Mors

Of course he has, who needs him around when we've got Meech working on his -11 ...

You could apply the same logic to the team's sentiments about letting Osgood down. Either they mean what they say or they don't.

Lilja did have a 1:30 shift before the "fight" started, give the guy a break.

Datsyuk and Zetterberg's replacements for what? the 2018 season?

Filppula, Samuelsson, Chelios, Osgood, Lebda for starters...

Osgood lets in 7 goals on 23 shots yet he's not at all accountable to some people. Has Osgood stolen ONE game for the team this season? There's a difference between respecting his accomplishments and involvement with the organization in the past, and completely failing to recognize that he has not performed well at all this season. You can be critical and respectful at the same time (most people seem to have a grasp on this with players like McCarty, who will always be loved by the fans, but is clearly done career-wise)

This sums up my feelings on the subject pretty accurately.

Downey with a goal and an assist in 4 games now

To be fair the Sharks also have 8 current roster players who have at least 1 fight this season.

Well...they did make the shoot-out a permanent fixture, and that's basically a sideshow skills competition

Funny, I feel the same way about Kopecky. Alright that was too obvious, don't get excited

Ok? You sure showed me with your eye roll emote? You're totally right, Drake didn't leave any kind of hole in the lineup, and Kronwall has been stepping up at the blueline regularly. Right back at ya I'm particularly fond of this one, but who needs guys like this around anyway...

I'm not sure why you singled out my statement, but it seems pretty clear what I said. If it weren't for the availability of Helm & Leino, Downey would stand a better shot at playing. Why do we need him? Because occasionally it's nice to have a guy in the lineup over 200 lbs who actually plays like he's over 200 lbs. I don't think it's a mystery why the Joe is shamefully silent during most of the home games, but the second Downey hits the ice and starts throwing the body around people are instantly on their feet. Some people actually enjoy seeing some hits to along with all that finesse. It amazes me that after all the highlight reels of Kronwall and Drake wrecking people in the playoffs last year, and the amount of enthusiasm people had for this, that the concept of having a guy in the lineup who HITS still needs to be explained. And yes, I understand that Downey isn't a fast skater and he's not going to score goals. I didn't say OMG DOWNEY MUST PLAY. I said he'd have a better shot if we didn't already have more capable skill guys waiting, which is the way this team wants to play it. We'll find out in the playoffs how important that missing physical aspect is, it might work out and it might not.

Do you watch any of the games or do you just hop on the forums to make smartass remarks? Kopecky will need to continue the tear he's on right now if he has any shot of taking a playoff roster spot away from Leino or Maltby. Babcock has stated clearly that Helm and Draper ARE PLAYING...that leaves 1 spot open. You can draw your own conclusions from that.

Care to cite examples? I find it very hard to believe that Kopecky is one of the best 4th line players in the league, considering up until last week he had 11 points and has remained consistently in the negatives for +/- for the entire season. You can hope for the best and be happy with his recent surge, but you're reaching at this point. Maybe he should go condition his knee in GR for awhile since that seems to be the fallback excuse for him not becoming the "Top 6 power forward" he could be if the stars aligned and we let Datsyuk and Hossa spoon feed him some points.

I seriously doubt that Babock is going to bench Draper or Maltby in the playoffs. Helm is definitely in. Leino is also very likely based on Babock's previous comments. You can see where this is going...

Well, it certainly is a FACT that the internet is full of videos of other team's "big" hitters destroying people (including several glorious hits on Kopecky himself) while in the span of 166 games there are only TWO noteworthy hits ever delivered by him (one of which you cited above, the other being Kopecky/Gauthier). I've been watching the Red Wings for 20 years and I've watched every single game this season...Kopecky is the softest "team leading" hitter in the league and is not a threat to anyone. As I said before, it amazes me that the guy picks up a couple points and suddenly people are talking about him being a POWER FORWARD. The suggestion that Kopecky is even remotely comparable to Dustin Penner is laughable. Again, as I said before, the only thing he has going for him is his league minimum salary. Requisite disclaimer so you don't bust out your dictionary for clever forum posts: THIS IS MY OPINION.

This Kopecky bandwagon amazes me. You guys will do anything to justify his position on the team. The bottom line is he's a 4th line player who is designated to be high energy, tough, hard hitting and hard forechecking. He isn't. You guys talk like he's some new call up from GR...he's played 166 NHL games, he's 27 years old. The only thing Kopecky has going for him right now is his price tag. Gratz on finding a video of 1 decent hit he laid out 6 months ago though... The other 99% of his "hits" are pathetic.

Downey rocks, he showed his conditioning in the fight with janssen, and he picked up an assist the other night with a strong forechecking effort. If we didn't have so many options already I think he'd definitely break into the lineup more often. He always seems to put up 100% effort when he's on the ice.

The notion of trading Franzen after giving Filppula such a ridiculous contract is absurb. Franzen is 2nd in goals on the team. You should have tried to present your idea without implying that Franzen is weak...you want to talk about splattered all over the ice, you're describing Filppula aka. Gumby. Franzen is a beast.

Well Babcock has already stated openly that Helm has a roster spot for the playoffs, and also implied that Leino will play in the playoffs. Draper will never be a healthy scratch because of faceoffs. I'd say Maltby has a much higher chance of breaking into that line based on his experience than Kopecky does just because he's gotten a few points in the past 2 weeks. Helm - Draper - Leino seems like a likely combination to me if Maltby isn't going to play.

Kopecky will be watching the playoffs from the press box.

Southeast took over as the weakest division in the league awhile ago.

Disappointed, we have no Drake and we have no one that plays like him.

As long as Gretzky is coaching they'll continue to blow...maybe someday he'll realize that constant bitching isn't the key to victory.