Drake_Marcus

I think Ericsson will fill that role fairly well. In reality he's more of a Lidstrom type player that uses position and his stick to deny opportunities, but based on what the Wings need right now with Lilja out I think we'll see him play more of that blocking, hitting style. Will do

Ahhh I like that. It speaks to my insatiable hunger for violence AND for eating rare animals.

Well you're going to love her replacement then! Ladies and gentlemen, introducing: Bob the Badger.

Thanks Now call your man and tell him my heart health depends on his play! (and I'm only 25)

Disgusting. Clearly not all reffing jobs are offered based on merit.

If Cleary can't play Game 1 here are the lines I'd like to see: Holmstrom-Datsyuk-Hossa Franzen-Zetterberg-Hudler Samuelsson-Filppula-Leino Kopecky-Helm-Maltby I didn't put Sammy on the second line because that line doesn't need another shooter- Zetterberg needs to shoot and stop trying to be the Swedish Datsyuk. There are few players on this team I'd rather shooting than Zetterberg.

How so? As it stands now, if Cleary and Draper can't play in Game 1, the Wings have 11 forwards. Meech is not a good enough forward to play up front in the playoffs, not by any stretch of the imagination. If Cleary is out for Game 1 expect Leino or someone else to get a call-up.

Me? Ok. Sweet! Thanks

Ooooo... I like theses lines.

Thanks Matt was very generous to sticky this thread for me. I'm glad I can help. You're very welcome.

s***. This is not good for the already weak penalty kill. Cleary's puck clearing and generally great pking is critical to the success of the Wings' pk.

Don't worry Mac, I'd say Kopecky will be playing on a short leash.

Tell me about it! I can't wait to watch the Wings play like Red Wings.

Well said. This about sums it up.

Something tells me that Babs will get lots of millage out of that game tape.

I'd like to add to that. Key to this series: 1. Score on Mason early- don't spot him some confidence. 2. Get traffic in front of the net. 3. Pepper Mason with shots. 4. Pound their players into the boards. Make them pay a heavy physical toll from second 1 of period 1 of game 1. 5. Limit turnovers and CONVERT when they turn the puck over to you. 6. Finish. Finish. Finish. When given a clear shot- make it count.

I'd love to play, but I'm really OCD, so I'm trying to keep everything I do as close to last year's playoffs as possible.

Ahhh yes it does, actually. Draper's face-off dominance is absolutely critical to the Wings' style of play. You can't be a puck possession team if you're not winning more face-offs than your opponent. Add to that the fact that Draper's still extremely fast and is at worst 'above average' defensively. Maltby, on the other hand, has far less use than Draper. I'd rather give Downey a shot over Maltby, assuming Downey is going to play as well as he did last time he was called up to Detroit.

Just bumping it back up (it's one thread away from disappearing to page two). I'm just hoping to keep the stats availible for people who are interested, especially as we approach the start of the series.

No problem! I'm willing to do this for the next playoff rounds too. If you don't mind asking, I'd be nice if someone could suggest to Matt that this would make a good subject to pin at the top with the other Round 1 stuff. I'd like to do this up in graphics using the same method as Aflac used to, but I'm not sure how he did it (assuming it wasn't just a ton of brute work in photoshop).

Quite the opposite The gym was closed for Easter, hockey is done for a few days and my girlfriend is busy studying for exams... I had nothing else to do!

Yeah, I found that all these stats definitely support the general feelings most of us have had this season- that the Wings struggle to lock up games but they can 'turn it on' and come back almost at will. I found the blocked shot total very frustrating too. I really, really wish we retained Markov after the 06-07 season. If we had Markov, Lilja, Stuart and Ericsson on the back end we wouldn't be so vulnerable to injuries. As it stands now the loss of Lilja really impacts this team's ability to hit and block shots effectively. Having another big guy that does that (Markov) in the line up would do away with the Lebda and Meech type players. Of course we'd still have 8 D-men in that scenario, but I think we could realistically dump Chelios and whichever of Lilja, Stuart, Markov wasn't doing the job. Ericsson looks great on the third pairing and will quickly mature into a 2nd and eventually, a 1st pairing player, so we really don't need to keep Meech and Lebda around. Still a log-jam back there, but at least it's a gritty log jam

Thanks

Thanks

Welcome. Enjoy the thrill of the playoffs man, nothing beats the adrenaline rush you get watching these games. I can't wait for Thursday! What he said.