gcom007

Again, I don't want to totally defend Osgood because he needs to play better no doubt about it, but facing the Kings and the Blue Jackets who are among the worst teams in the league is a little less challenging then playing the Sharks who are arguably the best team in the league right now. Again, Osgood needs to play better, but it's not as cut as dry as it appears. And again, if our D can't get their acts together it doesn't matter if both goalies play great, we're screwed come playoff time. There's a lot of blame to go around and a whole of improvement that needs to happen ASAP.

Happy with Osgood or not, and call me crazy, but I just saw two breakaway goals go down. Sure, I'd love to see Osgood stop them too, but what in the hell is wrong with our defense to let that happen twice in a row within minutes of each other. It's pathetic. There's no excuse for how horrible this TEAM is playing on some of these plays.

Unreal...horrible on so many levels...

Of course my boy Kronwall on the ice for that. Surprise surprise. And of course, he's doing little to help the situation as he reads the play wrong in the corner then makes half an effort to get to the net. He ultimately just watches 2 guys hack away at the puck in front of Osgood after the initial shot. No intensity and his mental game just seems non-existent these days. And all pettiness aside about Osgood, I think it's fair to wonder when he's going to raise the intensity to start being better than the team again on some nights. Hasek couldn't win us the Cup his last couple years because he just couldn't seem to get it going when it was needed most anymore. I'm really starting to wonder if Osgood's got it in him this year. I don't think Osgood's done as he's not as old and plays a different style than Hasek that's not as hindered by age, but I'm starting to think that if we don't see it soon, we won't see it this year at all. It won't be horrible and he'll be better in the playoffs if he starts, but we won't repeat. That might be what it takes to get his head in it again with intensity next year. I'm hoping for the best, but again, in a game like tonight given that he's had some better efforts lately, you'd think you'd see a bit of it...just a glimpse...

Yeah, I've busted his ass this year so far but he's looked a good deal better since returning from injury. He was great tonight. The GA and the outcome is a shame for his sake.

That whole last play in our zone is so ugly to watch...I just went rhough it again twice and ugh........this damn D...and how come Kronwall seems to always be on the ice making mistakes as well as for almost every goal I see? Is he -937? Sometimes it feels like he should be...

What a s***ty way to lose...

I feel like I need to take back all the negative stuff I've said about Osgood this year based on this game alone. Talk about persevearance and stamina...

BANG BANG OSGOOD!!! BANG BANG!!! He needed that one for certain......

Cheap shot? No way. Dirty even? Not quite. Unfortunate? Yes. Everyone needs to be careful but it's an intense games and things happen. There was nothing malicious whatsoever about that hit...just an awkward play with an unfortunate ending.

Hossa>Datsyuk>Zetterberg in my opinion... They're all truly outstanding, but I think Hossa's got more pure scoring power along with the great D and incredibly hard work. I think Datsyuk really is a better all around player than Z and on top of that, he's outscored Z consistently (largely due to injuries, but that's worth considering too...especially considering the nature of back injuries) and I honestly don't think Z deserved the Conn Smythe anymore than Dats or Osgood. In fact, I said it then and I feel the same way now, I would've given it to Datsyuk. He's one of those guys like Lidstrom that does everything in such a smooth and efficient manner that you oftentimes don't even recognize just how great he is because it just seems so simple and natural. That said, I could honestly see Hossa signing for Datsyuk money before Z would. Just a hunch, but I think it says something...I'm not trying to knock anyone, but I'm just not quite as nuts over Z as some. He's great, but I don't think he's worlds beyond Hossa or Datsyuk at all. Hossa would've won the Conn Smythe if he was on our squad hands down without a doubt. He would've done all the overall stuff Zetterberg does and would've scored more and more consistently. He's simply an outstanding, profoundly exceptional hockey player on so many levels. Anyways... Hank+Hossa at $7.25 million each long term '09...dreams can come true...

Relax, wait it out, see how things go. Do little things here and there to try and trigger motivation and competition but show confidence and encourage at times as well. That seems best to me. And conveniently, that's about what Babcock's doing. When you've got a lot of little problems that are team-wide and there's not one guy clearly standing on his head, you can't do anything to drastic. You just have to weather the storm a bit and trust in the professionalism of these guys to come through in the end and it likely will. I don't think Osgood will be anything less than 100% ready for the playoffs and I don't think age has or will hurt his game much due to the style of game he plays. He's much more of a mental goaltender than an athletic goaltender and always has been. He'll sort that out and be fine. I'm a bit more worried about the D personally, but that too, I think will work itself out by February/March. And to be frank, I'm totally game going into the Playoffs like this. Adversity suits this team better than over-confidence.

I'm really not worried about these issues right now. I think they'll work themselves out. But for the sake of discussion, just because we have money doesn't mean we can land a big name goalie or any other big name player. We've had money before but Holland doesn't bite on the stupid deals and the one's who make the stupid deals are the one's who get the big name players and those teams tend to regret it in the end. I've got a little more faith in this squad than some it appears. I don't think making a change in goal or on D will automatically make this team strong come playoff time. They will win as a team or lose as a team with the core in place. They'll find a way or they won't. I think Osgood will find his game in time and I think it will help the D find there's. Again, we're winning a lot more than we're losing and that says something so I'm just going to let this play out.

No. Trade Flip. He is a waste of $3 million when we've got guys who can likely play as well for far less in GR. Ken Holland does enough right to not get too pissed that he made a mistake in signing Flip, but he'd do well to right it and send him packing for draft picks.

And the biggest plot twist of the year goes to... Definitely not Tampa Bay... Shocking? Hell no. Surprised it took this long. He's a depressing human being. He should work on that now that he has some time on his hands.

I was never the biggest Hasek fan even when he wasn't on the team, but at the same time, I certainly respect what he's done in his career. But I feel that he should've stayed retired the first time around and gone out on top. But hey, I also feel that we should've kept Kozlov and skipped the Dom-drama era altogether. Sans Manny a few years back, goaltending has never played a pivotal part in a series loss. So truthfully, I don't miss him. I feel bad for him though. While the way he handled himself after getting pulled was certainly commendable, it's somewhat sad that we're so moved by him simply doing the "right thing" just because we're so used to him or because we're expecting him to do the wrong thing. Even if the reputation is somewhat unwarranted, he hasn't exactly done a good job of giving fans and critics much reason to believe otherwise. And I also think it's really sad that such a great goalie had to get pulled in the 1st round after such a miserable performance. I may not like him much, but out of respect, he deserved better than that. But it was his call to stay on so I'm not going to throw him a pity party. I'm just glad the drama's over.

I totally agree about the D. Besides the defensemen playing sloppy, the team isn't playing a very tight game either. It's just pure sloppiness. Again, I'm fine losing. It happens. But there's no excuse for worse teams to play as sloppy as we have this year and we've got the best team on paper. The intensity and focus just seems totally lacking. And on that note, I think this lines up with Osgood as well. While I agree with those saying he's not playing as bad as the numbers in games like this suggest by a long shot, he certainly is capable of playing better. The intensity seems to be lacking with him to some extent. He just seems a little too comfortable this year. While he's always been pretty cool and composed, I think the will to quiet the critics and not live in the shadows of Hasek very much worked in his favor last year as he showed that he's quite capable of being a great starter who can win a Cup without even being a headcase! But he's got to find a way to match that intensity this year. It's one thing to have the talent and ability but a whole other thing to know how to use it. And I think that holds true for the whole team to some extent. Maybe there's some Cup hangover still at play and you know, let's be honest, it's to be expected and we're still winning a lot more games than we lose at this point. I never like to see turnovers and worry a bit about them. I wonder if the loss of McLellan hurts a bit more than we might've thought. But I think our team D and Osgood will tighten up down the stretch and into the playoffs where it counts, but the D needs to get their game together. This isn't panic. I stress that. But the sooner things get worked out, the better especially if they need to tweak things.

My mind is blown. Babcock's going to be headhunting in practice tomorrow. What an unbelievable game. I f***ing hate losing to Crosby and to do so like this? This just sucks. This is the hardest regular season loss I've felt in years for certain. I now hope to the heavens that we get to face them in the Finals again. It'd make for a great story especially with the Hossa angle and beating them would be even sweeter I think this year. I want to see Sid the biatch cry. But motherljksdfa I can't not swear but I obey rules sometimes, this team has some slop to clean up. I'm fine losing, but losing because we're completely sloppy on about 500,000 levels is just unacceptable.

I'm super pumped up at the idea of an all Red Wing start 5. Pavs, Dats, Hank, Lids and Raf...I'll take it, hell, it almost makes me want to vote for Osgood just to have a clean Wings sweep! On that note though, too bad Osgood wasn't on the ballot last year when he deserved to be as opposed to this year where he's done nothing to suggest that he's an All Star caliber goalie. Not that he's played bad and he hasn't gotten a lot of help, but he's done little to really separate himself like he did last year. I hope he steps it up and gives me a reason to vote for him because a Wings 6 would be sweet and I kinda think it'd be good if he started playing at last years level sooner rather than later.

Goodness gracious, certainly Republicans are to blame for this as well, but if you think for a second that the Democrats don't hold far more of the blame, you're out of your mind. You're seriously suggesting that even though most of these initiatives were based on Democrat ideals and bills during the democratic Clinton administration, and that they were staunchly defended by democrats primarily every time anyone (usually Republicans) wanted to regulate it, that it's more the fault of the Republicans fault because of the majority congress? I mean, there's a hint of relevance in that suggestion, a very tiny hint, but far more relevance in the suggestion that this was primarily a democratic pet-political cause that was rooted in the ideals of the democratic Clinton administration. And sure, there are certainly some scumbag Republicans who can take some blame too, but none top the likes of democrat Barney Frank. I mean, for the love, it's blatently factual that Clinton pushed for this to skyrocket as part of his inner-city reform plans! And who was the brilliant president behind the Community Reinvestment Act back in 1977? Some guy named Carter? Democrat, no? Here's a slew of articles from way back when and now. Tell me again how the Republicans are really more to blame? http://www.boston.com/bostonglobe/editoria...nancial_fiasco/ http://www.bos.frb.org/commdev/commaff/closingt.pdf - actual guidelines distributed to lenders outlining policy changes such as accepting "welfare checks" as a source of income. http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html...;pagewanted=all - The last two paragraphs say so much... http://articles.latimes.com/1999/may/31/news/mn-42807 http://online.wsj.com/article/SB1220917961...ost_emailed_day - Puke. http://www.cato.org/testimony/ct-ni3-8.html - Clinton vowed to veto bills that passed that went along with the idea of eliminating the CRA which many people foresaw as causing a lot of problems down the road. In any event, I do think it's fair to say politics are at fault here. You don't give money to people who can't pay it back. It's a dumb thing to do. That's common sense. A lot of dumbass politicans played political games to gather votes among minority and low-income voters while getting cuts in their back pockets. It's a shame. Again, I'll hardly say the Republicans aren't largely to blame for the mess as well, but ignorant suggestions such as yours that it's more them and not the Dems which is generally just a silly, political statement in and of itself is the root problem of the publics right now. People are so divided based on stupid stuff that doesn't matter (abortion, ain't changing! and malarky like that) that they don't take time to think objectively about what's going on and just find a way to blame the other side. It's pathetic and either way with these two jokers running for President, we're going to get what we deserve. Decades of poor choices have already interpreted what the next ten years will look like.

I think the 2 games for Oz, 1 for Conk is good and fair right now considering Ozzie hasn't been exactly stellar. When the D gets its act together and Osgood gets confident in that and a bit more steady on his game again, he'll be as good or better than he was last year. I don't think this is the same situation as last year when we had two proven All Star, Stanley Cup winning starters though. Osgood is far more akin to Hasek than Conklin is to Osgood if you follow. Conklin's more akin to 'Manny Legace' in the past situationally speaking at least. Legace gets by alright enough in the regular season but he's a good backup at best when it all shakes down and a playoff choke artist. Conklin's a backup who hasn't exactly been consistent but when on, has played well. But again, it's been inconsistent. Coming off an All Star year and 2nd Cup as a starter, Babcock or anyone would be a fool to mess with Osgood's head to give Conklin a shot unless Osgood plays terrible. But until Osgood plays consistently great again, 2 1 2 1 2 1 it is in my mind especially through the first half.

Honestly, heaven forbid someone with actual money buy an NHL. You'd think they'd do it just to mix things up a bit let alone the fact that he actually has the loot to pay unlike some recent club owners..........plus, Blackberry's are way better than iPhones...

I wouldn't be shocked to see Dats, Z and Hossa signed at around $6.7 million long term and Lidstrom joining them or going even lower when he signs a new deal. It's not dumb to suggest this at all in my opinion. Guys buy into a system with this team. Even Dats...he could've gotten far, far more on the open market and signed for a totally reasonable $6.7 million long term. Even look at a guy like Holmstrom making $2.25 million per year. He's a 30 goal scorer if he stays healthy and the best at what he does. That Jeff Finger guy is getting $3.5 million a year! I think on any other team Holmstrom could get $4-5 million but he's bought into a system. Cleary's another example. Even Brad Stuart. I think Z is even more the team player than a lot of those previously mentioned and while that won't translate to a $2 million per year contract, I think it will keep it in the Datsyuk range, maybe just a hair over, $7 million tops. I truly believe Hossa will be right there with him come years end as well if it even takes that long to get a deal done.

Yes. I really feel that Datsyuk is every bit as good and thus far has also proven to have notably less health problems than Z. Dats tends to start a bit slow and Z goes out fast, but at the end of the year, Dats has put up better numbers (especially with Z's injuries) and Dats plays as good or better on D, not to mention the obscene takeaway abilities. I just can't see Z asking for more than Dats to stay with the Wings. If he goes somewhere else that's another story but on this team, he should be making $6.7 million per year hit on the cap long term. I tend to think this will work out though. I think he wants to stay and knows what that's going to take and I'm sure he'd like to do whatever he can to keep a guy like Hossa around too. He's going to be having plenty of money coming in from endorsements and whatnot as well. In that sense, he's better off staying with the Wings too. I don't know the numbers enough to say for certain at all, but I think it's fair to loosely suggest that he might make more money total taking less to stay with the Wings and maintaining a high profile and subsequently making more with endorsements. I don't know, I think things will work out alright. Holland has his ways... And I think Hossa gets this too and will get it all the more as the year goes on.

Conklin. Howard needs more ice time if he's going to be half a Wings goalie ever. He still has MUCH to learn and prove if you ask me about what it really takes to play at the NHL level day in and day out.