Drake_Marcus

I hope San Jose wins the Cup this year. I'd rather lose to the eventual winners than go out to someone who can't get it done. There's less shame in losing to the champs...

Sigh. At least our draft pick will finally be in the early twenties... Going out in the 2nd round is the worst the Wings have done in the last 4 years. I think we owe them an off season, right?

Kopecky is overpaid by 1 million dollars a year. Yeah, but what was his actual stat line from this year? If I did the same thing with Howard I could argue he should have broken the NHL's win record.

Jesus... Luongo is terrible. Easily the most overrated player in the NHL. His beds***ting performances far outweigh the nights when he dominates. Here's how I remember it: Buckfutter. Simple and effective.

That's what happens when people stop paying for print media.

I can see where you're coming from. Hank isn't one of those guys who awes you with his pure talent (for example Fedorov and Datsyuk). Part of his success comes from his determination and ability to raise his game when challenged (especially when he's asked to shut down elite players). Sure he's got tons of talent but he doesn't have the ridiculous moves like Datsyuk or the insane natural talent of a guy like Feds (I'm sticking with Wings players since they're the ones I've watched the most). Hank is one of those guys who just makes it happen by playing smart, picking his shots, being opportunistic, raising his game to the occasion and having enough elite talent. We've seen Z do some pretty sick things with the puck but he doesn't have the pure talent of a guy like Datsyuk. Z's definitely got that heart and determination that made Yzerman so great. Of course that kind of thing isn't as apparent in rookies.

It works wonders to look before you throw a pass out into the slot.

Yep. He did everything Babcock would've wanted from him. He hit, skated hard, fought for pucks in the corners and didn't make dumb mistakes out there. That's about all you can ask from a kid in their first NHL playoff game. Did anyone on the Wings not play well tonight? Fantastic game all around. Ericsson started out rough but bounced back very well. He lead the team in mins (27+ mins) and ate up some mileage on Lids' legs. It was nice to see how well he played in the 3rd. He was throwing his body around and riding forwards into the boards. After the first ten mins of the game E looked like the kid we saw last playoffs. Holy s*** Bertuzzi was great. He hit, took shots, made great passes and really used his size/weight well. The best part was seeing him skate his bag off to make a defensive play in a 6-1 game. Please keep playing like this Bert! Franzen... s*** man. Offensively that's the single most impressive playoff game I've ever seen. The best part is we know how Mule works-- once he's on fire it's nearly impossible to put him out. Howie bounced back well. Even though he had an easy time of it we can't complain about 1 goal against on 29 shots. Whatever happens this series Wings fans can't knock how the boys have played in elimination games (here's hoping we'll watch them win 3 more consecutive elimination games ). I'm not going to get my hopes up but at least the Wings can say they didn't go out like suckers.

So you guys think the Wings would've made the playoffs if Ozzy got more starts down the stretch. Apparently people don't remember Jimmy's record after the Olympic break or the fact that he carried the team on his back in December/January. Did Ozzy even give a tiny indication during the regular season that he was getting in his groove? It was clear he needed lots of starts to get their yet Howard was already in the zone. If this team was a 50 win team I'd agree Babs could've given Ozzy more starts but come on-- they were out of the playoffs by the time the Olympic break rolled around.

Hey! Blueadams line threads are an essential part of the LGW landscape. Enjoy them or you can get out (said in South Park hick voice).

Sweet! That means Ericsson will be the inexplicable scoring sensation next season.

Amen! McCreary? Well at least we know the goal call-back is coming.

Tell your management that the Wings will gladly take Pavalski off their hands

I assume it's because Ericsson is big and the Sharks are too? Plus they want to get him as many NHL mins as possible. Holland will let Lebda walk this summer so there's no point in investing any time in him. It's not like a Lebda for Ericsson switch would make a real difference. I know people on LGW like to pretend that the most important players are the complementry forwards and depth defensemen but in real life we should be more concerned about the guys who play more than 10 mins a game. Also note that traditionally when one of your d-men goes deep into the offensive zone a forward is supposed to keep an eye on the play and stick around to cover for him. Ericsson shouldn't have pinched in there but at the same time had Willy hit the ******* net (honestly-- how can an NHL forward miss so often? Does he even show up for practice?) Ericsson would've been there for the rebound. Instead he missed and didn't bother covering for Ericsson by rushing back and supporting Rafalski. Ericsson was stupid to make such a risky play but it's pretty moronic that no one else on the ice covered for him when he rushed down there-- it's not like they aren't expected to do that anyway.

He couldn't do his job for us in the Finals and that's all that matters. And how are you going to claim this isn't trolling? You aren't even trying anymore

I like the idea that they would allow kicked goals as long as the part of the skate blade is touching the ice. That seems like a good balance between goalie safety and increased scoring.

Marleau is going to get somewhere between 5.5 and 6.5 million dollars a season depending on the length of the contract. This team shouldn't add another 5+ million dollar forward unless they trade someone like Cleary to free the cash up. I'm not sold on Afinogenov-- this season may have been an aberration. Stempniak will want an inflated salary based on his 14 goal month after the trade deadline but he's still the same player who underperformed so badly in Toronto.

Wow... Operation Pittsburgh Cake Walk is a go. They've got all the luck

Pwnage. Nice work.

If Lidstrom retires the Wings will have no choice but to bring someone else in. Kronwall's injury completely derailed him and Ericsson didn't progress enough this season to move up to the second pairing. If Lidstrom stays they should wait and see who's around for trade over the next few seasons.

I agree with you. Although it worries me that he can't seem to use his skill consistently enough to put good numbers up in the AHL. He has the potential to be a Franzen type of guy who just explodes all of the sudden once he's in the NHL. I hope Ritola can establish himself and get a bunch of confidence... once he does he can use those hands.

Doughty or Keith would be as close as we could get. Sadly their both untouchable.

I know, right? This skimping on goaltending salary system only yielded 4 cups in 11 seasons. The Wings should mimic the goaltending choices of whoever's had more cups than that in the same period.

So? I was arguing against TheOwl's point when he said Jimmy didn't steal any games in Phoenix, not saying he was perfect through round 1. And for the record, Howard's game 5 was definitely more impressive than his game 4 (despite the SO). Either way, he was selected as the 1st star in both those games so TheOwl is still wrong. Boyle and Blake were just trying to pad their stats on those goals.

My point was that Lidstrom's perfectly balanced offensive and defensive game can't be replaced by a purely defensive guy. Yeah you can ask other people to pick up the slack but scoring by committee isn't all it's made out to be. Remember at the start of this season when the theory was that we could lose Hossa and Hudler but try and make up for it with scoring by committee? You can count on a single superstar to peddle their wares but asking a bunch of lesser players to be the equivalent of that superstar is much tougher and less reliable. Ideally I'd like to see someone who can do most of what Lids did. Right now the Wings have two high-end scorers on their top defensive pairing, one of which is the best shut-down d-man in the league. If you replace the top guy (Lidstrom) with a guy who's almost as good defensively but provides much less offense the other player on the pairing (Rafalski) has to pick up the offensive slack. That's all well and good if we picked up Green and Volchenkov because Green can provide the extra offense, but a 37 year old Rafalski is only going to decline from his numbers this year... so now you've got a ton less offense on your first pairing because Rafalski is providing less and Volchenkov is providing much, much, much less than the guy who he replaced did. I know you're hoping that the 2nd and 3rd pairings pick up that slack but there's something to be said for having 2 pairings who can score (which gives a balanced 1st/2nd PP). Stuart is basically Volchenkov light so now we're asking Kronwall to provide much more offense than he does normally. I expect his numbers will go up (based on his play before the knee injury) but not that much. Think of it this way-- can you justify replacing Datsyuk with a guy like Madden?