haroldsnepsts

Feds had a more complicated history. The contract holdout that led to the offer sheet with Carolina. A reputation for moodiness. Don't get me wrong, I think Fedorov gets far too much grief for leaving. And honestly, I do hold it against Hudler a little bit for leaving. Yes it's a business, but it also reveals how badly you want to play in the NHL or not. And the Wings could've used him this season. I wonder what their playoff position would've been if Hudler had been there to chip in some much needing scoring? Or what it would mean for their playoffs? I don't think he should be booed or anything, but it's got to be a little weird in the locker room when he's first there, after all the Wings went through this year without him.

If Matt Cooke wasn't good enough, then maybe they should've sent Bert to fight him earlier in the game instead of chasing him down late with the game out of reach. It's not Moore's fault he didn't get his ass kicked to the Canucks liking. Moore fought already. It's on Bert and the Canucks for not making it count. Well, until Bert broke his neck with a suckerpunch. Bertuzzi coldcocks a guy from behind, yet the guy getting suckerpunched is somehow the *****? Sorry. That doesn't really add up for me. But this is so far beyond a dead horse.

To be clear, I'm not a Steve Moore fan. But it sounds like you're letting your opinion of Moore influence what actually happened on the Naslund hit. It happened very fast and Naslund was reaching for the puck. He had one knee on the ice when Moore hit him. That's different than Matt Cooke cutting across the ice and clipping a guy in the head as he's standing straight up. Link to the proof where Crawford told Bert what to do? Because basically they have he-said/she-said lawsuits about it. Crawford claims Bert disobeyed his order to get off the ice before he punched Moore. People were acting like Moore hadn't fought. He had already answered the bell that game. So he's a coward for not fighting again, just because the Nucks didn't like the outcome? He took his medicine already. Kronwall has thrown a few questionable hits in his career. I doubt people would feel the same if the opposing team just kept lining him up for beatdowns. It was a borderline hit at NHL speeds. Who knows what Moore's career would've been, because Bert chased him down and broke his neck. You may think Moore would've ended playing careers, but he never did. Bertuzzi, however, has.

sloppy play leads to a penalty. crap.

Homer must be such a pain in the ass to play against.

Uh, didn't that Sharks player basically try and dive on Jimmy?

He wasn't headhunting. It was a marginal hit for sure, but it was nothing like the Cooke hits. That's headhunting. And Moore had already fought that game. Bert just wanted him to go again because the score was out of reach. How many times does a guy need to drop his gloves for a hit? It's not Moore's fault he didn't get his ass kicked the first time so the Nucks weren't satisfied. But this is all old news.

Luckily Hank was already slowing up and had turned enough that he didn't go headfirst into the boards. But what a dick move by a frustrated player.

It pretty much was a penalty he had to take. If I remember correctly, it was basically a guy on the open side of the net with the puck bouncing his way. Besides, Stuart sure made up for it when he got out of the penalty box.

For the record, Jimmy played big and the Wings won. Why not Believe?

Nice to see the fans cheering like that, and the players saluting them. Who knows, maybe this will spur something in Phoenix. Try as I might, I couldn't really must a lot of hate for the Coyotes. They weren't especially deep on talent, but were hard working and showed a lot of heart. Considering I wasn't sure this team would even make the playoffs, it's great to see the Wings moving on to the second round.

I've been watching the Wings for over 20 years now, and honestly I hate when they lose. I get anxious during the playoffs. And pissed when a bad call goes against them. But if watching them made me as miserable as it seems to make you, I honestly would never watch hockey again. Ever. The main point of my post was that you gotta go with Howard at this point. Ozzy's way too cold to step in for a game seven. Howard is still the number one goalie and has a better chance of playing big. And given I have no friggin control over how he plays or what the outcome is, why not hope he plays big and the Wings win?

Rafalaski has played 23 minutes per game in 6 games as the top pairing guy against the other teams top lines. Schneider was basically kicked of the Nucks before being picked up off the scrap heap by the Yotes, and has played a total of 28 minutes in two games 15:44 of which was on the powerplay. He has one goal in his two shots on net. And you guys seriously would replace Rafalski with Schneider? I know the grass is always greener, but good lord.

I know I shouldn't be surprised, yet I am that there a people discussing yanking Howard. It was definitely not one of his stronger games, but he was hardly the major reason the Wings lost, which is what the case would have to be for Osgood to start. As I said before, more than anything he was the only one defending his net. He makes the first save, then there's two Coyotes players there to whack at any rebound. Now watch the highlights at the other end. Typically there's at least two if not three Phoenix players by Bryzgalov to clear the crease and any rebounds. He let in an Ozzy-like five hole goal on the shorty, but otherwise played pretty well. The Yotes had a couple seeing-eye goals and were screening him well. In short, ya gotta dance with the one who brung you. Jimmy will start, play big in net, and the Wings win.

So Ozzy and Ericsson are apparently the two not safe under your umbrella of blind optimism. I can understand a lot of the points you make, even if I don't agree with a couple like 5 (I don't think that's his primary role, much like Lilja), and 7 (again, not his role). But what I don't get is the personal attacks like #1 and saying he doesn't seem to care. Really? You think he's just half assing it out there and could give a crap that he's playing in the playoffs? Like all he's half to do to play better is actually try? He's still relatively young, has dedicated his life to hockey, and is getting his big break this year. Pretty much make it or break it. And so far he's mostly broke it. It may just be that he doesn't have the ability to become an NHL defenseman but it's pretty ridiculous to assume he just doesn't care.

Babcock, apparently. Ericsson had a terrible regular season, but I think he's been okay in the playoffs. I'm not sure why he's being singled out. Changing out a bottom pairing defenseman is not going to solve the Wings' problems. The thing about his slapper is, he has a 100 mph slapshot in a skills competition. That's different from getting it off during playoff game conditions. He's gotten better, but his windup is still slow for the pace of the NHL game, so he often doesn't get it off before someone is there to block it. Rafalski may not have a cannon, but he's got a quick, often well place slapshot.

Nice replay there showing Cleary getting schooled on that backdoor play. ugh.

Wings need to protect their own crease better than they did today. Looking at the replay there's always at least one Phoenix player standing untouched right in front of Jimmy. Meanwhile even when the Wings score, there's three Yotes players right around their net clearing out players and rebounds.

how did lillypads miss that??

It's nauseous from watching the Wings lose to the Coyotes?

Hit people! wtf happened behind the play? get him Abby! some MMA stuff going on behind the net.

Agreed. Wings don't capitalize on the 5 on 3, Yotes get some good bounces. The game turns.

what was the penalty on the Yotes??

Wings need to hit everybody in a white jersey.

Nice pass by Bert. Bah, then he loses the handle later in the play. He's really fighting the puck today.