Zetts

Or he's trying to strengthen his bargaining position with other GMs who might otherwise try to take advantage of his position if they think the Wings have to sell now....

Disagree that he'd be gone on any other team. That's awfully fast to scrap a coach and especially one that was anticipated as Babcock's replacement for so many years. Having said that, I think if the Wings are doing poorly halfway through next year, then we're maybe starting to have a coaching conversation. I'm not sure who would replace him though...

We don't know the exact number yet, so it could be a bad hit I guess, but he's 100% worth over 4 million. When I see that, I'm not at all surprised.

I can already anticipate the meltdown if Cleary stays and Larkin goes down. Just to prepare people, if that happens, it is NOT because Cleary "took" Larkin's roster spot. It's because they didn't think Larkin was ready for a top 3 line role and didn't want him playing 10 minutes on the fourth line and/or being the 13/14 forward. Cleary, on the other hand, is perfectly-suited to that role. The two of them are not in competition for the same roster spot.

How did that translate into your comment that Dats would be out until December 2?

This is the premise of a talent pool. Since none of them are sure fire bets for the NHL, you build up a pool of what you think are the best bets (at each position) and hope that one turns into the real deal. You don't stop drafting at a position because you've got one or two guys that are maybe ok. And we hardly have an unreasonable number of (or a particularly good set of) goaltending prospects. Listen, I agree that we need to draft defence. I'm just saying that we need more than that as well. And our goaltending talent pool is not strong.

Assuming he's either gone or, even if he stays, appears unlikely to be an NHL goaltender. McCollum and everyone else in the world knows that he's not going to be Detroit's full-time backup. You need to build up a talent pool that can have an impact in the future. The Wings drafted another goalie because they have a limited pool that looks like it will make an impact in the future, once you get past Mrazek. Or, they just drafted him because he was the best talent available at the time, regardless of position. Either way, I'm fine with it.

Uh, we definitely do need a goalie. This isn't drafting for today, it's for several years down the road. And we lack organizational depth in net for the future.

6th in the league isn't middle of the pack.

Uh, which Red Wings team was that? Just how far back are we going here? We just won against the best team in the league, so it sounds like you're just looking for reasons to complain. A win like that isn't going to come easy.

He's actually never even hit 20 points.

If you're a Rogers customer it's temporarily free. But I'm with Bell and I'm pretty sure I don't get anything free. Is there a stream anywhere?

Well, it's confirmed with Rogers: the only way to watch the game is on a french TV station that I don't get (nor do I speak French). It's blacked out on Center Ice. At least it is in Ontario...maybe it's different for people in other areas.

Is the game seriously blacked out on Centre Ice because it's shown on TVA2 (a french language station that basically nobody gets)? I'm hoping I'm misinterpreting this, but there isn't even a GameCenter link up for the game on nhl.com.