haroldsnepsts

Another great shift by Ericsson.

Great work by Cleary going to the front of the net. Thomas wasn't set up for it. I think I could've scored on a net that wide open.

Zetterberg's new defensive strategy is apparently to leave sticks all over the ice.

great shift by Z, Mule and E.

The initial knockdown was Holmstrom's fault for skating ass first into him, but yeah, that was a bit much. Like they said, he didn't have two hands on the stick so technically it's not a crosscheck. I just wish the Wings would punish guys in the corner and behind the net like that.

I can't believe I'm about to say this, but I actually do agree with Milbury. Yes, hockey is used to police the game, but if people didn't like it in the game, it would absolutely be eliminated and the league would be trying to figure out other ways to police the game. EDIT: I'm responding to his first comments about how it's ultimately in the game because people like it.

Why bring Hudler into this thread?

over on hfboards, Pens fans are comparing Martin going after Talbot with the Bertuzzi incident. It'll be interesting to see what happens now that Bettman is going to be involved. I was kind of excited to see the Campbell wheel of justice in action, but now he'll have to answer to Gary and how bad of PR this was for hockey. I think Gillies should be too for that flying elbow and throwing punches on a guy who's clearly hurt.

Pavs is absolutely awesome. Kesler deserves the Selke.

Even if he did make it to Detroit, a detail that a lot of people seem to be overlooking is that he was coming here because he wanted Howard's job. He didn't want to help a playoff team by recording stats on the bench. To me, still not a dick move by Snow. A good goalie was available at a great price, and he had a legitimate need. He has a responsibility to his fans and his owner. If Detroit was ever in that situation and Holland had passed, we'd likely all be screaming that he's an idiot. This whole signing by Holland is still just such a bizarre move to me. He had to know Nabby would never end up in Detroit, so what exactly was he doing? At the price he signed him for, Holland was basically chumming the waters.

Agreed on all counts. I understand that people here love the Wings, and the team for the last several years has mostly lacked the fighting element, so they may be inclined to say "who needs it" or "we don't want it." But if this team was winning and could beat the snot out of people, I doubt many here would be complaining either. It'd be an awesome thing to watch the Wings win and intimidate teams physically.

You could just as easily ask, why would Nabokov bother to sign a contract when there was little to no chance of him starting for the Wings. He mentioned helping a team in the playoffs, but then why sign for Detroit? There was almost zero chance of him clearing all the teams in waivers, then outplaying Howard enough to convince Babcock to start him. As I've said before though, Nabby's agent said he'd play anywhere. Which you'd have to believe at the time since he bothered coming back this season and subjecting himself to waivers. And so what if the Isles have zero playoff hopes? Snow still needs to ice an NHL team and try to get fans to come to games. His only option was a kid that they hope will be a good goaltender for the franchise someday. I understand why they wouldn't want him to be the one suffering as the starting goaltender for the Isles that early in his development. Snow has a goaltender under contract in Nabokov, so I also understand him not picking up Emery. Don't get me wrong, the Isles management has made a lot of unbelievably stupid moves. This one, I pretty much understand. And I also don't get why people think Snow somehow looks like an ass in this situation, but so many people are okay with Nabokov no honoring his NHL contract and refusing to report, which is extremely unprofessional. He may not be helping a team in the playoffs, but when you jump ship to the KHL then bail on that and subject yourself to waivers, you might not have the pick of the litter when it comes to which NHL team you get to start for. Even without the postseason Nabby could've used this season with Islanders to re-establish himself as a starting NHL goaltender and signed a big contract next year. Exactly. This bitching is all about Nabokov not making it to the Wings. Before this deal, most people probably didn't even know who the GM of the s***ty Isles team was.

Normally I'm with you, but if Cooke had gotten a career-ending injury in that fight, it just means a bunch of other players are safer. I'll take one youtube clip of Cooke getting hurt and ideally not being able to play hockey again, because it means there's gonna be fewer youtube clips of other players getting hurt.

Nabby at that price is a much better move than either Emery or Smith. He's a proven goaltender at a bargain price. There's a reason Smith went unclaimed, and anyone claiming Emery would have to put him into the lineup immediately, which is less than ideal with a goalie trying to mount a comeback, let alone someone with the history of Emery. Their goalies were injured beforehand, which is why they claimed Nabokov. Dipietro was coming back from injury at the time they grabbed Nabby, but everyone knew it was inevitable he'd get hurt again. I'm surprised how bent out of shape people are over the Nabokov thing. Snow claimed him for a lot of the same reasons Holland wanted him. It was a great deal on a very good goaltender, when the Isles had virtually no healthy goalies. And if the Islanders had passed, I guess you'd all just be mad at the next team who picked him up, because he still had like 25 more teams to clear. There was little to no chance Nabokov was ever going to be a Red Wing.

Exactly. He's mostly looked poised and made the simple plays out there. He's getting bolder pinching in, which overall is a good thing, but there's gonna be some bad decisions as he develops. All in all I've been extremely happy with his play this season, considering after last it looked like he may not be good enough to play in the NHL. I mainly just wish he'd be more physical out there. I watch a fair amount of Kings games and I wish we had a bottom pairing guy like Matt Greene. He punishes guys along the boards constantly, shoving them into it over and over, but rarely takes a penalty. Ericsson definitely has the size to add that his game. He's gotten better and pins guys, but doesn't crunch them very much. EDIT: and Hudler's goal was a result of E jumping into the play and making a nice pass. The reality is, nobody is gonna measure up to Lidstrom, but Ericsson can hopefully develop into a solid middle pairing guy.

And I never get tired of watching this.

Can we please not turn this into a Bertuzzi thread? No matter what you think happened, that was one incident. Cooke has a long history of cheapshots and has got to be the dirtiest player in the NHL.

Why exactly did Ericsson deserve three thumbs down? Not his best game maybe, but it's not like he was playing last season. Yes he had the high sticking penalty on that d-bag Avery, but the last goal was on Rafalski not picking up his man and being weak around the net, not E. I'd flip Raf's and E's ratings there.

Mindfly, is that you? No, I know what you're saying though honestly I'd rather he be back, and not just because of the two shutouts. He's been medically cleared to play for a couple games now. I'm guessing being 100% healed won't happen sometime until the offseason. And as you know he could get injured in some other freak way at any time, there's just no knowing. But assuming he won't do further damage by playing, it'll be good for him to start getting back in game shape so he's back in prime form come playoffs.

wow. This thread went south faster than an old man's yambags in a sauna.

I think these two are definitely part of it. Not that the Wings had it locked down defensively with Stuart in the lineup. But at this point he's basically the only physical presence on defense. Ericsson and Salei will occasionally hit guys, but are generally a lot less physical than Stuart. And for the most part this season I guess Kronwall doesn't feel like hitting anymore. Turnovers seem like they're way up too, from everybody. Homer has been a turnover machine, and last night Franzen picked up his slack. Some of it is bound to happen with newer guys in the lineup. But in general I feel like i've seen more turnovers even from our top line guys. Add to that mediocre goaltending and it's no wonder GAA is up.

all right, I'm off to watch the Kings game. They've had some trouble scoring goals too, but at least when they're not scoring they still hit people and fight.

oops. thanks for the correction. So the Wings haven't managed to fix their defense problems, but now they can't score goals either.

A few decent scoring chances, but mostly low percentage shots. wristers from 60 feet out or from the side boards.

I think he partially fanned on it and it went in off Jimmy. Nice play though.