Drake_Marcus

Good point about Lilja-- I can definitely understand why he`d be afraid to fight... being unable to play because of headaches for a year must`ve been brutal. It`d be great if McCarty or Downey or someone like that could give Ericsson some pointers. I`d like to see him develop more snarl. Once he`s fought a few times and done well I bet he`ll be more aggressive in the corners and in front of the net.

I`d love to work out with the Wings! That`d be sweet.

Nice! Prepare for absurdly large, ill-timed contracts on big name UFAs, Florida fans!

Wow... I`d have offered him 10 years at 7million. That kid is amazing.

Oh and Ericsson had the primary assist on Sweden`s game winning goal against Canada today.

He`s Bob ******* Probert compared to 95% of the players on this team. Who else is willing to fight? Eaves, Lilja and Abdelkader. Miller maybe. Honestly, where did you get the impression a guy who is willing to drop the gloves is a ***** on today`s Wings?

Come on people-- skill over luck! (To grossly oversimplify it )

I`m thinking 60/40 or 65/35 in favour of Howard. The Wings really need to avoid overworking him as recent history has proven that goalies who play 70+ games for their club are often worn down by the time the playoffs come around.

Avery doesn`t have an shred of class so there`s no way he would`ve been kept around given his antics. The Ilitch family expects more from their employees.

Awesome reference +1 for you.

It`s driving me nuts! I just got a new laptop and it switched to the French setting recently... I`m still pressing buttons trying to fix it

I`d make a world of difference to play him with Lidstrom while they still have the chance.

I`d agree with you if he didn`t have a stellar defensive resume in the AHL and in his first 40 or so games in the NHL (in other words-- in every game he played prior to this October). The problem right now is he`s overthinking when he has the puck and that inevitably leads to bad plays. If he played the puck quickly and with confidence like he did in the AHL and in his first NHL games he`d be fine. That`s why he plays like a completely different person when he`s confident-- he`s capable of being so much more. I just hope he can live up to his potential.

The list of rookie d-men who were disappointing in their first season is as long as it is predictable. Ericsson will never be Lidstrom so it was absurd for anyone to think he`d step in as a rookie and dominate. In the NHL you expect first year defensemen to flub the puck-- it takes years for NHL d-men to gain the kind of poise we demand from our 3rd pairing in Detroit. People pretend it wasn`t like that for Kronwall, Fischer, or any of the other non sucky d-men we`ve seen emerge here since the golden years of Vladdy and Lidstrom but those are the facts. Hell, look at Hall Gill-- he blows donkey dicks but he`s massive and in the playoffs he`s managed to learn how to turn size without skill into shutting down Crosby. Ericsson may not have Gill`s size but at least he can skate well for a guy his size. In a few years when Ericsson`s got his game nailed down and is playing with confidence most of the people here will pretend they loved him from the start (just like we saw with Kronwall-- anyone remember the rage on here when he got his big contract? The board was pretty split on him back then). In the end I won`t be shocked when Ericsson`s game evens out and he`s a valuable member of the back end because this is what almost always happens with young d-men who come into the NHL.

Agreed on all points. I really think Ritola has an outside shot at having a breakout season in the future along the lines of what Franzen had in 07-08 (except without as many goals). Ritola has all the tools to be a 2nd line winger if he can just pull it together for a season. Hopefully he`ll be a better NHL player than he was in the AHL. Also, I`d like to see Babcock keep Filppula on Zetterberg or Datsyuk`s wing long term so he can settle into the role he played in the playoffs.

Kovalchuk`s agent must be praying the NHLPA triggers the inflator. If every team suddenly gets $5,000,000 in bonus bux you can bet Kovy will get a retarded contract.

Top Six Prospects in the Wings System: 1st Line: Tatar Nyquist (deserved the Hobbey Baker but got screwed because they don`t like giving it to 2nd year players) Axelsson (has incredible talent but his lack of maturity and commitment will likely sink him) 2nd Line: Mursak (could jump to top line) Coetzee (could jump up) Ferraro (could jump up if we`re lucky) Nestrasil (may end up a bust or 3rd liner) Emmerton (will likely be a bust as he didn`t make progress in the AHL this year and can`t seem to live up to his OHL numbers)

Judging by that movie's box-office totals I have to assume that's because no one here has seen it.

Well played sir.

Watched this game with my gf tonight and we thought it was over after Boston potted the 3rd goal. I can't believe Philly stormed back like that. Needless to say the Bruins will be aggressively pursuing some scoring solutions this summer. I wouldn't be surprised to see them dangle the Leafs' pick for a proven sniper. They really shouldn't have held fast at the deadline because they're inside that small window for potential Cup winners.

Well I just calculated how Babcock came to his estimate of 70pts. If you calculate Hudler's points per game in 07-08 and in 08-09 you get 0.519 and 0.615 respectively. Now subtract the second from the first to get the relative increase in Hudler's ppg over those two years (in other words you're quantifying the exact amount he managed to increase his stats by). If you assume Hudler has the identical level of improvement between his last season and the next season as he did from 07-08 to 08-09 (an additional 0.177 ppg) you can project his point per game production in 10-11 by simply adding that increase to the ppg he had in 08-09. The resulting ppg is 0.872. That works out to 71pts and 33 goals in an 82 game season (note that in his 3 seasons in the NHL he played 76, 81 and 82 games). So there you go-- he didn't pull that number out of thin air he just assumed that Hudler's points totals would increase along the same path they have since his sophomore year. It's a bold projection but fits with the stats in hand.

Look around the NHL. 2.85 million dollars is a bargain price for a 57pt player. Add the age factor and continuous year-to-year improvement at the NHL level to the equation and I just don't understand how you can possibly say Hudler's overpaid. He may be one dimensional but he does his single dimension very well and players usually get paid tons of money for putting 50+ pts up.

This Callahan kid has the potential to be one of those perfect 4th liners-- a guy who can play hockey, fights well, sticks up for his teammates, hits and has good enough hands to contribute 10-20pts a year with 5-10 goals. Based on his play at the Wings' prospect camp last year he's got good hands and is an above average skater. I remember reading that people were pleasantly surprised with Callahan's puck skills during drills. I'm excited about this kid. It's definitely uncommon for Holland to sign an 18 year old draft pick this early in the game. It's clear that this kid is going to get a shot in GR this coming season. That's very exciting because up until now Tatar's the only 18 year old to be signed in his draft year and sent to the AHL in the history of the Wings' relationship with the Griffins. Think of it this way-- Holland still had two more years before he had to sign Callahan. Signing him this early can only signal that Holland feels he'll be NHL ready much sooner than we're used to seeing with Wings prospects. Actually this was rumoured about two weeks ago (all I saw was a brief mention of it in a post on Red Wings Central's forums but I never managed to corroborate the source). This is the first official notice I've read about the signing.

What's unclassy about using a bear bong? Plus he's linemates with 20 cent so at this point he'd have to be revealed as a puppy rapist to look unclassy. Find me some dirt on Stamkos. This game is at least an interesting diversion for the offseason.

It's also pretty entertaining that people give Hank a pass but not Pavel. Dats had 13pts in 12 games and only one less point than Henrik Sedin. Zetterberg had 2 more points than Datsyuk but played with Franzen when he exploded offensively in game 4. Subtract that one game and Pavel was no less effective than Hank. It's also worth noting that Pavel really turned his face-off percentage around near the end while Hank struggled all post-season in the circle. I agree that Hank was a beast but Pavel certainly didn't have an "off year". 13pts in 12 games is very good post-season play.