J-Swift

What an absolute mess tonight was. It's good to know the Wings can provide a rookie goaltender with one goal to work with in his two starts so far. And I bet those Canuck fans thought they were pretty cool chanting Howard's name. Our two remaining "veteran" defenceman looked like rookies tonight. Lebda and Lilja's inability to make very simple plays at the blueline essentially put this game away.

I think it was Finger. Looked like a butt-end to me.

Yeah, it didn't really look like he was in pain when he got up; just really dazed. But as my years as a Wing fan have taught me, even a fairly innocent looking play can wind up in a torn ACL. Hopefuly Lidstrom can come back soon (even if it's not this game), and Downey's McCarty-esque beatdown on Laperriere can turn this team around.

If it's serious, and Lidstrom misses the playoffs, I wouldn't think it would really matter.

They're saying on the broadcast now that it's his knee. This could be much worse that just a concussion.

Come on now. You can't honestly tell me that you, as a fan, enjoyed any of that? Nice patience by Flip there.

Anybody see Lappy pointing to the Wings bench? Was taking down one franchise player not enough for him tonight? Clear win by Downey. Nice work.

Has anyone even given Laperierre a dirty look yet? Yeah, it wasn't a cheap hit, but that's just ridiculous that there was absolutely no reaction on the ice.

I've always stuck up for McGuire, but you're right, today was absolutely terrible. He managed to insult virtually every aspect of the Detroit Red Wings today. It's hard to believe we're still actually first in the league the way he was talking.

Yes, that's correct. The notion that Draper whiffed on the shot is indeed a ridiculous claim. I've held off of slamming Samuelsson lately, but he was really tough to watch today. Losing Cleary has given him a lot of even-strength time, and losing Rafalski has put him on the top PP-unit. Those injuries have really exposed this team's lack of depth.

Nice work Samuelsson. I can see why we started using Chelios on the point.

Apparently Draper doesn't like his goals gift-wrapped. He muffed that one.

You're ridiculous.

Fedorov isn't actually the picture of perfect health these days either. He's missed as many games as Kronwall has this season. If Kronwall retired at the age of 32, he'd still be around a good deal longer than Fedorov would be if we picked him up. Not to mention the fact that dealing Kronwall would give us a bottom four of Lilja, Chelios, Lebda, and Meech. None of those guys are anything more than third pairing defenceman. Personally I wouldn't even consider Meech an NHL player, and the same thing could be said about Lebda the way he's looked lately. And if the asking price for Fedorov these days is Niklas Kronwall, Columbus is dillusional.

I'd imagine this "rumour" was just taken from a suggestion a writer made in The Hockey News a couple weeks ago. Do the Jackets not have any interest in re-signing Sergei, or is it rumoured that he's interested in leaving?

I think the chances of D-Mac donning the Wings jersey again are still very slim, but McCarty was actually well-liked by the fans and seemed to really enjoy playing here.

Lang ain't coming back. I don't think he liked playing here, and we're better off without him.

You really think Detroit is going to push for a guy that gets booed everytime he touches the puck in Joe Louis Arena? And I'm skeptical as to how Wings management and Fedorov feel about each other. Not to mention the fact that Columbus is only a few points out of a playoff spot right now, and unless they absolutely tank in the coming weeks, I'm not sure if they'd be interested in giving Sergei up. As for Blake, the fact that he could be still be injured in the days leading up to the trade deadline will obviously diminish his value. I'm still all for getting him to try and shore up the second pairing. But if the pricetag is anything close to the rumoured "player, prospect and a first rounder", I say we look elsewhere.

You do realize that, at some point this season, you may have to accept the fact that Dom had a big game? And watching Kronwall send Perry flying was priceless. We beat the Ducks at their game tonight.

If Zetterberg wants to take a few meaningless regular season games off to rest a sore back, it's really not a problem. Yzerman missed a ton of regular season games, too. What's important is that Z has yet to miss a single playoff game in his career, and I think it's probably unreasonable to say that his back was 100% in last year's playoffs.

I'm sorry, did I ever suggest anything to the contrary? (No, I'm pretty sure I didn't) Kronwall had groin issues up until December last season. But you're right, he is supposed to be an offensive threat, and last year he wasn't. I'm not debating that. And Kronwall's plus/minus is second only to Lidstrom's among Detroit defenceman. Ummmmm, actually Kronwall's 20 helpers this season would be more than Samuelsson's 18. And I'm pretty sure Samuelsson's a forward whose only job is to put up points. And I find it amusing that you would think that Sammy's "scarce PP time" excuses his point totals, but not Kronwall's. Furthermore, Kronwall ain't "my boy". I'm giving credit where credit is due. Nik's clearly improved his offensive game, not to mention his defensive game, too. I can't think of many better defenceman at his age making less than what he is. I'd certainly hope so. I don't know why, but there seems to be more than a few posters here who really seem to get down on Kronwall from time to time. Maybe it has something to with the fact that he wasn't immediately the impact player we all thought he'd be after the lockout. Maybe it's because he was a little over-hyped. Myabe people have gotten frustrated with his injury problems. Whatever the case, I think it's pretty obvious that Kronwall is the third best d-man on the team and is by no means expendable. The Wings would never consider shipping him out for a deadline rental like Blake.

Lidstrom doing well is kind of a given.

You do realize that Blake is not the same player he was five years ago, right? Yeah, he's still good for the occassional hip check, but the guy's 38 and his career is clearly on the decline. Don't get me wrong, I'd like to have him here and he would indeed provide a physical presence. Personally, I think a Kronwall-Blake pairing would be awesome. But the idea of trading away a 27-year old top-four defenceman (whose career is on the rise) for Blake would be a massive overpayment. I'd be upset if the Wings gave up much more than a second rounder and a prospect. If you can't honestly see that Kronwall is playing better, then you're not paying attention. His plus/minus was even last year. This year he's a +16. Kronwall's never scored more than one goal in each of his first three seasons. This year he has five. He's nowhere near as giveaway-prone as he has been in recent seasons. Nik's played healthy for most of the year, and it's shown. I'm simply not sure why some people refuse to accept that. And yes, I do indeed think it's notable that Kronwall has pretty good offensive totals despite the fact that he doesn't get as much PP time as Lidstrom and Rafalski. Not to mention he's paired with the offensive juggernaut that is Mikael Samuelsson.

That would make three points for Nick tonight. He's got that Norris locked up.

Well you were responding to a post that was discussing Hossa, so I assumed you were suggesting the Wings could include Kronwall in a package to get Hossa. IMO, shipping Kronwall out for Blake would be an even worse idea, as Blake isn't worth that much in the first place, and he won't be here next season anyways. And I think it's a little tough to discredit Kronwall's point production when he doesn't get time on the first PP-unit, he's paired with Andreas Lilja, and he's already eclipsed his point total from all of last season. If his point totals were the direct result of his linemates, then shouldn't he have put up similar numbers last year? Regardless of what you or me think of him, I think the fact that he was signed to a five-year deal implies that the Wings have him in their long-term plans.