Heroes of Hockeytown

Preemptive apology here. This is gonna be kinda long. Here's the thing, the things you're saying in that second paragraph are implicit in the first. Have the Wings been less physical and had worse team defense and a poorer mindset because of any one guy being or not being in the lineup? No. To me, it stinks of Stanley Cup hangover segwaying nicely into regular season boredom. The Wings played pretty big and tough against the Sharks, wouldn't you agree? They did a number on the Pens before that, and the Hawks before that. I'm not saying, and have never said, that Downey couldn't help the team. Hell, he already helped the team in his only game this year. But it's very easy to take these notions of toughness and run with them well beyond the point of reason. Does one player really alter the whole team's mindset? They were capable of performing tough without that player, or one like him, in the examples I gave. A player can lift the team, and a player can fundamentally alter a team's mindset -- we've seen both, it can even be from an enforcer; but it doesn't look to me at all like Aaron Downey is the latter. The team doesn't need him to play hard nosed hockey. He might help them to do that, on occasion, but the rest of the gang can absolutely do it on their own. If all of the above is a given (and I'm sure there are some that disagree), then it becomes easier for us to decide who has what value to the team. One bad apple spoils the whole bunch... Point made, but in context it doesn't apply to the Wings' fourth line conundrum. Which is great and all, but not any reason to keep him around vs. another jobber then, eh? Hey man, no argument here.

I get what you're aiming for, that the team easily won the President's Trophy last season even with a "good for nothing" (detractor's words, not mine) Aaron Downey in the lineup. But that doesn't validate his having a roster spot any more than it does Datsyuk or Zetterberg or Lidstrom. We all watch the games, we can determine the play of these guys based on their own merits. I know a lot of people say "Downey could contribute more than Kopecky," and I don't argue that -- though as a digression I'll say Kopecky's played a whole heck of a lot better recently, and his GWG against LA is at least one point in the standings we might not have had otherwise -- to me that feels more like an argument against Tomas Kopecky than it does for Downey. If we had Helm and Leino up full time and Kopecky wasn't around anymore, what you say to sending one of them down in favor Downey? Yeah, he brings something they don't, but that doesn't necessarily mean he contributes more to the team. I'm not reaching for any judgments here, I'm just posing the question. And perhaps more to an overarching point, the 5-10 minutes of play by any 4th liner of your choosing does not win or lose the Red Wings the President's Trophy. There are far, far too many variables in play, many of considerably more significance that Downey or Kopecky or Leino.

So kind of analogous to moving Jakub Kindl? That is a comparison I can wrap my simple mind around. If so, well, good for you NJ, but not a deal that would've made sense for Detroit.

Link, by the way. For the record, I've got no idea who Annsi Samela is.

He would absolutely not. I'm disappointed to see Leino go down, he has been one of the Wings top guys since he got up to the bigs. But given the last two games, bringing up a guy like Downey to hit and give the team some energy like in the Dallas tilt could be useful. It did with Leino. Seven of Leino's nine points (in thirteen games) came with some combination of Draper, Maltby, Kopecky, and Helm on his line. I recognize that the situation being what it is with Lilja and Lebda out requires a Dman to come up, that one of Helm or Leino was losing their spots regardless. If they want to give Downey another shot then both have to sit, and I'll defer to management's superior wisdom on this for now. If nothing else, I'm excited to see Ericsson get another shot with the Wings, and maybe a couple fights.

Knew the Hoss would have to make an appearance sooner or later. Also didn't realize we're on the second half of a back to back slate of back to backs! What a load. Great work as ever, Matt.

Details aside, the lesson appears to be that the regular season means nothing.

About 1:20 in an effort to break it up I suppose, a ref literally throws a player onto their side and shoves him away along the ice. Guess they weren't playing around. A minute or so in an American comes flying into view and tackles a Canadian, that was pretty great.

ATDHE was streaming the games that were already free and available on Yahoo, and the games that were on CBC that night for some reason, not sure what the deal was with those.

Hypothetically I think management would be more comfortable with a veteran (even a staggeringly mediocre one cut from Dandy's cloth) in the lineup during the playoffs than a rookie. Although you could argue Darren Helm, there's a whole lot less pressure to perform on a fourth line forward than a third pairing Dman in any given game. I agree with all this, but I'd wait and see what exactly the more prototypical tough stay at home Dmen are going for before we were to knock a potential move like this.

I'll throw in the disclaimer that stats rarely tell the whole story, and that hits especially are notorious for being poorly-recorded; but that being said, Dano isn't hitting any less than he has in previous years as a Wing in the stat column or from what I've observed either. He absolutely has done his best work in the playoffs but it's not every day you're going to freight train Phaneuf like he did. I think he's done a good job filling in for Homer and going to the net and screening the goalie for Hank and Pavel this season. He isn't as good, but there ain't a man alive that is.

I was under the impression the Wings had room to fit a guy in with somewhere like $3M into their current cap situation? I'll wait and see with this one...

OK, here's my boring and lengthy take on the events that transpired on February the 28th, 2009: Every once in a while you get sumo-slammed, it happens. Two years ago the Wings were having a great season, and San Jose came into town and demolished them 9-2. It was pretty bizarre and out of nowhere, but it happened, and there wasn't really anything to take away from the game because it was such an outlier. I can agree, however, that this loss seemed to be a rather concise little window into the Wings defensive struggles this season. And while I don't condone it, when you see your team get up and play lights out hockey in a playoff atmosphere against a big time opponent, then turn around and score two goals in the next two games and give up nine, it's obvious they're both mailing it in and seemingly capable of playing better when they feel like it (although I'm still not sure about this Stuart-Kronwall pairing). It sure hasn't just been this little three game set where this script has been played out, it's been a pattern that's been going on and off for 60 games now. When the Wings bring it they chase the opposition out of the building, when they don't they still usually find a way to win because they happen to be that much better than the other guys anyway. The main reason it's unwise for a team that's playoff bound anyways to play in this manner is that it's putting the goalies in a bad place. Oz has obviously struggled something mighty and needs the team to be strong for him so he can get on a roll. Conklin has been better and sporadically impressed me in some big games but overall I'm not too high on him either. If getting Oz going is our best shot it behooves the Wings to play some solid hockey down the stretch instead of letting it remain a breakaway relay in their own end, and to get cracking on that before their goalie becomes a complete headcase.

Amazingly, Nick was even tonight.

This happens once a year, the Wings just get rolled. Gotta happen once. Life goes on brah.

I'm not that fond of projecting point values, but for the sake of argument: Cleary was, over 82 games, on pace for 55 points last year; he missed some time due to injury. This season, he's missed a little time as well, but he's on pace for 50 points. So I don't really know where it's coming from either. He's done a good job filling Homer's spot while he was out, as well as stuff like hitting and PKing.

A friend of mine has taken to calling him "Mystery Man." He follows the Wings only very casually, usually catching a game here or there when we're hanging out, and when Leino scored that great highlight real goal against the Caps, he appeared on SportsCenter top plays. Having never heard or seen anything of him, the first thing he said to me was, "Who the f*** is Billy Laeno?" He kept on scoring and has reappeared on SportsCenter twice since then, so every now and then he tells me "Mystery Man made top plays again."

Pretty much. I love Thomas, but his reaction was priceless, he beat every other Bruin to the dressing room.

No Hossa tomorrow, per Mlive, but Tuesday versus St. Louis.

Well, now they can just say they knew it was coming all along. Numbers 23, 24, and 25 for Toews.

Butt fugly win, but it counts. You know the Wings are having a half-assed game when even Datsyuk and Zetterberg aren't especially dangerous. Pretty damn surprising that they managed 41 shots, but probably a lot fewer chances than normal.

He hasn't got the advantage of a bird's eye view and constant awareness of where the puck is like we have... give him a break.

That's a shame, but too many chances in close.

Told ya that guy was havin' a good night.

Agreed. The injury-induced break seems to have done him good. Only been two games, but so far so good.