Hank

I totally agree about the hitting thing. They need to send a message very early on with some big hits. Send out Bert with Malts and Drapes and then send out Franzen and Calder with Homer. All those guys will finish their checks. Regarding how different Calgary is from 04, you are right, but it's not like they're a completely different team. They still have a very physical defense (including Phaneuf who wasn't there in 04), and their forward core still relies heavily on forechecking and dump-and-chase hockey. They still have a lot more forwards that finish their checks and will go into danger zones than the Wings. And we all know Playfair isn't an idiot. He's going to use the same strategy that all the other teams did to knock out the Wings early. And I'm still not convinced that the Wings have an answer to that strategy. They certainly didn't show it on their last Western road trip. But again, I hope I'm wrong. Regardless, I'm going to watch each game and enjoy it win or lose. This is the first year in a long time where I'm not expecting the Wings to do jack. Anything beyond the 1st round is gravy. Yeah, but our 02 team was a LOT different than our '04 and '06 teams while Calgary's '04 team is a lot closer to their '07 team.

Amen. And here's hoping that the Wings players themselves are tired of being playoff laughing-stocks as well.

Yeah, because that's exactly what I said. Nice twisting my words dink. The fact is, teams can want it, but some teams want it more and they play like that. There's no denying that the Ducks, Flames and Oilers all played harder and with more desperation than the Wings did in their respective series'. How many 1st periods have we watched since '03 where the Wings came out like it was an exhibition? I'm not trying to be a downer, only a realist. I will watch every game, like I do every year, and cheer the Wings on. But I'm not going to get depressed again over another early exit. The Flames are a good team and I think they're style of play trumps the Wings. Calgary is Scissors and the Wings are Paper. I can only hope I'm proven wrong.

Almost everyone on XM204 Home Ice has the Flames beating the Wings. Their line of thinking is that every year there's always one big upset and with the Wings track record their as good as gold to provide it. The only other major upsets that could occur would be the Islanders or Lightning winning. All the other matchups are tossups. I wouldn't be surprised in the least if any of the 8 teams in the West went to the Cup. But saying that, Detroit had another strong regular season and on paper, they are better than the Flames. But like Fox said, in the playoffs it's less about skill and more about will and I think the Flames have a lot more of that than the Wings.

Where was he wrong in anything that he said? Datysuk's playoff career could be the biggest bomb in the history of sports. The playoffs are about guts, grit and determination. Where have the Wings displayed any of these qualites over hte past 3 playoffs? He's right on all accounts. And Minnesota and the Rangers winning aren't really upsets. Minnesota and Anaheim are seperated by a handful of points and Atlants isn't all that deep. They earned the #3 spot from playing in a weaker division than the Rangers. I haven't seen any evidence of how the Wings could be ready for it. They've been destroyed by it the last 3 seasons and in the playoff-type games they played in down the stretch they still had no answer for it as they scored one goal in 4 straight games where they faced it.

Inconsistent officiating has been going on since the 40's. Last year Kevin Allen wrote an article where he took several quotes from articles over the past 60 years showing how referees have always been under the gun. I'd much rather have inconsistant refereering that allowed skilled players to use their skill than what was happening before. People here and elsewhere constantly cry and whine over officiating but most of the time it's because their team lost. Suck it up. And nothing is worse than the hockey that was played from approx 96-04. Nothing. 1-0 leads in the 2nd held up. And if you were behind in the 3rd you were never, ever coming back because refs would swallow their whistles allowing the team with the lead to get away with murder and prevent any sort of comeback. Hockey's much better this year and last years playoffs were some of the most exciting I've seen since the 80's. Stop crying and enjoy the games. In the end, if all the players would finally learn to keep both hands on their stick and their stick on the ice, there wouldn't be any issues.

In all honesty, this could be the smartest line of thinking out there. Despite having the #1 seed I think a lot of people in the hockey world have Detroit as the underdog. And I'm glad. There's no need to overanalys who has the better coaching, defense, goaltending, special teams, etc. Afterall, on paper the Wings were a much better team than the Ducks, Flames and Oilers the last 3 playoffs. And where did that get them? If the Wings want to win more than the Flames, they will. Simple as that. P.S. I have nothing against the Flames but I hate Dieon "The Caveman" Phaneuf. I'm not sure if looks more like the cavemen from the Geico commercials or the Highlander. And could someone tell this SOB that it's okay to smile once in your life. I'm looking forward to watching Bert put him on his ass.

I'm glad. Fraser's always been brutal. Before the rule changes this guy would call 3 penalties aside in the 1st, try to keep the game even in the 2nd and completely swallow his whistle in the 3rd. And last season he did all he could to continue his way of officiating despite the new rules being in effect. Whether you agree with how the game is called today, you can't have a rogue referee deciding how HE wants the game called as opposed to what the league wants. This sends the message to all the referees that you are not bigger than the game and you better call the games the way it's written or you won't be officiating the biggest games in the Spring. P.S. His hair is overrated. He's got nothing on Ron Duguay.

What, wait? A Devils game was boring? Whatever! The next thing you'll tell me is that Ed Belfour got drunk and tried to fight some cops. But I thought the Habs-Leafs game was awesome despite the fact that the Leafs won. Man I hate McCabe. But maybe the fans in T.O. will still have a parade for winning their last game. Don't they have parades in Toronto for the most meaningless things their team does?

Calgary in 6. - Datsyuk will score 1 goal - Bert and Zetts will only play a handful of games and be sidelined for most of it due to injuries - Sammuelson will miss the net a lot more than he hits it - Leijla will cough up the puck more than a puck coughing-up machine. - Dom will play great but he'll let in a couple of questionable goals that will lead fans to believe he's the reason why we lost despite scoring only 10 goals over the 6 games. - Draper will have more scoring opportunites than anyone else on the team but will fail to score on any of them and his hands will leave plenty of dried cement on the ice. - Maltby will score 2 goals in one game. - Babcock will be fired. I hope I'm wrong on all but the Maltby predictions. (and possibly the Babcock one if we lose). But this will be the first year since 91 where I'm not going to get upset over how the Wings win or lose. I have no expectations for this team to do anything. I love the Wings and I think they did great this year, but we still piled up a boatload of points from feasting on the weakest divsion in the NHL. If we were in any other division there's no reason to beleive that we might be the 7th or 8th seed or possibly even out of the playoffs. I hate saying it but the last 3 playoff disappointments have shown me that it was no fluke. And our team appears to be a little more grittier but it's still the same soft team that we've seen for years. Prove me wrong Wings!

I don't know how much coaching can help a team win when an obvious blueprint to beating Detroit has been available to the other 29 teams since 03. The Wings are what they are. They're not a big, bruising team that wears their opponents down. We don't crash the net. We don't forecheck aggressively and we don't try to take over the middle of the ice. We play puck possession and try to make 2-3 pretty passes before knocking one in. For this team to 'adapt' to the style of play that everyone and their dog will employ against us we need to acquire and draft players that can beat it. Asking Detroit to play any other style is like asking Sidney Crosby to be the best fighter in the league. It ain't gonna happen. If the Wings win this series and any beyond it, it will be from winning the same way they did in September through March.

This is going to be a very tight series with almost every game decided by a goal. The key to the Wings winning will be Bertuzzi and Calder. If those guys can continue to play 'greasy' and with an edge we'll have a chance. Outside of those 2 we really don't have any forwards that will drive to the middle of the ice. I'm still not convinced that our Defense can withstand a fast, aggressive forecheck and most of our forwards are still inclinded to keep to the high paremeter. We'll probably average over 30 shots a game with 5-7 of them coming from inside the middle slot. Calgary's defense and Kipersoff will feast off of the lack of middle ice battles. I'm totally playing the part of pesimistic fan and I will say Flames in 6. Maybe 5. I don't think the Wings are gritty enough and their defense isn't fast or young enough to handle what the Flames will throw at them.

That's very true. I don't think the same thing's going to happen to this kid though. I have a feeling he'll make the farm team in September.

If he's going to be playing for the Griffins in the playoffs his junior career is over. This kid has great on-ice vision, a soft pair of hands and he can shoot or pass. The only things that the Wings want himi to work on are his skating and size. The size will come and I'm sure his skating can improve. Some scouts think he can develop into a quality top 6 forward.

I agree. At this point in both careers I would say Lebda has elevated his worth to almost equal Kronwall's. Kronwall is still looked at as a potential #1 or #2 dman but with the way he plays and how he's built we'll be lucky to ever get a full season out of Kroner. Lebda is going to be a very solid #3-#6 dman the next 3-5 years. Losing Kronwall isn't going to hurt as much as some might think. The only way it can really hurt is if Leilja has to play more important minutes. Then we'll be in trouble.

I will take the liberty to speak for all North Americans and say 'yes'. Is there anywhere in Russia that is comparible to Vegas? Or South Beach? Or Venice? Or has the beautiful mountains of Colorado?

All great points. I hadn't even considered the lesser schedule these guys play. And their playoffs aren't as grinding as ours either. In the end it's just a gimic that'll be used to draw more interest in Europe. But as long as there are timezone issues you're not going to get 2,000,000 Swedes staying up to watch a Devils-Wild matchup. Heck, I don't think you could get 20 people to watch that game.

I don't know. $5 mill is a lot of jack for a guy that hasn't scored a playoff goal in close to 5 calender years. Think about that. He hasn't bent the twine in nearly half a decade. And what is this going to do with Zetterbergs contract? If Dats gets $5/year then Zetts will demand $7 million a year. I think Datsyuk would be a good deal for $18/4 with the backend heavier than the front end.

This town will always be a football town 1st and baseball town 2nd. The fact is, there are way more Tigers fans than Wings fans in this area if anything the fair-weather fans are Wings fans. Look at this year? The team started off slow and didn't have the big stars anymore and what happened? The Joe had plenty of empty seats. I've been a Tigers fan for a lot of years as well and while I have purchased hats here and there, since last season I have found myself buying more and more Tigers gear. I went to the same amount of games last season as I have the last 10 years but when the team does well it's very natural to get caught up in it and buy stuff. If the Wings go through back-to-back seasons of not making the playoffs, even homeless people will be able to get tickets at the Joe. Give the Tigers their due. They've created an excitment for a town that truly loves it's baseball.

But that's just it. Kovy and A.O. get to travel all over North America and get to see some truly awesome things. Beautiful locations, woman, climates, etc. And lets not forget that there are still issues with Hepititius and other diseases in Russia. My uncle played in that Russian tour with Larionov last year and he said while Moscow was nice some of the places they traveled to outside of the city weren't exactly 5 star. Meanwhile, other Russians in the NHL would never have to worry about things like that wherever they went. Even Edmonton If I was told that I could make the same amount here or in Russia I'd pick North American everytime. And from what I've read, Kovy made close to $4.5 milliion his first year. I doubt any Russian club could match that money and the kind of glamourous lifestyle that the NHL can. I also think you're missing the longterm ramifications for staying in Russia longer. By coming to the NHL earlier you'll be cashing in a larger, long-term contract earlier as well. If Malkin had stayed longer that means he'd be 1 year removed from making that giant $7 mil/year contract earlier. And lets not forget the injury factor. What if he breaks his leg out there? His career could have been over before it started. Face it, if you're a big talent, the NHL provides way more than Russia. Sure, if you're Morozov and you'd be a 3rd liner here then it's probably better to stay in Russia and be a big fish in a small pond for the same amount or even more money. But for guys like A.O., Malkin and Kovalchuk there's no comparison. I should add that if it really was that close then why do they still come over? If Malkin could have made more money there why would he leave? If the #1 hockey league in the world was in Russia and I had the chance to play there over staying home with my family, friends and all that's familiar to me for MORE money, I would never leave. But the fact is, the NHL and North America provides more money, more comfort and more challenge than the Russian leagues and way-of-life ever could.

You're right on many counts. However, because of incentive bonuses both Ovechkin and Kovalchuk made over $3,000,000 in their rookie years. And you can't discount sponserships. I'm sure Ovechkin makes a few extra bucks for wearing the gear that he does. Not to mention the lifestyle.

Yeah, the Iron Curtain has fallen and Russia is no longer the big bad enemy of freedom. I'd rather see a European champ face the STanley Cup champ in a 7 game series. There have been talks that in the next 20 years that is how the Stanley Cup will be decided.

This is very true. Look at John Torterelli. The guy has done nothing but blast and berate his goaltenders since they won the cup in 04. Now they might as well put a turnstile in net. Insiders close to Tampa Bay say that being a goalie for The Fonze is hell on ice. If your coach doesn't know how to handle you, you won't get the best results. Still, if the Wings suffer another 1st round loss or even a 2nd round loss, I don't think it'll be Babcock's fault. This team has been built soft by Ken Holland. It's for that reason that we've been bullied out early the last 3 playoff years. If we lose because of it again, I would hope to all that's good on this planet that Holland would take off his enormous beer goggles and finally see what he has to do with this team; GET SOME GRIT AND MUSCLE!!!

Great article. Actually, all of his articles are usually gems. He painted both sides of the fence on that one. I think, eventually, there is going to be a very serious injury from a fight (as if having an orbital bone or cheek bone caved in isn't bad enough). And when it does, fighting might come to an end. The biggest thing that fighting does is eliminate the cheapshots and star players from being touched. Unless the league can provide means of protection from both, fighting isn't going anywhere. That is until someone is killed or is seriously, permanently injured from a fight. (Unless, of course, that someone is a person like Nick "the Caveman" Kypreos, at which point people will stand up and cheer)

I don't think the Wings could take them in 5 game series. I think the only two teams the Wings have a shot against are San Jose and Dallas. And even then, Dallas is probably the best bet. If Detroit faces Vancouver, Minnesota or Calgary in the 1st round, they are finished. Vancouver plays very similar to how Anaheim, Calgary and Edmonton played them the last 3 playoffs. And we all know how those series' turned out.