haroldsnepsts

Agreed. The Blues play a great forecheck system and look like they haven't lost a step since last season. Wings have a lot to sort out and have the additional challenge of doing it in half a season. But getting shelled for one period is a little early to lose hope.

Kronwall hooked him around the hands and his skates came out from under him. That was a dive. And yes this team is getting horribly outplayed.

Howard, Flip, Ericsson looked good. Everyone else I either didn't notice or only noticed because they were awful. Blues came to play. Wings look like a team that's coming off a lockout.

diiiiiiive

17 shots on goal against. 4 minutes left in the first period. ouch.

Uh, you think Franzen can physically match Backes there Mick? Only in height and weight. Not really in anything to do with physical play.

Or physical play by anyone in the Winged Wheel really.

Absolutely. Last year the Kings Blues series was crazy for that reason. The Wings didn't have the size and forecheck to hang with either of those teams in a seven game series. Are they cheering Cola being injured?

wow quincey. That was Lebdariffic.

Don't worry. Lids will get out there and settle things down... aww crap.

I hope Kronwall has Backes as his number one target.

Since it's been a while since hockey's been around, here's an update on the forum rules: · DON'T post links to torrent or illegal streaming websites. LetsGoWings.com does not condone the sharing of illegal content on this web site and all links will be removed. (This also includes instructions on how to set up or view illegal streaming feeds without overtly linking to them.) Obviously what happens in PM's we have no control over. But for liability issues don't want the forum threads to be a place where illegal activity is discussed.

In the theme of Dipietro's awful contract, the Isles are going with Nabokov as the starter for the home opener. Even though it's one of those brief periods where Dipietro isn't injured. Only 9 more years on the deal! http://espn.go.com/new-york/nhl/story/_/id/8859735/evgeni-nabokov-not-rick-dipietro-gets-start-new-york-islanders

St. Louis Blues ‏@StLouisBlues The Blues have agreed to a deal in principle with defenseman Wade Redden. http://bit.ly/11EIqDW #stlblues Retweeted by Bob McKenzie Drat! Jedi beat me to it!

I wouldn't mind him not dropping the gloves so much, but he's so often taking whacks at guys and throwing gloved punches. If you're going to start crap like that, back it up. He's fortunate to not have been suspended for a couple of his more extreme suckerpunches.

There's just too many variables for +/- to be that meaningful of a stat. If it has any use at all I think it's only when you use it to look at the extremes for players on the same team. If someone on the Wings is a -17 on the season and the next lowest guy is a -2, I think that's meaningful. But over multiples seasons and across teams, I don't think it means much. Rick Nash is a career -71. By that number you'd think he never crossed center ice to head back into his defensive zone. Patrick Kane on the other hand, who isn't exactly a strong backchecker, cherry picks a lot and is always the first guy headed up ice looking for a pass, is a career +23. So Nash is that much worse defensively than Kane? Not really.

Man Franzen is embarrassing when he tries to act tough. Once it gets past throwing gloved punches with a ref protecting him, he's down for the count.

Bob McKenzie ‏@TSNBobMcKenzie Multiple teams considering options on both. LA, STL, TOR, FLA among those kicking tires on Redden, ANA and CAR among those considering Gomez

He probably pulled it bailing out of getting the puck in the corner so he wouldn't be hit.

Seems like overpayment to me. But considering it's down to him and Kovalchuk, with practically the rest of their offense as UFA's and RFA's at the end of the season, they didn't have a lot of leverage. Lebrun has a pretty good article on the signing. Pointing out how his pay is lower the first couple seasons and has the signing bonuses there, likely to help prevent his contract from taking an escrow hit in those years. http://espn.go.com/blog/nhl/post/_/id/21391/could-travis-zajacs-deal-set-a-trend

I'm a little surprised you guys think he has all the tools. As you may remember I've defended Ericsson a lot here over the last couple seasons, but even I wouldn't say he has all the tools. Someone like Jiri Fischer had all the tools and was really starting to get it together before his heart incident. Ericsson has a great first pass, is decent positionally and has stepped up his physical game. But to me there's always an element of his game where he looks like the converted forward that he is. He doesn't have the refined instincts of d-men who do have all the tools. When he keeps it simple and uses his size, he's a solid middle pairing d-man. Which is still quite a find for the Wings given he was dead last and outperformed a high draft pick like Kindl. I wish he would work on his slapper. People talk about what a cannon it is, but it's useless in the NHL with that long slow windup. He needs to work on getting it off faster and getting it through bodies.

Agreed. And I think people are probably ranking the Wings low not necessarily because they're bad, but because when you look at the Wings blueline there are a whole lot of question marks. They lost not just their #1 d-man but one of the greatest D-men to ever play the game. Lids was logging almost 24 minutes a night, and still at a high level. So on defense it's: how will White perform without Lids? Can Kronwall step up? Will Ericsson continue to improve and fill the greater role they need from him? Will Quincey fit in and improve his consistency? How will Smith do as a rookie? What will become of Kindl? Will Cola stay healthy and play well? The Wings success will depend greatly on what the answers to those questions are. Then on offense they really need their top guys to produce, and there's the unknown of how the young guys will do.

I think most people only loved him during the playoffs and then after the Cup win. Drake was actually pretty awful for his regular season with the Wings. He redeemed himself in the Cup run, and apparently by teaching Dats to hit better. Drake was a somewhat dirty player for running guys, but I still think Tootoo has a worse track record than Drake did when he joined the Wings. Like him or not, for almost $2 mill a season, I hope Tootoo gets it together and makes a positive contribution for the Wings.

Exactly. If he brings energy, clean hard hits, squares up when he drops the gloves instead of suckerpunching and isn't such a defensive liability, I'll quickly become one of his biggest fans. So far throughout his career though you take his good qualities with a fair amount of bad.

O'Donnell apparently is hanging them up. Pierre LeBrun ‏@Real_ESPNLeBrun As per @DarrenDreger, Sean O'Donnell is going to retire. A great soul and players will tell you an even better teammate. He'll be missed.