Dabura

- The suck is strong with this one, yes. - The triangular v-neck collar dealy screams NFL to me, I don't know why. - Saddest thing about this? It'll be the highlight of the Sabres' season.

No parole?

I'm not following this bringing-in-a-great-defenseman-would-ruin-it-for-all-our-young-guys business. I mean, if we can bring in Samuelsson, retain Bertuzzi, look to bring Cleary back...would bringing in a high-end defenseman - our blue line being our big weakness ("Kronwall...et al.") - be such a crazy thing to do?

The thing I really like about having Weiss is he's, I think, primarily a playmaker. So, he's a playmaker who can put the puck in the net. What that gives us is more than just a threatening second-line center - it opens up a world of possibilities, and room, and potential for our entire top-six. Love it, in theory.

Pretty sure unicorns exist, guys.

True dat. There's actually a number of solid candidates, IMO. I'd say Helm. Thing is, there's a very good chance he won't be "ready" or whatever (as we all know), so...I dunno - Does he still qualify? Is it really right to pick him? I mean, if he's 100%, to me there's no question. But this new, ultra-frustrated, cautiously optimistic Helm...I JUST DON'T KNOW, MAN!!!! So I went with Weiss.

Seems like a good guy in that locker room interview video, I think St. James posted it. I think he's going to be big for us for years to come.

$40?!

Been considering trying it.

Firstly, any and every player is "available" at all times - for the right deal. This idea that "There's no one available right now, so there's nothing we can do now anyway. So, *sits on hands*" is silly. Plus, isn't Ken Holland a god? Isn't he the greatest GM in the history of forever? Isn't his brilliance beyond the comprehension and constraints of mortal understanding? I trust he can be at least a little creative, and creep at least a couple of steps outside of the box. Secondly, c'mon. We could play the "Well how do you know..." game forever and ever and ever. How do you know x is really going to better than y or z? How do you know Coffey and Primeau together aren't worth more than whatever Brendan Shanahan would give us? Etc. If we want to make as strong a push for the Cup as we can make, covering all our bases and preparing for worst-case scenarios, we'll be needing an established top-4 defenseman. Not a Kindl or a DeKeyser, who, no matter how good they may be, are relatively young and inexperienced, or some combination of those maybe (both being inexperienced, DeKeyser being very young. I guess.) (Point being, Kindl's actually not terribly young. But I digress.) Also, I forgot Smith. Thirdly, you know what'd be cool? If we could bring in a top-4 defenseman while still retaining Kindl and DeKeyser and Smith. (Or at least two of them.) But I realize this is absolutely, unequivocally impossible. Thirdly and a half - I'm not suggesting we give up on our youth. I'm saying we bring in a high-end piece. Bringing in a high-end piece would not cost all of Kindl, DeKeyser, Smith, Sproul, XO, etc. Fourthly, the (il)legitimacy of what I'm saying shouldn't rest on whether or not I can provide a list of names that everyone here can agree on. Besides, why try naming players when people can just pull the "Well, ok, but how do you know..." card? No fun. Fifthly, Dan Girardi. Sixthly, imagine losing Kronwall for the entire postseason. Or, not even the whole postseason - just, say, six games. I do not like our odds in this case, and I know more than a few people would be thinking, "Y'know, maybe we shoulda gotten one of those experienced top-4 defensemen. Now that I think about it, what was the issue with that? It seems pretty silly that now that we wouldn't prepare for this, knowing our 'luck' with injuries."

Maybe Alfie can pull Perfect Human Being out of "retirement"? I bet when Babs tried to feel Lids out re: Would he consider returning?, Lids said, "Sure, Mike, when Daniel Alfredsson is a Red Wing."

Aside from the Winter stuff, the Wings never do alternate jerseys. So I felt this deserved its own thread. And also they're amazing and I want one. So yeah. Here: https://twitter.com/RedWingsCamps/status/374676682323415040/photo/1 I love this.

It's a lame angle. - Franzen has issues. They bother a lot of people. This is no secret. Babcock has stopped just short of calling Franzen out in the media. - The big rub for people is, as harold said, that a 38-year-old Franzen is a scary thought. (Bad scary, not good scary.) The implied argument, or thought, being - y'know, it might really be worth trading the guy before he gets to 38. People find this offensive, etc. etc. - I get the point you're trying to make re: Clarkson and Clowe, but, again, it's lame. Maybe people knew they'd get paid like they did. What does that prove? That the people taking issue with Franzen are wrong in everything they say about the issue? People wanted Clarkson on this team because we don't really have a Clarson. Same for Clowe. - My head hurts, which is why this post sucks. But hopefully you catch my drift. Which is that Franzen is a terrible human being. Terrible, terrible, terrible.

Franzen is not Clarkson or Clowe.

Would be better without "DETROIT." Just the cougar. With the deformed nose.

I want I want I want.

Franzen is frustrating, if not maddening. That's the issue. He has all the talent in the world. He has all the skill in the world. He has the build of a proper power-forward, a guy who could, potentially, wreak havoc in the o-zone just by sheer force of will. When he is (or was) at the top of his game, plugged in and amped to 11, he is/was the most dangerous, dominant forward in the NHL. Like, The Continuum goes Fedorov-->Shanahan-->Franzen. That's how good he is/can be. But that's the thing. "...can be." I imagine Franzen's "problem" is that, really, he didn't know he had that potential in him. He came to the Wings thinking, "OK. I'm gonna just sorta do my thing, quietly get my 15-20 goals a year. Second line, maybe third line." And then, well, you know the rest. So, if you think about it, there is, in a sense, nothing wrong with him saying he's not a goal-scorer. Because, in a sense, he's not, and never was. And yet, he is/was. Or is/was capable of being one. And, regardless of everything, we need him to be one. So, yeah. I dunno.

BOOM

I would love Morrow for his grit and leadership. I would hate him for...well, the fact that he's old and slow. I'd definitely take him over Cleary.

This.

Your comparison...doesn't hold. True, Zetteberg isn't always playing at 300% like he was during that final do-or-die stretch in the regular season. But there's a difference between not playing 300% all the time and not playing 100% all the time. The thing with Franzen is, when he disappears (and he does so on a more-than-infrequent basis), he disappears completely. When's he "gone," he adds nothing to the lineup. And he doesn't really seem to get that there's something wrong with that. He just wants to have fun, man. Zetterberg? Sure, he has his dry spells. But that's point production. It doesn't reflect, for example, his two-way play, which is always exceptional. There's a reason so many people have an issue with Franzen. There's a reason why Zetterberg is the captain.

The KHL really needs to GTFO.

"I am not a goal scorer." - Nixon Also: Is it really true that Franzen only had one multiple-goal game last season? Srsly?

Honestly? I'm not fond of it.

Semantics?