Kp-Wings

The Wings suck against the Central Division. I'll be glad when the Wings are done playing St. Louis. If that team had something beyond Brad Boyes for scoring, they'd be such a great team. Their the anti-Wings: big and physical. They also have very little scoring, but given the Wings recent play, that's not such a difference between the two teams. Besides, I hate Blues fans, and it'll be nice to not have to deal with those country hicks who don't know s*** about hockey, and insist their 25 years of playoffs, yet no Stanley Cup, makes them the superior team. Not having to play the Blues, and more of not having to deal with their fans, would be one of the best things about moving out of the Western Conference.

Brad Stuart had 5 hits tonight, and had at least 2-3 good scoring chances as well. Nice way to make a good first impression. I'm so glad the Wings have Stuart. He's such a great all around defenseman. Hopefully, they can get him under contract for a couple years this summer.

Judging by all of the "uh's" and "um's" you threw in there, I'd guess Gary Green.

This further proves why the NHL is the worst of the four major professional sports leagues, and why people in general consider the league a joke. f*** the refs, f*** the Sharks, f*** Devin Setoguchi, and f*** everyone involved in that game. I swear, the NHL is so f***ed up, it's not even funny.

Friday: Washington @ New Jersey Montreal @ Buffalo Minnesota @ Florida San Jose @ Detroit Toronto @ Tampa Bay Columbus @ Vancouver Calgary @ Anaheim Saturday: Atlanta @ Boston Philadelphia @ NY Islanders Pittsburgh @ Ottawa New Jersey @ Montreal Toronto @ Washington Tampa Bay @ Carolina Los Angeles @ Colorado Nashville @ Dallas San Jose @ St Louis Calgary @ Phoenix Sunday: Philadelphia @ NY Rangers Vancouver @ Chicago Atlanta @ Pittsburgh Florida @ NY Islanders Detroit @ Buffalo Los Angeles @ Minnesota Columbus @ Edmonton

Hinting at something there...? The Wings need more North Americans. I really wonder that, if Babcock put an imput at Holland to get some more, he'd actually listen.

Oh sure, I'd take those guys. But Holland won't. He'll give us the usual "we want to save money for the deadline" speech, and not sign anybody. Strangely enough, he won't use that deadline money either. My comment was a direct stab at Holland, not the free agent crop. I like who's out there, but I seriously doubt Holland will sign any of them.

Good. Re-sign Cleary, re-sign Chelios, re-sign Stuart, and let Lilja walk. If all that comes to place, I'll be happy with the situation. The Wings would have a great defense locked up, and also have their one full-time charecter guy under contract as well (who, the Wings can't seem to win without, so they better not let him leave). Cleary's impact to this team most certainly deserves him a contract.

What's the point of having a free agent list? We all know Holland won't be signing any of them!

Uh huh, right. Because trades like that are such an easy task to accomplish. Holland is too dead set on not giving up prospects to ever get anyone meaningful in a trade. Besides, you're nuts if you you think the Wings are going to get Jokinen for garbage players like Hudler and Samuelsson. If anyone takes those two off the Wings hands, it'll be for free. The only way the Wings make a decent trade is if Filppula is involved, which I do not see the Wings giving up. I have been extremely disappointed in Filppula this season, but he still has potential that, at least in Holland's mind, outweighs giving him. I'd have no problem with giving up Filppula for an established star player like Jokinen; but does Holland feel the same way? Probably not. I can see this coming summer being yet another awful, boring summer, where Holland does nothing but sit on his hands again. Hopefully he at least signs this Brunnstrom guy, or these damn prospects that are supposed to be "untouchable" start developing.

Seriously? How do you know?

I've heard of that league, I think. You're referring to the one based out of Quebec, right?

It'll be interesting to see what he says about being traded to Detroit. All signs seem to indicate he wants only to play in California (because of his girlfriend), so we'll see what his comments hint at.

The bios that TSN uses are from the Sports Forecaster, not anything they've written themselves. They could now be in the market to write their own reviews of players.

CHL? Is that the league that's run out of the Midwest-Southewest area of the US? There are a bunch of different CHL leagues, so I'm not sure which one.

What makes you so absolutley sure? Not to be mean or anything, but you're predicting the future far before it happens. Babcock gives Samuelsson so much ice time on this team that you'd think he was the 2nd coming of Gretzky or something. I hope you're right, but I highly doubt it. The Wings won't get rid of any of those guys. Babcock likes Samuelsson and Kopecky, and Holland likes Hudler. It's a lose-lose situation. Besides that, who's going to replace them? If the Wings had made a move at the deadline for a forward, that wouldn't be an issue, but... well, you know...

I miss the UHL. A lot of tough guys played in that league. When the Motor City Mechanics still played down at GLSC in Fraser, I went to their games quite a bit (it also helped I lived in Fraser at the time). I remember watching the brawls involving teams like Kalamazoo and such, and that was some great hockey. The Mechanics had some great minor league fighters; Mel Angelstad, Tom Kotsopoulos (not the one on Montreal, this guy is a different person), Ryan Van Buskirk, Kevin Hansen, Brad Cruikshank, Brandon Fleenor, Kyle Kos, Matt Smith, and a couple of others. I miss that team, and the league for that matter, a lot. It's a shame that the NHL prefers to appeal to the soccer dad's and soccer mom's that feel fighting is too violent, rather than the real fans who like it. It's nice that leagues such as the ECHL still exist, since that is quickly becoming the new game of choice.

Oh, right. Because Hudler's 0 goals in 18 games certainly warrants him as the solution. Hudler is part of the problem, just as much as Samuelsson and Filppula. When are people going to understand that? The Wings secondary scoring blows, and people need to stop cutting these guys so much slack, and saying their criticisms are unjustified, because they are justified plenty. I honestly can't believe people like Hudler so much. The guy is terrible. He's small, has no defensive ability, plays with no passion, etc. etc. Yet, for some odd reason, people get all charged up when they seem go in and push someone like Phaneuf with his glove, then skate away with his tail between his legs because he was crushed in a scrum. I will never know why people like Hudler, and want to keep him around here. He's terrible, and the exact type of player the Wings need less of. But, none of that matters now, since Holland didn't seize the opportunity to get rid of him when he could.

Depends on who you ask. The outrages (which were justified) over Holland's failed promises at the deadline did bring out some of the long awaited negativity. Reason I say "long awaited" is that people cut Holland way too much slack around here. If anyone dares question a move he makes, we're looked at as horrible fans that couldn't tell apart a rock from a moving bus. I'm happy the Wings got Stuart; don't get me wrong. But he should have gotten rid of certain players, especially Hudler and Samuelsson, when he had the chance. These dead weight guys will do nothing but bring the Wings down in the playoffs, since their not going to score. Plus, secondary scoring continues to be a joke. The Wings actaully did the unthinkable and got three goals in a single game last night, but the current guys still played terrible. Filppula scored, which was nice, but the other problems played yet another bad game. With the now extended comfort of knowing they won't lose their jobs, they'll be trying even less harder. I'm more disappointed in Holland for not getting rid of the problem players than not getting someone like Hossa. Seriously. You can all call me crazy, but I firmly believe this team will go nowhere but south (and that'll be for golf) if their going to be relying on scrubs like Hudler and Samuelsson for offensive production.

This was actually speculated last week on XM Home Ice, but it was more of just a topic of conversation and possible outcome than something actually rumored. I guess it came true after all, though.

Yep, even the non-fighters come in to defend their teammates. Something that happens with virtually every team in the league except on the Wings.

Lebda. He has no place on this team now with the addition of Stuart. Lilja, at the very least, brings a (sorta) physical presence to the lineup. What does Lebda do, other than give the puck away and get crushed by bigger players?

Exactly. I'm happy with the Stuart trade, but very disappointed in every other regard. He keeps claiming that he wants all this cap space, yet every year he never uses it. It's ridiculous. Just spend it all up in free agency, because it makes no sense to let cap space go to waste. As I said: I'm happy the Wings have Stuart. But, I'm unhappy that Holland didn't get a forward, and he'll stick it out with that awful 2nd line...

While I'm disappointed in the general lack of trades (and the fact that certain players like Hudler and Samuelsson are still here), I'm really, really glad the Wings got Stuart. I've been pushing for him ever since his name came up in the rumors. He's a great all around defenseman that can add so many different elements to the lineup. Plus, he's a good depth player that can play the top 4, and move guys like Lilja down to less minutes. I hope he can convince his girlfriend to move to Detroit, and he re-signs in the off-season. I think he'll be a great fit on the Wings, and hopefully he plays here for a while. The best part is he's still fairly yound, and has a lot of hockey left in him.

Ryder: Yes. Ryder would be a great, cheap, inexpensive pickup. Murray: Eh... Murray would be ok, but his salary is a bit of a problem. Fedorov: