Dabura

Wings 5, Blues 0

If Flip gets a hatty tonight I will piss myself.

The young guys are making their presence felt tonight. Good times.

Someone needs to rearrange Jackman's face.

That's what I'm telling myself. But really, I think that unless the Wings get absolutely destroyed, this trip won't mean much in the way of "future considerations."

This is my big concern. Bucci's no dummy; he didn't come out and say that the Wings need x and y, but he knows, just like any reasonable hockey fan knows, that management needs to make at least one big move to put the this team over the edge this season. The regular season means absolutely nothing. How many times have we seen the Wings destroy the competition in the regular season only to be upset in the postseason? This season, it's, like Bucci said, an issue of secondary scoring and support on the blue line. In regards to the former: Hudler, Flip and Franzen are not going to cut it come the postseason. This team has been riding one line all season long. That may get the job done in the regular season, but it won't be enough in the playoffs -- especially if, god forbid, the team gets bitten by the injury bug again. As for the D: too small, too offensive-minded. The rigors of a four-round, best-of-seven campaign would be too much for the Wings' blue line as it exists now. It'll get pushed around, it'll get rushed, it'll get sloppy. I know you guys like Hudler. But I like the Cup more than you like Hudler, personally.

http://sports.espn.go.com/nhl/columns/stor...&id=3162893 Ed Jovanovski, Adam Foote, Rob Blake. Big money there, but maybe something could be figured out. Detroit is obviously VERY good, but the questions they have to ask themselves are: 1. Do we have enough secondary scoring? 2. Do we have enough toughness and stamina for a two-month tournament this spring? 3. Should we be bold and look to add both back-end toughness and a top 4 forward? All organizations have to constantly evaluate their team. Jiri Hudler's ice time has varied wildly this season. At times, he looks like a top 4 forward who can really elevate the Wings; but will he become a consistent, dependable three-zone player for a Cup contender or will he be a tease? Would the Wings look to a team like Pittsburgh with Ryan Malone and do something with Hudler? It's going to be interesting to see how the Wings manage their team; will they stay put and go with what they have, or try to pull something off? Looking at the Tigers and Marlins' megatrade involving Miguel Cabrera, you know owner Mike Ilitch is always for being bold and going for it. The big difference, of course, is baseball does not have a salary cap and the NHL does.

The Sharks have done nothing to earn the hype they've been receiving the past several seasons.

I would only approve this if Zombie Reagan coaches the Wings and the Leaf's put the Berlin Wall in goal.

Now that I think about, I probably spent a third of my life playing tournaments there. It's part of the culture there.

Who cares. The All-Star team needs less Datsyuk, more Larry Murphy.

Hockey's huge in Mass.

This team would be so epically screwed without Hank.

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If Kronwall's injured again, I'm going to scream.

The Cup, she's as good as ours!

Hasek Arrested on Charges of Being a Big Ole Poopoo Head, Sent to Azkaban 4 Lyfe

First team to 100 goals, BTW.

Dear Sundin, You could have it so much better in the WC. kthx, Wings

That's an awesome stat.

It's only really valuable when you get to hear players talking strategy. Unfortunately, that's not what you usually get. "Heads up, boys!" "Hey! Hey!" "Watch the net!" "Point!" "Ugh!" "Nyuh!" Etc.

asdfasdfasdfasdfasdf I could just as easily say Gaborik didn't have to run Dom. Again, I'm as hard on Dom as the next guy, but he shouldn't be blamed for this. If anyone should be faulted for the way it turned out, it's Gaborik; Dom did what goalies have been doing for ages in that situation, whereas Gaborik made a rookie mistake in barreling down with his eyes on the puck. Had he simply kept his eyes on Dom, he wouldn't have gone flying (he might have even scored), and everyone would see Dom's move for what it was: an uncommon but perfectly legal way of challenging a breakaway. That Dom was called for a penalty is not proof that it wasn't a perfectly legal play. I can't believe you're playing that card. If this discussion is going to continue, can we at least get a well-reasoned argument against Dom's move that goes beyond "He totally took him out!"?

The Wild are supposed to be one of the top three teams in the West. No way were they going to walk away from being blown out like that without having some choice words. However, were they truly concerned about Dom trying to injure Gaborik (the team's star), it would have shown on the ice in the form of a brawl or ordered hit. Lemaire's been around long enough to know how to respond to real attempts to injure. He knew, and still knows, this wasn't such an attempt. Saving face. That's all this is.

Better question: Is this your first year as a hockey fan? Dom was stopping the goddamn puck. He spread himself out to do so, not to send Gaborik flying. I'm sure he knew what would happen if Gaborik kept his head down, but I also imagine he assumed Gaborik, being a world-class player, wouldn't be stupid enough to barrel down on him without keeping an eye on the net. The play looks dirty and dangerous not because of what Dom did, but because Gaborik handled it like a fool. All he had to do was keep his head up and the play would have happened like it normally does -- i.e., guy slows down a bit, maybe tumbles, or hell: maybe he even dekes around Dom altogether. It's like if someone were to try to block a point shot with his face; yeah, you got hit in the face with a slapshot, but what the hell did you think would happen? Everyone seriously needs to get off this. It's dragging down this forum's collective IQ level.

Holy god almighty. Guys, This is an age-old play. Dom himself has done it throughout his career. To my knowledge, this is the first time he -- or any NHL goalie for that matter -- has been penalized for it. I generally give Dom as much crap as the next guy, but this was perfectly legal. Gaborik had time to see what was happening and react accordingly, but he kept his head down. Thus, he went flying. Was it scary seeing him go head-over-heels? Yes. Could it have ended with him being taken off the ice in a stretcher? Yes. But the play itself was fine. ENUFF