Drake_Marcus

Ericsson's a rookie with tons of upside who struggled defensively this season but showed glimpses of why the Wings are so high on him. Lebda's a veteran who can't hold down a #6 spot and will be gone this summer. You keep the rook in so he can keep working on his game. E won't get any better sitting in a press-box.

You have to admit the captain's C looks really stupid with their goofy font.

Chicago, Philly... we're looking at you.

Price could end up as another Fleury. They both have talent but were ruined by mismanagement. Halak is very good now. There's no guarantee Price will ever reach his potential. I'm glad I'm not the one making this decision.

He's probably thinking of their play in February. That year they only won one game over a 11 game span if I remember correctly.

lol The funny thing is that they care about it. In Chicago a "central division champion" banner would actually mean something. haha Quick-- someone tell me who has the most Atlantic Division Champion banners? No one cares. Cup are all that matter.

How so? I watched the whole thing and didn't notice E looking terrible. He wasn't good on the goal-against he was on for but he looked good on the two goals-for he was on for. He had one turnover but that was negated by the fact that he also had a takeaway. He was a +1 and had 2 hits. He also had a blocked shot. He played on the PK and wasn't on for a PP goal against. Was he positionally perfect? No, he looked like a rookie at times. But Lebda was TERRIBLE. Stuart looked bad on the goal he was out with Lebda for. How can Ericsson look good when his partner was a s*** show? Honestly, I just didn't have a problem with E today. He definitely bounced back after misplaying the pass on that goal. What else did you expect in a game where the forwards played horrible defense and the Wings were constantly back on their heels? EDIT: Also, why would you say you'd rather see a Lilja-Lebda line over Lilja-Ericsson when Lebda was the worst d-man on the ice today? The Lilja-E pairing has been great so far. Was he ever! Bert saw both his line-mates almost behind the Philly net and he still doesn't drop back until it's too late. Even then he did about the most half-assed back check in the history of hockey.

Yes he is. He's still the best defensive d-man in the league. But he's 40 and he knows that a drop off is expected. He's had a consistent dropped off offensively over the last two years that's mostly due to his slow starts getting slower and slower. Right now he's still almost a point per game player if you only count the games after Christmas. But the point is that at age 40 you have to expect a drop off. I honestly think he's got at least one more 50 point season left in him and he's definitely got multiple 40+ pt seasons left. It all depends on his ability to make more consistent starts to the year. Had he not epically slumped for 3 or 4 months he'd be right up in the top 3 defensive scorers right now, possibly right behind Mike "what is defense?" Green. Again, the point is that Lidstrom deserves to be paid lots of money, but I don't think he'll demand it. He knows the team could use the cash to sign more scoring right now and he watched Stevie's example at the end of his career as well. There's no way Lidstrom asks for more than 5.5 million. If I had to guess I'd say he'll sign for 5 million. Yes he does, but like Stevie did, he'll take a pay cut based on his age. You have to assume a 40 year old's production could dry up at any time so the pay should reflect that. Miller will be re-signed. No way the Wings let him walk. Miller is the single most important penalty killing forward on the team right now.

According to the Detroit News Lilja isn't skating right now. He blocked a shot yesterday and was hobbling around afterwords, so there's your reason for Lebda taking his place today.

Wow... second last. Fantastic.

If we had clinched the playoff berth today I'd agree about starting Ozzy Wednesday, but to be honest the Wings need to put their best team on the ice Wednesday so they're not behind the eight ball on the road...

You think Lidstrom will ask for more than 6 million at age 40? Don't count on it.

Ericsson was fine tonight. He had a rough time on the goal he was on the ice for but he was good otherwise. I loved how willing he was to push the other team away from the net. E played about 14 mins, had 2 hits, 1 take away and 1 give away along with his +1. Stuart and Lebda looked horrible together on that goal, though.

Meh. This weekend blew chunks, but in the long run maybe it's good to have a slap in the face now and not in a few weeks. The Wings weren't going to go on a 25 game winning streak on the way to the Cup. My biggest concern is that the Wings rebound from this and play excellent on Wednesday, Friday and Sunday. Babcock said before this game that Ozzy would play one of the three remaining games, so here's how I see the goalie rotation shaking out: Howard starts: Wednesday vs. the Blue Jackets (home game) Ozzy starts: Friday vs. the Blue Jackets (away game) Howard starts: Sunday vs. the s***hawks (away game) Howard needs to play really strong and bounce back from his last two unimpressive starts. If he can play extra impressive on Wednesday he might get all three remaining games... I guess it depends on whether Babcock feels like Howard is on a roll.

Datsyuk would've molested 80s defenses and goalies!

Well I assume he grew up with his mom. It'd be tragic if they were estranged from a young age.

Pavel is just hard to compare to other hockey players. He's so talented but his skill set is a very rare one. His vision and ability to hold onto the puck are simply amazing. His awareness, creativity... just the way all of his skills come together makes for a very unique super-star. There may never be another guy like Pavel. He won't be remembered as the greatest hockey player ever, not even as the greatest of his generation, but he will be remembered and respected for a long time. Pavel's thoughtfulness and the constant, calculating control he plays with is just amazing to watch.

Hmmm... he did briefly play with Probert so I guess old habits die hard.

It does seem odd not to see him out there, but as long as he's a good teammate in the locker room like all the Wings players say it doesn't really matter where he sits.

Good game by Lashoff (as per usual). That kid is a point per game player in his pro career so far (this season and last season's ATO). Oh and he's a 19 year old 6'3" d-man. Wong had his first AHL point tonight (an assist) in his game. Tatar was really dangerous but couldn't get past their goalie. Tomas was fine too. He made a few really good saves.

Where'd you get those stats? Howard's 14-2-2 since the break. Please tell me where the 5-4-1 came from.

Who's putting the goals up? That's the big problem. Hank should be good for 40 goals a season.

Agreed. One thing about Helm is he seems like he can take crazy huge hits and just jump back up. It seems like he gets destroyed far more often than most guys but he's always quick to get back up to his feet.

That must be why Bertuzzi is such a better physical player than Helm, right? You don't have to be huge to be a strong physical presence. Our single most dangerous hitter is 5'11" but I've never heard people say they want to cross the ice with their head down when Kronwall is out.

Didn't the Wings out hit the Preds by an obscene margin? Tonight was just a plain old loss. The Wings played disorganized, ineffective defense. They also got some bad bounces-- the first two goals deflected in off Wings players. No one expected the Wings to enter the playoffs on a 12 game winning streak, did they? I just hope they can rebound well tomorrow.