Zetts

If the coaches got into it, he might be able to take...Ken Hitchcock?

Wow does Lebda take some hate on here. Yeah, he's not an all-star, but I think people on here just work each other up with the bashing, making the issue way over-blown. He's not that bad.

Meh, not really a big deal. People are making the argument that he's young/inexperienced/whatever else which is why he's been a pretty average player. Obviously he will get better and he's going to be a good player. But the point is more that, right now, it doesn't really affect the Wings a whole lot that he's injured. And it's not like it'll slow down his development either. It's a few weeks, it's not an ACL tear. Not a big deal.

Exactly. There's nobody that's "good" to play. (Unless that team happens to have a HUGE amount of injuries like Colorado in 2008.)

People don't really have a reason to boo Hossa, as has been mentioned. It seems a little unnecessary. But we sure as hell don't have to like him either. He got prime minutes and choked in the playoffs. And as for the injury argument, he had that injury during the season and was still putting up points. I'd never boo him, but I'm glad he's gone. Edit: Oh, and that goal was ridiculously nice.

We don't have to wait that long. Just wait for the first round of the playoffs.

Yes, I did.

Well that's depressing. Please, just don't let this turn into another enforcer thread.

Crosby will likely win it, sadly. Either him or Thornton, both of whom I hate. I'm hoping for Gaborik or Kopitar although I don't think either is too realistic. Crosby is injured though, so that'll ding his point totals a little bit.

I seem to recall something like this with Chelios and Hasek a few years back. Except it obviously didn't end anything like this.

I hope not. I'm not really a big fan of either, and while they're good players, there are other players that could help us much more. (And in the case of Jokinen, fit into our style of play much better.)

Swing by Canada. Hockey is easily the most significant sport. Just because the US can support it in more cities because of economic factors doesn't make it more of a hockey country. Hockey isn't particularly popular in most of the US from what I've heard. Looking at this from a different angle: how many of the top 50 players of all time are American? Now how many are Canadian? I don't have an exact count obviously, but most of the top players I can think of are Canadian. There aren't a whole pile of US born players on that list.

Zetterberg isn't getting the same criticism because he recently came off a huge scoring streak. He was getting plenty of criticism right before we was piling up points. Datsyuk still hasn't done that. Both certainly are open to criticism though, neither has been good enough. And neither is exactly playing with superstars. Datsyuk has nobody to set up, and Zetterberg has nobody to set him up.

While, as someone pointed out, it's likely that there will be other injuries along the way, it's highly unlikely that there will be as many injuries to important players as there are now. In my mind, if Zetterberg, Datsyuk, Lidstrom, Filppula, Kronwall and Franzen are all healthy we should be fine to do without any other given player for a short period of time. I think it would be terrifying for a top team to have to play the Wings in the first round (as I really don't believe the Wings are going to be too high up in the standings at the end of the season due to these injuries).

He probably will slow down, I'd be shocked if he didn't. He's inexperienced and the AHL schedule is challenging. But it's like you said - there's an 8 year age difference between Tatar and Leino. Tatar has plenty of time to figure out the more difficult scheduling.

I agree, that probably would make more sense. But it seems that Babcock really wants to make a shut-down dman out of Ericsson. Maybe he figures that E has got the offensive ability, it's the defensive side he wants him to develop. If it works out, it could be pretty useful for the playoffs...even better than last year. Edit: Oh, and this Lebda/Rafalski pairing will be "interesting" to watch.

Thank god. This is pretty much best case scenario for the injury. It could have been much worse. Hopefully the "further tests" just confirm what they already believe.

That's reaching a bit. Playing on the PK is different from playing defensively even strength, although yes, usually you would assume if one is good at the one they'd be good at the other. However, I specifically recall Babcock saying something about how he wants to get Ericsson using his big body to block shots. He could just be trying to get Ericsson to play a certain way and letting him learn the ropes for the PK. Keep in mind, Ericsson is "a mainstay" on the 26th ranked penalty kill. Yes, he's a rookie, and he's allowed to make mistakes - I'm not ragging on him. But he has NOT been good defensively.

A fine might be more appropriate. I wonder what he was thinking though.

He's clearly improving, although I'd disagree that he was particularly good against Columbus. Great to see though, I hope the guy pans out. Every game he does seem to be getting better.

Ok, here we go: First, obviously shot quality is different. But if you master rebound control in the AHL, you should be reasonably competent at it in the NHL. Let's be honest, he doesn't seem to know where the puck is going a fair bit of the time. Second, I never made any comment on raw talent or any sort of projection for Macdonald. I merely made a comment on rebound control. The comment was, in fact, based off the premise that overall Howard is better, yet Macdonald still had better rebound control. Third, I DO have faith in the Wings evaluation, thus me repeatedly saying that we should not dump him. Fourth, articles like: http://national-hockey-league-nhl.suite101...e_for_red_wings and http://www.redwingscentral.com/stories/200...pectsWatch.html with such quotes as: and leading me to think these things. And since I sadly don't have the time to watch every Grand Rapids game on top of the Wings games, I have to go with other evaluations. Anything else? PS I find it just as frustrating as you do that this has turned into an argument about Howard. I loved the game. I just said he'd need to pick it up, seeing as how we won't be trouncing teams 9-1 every night.

...I don't think anybody is going overboard here, he isn't immune to criticism. I'm just saying he's got to get on track since he's likely not on the longest of leashes. I believe I've repeatedly said that we should NOT give up on him.

Then I guess he's nowhere close to being on his game. That's my point. He needs to get it turned around. This is his chance.

There are a lot of differences in moving from the AHL to the NHL. But rebound control should not just go out the window. I personally don't believe that this is just a lack of experience. He should have gotten rebound control figured out in the AHL. Hell, Joey Macdonald had better rebound control, and nobody was ever too high on him. Again, having said that, I'm not saying that we should dump the kid. I hope he turns it around. I was never thinking we'd be getting anything close to an all star performance from the guy, but I was hoping for something a little better from the man who was touted as the Wings' future in net for a long time.

His play was (in my eyes anyways) pretty bad. His rebound control was only minimized by the defense being in perfect position to clear loose pucks. And his five hole? Besides the goal (in which, if you look, it was impossible NOT to score since his pad was completely off the ice even after he'd already gotten over), there was that chance by, I believe, Filatov. He slipped it through Howard's legs and barely wide on one of the weakest piddly little chips of a puck I've ever seen. I hate dumping on anyone, particularly after a 9-1 win, but...well, I guess let's just see how J-Ho does in his next start. On a more positive note, everyone else was great!