Drake_Marcus

So you'd rather Sammy then Feds? I knew you secretly love Sammy!

Yeah- I was just saying that I thought Edmonton got a decent deal given how good Pitkanen could end up being. Lupul could very well return to his Mighty Duck form, in which case Philly did pretty well. If not they traded Pitkanen for Smith and Edmonton wins . Of course that speculates that Pitkanen lives up to his potential. s***, trades really are tough to guage without the benefit of hindsight. I guess that's why the Panthers hate themselves... We'd have to pair someone else up with Kronvall if we wanted to trade for Pitkanen in Edmonton's place over the summer, but I don't think that trade would really be worth it. Kronvall is just as likely to become a number one defenseman as Pitkanen is at this point, no?

Well I dunno about Lupul being that big of a deal- his stock was the lowest it's probably ever been at the time of that trade. Smith is good, yeah, but he's not a highly-touted future franchise defenseman the way Pikinen is/was.

Disgusting. That's absolutely revolting and not even the most argumentative people here could side with that kind of bulls***.

First of all- bringing back Fedorov is a perfectly fine proposition. The 2007-2008 Detroit Red Wings roster does not have 6 forwards better than an old-ass Fedorov. Sorry, but that's the truth. Fedorov brings scoring and defensive depth our forward lines lack. I'd LOVE to be able to say we've got too many good players to need Feds (even though Feds is one of my top 2 favourite players of all time). But in the end we don't. Let's face it- this season it's become apparent that when Z and Dats don't connect with the back of the net the Wings struggle. At least last year we had Lang, Williams and Cleary to pick up the slack. Cleary's been chained to the bottom two lines, apparently, and obviously the other two are gone for good. Next, I'd like to conceed something- Sammy's not so bad and he's very much a necessary part of this team. Face it guys- Sammy's the top scoring forward on this team that isn't Hank, Dats or Holmer. I know that's annoying- and s*** I wish it wasn't true, but clearly Sammy's a component the Wings can't afford to lose without picking up another winger of greater scoring ability (remember that Sammy has a great chemistry with the rest of our top six forwards). I think these are just facts we'll have to accept in the salary cap era- players like Sammy are down right essential for a team to win. Cheap, 20 goal scorers with good chemistry are extremely valuable to even the richest, most successful teams now. I don't think Dats is starting in a slump- he's put up 4pts in 5 games while playing a very dominant game out there. Remember he did score a goal against the Hawks a few nights ago only to have it taken back in what the ref admitted was a bad call. A goal and 4 helpers in the first five games is perfectly fine in my books. Datsyuk is playing just as well right now as he was in the preseason and playoffs- he just hasn't connected with the back of the net yet. Both Dats and Hank have seen more then their share of posts and bad bounces so I'm not worried. I do, however, want to see Hudler start putting the puck in the net- he's been playing well but seems to be suffering from the same luck as Dats. Give the boys another 10 games before you start thinking about who needs to have their ass dumped.

So what you're saying is my memory of his actions in the OHL was actually very mild. I knew he really messed that guy's face up when he did this back in the OHL, but wow, I guess he really messed that guy's face up.

It'll always be that way here. The Wings have a massive following across N.A. Just like the Leafs do. With that comes fans who are only fans as a result of tradition (in the case of the Leafs) or success (in the case of the Wings). Fans like that are swayed by the winds of change pretty easily and tend to look at a team's performance from an incredibly microscopic view. Hasek has always been and always will be a slow starter. Guess who else is a slow starter? Half the grade A talent in this league. If you don't believe me go look at the scoring leaders. The leader board won't look like that in a few months or in April. Big Joe, Sid, Ovi, and Jagr aren't going to fall of the face of the Earth like they seem to have done judging by the current scoring leaders. I'm more concerned about how our players look in late November to early December when I'm trying to gauge their performance in the current year compared to the past.

Huh? We're not going to get a defenseman of Kronvall's potential for quite a few years. He's still oozing with potential even after 3 seasons of consecutive disruptive injuries. That sets back any player. Just look at the talent in Chicago. Havlat should be 4xbetter out there but he's been injury prone and that's set his career back- no argument there. Sorry dude, but Lebda's NOT a much better defenseman. You're nuts if you think Lebda would get the Wings a better return on the trade block then Kronvall would. And what the f***? Have you been watching this preseason and season so far? Kronvall's been fantastic. Every defenseman makes mistakes- just like every forward does. Just because Lidstrom makes the right move 99.9999999% of the time doesn't mean you can ask that of any other defenseman in the league. Zetterberg's missed an open net more times then I can count. Same goes for Pavel. s***- Wayne Gretzky scored on his own damn net back when he played in L.A. If you scream for a player's head every time he screws up you're bound do be disappointed in every team in the league. The fact is that no one on this team other than Lidstrom is superman. I definitely don't advocate trading Kronvall in any situation other than a "home run" trade. But I'm still kinda chapped in the ass that the Wings didn't get Pitkinen from Philly this summer given how cheaply they gave him away to Edmonton.

Congrats Mats. Hopefully you'll get a cup at some point to cap off a fantastic career (maybe in a management role?). Look who made the frozen moment: Secret

NO WAY! It's me Gordie! We still playing shuffle board tomorrow?

Didn't he get banned for an entire OHL season for doing this exact s*** before? I think he messed the other dude up pretty bad too- shattered his nose and messed up his face even further.

I heard Cloutier is available.

Agreed. Dats deserves to get a fricken goal this season! *sigh* Worst PP night of the season so far. BUT the Wings are about to embark on a ball-shattering west coast trip- let's use this embarrassing loss to a s***ty team as some motivation!

Sigh. What a dismal game. I blame the school system.

Well he is the future owner of a s***-ton of Veznas

Aflac rocks, but not as much as you do Rabia! mwa! 7 Wings (Zx3, Dats, Huds, Sammy, Lids) -3 s***hawks (Toews (winner of most overrated draftpick), Lang, Kabbie) When do you think they'll end their winning, defensive, quality, intellectual and performance woes?

Great interview with Z on just what's going wrong with the power play (being as they didn't score on one of the three pp chances). Z's a great talker and a really modest guy. Great game boys! P.S. Guess who's tied for the scoring lead? Answer: ask HR40.

No no, I ment to- didn't Fedorov put the puck right through Roy and into the net...

Didn't Fedorov do that to Roy once?

Ummm guys- I think this whole Zetterberg + Dats thing might just work out...

5-0 Wings (Dats, Zx3, Cleary, Lebda) Calgary's a despirate, despirate team. But they play like garbage on the road and the Wings play amazing at home. Good combo for me.

Bwahahaha. Look up the Norris. Lidstrom is, by definition, the best defenseman in the NHL.

I'm willing to give Babs the benefit of the doubt on this one. Look at it this way: once Grigs is up to game shape Elis is basically glued to GR. At that point I'd say Downey has the best chance of a call up. Well maybe that's just wishful thinking, but it seems stupid for the Wings to sign Downey if they don't plan on playing him...

Horray! Now that we're friends can you introduce me to your trident-wielding weatherman?

Gah. That was more of a grappling match between two half drunk dudes outside a bar then it was a fight. What happened to the days of two heavyweights squaring off with their helmets, gloves AND elbowpads spread out in a circle of discarded equipment? Bring back Probert! At least when he got pulled over by the cops he was high on coke and driving a big ol' hog. Not drunk driving a audi like some stars now a days. That's right- even Probert's crimes were tougher. Edit- spelling