Kp-Wings

Pearl Jam - Even Flow

If Kenny knows he needs someone, then why does he refuse to sign that person? It's nice that you're staying positive, but at this point, things don't look good for Downey. Which is a damn shame too, because according to Babcock, he's been working really hard the whole camp.

Playing in Chicago won't be good for his career anyways.

Haha, Grapes. I agree. It would be nice to have some more North Americans on the roster for once. But in any sense, I'd rather have it be anyone over Meech. He's not a very good defenseman, but he'll still make the team by default, which I absolutley cannot stand. That's one of the reasons why I don't care for Kopecky: he didn't exactly have a stellar training camp last year, but he still made the team anyways because of this waiver business. I don't count on much production from Meech, and hopefully Quincey overtakes his spot as the season goes on. Quincey deserves to be on this team: his play during the playoffs last year was very good, considering his situation of being thrown in to replace all the injured players.

Boy, those 'Hawks are becoming quite the big spenders this offseason. Until I see an official link, I'll believe nothing. This is the Toronto media we're talking about. Tomorrow they'll probably have Raycroft going to L.A. for Kopitar.

MLive is reporting that he'll be out for 2-3 weeks.

Exactly. The guy is like a small mad dinosaur on skates. It really makes you wonder why Philly actually used a 1st round draft pick on him: he sucks. The suspension is certainly justified. I hate Downie. All he can do is trash talk, and if he actually does drop the gloves, he keeps his visor on. He's such a puss.

Not this again... I'll break this down into two simple factors. 1. Markov's price tag is about 3.5-4 million a season. That is simpily too much money for a #3-4 defenseman. And please... don't start the classic "Look at how well he did with Lidstrom" crap. Anyone can look like a top defenseman with Lidstrom. Case and point: Lilja. 2. Markov doesn't even want to play here. He's rejected about 2-3 offers that I know of, and there could be more that Holland never said publicly. Stop with this Markov crap already. Yeah, sure, we can afford him. But he's not worth the money, and I'd also like to see what Holland will do at the deadline with considerable cap space available now. I don't know the exact demographics for cap space because of the Rafalski signing, but not having Lang's 4 million and Markov's 3 million on the books should help.

You can definitly tell Nik and Staffan Kronwall are related: a strong breeze could injure them both.

I think the suspension comes to pass on one main point: Downie is a nobody player that will be lucky to ever crack an NHL roster. Prongers hits during last seasons playoffs on Holmstrom and McAmmond were probably just as bad, if not worse, but due to the fact that Pronger is a much better player, he get's off easy. As much as I usually disagree with Grapes, he is right on one thing: star players get star treatment. I rememeber last season Ovechkin cross-checked Briere from behind into the bench door, that actually opened up as he hit it. Briere is lucky he didn't he get his face sliced off. Afterwords, Paul Gaustad fights Ovechkin, and he is then kicked out of the game. As for Ovechkin? Nothing. No minor penalty, nothing. It's ridiculous how screwed up the NHL is with it's line of punishments. Prongers hits last season desereved longer then what he got, but because he's a good player, he doesn't get a very lofty suspension. Downie sucks ass: he'd be lucky to ever crack an NHL outside of Philly. He will probably make the Flyers because he fits the bill for "Flyers hockey". But regardless, he get's a much larger suspension because he's not a very good player. Same thing with Chris Simon. If, say, Pronger did what Simon did last season to Hollweg, he wouldn't get s***. I don't know what it is with the NHL. Unless their afraid that if a star player get's suspended for too long they won't be able to market him, it really makes no sense with these rollercoaster punishments they hand out. At least try to keep some consistancy.

Stone Temple Pilots - Plush

Wings win 4-2. Zetterberg has 2 goals. Rafalski and Downey score the others. Downey get's into a fight, wins, and subsquently makes the team afterwords. Sounds good to me!

Downey didn't actually win the fight. He took Roy down, but that doesn't mean he won. That said, I still want him on the Wings. For obvious reasons of course.

That is true. He was awful when he played for Colorado and Washington.

The Leafs brought Battaglia back? That's news to me. Of course, he goes wherever Paul Maurice goes, so it's not a total surprise. (keep in mind that I do like Battaglia, but it's a fact that he plays wherever Maurice is coach).

Notice how all the Senators players went and defended McAmmond there after the hit. Hmm... As for Downie: he has a reputation for this kind of dirty play, starting back during his feuds with Akim Aliu. I'm not surprised by this whole thing very much. It really makes you wonder why the Flyers even used a 1st round pick on him: he has very little offensive ability at all. All he really does is trash talk. Personally, I hate Downie. It was a bad hit, and I'll leave it at that...

Meech sucks. I see no point in even keeping him. I don't know where he's getting this idea of Sopel as an extra... either he makes it, or he doesn't. If he does make it, then who exactly would he be sat for? Lilja? Give me a break. If I were to guess right now, Sopel get's cut and Meech would stay as an extra defenseman. No way would they carry 8 defenseman though, and especially not have Sopel as one of the extras.

With a disappointing loss to KC last night, and 5.5 games back from the wildcard, this team basically has no shot in hell of making the playoffs. Unless the Yankees downright suck the next few games, and the Tigers win every game from now until seasons end. Nonetheless, things could have been so much worse. We still had a winning season, and there were some pretty great moments this season, such as Verlander's no hitter against Milwaukee. It was the inevitable post-championship run fallback that seems to be happening a lot in sports lately. I mean, look at St. Louis. They won the World Series, and they've been out of the playoff hunt since July. It's still an exiting time for baseball, and if management can plug up a few holes in the offseason, this team will be back, and better then ever next season. I'm already looking forward to next summer.

The same bulls*** that continues to go on every year. Downey is hardly even given a chance, and now he's already out of the running. Now we'll get some idiot make the team that either does nothing (Hartigan) or is an out of shape cancer (Grigorenko). All I can hope for now is Ellis makes the team, since I do like him. There are only two players in the league that can do that: Breden Morrow and Nathan Horton. Neither of them are going anywhere anytime soon though, so don't expect a player of that calibre here. Umm... look at who's trying to make the team right now. Do any of those guys really have any offensive capabilities either? Hartigan is the one who will probably make it... and he has no offensive potential at all. Grigorenko does, but judging by his play, it looks like he'll be nothing more then Robert Lang part two. Who else is left? Nobody. None of the guys vying for a roster spot have all that much offensive potential, so stop using that as an arguement. Downey is the only one out of the group who does something that someone else on the Wings doesn't already do: fight. That's why most people want him, because he does something that nobody else does. He'll protect his teammates, which we need. But, I can see this makes not a damn bit of difference to anyone. We still got the delusional people who think Grigorenko is the 2nd coming of Wayne Gretzky, despite his awful training camp...

Because maybe then Brad Stuart wouldn't have found a reason to go completely out of his way to injure Zetterberg, knowing someone would go after him if he did. That injury was how many years ago now? ...and how exactly is the RSL so different from the NHL? You act like it's a s*** league with players who shouldn't even play in the NHL, when it isn't. It's probably the second best league in the world, and there is no reason to explain Grigorenko's condition when he played for a decent league. If he had been playing in some 3rd tier league in Sweden or something, then it might be able to slide. But I seriously don't see how playing in the RSL makes him out of shape, and it being a good excuse. Malkin and Ovechkin certainly didn't come to the NHL out of shape, nor do half the other Russians who come over here to play. I don't understand why people continue to make excuses for Grigorenko. He's been downright terrible this entire training camp. Just because someone has "potential" shouldn't mean they get that they get to slide on all their other problems, and play on the team anyways. If that's the case, then I hear Alexandre Daigle and Alexei Yashin might still be interested in playing as well. Exactly what I've been saying. Yet, people strangely think Hartigan will be a better fit for this team. From a playing standpoint, he probably is: he's small and doesn't fight. That doesn't mean that anyone should even want him though, since he doesn't do anything. At least Downey is willing to fight people, and Matt Ellis is a decent checking line forward with scoring potential. But... don't be too shocked if Hartigan does make the team, Lou. He's one of those Ken Holland type players: small centers who don't fight. I'm just surprised he's not Swedish, if you know what I mean.

How I'd guess: it was written by Larry Wigge. It's nice to see someone out there writing pro-Wings material for once. It's a breath of fresh air from the usual Kara Yorio style crap that surfaces it's ugly face on the internet. Cool article, by the way.

Well... you guys do have the king of enforcers... Brad Norton.

If there was a lack of respect for Steve Yzerman, then why did they give him a VP position almost immediately after he retired, give him a 2 1/2 hour jersey retirement ceremony, and ask for his advice on every roster or team move they make? All you're doing is trying to make a lame ass arguement for some reason. Yes, I would love to see Yzerman back too, and I think he could have been a great for us last playoffs. But let's face the facts: he's lucky he can even walk let alone skate after the surgery he had in 2002. He gave us three bonus seasons of excellent play, so be happy for that. Stop blowing this whole thing out of proportion. Yzerman is appreciated very much.

Aaron Downey. As much as I like Sopel, we need Downey. It's time this team have someone take will take initiative and stand up for their teammates if their getting beaten to death like Michael Vick in a room full of dogs. We haven't had a player even willing to do this since Dmac, and it's a crying shame too, since Zetterbergs injury last season could have been avoided if we did have one. No matter what the circumstance, I can utmost say Downey will not be on this team though. I can and will point the finger at Ken Holland, because of his complete unwillingness to even give fighters a chance. Now I hear that Mark Hartigan will get the spot. The same guy that Holland swept right off his feet when free agency began (or sometime nearby then), and the same guy that we have 50,000 clones of already on the team and in the system. Exiting, isn't it? This is a post I just had to single out. Of all guys you prefer to compare to Downey, you pick a couple of 1st round busts that were never meant to be only one-dimensional enforcers in the first place. Terry Ryan put up 110 points one season in juniors, and was a top 10 draft pick. Who in their right minds would ever even consider using a top 10 pick on an enforcer? Ryan was meant to be a quality 1st or 2nd line winger when he was drafted. For whatever reason, he didn't pan out. Eric Lecompte and Brad Church both put up 88 points as career high numbers, which isn't great, but was still decent enough. I can assure you neither player was looked at as being an enforcer when they were or near the team leaders in points while playing juniors. If you wanted to pick 1st round players that were meant to only be enforcers (due to piss poor management, since no smart person would ever use a 1st round pick on a guy they could easily get in the 10th round) you should have picked someone like Mike Brown or Shawn Antoski. And even Antoski had a fairly decent career, and might be still playing if not for a serious car accident. I don't know why you choose to discredit Downey so much. Who the hell else do you think should get that last spot? Grigorenko? Give me a break. He's been absolutley terrible this whole preseason. And I'm sorry, but I can't continue to accept being from Russia as an excuse for him, because Russians have been coming over to North America for decades now to play hockey, and not all of them come out of shape. So it isn't because he's from Russia or any of the other crap that people have said: it's because he's lazy and doesn't know how to train properly. ...and who else can you think of that should get the spot? Mark Hartigan or Matt Ellis? Both career minor leaguers that really bring nothing special to the table? (keep in mind that I do like Ellis, but if it has to come down to Ellis or Downey, Downey get's my vote) You know, it would really be nice to have an enforcer on this team again. No, Downey does not suck as badly as you make him out to be. He isn't Brad Norton, so stop using that comparison, and stop using one failed mistake as a benchmark to never again carry an enforcer. Also: your comment about having a fighter "with Draper-type skills" is the most ridiculous crap I've seen in a while. You'd be lucky to even find a player in the world that can fight full-time while being a top notch faceoff man, penalty-killer, 20-goal scorer, and former Selke-Trophy winner. See my above post. Hartigan... again, a guy we have millions of other players who can do what he does. I see no point in keeping him. He's basically a smaller, less physical, and less offensive version of Franzen.

ESPN's knowledge of hockey is so frustratingly bad. Those hits couldn't get any weaker, and their selection of "top goals" is lame as hell. It also begs the question: what purpose does Melrose even serve at ESPN anyways? Comic relief? They only have hockey coverage about once every 6 years, and since he doesn't cover any other sports, he's basically there to breathe air.