Dabura

Do I smell an Aaron Downey game 3 appearance?

Was that a headshot I saw?

Sounds about right. And can someone please throw a brick at Ed's face?

Karma.

Apparently it did, apparently it did... This is why you never ever check espn.com under any circumstance.

I was under the impression the game was starting at 7:30. #!$#!%!~

OH BOY YOU GOT ME THERE!111 As terrible as the Stars were in Game 1, I think Morrow's play (e.g. playing the body, almost taking Hank out, scoring their lone goal) supports my point. Morrow, to me, is a bigger threat to the Wings than a guy like Brad Richards is because Morrow plays with an edge, sometimes with reckless abandon. The fact that you picked Turco as a guy who's every bit as dangerous proves that if one of us has blinders on, it's you. Wings own Turco. Always have, always will.

That hit was amazing. How amazing? Amazing enough to drag me out of LGW retirement, apparently. Hockey needs more of this kind of stuff (that is, physical obliteration of the legal variety) and less of this "OH NO! YOU'RE WISHING BAD THINGS ON SOMEONE!" fluff talk. Do I wish bad things on players? No (with a few glaring exceptions, naturally). But face it: this is a professional contact sport with a lot of history, some absurdly passionate fan followings, and an inherent emphasis on the value of rough stuff. Venom is built into the machinery. But that's tangential. What matters is that Morrow is a beast. Just an awesome player. If there's one guy left in these playoffs who can wreak havoc against the Wings, it's him. This should be a great series. Can't wait!

I don't think Ken Holland is a bad GM. In fact, I think he's a very good one. But let's be realistic. He has openly acknowledged this team has weaknesses on a number of occasions, dating all the way back to the Wings' last postseason exit. He stood pat over the summer because he thought it wise to wait until the deadline. Fair enough. He stood pat in the regular season because, even though it was painfully obvious that our youngsters weren't going to cut it, the emergence of Henrik Zetterberg bought him some time, allowing him to keep looking forward to the deadline, not the here and now. Fair enough. Then deadline day comes. Surely after all of this waiting and hyping, and with all of this cap room, Holland would finally make good on his talk. Right? Folks, the answer is a resounding "NO." That, to me, is inexcusable. Holland had a fantastic opportunity to make some quality moves for dirt cheap today, but in the end, he only has Brad Stuart to show for it. All of that waiting, all of those "tough decisions" (e.g. letting Markov walk because of cap concerns) -- they all ultimately led up to...Brad Stuart? As much as I like Stuart, this whole saga gets a big "WTF" from me. Now, I'm not one to advocate trading just for the sake of trading; if there are no genuinely palatable deals to be made, then you don't make any deals. But when you hear that a guy like Prospal was had for dirt cheap, and then you juxtapose that with all of Holland's talk about needing some more secondary scoring at "the right price" (whatever that is)...something's not adding up. This roster has issues, guys -- and I'm not talking about its current injuries. Has it dominated thus far? Yes, but as history shows us, the regular season means little. More specifically, it's not an especially reliable indicator of postseason success. Just ask the Wings, who have developed a knack for fizzling out in the playoffs despite strong showings in the regular season. The way you, as a GM, put an end to such a trend is by taking a good hard look at the team's weaknesses and doing everything in your power to ensure that these weaknesses are either as small a factor as possible or eliminated altogether. I thought Holland did a great job in seeing to it that this team got grittier and more resilient last season. It's no coincidence that that was the Wings' deepest run in years. But the problems don't stop there, which is troubling because it seems like Holland did stop there. Sure, the Wings are tougher, but that doesn't cover other issues like their lack of scoring depth and their lack of a big, physical, crease-clearing, top 4 guy on the blue line. No matter how much anyone wants it to be true, a secondary scoring group consisting of Hudler, Flip, Sammy and Cleary will not cut it in the postseason. You think Hudler's having problems now? Just wait until he goes up against the likes of the Ducks in the playoffs. This secondary scoring group would be excusable only if the Wings were well-equipped to handle a long, taxing, one-goal series against a monster shutdown squad like the Ducks. But, seeing as how that would require an extremely solid, well-rounded blue line, which the Wings lack (undersized, too o-minded, not much snarl), the secondary scoring group remains unequivocally pathetic. This will be my last post here. I simply can't stomach the kind of crap Holland pulled over on Motown this season. Inexcusable, unacceptable. Goodbye.

Ken Holland is a moron. I'm done with this place.

Did he say it was the answer to all of this team's questions? No, he didn't. Feds would have been a good depth signing. Not that I think the Jackets ever had any intention of letting him go here, but my points stands. Besides, our problem on offense is with secondary scoring. Feds would have been a solid secondary scorer, and shutdown specialist, and man on the PP point.

When you've got guys like Prospal going for dirt cheap, it really is.

Hossa is a pure goal-scorer. We have maybe one of those in Hank. Datsyuk is a playmaker. Datsyuk was also invisible in the postseason up until this past run. Pens gave up too much, though.

Could've just given Markov some more cash. It's not like we're doing anything with that cap space.

Ah, gotcha.

I know the analysts said it. It's a dumb point. The Wings always dominate in the regular season. And lately they dominate in the regular season only to be upset in the postseason because "Whoops! In retrospect, we probably should have patched those holes when we had the opportunity. But hey, at least we have this here Presidents' Trophy Woo ha!"

We could've just given Markov a couple extra mill. God what a disappointing day this is.

IN THE REGULAR SEASON WE'RE ALWAYS ON PACE FOR 60 IN THE REGULAR SEASON

I was kidding.

Not "physical" in the sense I'd like. He's a good pickup, no doubt. But I'm not ecstatic.

We need a physical d-man. Brad Stuart is not physical.

Jiri Hudler.

I honestly don't care what the Wings did in the past. This current team has major holes that seem to have gone unplugged today. That's what irks me.

Someone make an animated .gif of Holland dancing.

Because Todd Bertuzzi represents all potential deadline acquisitions for every season from here until the end of time.