Zetts

I hate nitpicking when we're up 6-1, it's a great game (for us anyways). But Howard does not look like an NHL goalie. Maybe he will be in the future, but he sure as hell isn't right now. I really hope that he turns it around fast.

I doubt anything is happening with the Wings, it sounds more like McCollum is injured or maybe being sent down (if he can be, I'm not really sure how it works between the OHL and AHL). But the only way this would affect the Wings is if Howard leaves. Does anyone really see that happening? Regardless of your personal feelings about him, I think everyone can recognize the Wings would never throw in the towel so quickly on a prospect they spent so much time developing. He's only played in a few games. I guess the Wings could call up Larsson and get him to play to see what they've got while also keeping Howard on the roster. But would they actually sign another goalie just to deal with those couple of games Larsson would be gone?

Agreed. He sounds like a complete idiot. I'm embarrassed just listening to it. And he's still announcing.

Shorthanded goals do.

Goals scored on power plays don't affect the +/- stat for either team. And he really needs to turn up the production (...or will when he gets back). It's definitely a significant loss, but not as significant as it should be. We need our second line centre to put the puck in the net too.

It would be advantageous, yes. But I have no idea what we'd be willing to give up that Florida would want.

Yzerman, without a doubt. The second favourite (seeing as how Yzerman is probably going to be the majority answer here) would be Osgood.

When you're coming in to hit a player from the side you have to go shoulder to shoulder, you don't try to hit the guy in the chest. If you do that, you'll never be able to turn into his body enough and you end up with head shots if the other guy's head is the slightest bit forward.

It's really not fair to put it all on goaltending. We went what, 0 for 7 on the powerplay last night? Howard certainly gave us a chance to win.

Pathetically immature article. You would hope that people in the media wouldn't be quite as bad as these boards sometimes get, where one loss is the end of the world. Admittedly, it's been more than one loss, but get over it. Really. He sounds like a child. The season has barely started. It's worrying, yes, but not to this extent. And as I think someone already mentioned, "Shut up and win"? What the hell is that? I think that Malik should shut up and learn how to write.

Hit to the head obviously. Technically the hit was clean by the rule book, but there have been many cases where suspensions were given out for identical types of hits. Something is coming to Richards.

Really? If that's true, he should be in the OHL. Playing once (and likely limited minutes) every 5 games is brutal for his development.

What. A. Fight.

He hasn't been great, but he hasn't been too bad either. People seem to forget that young D don't seamlessly jump into the game. Even if he has a bit of playoff experience, it was expected that he'd struggle at times this year. He'll figure it out. Fischer made brutal plays nonstop at first, but after a couple of years he was really figuring it out and turning into a high end player before the incident. I'm expecting the same thing from E.

Edit: Why bother

What year did he score over 30? I know that he broke 20 once, I don't recall 30 though.

There's already a thread on this.

That's how I felt when he left too. Although I definitely saw him getting PP time the other night. If other teams see something in him too, maybe he actually can develop with more ice time the same way Kyle Quincey did.

It's not so much the team defense that's a huge issue, although it definitely does need improvement, don't get me wrong. The penalty killing, however, as the OP suggested, is absolutely pathetic. I don't even know how this happened. I think we need set PK units so they can maybe get some chemistry and they can get in a groove. This is painful though. As a side note, Sammy's defensive play was fine. He was actually initially brought in because he was a reliable player defensively who could eat up a few minutes on the third and fourth lines. The offense was an unexpected bonus.

Meh. Maybe...although I'd prefer not to. Brunnstrom doesn't satisfy any need for us, and defensive depth is always valuable, even if Lebda and Meech aren't MVP calibre players.

In his own end, Delmore is the worst defenceman that I've seen play this year (based on the pre-season). Or darn close. And I've watched quite a few games. After a 6-2 loss, I don't think bringing up a D who can only play offensively is the way to go.

Why does there have to be a trade to replace him? He'll be back for the playoffs. Our record might take a bit of a hit, but to get a player to replace Franzen you have to give up quite a bit. Trading for any other forward that wouldn't replace his offense is a waste. We've got players (Abdelkader, Eaves, May).

I'd really like to see Eaves in the lineup. Given that we've lost the first two games, it shouldn't be out of the question to put him in. Soon, I hope.

Not only is Helm now first line material, but he should play more than Datsyuk and Zetterberg? Oh, do I feel sorry for you.

...no, other players with significant offensive skills can do that. Helm does not have significant offensive skill. Your posts just went from obnoxious to...well, I don't know if there's even a word for this. Sirdrake part 2. It's kind of comical.