haroldsnepsts

It's not like he's been a 4th liner all season. He's earned those useless slug linemates.

There's certainly no one in the Wings to fear retribution from. They shouldn't be wasting their time with Cowen anyway. They should be running Karlsson and Spezza at every opportunity. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

To be fair, I think the big difference is that Quincey has played over 350 games in the NHL whereas Smith has played less then 80. One you expect to be completely over boneheaded rookie mistakes. The other it's a little more understandable.

Maybe his injuries slowed him down that tiny bit he needed so he could finish.

I never like seeing anyone take a puck to the face like that. As much as I disliked Weber's head smash on Hank, I was angrier about the lack of punishment. He's one of those guys who sometimes plays on the edge, he just should've paid the price for it, both from the Wings and the league. I'd still take Weber on the Wings in a heartbeat. Hank could smash his face into the glass during practice and they can call it even.

Some updated numbers. Wings are: 16th in Goals Against 16th in Goals For 6th in PP % 3rd in PK % Special teams numbers are great. And I feel like Goals For is slowly moving up, hasn't it?

That's definitely not good, but I also have to wonder how many games that actually is. In those 10 years there's been 2 lockouts, plus coming out of the first lockout they hardly played the East. It could be 8 games for all I know. EDIT: A pretty good guess if I do say so myself! According to this site it was 8 games ago. http://www.detroithockey.net/history/schedule/display.php?franchise0=22&total_franchises=1&neutral_sites=1 They won in regulation in 2003 6-0. They beat the them in OT in 2007.

If it were March I'd agree, but there's a reason Gustavsson is a backup and Jimmy is a starter. Howard hasn't been great while Monster has been solid. But this team is better with Howard playing at the top of his game, so the goal is to get him there.

I updated the thread title since Datsyuk's injury has become about much more than not traveling to one game.

Keep discussion relevant to the concussion lawsuit in the NHL or this thread will be closed.

Kerry Fraser's take on the play, which pretty much sums it up for me: http://www.tsn.ca/blogs/kerry_fraser/?id=437641 Cowen may not have intended to catch Dats in the head, but he intentionally threw an elbow. When you add to that the league's policy of taking the injury into consideration (which is one I disagree with), Cowen should've been suspended. If he doesn't throw the elbow, there's no concussion regardless of the move Datsyuk made.

Ansar Khan ‏@AnsarKhanMLive 23m Datsyuk said he is feeling a little better but not where he needs to be to play. Doesn't think he's going on trip to NYI and OTT. Ansar Khan ‏@AnsarKhanMLive 22m Datsyuk wouldn't comment on Cowen's elbow to his chin or NHL's decision not to suspend him.

Just got home to catch the last minute of the game. Wings beat them 6-1 even without Datsyuk?? Were they that good or the Bruins that bad? Or both?

Defense. I'm less worried about the preventing goals part. The Goals Against isn't terrible and Jimmy hasn't been great. Plus our young guys should improve with gap control and their zone assignments at NHL speeds. But the offense starts with the defensive transition game. And with the Wings young and often shaky defensive corps, it has not been good. As a result the forwards spend more of their shifts pinned in their own zone helping the D men get the puck out of the zone. I'd be curious to know how much time the Wings spend in their own end relative to the the offensive zone. Is there a stat that tracks zone time? I could've saved myself some typing had I read yours post first. I think we were typing at the same time but I think you're spot on.

I was assuming they'd paint it after it was broken in and before he'd wear it for a game.

Please stay on topic and discuss the content of someone's post without insulting them. Argue the topic, not the person. Otherwise your post will be deleted and could result in suspension. Thanks.

Also Hakan Andersson once again finds a gem. When you consider that Ericsson wasn't converted to defense until he was an 18 year old, it's pretty amazing that he's a top pairing guy in the NHL.

Howie changing things up to bring some better puck luck? Ansar Khan ‏@AnsarKhanMLive 1h Wings' Jimmy Howard breaking in a new mask in practice. He is backing up Jonas Gustavsson tonight. pic.twitter.com/c5eGzLu3CA

I was one of the biggest defenders of Ericsson back then but honestly he's even exceeded my expectations. I figured his top end would be a solid middle pairing guy. And even that would've been a great return on their asset by the Red Wings given he's a dead last draft pick. E has stepped up his physical game in front of the net, he's got the great first pass (including the occasional Rafalski long bombs), and most importantly he's become very poised in the defensive end.

Ansar Khan ‏@AnsarKhanMLive 2m Ken Holland said Datsyuk feels better but won't play Friday at NYI. Maybe Sunday in Ottawa but not sure yet.

Ansar Khan ‏@AnsarKhanMLive 13m Wings have finalized Jonathan Ericsson's extension. It's for six years. Ansar Khan ‏@AnsarKhanMLive 7m Ericsson deal has a cap hit of 4.25 million. When you guys start a thread on a signing like this, be sure to include a link from a reputable source.

Ansar Khan ‏@AnsarKhanMLive 5m Optional skate for Wings. Datsyuk and Bertuzzi are skating. Neither is playing tonight, however. Ansar Khan ‏@AnsarKhanMLive 2m Datsyuk left the ice. Wasn't out there long, maybe 10 minutes.

As you mention, this thread has no point. It's just a slight variation on what has become the new sport here at LGW, so it is a duplicate of the Dan Cleary Hate thread. And with every obsessive new post here hating a Red Wings player, Wings fans take a step closer to Philly. Congratulations. Locked.

The difference in your examples is that there was a much better understanding of the risks of playing with a bad knee or foot. Players could make a more well informed decision in accepting those risks. Also, the last sentence ignores the core issues to the lawsuits. Did the players have enough information to make that decision? Did the league actively hide any information? Did the league do enough to learn that information? Did the league do enough to act on the information they had? So the chest thumping "be a man" stuff is off the mark. To use an extreme example to illustrate the point, say they found out skating hard in 45 second shifts and then immediately sitting down greatly increases risk of heart disease. That would put NHL players at great risk for heart disease by nature of their job. They've accepted the risks of playing a dangerous game, but the new found risk of heart disease falls outside the generally known risks involved with the job. Obviously for years everyone knew getting hit in the head wasn't great, but what we know about concussions has changed greatly. There's a large gap between "getting your bell rung" where you maybe have a headache for a day, and having CTE with lifelong sensitivity to light, chronic headaches, memory loss, depression, mood swings, and suicidal thoughts. So it gets back to what the league knew, when, and what it did with that information. I don't pretend to know the answers to any of those questions. But I think they're ones worth raising. The Frontline special "League of Denial" covers Webster. He's sort of the case that kicked it all off. It's an interesting story, and also makes me fear for the future of the NFL especially.

To try and redirect the conversation a bit, I'll reiterate the points that the players' lawsuit is arguing: http://espn.go.com/nhl/story/_/id/10036795/former-players-sue-nhl-concussions So the points about "don't like the risks, don't play the game" are missing the point. Whether you agree or not, the players position is that they were not aware of the full risks of head injuries and their impact later in life. So they weren't able to make an informed choice to accept those risks. The other points are saying the league didn't make enough of an effort to learn about the risks and once they started studying them, took over 10 years to make any effort to reduce headshots. For people interested, Frontline had a great documentary on the NHL and concussions a few weeks ago. It covers the evolution of awareness in the game, the study of the head injuries, and the NFL's stance on it over the years.