Echolalia

Blueadams are you a flyfisher?

He really got his celebration's worth out of that goal.

This is a quote by Babs in the news today: "Ozzie's practiced real well over the last little while here, but I just think Howie's playing well," Babcock said. "Bottom line, you say to yourself, 'We need to win a game (against the Kings) and what gives you the best opportunity to win?' That doesn't mean I'm right, but that's what we perceive as a coaching staff. "Yeah, Ozzie needs to play some games, but that individual part comes after the team part."

This thread is full of bad juju

The Wings have lost 5 of 6 with Osgood in net since November 7th. They have lost 8 of 21 with Howard in net since that time. I don't see how the argument doesn't hold water. Also, you mention Howard not doing what he needed to do against Anaheim or Columbus or Chicago or Dallas or Edmonton. Every loss that the Wings have had when Howard has played (outside of the game against Dallas on the 19th) dating all the way back to the beginning of November, the Wings have scored one or fewer goals. Its tough to win a game when you score 1 or less goals.

Mine is 5 1/6 years old. The person below me has a secret crush

Finland Sisu or guts

The Blues went on a tear late last year also, I believe.

I assume by golden boy you mean Leino. First off, at 38 years old May is nearing the end of his career. The only facet of his game is enforcing, as denoted by his stats of one assist and 59 penalty minutes this season with the Wings. As such, there's very little value in him, especially as the playoffs roll around and fighting slows down considerably. In contrast, Leino is in his first year in the NHL and while he has had an off year, he has already shown he has the tools to be an effective player in this league. Therefore, its much more likely that Leino will be picked off waivers than May. The only reason I see the Wings getting rid of Miller over Leino is because they have already invested next year into Leino, and he has a higher potential than Miller, despite how the two are playing presently. Personally I would rather we lose neither, as I love the effective gritty aspect that Miller brings to the table, and I still believe Leino can still have a successful career in the league.

I mentioned this in the other thread, but because we have two threads for the same argument I think I'll say it again, but didn't Osgood get a prolonged break late last year that he accredited his playoff success to? Granted he has been on the bench for a bit longer now than he was during that break, but I don't know if I buy that his being benched is necessarily a bad thing for his performance down the road.

Didn't Osgood get a prolonged break late last year that he accredited his playoff success to? Granted he has been on the bench for a bit longer now than he was during that break, but I don't know if I buy that his being benched is necessarily a bad thing for his performance down the road.

Isn't a team allowed to have an unlimited roster size after a certain day (trade deadline? start of playoffs?) What day is that, or does this even exist? Anyway, Abby is a certainty to be sent down as he is the only one waiver exempt. May is the next most likely to be bumped from the roster, imo, as a bottom liner who's only real niche on the team is enforcing. Also, I feel he has the best chance of clearing waivers out of all our players. As for the last player, I believe it likely to be between Miller or Janek if it came to a last resort of waiving, although I could see Holland trying to trade to avoid losing someone for nothing.

Theres a wonderful photoshop opportunity here and I hope someone takes advantage of it

The only one that I can remember right now was the blatant interference call on Helm at the blue line (sorry for the lack of examples). I don't know whether you consider that a cheap shot or not, but I personally didn't like it.

I don't know I saw a fair bit of cheapshotting occur throughout the game, regardless of the fights/scrums. It was nice to see some players other than May stick up for their teammates though.

Its hard for me to wrap my mind around the idea that there are other teams out there with worse power play success rates than the Wings.

If you had to give out the end-of-season awards (Jack Adams, Hart Memorial, Calder, etc) right now, who would you give them all out to? edit: here are a list of most of the awards handed out that aren't based solely on statistics: Hart: MVP Lady Byng: Outstanding sportsmanship/gentlemanly play Vezina: Top goalie Calder: Top rookie Norris: Top defensman Jack Adams: Top coach Selke: Top defensive forward

Looked a bit off tonight, although I suppose the same could be said for the entire team. Anyway, I suspect Osgood will be getting the nod in the next one.

GOD you made it your avatar?????

I get discouraged, because its 2 minutes of the game where I know we aren't going to score. At least in even strength they can surprise me.

Geez

Unfortunately the team is caught between a rock and a hard place. Ideally Babs would ride the hot goalie but still allow Ozzie to get some games here and there to freshen him up and hopefully reduce the amount of softies that he's prone to make, however the Wings are currently in a dog-fight for a playoff spot and every win is absolutely crucial. I'm not trying to put words into Babs' mouth or pretend like I understand his reasoning, but at the very least Howard is consistently giving the team a chance to win every night, which in my opinion is what we need the most. Ultimately, the second Jimmy goofs up or we get higher in the standings (see: comfortable playoff spot if possible) I expect to see Ozzie get the nod more.

Yeah Giggy's pads block the camera angles.

Considering a number of these guys have been thrown into roles that they aren't ready for, I think I would have graded them a bit more generously.

Seems to be pretty tough competition this year. One thing Howard has on Rask and Varlamov is the fact that he's played about 10 more games than each of them. We'll see where they all are 41 games from now.