Mors

My point exactly. Ovechkin isn't god, and he's not the best player in the NHL. I don't know how Crosby became public enemy #1, the rest of the NHL became irrelevant, and Ovechkin became everyone's hero (especially odd coming from Wings' fans considering the Caps' fans absolutely hate your teams guts more so than their own division rivals, I live in MD and this is the truth)

Hilarious. /possibly inB4 "that is unfair to the great nashville fans who support their team, we're not rednecks, etc etc" Edit: Nevermind, Drake already came to the defense of the innocent prednecks.

"Curse" or not, Babcock ain't going anywhere.

Maybe we're giving Ovechkin a little too much credit here eh? Should the other 800+ players in the NHL pack it in? Ovechkin has 3 more points than Datsyuk...people need to get off his dick already. I'd bet any amount of money if this thread was about ANY other player acting in a similar manner regularly, people would call him a showboat and say he's unprofessional. I personally don't give a s***, if he wants to celebrate, let him, but don't put him above the same scorn any other player would receive for doing the same thing day in and day out.

Most of the Wings' greats have generally been lowkey, humble players...can't expect the same from everyone I guess.

Nothing major, I'd like to see a hitter for the 4th line though...

Helm is fast and has high energy, but at the same time Leino has 7 points and is +5 in his first 10 NHL games ever. Helm needs to replace someone on the 4th line, and Leino needs to be on the 3rd line (for now)

Ugh, I thought we had a good thing going with Maltby sitting...loyalty is a ***** I guess.

I agree with the statement in the title of this thread.

/thread

I don't doubt someone would pick him up, my meaning is that I don't see the fear in losing him because he's easily replaced and we have much greater talent waiting in line...we can afford to let him go.

Lucky us. I like how half the people on this forum think he's magically going to improve into this great 4th line role player. He's played almost 200 games now and hasn't done a ******* thing in that time. He has the stats of a professional enforcer, despite his inability to provide anything gritty to a team desperately in need.

Maltby was a healthy scratch last night for a reason, he's contributing even less than Kopecky. And regardless of his faceoff percentage, Draper is 803rd in the league in +/-, leaving only 20 players in the ENTIRE league that are worse. This isn't meant as disrespect of Draper's past contributions, the man was crucial to our success, but it's time to let go.

Hossa should never be put in the position where he has no other choice but to fight, 'cause no one else is going to stand up for the team. Kopecky, Draper and Maltby all need to go. Draper is -14 now for christ sake. I think this team has enough skill to allow for 1 player on the 4th line who can actually fight, I'm not saying he has to be a good or an enforcer, just someone that can throwdown occasionally...kinda like Drake did last year.

Kopecky isn't just a random scapegoat like Samuelsson has been in the past, he's the worst player on the current roster with no area of specialty at all that never does anything to redeem himself. Every player on this team has at least 1 specific aspect of the game that they excel at, except for Kopecky. He is the definition of filler. I don't see the fear of losing him to waivers at all.

I don't disagree with you, but I believe Draper has a NTC, and he also has the loyalty of the organization so I think it's unlikely they'll touch him. Kopecky on the other hand seems to be unjustifiably protected from any benching or trading...I just don't understand it myself.

There are 8 other forwards on the team with more points than Filppula, and he's not leading in any other categories either. I don't see why this debate is still raging. He is NOT the 4th best forward by any stretch of the imagination.

For f*** sake with the Kopecky already...so Leino is going to sit now? WAIVE him.

QFT. The bottom line is Filppula has not lived up to his contract expectations this season, and he is certainly not better than Franzen OR Hudler. Get over it.

Wasn't this already cleared up earlier in the thread? Leading the league in giveaways for ALL defensemen, 3rd overall in giveaways by ALL players. I think that pretty much answers your question.

Agreed, there are other teams in the league who will still pay that salary even with his lowered production. I think he's an obvious salary dump player right now compared to the new guys moving up in the ranks.

Not gonna happen this season, he's not playing well enough defensively even with the high offensive output.

Well, it's pretty difficult to justify saying that Downey is "useless" when he's actually a decent fighter, whereas Kopecky isn't a decent ANYTHING and the only justification that comes up time and time again is that "he only makes 500k" Edit, and in reference to your initial clever comment, I don't expect to see any cup in Detroit this year since no one the team willing to throw a check anymore. Kronwall has crawled back into his shell, Stuart is gimped for who knows how long and Drake is gone. That leaves us with the oh so tough and terrifying Maltby/Kopecky combo. That'll certainly carry us through the playoffs

No interest in ever seeing Perry in a Wings' jersey, not that it would ever happen...but man what a ******. YOU'RE GONNA GET IT! OH NOES.

Even a guy with a positive attitude like Downey is going to be demoralized when you call him up for a game, he plays with incredible energy (more so than ANYONE on the roster in that game) and the team immediately sends you back down to GR while a ******* clown like Kopecky is assured his position on the 4th line so that he can not score, not fight, not skate, and "hit" like a nancy night in and night out.