NeverForgetMac25

I agree with this, but I seriously doubt anyone on Detroit's roster will be pleased if they simply spoil any teams' party. While the Wings are clearly not going to be favorites heading into the postseason, there's been plenty of teams that have squeaked in and made a serious run. If a team was ever built to do just that, it has to be this Red Wings team.......which, again is what complicates things.

Here's the video of Auger talking to Burrows in the pregame skate for those that are interested. It's just a quick one, but its still a discussion.

"Getting acclimated" to the playoffs is a little different when you're the guy between the pipes in Detroit than any of the other 29 teams. Half the league is tickled pink just to make the playoffs, while only 3-4 teams are generally serious contenders for the Cup, and in Detroit its Cup or bust. The fact of the matter is that the Wings are getting healthier and are playing better hockey. If they continue that trend and are firing on all cylinders heading into the postseason it complicates things because they'll once again be making a legitimate run for the Cup. As HS said before, Jimmy's got 37 games of NHL experience under his belt and 0 in the postseason. I most certainly wouldn't just hand over the reigns to him given his lack of experience, nor would I condemn him a playoff failure if he flopped in the first round this year. The bottom line is its too early to tell what type of future he's going to have in Detroit and the NHL for that matter, so how do the Wings *successfully* manage that fact heading into this years' and next years' playoffs given their *team* expectations?

I know your discussion was with egroen but on top of what he said, it also benefited the Penguins more due to the injury situation. Dats alone wasn't able to play until Game 5. I'm not saying I believe in this conspiracy theory, but I'm simply answering your question.

Who said anything about "nothing changing?" I most certainly didn't. If Ozzie continues his current level of play throughout the regular season finale, I don't think anyone in their right-mind would start him in goal regardless of what he accomplished the past two playoff runs. Nobody's complicating anything. This thread was started with the assumption that Ozzie could very well start to regain form as he did the past two years toward the end of the regular season. *That being said*, it does complicate things.

You willing to stand by this statement if Ozzie is between the pipes in April?

Because he just may not be ready for the added pressure of the playoffs. It's not as if just one or two goaltenders in the history of the game have struggled in their first playoff run. It's a pretty common occurrence.

I completely forgot about that! I stand corrected. That being said, I know we jumped out to a nice lead but wasn't there another reason aside from just giving Ozzie a rest? I know the Wings dominated that game, but I thought there was another reason other than the lead being secure.

....to everything said. Not only that, I get so sick of people crying and whining about biased officiating in favor of any team/player other than the Wings and its players. The fact of the matter is that when the Wings lose, its because they either didn't play well enough, were too injured or weren't talented enough to beat their opponents on that given night. The sad part is, far too many people want to use the refs as their excuse so they can feel better about a loss. The truth is the Wings aren't always the best team in NHL. Not every single year and most certainly not every single night. Apparently, its just easier for people to blame the refs then to accept the aforementioned fact.

Never once do I remember the Wings doing that with Conklin. Besides, you don't take out your goaltender in the postseason when you're winning a game, regardless of any lead you've built up.

It's also not the worst idea since (given your scenario) Ozzie isn't panning out at the moment. In a sense, he could get some valuable playoff experience with a great amount of the pressure taken off him since he technically didn't get them in the hole in the first place.

But Dom was also far more established and had a Cup to his name. That's not really apples to apples when one compares Jimmy to Dom.

And they'd have every right to, just as the Canucks fans are currently. Watching those "penalties" further reinforces Auger was out to get Burrows and the Canucks team. Regardless of what Auger said, which (if he did say it exactly like Burrows said) was incredibly stupid, the calls were beyond weak and show a clear bias.This is one the league needs to get right.

Aaah, my bad. I thought you meant you were just especially fired up for this particular game, and I wasn't really sure why. True

Why? TBH, the other three games tonight hold my interest much more. All three teams (6th-8th seeds) just above Detroit (9th seed) in the standings play different opponents.

Interestingly enough, the video highlights state they did. Nonetheless, quite a bush league thing to do.

He's only averaging 25:24 per game even with the myriad of injuries the Wings have sustained on the blue line. Atleast his TOI isn't hovering around 29-30 minuntes like it used to before Rafalski was added.

We do play Carolina next. Ozzie was garbage during last years' regular season as well, and he still found a way to turn it on once April came. He's played stellar the past 2 playoff runs and until he s***s the bed in a post-season series there's no evidence to prove he can't dial it in when that point of the year comes. In other words, he's going nowhere......nor should he.

Danton Granted Full Parole Another interesting article written last September discussing the murder-for-hire plot was actually intended for his father rather than Frost. There's plenty of other interesting tidbits within. This story just gets more and more bizarre.

The guys who picked up the slack will be given more opportunity to rest since their playing time will be reduced. Not a massive help, but still helpful.

My point still stands though. There's probably plenty of numbers in that range that aren't used, unlike 35 and lower.

19 is an extremely common number as is 1. Now, 99 is the least used number. I would assume plenty of numbers in the 60's, 70's and 80's aren't used by anyone currently.

I was debating about picking the NJ/TB game as my x2, but something kept telling me to steer clear. I ended up taking Buffalo over Toronto, and I'm sure glad I did. .....not that it helped my score much though.

Holy Crappy Weekend, Batman!

It's not the playoffs yet.