b.shanafan14

I thought it was one of those plays that look a lot worse than its was, especially since the only view Versus would give was face-to-glass-o-vision. To me it looks like the Blues player was already falling towards the glass before Lilja made contact, but its a hard hit to pull out of if you're Lilja. Was it a penalty? I'd say 'yes' just because it looked violent from the refs perspective (I'm assuming, again, thanks Versus). My gripe is the 5 minute major which suggests that extra level of violence and perhaps a bit of intent to injure, neither of which were present in that hit. Thats an everyday, run-of-the-mill 2 minute Boarding call. My concern is how many times the Wings receive similar hits with no call at all and the fact that you literally have to twist Colin Campbell's arm to get him to suspend Pronger for hits far more malicious. Conspiracy theorists were probably scratching their heads last night, as was I saying to myself "THAT hit??" Now I thought a Game Misconduct meant automatic suspension, which if turns out to be the case, my lid will really flip.

Glad to see Leino stay, it'll be good to see Helm again. He really won the hearts of us fans and Babs last playoffs, it'll be good to see him up on the big club again, he'll probably be back up for the playoffs.

Loved the energy, hustle, and confidence Abdelkader and Leino displayed. No reason Leino shouldn't have a roster spot, guy is great from what I saw in the preseason and this game. Downey is good for energy but lacks the core hockey skills to justify giving him a spot on the fisticuffs alone in front of other call ups. Really shows just what kind of drag players who are leaching roster spots really are when you realize they are keeping the Leinos and Helms of the system out of the games (that means you Draper, Maltby, and Kopecky).

Not really sure how to right the ship. I thought Abdelkader and Leino provided great energy today. Problem is the whole teams seems to opt for the cute plays instead of getting the puck on the net and top to bottom the team looks lackluster. PK has been dreadful and the PP seems to be mustering very little, todays final minute and a half is a good example of how they have been passing and passing and passing until they find the wrong shot. Shooters aren't hitting the nets and overall the confidence and energy level have been down. All I can really think of as a way to improve is get healthy, starting shooting on net again, and good energy additions from GR coupled with taking the whole 4th line out behind the Joe and putting them down, old yeller style.

I'm a huge Val Filppula fan, the kid has skill and guts, good defensively a Red Wings-type player. That said his lack of production is showing that he really may never peak and become the 70 pt producer the Wings have touted him as. As unfortunate as it is, might be time to move Flip this offseason and call it a lesson learned. I really hate the salary cap and personally I feel it fixes very little. I'd love to see Hossa in the Winged-Wheel next season, same with Franzen, but I'm also one of the loudest voices saying "impossible" at the situation. Hank's contract helped, but when you need a nickel and someone gives you a penny, you're still a little short. In a perfect world, the Wings keep Franzen, Hossa, and Hudler for low cap numbers. But professional sports isn't a perfect world, even if it is hockey. There is only so much you can leave on the table, especially when it could potentially be your only real big pay day, like it will be for Franzen and Hudler. One of Franzen and Hossa will be signed, the other will be forced to leave with open market money as consolation prize (funny that players love the organization in Detroit so much that another possibly $1-2mil per season is 2nd place), and the rough situation with Hudler is if we aren't able to move around much salary and we only have so much space left, any offer sheet someone gives him can be pretty low, as long as its just above what the Wings have left, and Hudler will really have no choice since he deserves to be paid.

Agreed. Osgood hasn't been great, but really has had to face some no chance stops. Osgood could do a lot better, but so could half the team.

When are we going to see a blame Kronwall thread or a blame Draper's lack of hustle thread. Anti-Osgood posters say some of us are ignoring the signs of some terrible goaltending, I argue that many of you have little clue other than to blame a goaltender who has made a career as the whipping boy. When Osgood wins a cup you've "always believed in him! Ozzy Ozzy Ozzy!", when he gets pulled after defensive breakdown after defensive breakdown you've "always known he was a product of the team! Osgood Sucks!". It'd be amusing if it was so sad and predictable. Next game just for laughs, watch Kronwall the whole game, or see how many times in a week of play he turns over the puck at the faceoff dots while trying a break out or stretch pass from behind his own goal, turnovers that get by even Ty Conklin. And if your attention span is great enough to focus on more than one player to blame, on account of hockey being a team sport, watch how many times Draper is caught not hustling and flat footed, how many times you see him watching the play instead of trying to stop it. And *gasp* whatever you do don't look at three time Norris winner, now 47 year old Chris Chelios. (Don't be confused by the above statements, I like Kronwall, Draper, and Chelios, and I'm by no means saying Osgood has been terrific. My point is few have been great and many have been a bigger problem than Osgood)

Funny how hung up they are, pure seething hatred in the introduction followed by a way-too-time-consuming sarcastic bit. Its actually quite entertaining.

:nonono:

4 games in a row is rough. The defense is extremely complacent and players aren't directing enough shots at the net. Everyone seems unsure out there, except Pavel that is. Tonite on the PP they tried to force plays that weren't there instead of being patient. Kronwall has been dreadful this season, huge disappointment after the playoffs he had. Guy turns over the puck constantly and really seems to lack jump a lot of the time. Overall disappointing run, need to get back to playing Red Wing hockey, shots on goal, crashing the net, own-zone responsibility. Seems the Wings have turned over the puck most of the time when trying to force a break out or stretch pass from behind their own goal and it gets picked and ends of in their net. And don't get me started on Chelios right now... Oh well, as pjgj13 said, better to slump now than later, happened last year.

The point is that Crosby was the one that was injured for real and others were just ASG draft dodging, straight from Sid's mouth himself. The NHLPA doesn't acknowledge any supposed agreement between the two parties on the issue, so no one should have been suspended. But since two players were suspended, all of them should have been, no ifs ands or buts. If it was supposedly so iron-clad Sid would have sat, instead of having a 4 point night in a win for the Pens. On the otherside, since Sid plays with no problem, whether he went to festivities or not, Lids and Dats should have been allowed to play, instead the Wings lost to a team they should have beat and lost a 3rd player to injury because Hank was forced to double-shift due to the short bench.

Emery is a hot-head and will never play in the NHL again. This is his own fault and if incidents like this recent one happen again, he won't be welcome anywhere. According to TSN, he got pulled and was asked numerous times to where the sponsors hat and when the trainer went to put it on him Emery, who loves to make something out of nothing, snapped. Pathetic, as per the usual.

Done, done, and done. All would be right in the hockey universe.

The issue isn't if Hossa is better than one or the other of Franzen and Hudler, its if we can maintain our depth for the same price, I think that would be the smart deal. Unfortunately, as much as I like Filppula, his contract is looking really rough right now...

Exactly, for $7mil/season for the rest of his career, everyone would be insane not to take it. Does his back make me nervous? Of course. But I don't see if ever costing him a season and he's proven to be clutch when it matters. Tonite I was worried from second one because of the way Columbus was throwing around the body and the fact the Wings were forced to double-shift Hank, another reason to hate the suspensions of Nick and Pav...

This whole Ovechkin-Malkin feud was more a media driven drama anyways. Malkin would ***** about Ovechkin hitting him in hockey games, and Ovechkin allegedly beating up his agent, all based on some supposed 'great' friendship they used to have because they hung out in Torino once or twice, like two young Russian's in Italy were supposed to know many more people. I do like me some Ilya Kovalchuk tho. Ovechkin-Datsyuk-Kovalchuk in the olympics please!

This is all it is, nothing more. Done.

Basically, from now on every ASG lead-up is going to sound like this: "so and so is injured but decided to play anyways instead of be suspended, so and so can't make it and will take the suspension". Either way, this isn't good because its first incident of usage is not only bulls*** top to bottom, but apparently not nearly as 'iron-clad' as thought to be in Datsyuk and Lidstrom's case as shown in Crosby's case. Fix the event and you'll get rid of the players who opt out, while improving it for fans and sparing players like Lidstrom and Datsyuk who have legitimate injuries. Bettman is the problem, as per the usual. He would rather fix what isn't broke in some cases, and instead of fixing something him and his marketing machine did wrong, he would rather force players to attend his party.

Straight from the horse's mouth, Lidstrom talks about the circumstances on 97.1 Ticket http://www.971theticket.com/play_window.ph...audioId=3380302 Notice: he said he didn't find out he could have gone until friday night, and no one from the league called him, they had essentially found out because Crosby was there and wasn't getting suspended. haha and the Dominator's take: http://www.971theticket.com/play_window.ph...audioId=3384179

uh oh, this gets the NHL and they'll be wanting to add another 18" on each side of the goal.

haha yeah, Pav don't do public appearances. He would need a huge bowtie, squirting flower, and exploding cigar to hammer home Bettman's hilarious attempt at authority.

This whole incident is a shame and its just more pointless drama created by the NHL that drags two good names through the mud, pisses me off a lot that a lot of those in the media just assume Lidstrom and Datsyuk were on some cruise selfishly spending their salaries that were supposed to cover the ASG. Glad Holland, Babcock, and the NHLPA are one their side.

Even if there wasn't a NTC, I would say definitely no. Especially this year, our offense isn't the problem, its been our defense, and you don't replace a defenseman of Rafalski's caliber with an AHLer, not matter how highly we all think of Ericcson.

I for one love watching the Caps, most exciting team out East IMO, barnone. Love OV and Green is ridiculous on the back end. But Sergei, i dunno, I loved him in the 90s before he started thinking he was bigger than the team/Stevie, and really the guy had out worn his welcome in my eyes before he left. I don't blame him as much for leaving as much as I was glad the Wings finally called his bluff on the contracts malarky.