Zetts

It ultimately just comes down to winning. There have been a variety of Osgood excuses this year, and honestly, they've almost all been pretty valid. The team played badly in front of him, we had a lot of injuries, Osgood was playing harder teams, Osgood hasn't been getting enough starts, Osgood hasn't been getting any starts. All true. But eventually, whether it's true or not, all that really matters is whether or not you win. I don't hold anything against Osgood. But the "W" is all that matters, not whether we would have won if _______. Lidstrom even said himself, that they play a different game in front of Osgood. If it doesn't work, or doesn't mesh this year with this team, that's just how it goes. What those excuses are good for is as reasons to not relentlessly bash Osgood. We obviously have to go with Howard, but we don't have to throw Osgood under the bus.

Am I missing something? The poll says that 21 members have cast votes. But there's 7 for yes and 12 for no...

I know we're not supposed to discuss in this thread, but there is one point for clarification. Do you want to specify that the "yes" option includes the possibility that Osgood himself chooses to leave as well?

Well gee, will you look at that mindfly, San Jose lost. If the godly Chicago can win their extra game in hand, they'd be tied in points and hold the tie-breaker, so they'd be first. And Chicago has got at least one guaranteed win since they play the terrible Detroit Red Wings, right?

They did much more than that though. They also added Tomas Kopecky. We have no chance.

Well damn, now I don't have to watch any hockey for the rest of the year. Thanks for saving me all of that wasted time, when we already know the certain outcome. a. Neither of the two are any hotter than the Wings have been. All you need is Nashville to lose one POINT in their last games, or for LA to lose a game, and for the Wings to win all of theirs. Which could well happen given that the Wings are the hottest team in the league since the break. b. Again, Chicago is ONE POINT behind the Sharks now. If Chicago is so great like you say, they'll take first. Or, alternatively, if the Wings are as bad as you say, they'd end up eighth and play San Jose anyways. ...of course both could happen and we'd play Chicago as 1 vs 8, but the point is that you don't know what will happen. c. Detroit has played well against Chicago, stop being so negative. Even if you really don't think the Wings could beat Chicago, you're getting way ahead of yourself thinking that the two will play in the first round at all. Just relax. Edit: LA is 4-4-2 in their last 10 games. What the hell do you mean they're hot? You think that's hot, but you ***** about the Wings losing their first game in regulation in how long?

Why are you certain that a) we'd finish seventh b) even if we did that Chicago would finish second c) we'd automatically get swept or even lose to them at all? We've played well against them this year. And there's a very good chance the Wings finish 6th (or still possibly fifth). Hell, maybe we'll finish eighth. Don't forget that Chicago, after just winning, is a single point behind San Jose. It's still completely up in the air who we play. You automatically assume that every single thing is going to go wrong. My lord.

...so essentially they should play perfectly every game? You'll never be satisfied if you expect all of that EVERY game. You may as well say that their blueprint is "to win games".

You're always going to get frustrating games like this. But I'm actually happy from this game because it shows that Dan Cleary might be back to his old form, which would be huge for us going into the playoffs. The sad thing is, this isn't just your normal Lilja love. It's actually true.

I doubt it's an issue or Babcock would have dealt with it. If it was an issue, Osgood would either be sitting on the bench or Babcock would have said something to the media. He's not really shy when he discusses his goaltenders with them.

Datsyuk has looked like the old Datsyuk in many instances now though. Those same instances are rarer for Zetterberg. I think that's where the frustration lies for a lot of fans. Datsyuk looks more dangerous much more often. And it's quite possible that Datsyuk IS just as dangerous as ever. His goals are quite near his pace from the last few seasons. What is down is the assists. This is largely understandable since he was playing a lot of games with worse finishers than he's used to. It would explain how he could look dangerous and not be putting up points like other years. (Although admittedly, the guy was just ice cold early on in the season). As far as Zetterberg, he's supposed to put the puck in the net. I'm not saying he's been a liability by any means. He's great defensively. But too often he's a non-factor offensively. The guy himself admitted during the Olympic break that he hadn't been having a good season. It does seem like it's turning around though, despite the last couple of games. He's been getting better offensively. I just hope that he can get back to the Z form we all know and love for the playoffs.

I've got to say, everyone around here (Edmonton) jumped on the hate wagon for the Wings too. As far as the Caps, I wouldn't really consider myself a fan, but I'd like them to stick around for a bit in the playoffs. They play a unique style that's exciting to watch, so it makes for some better playoff hockey. It's nice to see a team that never really traps (whether it's because they really don't know how or they choose not to is irrelevant). Personally, I'd be pissed if my team couldn't play defense to save their lives, but it's a nice break from the typical games.

The one difference that we unfortunately might see in the long run is with injuries to the smaller players that like to play like that. Helm seems like he's pretty sturdy so far though, which is encouraging.

Edit: Doc beat me to it. Eva, those stats are clearly made up.

I was half joking because I knew that people here would appreciate that. But he is a 30 goal scorer, and was red hot when he got injured. That's a big loss for a team. The pace that we was going at for a bit there was as good or better than the pace of any of our top players all season.

Is this a definite fact? I've heard a lot of speculation that he may, but not that he does.

The Canucks are seeming like they might become the new Sharks. Their best hope to win is if Samuelsson comes back and hasn't lost the form he had when he got injured.

Nice to see that he'll get a couple of starts, but it almost feels like a waste. Nothing is going to change in two games rust-wise since he was given like half the season off. Still a feel-good sort of thing I guess. And Howard could likely use at least a bit of rest.

The hit on Flip was clearly from behind and should have been a boarding call. On top of that it also looked like a cross-check. I must have been delusional though, because I specifically recall the BJ announcers saying that it was "a good hard clean hit" or something to that effect. I was sure he was injured when I saw it.

If he tried to come back and still had a year left on his contract with the KHL, things would not be too pretty between the leagues. I highly doubt we see him until his contract is up.

My point was actually that Khan referred to Rick Nash as STEVE Nash. But yes, Nash's whining was annoying too.

He's exactly the sort of player that you want to have on your team. He works his butt off, and he can score a few goals too. I believe that he has a NTC anyways, so it's irrelevant. Having said that, I do think that 2.8 million/year is too much for him, especially if he can't get healthy. There's still 3 years left on his contract after this one. You can't be paying that much for a guy that's been getting a lot of 3rd line minutes. Of course, that might change once he gets healthy and starts playing like he was before. And I'd like to trade Lebda for Ovechkin. There are almost no snipers for 4 million (Mule is a rare exception because of his ridiculously long contract length) and there is definitely no "true sniper" that you're getting for a package of Cleary and a 6th D.

http://www.mlive.com/redwings/index.ssf/2010/04/red_wings_edge_blue_jackets_3-.html Apparently the issues go beyond just ESPN.

I'd agree that he's still an unknown going into the playoffs. If we haven't seen him play there, we can't know what will happen. Playoffs are different from the regular season. See Manny Legace. Having said that, I don't think that Howard will play any differently in the playoffs. Legace was a nutcase whereas in contrast many people comment on how calm Howard is. My personal feeling is that he'll be fine. Ultimately we'll have to wait and see though.

Assuming that he's not a one year wonder, they'll pay whatever they need to short of some obscene amount. This guy has been touted through the organization forever as their goaltender of the future. If he pans out, there's no way the Wings would dump someone who they've spent so many years developing. There's a lot of places the money could come from, one of them being Lidstrom. I believe Howard is signed next year, so we're talking about in two years. There should be some extra money.