Drake_Marcus

Babs wants Filppula to become a reliable second line centre while Hudler is clearly in the mold of a scoring Winger. Filppula lacks finishing skills, while Hudler lacks Filppula's defensive poise and has less overall hockey sense. They're two completely different players. Filppula is a playmaker with good defensive upside and Hudler is a pure goalscorer with a fantastic shot and nice set of hands.

The Wings must want to give Ellis a chance to either prove himself or show something promising enough to make him some kind of trade-bait. Otherwise I have to agree with you. When I read the lines for tonight my first thought was "why isn't Downey playing against a team like the Oilers? This is a waste." Exactly what I was thinking. I've got no problem with Ellis, but this game seems like prime Downey territory.

[begins countdown until your signature is removed because of its size] Why? Did you honestly not notice how piss poor Souray is defensively?

This should be a tough game, and if the wings hadn't just lost in a piss-poor effort to the Hawks I'd say it could even be a loss. BUT I think Babs will really whip the boys into a foaming rage and he'll be looking at this as a test of the new "speedier" style against the grinding rough game we expect to see from the Oilers. The Oil will be coming into this game oozing with confidence, having just beaten a great Sharks team and a "definitely still from Philly" Flyers team. Look for them to play with a great deal of confidence. This is, however, still a club that had an utter melt-down last year after loosing their star player and I think a couple of unanswered goals from the Wings will break their back. 5-1 Wings (Zetterberg, Datsx2, Lids, Hudler) (Souray- who still manages to be -4 on the night) Anyone else think it's adorable that Pik is in the second pairing but Sheldon "the cheese cloth" Souray is in the first pairing? I mean yeah, I understand they give Souray a massive payday, but he's a terrible defenseman and really shouldn't be out there unless it's a power play or the warm-up. Edit: Here are the full details on my goal predictions (and yeah- they're more like fantasies, but I find it fun!) 1st Period: Detroit Goal: Datsyuk from Filppula and Holmstrom Detroit Goal: Zetterberg from Hudler and Lidstrom Second Period: Detroit Goal: Datsyuk from Zetterberg and Lidstrom (PP) Edmonton Goal: Souray from Greene (PP) Detroit Goal: Hudler from Zetterberg and Sammy Third Period: Detroit Goal: Lidstrom from Datsyuk and Zetterberg (PP) Dats with 2 goals and a helper and Z with a goal and 3 helpers Sounds fun to me!

Holy s***! Torres looked like a speed-freak who just lost his stash. That was effing wild stuff. Like- Jordin "I'm just freaking out of control and happen to be wearing skates" Tootoo's bat-s*** crazy fighting style.

Dude! That's bulls***. Wow. What a horrible situation for him and his family. Best of luck with the fight Jason- everyone in the hockey world is pulling for you! I'm sure Jason will have the best doctors around him and the best possible care so he'll get every chance to fight this and come out ok. Good luck Mr. Blake!

6-1 Avs- and the Stanstny kid has a goal and 4 helpers! Crazy good game for him! Scary

Sad but true.

I'll give you a point for mentioning an ice cream truck. The Lang fan in me likes ice cream. True. But that doesn't make it right. Just a sad, sad fact that some players have no class and some fans believe classless hockey is justified by the results.

You guys love it.

You better have Z!

Pfft- Zetterberg has 5 in 2 games- he'll get at least 3 next game

Fair enough- but I hope Downey makes a damn good push to justify the rosterspot. More than just fighting- I wanna see the grinding physical play that actually wins games!

Every time someone writes "b4" instead of before god shoots an angel in the face.

Maybe if the Wings played 16 games instead of 82 I'd agree with you. One loss in 82, however, is far from something to worry about.

*please baby jebus make Selanne come to Detroit!* No word I've heard of, but I agree he'd make the Wings instant favourites across the board.

Not for five million a season with the upcoming signings Detroit needs to make at the end of this season! That's the only reason Detroit didn't keep Bert or go for any of the interesting UFA forwards this summer (aside from the retardedly high price ones- Holland's just not that desperate).

God knows it's hard to imagine how Hossa could have an impact on this team in the playoffs if he's been invisible in the past. Thorton has a history of being invisible in the playoffs, and a certain player on this team was accused of that as well. Does that mean Dats and Thorton aren't desirable pickups for someone at the deadline? When a player has a stupid level of skill and puts up sick numbers in the regular season teams will always take a chance on picking them up for the postseason.

What, you can't make the massive logical leap necessary to comprehend a comparison between tripping and drunk driving? I mean come on- the parallels are pretty obvious: -tripping is performed by humans -drunk driving is performed by humans -tripping occurs on the ice -drunk driving occurs on the ice if done in winter and on unsalted roads Ok, I'm blank after those points. Seriously though people- I think Cleary's going to make the best of his time on the top line. And Franzen's going to be back on the ice in no time. Go Wings! Yeah- if anyone can put some points on the board it's Downey!

No no no! That is not a quick recovery injury. The problem is that most injuries show their true colours after some time as lapsed. I'd feel more comfort if he'd said that 2 days from now... *crosses his fingers for the MRI results*

That's what I thought, but I googled it first and the wiki page I read only mentioned two. That'll teach me to research before posting!

Cheli's salary these past few years would be the LEAST he's made since his rookie year. He's got 2 Norris Trophies and has played in the NHL for 24 years. He's made a minimum of half a million a year, probably peaking at 8 million, for 24 years. I'm sure he can afford an AM.

I'm from Halifax, Nova Scotia and growing up my brother frequently played against Crosby. They're the same age, but my brother played on a team across town (and Crosby played in Cole Harbour). Anyway, my brother's a goalie so I assumed they didn't get along, but Mom said he used to hang out with Sid when they were kids- had a sleep over s*** . Now I make fun of Jared (my bro) for not staying friends with Sid when he hit it big time.