wings4thecup06

According to Ansar Khan, who asked Babcock directly, Helm is out for tonight. http://kuklaskorner.com/tmr/comments/wings-skating-in-san-jose1 'Babcock confirms Helm is not playing tonight. DeKeyser in for Marchenko. Who will stay with team for the trip'

Me too, been amped for this one all week, especially after the Stars game. Eagerly wanting to see if we're up to snuff against the Cali teams. Shame that Helm nor Pavel won't be in tonight though. Anybody thinking this will be a repeat of the last meeting at the Joe (Hopefully with a better outcome!)?

I agree, I think they'll try to trade Tootoo first, and if unsuccessful, buy him out after. Its clearly evident he's not in favour with Babcock, otherwise he'd still be up in Detroit at the moment and have a more regular spot in the lineup. I'd love them to just go for it and keep Jurco up next season, as long as he's playing well of course…...

True, and I doubt babcock would sit him anyway, judging on past history alone. Even despite all his struggles this season, he's only been a healthy scratch just the once

If you like a bit of a walk and want an awesome view of the entire city, take a trek to the top of park Mount-royal. Literally gives you a spectacular view over the entire city, and you can see everything. I spent a little bit of time also at la Centre Bell, especially outside, where there is a tremendous shrine for the history of the Canadiens and their great players. As a Wings fan, it was still an incredible sight to see all that history in one place

Personally I'm picking Sweden for gold at the moment, (along with preying no one gets injured), with Canada/Russia fighting it out for silver/bronze. One things for sure, I'm bloody well excited for it now!

Didn't the reports this summer suggest he was also being wooed by Boston at the same time the Wings were courting him? If his first priority was to win a cup, you don't think he would have gone there? The Wings Swedish contingent has to have been a huge factor….

Even if we became sellers, I don't think the Wings would part with Alfie. He's been tremendous this season, clearly has some good chemistry with the swedes on our team, and is a right hand shot after all! Plus, he's gone through the whole process of up-rooting his entire family from Ottawa to Michigan. With the level of respect that KH etc have for their players, I don't think they'd even contemplate moving Alfie. In spite of that, I'm hoping we re-sign him for one more year, because it looks like he's still got the drive and is having a lot of fun out there too. Plus at age 41, he's still a top 6 forward, which is incredible. That said, I would not be opposed to a re-build of sorts. Even if that re-build would be dropping a few veterans and bumping up some of the young guys from GR and giving them full time roles. Would be interesting test for babcock also. I think missing the playoffs would hurt, but I'd rather secure the long term future of this franchise by missing the playoffs once than trying but failing now and suffering down the line. NB. I still think this team has a reasonable shot, if everyone gets healthy, and babcock actually plays the right guys with the right amount of ice time.

hmm, interesting. I have a feeling that KH, babs and co kept him around for his veteran smarts, leadership etc, banking on the fact that we had a greater amount of talent elsewhere to make up for it. I will never hate Cleary for simply what he has done for this team, but his time had come at the end of last year. But could you blame KH for re-signing him after he had a great playoff? I'm not sure. Those with cups half full probably couldn't. The guy had a great track record here in Detroit, has been an anchor in many roles for the team over the years and has given it all. I don't think any of us saw this coming quite so quickly and quite so soon.

Up and down to be honest. Going into the season I was incredibly optimistic after the end of last year. And then we re-signed cleary……….(just for the record, I have nothing against Danny, but I firmly believed it was time for the wings to part ways with him) That said, I think we've done exceedingly well considering the injuries we've had (as of Jan 5th, 166 man games lost, 7th in the league - source mangameslost.com!!!!). I'm hoping that we'll have a big surge once we can get DeKeyser, Helm, Datsyuk and Franzen back, establish some consistency with our lines and move forward productively. Extremely excited about the form Helm has shown when he came back, some unexpected offence too which is badly needed. I do think that they should possibly bury Samuelsson and bring up Jurco full time, the kid just needs to play. And I truly believe there's a spot for Sheahan on this team also. A couple of big, young bodies will definitely go along way. Glad to see that Nyqvist and especially Tatar are playing well, but they both just need to become a little more consistent and bring it every night. Tootoo needs to be up here permanently IMO, just so we can have a greater bang and crash presence on our 4th line. Only real negatives I can find are the lack of consistency, Cleary been given a constant lineup spot, injuries obviously, non stellar play from Jimmy (although he looks like he's turned a corner now). Otherwise, the east definitely is no where near as strong as the west. I could envision that if we can get on a roll in the second half and start churning out wins, I don't think there's anyone else in the East besides Boston and Pittsburgh that could give us a problem come playoff time. That is of course, if this team starts to play like we expect it to.

I think Marchenko played a solid first game. Couldn't have asked for much more from him. I agree with what most ppl have said - he was noticeably nervous in the 1st period, but as the game went on, he settled in nicely and made some good outlet passes and didn't turn the puck over. It was good to see a young guy like that step in and not get too amped up and make mistakes all over the shop. It will be interesting to see what happens and if he plays vs the Sharks if DeKeyser is back. As for Lashoff, I have been pleasantly surprised with him thus far, making good defensive plays and providing a good amount of physical presence on the back end which has been lacking a bit I feel. still waiting for someone to get Kronwalled……..

Have to say that while I love both guys and think they are both indispensable, Z is the better leader. Datsyuk may have the better hands, speed, passing ability, but Z has that Captain material and just simply turns it up another notch when it counts. I'd say they're pretty equal defensively, and Z has the better shot (although I'll take pavel's backhander over anyone else in the league)! Bottom line: They are both world class players and we couldn't do without them

I could not agree more. For me, I see a lot of good young promising players (tatar, smith, nyqvist, jurco, mrazek, sheahan etc) that with the right amount of ice time/opportunity/veteran support could bring us back to the top. Obviously we are going to need a few more pieces than that, but IMO things are looking up. Letting sammy, cleary and quincey (possibly Bert too although knowing KH he'll probably be re-signed) walk will help in bringing these kids along further. In this day and age, no GM would be stupid enough (surely not, unless Mike Milbury takes over the Islanders again) to take any of our overpaid players. Let the kids play, and wait and see.

How does everybody feel about the Joe departing for a new rink? About time? Wish it was refurbished instead? Personally I'm disappointed because its one of the few remaining 'old school' rinks left that doesn't pander to the corporate 21st century. Bet you won't find such a great standing room section at the new rink......

Anyone help identify the rest of the players in this photo: So far Ive got Drapes, Ozzie, Larionov, Kocur, Fischer, Mickey Redmond (?) Is that Ciccarelli in the back at the middle?

Hmm yea as a few people have said, it's gonna depend on whether Stuart signs. Cheil will almost certainly be back for sure, you can bank on it. But i personally believe they should give a few looks to Quincey, Meech and Ericsson too. We all saw that Quincey could play at a highly competitve level when he stepped in Schneider/Kronner when they both went down in the 07 playoffs. Meech did a great job filling in this season as well. Ericsson, well, the kid's 6'5, he's got a 100mph slapshot and tons of potential. Plus he's another great find of Hakan Andersson. I'm all for giving him a shot. I'm not just gonna say we should throw Lilja outta the door though. He does bring some damn good shot blocking/penalty killing abilities, but i don't know. I haven't exactly been sold on him, and i'd like us to see some of the youngens get a shot. I won't be sad if he leaves, but then again, I won't be upset if he sticks around.

With Stefan Liv probably heading back to Sweden next year, and also i heard a rumour that logan koopmans might retire, then berkhoel will probably be the backup in GR/ECHL starter. who knows. at the end of the day, he's young, and provides depth. Ference could make this club as the 7th dman, but that then makes Derek Meech expendable, so he'll be traded if ference makes it outta camp. i can't see the wings letting Meech go on waivers. But hey, it definately gives us some physical punch from the blueline if he is the 7th dman. Good Job Kenny!!

Spam....mmm sweet

honestly, i reckon there just won't be any space for him. schneider will come back, kenny willl do almost anything to bring him back, not so sure about markov though, that's a tough one. chelios will be back too, and for good reason, he's been awesome this year. the real question i think is whether lilja is good enough to get a regular slot above Quincey/kindl, ericsson. if he is, then quincey'll be 7th dman or in GR. Although he's been amazingly solid for a rookie, so i wouldn't mind having him around next year.

Well the bruins aren't headed anywhere near the playoffs in a long time. how stupid do you have to be to trade away joe thornton...that trade has curse potential written all over it! and i'd love for a wings/rangers cup final this year, that would be old time hockey.

it doesn't particularly matter what malts does in the regular season, it's all about the playoffs. its worth keeping him around solely for that purpose, when it counts, he steps up, so does draper and all the other scrappers we have on our team. malts was huge last season vs the oilers, and has stepped up his phyisicality and all around game with drapes this postseason. great signing by kenny!

soooo excited for the game!!!! Get healthy homer!! GO WINGS!!!

it'll be all about nbc's tv schedule...but i'm not complaining right now, we're two for two on weekend games in these playoffs....let's hope the trend continues!!