zettie85

I'm as real as could be. Cap hit is ridiculous for sure. I have never seen a player get moved off the puck as bad as him. Maybe Leino, but we ditched him. I don't think Rafalski has heard of a gym because he obviously never uses it. He's scared to get loose pucks and gets blown by or walked around every game. His decision making ability is just gone. He seems so indecisive with the puck unless he has no one within 40 feet of him. I don't like how he plays and I have really had it with the guy.

Rafalski is already a thing of the past. I have yet to see him show up for the Wings in over a year.

It's actually the exact opposite. Western Canada vs. Eastern Canada. I hear from Flames fans daily that they are kinda pulling for Vancouver now even though they hate them.

He is being played wrong but it's not by choice. Who else can be our 6th forward? Cleary? Not at the moment. Miller? I don't see that working out. If we hadn't signed the most expensive pylon in the world(Rafalski) for 6 million dollars we would have options. Sammy not leaving maybe. Hudler as a the 2nd line winger. Right now Bert is the only one who could fill out the top 6. Next year I don't seem him in the top 6 if we do resign him.

He needs the experience whether it's good or bad.He can build on it next time around. I think it was a great decision to go with Howard in the playoffs. It still was the best decision because he needs to get games under his belt sooner or later. I'd rather it be now.

He won a cup with the same team minus Sammy and Hudler. Get real.

Bert was never as bad as the fans make him out to be. He is older and only getting 1.5. We could have had a worse player. He chipped in some goals and did all that he was supposed to. I do wish he would play more physical but oh well. If I had a say he would be back but for no more than 1.2 or something a little less then what he is getting but enough to make him feel needed. I can't wit for Rafalski to be gone and I think we need to lock in Helm long term.

Crosby>Ovechkin Datsyuk>Any person, place, or thing you can think off.

Brodeur plays in a defensive system. Always has. He was a great goalie but I think his stats are a bit inflated. He is one of the best. Not the best. Roy played on good teams but he had to be amazing all the time. He definitely is the best in my eyes. I think it shows how good our team was to beat him numerous times. He had to be great.

Love what he has done as a player. Starting to hate what he has done with the competition committee. Now he works for Bettman. I don't know what to think.

x1000

How on earth does it send that message? Eaves is hurt. Not a healthy scratch. They have to put somebody in to take his place.

I say that our top 2 lines play a lot better rendering our 3rd line irrelevant instead of it being that sharks that do it. Cleary, Franzen, Zetterberg, Flip and Bert all have to be better or we could have me in there in place of Eaves and it wouldn't matter.

Probably won't come here but we could possibly pro rate it until we lose the 6 million dollar pylon.

I'm guessing 2000 was a little steep?

I wish there was a "neither" option.

We are almost guaranteed to be heading out west if we win anyways so what is the difference?

Zetterberg came out of the womb with a playoff beard.

Absolutely not. The difference between this and Ovechkins is that Ovie actually put his shoulder on Campbell. Hossa hardly touched him. If you have to give him anything give him just the 5 but I think that is even a little steep. 5 max maybe because it is a dangerous part of the ice but still to me seems a little much.

I hope that's a Leino joke.

I see your point but I really don't think it matters. Phoenix is a defence first team. If they don't have to defend though it only leaves them one option but add the attacking element into their game. Tippet sees how bad our passes are and how weak our forecheck is at the moment and is getting his boys to play more offencive. Same results no matter who we play.

Phoenix isn't a bad team. We are right now. On paper it's a different story but currently on ice they haven't showed all year except some post olympic games that they can be a contender. Taking out Howard now only robs him of valuable playoff experience. He has let in a couple bad ones but like was mentioned earlier not everyone can be a Ken Dryden or a Patrick Roy in their rookie year. We made the playoffs with lackluster play and great play from a young goaltender. If we make it to the 2nd round then great. If not there is always next year. The more games Howard gets now the more prepared he will be come future playoffs. We need to think about the future more now then we do about getting out of the 1st round of the playoffs this year. Ya I would like to see it but not at the expense of Howard losing experience.

I have to agree. I'm pumped we won and was super excited but we can not have defensive lapses like we did yesterday. We got way better in the last 30 minutes but I would rather see us not give up more than 3 goals in a game. We should be capitalizing on their mistake not vice versa. We would score then they would score. We were lucky they didn't take the wind out of our sails.

Funny thing is Abdelkader and Williams have the same amount of career playoff points. 3.

I will take a puck hog over the types of passes made in the 2nd and 3rd tonight.