Dabura

Everyone wants to get with his wife. Probably for the best. Can you imagine what'd happen if he were to singlehandedly submarine Team Canada? I'd fear for his life.

There are shootouts, right? Or is it just in the first round or two? What if Sweden faces the USA for Gold...and it goes to a shootout...and Miller and Quick are injured...and Jimmy Howard is in net? Does the universe implode or explode?

Like pretty much all of my fellow American LGWers, I'll be rooting for the US of A, but my heart is kinda with Team Zetterberg.

Agree and disagree. We are, but we all know this has been an incredibly screwy first half. It's like we've been drunk for three months.

Quincey-Smith. Smith is young, has great potential. They've both been better since being split up. White, though right-handed (*swoon*), couldn't crack the Jets' blue line. Colaiacovo, though pretty good, is always injured.

Holland woud stand pat, say, "We like our team," and blame it all on our injuries and the move to the Eastern Conference. "Can't make the playoffs every season!" etc. But I could absolutely see him doing the classy thing for Alfie (i.e. talking to him about it, asking him what he wants, and acting accordingly).

I didn't make any really specific predictions. Well, ok - I thought we'd be better. Much better. Actually, I predicted we'd face the Kings in the SCF. So much trouble in our own end. Many nights, you'd think half our team had never had to play in the d-zone prior to this season. We have this strange compulsion to be fancy and complex and make nine passes, or try to carry the puck from behind the net and around nine forecheckers just to gain the n-zone. What happened to smooth, simple, safe, set outlet plays? What happened to crisp, concise first passes? Where'd all that go? Rhetorical questions, I suppose. Lidstrom and Rafalski are gone and our D is young and jumpy and injury prone. And we have Kyle Quincey. Add to that the injury woes, the scoring woes, the Jimmy Howard woes, the shootout woes, the two-goal lead woes, the two-goal deficit woes, the taking-too-many-stupid penalties woes, the lineup woes (see: Cleary, Dan/Daniel/Danny/Dammit), the we-don't-do-well-with-cameras woes, the we-don't-do-well-with-NBC-broadcasts woes, and, of course, the we-hate-playing-in-our-own-barn woes, and I think it's safe to say that this first half has left a lot to be desired. The really frustrating thing about it all is that we're a great team when we want to be. Actually, the really frustrating thing is how many points we've left on the table with our TEN shootout losses. If we were merely bad in the shootout, as opposed to mindblowingly godawful, we might be challenging for first in the East right now. If only we were one of those teams that gets by on skill....

Lashoff has quickly become one of my favorites on this team. He knows his role (big, nasty defensive defenseman), and he plays it.

It almost looks like he picks him up and tosses him to the side. With one arm. While taking the puck in on goal. Like a badass. Also, I love how Seguin is just a fraction of a second too late on the pursuit.

Hi. So, a friend of mine just dropped an interesting trade scenario on me. In this scenario, Ryan Miller is getting moved this season and the Sabres are getting a massive return for him. And, to help them fill the void in net (because we're charitable like that), we're giving them Jimmy Howard, plus an additional piece or two. In exchange, we get Ott, Moulson, and Ehrhoff, and maybe a useless gentleman's agreement that the first two will re-sign in the summer. Is this insane, or does it actually make some sense? I can't decide.

Just saw a clip of the Tatar goal, but I didn't get a great look. Did he really deke out that guy, and did that guy really run into and explode that other guy? The more I think about it now, the more I'm sure that can't be what actually happened.

I missed this for sex. It looks like I missed...well, sex. Hurray for sex!

I'm pretty fed up with this season.

Seriously? Is there a single player on this roster who doesn't have a no-movement/trade clause? I like to think he hasn't really been trying.

(Note: It goes without saying that we'd have to clear some room first.)

Pavel Datsyuk is the better player, but Henrik Zetterberg is our MVP. IMHO.

Honestly, I don't think that's a given. As others have said, this month will probably make or break our season. And, right now, I don't have a ton of faith in our ability to play really well against the league's better teams. We're struggling to score, Howard has issues, our D sucks, we can't hold a lead to save our lives, we can't come back from a two-goal deficit to save our lives, Datsyuk is playing with Abdelkader/Cleary and Bertuzzi/Cleary, and we can expect about 1,500 more injuries between now and next Thursday, and if you mix red and white you get PINK. And let's not forget all the wonderful things the Olympics could do for our chances. Z, Alfie, Kronner, Mule, Kindl, Tatar all injured going into March? HELLZ YEAH

Isn't he a righty?

Remember when scoring two goals was child's play for us? Down two with two minutes left? No biggie. Now we're extraordinarily lucky to get three.

******* hell.

He's been great. I like him because he's very high-end, but he plays with the tenacity of a grinder/checker/energy guy/agitator.

It's come to my attention that Justin Abdelkader is kind of a blockhead.

Female hockey players. Mmmmmm... /sexist I have a bad feeling about this final 20. We really need these two points.

Out-shoot them, out-chance them, out-muscle them, out-compete them, flat-out out-play them...and we go into the third tied, because we can't convert on our chances, and the opposing goalie is playing out of his mind. Red Wings Hockey!

Helm should just retire. At the rate he's going, he'll be dead by age 30.