b.shanafan14

Outstanding to read. Ozzy is gonna kick himself in the ass and we're gonna get this thing back on track, mark my words. The guy has the perfect attitude you want from your goaltender, calm and collect most of the time, but takes his performance personal and knows when it isn't up to snuff. Maltby turned his game around dramatically since being benched a couple games, hopefully Ozzy comes back with a vengeance.

Rafalski will retire a Wing with at least another cup-ring and he is going to once again be a big part of it. The guy is better than Brian Campbell and on the open market these days would command similar money. He is a great offensive defenseman and has some pretty good defensive skills. I really wish LGW members wouldn't press the trade button whenever a player has a rough stretch. He hasn't played to potential, but who is beside the big 4 (Z,Pav,Hossa,Franzen). Even Lidstrom and Pav have had uncharacteristic defensive gaffs of late, hopefully everyone pulls their head out of their asses. Personally, I would rather they get killed by a team like the Kings 9-1, and realize kick themselves in the ass. But thats just me...

hahaha hilarious when you think about when he got the job and he said "well, they were last place last season, I can't do any worse".... apparently you can Barry. Get a haircut, welcome back to ESPN

I'd like to see if combined goals per game are up this season, which I think they are and if the majority of the penalties this season are going to the leading team at the time and what I think has to be a dramatic rise in 5on3's. But, alas, I'm too busy/lazy to go hunting for those things.

Very realistic and expected, think of Hank's line as 1B, since skill wise they are pretty balanced and having two such lines opens it up a lot.

1A: Alex Ovechkin 1B: Brendan Shanahan 3: Milan "M*$%^& F*$%ing" Lucic 4: Mike Richards 5: Alex Semin

No, they are simply trying to create two balanced highly productive top lines, and they are very successful in doing so. Look at them as near equivalents in skill: Franzen-Zetterberg-Fil/Hud/Sam have nearly the skill of Pav-Hossa-Homer when you think that Franzen is a more skilled version of Homer (the Hossa of the the Homer position), Z and Pav are equals, and whoever the other wing on the second line is plays as less skilled version of Hossa (the Homer of the Hossa position). Everyone in the league knows Hanks worth, thats a non-issue. Its really going to come down to making Hank know that come hell or high water he is going to be in a Winged-Wheel for the rest of his career, he just needs to decide if he would rather play alongside great players for that period or have an extra million a year. Zetterberg on the "second" line isn't a demotion, see above. Think of them as Lines 1A and 1B.

Just noticed something today, which I kinda expected: NHL.com has a link to "revisit the Stanley Cup rematch" and "Look back at the incredible comeback by the Penguins this past Tuesday." and of course every All-Star voting commercial isn't complete without a Crosby clip and text your favorite player "Crosby" to such-and-such. No Wings clips tho and I don't remember any Habs clips either strangely enough, could be wrong.

definately, I though Maltby has looked pretty good since being scratched and even Mac is coming around.

Couldn't be more pleased with HockeyStreams.com, suggest anyone who doesn't get FSN-Detroit or is most often by a computer and away from a TV during game telecasts to get Hockeystream.com membership. I have the Premium HD feed and its great quality and if the bandwidth is too high they'll usually dial it back for you to reduce buffering. And its still more than half the price of CenterIce. Need a link? http://www.hockeystreams.com/register/blomquik

Good points. But my argument remains the same. Filppula is a player who when given second-line time in the playoffs last season played great on a second line with Franzen and Samuelsson (was Filppula the weakest link?), and many would argue the stats on Samuelsson are misleading much like the stats on Lang and Markov were. Samuelsson wouldn't produce on the third line where Filppula and Hudler have been stuck for years, and yet he has kept his job on the second line. This season its much worse to play on the third line given the potency of the first two lines and their getting even more bulk of the ice time. Lets face it, of the three (Filppula,Samuelsson,Hudler), Samuelsson has benefited the most, Hudler has produced the most with less ice-time and Filppula has the most raw skill. Also, because of Samuelsson's inflated stats, next season he is going to be looking for a Filppula-like contract, maybe even more dough, and thats something he isn't going to get. Samuelsson is a player that has benefited greatly by the players in Detroit and only his size is an asset on the second-line, being that he has much less raw skill and less accurate/useful shot than Filppula or Hudler. Personally, I think that Filppula's contract was more for next season than this season and I would much rather have Filppula get a full-time second line job then Samuelsson, and I know I'm not alone. Fact of the matter is: players like Filppula are a commodity (much like Kozlov, and I've always compared those two), whereas Samuelsson is a player whose been elsewhere and was never great, but put him on a line with great players and he's bound to get at least half the secondary assists available. The difference between Kozlov and Filppula is that unlike before when money wasn't an object, skill was, the issue is moving Filppula's pay check and there is next to no chance the Wings get a decent return for similiar or less cap hit. Filppula isn't going anywhere, and I'd bank neither is Hudler.

I think Filppula should stay up on the second line with Franzen and Zetterberg for a few games and see how it goes. Hudler had a good game vs. the Pens tho, so maybe his second chance is paying off. I don't think our first and second lines are the problem either way, with each having two of Hossa, Pav, Hank, and Mule, its our third line thats been invisible so far this season. Its fine that the first two take the vast majority, but you need the others to pitch in a bit more. No matter what, I think its time to finally give Hudler or Filppula a consistent second-line spot and stop wasting a forward spot on Samuelsson who adds little to nothing and will in all likelyhood be gone next season. Also, anyone on the point in the second powerplay unit EXCEPT Samuelsson, please. Its pathetic, having a subpar forward with a hard and inaccurate shot who can't hold the zone and gets caught switching back to forward without warning didn't work well with Jason Williams, and it looks horrendous with Samuelsson.

Couldn't agree more. For the first time in forever the Wings aren't looking sharp and are clumsy in their own end and it shouldn't be happening considering we have the same personnel plus another outstanding defensive forward. The coaching staff is going to have to be more proactive, especially when it comes to practicing clearing the zone. The Wings have gotten far to many goals scored on them more because they are exhausted in their own end because of constantly failure to clear, eliminate one goal a game because of failure to clear the zone and we're already better off. After that, its on the players themselves to take more pride in their defense and passing and not cough up the puck.

Agree. If the Wings are getting murdered 7-2, its two points they couldn't get (can't win them all) plus the added embarrassment as wake-up call we've all been hoping for. Games like the Pens game on the other hand is two points they had and gave one away cause they couldn't seal the deal. In the rare occasion the Wings are getting killed, you get numb eventually when the other team scores again and you just chalk it up as a loss (like being a Lions fan, only the Lions in this case play hockey). Games like the other night are much more frustrating to watch, like when the Wolverines would kick the hell out of teams and then switch to "prevent" defense (which is the silliest concept ever, "we held them to 100 yards of offense all game, now lets give them the 15 yard passes to 'prevent' the 30 yard plays") and then the team would come back and either make it a game and have the momentum or like the Ohio State game I think 4 years or so ago when UofM had them and switched to prevent and the Buckeyes came back and won. Blowing a good size lead and leaving with an OT-L and giving the Pens the W is more frustrating than the games like vs. San Jose when Dom coughed up 9.

well thank you, tho I'm sure you'll see plenty about the 5on3 or the fact that Sid has long-winded discussions with the refs if you check the GDT.... nevermind, I said nothing, we are all gentlemen and scholars of the game, not a single Wings fan with knee-jerk reactions... outside of the Rafalski hate thread.... ignore them all, we are all unbiased cool-headed loveable folks Slave: I was thinking the same thing, one day off and then two brutal frustration burners on the Florida teams....

This is a joke, having the puck the whole time with some of the best offensive players in the game while playing for an organization with rabid fans and deep seeded tradition is boring. Better alternative: the NASCAR Predators?

QFT. The whole team looked like the Senators did last season. Hopefully this is just the thing to get everyone pissed off. I don't know about any of you, but this whole season I've just been waiting for the actual Red Wings to show up a night and just say enough is enough and dominate again. To me, its impossible for a team so utterly dominant defensively to play like they have this season with the same personnel, it boggles the mind.

Agree. I've tried to project my anger the last 12 hours on the NHL and Sidney Crosby spending every commercial break having a heart to heart with the ref until a 5on3 rears its ugly head, but at the end of the day, the game was 6-4 with 4 minutes left and the Wings pissed it away. Its bad enough the Pens are going to get every break possible because Bettman's niece plays for them and its bad enough we have to listen to the joke of a broadcast, but there is absolutely no excuse for losing that game last night, the blame falls squarely on the team in red and white.

I agree. The Wings have probably sufficed to have last years cup and 18 pts. at this juncture of the season. Even when we, the fans, and them, the players have been unimpressed and at times downright embarrassed by defensive play, we've all said "no reason to panic, we're 9-2-2, not bad. Reminescent of the days in 05-06 when Babcock says "we couldn't lose a game even if we played poorly enough to lose". Hopefully, the Wings stoic dressing room starts to show a bit of panic and urgency after that embarrassment last night, cause this whole season its seemed they've just gone through the motions and I think NJ was the only 60 minute game they've played all season. The Wings need to get hungry, and if hunger isn't the problem, they'd better start getting pissed off.

The third period last night was the most frustrating hockey I've seen in a while. The defense wasn't active at all, and every goal scored all the Wings were just standing around in a huddle around Ozzy, there was no surprise when the puck ended up in the net, it was chaos in front of the crease and our once elite defensemen were just adding to it. Countless times the Wings had a chance to clear the puck and opted a softy up the boards that made it barely to the faceoff circle before a Penguin gathered it up. There was no urgency, and they've relied solely on offense almost as an excuse not to play defense. When it was 5-4 and we scored to make it 6-4 I said to myself "great, you can score at will, now stop them from doing the same".

did anyone else see the 5on3 coming a mile away? and they could have made a drinking game for me tonite, everytime I scream "clear the F%@#ing zone!", take a drink.

I'm so very mad. There are really no words for it. Defense blew it, Sindy should have to pay by the minute when crying the refs. Tripping Penguins? Illegal. Tripping Hank? I'll allow it. Just all around the most frustrated I've been since the finals when we played... oh yeah... Everyone ready for a week straight of how Sidney Crosby single handedly rallied his team and mounted the comeback of the century to win the Stanley Cup of November and made Hossa regret leaving Pitt and their great captain? I sure am!

the best part of the whole game: Doc Emmerick saying how they cut to commercial and we didn't get to see Crosby talking to the officials for a good 5 minutes nonstop. I said to myself, 5on3? Sure enough, uncle Gary calls in a favor and Franzen gets called for a push.. I mean a terrible hold. the Pens are the best team in the league and have been for a long time now and they will be for what seems like forever and they are a dynasty despite not winning anything, which is simply a technicality. Wish our defense didn't decide not to play the third period.

Filppula seems like one of the most all-around effective players per ice-time, tho I usually hate contrived stats like this.

Here's the thing: until last season, the Wings were guilty of the same Godly regular seasons with playoff disappointment. On the other hand, I totally agree with your last statement: its the beginning of November, this time last year Ottawa was running away with the league, two-months later, not so much. Now regarding Todd McLellan as the new coach. Ron Wilson is a hell of a coach when it comes to handing him a rebuilding team that in theory shouldn't go anywhere. Wilson will turn a team like that into a legitimate threat. If you hand him a great team that just needs to get over the hump and win a cup, good luck. Wilson could take a moped over a mountain, but you give him a tank and he'll get it stuck in the mud. McLellan on the other hand knows how to handle a team bursting at the seems with talent and if he brought some of the Babcock School of Motivation along with him, it may be just the shot a team like San Jose needed. Time will tell what the Wings have lost when McLellan got a promotion elsewhere and McCrimmon replaced him, but for the time being I'm a lot more worried about a hungry Sharks team with McLellan at the helm than I was with a lazy Sharks team with Wilson steering the ship.