Drake_Marcus

Simple solution guys-- just sign the most coveted free agent forward and one of the two most coveted d-men.

You speak of the Mikael Samuelsson school of scoring.

Errr... it's not like he's the fastest player to ever lace 'em up. I'm sure we can look across the NHL and make the assumption that the fastest skaters don't suffer from chronic ankle injuries on account of the scenario you've outlined. Mursak got hurt in a freak accident. I'm sure he's beat defencemen the same way hundreds of times before without spraining his ankle.

Howard is too. And Datsyuk's playing all-star defence but his offence is definitely off.

Thing is he was injured before the 2011 All-Star game, wasn't he? So, over the entire time period relevant to the 2012 All-Star game (from the day after the 2011 game until the day the 2012 game happens) Crosby has played zero games. Yeah I'm positive he'd play well enough to make this year's team if he had a chance but how can you vote someone on a team they shouldn't in all fairness be eligible for? Voting for Crosby this year would be like voting for Yzerman or Gretzky this year-- none of the three played hockey in the year leading up to the game... Is anyone else having trouble selecting Howard as a write-in? I write his name in and it auto-completes (indicating to me that the name in their system must match) but when I click add nothing happens.

There's another Red Wings goalie I can think of who has his name on 3 Stanley Cups and can be described just the same way.

Well that certainly makes a difference.

It's a PK thing. Babs probably won't sit Ericsson because he's 3rd amoung the D in PK time on ice/game. While our PK is only 80.0% (tied for 19th in the league) that's skewed by how terrible it was at the start of the season. Over the last 5 games the PK's only let 4 goals in (including the horrible one in OT when Kronwall took that headshot and an empty net goal on the PK). Factor out the EN goal and the one where Kronwall was knocked out of the play with that headshot and it's only 2 goals in the last 5 games. I counted 24 PKs based on checking the game sheets for the last 5 games so that means the PK has been 83.3% over that time (or 87.0% if you discount the EN goal scored against us on the PK). To be fair, the real PK percentage would be 87% since you can't really count a PK with an EN as a normal scenario. So yeah... until Babs thinks he can count on Kindl to play E's 3 mins of PK time a night he's going to be the odd man out. Edit: Also, Ericsson leads the D in hits while Kindl is 4th. In terms of blocked shots Kindl is 6th while E is only 4th. Stats like these and the PK are pretty much the only reason why I can justify sitting Kindl over E right now.

They've been 'on the upswing' for years now. At this point people are expecting more results than St. Louis is producing. That team's loaded with talent (and has been for a while now). I suspect their management is getting a bit antsy about the lack of tangible results on the ice.

The unemployment rate among fast-food workers is about to plummet in St. Louis.

Ericsson and Hudler for Parise and Suter? Well they do say it's good to set your goals high...

Dear Jonathan Ericsson, If you beat Kostoplous' ass tonight all will be forgiven. Seriously.

Usually you have to sacrifice a bit of your average salary for long-term contracts... damn, I doubt Rinne's agent will have trouble getting new clients now.

Not going to happen right now since Stuart is 2nd and E's 3rd on the team in PK time-on-ice per game and the PK's about the only thing that's going right at the moment. *shrug* Other than that I'd agree. Those two are also leading the defence in hits so at least they're doing something right

Aye! He even got a Cup for getting his face broken in the 1st (or 2nd?) round.

Here's the problem: the Wings have too many NHL forwards, NHL defensemen and if you ask Larsson's agent they've also got one too many NHL goalies. Who do you cut to make room for these guys? The first response around here would normally be Hudler but his play so far makes that impossible.

The sad thing is that he's actually immensely talented and capable of being a top goalie in the NHL. It's a damn shame he's built out of glass.

It's not so much the punches landed, it's the fact that one guy fed the other some lefts and the other guy turtled until mommy came to break it up.

12 weeks is "a few weeks away"? lol

Took 'em long enough. We all anticipated this move before yesterday's game.

Half the damn NHL had an alumni or prospect on that plane! Even if they didn't this is about how our sport's been wounded by the tragic passing of some great guys and some really young guys that didn't even get a chance to live their lives. The NHL is a brotherhood.

TBH I really think the guys in the NHL who are likely to fight have the deaths of Boo, Rypien and Belak in the back of their minds. All those guys died way too young. I'm not saying fighting has to go-- I'm saying this summer's been pretty damn tragic for our sport and people are very aware of it.

Well said.

Looks fantastic Matt. Thanks!

That's harsh man. Franzen doesn't tap out like a sissy. He carefully positions a ref between himself and the other guy, like a real tough guy. Franzen's like a little brother-- he's tough when mom's around to keep her eye on you but once you get him alone he's not interested in mixing it up.