Drake_Marcus

I've crossed off the players who were retained by the Red Wings specifically for the services they provide that you say the team is losing. It's hard to argue for your Shanny point given the team's success since his departure. Yzerman's effect as a manager still being determined at this point. He's looked good so far in Tampa but they haven't won s*** (and a short stint with Team Canada the includes all of this Wings managerial buddies doesn't count as NHL success). People will ultimately judge his effectiveness as a GM by what happens in Tampa Bay. I wish him all the best in his managerial career except for when that success would hurt the Detroit Red Wings. In the end the logo on the front of the jersey matters more than the name on the back.

Why bother putting Stewart on the top pairing? His numbers are better when he plays 2nd pairing time. Last season when he was forced to take on a heavier workload his play suffered. So why not keep him on the 2nd pairing where he was solid as a rock? Stewie's shown he can play either side so that shouldn't be a problem. I'd rather see Ericsson or Kronwall paired with Lidstrom so they can soak as much up as possible. Stewart seems to play his best hockey when he's asked to play 2nd pairing minutes. He just hasn't looked all that great with Lidstrom. As far as the overall defensive play of the team goes... well that's what happens when you lose your best defensive forward. The way the Wings have played lately just shows how badly they need Datsyuk back.

Just before the 09 draft I believe.

He's big, talented, young and putting up more than a point per game in the QMJHL (admittedly not a terribly uncommon thing in that league). I'd be shocked if they don't sign him... the Wings could use more power forwards in the system.

And I hope the 2009 and 2010 Red Wing draft classes end up having some all-star calibre players by the time they make the NHL.

Wooo.... slick pass by Jarnkrok for his second assist of the game. Man we've had two exciting drafts in a row! I hope 2011's draft class is this exciting too.

He was invited to the prospects camp and tourny in TC then released to his CHL team without signing a contract. He's not formally considered Wings property by any governing hockey body. That being said-- I find it highly unlikely that his agent isn't fielding calls from NHL gms right now. Ken Holland is surely one of them and will have an advantage since he invited Antonin to camp this year and showed interest long before this break-out at the World Juniors. They definitely don't since he wasn't drafted or signed to a contract by the Wings. Onto why I originally came to this tread-- Jarnkrok! He looks really good against the Czechs right now. His vision and passing ability are really shining on the Swedish PP. Plus he did a nice little power move to draw that penalty.

You can quote him on that. HoH doesn't joke around.

Sometimes I suspect that Lidstrom's partners get lazier because they're used to relying on him to save their asses. At least that's how it seemed to me with Rafalski. Then again, every painting looks s***ty when you hang it beside the Mona Lisa.

Fedorov's biggest knock is that his number is greater than 20. Clearly the Wings are biased towards retiring low numbers. I'm happy with the number of retired prime numbers but that's mostly due to the fact that all the retired numbers are less than 20. Wait-- what's your arguement against Pronovost? The only knock agaisnt him is that he wasn't one of the top 3 stars on the Cup teams (aside from possibly the 1950 team since Howe was injured).

It was pretty late... and a big factor was how wrecked the other guy was. That hit is hard for me to judge... if it wasn't so late I wouldn't have as much of a problem with it. His head was down and it didn't look like Kassian tries to put his elbow or shoulder up extra high to his the head. But damn man, the puck was loooonnnggg gone by the time he hit him. Without the late factor it's a dangerous but legal NHL hit. One of those "keep your head up" checks. Getting rid of having to carry people off the ice while praying they aren't paralysed... I think we can live without that in the NHL. I love huge hits as much as the next guy. Players are getting bigger and stronger but brains aren't getting any more durable. And just like an NHL player, I'm a huge fan of being able to walk and chew my own food. Is he really? Or does he just print out a sheet before each game with the name, draft status, Jr. hockey team and home town (with population!) for each player? Subtract the parts of his commentary where he's reading s*** off wikipedia and you've got a whole lot less 'hockey analysis'.

There should be no debate when it comes to putting an number up in the rafters at the Joe. The Red Wings aren't a mickey mouse organization that retires a jersey every year. There are 57 Wings alumni in the Hall of Fame (47 as players). There are 6 numbers hanging from the rafters (with Red Kelly getting the shaft for a reason only known to the Ilitch family). People who aren't hanging from the rafters despite being way more deserving than Ozzy: Red Kelly-- The greatest defenseman of his era and a key Red Wing who shares the same first frigging name with the team. Marcel Pronovost-- Played first 15 seasons for Wings, won 4 cups in the 50's with that dynasty. Key member of the Cup winning team when they lost Howe in the 1950 semi-finals. It's total bulls*** that his number (3) wasn't retired by the Wings. Syd Howe-- The leader for those olde time cups no one remembers because they happened in like 1701. But he had a totally cool last name and the credentials to be considered the main guy of that era of Wings hockey. Roger Crozier-- played his first 8 seasons with the Wings, won 0 cups but was the Conn Smythe winner in the Wings' 66 loss to the Habs. Won Calder trophy as a Wing as well. Doesn't really have the resume to get his number up there but he was the Ozzy of his era. John Ogrodnick-- Hilarious name but also a very good hockey player. Mickey Redmond-- 50 goal scorer twice and he says funny old man stuff during broadcasts. John Bucyk-- traded by Adams in retardedly one-sided deal to Bruins for way past-his-prime Sawchuk. Went on to become a demi-god in Boston and got his very own HoF ring. Ok, so the last 3 obviously aren't serious. But if the first 4 guys can't have their numbers hanging from the rafters then I don't think Ozzy is justified. I do think Ozzy should get serious consideration for the Hall of Fame but a lot depends on what happens with the other comparable goalies of his era who haven't had a chance to make the ballot yet.

Pffft. Lilja only used one hand when he batted at his last Wings ball game. Babs is a subtle man.

Babs must be pretty pumped that things are working out well this way. He said back in the summer that he wanted to even the playing times out between the kids and Lids/Rafi. Usually his summer plans get blown up earlier than this (see: splitting the eurotwins up).

Based on their brief time together in GR I'd say Helm is a touch faster than Mursak. No biggy, though. Helm would trade that edge in speed for Mursak's vastly superior hands. But don't kid yourself guys-- Mursak doesn't have the pure offensive talent of Hudler. He makes up for the difference in talent with speed, aggression and a willingness to take the puck to the net hard. He's not going to Franzen his way through 2 defenders but he's far from being Jason Williams. Hudler had superior AHL numbers to Mursak so there's no reason to think Mursak will walk onto the Wings team and destroy Hudler. The only way Hudler's able to play in the NHL with his size and skating ability is relying on an elite shot and excellent vision. If you put a guy like Hudler in a low confidence situation what else is he going to do? He doesn't check or kill penalties. His entire confidence is tied to point production. When he's confident he's an very good offensive player (57pts in his last NHL season). He's got a long, long way to go before he can rescue his season this year. He basically needs to play at a point per game from here on out if he's going to satisfy expectations. Then again, if I could tell him anything it'd be that the last 37 games are irrelevant now. He needs to worry about the road a head-- he'll have plenty of time to think about the games he's already played when the playoffs are over. Back to Mursak... I really hope people here don't expect him to tear the NHL up right now. He needs to get used to the NHL game first. Once he's comfortable he'll get lots of chances to shine simply because he's fast as all hell. s***-- Helm gets break-aways every game. Imagine if Helm had Mursak's hands to finish half those break-aways.

This. Hudler wasn't suited to playing the point-- his best assets are his playmaking skill and ability to use his deadly shot from the circles down. Blasting shots from the point just isn't suited to his strengths. edit: Kelsey Grammer

Relied on Howard far, far, far too much.

A small part of my soul died when we lost in game 7 to the Penguins. Based on that I can't support the always part of the op's statement. :nonono:

I'd like to point out that we're talking about a very small sample size. With the frequency of concussions you'd want to look at a larger sample size than a quarter of a season before drawing conclusions.

True. Woh. You started off so well. LGW just isn't LGW without blueadams' lines threads.

The Sharks will be fine if they can recover on the back end. I wouldn't count them out yet.

Only 2 more wins for Ozzy to reach 400. I really hope he can get to 399 on Saturday.

What can I say? In Canada we love hockey like Ted Nugent loves guns.

Staal's had a pretty impressive all-star game history so it'd definitely be cool to see him get that reward on his home ice.