Echolalia

In terms of production (as that is what this issue is about, right?) they're completely similar. Player A doesn't score for a certain period of time. Player B doesn't score for a comparable period of time. Player C doesn't score for a comparable period of time. Nobody is immune from droughts regardless of how old or young they are. Selanne still has droughts, so does Lidstrom and Knuble and Whitney and Alfredson. Would you have preferred if I used them in my analogy instead of Franzen and Hudler? I also alluded earlier to the fact that lines are not concrete, but rather fragile and malleable. The moment something isn't going smoothly for the team, Babs mixes things up. Homer gives him some options to play with. No he's not a good skater or stick handler or shooter or passer or checker or fighter, but he never was. Not now when he's 38, and not back when he was 28. What he's good for is giving goalies hell in front of the net, working the corners down low, and attracting as much defensive attention to himself to open up the ice around the mid-boards or slot area. On the lines that he's been on since mid December, those skills aren't as utilized as when he's playing with top 6 talent.

2 goals the past 15 games doesn't indicate that his career is "almost done". He's in a slump, not unlike Franzen, or Hudler for the first half of the season. Yeah, Dats, Clears, and Huds have some pretty good chemistry going but we all know that isn't going to last. Players run hot and cold, and coaches run hot players until they're cold, then change the lines up to get 'em going again. The moment that one of Datsyuk, Cleary, or Hudler slows down in production, the line is blown up.

Prior to the injuries the Wings were sitting first overall with several games in hand over the opposition. I don't see what's wrong about looking at Flip, Ozzie, Modano and co as our deadline acquisition. Our offense has has no trouble this year (flirting with Vancouver for most goals/game), defense has been average at best but I don't know that personnel changes will fix our issues. The Wings' top four is Lidstrom, Rafalski, Kronwall, and Stuart which any way you cut it is impressive. Ericsson is playing beyond his years and for what Holland pays them, Salei and Ericsson have both been quite effective. (For the record I think the Wings' defensive struggles have been mostly team-oriented, and not focused solely on the mishaps of an individual). Goaltending is the only real cause for concern imo. Osgood has been incredibly poor the past couple seasons, Jimmy is having a sophomore slump, but when you look at the available goaltenders out there and the space we have to work with, there aren't really a whole lot of options that will benefit us overall. Standing pat this year is a good move, even if it leads to a boring day in late February.

I'm so confused. Hardly any death stare... must be a trap

That's gonna look weirder with a human head inside it.

So was the organization fined as promised for twirling octopi on the ice?

I'm still broke from last time

Friday, February 18 NY Rangers at New Jersey St. Louis at Buffalo Boston at Ottawa Detroit at Florida x2 Philadelphia at Carolina Anaheim at Minnesota Columbus at Chicago Saturday, February 19 Atlanta at Edmonton New Jersey at Carolina Los Angeles at NY Islanders Ottawa at Toronto Florida at Tampa Bay Anaheim at St. Louis Phoenix at Nashville Dallas at Vancouver Colorado at San Jose Sunday, February 20 Washington at Buffalo Philadelphia at NY Rangers Detroit at Minnesota Pittsburgh at Chicago Montreal at Calgary

He was banking pretty heavy on the leverage that he would get from owning the Pistons. From what I've gathered, the idea was to entice the city to fork over more of the coverage costs for the arena and in return, Illitch agrees to bring the Pistons back to Detroit. Unfortunately the owner of Palace Entertainment wasn't fully honest about the value of the sale. Illitch inevitably found out and the plans fell through. Who knows what's in the plan now. All I know is that the Joe is a dump.

http://www.freep.com/article/20110212/SPORTS05/110212012/1053/sports05/Wings-Modano-aims-return-later-month Cliffnotes: Modano is hoping to return as early as the end of this month against the Dallas Stars (Feb 24), but thinks a more realistic return date is sometime during the road trip afterward. He has started participating in contact practices, so that's a great sign. He also mentioned briefly the possibility of returning next year to get the full experience with the Wings, depending on the usual. Filpulla is feeling ok, hasn't started skating yet but sounds optimistic he'll be back soon. he's been doing okay on the stationary bike Osgood is almost ready to start working with Bedard again, possibly as early as today. He wants to get a couple sessions in with Bedard before practicing with the team.

I think 5M is justified. Top five offensive defensman league-wide, versatile enough to be effective as a forward. His D is lacking for a top 2 Dman, but compared to the rest of the league is average enough.

Lidstrom Rafalksi Pronger Kronwall One line will outscore you, the other will pummel you into oblivion.

Not a good period for Salei

hahahaha

As long as 2011 Hudler shows up for the playoffs, I can forgive him for missing 2010.

Jesus I'm all for watching some fun fights and bad blood brew between two teams but this was ridiculous. Both teams were nothing but goons tonight, but the Islanders: some of the s*** they pulled would earn a couple of their players criminal charges of assault anywhere else in the world.

I would take Doan in a heartbeat. He was amazing in the playoffs last year.

Friday, February 11 Detroit at Boston San Jose at New Jersey Pittsburgh at NY Islanders Colorado at Columbus NY Rangers at Atlanta Minnesota at St. Louis Chicago at Dallas Anaheim at Calgary Saturday, February 12 Los Angeles at Washington Ottawa at Edmonton Toronto at Montreal Carolina at Tampa Bay Chicago at Phoenix Colorado at Nashville St. Louis at Minnesota Calgary at Vancouver x2 Sunday, February 13 Boston at Detroit NY Islanders at Buffalo Columbus at Dallas Pittsburgh at NY Rangers Los Angeles at Philadelphia San Jose at Florida Carolina at Atlanta Anaheim at Edmonton

A lot of Kindl's mishaps can be attributed to being a novice in a pro league. Everyone has rookie mistakes and they learn from them. If Holland brings up Smith to replace Kindl, I don't think we're going to see much better hockey. Even if Smith has more athleticism than Kindl, right now he has less pro hockey experience, and that's just as crucial. As far as bringing up I Flip, if it even happens, he's going to be playing bottom line minutes like Tatar and Mursak did, not getting second line minutes and again its because of lack of pro experience. You don't want a novice out there against top six opponents for 15 minutes/night. Even if they have a great skill set, they're still ignorant to the pace and tendencies of the NHL.

If only volume could solve all of life's problems.

You're a spray-and-pray kind of person, huh?

I also agree and was actually thinking the same thing. My girlfriend and I have gone to four hockey games since last year and the Wings have won only one of them (Monday against NY). Her being a relatively new fan, that was her very first Wings' victory, but I was getting worried that she wouldn't see them win at all what with how terrible they've played.

I'm getting sick and tired of this half-assed play the perimeter for 60 minutes effort that Detroit keeps insisting on. Babs needs to remind the team what Detroit is all about and put some grit and net-presence back into their game.

Pretty healthy Matt Cooke discussion here:

Edmonton could use some veteran leadership above all else. I don't know how interested in prospects they would be.