Kp-Wings

Echolalia: Yes, I do find Zetterberg and Datsyuk's play entertaining, but that's a different story. I'm mostly going off of 3rd/4th line players. The Wings need and should have more entertaining players then what they currently have their in that part. Someone like Arron Asham or Adam Hall, or even Nieminen, will make just as much money as someone like Samulesson, so why not sign them? At least guys like Asham or Hall will fight, or in Nieminen's case, play dirty. That's what most fans find entertaining, especially the fighting aspect. The Wings have no one on their current roster that will drop the gloves on a regular basis. The Wings had about 10 fights last year, 6-7 of them coming from Brad Norton. The other 3-4 came from one-time wonders like Lilja, who I'll bet will probably never do it again. Fighting is going to put fans in the seats. Some try to deny it, and others even go out of there way to say the Wings don't need a fighter, which I think is ridiculous. A fighter isn't going to solve the Wings attendance issues, nor will it solve the team toughness issues. But it can only help, can't it? ...and please, nobody discredit this with Brad Norton as your example. He's a career AHL'er at best. You can't compare the good fighters in the league to Norton.

He's a pretty well hated guy for an internet blogger. Yet, at that same time, people still visit his blog, and donate money to him. I guess in the end it all evens out in some way or another.

At this point, Infante could do no worse than Guillen. We need a shakeup of some kind. I was hoping a trade would do the trick, but obviously since management decided to sit on their hands that won't be happening. Whether it be some unknown guy down in the minors, or something, this team needs a spark. They've been awful lately. ...as if the bullpen woes weren't bad enough, amoung other things, thank you for pointing that out. I don't know why pitching a strike has all of a sudden become as hard as landing on mars. Especially considering this is Oakland we're playing right now, who aren't really even in the running.

There's a difference you don't understand. If Holland signed entertaining European players, like Ville Nieminen, Evgeny Artyukin, or Jarkko Ruutu, then it would be a different story. These guys have charecter. And for as much as Nieminen does dirty stuff, he is entertaining to watch with the stuff he does. Vladdy was a European, but he was loved by fans, because he had charecter, and he was a gritty player. That's what the fans want, whether it be a North American or European. They want players that entertain them, and players that they can stand by. Holland signs the most boring players you can possible imagine. Guys like Samulesson, Kopecky, etc. These guys have no personality, bring nothing to the game at all, and for as big as they are, aren't gritty at all. They just hapeen to be European. The Wings have had North American players that define the epitome of boring also. Jason Williams for example. Maybe even Brett Lebda can fall into that catagory. It's not just because their European. Holland happens to sign the most boring players on the market, which, I hate to break it to you, aren't going to draw fans. By the way: I edited your post to save room.

Hopefully the A's lose today.

Do you got a chart for league team toughness? I'm sure Detroit is probably last there too. As much as I like Drake, he no longer fights people. Plus, he's 38 years old. Wouldn't have made more sense for Holland to sign someone younger (Arron Asham), who can play the exact same type of game as Drake, but also provide more offense and fight people? I swear, it seems like everytime the Wings try and sign "toughness" it's usually some guy who is either at the tail end of his career, has just suffered a major injury, or is a former Red Wing.

Unfourantly, the only thing that will get that to change is either new ownership, or the Wings missing the playoffs completely. If the Wings did miss the playoffs, that take a massive hit on the teams part as far as popularity in the city of Detroit. That also comes with the success of the Tigers and Pistons. I really feel that would be the only thing that would ever get Illitch to actually care about the fans again. Not that I want it to come to that (missing the playoffs), because I don't. It would be the only thing to do it though. It does also come with the already mentioned point: the Wings don't have the type of players that will draw crowds. You all think people like me are ridiculous when we want fighters on the team, but if you want to draw a crowd, you need a fighter. Not a 5'10 Swede who hasn't fought a guy in his life. But, whatever. As long as Ken Holland is GM and Mike Illitch is owner, it'll be the same thing over and over again. Holland will continue to build boring European based teams, while Illitch screws us all over with ridiculous ticket prices.

There's your answer. The Patroits have won 3 superbowls since 2000, two of them back-to-back (2003-2004). The Red Sox also won the World Series in 2004. That's good enough for 6th.

He's done. He was so bad last season that the Rags waived him, and let him finish out the year in Hartford of the AHL. On topic: disappointing that Avery was brought back, as I'd have loved to see him here. He has top 6 forward potential, and is a charecter guy, which the Wings definitly need more of.

Good for you guys.

Hopefully Roenick takes his place. We need some personality on NBC: the robots like Olczyk and Ray Ferraro are so boring by themselves.

Yeah, and look what happened with Philly this year. They had a vastly different roster than last years, and it screwed up the whole team's chemistry, giving them a hearty last place finish. Who's to say the same thing won't happen with Anaheim? Post-lockout, St. Louis is also a good example. They traded Pronger, amoung others, and had a very different roster than the 2003-2004 season, and just couldn't find chemistry.

Did you watch him during the 2006 playoffs? Next to Legace, Datsyuk, and Lilja, Shanahan was the worst player for the Wings that year. There's no excuse for the way he played during that Edmonton series, considering he had 40 goals on the year. Shanahan is a perimeter player. He basis his game off of taking shots from nowhere, but since his shot is good, he usually scores. Babcock didn't like this about him, however, which lead to problems, and probably the reason why Shanahan left in the first place. You can say all this crap about "bettering one's career", like the same old Fedorov speech, but the fact is that Shanahan and Babcock didn't see eye-to-eye. What other reason would Shanahan have to leave? I remember after the Calgary series in 2004, he actually cried after Game 6 and was so upset because he thought the Wings wouldn't bring him back (surprise surprise, he had a bad playoffs that year too). Then, only one year later, he all of a sudden leaves? Only conclusion here is Babcock wanted Shanahan to actually move his feet and not be lazy, which Shanahan is incapable of doing at this point of his career.

rawr

When is the old bastard going to get it right and lower the damn ticket prices? I don't see how an advertising agent is going to do a damn bit of good here. The Wings don't sellout because the tickets cost about three home loans, not because people don't care. If that was the case, TV ratings would have also suffered this year, which they did not. You think not selling out a single playoff game would wake Illitch up. Clearly it hasn't.

Wow, I'm disappointed. Thought we'd see at least one trade. The bullpen is and continues to be awful, and now we need to put faith in Rodney? Damn it all. *throws in Ken Holland esque insult at Dombrowski*

I must sig this.

He is lazier, no longer fights on a regular basis, and has a habit of disappering in the playoffs. None of which was the case when the Wings first acquired him.

Maybe you could try making that more clear then.

Who has ever said Lidstrom is washed up? Why even try to make that argument? The man won a Norris Trophy for God sakes. When Feds wins a Norris Trophy himself, then we'll talk,

The A's suck.

I wouldn't be. Sather basically said Avery sucked during the arbitration hearing (for lack of better words). His time with the Rags will be one more year, maximum, after this. Should clarify that Sather didn't say Avery sucked, but more or less said he was a big mouth and not a team player. Which is all true, but he still played great for them. Not a very savvy move on Sather's part: it was when Avery was brought in that they turned it around. edited for grammar

Various sources confirm it's offical. Gagne is going to the Red Sox. Still waiting for a trade here involving the Tigers...

You can blame Mike Illitch for that, considering the average middle class American has to shell out three home loans to watch a playoff game.

Let the pieces fall into place... Great news. Hossa takes up another spot on the Rags roster, meaning that could spell an end to his tenure there, giving the Wings the perfect opportunity to sign him. Like his antics or not, he's exactly what the Wings need: a gritty player who has the scoring potential to be a top 6 forward. Get with it Kenny! Start manding those phones!