Aussie_Wing

Wow that sounds absolutely horrific. He was having a fine season too. We will really miss him in the playoffs, great player and even better leader. The Griffins are in a bad way right now. So many key injuries as well as missing Ericsson and now Stafford. I get this awful feeling a great regular season will ultimately prove fruitless with an early playoff exit. Not really out fault though, just so many things going wrong. We need Ritola back ASAP. Seems like Kindl was good last night and making his pro debut Lashoff had an assist and was +1. I like hid kid.

I cannot believe we are going to get shutout by Joey freaking McDonald.

Friday: Tampa Bay @ Washington Toronto @ Buffalo NY Islanders @ Detroit New Jersey @ Chicago Vancouver @ Colorado Edmonton @ Anaheim Saturday: NY Rangers @ Pittsburgh Los Angeles @ Nashville Boston @ Toronto Buffalo @ Montreal Carolina @ New Jersey Philadelphia @ NY Islanders Ottawa @ Atlanta Florida @ Dallas Columbus @ St Louis Minnesota @ Calgary Phoenix @ San Jose Sunday: Nashville @ Detroit St Louis @ Columbus Ottawa @ Tampa Bay Boston @ Philadelphia Vancouver @ Chicago Minnesota @ Edmonton Colorado @ Anaheim

I get annoyed with Kronwall, a lot, but the fact remains that he's going to put up 50 points this season as a 2nd pairing defenceman. Sure at times he's a turnover machine and he will join the rush at the expense of looking after his defensive responsibilities but he has finally overcome his injury problems and not only has he set a career high in points but he will smash it. He's not going anywhere and rightfully so. When Lidstrom retires he will be in his prime and will probably be leading our defence. He's too valuable to trade away just to clear up space. Filppula has just turned 25, is prodominantly our 3rd line centre who sees limited PP time and yet he's set a new career high in points and now that he's actually shooting the puck he's starting to score. 5 goals in 9 games backs this up. He's got the potential to be a 20 goal, 50-60 point guy who is solid defensively and will provide clutch goals in the playoffs. He too is not going anywhere. Realistically if we want this team to be successful for as long as possible, and that means consistently challenging for Cups, then we would be better off letting Hossa go. Regrettable for sure given how successful he's been this season and how much he seems to enjoy it here, but we'd be better off with the depth that Hossa's departure ensures.

You'd make a tremendous GM. Stuff the long term, lets only focus on the short term!

I'm willing to bet that if Ericsson had been given more of a look-in last season he would've been here all along and there wouldn't have been a need to size, or at least re-sign Stuart. He's locked up at what, $3.75 mil which includes a NTC. I like Stuart and at his best he's a very good player to have on this team but Ericsson has fit in so well and could fill his role if need be.

Yeah, but it gave Filppula the GWG.

Bouwmeester is in my top 5 favourite players in the league but there's no way we'll be able to sign him, even if we let Hossa go. If we did manage to sign him we would be losing Franzen or Hudler, perhaps even both. You can't replace a guy like Lidstrom because he is so good but you do your best. I'm not quite sure when he's going to retire and given how well he is playing and that he doesn't appear to be slowing down, it could be some time away. In any case we have a good group of guys signed for a few more years and we have potential top pairing defenceman developing in Kindl, Smith. Then there's guys like Nicastro, Pyett and Kolosov. Big name defencemen are always coming out of contract so perhaps in a few years time when we're not so tight up against the cap we'll be able to sign a gem.

Now this takes the cake! "Easily capable"? Not just capable, but easily? Give me a break. Helm has played 23 regular season game for 1 assist. 41 NHL games in total for 2 goals, 3 assists. I like him, one of my favourite prospects and he'll be a Wing for a long time, but there is NO way he can replace Flip next season or probably ever. Flip has more offensive talent and is better defensively. Lets not forget Helm was a -7 during his brief stint in Detroit...

That is a terrible outcome. Clearly is borderline top 6 and what we see right now is his maximum potential. You're prepared to put Leino in the top 6 on the back of a dozen or so games? I'm sorry but those lines are pretty dodgy. Holmstrom is becoming increasingly injury prone and what happens if he misses and extended period of time; Kopecky gets top line duties? See how short on depth that team suddenly becomes? C'mon mate, think about it for a second...

Very humerous.

That's a pretty concerning article. I'm not sure he'll be back by the playoffs and who knows when he'll be ready to return.

Sorry to be bringing up mildly old pics but...

Standings: 1. timothy1997 267 2. North Guy 262 3. FinRedWing 255 4. Dano33 253 5. Aussie_Wing 251 6. Elshupacabra 249 7. #19=Legend 248 8. Dominator 2005 247 8. wingsfanatic4alltime 247 10. LEBDA22 244 10. sibiriak 244 10. juice71285 244 10. Hockey13Playa 244 14. rwfan007 243 15. interminded 242 15. wingsgirl001 242 15. GoWiings1905 242 18. Wildwings44 241 19. WingsRJ91 240 20. T-Ruff 238 21. shannyfan1414 237 22. johnnyoski 236 22. edicius 236 22. NeverForgetMac25 236 22. TRD604 236 26. hawkupaloogie 235 26. redwingslady87 235 28. wingschamps 234 29. Hockeytown0001 233 30. Systemfel 232 31. HD30 231 32. Ontario Wingsfan 230 33. betterREDthandead 229 33. P. Marlowe 229 35. naranja 228 35. Drake_Marcus 228 37. akustyk 225 38. MSDoubleJ19 224 39. SeeinRed 223 40. CrossCheck24 211 41. Blood On The Ice 175 42. Sebastian 154 43. Mithros 142 44. Shoreline 134 45. Chase 114 46. frederick9125 104 47. Duck Guy 98 48. Osgood4President 88 49. ashenhigh 87 50. DatsyukownzU13 72 51. cirov19 71 51. Landstander 71 51. Swayze 71 54. DatsyukianDeak 60 55. stormboy 59 56. McCartyFanForLife 49 57. The Edge 48 58. wingsfan40 47 58. Superman54 47 60. Ms_Hockey 46 60. kook_10 46 60. Gutierrez 46 63. SwedeLundin77 45 64. j.hoop 44 65. Mickeyisms Rule! 43 66. Shutemdown 42 67. David 37 68. Wingsallwin 36 68. Mike 32 70. ManLove4Homer 31 71. skippy_kenn 30 72. wingslogo19 29 73. Reds4Life 25 74. zata40 24 74. JohnS 24 76. jawbreaker 23 76. w6ngs_fan94 23 78. jmgriffith 22 79. Doc Holiday 21 80. The Edge 20 80. RedWingskiddo 20 80. CupChamps979802 20 80. wingsfan13 20 84. redwings604 15 85. marcaractac 14 85. dat's sick 14 87. TheGreatOne 13 87. redwings56 13 87. FinWing 13 87. Konnan511 13 87. Sgt Sharpie 13 92. irishtemper14+25 12 92. Kween78 12 92. Chunkylover 12 95. discohadestwo 11 95. zetterisbetter 11 97. Phil 10 97. ZETTERBERGPWN 10 97. puckhog419 10 97. swedishconnection 10 101. bonan78 9 101. Winged Scooter 9 103. Williams29fan 8 103. wings1fan19 8 Friday: Minnesota @ New Jersey NY Islanders @ Carolina Philadelphia @ Buffalo Los Angeles @ Pittsburgh Detroit @ Atlanta Edmonton @ Chicago St Louis @ Calgary Saturday: Dallas @ San Jose Toronto @ Montreal NY Islanders @ Ottawa Buffalo @ NY Rangers Washington @ Carolina Columbus @ Florida Atlanta @ Tampa Bay Vancouver @ Phoenix Sunday: Philadelphia @ Pittsburgh New Jersey @ Boston Los Angeles @ Chicago Edmonton @ Minnesota Ottawa @ NY Rangers Phoenix @ Anaheim Colorado @ San Jose

Grand Rapids Griffins (40-18-6-6) @ Lake Erie Monsters (31-31-3-5) @ Griffins look to win their 3rd game in as many nights when they take to the road to face the Lake Erie Monsters. The Griffins are without the injured pair of Mattias Ritola and Sergie Kolosov so this will be a big test for a team that will begin a massive road trip starting tonight. I believe this game will be on the NHL Network, so check your guides or whatever it is that you do to see if you are able to watch this one. I want lots of reports on the game!

Ha! Chances of this happening, 0%.

My favourite quote: Well said Ozzie.

Week 22 Results: 1. Dano33 17/22 1. LEBDA22 17 1. Hockeytown0001 17 1. wings_fan94 17 5. #19=Legend 16 5. Wildwings44 16 5. Ontario Wingsfan 16 5. rwfan007 16 5. Mike 16 10. johnnyoski 15 10. wingsgirl001 15 10. betterREDthandead 15 10. Aussie_Wing 15 10. SeeinRed 15 15. Drake_Marcus 14 15. CrossCheck24 14 15. Dominator 2005 14 15. GoWiings1905 14 15. Blood On The Ice 14 15. shannyfan1414 14 15. juice71285 14 15. WingsRJ91 14 15. kook_10 14 15. Swayze 14 25. wingschamps 13 25. Elshupacabra 13 25. sibiriak 13 25. edicius 13 25. NeverForgetMac25 13 25. North Guy 13 25. P. Marlowe 13 25. DatsyukianDeak 13 33. redwingslady87 12 33. HD30 12 33. wingsfanatic4alltime 12 33. MSDoubleJ19 12 33. akustyk 12 33. Hockey13Playa 12 33. FinRedWing 12 33. Wingsallwin 12 41. Shoreline 11 41. dat's sick 11 43. Systemfel 10* 43. T-Ruff 10 45. interminded 9 46. naranja 8* 47. TRD604 7* 48. timothy1997 6* Congratulations to our Week 22 winners, Dano33, LEBDA22, Hockeytown0001 and wings_fan94, who all top scored with 17! Really high scoring week, one of the highest I can recall. The battle between edicius and NeverForgetMac25 took no further steps towards being ressolved with both scoring 13. With timothy1997 mssing Friday and scoring only 6, North Guy is the new leader. He could go back to back after winning last year. The gap is only 2 between first and second. Should be a real close finish.

What a fantastic three game stretch for the Griffins claiming the maximum 6 points. Anyone care to offer some insight from the game?

Good stuff mate! Jiri seems like a real top bloke and he certainly has a nice role to play within the Red Wings organisation.

Scoreless after 1. Shots 13-6 in favour of Grand Rapids. Abdelkader with 4 SOG already.

THE HOSS!!! What a gun.

Friday: Minnesota @ New Jersey NY Islanders @ Carolina Philadelphia @ Buffalo Los Angeles @ Pittsburgh Detroit @ Atlanta Edmonton @ Chicago St Louis @ Calgary Saturday: Dallas @ San Jose Toronto @ Montreal NY Islanders @ Ottawa Buffalo @ NY Rangers Washington @ Carolina Columbus @ Florida Atlanta @ Tampa Bay Vancouver @ Phoenix Sunday: Philadelphia @ Pittsburgh New Jersey @ Boston Los Angeles @ Chicago Edmonton @ Minnesota Ottawa @ NY Rangers Phoenix @ Anaheim Colorado @ San Jose

Hank! Take it back! Ericsson you GUN!

WHAT A PASS BY DATSYUK!!!!