MabusIncarnate

Dear Santa, Please bring us a win before 2014, thanks. Sincerely, LGW

Jurco on the top line... Interesting. I like it, I mean why not?

What's aggravating is we have Tootoo sitting by doing nothing for us and he'd fit into this role perfectly.

We WILL win this game today, Wings bring it and Mraz comes up big, 4-1 Detroit.

Looking forward to it, HBO has done well in previous years with this series. Always kind of fun to get a behind the scenes perspective of your favorite team. Unfortunately won't be able to see it live as it airs but i'll catch it tomorrow on my brothers HBOGO account.

This I would agree with, especially if it was at the cost of Kindl. We were at our best with a nice offensive one-two punch on the blue line with Lidstrom and Rafalski, I think a Kronwall/Edler combo or even split between the top two D lines would be beneficial especially on the power play.

Only a few general words, I was a retail manager for a while and a regular customer was deaf and taught me a few things to help our communication with each other. (I also send my best wishes to Vokounonfortst's friend/family member during this difficult time) The person below me has been to the theater this month.

I agree completely with Nev, not entirely sure what the mind set is here. In regards to the call ups, I don't see any reason why we don't play the game with a 4th line of Eaves, Glendening, Sammy with Cleary the odd man out. Then again, logic hasn't quite lived up to expectations thus far so who knows.

I'm a fan of Edler, but with that said he's not great defensively. He generally puts up good offensive numbers to make up for it but before injury this season he had 9 points and was a -12 through 27 games, neither stat is impressive especially playing for a solid team like Vancouver (18-10-5). He is relatively Girardi-like in his style, puts up some hits and blocks a lot of shots but also has respectable offensive talent. That could mean one of two things, he could more likely be dealt because of him being a bit off this year, but also at the expense of being a risk to play the same way here, cost a good chunk of money ($5 mil per) and still not really improve our defensive game. The additional offense would be nice but again, the minus 12 on a very good team is concerning.

This goes on every year, there's a few players pointed out as the "problem" and it's never considered as a team sport like it should be. For a game we just lost that was 1-1 going into a shootout, a defensemen is picked out as today's subject of concern. It's kind of strange considering 1 goal was allowed that the defense is what is brought up and not the offense as a whole. There has been 5 goals allowed total in the last 3 games, all 3 games which were losses. In games where you are only allowing 1 or 2 goals against should be wins most of the time, and when they aren't the goaltender isn't being supported enough offensively. There lies the problem and what I think should be the focus, the offense or lack there of the past few games that should have been wins. Not Cleary and Sammy who are 4th liners, because the reliance and expectations of them offensively getting 4th line minutes as the hate continues to grow is getting a bit silly. I'm talking the guys who get the minutes, like Alfredsson, Bertuzzi, Abdelkader, to step up and net these goals because their job on the 1st and 2nd line is to put up offense. We can't rely on Datsyuk and sometimes Franzen to do it all. This week, for me, i'm seeing a lot of Quincey hate, and now Kindl, and I really have trouble jumping on this wagon considering the goals against in recent games. If we gave up 10-15 goals in the last 3 games, sure it's a problem with the defense. But allowing as few as 1-2 per game and still losing, i'm directing my discouragement elsewhere. To sum it up and bring out my point, Kindl and his play here recently is at the lower end of my list of concerns.

Howard is injured, not an option right now. He's really gonna be off his game if he starts now with a bad knee. I consider it like this. Before the shootout there were ties. Even though people conceive these 11 OT losses as part of our loss total, before the shootout existed these "losses" would have been ties at the same point total. Only difference is between a tie and a SO loss is the added event after the 5 minute OT period to declare a winner and loser. There is virtually no difference between the tie and the OT loss, it just sounds much better to say 15 wins 9 losses 9 ties opposed to 15 wins 9 losses 9 overtime losses because people like to say "Well thats just like saying we are 15-18 on the season". It really isn't, because you are still rewarded for the OT loss with a point, and that value hasn't changed at all. So considering the system that is based on points, when you say 15-9-9 with 18 being losses it doesn't sound that great. You look at the point total and it's good enough to be in a respectable playoff position. Just a different perspective from someone that was a bigger fan of the pre-shootout NHL regular season layout. Its points over wins/losses considering losses can now award you points.

If this was another half season i'd be more concerned. Knowing how many games still remain, that our point total so far this season all problems aside is surprisingly good, and that Zett will return, i'm not giving up hope that this squad can still contend and make playoffs. Even if Howard continues to struggle who can argue that Monster isn't a viable option until Jimmy picks it back up?

I have! I smoked for 12 years and this past April I quit cold turkey and haven't had a cigarette since. The person below me is sick of shootouts.

Someone mentioned the wrap around in the shootout, I believe if I recall correctly it's not possible because the play is considered dead once it crosses the goalie line on either side of the net. Going behind the net would immediately rule it a dead attempt. IF I remember that right. But yeah, I don't care if it's Sammy at this point, get some dekes going out there, it's a mini all-star competition anyway pull out all the dangles and find a hole. Especially Pav, there's no excuse.

Seriously, a moment of thanks for Monster and his turnaround this year. Last season there was never this kind of faith in him and Howard got overworked. With Gustavsson's play this season, even bringing this team to OT and securing a point in a couple losses, I greatly appreciate him and his efforts. We might be in a much worse position in the standings without him. Shootouts are getting old, not going to argue about how stupid of a concept it is to begin with but the Wings are obviously ineffective during it this season and something needs to run better going forward. Thankfully... there is no shootout in playoffs.

Apparently a 23 year old small rookie (5'9, 175 lbs) that has already put up 17 points in 30 games. I'm assuming the production is coming from both Stamkos being injured and St. Louis being on his line. I don't know much about him as a prospect but they likely think relatively high of him putting him on the top line.

I posted this up late last night and the lines on the page I get a lot of my information from updated this morning. Here's the link, it may change again but this is different than it was last night. http://www2.dailyfaceoff.com/teams/lines/23/detroit-red-wings

It's been ages, I honestly can't remember the last time I did. The person below me has broken a bone this past year.

Weiss hurt the part of his brain that tells him how to play productive hockey.

Funny this just got bumped today, I spent most of the day re-watching season 1. I really love this show, and i'm glad to finally hear additional news about Season 3 as it was seeming like it was going to see some lengthy delays.

Who knows, but with this mentality i'm expecting wins against Tampa and Pittsburgh. It seems like this has been an issue for a long time, it might be more balanced than it seems but we notice it more against bad teams because we go into the games anticipating an "easy win". I'd be interested in getting a tally at the end of the season and look back at all of this teams losses and see how many are over .500 and how many were non-contending teams.

In Mikey's absence i'll be posting the GDT for tomorrows game against Tampa.