Burnside breaks down the WCF and picks the Wings in 7

[Frozen-Man 144]

He picked the Wings in 7 but strangely has the key matchup of Ribeiro and Kronvall

"Mike Ribeiro vs. Niklas Kronwall: Mike Ribeiro remains the Stars' most dangerous forward and leads the team with 14 points in 12 games. He can expect to spend a lot of time making sure he's not getting his head handed to him by Detroit defenseman Niklas Kronwall, who is making the most of his first playoff run with the Wings. The injury-prone Swede has good offensive tools, is strong in his own zone and has the added bonus of being able to deliver the big open-ice hit. The Stars need Ribeiro's continued offensive production, while the Wings need Kronwall to shut him down."

http://sports.espn.go.com/nhl/playoffs2008...&id=3382153

Since Ribeiro is on the first line with Morrow and Lehtinen I would think that they would be against Lids and Raf most of the night not Kronvall.

[Guest Crymson]

He picked the Wings in 7 but strangely has the key matchup of Ribeiro and Kronvall

"Mike Ribeiro vs. Niklas Kronwall: Mike Ribeiro remains the Stars' most dangerous forward and leads the team with 14 points in 12 games. He can expect to spend a lot of time making sure he's not getting his head handed to him by Detroit defenseman Niklas Kronwall, who is making the most of his first playoff run with the Wings. The injury-prone Swede has good offensive tools, is strong in his own zone and has the added bonus of being able to deliver the big open-ice hit. The Stars need Ribeiro's continued offensive production, while the Wings need Kronwall to shut him down."

http://sports.espn.go.com/nhl/playoffs2008...&id=3382153

Since Ribeiro is on the first line with Morrow and Lehtinen I would think that they would be against Lids and Raf most of the night not Kronvall.

This is Kronwall's second playoff appearance with the Wings.

[YzerPucks19 4]

He picked the Wings in 7 but strangely has the key matchup of Ribeiro and Kronvall

"Mike Ribeiro vs. Niklas Kronwall: Mike Ribeiro remains the Stars' most dangerous forward and leads the team with 14 points in 12 games. He can expect to spend a lot of time making sure he's not getting his head handed to him by Detroit defenseman Niklas Kronwall, who is making the most of his first playoff run with the Wings. The injury-prone Swede has good offensive tools, is strong in his own zone and has the added bonus of being able to deliver the big open-ice hit. The Stars need Ribeiro's continued offensive production, while the Wings need Kronwall to shut him down."

http://sports.espn.go.com/nhl/playoffs2008...&id=3382153

Since Ribeiro is on the first line with Morrow and Lehtinen I would think that they would be against Lids and Raf most of the night not Kronvall.

As you stated for sure they would be up Lidstrom and Rafalski. I am more concerned with MORROW then RIBEIRO for production. RIBEIRO has crazy speed but MORROW hits, scores and was all over the ice in the Sharks series. I find Morrow more consistent player then RIBEIRO.

Like the site.

[marcaractac 3,962]

Yeah Morrow is flat out built for this time of the year. He's been machine out there. He is the one the Wings should worry about the most, along with Richards. No worries though, they will be seeing a lot of Hank and Dats

[Doggy 130]

He picked the Wings in 7 but strangely has the key matchup of Ribeiro and Kronvall

"Mike Ribeiro vs. Niklas Kronwall: Mike Ribeiro remains the Stars' most dangerous forward and leads the team with 14 points in 12 games. He can expect to spend a lot of time making sure he's not getting his head handed to him by Detroit defenseman Niklas Kronwall, who is making the most of his first playoff run with the Wings. The injury-prone Swede has good offensive tools, is strong in his own zone and has the added bonus of being able to deliver the big open-ice hit. The Stars need Ribeiro's continued offensive production, while the Wings need Kronwall to shut him down."

http://sports.espn.go.com/nhl/playoffs2008...&id=3382153

Since Ribeiro is on the first line with Morrow and Lehtinen I would think that they would be against Lids and Raf most of the night not Kronvall.

Yeah Kronwall will likely get the job on Richards with Hagman and Eriksson.

Dallas will probably roll something like:

Morrow - Ribeiro - Lehtinen

Hagman - Richards - Eriksson

Lundqvist - Modano - Miettinen

Peterson - Ott - Crombeen

Although Tippett does change his lines around a lot.

[interminded 1]

What kind of a stupid and obvious sentence is this ??

Watch for Detroit coach Mike Babcock to go back to Hasek if Osgood can't match Turco save for save.

Doesn't this apply for every coach on every team when a netminder isn't performing up to par ?

[akustyk 84]

pretty well written and reasonable

[Opie 308]

If you guys are tired of the media picking the stars, go to Yahoo.

Almost every Hockey expert on Yahoo is picking the Wings to win the whole thing.

The redundant answer they keep giving is:

The Wings are the most Skilled team in the league and skill will beat __________

A. Pit's Youth/skill

B. Dal's hot goalie/ style of play

C. Phi's Toughness and grit/skill

Pretty much they are saying that there is no way any one can stop the Wings amount of skill.

One guy went on to say that if Det wanted to be cruel to Col they would have split the first line up and rolled 4 lines of skill that would have been a meaner way to beat up Col.

On Around the Horn yesterday both Woody Paige and Tim Cowlishaw picked Det to go all the way, TC didn't pick CF winners from either conference, just saying that Detroit's skill would over take the other teams strengths

[denverswingsfan 0]

What kind of a stupid and obvious sentence is this ??

Watch for Detroit coach Mike Babcock to go back to Hasek if Osgood can't match Turco save for save.

Doesn't this apply for every coach on every team when a netminder isn't performing up to par ?

The question may be who does Dallas go to when Turco doesn't match Ozzy save for save.

[wingsfan75 2]

I totally forgot that they traded Mike Smith away for Richards. He was stellar against us at least once in the season.

[puckloo39 5,686]

What kind of a stupid and obvious sentence is this ??

Watch for Detroit coach Mike Babcock to go back to Hasek if Osgood can't match Turco save for save.

Doesn't this apply for every coach on every team when a netminder isn't performing up to par ?

Not necessarily going to happen in Detroit. I think it's going to have to be pretty drastic in terms of a melt-down by Ozzie, for Hasek to get another shot at it. And I don't see that happening. So I wouldn't worry about it.

Morrow has impressed me. I want him in a Wing's sweater. j/k Dallas would never turn loose of him...

[puckloo39 5,686]

I totally forgot that they traded Mike Smith away for Richards. He was stellar against us at least once in the season.

JMO, but I think Smitty's excellence messed with Turco's head/ego in Dallas. They got rid of Smith, and Turco 'instantly' got better. Turco is a character. I like him, in spite of myself -- we need guys in the game with some pizzazz.

Wings will mess with his head, too. Holmqvist is the backup. He is not good, so barring a total disaster in front of Turco I would not expect to see him in there.

Mule + Dats = Turco nightmares...

[GMRwings1983 8,794]

Not necessarily going to happen in Detroit. I think it's going to have to be pretty drastic in terms of a melt-down by Ozzie, for Hasek to get another shot at it. And I don't see that happening. So I wouldn't worry about it.

Morrow has impressed me. I want him in a Wing's sweater. j/k Dallas would never turn loose of him...

Why the hell do we need Morrow?

Grigorenko is sure to make the team next year.

[arpawocky 0]

What kind of a stupid and obvious sentence is this ??

Watch for Detroit coach Mike Babcock to go back to Hasek if Osgood can't match Turco save for save.

Doesn't this apply for every coach on every team when a netminder isn't performing up to par ?

Apparently not Quenneville

Edited May 6, 2008 by arpawocky

[puckloo39 5,686]

Why the hell do we need Morrow?

Grigorenko is sure to make the team next year.

Grigs won't ever be a Wing, hon.

And we don't need Morrow... I just like his snarl and his playoff attitude. We got Kronner to kick butt, right?

[chrisdetroit 189]

Yeah Morrow is flat out built for this time of the year. He's been machine out there. He is the one the Wings should worry about the most, along with Richards. No worries though, they will be seeing a lot of Hank and Dats

Brendan Morrow is certainly having a good playoff but let's not get carried away. This is the 7th year he's been in th playoffs all with Dallas and he hasn't done much the other years. Before you proclaim him "built for the playoffs" take a look at what he has done in other years:

This year 11 pts in 12 games

2007 3/7

2006 6/5

2004 1/5

2003 8/12

2002 -----

2001 3/10

2000 6/21

Clearly he has not been great in past playoffs. Just last year he had less than 1/2 point per game. I'm not to worried about him. He's hot right now but he's not what you would call a clutch performer....

[chrisdetroit 189]

Not necessarily going to happen in Detroit. I think it's going to have to be pretty drastic in terms of a melt-down by Ozzie, for Hasek to get another shot at it. And I don't see that happening. So I wouldn't worry about it.

Morrow has impressed me. I want him in a Wing's sweater. j/k Dallas would never turn loose of him...

See my comments below. You want him in a Wings sweater based on 2 good playoff rounds when just last year he only had 3 points in 7 playoff games. You should do a little research before you make statements like that.

Robert Lang had some good playoff years to. You want him back?

How bout Cam Ward, or Khabibulin they had 1 great playoff year too...

[puckloo39 5,686]

See my comments below. You want him in a Wings sweater based on 2 good playoff rounds when just last year he only had 3 points in 7 playoff games. You should do a little research before you make statements like that.

Robert Lang had some good playoff years to. You want him back?

How bout Cam Ward, or Khabibulin they had 1 great playoff year too...

excuse me for living... did you see the j/k?? Guess not.

[vladdy16 2,154]

excuse me for living... did you see the j/k?? Guess not.

I think they did see the j/k, but the way you typed it, it looks more like you were kidding because Dallas wouldn't let him go, not because you were actually joking.

[puckloo39 5,686]

I think they did see the j/k, but the way you typed it, it looks more like you were kidding because Dallas wouldn't let him go, not because you were actually joking.

I was joking. Why would the Wings want Morrow? And, even if they did, why would Dallas consider getting rid of their captain?

And since when does anything I have to say matter around here??

[calfan 0]

What kind of a stupid and obvious sentence is this ??

Watch for Detroit coach Mike Babcock to go back to Hasek if Osgood can't match Turco save for save.

Doesn't this apply for every coach on every team when a netminder isn't performing up to par ?

Not necessarily. Detroit has the luxury of two very good goaltenders. Does Dallas really have a realistic choice other than to ride Turco?

[calfan 0]

See my comments below. You want him in a Wings sweater based on 2 good playoff rounds when just last year he only had 3 points in 7 playoff games. You should do a little research before you make statements like that.

Robert Lang had some good playoff years to. You want him back?

How bout Cam Ward, or Khabibulin they had 1 great playoff year too...

Somebody should. In the same number of playoff games prior to this year, Pavel Datsyuk has exactly 4 more points than Morrow. The difference - Datsyuk is expected to be a team leader in points whereas Morrow is expected to be a team leader all over the ice, with less emphasis on his points. He brings much more to the Stars than just getting points. Need a big hit? Need to shut down an opposing star player?, Etc., etc.

He's been good at what he brings to the table in all of those years. His points have been pretty decent for a guy not expected to put up big numbers. And he's having a great year this year. I see no reason for that to not continue. Do you expect Datsyuk is suddenly going to be the playoff performer he has been in all years except last year and so far this year? Do you expect Franzen is going to suddenly disappear?

Give the guy a break. Kidding or not, available or not, Morrow would make Detroit a better team.

[interminded 1]

Not necessarily. Detroit has the luxury of two very good goaltenders. Does Dallas really have a realistic choice other than to ride Turco?

True.

Which is another reason why Dallas has no advantage in goal.

[akustyk 84]

True.

Which is another reason why Dallas has no advantage in goal.

two very good goalies on the roster are not better than one hot and excellent goalie.

just to remind: there's only on goalie playing for each team at the same time.

forgetting his Wings-jinx I'd pick Turco over Oz here, and most certainly over Dom.

and a potential goalie carousel is everything but advantageous for Wings team.

on paper Stars have some advantage in net. it's not that huge but they can count

on Turco to make huge saves and boil them out of problems. with Oz I'm a little

bit more concerned. he's great at this stage of career but talent-wise he ranks

lower than Turco.

but I strongly suspect Turco's Wings-jinx will play a role in this series. if he

excersise(sp) his demons and plays Wings as good as he played Sharks we've

every reason to be concerned. if he pulls Jose Theodore, we're right there

in cup finals. it's very tough to predict

[Frozen-Man 144]

See my comments below. You want him in a Wings sweater based on 2 good playoff rounds when just last year he only had 3 points in 7 playoff games. You should do a little research before you make statements like that.

Robert Lang had some good playoff years to. You want him back?

How bout Cam Ward, or Khabibulin they had 1 great playoff year too...

For me it is not about the numbers its about the total way that he plays - he is one of those guys that has talent and plays heart and soul every game. I love watching him play and would love to have him in a Wings jersey (even though it won't happen because Dallas knows his value as well).