coming off the bench.

Actually, I'd say Babcock's been as wrong, if not more wrong, than he has been right when it comes to the goalies... 1st year: The Legace disaster. Babcock f***ed up bigtime. Enough said. 2nd year: He didn't really get a chance to screw it up as Hasek played pretty well, but Hasek showed signs of shakiness in the playoffs that could've been handled better. They eventually reared their ugly head in a must win game 6 in the semi's in which Hasek s*** the bed. That shouldn't have happened one way or another. Still, it's tough to hold much against him for it, though it's tough to give him any credit either. 3rd year: Hasek's signs of shakiness from the previous season were far more abundant in this season, and Osgood got off to a terrific start and had an outstanding, All-Star season in which he was near the top of every goaltending stat at seasons end. Hasek improved from his horrid start but never looked too stable and Osgood blatantly outplayed him all year. But he goes with Hasek heading in to the playoffs anyways and it blows up in his face. Thankfully he wasn't so stubborn as to not make the switch to Osgood, and it all worked out in the end, but if not for an All-Star year by Osgood and Hasek playing absolutely horrendously in the playoffs, we likely would have seen a repeat of the previous year in which a shaky Hasek doesn't play bad but doesn't really play well enough to take us all the way either. 4th year: Heaven knows what happened in the regular season last year. So many rumors, so many stories. No one can remove fault from Osgood as ultimately he failed to rise to the occasion for the majority of the season. Who knows why. Babcock didn't seem able to solve it. If we remember correctly, Holland was the guy who had the talk with Osgood and instituted his "practice break" for him to get his s*** straight that ultimately lead to him getting going towards the end of the season and heading into the playoffs. Babcock starts Osgood in the playoffs, but Osgood had just won a Cup, finished the season looking pretty good despite the numbers and Conklin started slipping towards the end. If not for Holland, who is the guy with a lot of history with Osgood who was able to communicate with him and get him going, heaven knows what would've happened. Bottom line is that Babcock didn't seem able to get the message across. 5th year: Present. He's currently pissing off the best goalie of the post-season the last two years by sitting him on the bench game after game in favor of a rookie, all this despite the fact that Osgood really hasn't played poorly this season and we're not losing or winning games because of goaltending. He's taking shots at Osgood in the press that have pissed the typically cool Osgood off enough to say things that are totally out of character for him in regards to the situation. He's also making inconsistent statements and not following through on many of his words. Howard's about to get his 7th straight start after he played a game as bad as any Osgood has played this season. And all the while, Osgood's sitting while he's 4 wins away from 400. I'm sure that's a real fun monkey to have hanging on his back in general, let alone in this situation. Bottom line, I don't think Babcock knows how to deal with goalies. I don't think he's ever proven to be very successful at dealing with them since he's been here. I think he's solid in nearly every other way, but he does not know how to deal with goalies. Bowman was the king of mind games, but there's no way in hell this would be going on under his watch. It's utterly and completely counterproductive in the long-run. I think what it boils down to is that much like many other people in the league, Babcock came in with the built in distaste for Osgood. I don't think it's fair or logical and thankfully I think Osgood's done a great deal to prove that in the last couple playoff runs, but I think it's pervaded Babcock's handling of him since day 1. Naming Legace the playoff starter in October is a slap in the face to Osgood aside from simply being a stupid as s*** thing to do. Osgood humbly outplayed Legace down the stretch and swallowed his fate like a pro, and did the same when Hasek arrived again. He seems to turn to Osgood only when he really has to. He had to go to him in '08 because Hasek completely fell apart. He had to go to him in '09 because of '08 and because Conklin's a career backup who started slumping by seasons end. And this year, well, yeah...7 straight starts for Jimmy Howard. Prediction: unless things change real quick, Holland will be the guy to save Babcock from his goalie mess once again. And it will get there if things go on as they have.

I actually just mentioned the San Jose thing in another thread. In it I said if not for Mike Vernon coming in to settle things down, Osgood likely would've washed away with all the other young goalies who get rushed in and broken too early. And in saying that, we have to remember that Osgood was always pretty cool-headed and was a stronger guy coming in than Howard. Howard's had a rough development and I don't think at this point even he's as strong as Osgood was at 23 when San Jose went down. Goalies heat up and disappear all the time in this league and the regular season is 10% of the test the post-season is. And on top of that, Howard's still got some blatant technical issues in his game that he's mostly been lucky to escape thus far, but we've seen what can happen on more than a few occasions even since he's heated up. I don't think that's a good recipe for a rookie who's had a bit of a rough road heading into the playoffs against top competition and more pressure than he's ever known. Why take the chance when you have the best playoff goaltender of the last two seasons here? Oh, and vendetta...that's what I'm worried about. I really don't see this ending well if it continues to go on. You're going to pit Babcock, Holland and Osgood against each other if it goes on. I think Babcock's dumb enough to actually go with Howard in the post-season if he continues to ride him in the regular season, and I think Osgood's justified in being upset about that, which Holland will surely hear about if he hasn't already. I don't think Holland will want to go against the coach but do you think Holland likes the idea of sitting a guy who was a game away from a Conn Smythe last year who's been a Red Wing for a long, long time in favor of a rookie who's never faced playoff pressure? Somehow I doubt it. I'm not trying to get all caught up in conspiracy theories, it's really not my style. But given comments that are readily available in the media from almost a week ago now and that it's only gotten worse, to the point where it's nearly impossible to not think that Osgood's deep in the Babcock doghouse, you've got to wonder how long this will go on before it really gets fiery.

Let's play "If Elliot was GM last summer and we were healthy..." This would be my squad: Bertuzzi-Datsyuk-Holmstrom Franzen-Zetterberg-Hossa Eaves-Helm-Cleary Draper-Abdelkader-Maltby It depresses me a little to imagine that...it could've been HOT...

Osgood was our Conn Smythe guy last year and easily the best goalie in the playoffs the last two years. If not for Osgood's outstanding play, there's no way the injury-ridden team would've gotten as far as they did. I know you guys love to forget the facts, but don't forget that one. There's a reason why everyone in the press even talking hockey was predicting Osgood as the Conn Smythe winner should we have won the Cup. He was our best player without a doubt and absolutely essential to our success the last two seasons. If you really want to turn your back on that in favor of a rookie who's had one solid season, providing he keeps it up, you're out of your mind. Osgood should've never been given the chance to screw up when he did in his first playoffs as a rookie. He started because we had s*** for options and we're lucky that it didn't ruin his career. If not for Vernon coming in and settling things down and teaching Osgood what it takes to be a career goalie, I think Osgood could've easily faded away like so many other goalies. The mental game is the biggest thing a goalie needs to learn to handle, and Osgood learned that early and it's done him well throughout his career. When we've got the best playoff goalie from the last two seasons on our team, it makes absolutely NO SENSE AT ALL to not go with him not only for the sake of the team, but for the sake of Jimmy Howard. I know he's playing well and I couldn't be happier, but when you're a young goaltender just getting going, setbacks are a far bigger deal. Personally, I'd rather see him develop slow and strong so he might have a career as opposed to setting him up to be a flash in the pan.

It's truly unbelievable at this point. Even if Osgood was "starting" and Howard wasn't playing as well, I would be pissed if Babcock didn't get Howard in at least every 3-4 games. Considering who Osgood is and what he's done in his career, especially for Babcock, as well as the fact that he truly hasn't played poorly this season at all, it's simply unbelievable that Howard is getting his 7th straight start, especially after the Anaheim game. I'm not even upset at Howard for having a bad game! It happens! All the more so considering it was his 6th straight start and he's still a damn rookie. The first period could've been 5-0 he was so bad then, but he recovered well the rest of the game and I'm glad he stayed in. It was ugly to watch, but it's a good lesson for him to learn. But Babcock is continuing to establish more and more inconsistencies in terms of the way he's running things by going with Howard again after Anaheim. Hell, Osgood really ought to get the start if only to give Howard a break. This is just silly. There are not many things I'm worried about this season, but I wouldn't be surprised to see this really come back and bite Babcock, Howard and the Wings in the ass if something doesn't change real soon. Osgood is as classy and cool-headed of a guy as they come, no one can really argue that. But everybody has their breaking point, and he's absolutely justified in his frustration over this issue. I think it's fair to say that it has become a matter of disrespect, and I don't think anyone can blame Osgood for feeling insulted. Babcock may be the coach, and thus the boss, but he should know that you've got to treat people reasonably and you've got to show people respect who have earned respect. Osgood has won 396 NHL games and has 2 Cups that are all his own. He carried the team to game 7 of the Finals last year despite countless team setbacks due to injury that should've sent us to the golf courses early. So when Babcock starts busting a guy like Osgood's chops to the press, making statements that he doesn't follow through on to boot, it's pretty certain to me that he's crossing some lines that he ought not to be messing with. He's starting to make Bowman seem like a nice guy. Again and again, I think he's generally a great coach, but his goalie management has been s*** since day one as Wings coach. The only playoff series we lost in which goaltending played a major role was based on a stupid decision by Babcock in naming Legace the starter in October. He's proven that he can fail drastically in terms of managing the goalies. Again, if things don't change real soon, I fear that he may be setting us up once again to fail, and in the process, hindering the mental development of Jimmy Howard. Stupid...

I think you're taking it to extremes, but if we're going to run down that road, I'll say that I think we only confirmed that we are a ***** team after last night. The fights were pathetic, so what did it prove in the end? Again, I'm all for fights, but last night was just a silly little game full of silly little fights. I'm just glad one of the guys who shouldn't be fighting didn't get hurt in the process. This isn't the 90's. I wish we had more guys on our team that weren't a liability sans the gloves, but that's just the way it is right now. And besides, don't be a homer. The Wings aren't so different from other teams with their fair share of cheapshots behind the playing and "bullying." They may not be the worst, but we're no doormat either...

It's not constructive to piss and moan about Chelios on a message board. It changes nothing. I get how angry it can make people because I've lost multiple family members due to it as well and I've had too many friends derail their lives by getting DUI's, but you've got to make a choice at some point to stop being defined by the anger and focus on being constructive. I don't blame anyone for having the emotion, but it's absolutely our choice and our responsibility to not let our emotions dictate our behavior. And again, in this case, just pissing and moaning and hating on people who screw up accomplishes absolutely nothing. There is a huge difference between truly caring about making a difference and sheer anger. Sadly, for so many people, the anger can become almost as destructive as the act itself. Unfortunately, I've seen that in my friends and family too. You've got to turn the anger and negativity around and find some way to conjure a positive response and give something constructive back to the world as opposed to simply more negativity. And you've got to have grace for people. Having grace for people and forgiving them absolutely does not condone the actions, but it's an utterly and completely necessary part of the healing process. Some of the people I know who have done the most good in causes such as alcohol abuse are people who initially screwed up. But they received a bit of grace and had a good support base around them and they were able to overcome it and have now been living much of their lives to give back and try and make a positive difference. Now they're the one's volunteering to pick people up that they don't even know at bars and going to schools to speak and trying hard to engage people who struggle to help them through it. But I'll tell you the absolute truth, none of that happens when you let anger rule. No good comes from more negativity. That's the reality, and it's a choice you have to make. You do have the power to make that choice. This quote is profound, and I'll get off my little soapbox and leave you with it: "Between stimulus and response there is a space. In that space is our power to choose our response. In our response lies our growth and our freedom." -Viktor E. Frankl

I still think losing Kronwall has been the biggest blow to this team so far, sans maybe losing Z. I think we might've been able to get through Z if not for that Dallas loss. We were playing real well heading in and played a great first game with out him and should've won but we just didn't get the goaltending unfortunately. I really think that game killed some momentum we had going after adjusting to Kronwall being out. But check out the game logs...we didn't get shut out before Kronwall went down and we simply didn't have near the scoring issues we've had since. Rafs and Lids, despite being vilified lately, have put up respectable offensive numbers all things considered but Stuarts a defensive defensemen. Kronwall brought the offense to that 2nd pairing, and he was doing so better than any of our other defensemen and many of our forwards as well! He's really become an incredibly important part of this team because he fills a much needed role superbly. That's why I think his injury is only rivaled by Z's, and I'm not sure that Kronwall's isn't more detrimental to the team considering how much of our offense starts with our D. If there's no one to get it going from our end, which is our game, there's only so much Z can do. The system is what's important and we've adapted and filled roles real well for the most part, but Kronwall's just a big piece of the puzzle at this point that's missing.

I'm not an anti-fighting guy at all, but I don't like seeing it in games like last night. It really proves nothing when we can barely put the puck in the net and it's had a tendency of leading to injuries when guys who probably shouldn't be fighting get into it. As decimated as this team has been, the last thing we need is more injuries in stupid games like last night. You don't make smart decisions in games like that. Not worth the risk if you ask me. I think Lilja probably feels the same way.

I meant best all-around winger in the league, and I still stand by that. I don't think you'll find a more complete winger in the NHL right now. The guy can score with the best of them but he's just as good in his own end as well and he out-hustles nearly everyone on the ice every game. And yeah, we're never winning our way at a pace that easily will have us hit 100 points again by seasons end. We've got 48 points in 42 games with a heavily depleted lineup. With half the season left and more guys coming back every week from here on out it seems, I don't think we'll have a problem hitting 100 points. I also predict Lids, Rafs and Dats finishing really strong offensively and in general. It took awhile for Lids to come on last year as well. At this time last year, Lidstrom had 5 goals and 25 points. This year he's got 1 goal and 20 points. He finished last year with 16 goals for 53 points. So sure, it's slower this year, but he's also got a far weaker team to work with every night. Last year he was making plays to the strongest offensive team in the league by a mile. We were shaking teams up quicker as well because we could simply rip goals on them and our goaltending was weaker so they pressed and the games were just more wide open offensively. This year we lost a lot of that offense and half of the guys left have been injured, so everyone's had to focus on defense a bit more than last year when we had all the firepower in the world. It doesn't really help anyone's stats because the bottom line about hockey is that it's a team game. We've got a weak team right now. I like the team for what it is, but it's weak in the goal-scoring department, no question about it. But we've got 48 points 42 games in with a brutally depleted team. That's averaging out to about 1.14 points per game. Last year we finished with 112 points for an average of 1.37 points per game. And again, that team was stacked and didn't struggle nearly as much with injuries. This team is on pace for 93 points, but again, you've got to figure that we'll improve as the season goes on and we get guys back. Do you really think we would've lost some of these games if we weren't missing Franzen, Clearly, Z and Kronwall? You think Columbus would beat us 1-0 if we had even any two of those guys back? I sure don't. I think we'll hit 100. Barely, but I think we'll get there. People just need to relax.

I mean, I think he was pretty weak and he got his ass saved by his team three other times in the first that kept it from being 5-0 due to his lousy puck control, but I'm really glad Babcock left him in and I thought he rebounded real well and did what he could with a s*** circumstance. He looked a little rattled at times in the face but hopefully getting through the game and seeing that it's not the end of the world will make him stronger for the next time.

1) I wouldn't bother ditching Rafalski. He's been solid for us thus far for the most part and he's not as grossly overpaid as some suggest. Again, sure, I'd rather have a better deal, but the deal irks me a lot less than some of the other deals that have been given out in the past. 2) I'd love for Lids to take a discount. I think he will, though I doubt it'll be much below $5 million if even that low. When Yzerman was taking those discounts, he was also not playing as much regular season hockey and dealing with far more severe injuries. Lidstrom's still dressing just about every game and while he's finally showing his age more than he has in the past the last year or so, he's still without a doubt an elite player in the league in addition to being the Captain and emotional leader of the team. Anything less than $6 million will be gracious of Lidstrom to give up as he's still really worth the money. Ask any other GM and they'll tell you the same thing. 3) I think Holland was overconfident in his ability to sign guys and thus way to conservative in his dealings. I don't think he assessed the needs of the team on a whole and I don't think he prepared well at all for various possibilities. I think there are some guys he should've written off from the start in order to make the best long-run deals. I think you've got to write Sammy off going in as he's a guy who can get more money and a bigger role on another team. I think he should've agreed to terms with Hossa and Franzen before the playoffs but wait until after the playoffs to announce the deals, then deal Flip away for picks in the off-season. On that matter, I've never liked Flips contract. If he was playing for $2 million it'd be one thing, but on this team, he's not worth $3 million. He's too redundant. We've got enough guys who can play solid defense. Hossa's a superstar who can score a lot of goals and play great at both ends of the ice. He's arguably the best winger in the game today. Holland should've done all that he could to keep Hossa but he hesitated, he froze up. Sign Hossa and Franzen, deal Flip, let Sammy, Hudler and Kopecky walk if they don't want to play ball past that. Flip's solid on D but doesn't score and Sammy and Hudler are inconsistent at best. Hossa's the real deal and he could've been had at a great price. But at the end of the day, not only did he miss out on Hossa, but he lost everybody else as well, sans Flip of course, who has been rather inconsequential to our overall record as usual this season simply because his strengths don't help us where we need help. Oh, and sans Hudler, who resigned, but solely because the deal will go down in two years. He still lost him. It was obvious before last season started that the biggest hurdle in the following season would be scoring goals in a cap world. So why he chose to gamble on maybe resigning a couple of inconsistent guys up front when you've got a superstar more than willing to take a ridiculous discount to stay is beyond me. It's absurd even, all the more so after he lost them anyways! He's played it too conservative the last couple years and has moved too slow with guys and put too much stock in guys we develop to the point of compromising on the greater needs of the team. Draper, like Flip also got too much money. Both Draper and Flip are real solid players, but they're not guys who score, yet the two of them together take up over $4.5 million in cap space. Meanwhile, with Flip out of the lineup, we actually got on our first winning streak and the defense tightened up. I'm not suggesting a correlation so much as saying again, defense is not our issue. We don't give up a lot of goals. We need to score goals. I mean, I love Draper and have a tremendous amount of respect and appreciation for what he's meant to this team through the years, but like you said, we've got to be realistic about what guys bring in this era, and paying Draper $1.5 million a year is insane. Imagine if Draper made $1 million and Flip made even just $2.5 million. We'd have an extra million to get Hossa up to around $5 million which he would've signed for. That's why all these little deals for more inconsequential guys piss me off so much more than a deal like Rafalski's as in his worst stretch with a roughed-up team for help, he's still 6th on our team in points, not even playing in all the games. And you know, a lot of people are thinking Leino was a mistake, but I think Holland created the Leino problem by dropping the ball in the off-season, leaving us with nothing left to pin too many hopes and expectations to a kid who showed flashes of brilliance while being called up from GR. I think Leino's got a lot of upside still, but I don't think he's been given a fair chance at all thus far. There's more to player development than ice time. I think they're put way too much pressure on him since July. He's a rookie. You've got to take it slow and be patient with them. I guess bottom line is that while I have respect for what Holland has done and the difficulty of managing a team in a cap era, I think loyalty and a conservative approach in certain situations has bitten us in the ass lately. We're still a real good team and I give him credit for finding guys like Eaves and taking a chance on Bertuzzi at a great price, but there'd be a lot less questions if he'd have made smarter deals with some guys earlier on than he did. And for all the f***s of sake, do you remember when this guy almost resigned LEGACE to a multi-year deal before the playoffs for a reported $4 million-plus?!?!? I mean, seriously, this guy needs to toughen up a bit, because I'll tell you right now, that would've been the biggest ******* mistake of the decade. Bye bye two Stanley Cup appearances, hello years in the Legace suicidal nuthouse. I like Holland, he's done a good job for the most part, but I think his time may be running out. I'm not convinced that losing Scotty as a consultant hasn't hurt a bit either. It's not like he's a horrible GM by any means, but there comes a time in situations like this when fresh blood can be a good thing. Heaven knows how serious he is about leaving when Lidstrom leaves, but either way, I think it might be wise for them to bring in another head before too long from outside the organization. They just need another voice that can help trim the fat a bit and level more about some of our home-bred guys. It's tough to do, but it's a tough world. 4) And it may be enough. See how easy it was to flip that statement around to be positive? They've all gotten us this far while we keep bleeding more and more guys. As we get guys back, I cannot imagine us continuing to lose as many games as we have. Not only that, I have little doubt that we'll be able to stand up far better to the bigger opponents which in and of itself will help us as we jockey for position. I am not even slightly worried about making the playoffs. Not one little bit. My sole "worry" if you can even call it that is a mentally-sour Osgood (I don't blame him) due to the way this season has gone for him and a rookie that isn't ready for the pressure. Once we get Osgood playing regularly, I'll feel 100% confident that we not only will make the playoffs, but make a run for the Cup.

Like I said, when they're not driving it with a bunch of AHL passengers ultimately along for the ride, you might see their numbers and our power play improve a bit... Again, the fact that we're this close to being in at this point with all we've been through is outstanding. Hell, we thought we'd have problems over the summer losing so many guys. Imagine if people were discussing losing Franzen after game 3 and all the other guys we've lost. If you asked LGW's to theorize over the summer on where this team would be considering all the injuries, surely the Wings would've been sold to Jimmy Blackberry and in Hamilton by now.

Sixth straight game? Rookie? Is anyone surprised? You shouldn't be. And it isn't his fault, he's not the coach...

Yeah, can't say I really get pumped for them lately. We're not a goal scoring team though this season. Even if we were healthy, we wouldn't have the offense we're used to. Thankfully our defense has been solid. Once we do get guys back, if the D stays solid and we get a few more goals here and there, this is going to be a tough team to beat, and we might actually get excited about power plays again.

1) We will make the playoffs and Rafalski, Lidstrom and Kronwall will be in the top 5 defensemen in scoring easy. And no way Rafalski will be gone. 2) Rafalski at $6 million is a far better deal than many other teams got themselves into at that point in time. Would we sign him to that deal today? No, but that's not because Rafalski's any less of a player. Maybe you'd rather have Campbell's Chicago contract or get the epic Finger in Toronto. Bottom line is that every team got caught up in deals like that and every team has suffered. Detroit learned fast what a guys cap value was and since they've been better than most teams at managing that. Things work out in the long-run. 3) Lids won't get $7 million a year in his next deal most likely, but even so, it doesn't mean he wouldn't deserve it. The guy brings so much more to this team than just goals. He'd be worth all the money he makes if he was playing a lot worse. 4) We're losing because we lost a lot of guys in the off-season because Holland f***ed up and then many of our top goal producers have been injured this season. Our defense and goaltending is solid. We just aren't scoring enough. That will change soon. 5) If you ask me, every damn regular Wing that's healthy right now deserves a ******* raise for helping to keep this team afloat through this horrid injury stretch, that after a rough summer and in a league that is far more competitive.

Franzen busted his ass from day one and had the hands all along. He got slowed up by some freak injuries that screwed with his head for awhile. He didn't suddenly explode. Hell, as I've "tooted" numerous times, I was saying early in the season before he got going that as soon as he got a chance on a big level, that he was going to explode. I figured it'd be the playoffs but when Holmstrom went down, it came early and what do you know, he gets it going. But all along, the skill was there and he never really let up on the work. He just had to get his head straight which is tough after some of the s*** he dealt with. Quincey has no excuse for not earning his spot. He really doesn't. I'm not saying I like it, and truth be told, I probably would've kept him. But at the end of the day, I don't know all the circumstances and neither do you. For all I know, it could have had more to do with attitude problems or differences with the coaching staff. We don't know. Bottom line though is that when it counted more than ever, he didn't do what he needed to for us. Hell, if he had been kept, maybe he wouldn't have performed so well. He would never have had the same role, ice time and power play time here. And maybe he needed the kick in the butt of getting booted by the Wings to kick his attitude or work ethic into shape. I don't know, but neither do you. I'm not saying forgive Holland for everything and I'd be more than happy to discuss his mistakes and accomplishments in an objective manner, but I don't think the Quincey situation was some horrific oversight. I think at the time there were probably solid reasons, more than we know, as to why he left. Until I sit down with all parties involved and here about it firsthand, I'm not about to throw Holland/Babcock under the bus and cry about it. It's over and done. Honestly, who really cares? Even with Lebda and Meech, we've got the 8th best defense in the league right now. It'll get better as the season goes on too. We've been blessed by so many under the radar guys who have exploded. It seems utterly silly to me to get real worked up about one guy that got away...

Yes please, but we ought to take it a step further... We need a sub-forum for all of the bulls*** topics like this. We can call it the LGW's Dungeon. It'll be great.

Is it a perfect situation? No. Is it s***ty? Hell no. I'm not complaining. I think they'll both improve down the stretch, and I think they're both worth their money. I think you are too caught up in a short-term context. Anyways... Rafalski: There are a lot of people who would've paid Rafalski more than the Wings did. A guy like him is going to stir up the fans a bit at times when he has his occasional flop on defense, but at the end of the day, all things considered, things work out. I would rather pay him $6 million a year over 5-6 years than $7-8 million over 3-4 which is what other teams were looking to do. The guy logs a lot of minutes and sets up a lot of offense. He's never scored a lot of goals at any point in his career. He's not putting up as many assists but we're not scoring goals across the board. We lost a lot of offense in the off-season and we've got lots of big guys injured. Don't think for a second that his numbers, especially assists won't improve once he starts setting up solid/star NHLer's as opposed to rookies and GR call-ups. And hey, we haven't missed the Stanley Cup Finals since we picked him up. He was also 4th in defensive scoring in the playoffs last year, with Lidstrom leading. Lidstrom: Give me a break. Pissing and moaning about Lidstrom and his contract is like getting a blowjob from Jessica Alba and complaining that it was a bit toothy.

Umm, I'm pretty damn excited and confident about where we're at considering we don't have Franzen, Cleary, Z, Kronwall, etc...I mean, seriously, we're right there in the hunt. That's right where we need to be. When this team gets guys like Franzen, Kronwall and Z back, our offense will be helped dramatically. Those three guys are rather major offensive losses for us, and we're still right there in the hunt. And what's cool is, we still have half a season to play... I'm not worried. I love that the regular season actually matters for once, but I'm still not even slightly worried about whether or not we'll make the playoffs. If we were doing worse, I wouldn't be worried. I'm honestly thrilled that we have the record we do. Our only issue this season is SCORING!!! And that's rooted largely in injury issues. Our defense has gotten their s*** straight and our goaltending is solid. Our kids are growing up well and guys like Eaves are finding roles. Bert's back to being Big Bert and scoring. There's a lot to be excited about with this team. So long as the goaltending gets balanced out and solid down the stretch and we get guys back and stay reasonably healthy, we've got as good of a chance as anybody to make a run for the Cup.

I thought that a bit...I don't think that would've happened a month ago. Like I've been saying, redemptions sweet, and it heals. Bert's on his way... He looked pretty good tonight too at times. The play in the 3rd when he's down and still controlling the puck and setting up the shot shows how strong and hungry he is. I do think he'll continue to improve as well.