Feldmarschall

Before he got to the NHL, his assist totals more than doubled his goal totals in his previous three years at the professional level with Jokerit and Grand Rapids.

Personally, not seeing the Wings has been a matter of economics and distance. I've attended four games in the past two seasons, and I was given tickets all four times. Left to my own devices, I'd have never gone, just sat at home and watched on FSD. Too much money, too long of a drive. Who wants to head downtown to watch a hockey game? A big part of why the Pistons work so well these days is their closer proximity to the fans themselves. The Palace is a great suburban location, and going to see them wouldn't be any big deal at all if I felt so inclined. But the Wings? I have to drive for an hour or more, contend with traffic, pay $15 to park, $54 for s***ty upper bowl tickets, $9 for a beer, and I still end up pissing in a trough. I do it anyway because the tickets are free and I love hockey, but it's easy to see why so many people are turned off by the idea of going to see a team with 1/2 the payroll and 1/4 the stars it used to have for the same price as ever. I recall reading that interview conducted with Ken, Scotty, and Mr. I. When asked about the sagging attendance, they said it was a clear message to wake up. I hope they take it to heart, because things are going to get worse before they get better. The team needs more accessibility and cheaper tickets, not to mention some kind of league-wide marketing to get people interested in hockey. I went to BWW the other night and only one TV in the whole joint had the Wings on. Everybody else is busy watching some out of market football game. Who gives a s*** about Buffalo and Dallas? Such is the state of the hockey market.

If so, that name is totally inappropriate. He should be called swingnfall.

Lilja and Kronwall have both been turning the puck over a lot, and making generally poor plays. Our D in general hasn't looked all that great and has been relying more and more on backchecking forwards going deeper into the zone to help the play. We've given up a correspondingly larger number of blueline shots and while the season is young, these guys have a lot of work to do. I can think of a couple of teams we wouldn't be beating in the playoffs with our D playing as it is. The only truly solid defensive players we've got on the back end right now are Chelios and Lidstrom. Rafalski is mediocre, too light on his feet, Kronwall and Lilja exhibit poor decision making, and Lebda really isn't very noticeable one way or the other. Makes the loss of Markov sting a bit more.

What a save by Bernier at the end. Patrick O'Sullivan was the best forward on the ice for either side all night long.

This Bernier kid is wonderful positionally. He's been just letting the pucks hit him, and not losing his composure in the scramble afterwards. If he gets his rebounds under control, he'll be top notch.

This is getting stupid for both sides... Refs had better get a good long look from the league after this one.

YES. Got my video working just in time to catch that one.

I'm getting audio but no video in both IE and Mozilla, and I have Media Player 11. What gives?

Danny boy will get it. I already paid the Anaheim bench.

Franzen's play has been very impressive, and Hank can score pretty well even without Pavel setting him up. They'll still be together on the first PP unit, so I wouldn't particularly worry about offense. If the preseason is any indication of what we can expect, it should be a very successful season when we've got our full lineup.

Relax, people. Sandman comes here to troll, the extra posts help draw attention to the advertising he's not so cleverly placed in his sig and avatar. Quit feeding the troll and it will go away. Better yet, get on that wonderful Ignore button.

Can't believe they waived Danis. Wasn't he supposed to be pretty promising?

And a slash to Franzen. 5 on 3 without Lidstrom against guys like Richards and St. Louis? This should be good. Ah, just as I hit save... Marty scored.

Dammit, now Clark's getting his ass beat too.

Meech and Sammy were the worst players on the ice for either squad. Quincey looked OK but had a bad defensive lapse that resulted in the second Minnesota goal, if memory serves. Left his man alone streaking in because he got caught watching the play. Kronwall was mediocre, Lilja was great. Ellis' skating really HAS improved, it's not just hot air. He looked fantastic, wonderful defensive play. Hartigan was solid all around, I can't believe this guy didn't have regular icetime on a squad like Columbus.

Downey's actually very small for an enforcer. . Hockeydb has him listed at 6' and 216. Almost Barnaby numbers.

Cool, I like it. I hope Danno takes first line icetime and absolutely runs with it. I think he's capable of playing at that level, given the confidence in himself that he started displaying last season.

I'm not making his argument for him, just giving at least one instance where the physicality came back to bite him. Obviously checking is good. I may not like Kronwall, but at least he tries to run people now and then.

His hitting was how he got his nose nearly cut off and had to wear a cage after missing his customary swath of games. He leveled an Av so bad that the player's skate came up and hit him in the face.

He never showed up, at least not by four.

This is rapidly becoming a really dumb argument. You guys are both better than this.

Hahaha, I love the look on Malts' face. Cleary's, too.

Looks like this is Kronwall's make-or-break year. Babs has big plans. I like that he's left the bottom spots completely open for competition. He also hasn't jumped on the Grigorenko bandwagon. He'll make Igor prove himself. Good news all around.

Who the hell is Eric Calder? We've got another Rex on our hands here.