Echolalia

I feel the odds of Redden coming here grow with every minute....

well that was a treat!

What's there to be sarcastic about? This seems a pretty spot on assessment to me.

<blockquote class='ipsBlockquote'data-author="TheCaptain19" data-cid="2339882" data-time="1358123288"><p> i went. here are some pictures my friend took from today's action.<br /> <br /> <a href='http://nathanjameskostegian.blogspot.com/2013/01/detroit-red-wings-training-camp_13.html'>http://nathanjameskostegian.blogspot.com/2013/01/detroit-red-wings-training-camp_13.html</a></p></blockquote> How did Brunner look?

This is wonderful news! We certainly have a surplus on the bottom six, but Patty Eaves is a guy you want to build your bottom lines to include. Hopefully the progress for him continues to have good news, and maybe with a little luck we will see Patty on the ice before the end of the season.

On his recent back injury (from freep): Helm said the biggest problem right now is that "it's hard for me to bend down and touch my toes, pick anything up. But, I'm excused from doing anything around the house. I'm going to milk it as long as I can." Seems bright enough to me

<blockquote class='ipsBlockquote'data-author="shoobiedoobin" data-cid="2339344" data-time="1357939599"><p> Stepped onto the ice=stepped into the gym. Same deal. Was probably stiff, went out and tweaked a somethingerother. Not a biggie.</p></blockquote> Gotta be careful with somethingerothers. We know how they like to flare up

I dunno, dude, the Lions have been about as consistently terrible as you can get, and they're still maintaining a pretty strong fan-base.

Don't get too upset about it. The writer couldn't even bring forth any fact-based evidence for his claim, and the only reason the Wings made this list is because of pure speculation on the writer's part: "Any team with that much success is sure to have bandwagon fans...the Red Wings have many loyal fans, but surely a lot of them are only fans of their success." 'Sure to have' and 'surely' are his clever ways of saying "I can't support my claims at all, but I still suspect there are a lot of bandwagoners and my suspicions alone are why the Wings are on this list. I've said it a couple times before but this is a good time to repeat my thoughts. Bandwagon fans are defined by being only interested in teams during successful eras. I've been following the Wings since I've been old enough to understand sports (1995). Technically I don't know whether I'm a bandwagoner, because the Wings have never been unsuccessful during these past 20 years. And just a side thought: bandwagon fan is a term that only elitist fans throw around to make themselves feel better about their image. Who cares if people are bandwagon fans?

I was initially against the idea but you make a good point. If whistles liven up the fanbase and help bring passion back into the stands then I can't be against them.

It's also worth thinking about how teams will be fighting much harder for a win with only 40 something games than if the entire season was played out. It's not every year that 30 teams are tied for first (and last) place in mid January. Goals will be harder to come by. If anyone even breaks 30 I'll be impressed.

I would rather Helm get an A over Filppulla. Maybe not Cleary, I'm not sure. With a 3 man alternate captain rotation, it makes sense that Datsyuk and Kronwall each wear an A, as forward and defensive leaders, respectively. But I would rather the bottom six have representation than another skill forward. Especially when the player in question (Helm) has the heart and will to be a true leader.

Tootoo is my favorite acquisition this year. Put Darren Helm's heart into a freight train's body and you have Tootoo. Players like Tootoo and Pronger and so-on are annoying as hell to play against, and they also play dirty, but they do so in a way that benefits the team they play for more often than not. When these guys are on their game, other teams take stupid penalties against them as retribution. They start forgetting about hockey, or their emotions make them do stupid stuff with the puck. Tootoo isn't going to be playing alongside a couple goons. He's going to be with Helm, or Miller, or Abdelkader, or Sammy, or Bert, and they are all capable of taking advantage of a distracted opponent. I think his presence will really help out our bottom six, both physically, and offensively.

I really had high hopes that this thread would be the OP calling out Red Wings names as if he was taking roll in school, and other posters would respond as if they were the Red Wings.... and nobody would respond when OP calls Franzen's name.

I'm actually quite nervous about Detroit. It's easy to get excited now that the lockout is over, but the Wings will be entering an accelerated season with playoffs already around the corner, and competing without Lidstrom or Stuart on the blue line. I hope that Brunner continues to perform, and Nyquist and Smith can help fill in some rather large gaps in our team. In any event this will be a very interesting year. Does anyone know what will happen with the trade deadline this year?

I saw that just before you posted it! I can't wait to see this guy live again

http://www.icethetics.info/blog/2013/1/3/winter-classic-what-mightve-been.html No official word on if these designs were those the Wings and Leafs were going to wear during the Winter Classic, but either way these things look gorgeous.

I live just outside Detroit, so historically it has been much easier to invest my time in following the Red Wings than the Griffins. This year, due to the lockout, my attention turned to the AHL, and I was able to make the trip to Grand Rapids this weekend to see them play (and also dump cash into the local bars and restaurants). My seats were directly across from the home team bench, second row, so it was an especially good opportunity to see how the Red Wings' prospects are looking, and I figured that I could share my views for those folks who are unable to watch games live. (Disclaimer: N=1, so I'm by no means a pro scout) Gustav Nyqvist is the Henrik Zetterberg of the Grand Rapids Griffins. He wasn't afraid to hold onto the puck until something opened up, played strong in the corners, back checked strongly, and scored the Griffins' only goal off a nice feed by Tatar. He impressed me the most. Tomas Tatar: this kid has had so much hype follow him the past few years, it was exciting to finally see him play, and he was good. There really is nobody like him on the Wings that I can compare him to accurately, but the closest would be a riled up Jiri Hudler. The kid is small out there, but he is also very talented with the puck and knows his way around the offensive zone. He also isn't shy in the corners, in the crease, or against bigger, stronger, opponents. On the contrary, Tatar seemed to deliberately drive into the grittiest areas of the ice and put up a good fight despite his size. It was fun watching him skate. Brendan Smith: above all else, Smith looked steady. Not overly physical in this game, no points that I am aware of ( unless he received a secondary asst). But he effectively neutralized a few odd man rushes, handled the puck like a veteran, and saw the ice impeccably. That last quality is one that will separate him from his peers in the NHL, if he continues to progress. Many of you were able to see this firsthand when he was with the Wings. Tomas Jurco: Jurco failed to do anything to really stand out to me. No impressive stick handling, no amazing plays, etc. He played a bit uncertain of himself, in my opinion. I don't know if it was an off game for him, but I feel like this kid needs to establish himself as a leader on this team and a lot of the issues I had with his play will be solved. Aubry: He was probably the biggest surprise of the night for me. He is a very tall, lanky looking kid, but he played very physical; dishing out a couple solid hits, taking a few, and never missing the opportunity to bump shoulders. He was effective on both ends of the ice, but didn't display any amazing passes, stick handles, or anything. Mostly it was nice to see a prospect with the potential to fill out to a lean 200lb+ play with a little sandpaper. McCollum: I was interested to see him play because of all the flak he has been receiving for his disappointing play. In this game at least he was steady. 3 goals against, but one was an empty net, and the other was the result of a freak play where it appeared the Griffins had a delayed power play and McCollum went to the bench for a sixth skater, but it ended up being a delayed penalty against us, and the opposition scored on an empty net. The third goal was a one timer fed from behind the net to the slot that nobody would stop. Sheahan: Disappointing. No overt physicality, no scoring opportunities. He was incredibly strong on the puck, fending off two guys at once on a few occasions, but did little to stand out aside from that. Landon Ferarro: he looks to have a good offensive mind and a nose for the net. He didn't cash in on any chances, but he did generate some opportunities which led to him, or his teammates in good position to score. One such play occurred when Ferraro rushed down the right wing side, out skating one defender, then putting a nice move on the other defender which involved shoveling the puck between his own skates and kicking it out into tr slot for a quick shot on net. Aside from that, nobody else stood out to me.

Personally, I value consistency above overall numbers. Franzen has demonstrated that he has all the tools needed to be one of the most lethal forwards in the game, which many defenses have no answer to. Because of this skill, he has been penciled in as the team's scorer, for better or worse. He isn't a role-player anymore, he is a key cog, and I don't think its realistic for a key cog to only work on random nights. Why should Franzen get a pass for taking the rest of the week off because he scored a hat-trick against some team on Monday night? That's unacceptable to me. Franzen has become an unreliable asset, which unfortunately the Red Wings have invested a great deal in. Yes, Franzen has scored some big goals and he has scored quite a few of them, but when its late in Game 7 and our team is down by one goal, why should we put our trust into Franzen to save us? How will I know that he will use his skill and actually contribute? What if tonight is one of those nights when the cog isn't working? Just a side note: Franzen may have had 10 game winning goals, but the Wings would only lose those games in which we otherwise would have won by one goal. If the Wings won 5-2 and Franzen got the GWG, we still win without his contribution.

It would be nice if Franzen realized he has all the tools to be a prime Bertuzzi...

http://new.livestrea.../events/1747699 Its a bit late, but here's some hockey! Team Stamkos v Team Subban ps as of approx 8:00pm its 1st intermission, so don't freak out if you don't see hockey just yet! I know its been so long since we've had any excitement around here

Who Needs an Education Anyway Arena

Small market teams wouldn't survive. Who is willingly going to play for Phoenix, Florida Columbus, etc when all the big cities like Toronto and Detroit are haggling over everyone? There will be nothing but scraps left for struggling teams in nontrad markets. It would be an exciting occurrence though, to see how every GM and owner would react.

How did i forget Chelios, yet remembered Mark Hartigan?? Also figuring out how to spell Samuelsson's name killed like 6 minutes! This is an awesome quiz! 59/76 I should've had a few of those that I missed...

The lack of identity didn't seem to bother Bowman's Wings much