b.shanafan14

Filppula was spectacular on the second line last playoffs, but this season he has looked unconfident. I think Filppula needs to shoot a lot more, he has a really good shot, but for the most part would rather pass it off to the Samuelsson's of the world than take it himself. This was a problem with Pavel until last season. Filppula needs wingers who can finish and some PP time to gain back some confidence. Unfortunately, he won't see that until next season, and even more unfortunate with his cap hit and lack of production, that may be too late.

He should definitely sit out the ASG, its pointless and we are going to need him at 100%

Nowadays a players of Hank's caliber would command $9-10 million a season easy, with some of the more insane GMs around the league. Keeping him for around $7.5 mil a season is a good bargain for his variety of two-way play. Just because he is slumping right now doesn't mean his isn't worth the dough. Unfortunately, in the cap world its risky to sign any player beyond the foreseeable future and sometimes you also have to try and nickel and dime them, trying to convince them to give up a little bit to continue playing with great players. Do not envy management or the players that need signing. No one wants to go, but everyone deserves to get paid.

I was out last night, so I missed the game and I was really wanting to watch it. Great to go on TSN today and see he potted the first one of the game. Nice move too.

People forget that the Blues and the Isles that Ozzy played for were complete s***, not unlike today. People forget that while his stats weren't stupendous in the W-L columns just like any other goaltender that plays for such teams, Ozzy got them playoff berths. And really, who has done better pray tell? Manny Legace? Hasek post 2002? Cujo? Cheveldae in the early 90s? Everyone always says any goaltender could play for the Wings, and yet even last season the Wings were looking at a possible first-round choke, and many other years when they are set up to dominate something goes arigh between the pipes. Throw Luongo on this team and instead of setting some record for most shutouts, I'll bet seeing approx. 20 shots a game makes him look very average and overpaid.

What game did you watch last night? Far as I saw, the Wings were out shot, I believe lost more draws, were out hit, at times lacked puck support, allowed way too many odd-man rushes including two full breakaways who took shots, where as Cleary and a few others found themselves down low with a chance to get a quick shot off and instead got cute and tried to deke backhand and forgo the vulnerable five-hole of Nabokov and attempt to beat an already sprawled pad. Media will call it a great game between two powerhouses and goalie-doomsday theorists like you will call it a game Ozzy lost, but the fact of the matter is, the Wings definitely didn't play a complete 60 minutes and our defense has screened it own goaltender and turned over the puck in the neutral zone way too often. All this said, both teams have held serve so far this season which is what should be expected by two teams so evenly matched. We have a chance to split in Detroit, February 25. Many people on here, like the media, often call the latest winner the better team. "Wings put them in there place!" read headlines in December, this morning stuff like "We're number one!" is out there. Luckily for hockey fans, its not April, its January.

This. I'm done here after the first page. See you next goalie thread, kids.

Yeah, Pavel blew it last year when he went first and someone forgot to tell him the object wasn't to score pretty goals, but instead to skate backwards or juggle the puck and not register a shot on goal. Apparently there is no Russian word for 'retarded flashy bulls***'

This. Luongo is great, but too great to sit back and see only 18-24 shots in a game. The Wings system racks up wins like no other, but it also has the tendency to make great goaltending look very average. Throw Luongo behind the Wings defense (at least when they are on their game like they were last year) and I doubt he would be a TREMENDOUS improvement over the goalie tandem we have now, especially not enough to warrant the extra money we'll have to pay him.

Its not that the Wings can outbid teams for UFAs and just throw money around which was the precap problem sometimes that I want. It upsets any teams fans when they draft players like Datsyuk, Zetterberg, Franzen, and Hudler, players other teams wouldn't take the risk of drafting, then develop them into superstars or otherwise great players only to have someone say "this is a great marriage, but unless everyone takes about half their worth, someone has to go". The Wings are always the low-bidder and players except that and sign despite because its a great organization, but its a system in place to prevent teams with revenue from overpaying players to build a monster, ala the Yankies, but its preventing teams like the Wings from keeping the players they have developed when no one else would and players like Hossa who are willing to take much less than market value to play for them. It provided parity by not so much spreading the wealth as they are making the best teams worse, which I don't think is good for the game, but as a Wings fan I'm biased I guess. Just explain to me how we still have teams like Vancouver overpaying players like Sundin, making $10mil/year offers, all these teams hugging the cap and most of the time skating a mediocre teams anyways because they would rather fill seats with a big name player than win hockey games, and still other teams stuck in such dreadful hockey markets that they hug the cap floor and never improve. Its always going to be the top bunch of teams switching players too, because there are some teams like Florida that just aren't destinations for elite players. The system is severely broken and IMO doesn't do what it set out to do and in just 3 years has made the lockout seem even more pointless, which I didn't think was possible.

This is just.... wrong.

First of all, welcome. But no thanks. I liked Leino in the preseason too, and Helm last year. But you don't subtract two guys who you've developed yourself, who are having breakout years with Franzen currently at 20g, 11a and Hudler at 17g, 20a totalling 37g, 31a between the two for one player who is sitting at 20g,20a in Hossa. I'm not saying Hossa doesn't have tremendous talent and isn't a hound defensively, I'm just saying if you can keep a bit of depth intact for maybe a million or two more for two players as opposed to one, we'd be better off. Hudler and Franzen are only getting better and we've won before Hossa, we'll win after. Fact of the matter is, no matter how impressed we all are by whats in GR, you don't replace two of your top players, who are both in the top 4 on the team in goals, pacing for around 30-40 goals this season and replace them with AHLers and not have a huge drop in depth.

Homer is well-liked in the dressing room and besides Lidstrom is the longest tenured Swede on the Wings. I'm sure most of it was just heart-to-heart stuff, being that Hank has been around long enough to know its the best organization in hockey by now. I wouldn't be surprised if it had nothing to do with the contract talks at all and more to do with Hank's frustration with his own play not meeting his own expectations.

I don't doubt that Hossa already knows the Wings are a class organization, hell thats the reason he came in the first place. And I also don't doubt that Marian would probably love to stay a Wing after his short stay so-far on the winnning-est team for the last 17 years or so. But we lack the cap room to sign him and leave the team's depth intact. I think Hossa is great and I wish he could stay, but you can thank Bettman for a salary cap that has fixed no problems and instead causes the best teams in the league to 'expire' in that they develop players who become great, deserve pay, but then you don't allow the team to pay them, so instead of another 1980s Oilers or something of the like which the NHL is more than eager to market (if its in Pittsburgh), you end up with a senario where a team can only get so good before raises are earned and players are forced to get them elsewhere.

Hopefully it gets done soon, I hate the period before a player is resigned, way too much speculation. And once again, I hate the salary cap, the system is broken in too many ways to name in short, but its bad enough that the chance exists that the Wings have drafted and developed players in Zetterberg, Franzen, and Hudler that are so good they deserve good pay, the Wings are more than willing to give that pay, but because of the salary cap someone is possibly moving on. Explain the significance of making the leagues best teams worse when others hug the floor without improvement and some max out the cap for a single $10mil/year contract with a player, which the cap was supposed to prevent, and still skate a mediocre team.

Both terrible ideas, but right in Bettman's wheel-house. "California or Vegas?! Sure! Can it be the Ducks vs. the Kings? Please oh please let me have it in California! Warm weahter? Who cares, science has come far enough to build an icerink outdoors in 70 degrees, and the s***ty ice will give the true indoor feel for the two teams".... Boston vs. Montreal at Fenway is the best I've heard so far, two more original six teams, throw Canada a bone, historic venue, reemerging rivalry. Done.

Great job guys! Wish I could get to more games, going to school in Milwaukee the best I can do is games in Chicago, this year it was a doozy tho. Booing Pronger was great, really loud after the cross-check on Cleary, to the point where I turned to my dad and said "either Ducks fans finally hate Pronger or their are a s***load of Red and White shirts in the stands". Guess it was the latter

Yeah, that would be sweet, but what about an all Russian line of Kovalchuk/Datsyuk/Ovechkin... Vancouver 2010??

Noticed something today, Datsyuk isn't being included in the shootout in that joke of an all-star game. I remember last year he deked nicely a bunch of times and was one of the few to actually score, but in the judging he apparently didn't impress Dominique Wilkins and some guy from Friday Night Lights enough so he got a s*** score, and AO just juggled the puck like any professional hockey player can do, whiffed on the shot and damn near got 10s across the board. That event is so laughable every year, and this year its going to be lacking the best hands in the league.

I really like that statistical system, really interesting at the very least. Does go to show how players really impact a game when you take into consideration helping the team win versus a normal stat padding assist on the 7th goal in a blow out. Not saying this is better than the average G=A, G+A=Pts system, its just... different.

Bench Draper, put in Meech, give him a wake up call. As long as everyone on the fourth line is playing lazily, not crashing, not persuing the puck, not playing hard, someone sits for Meech every game until they prove better. At least Meech works hard, thats what our fourth line is lacking. Instead of energy guys, the Wings fourth line is where they stick the has-beens for their free ride.

After the first period it was nothing but laziness for the rest of the game. The Wings deserved to be blow out last night, but thanks to Datsyuk and Osgood the Wings got a point. Great to see Pav keep the roll going stronge and pisses me off to see Osgood come back the best he has been all season and have his whole team crap out on him.

Couldn't agree more. And the worst part about it is that the Wings aren't like most of the league where the fourth liners take care of the oppositions best players, most of the time Babcock is putting the Datsyuk and Zetterberg lines against the oppositions best and still with the limited icetime and skill of the the players against, the Draper line has been terrible. To me the only thing that keeps Draper from being scratched is his faceoffs.

True throughout. Oh and last year he nearly doubled the second place guy in Takeaways to set a league record. And he is on the PK, which doesn't happen (successfully) often with the upper echilon in scoring. The league is never going to look hard at Datsyuk for Hart because he is on the Wings and doesn't rack up 120 points a season, but give me him over Malkin or Crosby anyday.

watch any hockey game and you'll see a goaltender out of position on his back, that doesn't make it a Hasek flop. That was Hasek's style, watch the 07 playoffs, puck hits him, he lays down. Osgood played the whole game in his butterfly except to make 3 or 4 miraculous diving saves and when he got caught out of position for the final tally. So I'm assuming the save Conklin made on Peca the other night was a Hasek-esque flop too eh? Do you honestly thing any other goaltender in the league could have played lights out with the amount of not only shots but quality, all-but-guaranteed chances Osgood saw tonite? See you again in fairweather, fan.