CloudConnected

Exactly, you are right on the money. Holland needs to land two physical forwards, not just one. He needs a combination of Tkachuk, Guerin, Lapointe, Bert, and Roberts. Two of those five and we have a shot, because we can have a guy who goes into traffic areas on every line. Two of them on separate lines, Homer and Mule on the other two lines. Kenny needs to get it done. I actually wouldn't mind a crease clearing dman too. I heard Jason Smith might be on the block on Spector's site the other day, but I don't have a link. I know it's a radical facelift, but that's what happens when we ignore the problem for so long.

Right, all the other teams in the league said they would just beat us off of the puck when we had Probert, Gallant, Randy McKay, Kocur, then McCarty, Drake (who will take a run at anyone), Primeau, Vladdy, Grimson, and Lapointe. (sarcasm HEAVILY noted) I don't want to be a jerk or anything, but did you watch the Wings in the early nineties? I was only eight in 1990, and I still remember those names and seeing them kick some ass.

It's not far-fetched that other teams will look at this nationally televised regular season game and say, "Ok, we'll just beat them off the puck." It could be a defining game. Philly isn't a good team. And they hammered us. I'm not saying that this is who we are, but it could be a self-fulfilling prophecy, and we'll get bounced out of the playoffs by a team that plays like that.

Hatcher is a bum. Had a few good seasons in Dallas when paired with Zubov, one of the best puck moving defensemen of this era. He's always been slow, always been dirty (which was ok before, but now it's just PIM time), and always made bad decisions with the puck. Now, he's an expensive man's Hal Gill, but older.

Honestly, I was emabarrased after Lilja turtled. We don't stick up for ourselves. But really it's only been like that post-lockout. Before the lockout we had Shanahan, McCarty, Fischer, a little bit younger Chelios, and Sean Avery so it wasn't like we were getting run as much even after we won those Cups. It's not a historical trend for the Wings to not be able to defend themselves, it's just these past two seasons really. Even more now after Shanahan left. The Wings have to land two gritty players at the deadline, (Lapointe, Tkachuk, Roberts) to turn this around. Because we'll just get jumped in the playoffs by a team like Anaheim or Calgary again. Yeah, the Philly loss was just one loss, but it was a collapse that was brought about by the other team playing like men and us playing like boys. It could be a defining game of the season, as much as March 26th was in our 97 Cup run. That said, the Leafs fan that said losing with pride is better than three Cups is a jackass.

Great thread. This'll be a daily look for me definitely.

Really, as far as the Lebda potential question goes...I think he's Mathieu Dandenault. He's fast enough to cover up for mistakes, be it a bad pass or a bad pinch. He's a NHLer for sure, but to say he has more upside than Kronwall is ridiculous. Kronner is just figuring out the NHL, that's all. He has a lot of ability, and he probably still tries to get away with some of the things he did in the AHL and Sweden. He dominated both of those leagues defensively, probably so much so that success in risky plays came natural to him, just because he was so much better than his competition. Now in the NHL, he's adjusting and figuring out what kind of plays he can make and what ones he can't. Kronwall is much more talented than Lebda. He hits, he makes a more crisp first pass, has a harder shot... but Lebda had to make the safe plays to even get consideration for the pros. If Lebda were a gambler, he'd be playing in a beer league somewhere right now. Kronwall just has to get used to making the safe play first, then build on it. Once he does that, he'll be our #1 after Lids retires.

I disagree. Without McCarty, March 26th wouldn't have happened, that exorcised the Avalanche demon and made the Wings believe that they could believe anyone. His effort that game physically and scoring the game winning goal set the tone for the Wings the rest of the season. Shanahan gave us the high scoring power forward we definitely needed, and his one-timer on the power play that season was lethal. Murphy gave us a veteran defenceman who could handle the puck and play the power play. Vladdie was skilled and physical and antagonistic. He got everyone else off their game. Without any one of those guys, we don't win The Cup. You could throw in Kozzie with his clutch scoring in the playoffs too. Fedorov was irreplacable, don't get me wrong, but he was a piece. Not the focal point.

The thing with those teams though, you could replace Fedorov in that sentence with any number of the Wings. Lidstrom, Yzerman, Shanahan, McCarty, Vladdie...hell even Larry Murphy. We had the right mix of people in those years, and if you replace any one of them, we have a hole in our lineup. Those were our best teams, in my opinion.

I respected Fedorov because he was a team player and such a great talent. I don't think any other superstar would have taken being made a defenseman as well as he did. The reason that people turned on him was his greed and griping to the media about playing time. He got more ice time than any of our forwards, and he always bitched about wanting more. Then the holdout and signing an obscene contract with Carolina...well by the period's standards it was obscene, which forced the Wings to match it. That was the only reason he was in Detroit. I'm sure the Wings faithful wanted him here, but felt that he wanted to be gone so good riddance. I'm sure he felt pressure to be like Yzerman, and that was a reason he wanted to leave, but all he had to do was be a great hockey player and play hard and we would have loved him regardless. He wanted the limelight, and they gave it to him in Anaheim and he fell on his face. A change of scenery is needed for everyone sometimes, but it seemed like he forced the change. Detroiters are kind of sensitive about being spurned, and now he's everyone's favorite villain.