egroen

I don't get it and it is pissing me off. The love for Samuelsson and the hate for Hudler is leaving me completely confounded.

Illitch needs to take a page from the Fords on how to run a successful sports organization. This is getting ridiculous. With all these ads Datsyuk is in now, I just hope we do not lose him to an acting career in Hollywood. Robin Bigsnake is what this team needs. Trading away Coffey was the day this team died. Konstantinov, Fischer, Krupp -- 3 great defensemen we all wish we still had today.

At least we're not Dallas (or Pittsburgh).

If only Yzerman had gotten his way and the Wings had acquired Lindros... Phaneuf is the next Bourque.

There is absolutely nothing to base this on. Mclellen headed the power play here... and that is one of the few aspects of the team that is doing better right now than the last few years. Everything indicates Mclellen learned a lot from Babcock, not the other way around. Babcock had success with a craptacular '03 Ducks and at every level he has coached at, all before he ever hired Mclellen. He inherited a complacent Wings team and injected it with the drive and work ethic to start winning in the playoffs again.

It's tough to picture guys like Franzen, Holmstrom and Samuelsson as hockey players, they look like they should be teaching classes at some Ivy league school.

Haha, for a second I thought he was talking about Holmstrom! I disagree with Semin, Crosby is a unique talent, but I agree he is no Gretzky... and not even a Jagr yet. I love it - I love that there are hockey players out there who are inserting a bit of character into the sport, helping to fuel rivalries and making the games interesting like it has not been in about a decade.

Fedorov was locked behind the iron curtain and did not want to play there, as opposed to Valentenko who voluntarily joined the draft, voluntarily signed a contract and voluntarily came over to the North America to play. Not the best comparison. That said, I do have some sympathy for the kid: http://tsn.ca/nhl/story/?id=254335&lid...=headlines_main

Maybe that is what Ovechkin is planning while in Russia to see his "sick" grandpa.... he was at a KHL game...

Ouch. I can hear the wailing and gnashing of teeth from Montreal even from here.

Babcock will quit before he ever sees Sammy leave.

I sometimes actually think Sammy is as dumb as he looks.

Wings showing their playoff form from last year... oh wait, that's San Jose.

Wings still can't stay out of the box again... oh wait, they actually have not received a single penalty, it just looks like they have been a man down the entire period. Great.

I have a hard time seeing Sammy go due to Babcock's man love for him. Samuelsson had more minutes than Hossa last night and is on par with Zetterbg and Datsyuk in minutes. I don't know what it is, but Babcock has never had a bad thing to say about him, and in fact quite the opposite, speaks glowingly of him every chance he gets. In my nightmare, I see a decision coming down to between Hossa and Sammy next year, and Babcock being the deciding factor in Sammy over Hossa. I wake up screaming...

Yes, but when you factor in the lack of fighting majors the Wings have received, it is easy to see why they have one of the least amounts of penalty minutes in the league. However, if you take away the 5 min fighting majors, the 10 minute game misconducts, etc... and only count minor penalties, the Wings have the THIRD MOST penalties in the NHL. That tells me you have a team which sucks defensively, and is playing lazy... or is dirty, but I think we all know it is the former and not the latter. This is the worst I have ever seen the Wings play defensively, outside of when half our defensemen were injured towards the end of last season. Fortunately, the offense has been clicking and our goalies have been decent, or the Wings would be getting blown out most games.

Osgood has been fine - the defense has been awful and there have been an uncanny amount of fluke goals going in. A few off Wings' skates, a number of crazy deflections off two or more players, and a few strange bounces from walls. Plus the crazy amount of penalties the Wings are taking. The Wings have the third most minor penalties in the league right now!

Yup. I find myself counting down the days until we can see Helm and Abdelkader. I love Maltby, McCarty and even Kopecky but there is no doubt in my mind Helm and Abdelkader would do much better. Put Downey in there with them, and you have a very balanced 4th line that can check, hit, score and fight.

Illitch bought the franchise in 1982 for $8 million -- not a bad return.

A player has to miss 10 games or 24 days, whichever is shorter, to qualify for LTIR status... so even if Franzen is good to go, he would have to sit out that long. That is the risk.

Who will Lilja beat down tonight??? 3-1 Wings Cleary, Zetterberg & Datsyuk with the empty netter.

Not only are the Wings not playing up to snuff, but other teams are playing against them like they would in a playoff game... and the Wings are still finding a way to win. I've commented on this before, but from reading other teams' fan forums, they are positively giddy with how their team looked against the Red Wings, despite the losses.

The power play has been incredible and currently leads the NHL.

Quincey, Meech and Lebda are merely stop-gaps until we start seeing Ericsson, Kindl, Smith and Pyett -- all the latter have twice the potential of the former. I do think Quincey would be a better stop-gap than one of Meech & Lebda because those two are so similar, and Quincey could have developed into a cheaper Lilja, with a little more offensive upside. I am most disappointed we did not get a draft pick for Quincey. Hopefully Holland is able to get something in the future when Meech and Lebda are replaced (and they will be).

Hasek -- just wowed me every time I saw him in his prime. Imagine if the Wings had Hasek about 5 years earlier??? Would they have lost a single Cup? I really do not think so.