Aussie_Wing

Duchene looked fantastic! Incredibly quick and found himself with a couple of real good scoring chances, he actully should've had at least 1. Uses his body well on the PP to screen the puck, got huge potential that's for sure.

He's been terrific so far this pre-season, started at Traverse City and extended to the exhibition matches. He's received a lot of ice-time due to the injuries many of our players have suffered from and so often in games he’s been the leader amongst forwards for ice-time. He’s been putting up a lot of points and has scored twice. In a few games he looked particularly dominant and playing on a line with countryman Ville Leino should be good. Ever since he’s been in Detroit his point totals have increased from the previous season and I think he’s going to hit around the 50 mark this season. Look at that goal he scored last night, riffle of a shot, hopefully he keeps backing himself to score and keeps putting the puck on net. We all know what a great passer he is and how he controls the puck so well. Hopefully when he skates into the offensive zone he won’t pass back to the defenceman quite as much instead opting to go himself and rush the net. He’s got an underrated and underutilized shot and hopefully it finally clicks that he’s got a decent shot. Expecting big things from Flip this season and I honestly think this is the season where we really start to see the immense potential he has.

Meech also can't play defence. Everyone needs to wake up and realise we absolutely stuffed up by waiving Quincey, he was a beast tonight.

When Hossa signed, only the foolish thought last season was going to be his breakthough. Ahhh the good old Hossa scored more than Flip. Oh wait a sec, Filppula had more points than the superstar Hossa.....

If you had told me a few months back that Flip would start the season centering the 3rd line I would've been disappointed but not now. I really think it's a great fit for both players, Leino is new to the league and can learn and develop while playing on a line with a countryman and Flip is the more experienced player which I think will do him good. He's got greater responsibility this season with the loss of a lot of goals. They've shown some real chemistry and it surely has to be the most dangerous 3rd lines in the league.

I've always liked Bert (except when that line of Bertuzzi-Naslund-Morrisson killed us every game!) and I was thrilled when he initially signed here. So to get him back was very welcome news. He's looked good this pre-season and I'm expecting him to have a good season, especially if he can click with Zetterberg. Keep in mind that 2005-06 was the last time he scored 20+ goals so 20 or more would be a very good result. I'm just glad he's healthy and that he's happy to be back in Detroit. I think the two make a good combination and we should look forward to a successful season from Todd.

Live on HD tomorrow down under... Capitals at Bruins Sharks at Avalanche Ill be sitting in front of my 50 inch plasma for 5 hours.

uk_redwing's new favourite prospect? 2 - KGN Gudbranson, 12:48 - Fighting , 5 min 2 - KGN Gudbranson, 12:48 - Misc-Inst (47.10), 0 min 2 - BELV Johnston, 12:48 - Fighting , 5 min He really needs to start scoring though if he wants a new contract.

Wow, shows how much I'm with it at the moment. I thought the overseas games were the season openers and the games in America/Canada weren't until sometime next week. Thanks for getting this started as I wouldn't have known until it was too late! Friday Florida vs Chicago St. Louis vs Detroit Philadelphia vs Carolina NY Rangers vs Pittsburgh Saturday Chicago vs Florida Vancouver vs Colorado Detroit vs St. Louis Carolina vs Boston Montreal vs Buffalo Philadelphia vs New Jersey Pittsburgh vs NY Islanders Ottawa vs NY Rangers Toronto vs Washington Tampa Bay vs Atlanta Minnesota vs Columbus Nashville vs Dallas Calgary vs Edmonton San Jose vs Anaheim Phoenix vs Los Angeles

Ryno I can't believe this guy, I thought he might actually stick with the Griffins and try to work his way into the NHL. Obviously not. Goodbye Johan, you certainly have potential, will be a late bloomer and potentially a very good one, but hard work isn't your cup of tea is it?

Article I don't want the Wings to go back there, but would we offer him a deal with the Griffins? He might not want to accept the fact that he can't get a shot with an NHL team right now but it's got to be one step at a time. He's a good guy and I'd like to see him back in the organisation playing for the Griffins. They could do with another defenceman and more flexibility, so Kenny, make it happen.

As expected, that roster looks awesome. And people were worried about the fate of the team for this season, should've listened to me when I said that we'd generate a more than capable roster. The Bertuzzi signing will come good, he's looked impressive in the pre-season when he's been healthy and I see that 2nd line as potentially very strong offensively and there's two terrific defensive players to take care of things at the other end. They haven't had a lot of ice-time together to gel and I expect them to be a little rusty to start with but in time they could click and if it does, look out. The first line is great, Datsyuk and Franzen have already shown amazing chemistry during the pre-season and Holmstrom needs to be on the 1st or 2nd line to remain effective. However it's the third line that leaves me the most excited. Leino and Filppula have shown tremendous signs throughout training camp and pre-season and there's no reason why they can't put up the points if they play on the same line throughout the course of the season. It's a luxury to have these guys on the third line and it's going to be very difficult for opposition teams to defend them. Throw in Williams who I was 100% behind the signing of, good to see people are jumping on board left, right and centre. We lost a lot of goals during the off-season so the signing made up for the loss of a fair amount of this. This line will be very, very tough to contain and could be in for big things. The 4th is pretty decent, especially if Maltby and Draper can improve from last season (questionable). Abdelkader will likely start the season as the 4th line centre with Eaves sitting. A lot of people are questioning his worth but get real, it's only been 4-5 pre-season games and he's had different line-mates and different roles already, give him time people!! He's new to the organisation and needs more than a handful of meaningless pre-season games to get used to our system. I can't believe how harsh people have been. From memory, Cleary scored a massive 3 or 4 goals in his first season as a Wing. I know Eaves isn't being counted on to only score but to play physical but he's still getting familiar with the team and thr style of play. Time folks, that's what he needs. Can't wait!!

Someone please dig this up on YouTube! And to keep it hockey related, give Eaves a chance!

Sure is a nice start to the season. Don't know much about the guy but if he gets bigger and stronger he sounds like a reasonable chance to make it.

Yeah you could say that. I've been waiting for Dick to get out on the ice and show everyone what he's capable of and yet he's been unable to play due to injuries. Hopefully he can get out there soon because I think he could be a really good contributor for the Griffins this season.

That would be unreal! Can't wait for the AHL season to get underway.

I can't believe you put Ritola in the 'least impressive' group. He's been great. He's played 6 games and is still up with the Wings so I think it's fair to say that he's impressing Babcock. He's a +2, has played solid defensively and most importantly, he has not looked out of place. He's a youngster taking steps towards becoming an NHL player, there's not much more he could have done. Dare I say that the coaching staff would be very pleased with what he's displayed over pre-season. Otherwise a pretty solid post, although people are being far too harsh on Eaves. Let's wait for the real stuff before writing him off eh folks?

Thanks man, don't think I'd read that one. I really like Mattias, love his attitude and love his skill level. He's obviously shown the Wings something they really like this pre-season as he's still with Detroit and hasn't been assigned to Grand Rapids yet. I'm really looking forward to seeing what he can produce with the Griffins this season. He's never going to be amazing offensively but he's got a nice all-round game that I'm hoping will slot nicely on a 3rd line in a season or two.

Draper -4. Cringe.

Thoughts on Ritola? I know a few gave him a bit of a bagging on the goals, but otherwise? Still getting ice-time so obviously he's not in the doghouse...

With Tatar included, and no Abdelkader given he should start the season with Detroit.... Ritola - Emmerton - Williams Tatar - McGrath - Pare Tardif - Newbury - Vigilante May - Walsh - Mursak Ryno/Axelsson Bit weak at centre IMO, especially without Abs. Not many natural centres when Abdelkader and Oulahen are absent. Who would be your choice to centre the first line? Don't think Emmerton is quite ready but he might have to step up to the plate. Is Dick Axelsson going to be fit any time soon, ditto with Oulahen?

Filppula and Leino are amazing, they're clicking big time. Ritola is a gun people. You wait and see.

I thought Draper is going to move to wing, or at least he's been playing there during the pre-season. I remember the talk about Helm centering the 4th line and with him out, wouldn't Abdelkader move into that role? And I'd have Eaves in over Maltby any day of the week.

Ding ding ding! And there we go!

Well he might have switched lines but he was still seeing a fair amount of time. Emmerton and Tatar, now there's guy who were benched. Mattias saw a lot of ice-time in the 3rd so the coaches must have seen something in him they liked tonight.