haroldsnepsts

Great game. Especially for Hank and Dats. Holy moly. Homer too. Cleary must love the last couple minutes of a game because he actually gets to play with Dats and Z instead of being stuck with Hudler and Modano. He did a lot of hard work in those final minutes keeping the puck deep and in the Wings' possession. They could put together a lowlight real of Modano's half-assed puck pursuit. He plays like he's a first line sniper and not a third line center.

THank you Visnosky for waiting behind your own net to end the second period. No late period goal against!

dude, I don't know what you're watching on the internet, but I'm pretty sure it's not hockey.

Z and Dats are buzzing tonight. Homer!

someone shoot the goddamn puck!

Kindl getting knocked off the puck by the Wings net.

The way the puck is skipping around tonight you'd think they were playing pond hockey.

Mule! Goalie took his skate off the post when the puck was still sitting there.

Yeah, I'm not totally sold on Salei, I just hope he stays healthy. Though we've already got Janik in the lineup due to injuries. I'd be a little afraid for who the bottom pairing would be had we not signed Salei.

You do know that Salei didn't actually steal Lilja's job, don't you? Lilja passed on the contract the Wings offered.

frick.

That's what I'm trying to figure out. Who the hell was supposed to have Ryan? He was ridiculously wide open. It's like one of the Wings decided to hop onto the bench and head to the dressing room early. And why the hell is Getzlaf so awesome against the Wings?! The guy kills us every time.

I know he does. It's something he needs to do a lot less.

I'm not gonna get into a long debate. I'm just saying it was borderline. If the situation was reversed and that was Visnovsky popping Datsyuk in the chin, it might not be so clear it wasn't an elbow.

Ryan was wide open, but he was out by the faceoff circle. I'm not sure that was STuart's man. But I think his elbow got Selanne in the chin. Shoulder then elbow. How could you possibly tell it was incidental? Even if it's after initial contact, if you throw your elbow out and it clips a guy in the chin, that's a penalty.

wow. Kronner did get him a bit with the elbow. That could've been a penalty. He got him with the shoulder first but threw the elbow.

hit the brakes and he'll fly right by! wow. great move and pass by Dats.

Wow. Salei with the high stick and the elbow. I gotta agree with the Ducks homer announcers on this one.

ouch. did he take that in the grill?

weak call on Perry. Pretty funny though. The Ducks announcers apparently saw Kronwall's elbow hit Selanne in the jaw. Z!!!!

Suit yourself. But with the bad economy and all, that sounds like a terrible employment strategy.

This whole thing baffles me. Why the hell did they pay him so much? It's not like he was an unknown quantity. On hfboards, when he was signed Toronto fans were saying it's because he may have been a 6/7th D-man on the Wings, but would play a lot more on Toronto.

Watching hockey tonight I just started thinking about a few of the guys I would've loved to see in the Winged Wheel. For some that ship has sailed, others it's still possible but unlikely. Guys like Ovechkin or (dare I say) Crosby would be obvious choices, but I'm also interested in players that are deeper in the lineup than that. Or maybe even guys you're a little embarrassed to admit. For me it's: Jamal Mayers - not anymore, but I wished he would've been on the Wings sometime in his prime Pronger - you heard me. I'd rather be on the side of giving out the elbows than receiving. Plus the guy's a beast in the playoffs and an incredibly smart hockey player with a great first pass. Kesler - a local kid and great two way forward. Seems like he'd be a natural fit for the Wings. I'm sure there's others, but that's the first few.

Offensively speaking I totally agree. They're gonna start clicking. Defensively I am still worried. They're out to an awful start and the only chemistry they seem to have is of the same kind Lebda and Ericsson had last season. Something about how they play together combines for a perfect storm of defensive lapses. I know Modano is 6'3" and 210 lbs but he plays like he's Hudler's size around the Detroit net. He needs to pay attention to how Hank physically eliminates guys. And I definitely agree that the other lines are playing too well to change things up at this point. Hopefully it will get sorted.