wings4thecup06

This game really really ****ed me off and was so frustrating to watch. Again, the Wings find their game and outplay the best team in the league for most of it. Only to be undone by a really s***ty call and a bulls*** PP goal that just throws the entire context of the game out of the water. Forget the first goal Petr gave up, and this game is the Wings. The second goal I don't think you could really fault, not with Abby and DK right in the way, I don't blame him for that. But kudos to the team for battling and dominating most of the game. So good and promising to see. Also, I really LOVE AA. Kid is just creating havoc the entire time. Would love to see him play with the magic man for a bit.

What the Wings really need now is for Jimmy to be lights out the rest of the way (like he was pre ASG last season) so it drives up his trade value. Mrazek has clearly assumed the starting job and doesn't look like he'll relinquish it. The kid has too much talent and frankly all star potential. What remains to be seen is when or if the Wings will trade Howard (they'd be stupid not to, as Mrazek is going to get a hefty raise soon, most likely after this season). Problem right now is who wants Howard? The Oilers just re-signed Cam Talbot for nearly $4m AAV for the next 3 seasons, so they're effectively out. So who's left? Buffalo? San Jose? Essentially if he continues to play this well, Mrazek will start in the playoffs, and is Jimmy really going to be happy playing 25/30 games next season as backup to Petr?

Seriously why is Pulkkinen on the 4th line and Helm still floundering his way on the 2nd unit? Why not bump Larkin up to play with Pav and Tatar and have Helm with Glendening and Jurco on L4, leaving Richards and Sheahan with Pulks? Yes our lines have been fairly good and you don't really want to mess with the lineup while winning but it\'s not like we're setting the world on fire offensively. Pulks isn't a defensive player in the slightest and while he works hard, is better on a scoring line IMO.

This is what I'm worried about long term. Ericsson is a solid D man, but the money he has got, with the term, will handcuff us down the road. Just like I think it will with Abby. I love him, but I still think it's too much.

Well. Convenient that Miller might be out, but this does not remove the long term problem that remains. I support KH, but there have definitely been a few questionable contracts he signed - tbf though, I've never been a fan of Kindl, I've always thought he was too soft and didn't have what it takes. I hope he gets a shot elsewhere in the NHL though, but he was just another soft player on a blue line that needs some physicality or high end offensive guys. Still. KH needs to solve this once and for all. Quincey shouldn't be re-signed - if he is, it'll have to be a decent pay cut so wqe don't have this issue. This is what worries me about the Abdelkader contract. It's too much money and the Wings will be hands tied soon.....

When Q comes back that will give us 8 on the backend, so I imagine they'll try to move someone from the D. Most likely it'll be a typical KH conservative move, so most likely Marchenko will be sent down. Personally, I'd rather see them shop Kindl and keep Marchy, but we'll see what happens. I agree with Krsmith regarding Miller too. He just has seemed to have lost a slight edge this season, not sure why, but just seems noticeable. I'd put Jurco in for him if Jurco continues to tear it up, see what he can do with some more confidence.

Yea can't exactly say I'll be adding one of these to my jersey collection anytime soon....

While that is true, I don't think everyone is. I certainly am not. I don't except the Wings to dominate the league like we did back in the 90's and 2000's. But the effort, the compete level, the tenacity, the battling along the boards, the desire, just isn't there every night except for in the legs of #71. The way this team is playing right now, they'll be lucky to get into the playoffs. That is what is alarming to me. We're two months in. Our D looks shoddy, and the guys who we badly need to step up and becoming 1st line guys (Nyquist, Tatar, Sheahan etc) just don't show up some nights. To win in this league, even more so now, you need your best players to be just that, night in night out.

And thank heavens they finally started skating. GO WINGS!!!!

This is a serious problem that will plague this team for the rest of the season unless they sit up and take notice. There is minimal compete level from everyone on the ice. It's appalling. If I were Blashill I would be going nuts right now. They're losing every battle along the boards, allowing themselves to get hemmed in the D zone. The PP is so perimeter and they're just ***** footing around the blue line trying to get a lane to open up, instead of being aggressive, going down load and driving the net (which is the reason Tatar got the first goal). The break outs still aren't good enough, its too rushed, they don't look structured at all, and are coughing it up continuously. This is soooo frustrating to watch, and I really wish KH would have the balls to pull the trigger on a big trade and shake things up. Because really, we have great goaltending, and a group of forwards that really really needs some tenacity that plays with the compete level of some of these Kings. They're faster, more organised, more determined, smarter, everything. The Wings will be lucky to even get a point tonight if they continue to play like that first period. Sorry for being negative, I love this team like the rest of us here. But I've been noticing these disturbing trends all season long, and it's driving me mad.

Hmm. I have some issues with two things here: 1. Richards looked old and seriously out of place his first stint here. I know, adjusting to a new system etc etc, and then he got hurt. Obviously I want to see him succeed and do well, but at the same time, I can't see how we're better off with him in the lineup. I really thought Athanasiou actually brought a few things this team didn't have enough of, the most obvious thing was a certain energy level and tenacity on the forecheck. 2. Pulkkinen. Really isn't doing it for me. I know he has 5 goals so far. But there are just so many instances and times out there where he just doesn't look good enough for this level. And he's so poorly utilised on the PP. Kindl should be feeding him one timer after one timer and doing exactly what Ovechkin was doing last week - just peppering it on net. He needs to step it up.

who gives a s***. The Wings didn't lose this game because of Kindl. They lost the game because the Capitals took over the game in the 3rd and OT. You could see it coming, and if it wasn't for Mrazek, the game wouldn't even have gone to OT. The Wings played well in the first 2 periods, but just looked like they almost gave up in the 3rd. The Caps were winning all the puck battles, had way way too much O zone time, and just wanted it more. It was just like waiting for the inevitable to happen. At least we had to wait til OT so at least we got a point.

Plus minus is bulls***. It should be eliminated. Look at the OT goal Kindl scored the other night. I forget who the two forwards who set up the play were, but they went off on a change, and Z and Larkin I believe were on the ice, they both got a +1, while the two guys who set up the play got nothing at all. Crazy.

There is a 2 game suspension coming here. But if you ask me, the league should give him 15 games, WITHOUT PAY. It'd make everyone in the league sit up and take notice. If they're dead serious about eliminating these kinds of hits from the game, they need to get on with it. Also, super effort in this game by the Wings. Only the 3rd time all year I thought they played a true 60 minute game. Lets see if we can keep it going on tuesday night. P.s. Larkin is going to be a star. P.p.s Mrazek is also going to be a star

While Bertuzzi needs to dial it down a notch, its these kind of guys who play with a little bit of a feisty edge that the Wings really need IMO. Just watch our games with the sole purpose of looking for Wings players INITIATING body contact. There really isn't a lot of it. Ironically, when Z and Datsyuk throw their bodies around, the results are good. Take a look at the great Wings teams that most of us on this board grew up with. Guys like Maltby, McCarty, Kocur, Shanny, Lapointe, Konstantinov. All willing to punish opposing players and rough it up a little to win. Balance that with the sort of high end scoring talent that this team is developing (in guys like Larkin, Nyquist, Tatar etc) and we may be able to go somewhere. Our D is way too soft. Ericsson, if he applied himself physically game in and game out, could be a FORCE. He's huge, and has some serious strength. None of the fights he got into last year were even close. Neil wanted a piece of him saturday, but you can tell he would have got hammered if the refs had let them go. Kronwall hasn't played the body now really in the last few seasons, probably because he's now the number 1 d man and was also the primary offensive D man. I also think that his most recent suspension in the playoffs has signalled the death of anyone getting Kronwalled every again. He's too valuable to the team to miss time over a suspension, and he knows it. This is why Brad Stuart was such a great addition in 07. He played with an edge that the D didn't have and he brought it physically night in night out. I'm not saying the wings need to change everything and go to a bunch of goons, but even 1 hard hitting D man on the back end, and one or two more physical forwards would go a long way in making this team more dangerous.

These are awesome. I truly can't wait to see which other Wings will be adorning my background this season courtesy of you sir!

After thinking about this and re-wathcing and being immensely frustrated post game, here's what I see are the issues: 1. The wings forechecking is shocking - literally, all night long, the Senators D had tons of time to make plays and break out of their own zone, constantly killing any chance the Wings had to get zone time. Our forwards seemed to be floating around the slot waiting for the puck to be coughed up, or standing around the half boards waiting for the play to go back the other way. Not good enough. They need to pressure the D men so they can create turnovers and maintain offensive zone time. 2. No net front presence at all. When they were in the zone, and got shots (which they did well at times), there was no one in front. There were a couple of glorious chances where you could see the guy move OUT of the way of Hammond so he could make a save. A couple of point shots with no one at all anywhere close to the front. This has to change. They need to simply work harder to get to the net to create some screens and havoc. 3. Puck retrieval in both zones was atrocious. In the O zone, the wings were just not skating to win the puck back first along the boards. This isn't necessarily an issue of size, it's work ethic and skating. And to go along with this, a complete lack of puck support also when these plays happened. And in the D zone, again, our forwards seemed to be static, just watching Ottawa retrieve the puck, while our D looked too tired to battle along the boards for it. 4. Poor decision making with the puck. This was horrendous. The number of times I saw Kindl cough the puck up (and many other D men - especially DK, and Ericsson) in our own zone, killing a break out, lengthening the shift, tiring guys out was a joke. Ottawa forechekced well and created pressure and our D kept tossing it right back to them. They need to make quicker, faster decisions, tape to tape. The only good things I'm seeing right now our Larkin and our Goalies, plus the work ethic of Z. They need to clamp down on these fundamentals and frankly, work harder. We're going to get slaughtered if we keep playing like this when we play better teams.

They're ok, but its the fundamentals that are really really letting them down right now. Tatar/Sheahan/Nyquist were our best forwards, actually generating some sort of offence and having zone time. But still, despite winning face-offs, there were a bunch of turnovers, another maddening too many men penalty, not enough structure defensively, and too many odd man rushes for the Oilers. And they didn't start on time. To be fair, you have to give Edmonton credit. They played a sound, fundamental game of hockey and got great goaltending from Talbot. Now when was the last time you could say that?

Glendening is in tonight apparently, so you can forget about seeing Andersson this season...

Didn't he run into Quincey at the blue line in the last game? Quincey got knocked down, but it looked like they weren't paying attention to each other. Could be that. Sorry. I mean in Carolina. I watched the last two games in the same day cause I was behind. Getting confused.

What I'm really interested to see is what happens with Larkin once Helm and Datsyuk both return. Andersson looks like he's gone and I think he'll be easily waived but what next? The 4th line has looked good and personally I like Ferraro on that line with Glendening and Miller. If Larkin continues to play as he is at the moment, are we looking at a situation where he goes back to GR or someone gets moved? Is Jurco out of options?

Totally worth the wait! Thanks!!!

does anyone have a stream?? please?? I can't watch it cause its damn well blacked out here in the uk.. so ******* annoying

These jerseys are horrible - who the hell thinks up these designs? Seriously? The logo is good yes, but the rest of the jersey is just awful.

Everyone (in the organisation and fans) are so high on Dylan Larkin, I thought it'd be fun to see how many games we all think he might play with the Wings this season. This kid is going to be awesome by all indications, and I'm sure he'd handle it at the NHL level right now, but my belief is he should stick out the year in the AHL, maybe have a cup of coffee at some point. Thoughts?