YoungGuns1340

Thats my issue as well. I hate the thought of having 5 players all being paid 6M or more going into the future, especially with the prospect of the cap going down, and our goaltending/defense issues. Its really too bad that the Wings gave Rafalski an NTC. I really think the Wings defense could carry on just fine by replacing Ericsson with any one of Kronwall, Rafalski, or Stuart, and replacing Ericsson with Rafalski would alleviate my concern for retaining Hossa. Yes, our defense may suffer offensively, but at the same time I'm sick of so many of our great, young players have to put off a few years of development because there isnt any space for them.

The coincidence is that hes playing with Hossa. Hossa has scored 3 or 4 goals of late that have been all his own doing - today against Pitt was a perfect example of that - with Flip getting a charity point on almost every one of those occasions. Flip has looked better, but in the same way having Datsyuk set up Franzen has made him look above his league. Both players are mediocre offensively, and have superstars keeping their heads above water.

At this point, I don't really care what happens, but I'm really beginning to want the Wings to not even bother trying to re-sign Franzen, unless he takes some crazy 7-8 year deal that ends up costing us a cap hit of 2M a year. Franzen is overrated. Period. The guy can score while being set up by Datsyuk and hes a big body. But he doesn't use his size, can't seem to set guys up, is becoming injury prone, and, IMO, has an iffy work ethic. Hes not worth more than 3M per year, and I doubt he maintains being worth that much. Just let him go to the highest bidder and Detroit is better off spending the cap space elsewhere, likely on a player who isnt overrated by the rest of the league, and likely himself. Sorry. Not to hate on Franzen, just had to had to get that off my chest.

Yes, Gonchar is that good. Theres a reason he was Top 5 in Norris voting last year. No, he wont fix the Pens, but he is that good, and not having him has really hurt the Pens.

I would've put Lilja in there over either of the goal scorers. His work against Crosby tonight and on the PK was absolutely epic. He looked more like Chara shutting down guys than himself. And a point to boot.

The thing is, if you have a goaltender that makes the defense play better, that shouldn't count against him. Maybe if we were comparing Conklin's raw talent vs. Osgood's, then it would be important to make note of, but as far as I know, no one ******* cares about how our two goalies compare in terms of talent. People only care about wins. And if one goaltender makes his team better than another, then hes the one you go with. Case closed. This was a big game for Conks, and he came through. Thats all you can ask.

Is it just me, or does Conklin play some of his best hockey in big games? The Pens, the Sharks, the back-to-backs against Chicgao? Hes showing an awful lot of composure out there. Looks incredibly calm.

INSURANCE!!!! Datsyuk puts it in!!

Wow, thanks for the jinx, ******* *******.

Take your time blowing the whistle, refs.

YEAHHHHH STAAAAALLLLL!!!! AWESOME DEFENSE!!!!!!

Is it just me, or has he figured out how to maneuver the NHL game in a week? Just between his first game and this game, hes figured out so much. Incredible.

Oh. Good to know. Must be thinking of Ruutu, the dude he replaced.

The Wings need to take it to the Pens. The Pens are gaining momentum, and before long it could look like last game if they don't step up.

Regardless, skill guy vs. banger. Pretty sure theres about 2 inches difference in size anyways.

Yeah. Zetterberg tried to take out Cooke. Thats called Karma. You try and run a guy smaller than you and get burned.

Jesus F. Please do NOT put Kronwall out there up against Malkin. Yikes. Damn first change.

Pens are all about the cheap slashing after the whistle.

Helmers getting more ice time than Drapes and Malts> Niiicce.

I love that people are finally seeing the light. Ovechkin > Crosby. My favorite part, however, is that Malkin isn't apparently even close to being in the Top 2, despite the fact that hes outscoring both Crosby and Ovechkin.

McGuire is an idiot. You take Evgeni Nabokov over Brodeur, Luongo, and Lundqvist? And Chara is not ferocious. Hes half of what he should be for the biggest guy in the NHL.

"Did you see that from Crosby on the bench? What a great shot!"

They showed an overhead of the scramble in front of the net, when the call was made. There were about 3 or 4 sticks fighting for the puck, and one of the Pens guys slipped on all the sticks and fell forward. The funny thing is, the ref from center ice couldn't have even seen whether or not Lidstrom's stick did actually get in between the guys legs. All he saw was Lidstrom stick behind the guy, and then the guy fall over. Good way to ref the game. Just infer.

Wow. Talk about a bulls*** call. Good thing the ref from center ice made the call.

Good to see Conks holding onto the puck. One of our biggest problems with our goaltenders this year seems to be giving up juicy rebounds.