Echolalia

I didn't even know swine flu was still in America.

I have never seen someone get so low to the ice to make a check.

Oh my god

Making a move at the deadline is what I'm scared of. Like you said, and like we said, and like Holland said, this is a transition year. Why invest our future in getting a stronger chance at the Cup in a transition year, when we can wait until next year and have a more legitimate opportunity with more room to wiggle?

Not quite.

In terms of physicality I think he's a shell of his former self, but in terms of skill, I want to say that I saw flashes of the Old Bert in the last game, with him driving hard to the net and creating scoring chances. Realistically I can't see him playing like that every single night, but I am clinging on to hope that he can become a regular contributor.

He can keep juggling lines all he wants, but I think the issue is that each line needs time to develop chemistry. We have such a huge dynamic between the vets and the rookies, its going to take time to get them all on the same level.

what a heartwarming story

Hahaha sorry

I'm ready to see what Delmore can do for the Wings. At the very least he could make up for some defensive lapses by scoring with that rocket.

They need to get back to basics. We all see the chances they make out there, the passes, the pressure, the shots, etc, but they're trying too hard and getting too fancy. We weren't good on rebounds or driving the net, and regardless of whether you have Datsyuk, Zetterberg, Malkin, Ovechkin, Hossa, or anyone else, unless you're shooting on Osgood or Howard, you can't score goals when you have no support at the crease.

That's definitely not clean. Regardless of whether you want to argue "legal vs nonlegal" or "elbow vs shoulder" or "late vs fine" its not a clean hit. Players need to respect each other more than they do now. Richards could have pulled back or avoided making 100% of his contact with Booth's face. Checks aren't meant to be made to the head.

I can buy this, but like someone else said, these type of incidents seem to be occurring fairly regularly with Ovie.

I think its a bit absurd for fans to have the same expectations after an efflux of Hossa, Hudler, Franzen, Sammuelson, Kopecky, Lilja, Conklin, Chelios, and Franzen. Sure some replacements may be upgrades, but with the money we had available, there was no way to maintain the level of skill Detroit is used to. Having said that, you don't play the game just to make the playoffs. You play to win the Cup. And I expect the Wings to act like they want to play for the Cup, regardless of who they lost. Besides Filppulla, Leino, and Williams, they haven't done that yet.

Yeah this is definitely a biased move. Artyukhin just slew-footed a guy and got suspended, but Ovie does it and gets fined.

It was supposed to be a joke, but I'm lame. I had fantasized that others would catch on and play along. So keep an eye out in the future. I do it all the time but no one notices.

I blame Ericsson for the game-tying goal as much as I do Lebda. Lebda should be able to rely on support behind the net when being pressured in that type of situation. Ericsson was caught playing too high. This is more of a chemistry issue than a "this person sucks lets make a facebook to express that" thing. Its still early in the season and Ericsson is a new face in the nhl. Its going to take time for Lebda and Ericsson to mesh, assuming that they stay paired together. Unfortunately this is usually what training camp is for.

Kronwall has really incorporated these heavy hits into his game well. I remember a couple years back he gave an open-ice hit and everyone was so pissed off at him for not doing it as often as he could.

Man if only there was some website to find the Wings font easily. Oh well, I think you're stuck doing all that work of vectorizing the letters.

Sunday was his first and only game in the AHL. For the record he had an assist and was +1 in a 7 to 2 loss. http://www.mlive.com/griffins/index.ssf/20..._shakes_of.html

http://www.itcfonts.com/fonts/mondosearchr...amp;kid=bookman As far as the actual jersey font, I would download a photo of whoever's jersey you want to replicate (or whoever's last name has the letters you need) and create vectors out of the outlines on photoshop or illustrator, then create your own font, or use them as brushes.

I don't think Detroit is really in bad shape, but at the same time I don't think the organization has the type of flexibility that most people think they do. We lucked out the past couple years from the benefit of having an all-star player in Zetterberg for dirt cheap, (and Franzen, also, but he bloomed a bit later), which gave Holland and co. the flexibility to sign a solid cast. Hudler, Sammy, etc were also pretty good deals for the numbers they ended up producing. Now we have all this money tied up in our star players (which is where it belongs, honestly), which results in less money for a solid supporting cast. Sure Lids will be taking a pay cut soon, but to what extent nobody knows, and he's on the second half of his bell-curve of talent (diminishing returns for all you investors out there), while Zetterberg and company were only getting better when they were on smaller contracts. The key thing I'm looking at is how much the younger guys will develop in their current contracts. If they end up becoming steals like Franzen, Zetterberg, etc, then we'll get to enjoy a couple years or so of having cap space for luxury signings (knock on wood). I think my reasoning is a bit long winded and depressing for what I was aiming for, so my disclaimer is that I'm not being pessimistic or thing the Wings are doomed or anything, but at the same time it's going to be a lot more difficult to maintain elite status the way the have done in the past, at least barring any super-star that emerges with a 1M contract for three years.

Good stuff

Repetition made me laugh out loud. By repetition I mean reading two similar topics in a row posted by the same person, and getting the same response from the same person. Bummer for both injuries, though.

The Ducks also had a much smoother path to the WCF than we did. First we versed Calgary, then San Jose, then the Ducks. Out of every team in the Western Conference, those were the three that I wanted to verse the least. Meanwhile, Anaheim had Minnesota and Vancouver. Its similar to how we won the Cup a year later. We lucked out and ended up versing Nashville and Colorado before picking off the wounded dog Dallas, who had to go through a dogfight against Anaheim and San Jose. Not to take anything away from the 07 Ducks or the 08 Wings, but winning the Cup isn't based 100% on skill. A good deal of luck is involved also. That's why the Wings aren't defending champs for the 8th time in a row right now.