Lamothe

I wouldn't trade Emmerton or Mursak, but the rest sounds pretty good to me.

The season hasn't even started and you're already bashing him? From what I've seen thus far, he's done fine. The two goals he let in tonight were deflections, and it's fairly difficult to fault him on those. As far as his previous history in the league, I've seen him play bad only once. I believe it was against Minnesota. The rest of the games he did fine in my opinion, despite his record. They were all close games. Howard is the first home-grown goaltender this organization has had make the NHL in years. I believe the first since Norm Maracle, actually. If he falters during the season enough, I'll jump on this bandwagon. Until then, the kid has my faith. I think he'll do fine backing up Osgood. Secondly, you act as if the Wings are going to waive him. Do you realize what sort of thought that is? They aren't moving him, and his contract is through 2011. And for the record, if Osgood gets hurt for the playoffs we'd be F***ed regardless of who the backup was. You think Conklin could've carried us to the finals? I love the guy and he did fantastic in his tenure here... But there is a big difference between 25 wins in a season and 16 in the playoffs. It's really a mute point. I believe that in all likelyhood, McCollum will "probably" end up as this organizations next mainstay starter, unless he seriously has trouble in the AHL. However, I doubt this. Larsson will "probably" be the backup for the wings, and Jimmy will "most likely" move on in a few years. Or I could be totally wrong. Who knows.

Haha wow, that's interesting. This just reminded me how bad Butsayev was... Jesus.

I won't say, "now he'll know to pay attention" because in reality, we all know that from now on he may use the incident as an example to keep his head up. However, when you play at a level such as the NHL, you either learn quick or someone teaches you. Do we think the kid knows how to pay attention? I'm not quite sure why you're asking that. Shouldn't he? He's a professional. If I was not paying attention in my job, or the equivalent of doing so, I'd be repremanded or fired. Right? If it's his job to play, he should know what he's doing. Of course people make mistakes, but there is no sense is protecting him and stating that, "he doesn't know what he's doing yet." It's a learning process. Too bad he got hurt, but he didn't look up. Thats his fault, not Phaneuf's or the league's. I agree with Doc Holiday. Preseason, season, or post season... In my eyes, the effort you put in is all the same. 110% effort every game from everyone is always expected. Thats how you win championships. It starts at the beginning. Just because it's the preseason doesn't mean it's the responsibility of the league to make players put on their tutus and avoid checking, hooking, slashing, hitting, and etc. players who don't have more than 82 games of experience. I see your point, but I just respectfully disagree. He's a pro, he made a mistake, and citing his inexperience in the league I don't think is really a valid excuse for everyone jumping on the "PHANEUF IS MEAN AND THE LEAGUE SHOULDN'T ALLOW THIS IN THE PRESEASON!" bandwagon. I think thats a bit ridiculous. *EDIT - Titus is hilarious.

Better than Philly's, but not good.

That's awesome that you can share your input with us since you saw him quite a bit on Columbus! I've got faith in Williams as well, maybe not 20+ goal faith but definitly 30-45 pts. I think he's developed into a decent third line player, and getting him on the point in the power play will help his game as well. Bertuzzi I love, regardless of his incident. If the guy can stay healthy, I'm all for having him as well. Huge guy + decent skill + drive to win + 1.5 mil for 1 year = GOOD SIGNING. He's got all year to find his niche, and when the playoffs start I think we'll see a different guy than we saw in his last tenure with us.

Although I dislike Phaneuf, I've got to say his hit was legal. He didn't leave his feet and didn't lift an elbow. If it was Kronwall doing that to someone, I'd have thought it was awesome, just like it was awesome when he leveled Havlat last year in the playoffs. Now granted, I'm not saying I like to see guys get hurt. I don't at all, and its a shame that Okposo got rocked but... He should've had his head up. Every person that's played hockey in their lives over the age of 10 realizes that if you don't keep your head up, you're asking for it. Morency is an idiot for leaving the bench, but again I can't blame him. I'm sure he probably thought both benches would empty and a brawl would start. Unfortunately he was the only moron who actually followed through with that thought. Also... on a side note... LOL AT THEO FLEURY.

Agreed.

Read an article today that Holland is considering offering him a two way deal if we can find a minor league team for him. He mentioned, though, that no one is taking Howard's spot. Cloutier Link *EDIT: Ah, Zetts you beat me to it.

Luongo. He's right about not having one in the top 10.

"Willie Coetzee obviously made a good impression in training camp. Landon Ferraro's junior teammate was signed to a three-year contract by the Red Wings, today. The team's press release ... Detroit, MI... The Detroit Red Wings announced today that the club has signed forward Willie Coetzee to a three-year entry level contract. In accordance with team policy, additional terms of the deal were not disclosed. Coetzee, 18, was invited to training camp on an amateur tryout. The Maple Ridge, British Columbia native spent last season playing with fellow Red Wings prospect Landon Ferraro (second round, 2009 NHL Entry Draft) on the Red Deer Rebels of the Western Hockey League. He finished the season with 18 goals and 24 assists for 42 points in 72 games. He also posted 42 penalty minutes." Link

I believe that's part of it. But I also read an article that mentioned Detroit was Tatar's favorite team, and that it's been his dream to play here since he was a kid. He seems EXTREMELY determined, regardless of his smaller stature. I could not be happier. It's one thing to discover a fantastic prospect, it's another to find one that also feels blessed and proud to be with the organization and is willing to bust his nuts to do whatever he can to help. FANTASTIC SIGNING! Love the kid.

Hahahahaha. Hitchcock should just go eat another cheeseburger and continue doing what he does best; Losing.

That was a nice scuffle in my opinion!

I'm extremely excited to see the chemistry evolve between Filppula and Leino. It's gonna be AWESOME!

Getzlaf beats Ilya by a very small margin IMO.

Kindl will be amazing when his time comes. I've been excited for him since we drafted him, and with this article it makes me even more happy with him because he's so proud to be here.

HAHAHAHAHAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAHHAAHAHHAAHAHAHAHAH I don't think I've laughed that hard in a long, long time.

I agree with you. But with money comes expectations, and I suppose thats where his Hossa comment came from. Hudler could've done better. Hossa could've done better. Mute point. Except Hossa DID recieve more compensation, and considering he had never won a cup and had a chance to do so AGAIN... It didn't look to me like he really even cared. Maybe he was just out of gas, I dunno. The Pens outplayed us and had a few lucky events... But, equally, the guy got paid over 7 mil. IMO, the whole team failed. If one fails, the rest do. No team carries players to the SFC. I wasn't happy with Hudler's decisions to leave and I didn't think he was a terrible player. Small, and had his issues but... I was satisfied with his play given his salary. Eqaually, I wasn't happy with Hossa's performance in the playoffs or his decision to leave. All in all, I would've liked both of them back.

Amen, Brother.

I would build my team around Zetterberg over Datsyuk as well. I foresee Zetterberg being the next captain of this team, not Datsyuk. However, due to Z's injuries during the regular season over his career thus far, he hasn't broken some of the marks that Dats has. That is NOT to say he isn't as good as Datsyuk, because I believe the two are extremely comparable and both world class players. I just think Dats wins out with lady luck by, say, a 1% margin due to his production consecutively each season. This, of course, excludes last years playoffs when he was injured and came back to be snake bitten. Zetterberg was FANTASTIC at covering Crosby. I don't know. I think due to publicity, a slight advantage in experience, and better luck with staying healthy, that Dats gets the nod at the moment over Z. However, this season could be entirely different. I would build a team around Zetterberg. Detroit just has the great option of being able to build a team around BOTH Zetterberg AND Datsyuk. Hell, and Franzen too.

That should only be a problem if Osgood went down for an extended period (20-30 games +). Howard will get enough time in his first few games to get the deal, and I have faith in him that he can carry the load. I'd assume Larsson would be recalled, and would only see a few games. It may effect our overall standings, but wouldn't put us out of the playoff race. Every time I've seen Howard play, I've been satisfied with him. Yes, he's made some young mistakes. However, I haven't ever seen him fall on his face. His NHL record thus far isn't amazing, but he lost games 2-1 and 3-2, save for one I believe. Its not like teams were running him out of the net. We COULD always bring back Marc Lamothe... Not really.

Pavel Datsyuk would definitly be next.

I love your 10. Especially Gino and the Hanson's.

- Pittsburg coach Dan Bylsma gets hit by a tour bus full of elderly Penguins fans. - Scott Parker makes an amazing NHL comeback only to be suspended 25 games for beating the ogre snot out of Malkin, who is forced to spend 3 weeks in the hospital. - Kris Draper sends Sidney Crosby a picture of himself from the playoffs, where he appeared to look much like Chuck Norris, with a sentence that reads, "We know you tried to grow one." - Gary Bettmen appears on MTV's show Cribs, where he showcases his home that is entirely covered with Sidney Crosby memorabilia. - The Red Wings playoff moto this year will be, "BERT SMASH!" But seriously. - Wings top of central, but barely. - Wings / Canucks Western Finals. - Caps / Bruins Eastern Finals (If Kessel is kept as Bruin. If not, Caps / Pens). - Zetterberg and Datsyuk will see about the same production they had previous in previous years. +/- 5 points. - Leino is a candidate for the Calder, but probably loses. - Eaves has his best season yet while playing with Darren Helm, and earns himself a two year extension. - Bertuzzi and Williams produce decently, but likely will be let go at the end of the year save for the possibility of a "Dan Cleary" effort. - Filppula, Franzen will see prdocution increases. - Three players will score 50+ goals in the NHL. - Lidstorm has a better season, and resigns for one more year around 4 mil. - Holmstrom retires at the end of the year. Wings sign Maltby to a one year, Chelios type deal. Both he and Draper retire in 2011. - Wings win the cup in 2012, right before the earth explodes as predicted by Nostradomus. That 'bout does it.