YoungGuns1340

Hopefully they'll collide and knock some hockey sense into one another. God knows they both could use it.

I must be in the minority, but I'm not particularly happy to see Stuart back, and even less so knowing that he'll be reunited with Kronwall. That pairing has been ridiculously abysmal so far this year. I'd rather see Lilja stay with Raffi and Stuart stuck down with Lebda. I'm a fan of Stuarts physicality, but half the time he looks dumb as a brick out there when he tries to do anything more than throw a hit.

If Ovechkin were North American, he'd be the best thing to ever happen to hockey. You'd be hard pressed to find a guy who has a better personality, combined with a love for the game and wearing his emotion on his sleeve. I question whether Ovechkin even has the ability to contain himself when he scores a goal.

Wow. Stuart will be reunited with Kronwall? Back to a 2nd pairing of pure suckage then. Kronwall has been worlds better since pairing up with Lidstrom, and having Stuart out of the lineup has actually gotten our defense playing better than with him in the lineup.

Actually, many pens fans would beg to differ. Theres been plenty of talk this year about how Crosby has been making poor decisions with the puck while Malkin has spent games carrying the team.

While thats great and all, and I do think Conklin has given us some solid performance for most of the year, he hasn't played as well as his stats indicate. Thats not to say he hasnt played well - just that we all know the performance coming from Luongo are bigger game-savers than those coming from Conklin.

I think this was his worst game to date. Like you said, hes played some great games for us in the past. The entire squad played piss poor and the Wild played great. All in all, its a terrible game to use as a measuring stick for Howard - and I'm not a big fan of Howard either.

Pretty much, but you have to give the Wild credit. There was an article about them on NHL.com a few days ago. They blew a 3-0 lead, ended up losing 5-3, then had 4 days off to stew about the loss, and the fact that they have a ridiculously tough schedule that will determine their playoff fate over the next 10 games. All that together made them play like their pants were on fire. I think that might've been the best I've ever seen a Wild team play.

Columbus, Columbus, Columbus. The "they've never made the playoffs" excuse is bull. The franchise hasn't made the playoffs, but they have players who have - Peca, Modin, Huselius, Commodore, Umberger, Williams, Tyutin, Torres, Gratton, and Malhotra all have, in fact. The fact that they're going to be heading into the playoffs with a great coach, a great system, a good young goaltender, and the adrenaline from being the first team in their franchise's history to make the playoffs has the makings of Anaheim '03, Calgary '04, and the Oilers '06.

Or it tells the story of Minny's #1 PK and #1 GAA.

I don't understand why people are going on about adding a forward at the deadline when it is by far the least of our worries.

That he is. Too bad Edmonton probably won't be far enough out of the playoff picture to consider giving him away.

Gratton already cleared waivers once this year.

Is that not reasonable? Hossa is about 10 times the player Filppula is. Again - this is the Wings brass doing everything they can to jumpstart Flip without ruining our bread and butter - the PP.

So...15.5 minutes - the 5th most ice time behind only the 1st line and Hossa - isn't a lot for a guy who hadn't played in over 2 weeks?

Well, considering both of those guys are better than Filppula and, being that they aren't signed, won't garner as much in a trade as they would if they were signed, then no. Theres also the issue of tagging space. And the fact that our PP is as sick as it is (and on this team, we need it to be) because of the talent we have on the 2nd PP in Franzen and Hudler. We can't weaken our bread and butter for a third wheel player. As Holland said a few days ago, if he makes a move at the deadline, hes going to be moving players, not getting rid of picks and prospects.

Of course Franzen is going to get a lot of ice time. Babcock always does that with guys coming back from injuries, and he still got over a minute more than Hossa, who is significantly better than him.

Of course we have better options in the AHL. Who knows? Howard could even be a better option than Ozzie right now, for example. Regardless, just be happy we are the Wings. The performance we get out of Meech when he plays every other night is the kind of thing many teams have to deal with every game, and from guys in their top 4.

Yeah. I suppose that makes up for the 5 minute differential between Filppula's even strength ice time and the 3rd best forward in the NHL's ESTOI. Basically, Mike is just trying to milk every point out of Flip that he can. Everyone else will produce without the extra boost.

Hes NHL ready, hes just not that good. Now that hes getting regular ice time, hes lost some of his fire. I liked him better at forward.

Its just funny that the Sens actually think they can make the playoffs.

The thought has crossed my mind as well.

Intriguing...Filppula got the MOST of all even strength ice time tonight. And he got more ice time than Datsyuk did.

Thats a pretty ridiculous notion all around. What you're suggesting is that you should base a goaltenders performance on one game. Thats akin to saying maybe we should suddenly consider Draper to be one of the best defensive forwards in the NHL once again, simply because he pulled off a great defensive game. If Osgood plays a great game, or Conklin plays poorly, then the implications are for that game only, and they should be praised or critiqued, respectively. But it hardly say anything of things to come. The assumptions on this board that Conklin has been stronger than Ozzie has come from Conklin having decent games much more often than he has poor games, and the reverse for Ozzie. Now, thats not to say Ozzie isn't capable of returning to form, or that Conklin will fall back to earth, but until we see Ozzie perform consistently well then he shouldn't be crowned starter. Simple as that.

I haven't read through the thread, and I don't plan to, but I have to say this is a great, classy move on the Wings part. He's not going to get traded or waived, they're just giving him another chance, yet not at the cost of points. Even if the Wings went with Conklin in the playoffs, or picked up a goalie at the deadline, why on earth would they get rid of a guy thats won two Stanley Cups? If by chance the Wings do find themselves going into the playoffs with a tender who has little or no playoff experience, then Osgood becomes a great source of advice and reassurance to whoever that goaltender is. If you're not going into the playoffs with a proven winner at the helm, then it doesn't hurt to have one as a back-up, regardless of how hes played all year.