Andy Pred 48

In the off season of '05 Detroit picked up 3 journeymen players that made most fans think that the front office had one too many off the top shelf. Now nearly 3 years down the line all 3 have played a big part of the continuing success of this hockey club. All 3 where going nowhere in their careers and must have pinched themselfs when they got the offer to sign for the Wings. None more so than Dan Cleary who earned a place via the Wings camp. After earning a place on the roster as a checking line forward he has worked himself onto the 2nd line as well as seeing time on the top line when Homer has been out injured. So my question is can anyone see a potential steal out there for the Wings to snap up? I'm sure some of you will have players in mind, but the ones I mean are guys who have played in the show for a few years but haven't hit their peak or pulled up tree's they where meant to in their draft report. Cleary as a Wing PL 203 43+51=94 +33 Prior PL 329 41+71=112 -3 Lilja as a Wing PL 193 4+27=31 +29 Prior PL 180 8+19= 27 +6 Samy as a Wing PL 175 45+61=106 +40 " " PL 188 19+30= 49 -11.

Wings by 2, both Flip and Rex get amongst the points tonight Pain train with the GW.

Whilst we are riding high and just posted our 40th win, I'm a little concerned with our slump on lines 2 and 3 regarding their output the last 5 games. Cleary & Hudler are both pointless, Filppula Franzen and Draper all have a goal each and Samuelsson has 2pts. I hope this is just a mini slump and they'll start producing soon, as we seem to have gone back to relying on the 1st line. Z D H Lids and Raffi have amounted 27 points in the same span. The only reason I can see is that Babs has been drilling the guys to be more defence concious and let the top line take the game to the opposition. They seem to be doing that as their combined +- is +1 for the 5 games. The top line meanwhile seem to be getting it done in a big way. Not only combining for 27pts but they also boast a +40 rating. Z has only played in 3 of the last 5 as well. No need for any panic, but if its still the same in 10 games, maybe a little freshen up may be needed.

I think that at the end of the day, Fabian will let the agent know his preffered destination. Nothing to do with what other players the agent has on his books at any team. Look no further than Brunnstrom's roster #! If he gets a chance to play with one of his idols thats what'll he be wanting to happen

A solid puck moving vet D and a 2/3 line winger is what Kenny will be looking to get in. Forget all the big names floating around as Ken won't give up roster players to pick up a star rental. The only star he may look at is Foppa and that is because he won't cost anything apart from his salary. Think about it, we give up Franzen Hudler and a 1st R to pick up Hossa, because that's what the Thrasher's would want at least. Next year Hossa signs elsewhere and we are looking at re-loading again from our minors or getting in new guys who'll have to adapt to the way the Wings play. If we win the Cup with Hossa then all is sweet till the new season. The only way anytrade like that will happen is if Hossa or whoever commits to signing longterm before we offload anyone in a package. Now if Foppa is match fit and ready to go, the reason he is coming back is to win Stanley, nothing else. He dosen't need the cash, so where would he most likely go to fulfill his wish? To me there's no better place than our Joe. He'll be playing with half of team Sweden, which makes it easier to fit in quickly. Sure his old side in Philly would be a good fit too. There playing well and he has stated he'd like to go back, but are they a better bet than the Wings to go all the way. I think you can write off the Av's, they may even miss the cut and even with Sakic and Smyth back it will be a big task for them to go very deep in the post season. Maybe the history between us and the Av's may put Foppa off from signing for us but he looks the best bet to fill that scoring role on the 2nd line. Still in 22 days we'll all be more the wiser.

No thanks to Koci, but if Ivanans became available.......ermmm, 4th line with Downey and Mule centrering them, now that could work.

I understand that our scouts checked out the Chicago Columbus game last night. This throws alot in the air but probably much ado about nothing. Whilst all the gossip lately points to Blake in LA, maybe a cheaper version is the Jax Foote. Its no secret that the Wings would like to add a D man, but what style are they after. Do they want just a rental or someone who would stay 2-3 years? With our depth in the minors at D I can't see us looking to get the likes of Blake or Foote for more than the final part of the season and post season. Surely we couldn't have been scouting any Hawks players, could we? Maybe some sort of deal to get local boy Wisniewski back home could be the reason, sending Meech and Ellis the other way. Who knows, but the rumour the other day of Khabibulin and Chelios just got a little bit more fuel for the fire.

Feds didn't play thou Lou!

Seems Krys has found that playing in his home area is helping his game this year. Maybe the kick up the arse the Wings gave him may have hit home and he is getting his act together. Too bad he didn't do it a year ago, still thats all in the past. He is at present leading the Quad City Flames in ppg after joining them after the season started. He has 18+17 in 31 games with 50 pim. I hope he has turned the corner, he still only 26 so if he wants it enough some team may give him what could be his final shot.

So if we did get him, will he alter his # round to 69 cause we already have a Swedish #96?

Nice to see Samsonov fitting in with his new team. Looks like he is turning his season around after a torrid time in Chicago. 2+4 in 6 games with the Canes and a +2 rating.

Both of his goals were Deflections in front of the net, and well taken too. Best of luck to the kid, like it has been said before, he's taken his chance and him being traded to Florida was a blessing in disguise for the kid. He now has 2 more goals than he would have got in Detroit.

2 Goals, picks up the 3rd star of the game and gets over 21mins of ice time. Don't thimk he intends going back to Bellville just yet folks!!

Yeah guys don't get to upset over the deal. Matthias wouldn't have got a sniff of the Wings roster for at least another 2 years , still you'll all forget about him when the next top prospect makes his mark. (Dick Axelsson), this kid will make waves when he gets here!!

Well the Kings got a beating again tonight, so the aint going anywhere fast. I say lets try for Blake and see if we could somehow take Frolov or Nagy with him. Not sure what Nagy's situ is at present although I would think he would be more gettable than Frolov. Don't know what it would take to get Frolov, and whether Kenny would think the stakes to high.

I still hold out some hope for Grigs. He has great hands and on ice vision, which is why the wings haven't given up on him. He now knows what he needs to do to crack the roster in Detroit, and I'm still optimistic that he can get his fitness and speed up a notch. Yes he could join Rex in Chelis fitness tour in the summer and I'm sure it would help out no end. He has stated that he'll use a power skating coach to up his top end. Like someone has said, he could just sit back in the comfort zone of the RSL collect his pay chq and fade into the distance. Or he liked what he saw in Hockeytown and wants it bad enough to bust his ass off the rest of the year and make the team next fall. Time will tell.

I was just pondering the many rumours going round as to who the Wings may be in for come deadline day. This got me thinking as to what line I would love to see play for the Wings. Well we have many great europeans in the league, and a Ovechkin Datsyuk Kovalchuk line would be awesome. But the guys that do it for me would have been a Alexander Mogilny, Sergei Fedorov and Pavel Bure line. Yes the thought of watching that line has me drooling. Yet these guys did play on the same team but were only the 3rd line!!! Yes folks, if you check out 1988-89 CSKA Moscow [Russia] roster you will see probably the greatest collection of talent ever combined on one team. If you use hockeydb.com, all the details are there. The famous KLM line led the attack and the blueline was patrolled by Alexei Kasatonov and Viacheslav Fetisov. Some names will be very familiar to you, if you get a minute take a look and just think about those lucky CSKA fans who got to watch this team play week in week out. The days of us making big moves at the deadline are over for now,thanks to the cap, so the chances of us getting a star are remote unless we give up some talent, which I hope we don't.

With the Wings sitting 9 points clear of 2nd place Sens and 17 points clear of their 3 main rivals in the west, would it not be a good idea to call up 2/3 of our prospects? Give them 3 or 4 games straight to see what they have. Maybe call up 2 at a time so as not to hurt the team to much. It could last up to 8 games and unless we lost all 8 which is unlikely, it shouldn't harm our chances of winning the West Conf at all. It will also give Babs the chance to rest some of his senior guys and if it goes well he could repeat it again just before the playoffs begin. I would give Ritola and Oulahen a chance up front and give Ericsson and Kindl a run on the blueline. Although Kindl is having a difficult first pro year I think he could gain alot from 4 games alongside Lids or Cheli. As well as giving all of them an insight of what level they need to reach it will also help the Wings in getting some young players geared up to the systems and also the chance to rest up some key players. We maybe won't have 4 rookies up but I would like to see us give 2 of them a few games. For me Ericsson is one i would bring up, and maybe give a longer run to.

I think that Meech's days in Detroit are numbered. The fact that nearly half the season is thru before the Wings suggest he go down to GR for conditioning to me means one of 2 things. a) he is being made ready for a trade proposal or b) the Wings may call up another prospect to have a look at them. of course i could be totally wrong and him going down could also be due to GR missing Ference for a while due to injury.

4 players that haven't ever played in NHL but could be worth a look. Vaclav Skuhravy and Petr Kumstat both play for Karlovy Vary in Czech league. The Makarov boys Dmitry and Konstantin who play fo Nizhnekamsk Neftekhimik in the Russian league. But I would think about giving Perezhogin a shot on Pasha's wing, just think he could click with him, has size and speed and not bad skills. Is he still under the Canadiens or is he free to deal with who he wants?

I know our team looks settled and I have no complaints with the way we have performed to date. In fact I would say the majority on here are pleasantly surprised that at almost the half way stage we sit atop of the table some 7pts clear. I have got to say that with us some $5m+ under the cap, I can't help but think that this was put aside to maybe pull off a big trade or 2 come the deadline. Now I know we have discussed this issue briefly elsewhere and Holland has stated that we maybe will go after a second line forward and a depth blueliner. We could maybe pick 2 guys up on that front for $3-3.5m. Now I can't see us wanting to give up more than maybe a low draft pick and a fringe squad player, Meech, Hartigan possably Ellis we'd let go. This would still leave us with some $2m+ to play with. I think we are going to go after one of the higher caliber guys out there and I think we may be shocked as to who we get in, I haven't got any inside info its just a feeling/hunch I've got. I just don't buy into the theory that we won't use are available cap. Now as to who we could pick up or we think would fit in, depends on who is out of the race. At this moment in time there are too many teams still in with a shout, but Tampa and LA are going to struggle so who have they got we could afford or would want? I can't wait for the deadline to find out but the options could be higher than we may think.

CENTRAL. Detroit Red Wings........ 39 29 7 3 61 141 86. Chicago Blackhawks..... 36 19 15 2 40 110 101. St Louis Blues............... 36 18 14 4 40 92 96. Columbus Blue Jackets. 38 17 15 6 40 94 92. Nashville Predators........37 17 18 2 36 102 114 . Yeah, what did happen to the projected "tight" central division this year!! Ah yes I see, its tight from 2nd to 5th place.........!!

I'd just thought I would give the Paintrain some kudos. If anyone hasn't taken notice of his play of late, in the last 9 games he has gone from a -5 rating to a +9!! I doubt if anyone on the roster has a better +- rating over this period than Lilja's +14. Well done and keep up the good work.

I just can't understand some people's logic here. We have the best defensive record in the NHL at present, its down to the whole team. One of those D men has played better lately than we are use to so give him a bit of praise is all I was doing, can't work out why some need to trash him all the time. Another little thing that may be of some insight to the not so knowingly amongst us; Lidstrom $7.6m, superstar wages with a superstar performance most nights. Expected by all. Rafalski $6m top draw earner with above average performance's on the whole. Expected by all. Lilja $1m, enough said! Expect the odd gaff, and he provides on occasion. Expected by some. Lilja is no superstar and he doesn't get paid to be one. I think for the money, the Wings get better value than other teams pay their so called 3/4 D men.

The kid Ericsson will be up next year, and he'll give us that extra size we need back there. With Lids, Rafa, Lebs and Kronna all tied up to at least 2010 we have a core already back there. Depends how Holland is going to play it. Lilja and Cheli are both out of contract at the end of the season and Ericsson and Quincey will both be RFA's too. We'll probably sign someone nobody even thought about, a steady vet who wants one last shot at the cup, but who? Keith Carney?