gobias

Hey refs, suck me.

They really need to figure out how to dump and chase on the powerplay. When they can actually get the puck in and control it, they've got the deadliest PP in the league. Too bad they never seem to understand that they should ALWAYS outnumber the opponent along the boards.

Awesome, Sullivan ties it up on the PK. Also, that's why they talk about him so much. He's a Wing killer and he's damn good at it.

Time for the Preds to dump the puck 7 times while the Wings get a nice skate up and down the rink. I mean, powerplay hurray!

Awful powerplay.

What a pass by Williams! PP

Eh, I don't think so. Lidstrom always plays better as the year goes on. McCabe was his biggest competition, now it's probably down to Vishnovsky and Redden and I think Nik can beat 'em both.

McCabe's injury basically sealed the deal for another Lidstrom Norris I think, even though I think Nik would've beaten him anyway.

Lilja did a fine job there filling in for our other 3.

Ha, Schneids taking a faceoff.

Wowow Legace.

What was that on Datsyuk? No call? Gotta be kidding me.

Pretty awful 5v3 so far. edit The power of complaing compels you Schneider.

Legace brings his A-game.

TSN reports suck. Johan Franzen: Mark Mowers: Jason Williams: Mathieu Schneider: No dice.

He's garbage in his own end. The only thing he has going for him is his ability to hit people which I'm almost sure Detroit fans will complain about as well ("why doesn't he hit more?", etc etc). The guy is about on par with Woolley in his own end, which DOES make him a suitable replacement for 6th defenseman but he's not worth anything we'd give up. I'd rather go for someone off the radar and not have to give up a roster player not named Mowers/Rivers. edit: I guess the point I'm trying to make is that he's only wanted because he's available. I'd compare it to Holik's last two FA stints. What? Holik is available? Well he's a super skilled power forward! Let's give him 7 million a year for 10 years.

Witt is junk and there's no way I'd give more than a low pick or Mowers/Rivers to acquire him.

Why not? Regular season is the time to experiment. I think most people would agree that Hank and Pavel would do wonders with a strong winger to play with them. A guy like Franzen who has an excellent shot could turn out really well alongside either of them. Taking Franzen off the grind line doesn't even affect them that much anyway. He's an excellent addition, sure, but why couldn't Cleary do just as well in a defensive role?

Spread the wealth unless they really need to push the offense, ala what Bowman used to do with the Shanny - Yzerman - Feds line. I'd still like to see Franzen play wing with one of the eurotwins, he's got a pretty good shot and is really hard to knock off the puck, especially around the boards. Homer - Dats - Shanny Franzen - Zetterberg - Samuelsson Williams - Lang - Yzerman Maltby - Draper - Cleary

My biggest worry is where they're going to draw the line with the youth movement. Cleary and Samuelsson are still young enough to contribute for a long time, but will they be re-signed? Draper and Maltby are eventually going to run out of steam, hell, we're already seeing that this season. Will they be let go/traded when that happens? Or will Holland continue to give them checks for being there in the 90s? It's tough to gauge. I'm not too worried about Williams. If he wants some ridiculous sum of money, I'd guess Holland would send him packing. Zetterberg signed for 2.5 mil? There's no way Williams is worth anywhere near 2 mil. Here's a pipe dream: Hudler - Datsyuk - Grigorenko xxx - Zetterberg - xxx Samuelsson - Filppula - Kopecky Cleary - Franzen - Bootland Lidstrom - Kronwall Schneider - xxx Lebda - Quincey xxx Howard Powerforward x2 Defensive defenseman x1 Reliable Goalie x1

Eh, I wasn't impressed with Bootland his first time up. He worked hard but didn't really seem to have any skills going for him. If he's improved like you say, then he'll probably make the team (assuming they ditch a lot of our UFA's). Either way, it's probably too early to guess on most of the players. I'd have to say Grigs and Hudler are locks to make the team though.

What do you guys think about Jan Bulis? He's not the true powerforward we need but he's a decent size and doesn't shy away from the physical stuff. He's also fairly cheap and he's a guy we could stick with Lang, while allowing Zetterberg to play center. Holmstrom - Datsyuk - Shanahan Samuelsson - Zetterberg - Williams Bulis - Lang - Yzerman Maltby - Draper - Franzen Lidstrom - Kronwall Schneider - Komisarek Chelios - Lilja We'd have to send about 1.5m. Mowers/Rivers/Lebda? Surely Montreal would accept that.

Bykov was way better than Erikkson. Erikson is more along the lines of Ward (when he was with us) or Kuznetsov. Speaking of crappy players we should never acquire again, whatever happened to Stacy "Stacy is a man's name, damnit" Roest?

Consistency would be nice but it's not really all that neccessary in the regular season. You're kidding yourself if you think Theodore is not an improvement over either of those guys, though.

sup robert lang