skacore

Great game.. The Datsyuk line looks soo good, good to see Cleary getting his nose dirty early in the game and mad props for not turtling after Newbury jumped him, hopefully he realized that once he started to fight back it was pretty much even and gains a bit of confidence outta that. Loved Grigorenko's fiestiness, hopefully he learns to pick on guys a little smaller so he can hold his own lol.. I was really hoping to see Lilja go with Ondrus or even Newbury, he didn't fight but he played physical and got involved in a few scrums which is good to see. If Downey does make it as the 13th/14th forward and plays the odd game, and guys like Cleary, Drake, Lilja, Kopecky don't shy away from challenges I think overall that would be a huge improvement in team toughness

so if he is assigned to the AHL does the suspension still tick away?

has anyone heard anything yet?

I think it's great he's scoring but disagree we need another scoring defenceman, we got Lidstrom, Rafalski, Kronwall, Lebda for that

exactly

what a monster hitm Steve Downie is insane I can't wait til he's a reg in the league

I hope this doesn't post twice, I think it bugged the first time... I watched the game on TV and my observations were: Franzen - Filppula - Hudler - played great, Franzen especially, Filppula was really crafty with the puck but he seems to lack that finishing touch, it will come with time. Franzen looks like a certified top 6 NHLer, hes skating hard, crashing the net, making plays happen. Hudler looked slow but he played well with the puck and created opportunities. Ritola - didn't notice him too much, but he showed good speed and he wasn't afraid to get involved on the forecheck which is a good thing Ellis - he played alright, his last 2 games were better, but he was still in good position and had a few opportunities. He is a real strong player along the boards and looks unstoppable when he attempts those wrap arounds Grigorenko - he looked a little slow and awkward but he did have a few crafty plays. I don't remember him creating any threatening scoring opportunities Ryno - he looked pretty good, the first two games I didn't see the hype about him at all, he looked like he was just...there. Now he is actually moving and getting involved in the play and getting himself in good positions to score, he was robbed of a goal tonight from a beaut pass from Hudler Hartigan - didn't really notice him much tonight, he looked great against Minnesota but haven't seen the same flash since then Downey - overall he had an alright game, I was impressed with his fight, he took on a very tough Andre Roy and edged him. He looks a little clumsy along the boards when cycling but if he can get that aspect of the game down I'm confident he can take a regular NHL shift Cullen - didn't really notice him much to be honest Clark - he played well, he was aggressive on the forecheck and really rowdy, he's much younger than Downey and it shows in his play, he took a couple huge runs at guys tonight but didn't quite connect. His fight with Nick Tarnasky was a tiny bit of a disappointment but he managed to hold his own and came back a bit towards the end. I'd like to see him develop a couple years in the AHL on the Griffins and see what he can do McGrath - didn't notice him too much but when I did see him he seemed to have a jump in his stride for D, Quincey - he looked great, solid NHL defenseman who IMO can play in the top 4, he is physical, young, makes smart decisions, can get himself involved offensively and he clears the front of the net, I'd love him as 6th D over Lebda sad.gif Cullimore - just a bad player, he's slow, makes bad decisions, isn't overly physical, can't make a break out pass... why is he still here? Sopel - I wish I could say he looked great but he didn't, he made horrible give aways and missed on simple breakout passes, if he makes the line up it's cause what he's done in the past not in preseason, I still haven't seen this booming shot I keep hearing about Lebda - his goal was great but overall he had a poor game... I'm not feeling this guy. He is sub par on defense and he doesn't bring enough offensive ability to be valuable IMO. He is weak in his own end and doesn't have a shot from the point, he is a fantastic skater once he gets going but I'm not a big fan of him, he reminds me of the Harlem Globetrotters Ericsson - played great, I'm so glad he's panned out to be a great D, he is huge, pretty strong (still needs to work on strength), fantastic shot, quick skater, responsible, can clear the front of the net... great player, I hope he can become a bit stronger and a little more physical like I've seen him be in the AHL Kronwall - didn't really notice him much but he had a pretty average game it seemed, nothing spectacular but no brutal giveaways or anything, he was in position and solid defensively, made good breakout passes Osgood - didn't have a great game, he'll rebound Berkhoel - he had a great game, good for him, he looked shaky on a lot of his stops but he got the job done and that's what counts #1 contender for 13th F: Matt Ellis, Aaron Downey, Mark Hartigan (only so Ellis can play full time in the AHL and captain the Griffins another year) #1 contender for 7th D: should be Kyle Quincey, but will probably be Derek Meech because of waivers thoughts?

I would love to see Lidstrom Rafalski Kronwall Quincey Ericsson Chelios

well yeah more or less he was just plain bad, but when he did get the puck he had a bit of flare and you can tell that he has an idea of what he wants to do with it, he just can't get it done... hopefully it's part of adjusting to the North American game lol yeah... I can't really explain but I'm sure some people know where I'm coming from.. this is all in my opinion here, but I think he is sub par defensively (like I said), and brings little offensive upside, what he does bring is the occassional end to end rush goal and it gets everyone roaring about him (Harlem Glovetrotters)

I was gonna review here but I decide to make a thread

Where did you read that it would be on Center Ice cable tonight?

it's not on NHL center ice free preview appartently

Preseason or not he is fighting for a job out there, and he is supposed to showcase what he can do. Like I said before, I know he is an enforcer and is a decent fighter but he hasn't shown any signs of it in preseason. Win, lose, or draw, Boogaard had a knee on knee hit with Ericsson, a young star in our organization and THEN he tried to kill Downey, no reaction. Boogaard is a tough guy but the league is evolving as a whole, Boogaard, Laraque, McGrattan, Peters, Shelley, Belak, Brashear, King are all big boys, does Downey get a free pass if one of these guys try to blow out one of our young player's knees? I'm not counting him out but at this point he has been outplayed by Hartigan and Ellis IMO, they have shown more value to the team in preseason

I want a fighter as much as anyone but realistically Downey has been outplayed by both Hartigan and Ellis in my opinion. It's unfortunate that we opened the preseason against Minnesota and Pittsburgh, if Downey wanted to go to show the coaching staff what he brings to the table, his options were Boogaard and Laraque. Now I understand what that Downey can fight big boys and win on occassion, but where was he when Boogaard just barely clipped our young star Jonathan Ericsson with a knee to knee hit? And why was there no reaction when Boogaard delievered a flying elbow to DOWNEY'S head? Aaron Downey's labelled as a heavyweight enforcer in the NHL, so why didn't he enforce anything when Boogaard was running wild?

I signed up fine but it won't show me the Friday games it just shows Saturday's game as blacked out

I thought Ellis and Hartigan both played GREAT, they showed they would have no trouble playing at the NHL level and taking a regular shift. They were both hustling all over the ice and chipping the puck outta our end and forechecking hard in the opposition's end. Ellis is naturally better suited for the defensive forward role because he's bigger and he's used to it, although Hartigan did a great job adjusting I think he would be much better suited in a scoring role, which we don't really have available. If Ellis continues to forecheck hard and maybe starts to finish his checks with a little more authority, he could be a great checking line forward for this team. Engelhardt was the other forward on thier line and he had an alright game, at times he was on pace with his linemates but at other times he seemed a step behind. Appartently he had 5 shots but I didn't see him create much offense. The Hudler - Zetterberg - Samuelsson line seemed awkward, the skill is obviously there and they created chances but they couldn't finish it and whenever they got a nice flow going it was interupted by an off pass or someone mishandling the puck. Zetterberg seemed a little more shaky than usual, maybe it had something to do with his day-to-day injury, not soemthing I am concerned about. Cleary - Filppula - Draper, I can't really say I noticed them to be honest. I saw them out there on occassions and I know Cleary didn't finish the game, but I didn't see them produce much in the early part of the game. Ritola - McGrath - Neil, As a line I can't say much because I didn't notice them all that much, but from what I saw McGrath was the best of the 3, he had the most jump and seemed really aggressive for the puck which is good. Ritola seems like he is almost more comfortable with the puck and he had a nice goal off a quick release which I think was deflected. Neil I didn't notice at all, there was a scrum and I know he grabbed someone and talked some smack to him but that's all I really noticed from him, at the same time I didn't notice him make any horrible decisions or plays. For D, Lidstrom was great. Lilja looked really confident, he was playing physical and actually connecting with his hits (last year he missed a lot), was good infront of his net and corners, and he even made a couple Lidstrom-like plays to get the puck outta his own end up to a forward, it was great to see. Quincey was solid, there's really nothing else to say about him... he played like he did in the playoffs, good positioning, good break outs, strong along the boards. Meech I wasn't too impressed with, early in the game he had a few horrible give aways and resulted in good scoring opportunities and whenever he did jump into the play and was given an opportunity to score, he missed the net. He did improve over the course of the game though, he made a couple solid defensive plays when he settled down and played a more simple game. He had a nice 1 on 1 with Gaborik. Ference, unfortunately, looked slow, weak, and like an AHL calibre defenseman. I was really hoping he would come out flying and give our defense core some bite as the 7th D but I don't think that is the case. He is appartently 6'3 210? He looked more like 6'3 170, and he wore a visor (no big deal, just weird for his style of play). He was active in a scrum but other than that he wasn't overly physical and he didn't seem like a hard D to play against. Kronwall had an alright game, nothing amazing though. He had good positioning and played pretty smart overall but he did fan on a couple passes and messed up a couple of easy looking plays. For goalies... Hasek looked really shaky and uncomfortable, I'm not really worried about him but he just didn't have a good game. He wandered out of his net on a few occassions that almost cost us, almost shot the puck into his own net one time (hit the post I think), and wasn't the dominating goalie he can be, but no worries. Howard looked alright, I wasn't really paying attention to him like I was in game 1 when he was fantastic but he made average stops and kept us in the game

actually you would think they would want to see as much as Grigorenko as possible in preseason before they make a final decision so maybe he will see some game time, I'm sure Sammy wants to play but I think everyone would rather see what Grigorenko can do on Zetterberg's wing, we know what Sammy can do

If they play everyone who sat out last game the line up will probably be something like... Hudler Zetterberg Samuelsson Draper Filppula (Kopecky?)Cleary (Downey?) Ellis Hartigan Englehardt Ritola McGrath Clark (Keefe?) Lidstrom Rafalski (Ference? Sopel?) Kronwall Kindl Quincey Meech Hasek Berkhoel

We haven't gone out and gotten Downey either, we are giving him an opportunity in training camp and preseason. Since a lot of people are bringing up stats: Dallas Drake came here with 12 points in 60 games last year, Kirk Maltby 11 in 82, Tomas Kopecky 1 in 26. Why don't they score more points? Because they aren't supposed to. I don't think anyone expects Aaron Downey to earn a top 12 spot on the roster, right now he is trying out for the 13th spot it seems, where he can be subbed in and out depending on situations. Josh Langfeld played 33 games last year and racked up 2 points, Aaron Downey can't do better than that as the 13th forward? Atleast with Downey you know you are going to have a physical presence on the ice, a legit LIGHT heavyweight enforcer, and the occasion chip in goal. Downey had less than 10 minutes of ice last night and he managed 2 shots, 1 GOAL, and he drew a 5 minute major penalty (without retaliating) which lead to 2 more goals by Chelios and Datsyuk and put us up 3-0. Plus we had an enforcer on the bench if a situation occurred, you never know in preseason. The guy is on a TRYOUT, so let's give him a TRY before we right him off, this is HOCKEY not MATH, let the men show themselves on the ice before we punch in any calculations.

Franzen is playing amazing but he scares the s*** out of me when he cuts across the blue line and turns into the middle for a better shot, he is going to get knocked out eventually if he keeps doing that

4-1 goals by Franzen, Chelios, Datsyuk, Downey

For the people who can't watch the game, the score is 3-0, goals by Franzen, Chelios, and Datsyuk Wings got a 5 min powerplay thanks to Boogaard, so 2 PP goals on it and still going

I'm watching the game thats the line up I've seen so far, Downey is wearing #20 on the "3rd line" Boogaard dropped Downey with a flying elbow and got a 5 minute interference call and a game.... so much for that match up EDIT: Sopel is #75, getting a ton of ice time

just ANOTHER reminder... you can watch the games FREE online without signing up http://www.nhl.tv/team/console use internet explorer and not mozilla firefox, goto "CENTER ICE" its on the top right as a tab, then click a game

yeah he is.. Franzen Datsyuk Holmstrom Maltby Kopecky Drake Grigorenko Cullen Downey Ryno Emmerton ? Lebda Chelios Ericsson Sopel Cullimore ?