Echolalia

I think everyone's put up some solid strings of games, but I don't think anyone has been able to really consistetly get going. Tatar is currently on fire, but he was cold in the beginning of the season, and right now it seems like Tatar is the only one who is producing. Nyquist has 3 points his last 10 games, but at the beginning of the year every puck he touched hit the back of the net. Zetterberg has been cold lately, Datsyuk hasn't been playing. Really, the only line that has been able play with some consisteny throughout the season has been the fourth line. And I think you really hit the nail on the head in your title in that the Wings have been inconsistent. Maybe not collectively, because there always seems to be at least one player who's pulling the wagon (and there have been plenty of different players to pull it already), but in terms of lines and individual players, they've been pretty streaky. Well, aside from the fourth line in a shut-down role, and actually Abdelkader has been bringing it every day, too. I'd add Smith to that list as well but hes missing time right now, which isn't helping the Wings out. Everyone else has been either really hot for several games, or really cold for several games, and at a loss for any better reason I suspect that age distribution may be at least partly to blame. Its almost like they're taking turns being the on-ice leader. Right now Tatar is playing hot, so he's pulling the wagon. Next week its going to be Franzen, and then Tatar will disappear.

If I had to guess, I would say that the age distribution of our team may be playing a role. One one end, we have our current core of Datsyuk, Zetterberg, Franzen, Kronwall, all on the wrong side of 33. They're still great players, but the Wings cant lean on them as heavily as they used to, and I don't think it fair to expect them to string together win streaks entirely on their shoulders. And on the other end of the spectrum, we have our up-and-coming core (give or take) of Nyqvist, Tatar, Sheahan, Dekeyser, etc etc all south of 25 years old. They're great players, but not quite in their prime, and not quite experiened enough to be the leaders of this team. If you look at the players that we have between 25 and 30 years old (which I'm arbitrarily defining as prime years just based on the notion that folks in this age range tend to have a few solid years of NHL experience under their belt, and are still young enough in most cases not to have lost a step or be plagued by injuries) we have Abdelkader (27), Andersson (25), Glendening (25), Helm (27), Miller (30), Nyquist (25), and Smith (25). Four of those seven players are on our fourth line. I think its also worth pointing out that even though I arbitrarily picked 25-30 as prime years, based in part due to NHL experience, Glendening, Andersson, Nyquist and Smith have all played less than 140 NHL games, which means that sweet spot between solid skill and durability, and solid experience is going to be delayed a few more years in these guys. But who knows whats really going on. I just took a look at the standings at NHL.com, and right now there are only three teams currently riding 3-game winning streaks. Everyone else has streaks smaller than that (or losing streaks). Theres also 23 of 30 teams within 10 points of eachother league-wide. I don't know what each team has looked like streak-wise over the course of the entire season so far, but teams are more closely matched than in the past, which can also be playing a role.

Uhhh what happened? I watched the first period and the Wings looked good despite the penalties...

Good pace to this one!

We're in the seventh seed because everyone above us has played two more games than we have. If the Wings win their games in hand, they're second in the division. Additionally, we may have won 10 out of 19, but we've also only lost 4 out of 19 in regulation, which is the second best in the league to only Pittsburgh's 3 regulation losses. So whil the facts you give are technically true, they're also an incredibly negative and misleading spin on what's actually going on. Through the first quarter of this season, the Wings have playing like a top 10 team.

Babs mentioned that Cleary took lead of the team on the bench prior to the Wings waking up against the Jets. Maybe there's more to his off-ice intangibles than we figured.

Lol I know a couple guys who live in the UP year round. Well they have a joke that they know how many days of winter they had by counting the Crown bags that pile up in their house.

Lightning lost tonight, too, which puts them in striking range with our games in hand

Abdelkader has been killing it this year

who was that that fell onto his knees? What the hell was he thinking?

I mean, I think I explained it about as clearly as I can above. The team gains nothing from Smith fighting in that case. Smith is able to repair his broken ego, that's really the only positive to come from fighting at that point in the game. So he wasn't fighting to help his team out. He was fighting to satisfy his own personal desires at the expense of his team, because while he's sitting in the box his teammates have to pick up his minutes. Whether its minute 1 or minute 45 of the game, that's extra miles on some players, you have players playing with teammates they may not be very used to playing with, or Babs might just roll with two defensive lines instead of three, which means Smith's d partner is benched for the 5 minutes. Everyone has to accommodate for Smith being in the box. Also like I mentioned, every time anyone decides to fight, they're accepting the risk of getting injured, as we saw last night. So Smith picks his fight, caresses his fragile ego, hurts his hand in the process, and now the team has to play without him for the next week. Its very clearly a selfish move. He did it for his own personal reasons, and his team pays the price. I really can't explain it any better than that, and if you can't see it then I don't know what to tell you.

this

I agree with all of this, and this is part of the reason why I'm not a fan of fighting, although at the very least I can understand where you guys are coming from when a fight occurs to send a message to a dirty player, or if you're down by one goal and need to get some momentum (even though I still disagree with these reasons). Which is why its so frustrating to see Smith get injured in this particular fight, because there wasn't any greater reason behind fighting.

Absolutely I do, and its something I expect that him, as well as the rest of the team to do. And besides, if Smith was really the type of person to easily get caught up in the heat of the moment and lose himself to his emotions, I think he would have more than 6 fights in his NHL career. Don't get me wrong, I do think he lost himself in the heat of the moment in this case, but Smith has already demonstrated throughout his career that he's able to keep a cool head when he tries. Yesterday, I don' think he tried.

This I disagree with. There was nothing the team could have gained by Smith getting into the fight The game was already comfortably under control in the Wings' favor. Smith, on the other hand, could have repaired his own damaged ego (or his mother's if that's the case), or seeked retribution for a hit he didn't like, but those are personal reasons to fight that have nothing to do with the team's odds for victory. So in this case, the only one who's getting any potential benefit out of this is Smith, and its an entirely emotional benefit. As for risk, well there is always a risk of injury when getting into a fight, and everyone should weigh that risk against the potential benefit when choosing to partake. There is also the guarantee that your team will have to play without you for the next five minutes, which is a more serious situation when the fighter is a defensman, becuase there's only six of those total to begin with. If you're one of the folks who believe that fights can be a rallying point to boost team morale and get everyone more engaged in the game, then there's also the risk of firing the other team up, and potentialy losing a game that your team was winning. So in terms of risk, Smith is risking his health, he's risking his team losing control over the game, he's putting Babcock and his teammates in a tougher spot because they have to pick up his slack while he sits in the box, and if he happens to get injured in the fight (which he happened to get injured), then Babcock and his teammates are in a tougher spot for the next several days, instead of just five minutes. So lots of risk and disadvantages that the whole team has to carry, so Smith can resolve a personal vendetta that he has in the waning minutes of a game. I'd say that's quite selfish.

If Cleary wasn't on the team then some other prospect, likely Callahan would have been up, and we still would have lost one of the two of Callahan or Neatrasil to waivers. This doesn't have as much to do with Cleary being on the team as it does Jurco being eligible to bypass waivers, but not be sent down (which if you're into the whole "the best man plays" philosophy, was the correct decision). Anyway, Neatrasil was riding pine here. Now he may at least have a chance to continue his career.

What exactly did the Wings/Smith get out of engaging in the fight? It was already 4-0 so it certainly didn't help decide the game. Foligno isn't going to stop playing hockey (including checking other players) because someone fought him. So all I'm seeing out of this transaction is Babcock had to play with 5 defensman instead of six for five minutes, and now he has to play without Smith in the lineup for at least a week. Look, I'm against fighting period, and I'm sure you're well aware of that. And I know you're a big supporter of fighting. And I can respect that. And we both already know that nothing either one of us will say can change the other person's mind on this issue. But you have to see, even as a fan of fighting, why this was a selfish and stupid decision by Smith. The game was already over. The check Smith got pissed off over wasn't even dirty. There was nothing to gain at all by fighting Foligno. And now his team has to get by without his services for the next week.

I think a more reasonable approach would be to not fight to begin with

They could have glued him shut with some neosporin, and bandaged the wound shut (awkward placement as it is because the wound was on the knuckle), and all the movement and sweating that occurs in the glove, plus friction against the inside of the glove itself could easily been enough to allow the wound to be exposed to bacteria.

According to mlive, Ericcson missed practice due to a maintenance day, so I expect he will be in the lineup tomorrow. Smith is on short term IR, so he's out at least for the next seven days.

Nothing like pure testosterone and extra hair on the chest to keep an infection from setting in.

Wow, what a blow to the Pens, and more importantly what a crummy situation for Dupuis. Blood clots aren't something to take chances with.

I couldn't tell you about his nose, but his knuckles were bleeding pretty good after the fight. At this point I'm concerned about his hand.Ericsson I have no idea.

Franzen made the right play. Him and Zetterberg were both dead from a long shift and needed to go to the bench. Franzen can make the pass, but there's a bigger risk of that leading to a neutral zone turnover (puck bounces over Nyqvist's stick, defender pinches and intercepts the pass, it's not an accurate pass etc), which could be lethal with your forwards tired, especially in the second period with the long change. He had a clean path to center ice with practically no risk of losing the puck. That was just a matter of making the safest play to ensure his line got off without any casualties.

We have very similar taste. You listed off some of my favorite places to grab food in Detroit.