Andy Pred 48

Commie will get some games in before long. I think it was a shrewd move by Kenny getting Mike, mainly i feel come play off time. Kindl hasnt got any playoff exp and Mike is a warrior type we'll need for a (hopefully) long post season run.

looks like he has started to hit some sort of form. He has 3+5 and a +3 stat with 17 shots in the past 5 games.

a 4 point night against Halifax tonight.

as much as id like to see Gustav get a call up, i think theyll just slot Emmerton into the line whilst on this road trip.

i think that Conner better fits filling in for Eaves on the 3/4th line with his speed and type of role Babs wants doing. Gustav is more of a scoring offensive threat than he is a shut down grinding type which Conner can do and has done before.

OKC Barons record their second 5-4 score in 3 days at Van Andel as the Griffs home form continues to be a concern for the coaching staff. Tomas Tatar had his best game for awhile with 1+2 and 7 shots and Nyquist's play really should see him at the Joe. Maybe a better showing by Griffs goalie Pearce who had 16 saves on 21 shots could have made a difference but some unlucky bounces and a couple of give aways by his D didnt help him. One big cough up by Brendan Smith resulted in the Barons making it 3-3. Not sure where the coaching staff go from here but this is a skilled roster here in GR who too often let victory turn into defeat. Now the Barons are a very good side, but they were also missing some top end talent.Surely the Griffins should be better than they have been, the home record of 3-6-1 just isnt good enough although the away 4-5-0 isnt too shabby call ups from the Wings dont help but then every team in the A has this problem with their parent clubs. Is a coaching change needed?

The young Swiss lad was making his NHL debut and must be feeling awful right now. But in his defence the puck actually flipped up as he was shooting, so it turned into a knuckle ball shot that can wind up anywhere and for poor Patty he was first in line. Speedy recovery Pat, and spare a thought for Josi to. On another note that has been raised in this thread, Emmerton may not be the flashiest and most productive player we have but he has been steady and i would say is doing what he has been told to do by Babs. Its not as if he is a -10, so im not sure what some fans expect out of a rookie 4th line centre. (anyway i gotta root for him as he wears my # )

Kyle Turris & Maxim Goncharov for Hudler,Kindl and 2nd round pick ?

Id take Alexander anyday, if he brought his mate Alex with him!

NHL.com says 30-34 in Ducks favour on the shot count

best stat tonight; Perry Ryan and Getzlaf -9!!

the boys hit the wall in the 2nd but dug deep and came up big. not blameing one for the pens we gave away there were alot of tired legs out on the ice. this win will do them the world of good.

need a pp goal here just to knock the ducks out of the momentum theyve built up

if he stays up, maybe weve seen the last of Huds on the point on the PP ( well Smith wouldnt have got burnt by Richards)

will be interesting to see what happens when White has recovered. The best players will play eh, well i wait with baited breath on that one now as Smith looks more poised than some of the senior D. I did notice that Babs put Smitty out with Lids a few times last night, which is what I wanted in the first place, more of the same please Babs.

will be interesting to hear the post game comments from Babs after this one. we came up against another hot goalie !! I dont know, but i do think that Kenny will be phoning around very soon as this wont be exceptable to Mr Ilitch for much longer. The way the results are going we may not be able to wait till FA season to spend our cap $s we have saved, heaven forbid we might be out of the running!! I do agree with getting Smith on board but i would pair him with Lids, to learn off the master for a season. Maybe bring up Nyqvist again and how about getting the kid Jurco up for a spell, he's having a great season and yes i know the NHL is a major step up for him, but hey he cant do any worse than some of the others on the roster. If things dont change quickly i do believe we will see some movement, but the front office will give these players time to sort it out i know but the clock maybe ticking for some already.

how'd the Swedish Capt get called for clipping when he was basically standing still? The only call there was 2 min roughing on the Finnish player as far as i can see.

when the Wings do come outta this slump they will do so i n style by blowing away some team. i fear tonight will be a close call with just 1 goal in it.

what have we got right now that we could genuinely use as trade ? Rick Nash & Fedor Tyutin for ???

lets see where we are after the 6 game homestand............yep this is usually the answer around here. We'll be ok its just a lul their going thru,they'll pull out of it. Maybe we have hit the point where the Wings need to rebuild. After so many years of success and low round draft picks, eventually your team is going to be full of these type of players, unless trades take place to up the skill level of the team.Who was the last bonifide superstar we actually drafted in the 1st round? A player who'll ave a pt per game? That'll be back in '83 with Stevie Y, that is too long and yes i know we have traded away alot of our 1st round picks between those years. The problem is our own success and the new cap era. We cant just go out and sign 2 or 3 stars anymore and our low end 1st rounders havent really panned out all that well. Fish would have but for his illness. Kronner is good now and then but isnt consistent enough. Every 1st round pick we had since '93 until '07 we have drafted Dmen. Sheahan is the first Fwd we have tken in the 1st round since Curtis Bowen in '92, and we all know what happened there! So i guess maybe the time for us to keep letting our top prospects mature in the AHL for 3-4 years is coming to an end? We are running short of options in the current 23 man roster, maybe sending Brunnstrom on waivers is a prelude to calling up some young fresh blood in GR. Time and time again I here Babs and Kenny state that the best players will play, well guys the so called best players aint getting it done as of yet,how much leeway do we give them? Why have talent sitting in the minors when they could mature alongside the vets for a season and learn the trade off them? In the past we never gave them a chance because of our loaded roster, maybe its now time for the wind to change direction and alter our thinking on these matters. We sure need a shake up and unless Kenny has the balls to pull the trigger on a trade, then the only option is to call up the kids. Times are a changing around the league and we cant get left behind.

exactly, we are outshooting teams but not burying the biscuit enough to win games.one of two excusess,1) their goalie played on his head, so our guys aint working them out, but is funny how many times we do outshot teams altogether and only win by the odd goal or lose. when was the last time we got owned on the shot count and won the game? 2)lack of a genuine sniper is costing us games that we should be winning.a fact that should have been addressed by Kenny before now. on another note, im happy to discuss topics on here with honest debating but some posters seem to take offence with any thread that dares to question the Wings ideas and shoot the thread down at the off. Im not asking everyone to agree with me but maybe put forward a valid point as to why they dont would be more benefical to all. The thing is alot of fans on here can only remember the Wings being a winning franchise and havent had to watch them go through a lean spell, and we were dire, a period of 15 years in the 70's to the early 80's of below .500 hockey was no fun believe me. One playoff apperance in 13 season,and coach Neale's one season in the mid 80's when we lost 57 games not won them! i wonder what this board would be like with that sort of record!! Anyway i digress, what i wanted to imply in the org topic was that being so successful is slowly going to catch up with us if we dont make some sort of moves, standing pat will bite us in the butt eventually. There is no need for a complete overhaul by any means, as stated its only 9 games in and we have a winning record to date. I am all for getting some of our younger prospects in and giving them a feel of the big league thou instead of getting in players on 1 to 2 year deals as a stop gap not only would it help the rookies learn, but would also have left more $'s in the bank to make a move come the FA window.

bring up Pulkkinen now

I havent said it was easy to do have I, Pittsburgh have done it 5 times thou since we have.my point is that we havent had 1 in 28 years, that is not down to bad luck is it? surely we could spot some sort of forward talent in that period of time, Joe Murphy and Keith Primeau have been the closest and they spent most of their careers away from Detroit. My beef is how the system is set up. When there was no cap, the teams who finished in the lower end's of the table got to pick first, so in theory they would have better players going to their org. Now we are supposed to have parity within the league with the cap, so why do we still reward teams who finish bottom with the first draft picks? Surely we should reward teams who manage their budgets and teams better with the higher draft picks at seasons end. This would stop teams, like the Pens did for a few years, tanking for better picks. I know the goal is the Cup but if the league want parity then it has to be done across the board on all aspects of the league's foundations. Its been done like that for ever i know, but we havent had the cap era for ever and with that other changes in the structure need to be made and the draft system is one of them in my opinion.

i dont want to nit pick, but Hossa didnt win the cup with us in 07-08, he lost in the final against his former Pens team mates the following year but he did win it with the hawks the year after.

as long as he stays healthy he'll put up big numbers this year as he is on a line with 2011 1st round picks Jonathan Huberdeau and Zack Phillips.