Kp-Wings

McGratten has never played against Koci, so I don't know what to expect there. McGratten is definitly a top 5 fighter, but I'd have to see the two actually fight each other. Godard and Orr are good too, but Brashear wouldn't last in my opinion. He's getting old, and his fighting skills are on the decline. In my opinion, anyways, since he hasn't the solid heavyweight he once was in Philly. I give Koci the advantage over most because of his size. He's about 6'7 or 6'8, and that can go a long way. Not all big guys are good fighters (see: Steve McKenna) but Koci definitly is, and I like his future potential.

I wouldn't even want Drake to fight Koci. He'd get his face bashed in. Koci is about 7 inches taller then Drake, and would probably break his face in one punch. I love Drake, but he would be totally overmatched against Koci. In fact, I think a lot of players in the league probably would be. Boogaard and Laraque are about the only two I would say that could have a solid fight against him. Koci is a monster. Downey vs. Koci is a total mismatch also. For his sake, it's better that he doesn't fight Koci either. Edit: Actually, as a think about it, Josh Gratton and Koci had a great fight last year in Koci's NHL debut. Gratton held in there pretty well. Still, I think Koci has a size and fighting skill advantage the majority of NHL enforcers, or anyone even willing to fight him.

Stefan had fairly decent potential, but it still surprised me he went #1 overall and not Pavel Brendl. Of course, Brendl's NHL career didn't exactly pan out either. The 1999 draft produced some talent, like Connolly, the Sedins, and Havlat, but it sucked overall. It is probably the 2nd worst draft in the recent era: the 1996 draft takes the cake as being the worst.

The Wings never take Chicago seriously. Now that they got an actual ounce of talent on that team, all be it not that much but still some, they win. Not a big deal, because it's only game #2. Hopefully that idiot 'Hawk's fan doesn't surface himself here, though. He was actually right in the respect that the Wings did lose this particular game. Bleh.

Tanabe has been pronounced a draft bust for years now, and yet, he is still clinging to life in the NHL. I don't see it lasting much longer, though, because he's extremely useless in pretty much every catagory of the game. For an offensive defenseman, he really doesn't score much at all.

Bulls***. Grigorenko should have to prove himself before he get's a roster spot here. I'd rather have Downey. An enforcer is much more valuable, at this point, then a small, lazy winger who can't even speak a lick of english, even though he's known for years that he'd have to learn the language at some point. Pathetic if you ask me. Glad Downey cleared, and hopefully the Wings keep him around.

For anyone who missed the game tonight, or didn't see the fight, Hockeyfights.com has the video up now. http://www.hockeyfights.com/fights/36426

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

^^^^ Bertuzzi is a douchebag. I only booed him during the shootout. Not excessivily or anything, because he didn't do anything when he played here, and was pretty much useless the whole time he was here. Unlike Fedorov, who was a great player here and had it good, and just up and left just for who knows whatever reasons. There are far more players on the Ducks that I booed over him though, most noteably Perry and Pronger. Those two... I swear, they are both such dicks. They probably kick babies for all we know.

I'll be watching the Flames and Flyers later on tonight. Looking forward to some good fights in that game. Hopefully Ben Eager will be playing. Lou: did the Flyers ever sign Boulerice to a contract? I know he was at their training camp for a while, but I didn't hear if they signed him or not.

As much as I love Shanny, he doesn't exactly fight that much anymore. His last season he did get into a few fights, but not all that many. I'd still take him back, but he's become a perimeter player over the years, and watching him not perform in the playoffs has become increasingly frustrating (he did better with New York, but not by much). He'll still always be one of my favorite players, though. My mistake. I didn't get that.

I don't understand why everyone is getting so mad. As much as I hate to agree with Drew Sharpe, he's right. The fan interest just isn't what it used to be in Detroit anymore. /begin rant Other then the obvious factors (economy, ticket prices) there are a few people are missing: 1. The in-game entertainment (the videos on the scoreboard, the music) is the same stuff that's been being played since about 1993. It's ridiculous. One sportswriter summed it up pretty well: if you traveled back in time to 1993 and went to a Red Wings game, and then came back to the present and went to one now, you would see almost no differences besides the empty seats and different players. The arena looks exactly the same as it did then. The video's and music now are the same stuff that's been being played since then. They need to change it up a little, because it's getting old. 2. Lack of a true North-American star. This team hasn't had a true Canadian or American star player since Yzerman and Shanny, and since they left, they haven't been replaced. I don't want to sound too much like Grapes or anything, but this team badly needs more North American players. It's way too European based, and quite frankly, the majority of fans don't connect with European players like they do North Americans. 3. Lack of a fighter. As much as you all want to brush off fighting as a non-important part to the game, it's a simple fact that fans love fighting. Did any of you happen to notice that the Drake vs. Perry fight yesterday was probably the loudest moment at the Joe the entire night? I was there, and I can back that sentiment up. It's no coincidence. The Wings need to have a fighter in the lineup. 4. Lack of fan events involving the team. This normally would fit into the "obvious" catagory, but it just pisses me off so much about how the Red Wings organization ailienates it's fan base that I'm going to ***** about it even more. What I don't understand is the way Illitch runs things. He does all these outside events, such as player meet-and-greets, autograph signings, and that sort of thing with the Tigers no problem. It was especially cool when the entire Tigers team celebrated winning the American League in 2006 with all the fans on the field. But I must ask: why is he so incapable of doing that with the Wings? If anything, the Wings need it a hell of a lot more, because the Tigers had no problem selling tickets once the team became good. The Wings are a good team, and they can't sell tickets, so that obviously means there's a problem. When there's a problem, a solution is to promote the team more. Have more open practices. Have autograph signings. Will that really break the bank for Illitch if he does that? Hell no it won't. The man runs 2 professional sports franchises, a Pizza company, and a Casino. If he can afford all of that, then I think he can afford to have a few open practices a season and let the players sign autographs. Part of it is the fans fault for not selling out games, but part of it is also the organization's fault for making this team so snobby and unfriendly. It all points back to Mike Illitch. I'm not calling him Bill Wirtz or anything, but for all intents and purposes, he better get his s*** together soon. If he wants to keep "Hockeytown" around as a marketing slogan (which is clearly what it is), then he better start making this team more fan friendly and start connecting with the fans. Lower the ticket prices, make the team and players accessable, and things will turn themselves around. Those are the main two problems. The other ones (the economy and such) will iron themselves out, and the other two I mentioned (lack of a North American star player and a fighter) is Ken Holland's responsibility. I feel things will turn around, but right now this is going to be the main topic of conversation in the media, about how the Red Wings have a good team but can't sell out. You're going to have to get used to it. Nashville fans had to put up with the same crap last year, so now we know how it feels. /end rant

I remember that fight. Pederson got the benefit of the doubt, because he threw punches right as the ref grabbed Shanny. It wasn't really a fair fight, to say the least.

Cajanek has probably more talent then some of our current top 6 forwards, and he actually impressed me at times last year against the Wings. But, do we really need another small, soft, European center?

This is fairly surprising news: http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article...1079/1053/rss17 Interesting note: I had thought the $9 were only for preseason games. Apparently Illitch has finally decided to drop the ball and lower prices to reasonable accounts. This is surprising news. Last year, despite empty seats, we still sold out every regular season game. Now it looks like the trend of not selling out has carried over. Regardless, since tickets are cheap and still available, I've made plans to buy some. It'll be exiting for me, since I've never been to a home opener before.

Wow. The site actually looks decent for once. Hopefully they try keeping it up to date more, and not have game reviews of games that are 2-3 days old. They could also try having game reviews of every game, not just games featuring whoever the former Stanley Cup winner was, and the NY Rangers. The changes right now look nice, which is a step in the right direction.

More like the complete opposite. This is the first time in a very long time that the TSN "experts" have actually picked the Wings to do anything. Media favorites San Jose surprisingly get no love, and it's about damn time too. They haven't done anything in the offseason, besides dump Mark Bell off on Toronto and sign Roenick to a peanuts contract, and yet they are still being picked by most as the clear cut #1 favorites to win the Cup. I'm sorry, but as much as I like Joe Thornton, he still has yet to really prove himself in the playoffs. It looks like Patrick Marleau is also becoming a playoff ghost now too, when he used to be so prolific at that time of year. Pittsburgh is also lower then I expected. Even though TSN has jumped on the Crosby bandwagon and has 1st class seats, they apparently don't feel confident in the rest of the team. As far as the Wings are concerned, they should be fine. Though it will be interesting to see how they do in a year where (most) people are actually predicting them to win.

You're brutal. As much as that is true, the Wings ownership is not nearly as bad as the Leafs ownership. But the real fault up there is the Leafs fans themselves. If they had half a brain they'd realize that the organization will never try to put together a winning team because the games still sellout anyways. Harold Ballard once said it himself: "Why should we worry about putting together a good team? The fans still come anyways".

The Seinfeld-esque one is good enough for me. Love the Drake!

Somehow I highly doubt that, considering he left on his own. While I was mad at the time because he left, it's probably better that he did. Bertuzzi was pretty useless in his short time here, and I much prefer hating him then rooting for him. The same situation would probably come about if Floppa came here. Hopefully, he doesn't.

SF91: Pronger had quite a few checks from behind, most notably on Filppula. Nothing major though, not like last year against Holmstrom. Another note on Perry: I plan on buying tickets to the next Wings vs. Ducks game if I can make it. I'd like to get some close up seats (preferably behind the bench or near the bench) to heckle Perry. I remember when Bertuzzi used to play for Canucks, and a friend and I had tickets a few rows behind the bench. We we're making fun of him quite a lot that night, and he looked back at us a few times but never realized who was saying it. It was quite funny, to say the least. Perry is probably one of the biggest losers I've seen in the NHL in a while. I have absolutley no respect for people who fight with visors on. That's one of the many reasons why I hate Iginla.

Heh. Well, it's nice to see the Wings at least changing things up at the Joe for once. But yes, I do agree. It is kind of a ripoff, and really doesn't fit that well.

The flame shooters, while a nice touch, don't really fit for the Wings. I know the new advertisement slogan is "Fire on Ice" but it still seems a little odd. Regardless, it is nice to see the Wings organization actually thinking outside the box for once. I was at the game tonight too, and while it was fun, they still need to update the in-game entertainment (music, videos on the scoreboard, etc). They can't keep using the same stuff from like 1991 or whatever. It's too old. Cool pics by the way.

Where are you hearing this? The only thing I've heard about Forsberg is he doesn't plan on playing for at least 2 months. If he does come back, his team of choice would be Philadelphia. I don't want Floppa. I still hate him, and there's just too much hate for me to want him.

The Stars look like the new Flyers if you ask me. They are playing so bad right now. Colorado isn't that good of a team, so something is obviously wrong with Dallas.