Kp-Wings

Last summer. I don't have the article, but I remember him being interviewed and someone asked him if he wanted to be coach of the Wings sometime in the future. He didn't flat out say no, but he said that he wasn't really interested and would rather work in the front office.

Yzerman doesn't want to be a coach.

It's really hard to come on and say Babcock can't make adjustments when he's basically changing the lines every other shift. Usually the same line never stays together for a full game. It's not that he can't make adjustments, it's at the current point he's not making very good ones.

It would be nice, though, to save one of the offensive defensmen in Lidstrom and Schneider for the second PP. If their both on the first PP, who do you put on the second? The Wings really don't have any offensive defenseman after Lidstrom and Schneider, and since Lang is usually on the second PP that's basically a triple-whammy. Saving one of the offensive defenseman for the second PP is a good idea. It would be strange having Zetterberg on the point. But he's struggled pretty badly the past two games in Calgary, so I'm open to changes.

Great post. Agree all around. Same goes for Crymson. It's about time fans here start looking at things in a real perspective. I swear, all this doubter bulls*** that goes on here is ridiculuos.

You guys are a bunch of God damn babies. I seriously can't believe some of this stuff I'm seeing today, and I've only been logged on for about 20 minutes. Didn't Nashville tie the series at 2-2 in 2004 and the Wings still won it? Or am I just pulling this stuff out of my ass right now? No, I'm not. This series isn't over. All of you who are doubters SHUT UP AND LEAVE. It really pisses me off to see these kind of topics. Like bringback91 said, it's really apparent to see the pre-97 and post-97 fans here. Some of you guys are a bunch of spoiled bastards. You all expect every series to end in a sweep. That's not realistic, not at all. I swear, this board is so ridiculuos after the Wings lose. I'm taking a break until tommorow. This stuff get's me too fired up.

I love these topics. You guys all think you can walk in and start coaching. Like NFM #25 said, all we need is one you guys to become coach of the Wings, and we'll win the Cup every year. Like I already stated earlier, what is Babcock supposed to do with Lang and Samulesson? You can't have them both benched. Yes, one should be benched for Hudler. But all of you want them both benched, and that's not even possible. Do you guys really want Josh Langfeld in the lineup? Or a totally out of shape Tomas Kopecky? Please, let's be real here. One should be benched, yes, but not both. Unless you see some guy in GR that's lighting it up right now, who do you expect to come in and take thier spot?

Why is the Wings desire being questioned now? Because they lost? The Saddledome is undoubtably the hardest arena to play in, in the entire NHL. What do you honestly expect here? The Wings can't win in that building, and really, not many other teams can either. This has nothing to do with how much heart the Wings have. Now, if the Wings lost Game 5 at home, then I will fully begin to question the Wings having any heart at all. We'll wait and see what happens.

I don't know what you guys expect. In reality, Babcock is at a loss. While I admit he should be playing Hudler, he is really in a tight situation. If he benches Lang, then he'll be held responsible for Lang not being able to find a team next year, because teams will look at him and not want him because he was benched for a rookie. Samulesson is even worse. We're stuck with him for 2 more years. If Babcock benches Samulesson, this will create a stewing pot of extra drama that the Wings really don't need. Samulesson will complain, and because of the contract, we'll be stuck with him. If he get's really pissed, he'll walk out and the Wings and make them look bad. So really, what is Babcock supposed to do in this situation? I'd also like to point out that both Lang and Samulesson, who even though they both suck, really cannot be benched. We only have one other capable forward to fill in their spots, and that's Hudler. If Hudlers in, you still have one other slug left, but the Wings don't have anyone else that can play for them. Josh Langfeld sucks, Kopecky'sout of shape, and any other player who has had NHL expierence, all be it guys like Hussey, Ellis, or Bootland, are all inexpierenced players at the NHL level. This is when having a decent 13th or 14th player would really help the Wings. It's too bad Krys Kolanos walked out on the Wings early this season, otherwise I'd suggest putting him in the lineup. But otherwise we really don't have anybody we can put in.

Wings were outplayed. Plain and simple. Kiprusoff outplayed Hasek, the top line was completely shut down, PP and PK was awful. What more can I say?

If that were to happen, it'd almost turn into a Montreal Canadians situation, where they already have like 12 numbers retired. And their probably not done yet either. If Fedorov would have played his whole career here, it would have been retired. But he left, and that nullifies the whole thing. I don't want them to retire it personally. Like Jedi said, if they retire Fedorovs, they will need to retire Shanahans, McCartys, Osgoods, and so and so fourth. The Wings really don't need all those numbers retired. They'll look stupid, kind of like Colorado for retiring Ray Bourques number when he only spent one and a half seaons with them.

Yeah. And the funny thing is, most people try to blame Bettman on this one. I agree though. They honestly have no use for the NHL. Most people say how desperate they are for ratings for putting stuff like Soccer and eating contests on, but that really isn't true. Their mostly expanding the boundries a bit to see what gives the better ratings. Most people don't want to admit it, but they know that the NHL is really not very popular beyond the true fans. It's a niche sport. It's not like, say, the NFL where people will watch it even if they aren't a true fan. That's just the way things work. The lockouts (2004-2005 and 1994-1995) really hurt the NHL on an overall scale.

Lucky us, Bill McCreary is reffing the Ottawa - Pittsburgh game. So at least he won't be one of the refs tonight. I still shudder at the thoughts of Mick Mcgough and Mike Leggo being the refs tonight though. Ugh, I sure hope they aren't going to be.

Agreed. If ESPN can survive with an eating contest or a spelling bee, what use do they even have for the NHL? If they had the NHL, it would get lost in translation in suprisingly more popular events.

You win the LGW Conn Smyth for this post. I agree to all aspects. With all the money Lang makes, he should play at least half way decent. But he doesn't, because he is the laziest player in league. I will say it again, Lang is undoubtably the worst player on the Wings right now. You can all hate on Samulesson, but he is just naturally not that great of a player. Lang could be a good player, but chooses not too. It really confuses me why he is so lazy.

I hope the Wings give me a reason to stay up late tonight and watch the game. I was up for the Tuesday game, and it was not a pretty sight after they lost. Oh well, I'm still exited! Even if it means staying up late and not getting much sleep!

This suprises me. Most of time, the Canadian media has orgasims over both of the Alberta teams, and wants them on everything. CBC in particular loves the Alberta teams. I'm actually quite suprised here. On the other side of it, from what I've seen, the Canadian media doesn't put much into the Canucks for some reason. Maybe it's because they have a lot of Swedes on their team or something, but it always seems like CBC and others don't pay attention to the Canucks quite as much as the others.

Soccer isn't that bad of a sport. The real problem with ESPN is they would prefer to air an eating contest rather than another actual sport. That being said though, I don't really want the NHL on ESPN. They wouldn't give it dick for coverage for one thing, so it'd basically in the same boat as it is now, which is relativly unnoticed by anyone who is not a hockey fan. While the Versus coverage is shotty at best during the regular season, I give them props for having at least one game on a night, which ESPN would never think of doing, even if they had a gun pointed at their head. Hockey is better off on Versus then ESPN, because at least people who aren't hockey fans but who do have the channel might watch it. On ESPN, you'd have to fit hockey between a thrilling Orlando Magic - Utah Jazz game, auto racing, SportsCenter, and pretty much every other thing ESPN has. In all honesty, they'd never do it. Most of the guys on ESPN, with the exception of Barry Melrose and John Buccigross, are all anti-NHL and really want nothing to do with it.

Mellon Arena is a lot worse then The Joe. Mellon Arena is also almost 20 years older. It makes you wonder how that arena is still operating.

I usually can find ways to do it, what with the Lions always being so bad. Though, I've got to admit, I give Millen props for getting rid of some of the cancers, most notably Dre Bly and James Hall. I think with that in place, the Lions might at the very least be better than 3-13. My eyes will still be watching for the upcoming draft. I know I've seen a few that are anti-Brady Quinn, but I don't think I can watch another year of Jon Kitna. We'll wait and see.

Yeah, that is definitly annoying. Once the not being shutout streak ended, they did the new streak of how the Wings picked up at least one point in X number of home games. This is honestly one thing that has really gotten annoying lately with FSN. It's not like it's only mentioned once either, they'll mention it like 10 times a game!

As far as regular season goes, it would more than likely be the Wings are such a good home team. The crowd, on some nights, looks totally dead sometimes. Some of the earlier games this season, or more recently like the March game against the LA Kings, were a joke with how quiet the crowd was. Now, when it comes to playoffs the crowd is definitly a factor. During the playoffs, the atmosphere is electric, even this year when there hasn't been a playoff sellout yet. I really think during some of the regular season games, like against good teams, or in the playoffs the crowd plays a huge role in the game.

With a last name like that, it should be!

It's about time. Only expansion team left in the NHL that has yet to make the playoffs, what with Atlanta making it this year.

That was never proven. Brett Hull is about as credable as Eklund or Grapes when it comes to that kind of stuff. He's just running his mouth as usual.