sean

If Malts doesn't get back in the lineup in the playoffs, I bet he'll hang 'em up.

who cares? the east has become a lesser league

FWIW, Pronger hasn't been bad this series. He's pushing the envelope, as usual, but he hasn't done much pure gooning.

You can always count on borderline guys playing hard to make the roster. Enforcers are usually in this position if/because they can't play hockey. At this point in the season, a roster spot has little to do with anything anyhow.

We should't have to have players whose purpose is to protect our other players from actions taken on them illegally.

Who cares. There are grammar fails throughout the site; clearly he's not making the effort anyway. I'm not sure how I'd feel, either. This site is win though, it does give me a better opinion of him tbh.

Restructuring may not be illegal after this season; the CBA expires, or something along those lines. Experts, chime in.

Maybe. Sammy was pulled from the PP 2 games ago though, and Stuart was left on.

I think this rule actually goes away after this year

The last couple of games, during the pre-game interviews, you can see Drapes taking the warmup. Good signs, but even more curiosity...??

It's just not worth the risk for the Wings. It is entirely possible, that people like Ericsson, Helm, and etc, could have been playing to the standard they are now 2 or 3 years ago, a la Varly and others. It is also possible that they flop, or become discouraged at the NHL level. When you've got the depth the Wings have, there's no reason to take this risk.

if it ain't broke don't lend it

Raffi skates today, plays tomorrow, but Draper's been skating for weeks and can't go? Eh, guess it makes sense depending on the injury, just a bit odd.

FWIW, I think Lebda >>> Meech. He's really upped the ante, since he got benched last fall. Wouldn't hate to see him go, but his improvement over the last two seasons or so should be noted. If we could convince him to stay on as a 7th, I'd like that. If I were Babs and co., I'd drop the 1st 2nd 3rd pairing convention and just roll the 3 pairings more evenly. Why not, when you have that depth? Ericsson plays 2nd pairing minutes, Lidstrom gets to rest a bit more.

Well, your point is taken. I'm only saying, Meech hasn't had the opportunity to be a minus player, or make any mistakes really. I think there's a reason Babcock put Cheli on ~ 9 minutes per game, and Meech only got ~3 last night. If I had to guess, I'd say Babcock is platooning these two, rather than demoting Chelios.

What? Meech was on the ice last evening for a mere 180 seconds (total). I don't think you can really say he was a good replacement.

Franzen took less to play here. Kenny and Co. have created an organization where players do things like that. He'd be getting at least 5 - 6 anyplace else.

Unless they retire...

ahahahaha

my roommate screaming at the tele she's got so many hormones i think

haha this almost worked

he pretty much did

That's discouraging. I think he'll be alright though, Lilja got KO'd pretty clearly.

We didn't solve Hiller. He was never anything to be solved. We started getting beneath Anaheim's D, and that's all there is to it. The Sharks couldn't do this, and then Hiller was an all star . The second RW goal tonight was funny though, because it looked like he would have had it if he wore his pads correctly, haha. Yeah having Raffi back will be sweet kinda because having Raffi back is sweet but really because our 6th Dman will be Lebda. I dunno what happened to Lebda after he got benched earlier this year, but he's been solid ever since. He's a serviceable 5th now, I feel, whereas a few years ago I was scarred whenever he came over the bench. Not sure I expected this kind of improvement from him Also Babs has shown so much trust in his 3rd and 4th lines that really they aren't even 3rd and 4th lines anymore. Helm got 14:35 today, all even strength. That's more than Hudler and Sammy. That's saying something.

Everytime someone does something like this I am like "whoa, how can we have a friend in common?" But then it's Lilja, haha.