b.shanafan14

When's Bertuzzi due back?

When it rains...... .... it pours the Earth opens up and swallows all life!

As others have said, pretty much he wanted to get the KHL raise. I really wanted to keep him as well, he was pretty damn good in his year with the Wings. Stuart is an upgrade, but during the lean times of injury like this, I do tend to miss Markov more.

Its just getting cartoonish at this point. Hows about we just have the Griffins play out the rest of the Wings season and everyone is just SUPER healthy and rested for next season.

I agree, our best players aren't playing to potential which is even worse this season because the supporting cast in non-existent at this point. PS. I think you LOVE to bring it up

haha +100 internets

hahaha nice bump....

Agree. No one should think Datsyuk is playing to potential at this point, not by a long shot. Wingers aside, he is on pace for just around 63 points this season, which is unacceptable from one of the games elite and a player who should be a 90-100 pt 35+ goal scorer. There is definitely something very wrong with Pavel this season, he doesn't even hang onto the puck the way he used to, like his old magic is gone. As for Leino, I think he was really comfortable being an unknown factor and WOWing folks last season. Coming into this season, he was playing pretty damn great with Filppula in the middle. For the entire month before Filppula got injured, that was without question our best line, the puck just wasn't bouncing their way. I think as soon as Filppula got injured and Leino couldn't find the kind of chemistry he was enjoying to that point, coupled with his lack of scoring, his confidence was shot. For Leino, the expectations were far too high, with everyone calling him a Calder contender in the pre-season and even some of us predicting anywhere from 20 to 30 goals out of him. Then his confidence was starting to waver a bit when he was playing well with Filppula and the puck wasn't going in like he is accustom. Then Filppula going down was the final straw. I actually see a lot of the same things out of Pavel as I do from Leino, with the obvious difference being Pavel's elite skill set: both of them have flashes of brilliance this season that go unrewarded. Both of them have moments where they appear to be trying to do to much on their own and finding that their usual tricks aren't working for one reason or another. Both have those moments in a game when the puck starts heading the other way and they seem reluctant to follow, like "not again...." Both need some luck, some confidence, and some help.

Except this isn't just a playmaker who doesn't have a shooter. This is one of the games elite players who should be good for 90-100 points a season. He is currently on pace for 64 points. That is unacceptable, even with the injuries. Perfect example of how much, even given the injuries, this team is severely underachieving. The Detroit Red Wings are currently 13-10-4, take away the loser point and they are sitting at .482 This team can do much better.

True. Still, I'd love to see someone calculate it all out.

So basically, you can watch FSN Detroit EXCEPT Wings games because the league says you should be a Blue Jackets fan since you're in Ohio??

jeeze... someone should calculate the number of points lost vs. man-hours this season. Seems like everyone is missing a high-end player.

Until the KHL runs into similar hard economic times as North America that cause Hudler's salary to drop drastically, I don't see him coming back. He is a smallish guy who could never stick above the third line in his time with the Wings. Over there he is currently 6th in league scoring making double what he could be making here tax free and he is closer to home, if I were him I'd have to say I'd stay over there without a second thought (as long as I wasn't planning a life threating injury and therefore avoid being carried off in a hamper or something). To give anyone a look into the overall talent pool of the KHL, the current points leader is Marcel Hossa who never reached potential with the Rangers, now he is making more money than he could get in the NHL and has 33pt in 31gp, versus his best season with NYR scoring 18pt in 64gp.

Haha what? How did I not hear about this? What'd he do, send Toskala pictures of his crank or something?

Wow, I leave for an hour and the trolls must have just come a-flooding in. Where were all the 'Hawks fans for the last 20 years or so? I'm in Milwaukee, WI, so there are 'Hawks bandwagoners abound. I hate how a team could seem to have no fans at one point and have one good season and all of a sudden everyone has always believed in them and banged the drum for the mighty Blackhawks, you just couldn't hear them.

Yeah, thats a real head scratcher there. We'll see how good of a coach Babcock really is this season. Came in like a hard ass, rubbed a few veterans the wrong way. Then had success and softened up a little too much. Like the Saskatoon wisdom, but at this point I've heard more than my fill of "i thought we played fantastic, i think we'll win most of those games, i think we just keep doing what we're doing, stay the course" over and over, I'd love for once to give the team a swift kick in the ass when they need it.

wow, one of the best set-up men in the game for dirt cheap, great deal for the Bruins

PASHA!!! EDIT: Honestly, WTF is up with all the days in between games this season? Isn't it supposed to be compressed with Olympics instead of stretched to portions of boredom?

Are you honestly a Wings fan?? Seriously, you beat the drum so loudly for non-Wings and Crosby more than I've ever seen you view anything Red and White in a positive light. Carman must be the most well-infiltrated troll in the history of the internet.

*face palm* I love Babs, but all he is good for is staying the course and the course set usually consists of overestimating the abilities of one or two horrible players *cough*BERTUZZI*cough*

This teams confidence is rattled big time. The Wings have always had a disgusting amount of depth, now they literally have two players creating offense and no one potting goals. You can't rely on Pav and Hank to do everything every night with no help, which is what they are getting. Besides Williams, the injuries have hit a player like Franzen with a good finish in a year that was hopefully going to see him in a starring role, Filppula who up until the injury was the best Wing forward and really starting to play confidently, and Kronwall who was really coming into his own as a extremely dynamic player. I think the Kronwall injury was really the last straw and until one of the secondary players that were supposed to step up this season do, this is going to be a very tough stretch to watch.

Yeah, I got a giggle out of Brad Lebda and Darren Meech too. Morons.

Pretty much what I mean. Came in very soft-spoken and he responses were pretty stock until Draper threw in the shot about his suit.

Not bad, but he just doesn't seem like a good television guy. Didn't seem very natural up there.

Special teams is definitely the problem. But as absolutely pathetic the Wings PK has been this season, and it has, I'm starting to think our terrible PP is whats really sinking this team. How many times this season have the Wings had a few PPs with a chance to stretch a lead or take one and have looked completely out of sorts? The Wings have now lost 3 of their passed 4 games, managing only one goal in each loss, including a similar affair at the beginning of the month losing 5-1 to Toronto. The Wings need to start rewarding players who show they have upside instead of constantly giving players like Bertuzzi chances to show their downside. Switch things up a game, have you played like garbage on the first or second line? You are third or fourth line tonite. Crashing the net well and creating chances on the third or fourth line? Guess who gets to be on Datsyuk's wing tonite. Babcock seems to form completely unexplained confidence in certain players who in games are just plain terrible. *cough*Bertuzzi*cough*