Cruiser008

Some of you seriously act like the sky is falling; look at what happened last year? We got a big-bad power-forward and a gritty two-way winger, which is exactly what we needed. And what happened in the playoffs? They did squat, and ultimately our lack of depth on D was our un-doing. This Anaheim is totally stacked because they essentially cheated the cap, but at least with our improved D (compared to last year since Rafalski + Stuart > Schneider + Markov) we at least have a good chance. Besides we weren't gonna throw the farm to get Hossa or Richards because we're in the business of contending for the cup EVERY year, 'cause that's WHAT WE DO. The other things is matchups; Dallas and San Jose both improved greatly, but if they play Anaheim and soften each other up (like San Jose did to us last year, remember?) than what was originally a disadvantage becomes an advantage instead.

Lidstrom>Niedermayer Rafalski<Pronger Kronwall<Schneider (come on now; Kronwall is not a top-pairing D, Schneider is) Stuart=Beauchemin (Beauchemin is better defensively, Stuart is better offensively) Chelios=O'Donnell (O'Donnell is just as gritty and responsible) These last two are interchangable but... Lilja<Huskins (Huskins is more consistent) Lebda<Bergeron (Bergeron is more talented) Sorry but a slight edge to Anaheim

He's married, and has a kid. Detroit actually tried to sign him during the off-season apparently, but he wanted to stay on the West Coast. http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article...BLOG09/80226029 ....well as long as he brings it against the Ducks/Stars/Sharks in playoffs.

I really like this move. There were so few mid-level guys out there this year (with parity and all) and I would have been pissed if Detroit bet the farm to get a guy like Hossa. Last year we get ripped off by Florida (losing Shawn Matthias) to get Bertuzzi who had very little impact in the playoffs; this year all we gave up was a 2nd and a 4th to acquire a guy who will almost certainly be more of a factor (he'll definitely play more minutes since he's a D-man). People might say that we needed more scoring; well yes but a lot of our offense comes from activating the D, which we are better at doing than anyone else in the league. Moreover apart from Hossa and Richards there weren't any top-6 forwards anyways (Ruutu is NOT a scoring Winger at the moment and Fedorov has looked very tentative since his concussion). Foote preferred Colorado to Detroit, not to mention the price for him was steep. The only other alternative was Hal Gill. Now Gill is fairly responsible defensively, can clear the crease and has a great reach. However his outlet pass is non-existent so he wouldn't fit into our puck-possession game at all. Stuart is prone to the occasional brain cramp, but he skates well, throws his body and can also play on the PP. Granted he has been inconsistent since his days as a Shark, but if Stuart rediscovers his full potential he has 2nd/3rd D-man upside.

This is getting ridiculous. And we are so over-matched tonight.

So Lilja is our #1 d-man right now.....

Fedorov was an idiot to leave Detroit to be 'the man' in Anaheim, but I think he's learned his ways. That and we could really use a top-4 D-man with puck skills right now.

ROFL the Kings commercial is awful.... and grrrreat!

The West is disgusting this year; LA, Phoenix, San Antonio and Dallas all have the horses to contend for a title, and yet at least one of these 4 teams won't even make it out of the first round. Also normally the NHL deadline trumps the NBA deadline, but the NBA has had some sick trades this year.

Mac's got a ways to go, but I wouldn't count him out just yet. After all, Joey Kocur made a comeback to help us win the cup in 1997 under similar circumstances.

Nice interview. The Edmonton series was disappointing but Legace is a good guy and I have no ill will towards him. P.S. Look at Babcock taking charge of the troops! When he was with Anaheim I thought maybe his intensity was a one trick pony but this guy has proven to be one of the elite coaches in this league.

Agreed. That was one helluva match.... started just before midnight and ended around 4:45 am. And the fans were into it all the way through. WOW.

I get to see tonight's game due to free Center Ice Preview!!

It's clear that Detroit and Boston are the class of the East. Barring a major upset these two should hook for a monumental dual in conference finals come May. The Good: I was on hand to watch the Pistons against the Raptors on Friday. Despite the fact that Toronto has only 4 TOs Detroit executed with great precision and was generally able to do what ever it wanted. The Bad: Against Boston yesterday the reserves (excl. Maxiell) were tentative and Flip once again went back to his old ways and yanked them after only a few minutes. I don't care that Detroit lost, but at some point we need to step back and integrate the new guys (i.e. Stuckey, Brezec) into the rotation to ensure that we are playing our best basketball come playoff time.

I didn't see this article posted anywhere, so Babcock: When Lidstrom goes, so will Holland IMO an excellent read.

Wow I haven't been back here in sooo long. I'll even admit I didn't realize how much I missed this place!

I'm a little late to this discussion but.... what the heck is going on? Is the once highly touted 17 year old prospect finally beginning to fulfill his full potential? Those of you who've read my posts from years past know how low I have been on Hudler. The knock on him has always been his top end speed, or complete lack thereof (there's also the lack of defensive awareness part), and when his skating didn't improve as he progressed through the Wings farm system I thought for sure he was never gonna succeed on a scoring line and thus was destined to become another bust. Well I'm glad that I'm some crow now, although it's still early in the year. What's different about Hudler this year? (I assume his skating must be much improved?) I haven't seen many Wings games so perhaps informed posters could provide an updated scouting report?

Great vid!!

Amen to that!

Well you gotta hand it to the refe....er I mean the stanley cup champions. The Wings were outdove, outcrosschecked and simply outgooned tonight.

The Anaheim Crosschecks sure played like Stanley Cup Champions tonight.

wtf!!!! Now the Ducks have to resort to stick-butting Hank in the face! F*** Anaheim..... pieces of s***!

Zetterberg is a BEAST!! And when did Homer become a sniper? Great game by the top line, Ozzie, Drapes and Lids ; solid effort by the rest of the team . They still need Mule and Sammy but they're still fully capable of outclassing the also-rans. Now it's time to roast some Duck tomorrow!

Living in the greater Toronto area (Mississauga to be exact) I don't get to see many Wings games, so I was pretty to psyched to see the Wings on TV for the first time this year today. However they've been underwhelming so far and with Sammy and Mule out they're essentially a 1-line team on offence (unless the youth find their work ethic or the old geezers find their youth). *sigh* I miss the days when we had guys like Lucky Luc on the 4th line.

I'm not exaggerating when I say that every Wings fan on LGW should read this! What an awesome article.