Drake_Marcus

Are you just being a piss ant or do you honestly think: A) Bertuzzi will score more than 26g 57pts this season (lol) B) Hudler wouldn't be posting more than that total anyway given that he's improved considerably every year in the NHL so far

He's also a strong backchecker who plays the puck enthusiastically both ways. He plays a role on the PK (which is admittedly the Griffin's weakest point this season), so he's definitely not a scrub defensively. You could think of him as Datsyuk lite, I suppose.

Tatar has the tools to possibly be a superstar. He's the first player in the Wings 8 year relationship with the Griffins to be sent to the AHL in his draft year. He's the youngest kid in the league and he was not only holding his own but quickly became the best forward on his team. Ericsson and Kindl both have the tools to be a Kronwall level impact player (not physically, though-- neither can deliver open ice hits like Kroner). Smith could be a real gem-- he just need to prove he's the real deal in a men's league. He's got great skating, size and offensive instincts to spare. But he won't be a physical presence out there. Nyqvist is a wild card. He's flat out dominating in college hockey but you can't make the same kind of predictions about the college-NHL jump that you can with a league like the AHL (and even there you get guys like Haydar who dominate in the AHL but can't play NHL hockey because they skate like a frigging pirate). Mursak has shown why he's considered a potential impact scorer-- he has sick hands and can skate circles around the other guys on the ice. Think Helm with actual hands but not quite the skating ability (Mursak still looks like a speed daemon out there, though). Ferraro? He's had a disappointing year so far but in the end he's still a guy who was projected as a 1st rounder and that was less than a year ago...

No one's noticed that one Holmstrom has a disembodied hand on his crotch yet.

Oh snap!

Like I said before, it's wicked awesome sweet.

Not necessarily. Mursak is the best offensive forward on that team (Nylander and arguably Rissmiller aside) outside of Tatar. He's having a fantastic bounce-back season. Gustav Nyqvist is also having a whale of a year after turning heads in college hockey last year as a rookie. Gustav is currently tied for the lead in hockey east scoring if things haven't changed in the last week or so. But yeah, we could still use some more scoring prospects. To be honest this draft is going to be really dependent on how the current group of prospects look at the end of the year... Tatar could be NHL ready at age 20... who knows? Pyett is really picking up steam this season and Smith better be AHL ready by the summer. If Smith still needs to play more college hockey I'd expect the Wings will draft another offensive d-man in the 1st. Really the defensive priority in the 1st round depends, in my opinion, on two key factors: --> How NHL ready does Kindl look by June? --> How AHL ready does Smith look by June? Smith is almost guaranteed to get AHL playing time once the college season is over so the Wings will have a better grip on where he is when they can get a look at him playing against men. Smith and Kindl are the two heirs apparent for Lidstrom among the current group of prospects... if neither looks to be able to make the jump I'd expect the Wings to take another 1st round shot at a d-man. But at this point I'd say "take the best talent available" is also a likely strategy since the D and O sides of the prospect pool seem fairly balanced right now.

Bert's learned to important words this season: "Back" and "Check".

The team's crippled with injuries and Bertuzzi's stepped it up BIG TIME. He was signed as a complementary player and right now he's our go-to scorer. I'm sure Holland is pretty happy with this signing right now. And if/when he comes back down to Earth he's still only making 1.5 million, oh well, he's not being paid to be a superstar anyway, right?

This.

Fischer? He was really young

This rocks! I hope he gets a goal too. Ritola represents a good chunk of my Red Wings rookie card collection so I need this kid to pan out about as much as Holland does.

I loved that picture. The one where every single person in the crowd was Therian was also awesome.

Holmstrom-Holmstrom-Holmstrom Holmstrom-Holmstrom-Holmstrom Holmstrom-Holmstrom-Holmstrom Holmstrom-Holmstrom-Holmstrom Holmstrom-Holmstrom Holmstrom-Holmstrom Holmstrom Holmstrom Coach: Holmstrom's Mom Assistant Coach: Jake Ryan (wearing a Holmstrom jersey)

The real guys to blame are UKRedWing and GMR. I've watched enough games while chatting with those two in real time and I can definitely say being in their version of hockey would look like a prison gang fight. A prison gang fight where the opponents wear knives on their feet.

I lol'd.

Ahh Step Brothers. You bring me many laughs.

Hmmm.... I see where you're going there but these aren't library playboys we're talkin' about. These are used.

10 for 20? *le sigh* Well looks like my dice rolling experment from last year might have to make a come-back.

That's the key point.

God that made me angry. That was a great, legal check on Kane. Then Toews comes in with the might and fury of an anemic kitten and Abs just takes it like a pedo on his first day of prison? WTF?

Generally when your team loses it's easier to blame 3rd line wingers than your underperforming star players.