Little Thing Ive noticed

[Guest Shoreline]

See Andreas Lilja.

We started winning when he came back.

Coincidence? I think not.

It's definitely Lilja. Mojo has a j in it, and so does Lilja. Lilja's j is just silent (well, pronounced differently) because he doesn't want to intimidate mojo, but has more mojo than mojo.

Edited April 1, 2010 by Shoreline

[Heroes of Hockeytown 694]

See Andreas Lilja.

We started winning when he came back.

Coincidence? I think not.

You've forgotten the return of noted tough guy and pugilist Johan Franzen. His willingness to drop the gloves and protect his teammates has spurred the Wings to these great heights.

Edited April 1, 2010 by Heroes of Hockeytown

[egroen 384]

Awww.... I kinda liked E_S_A_D

He must have done something I didn't see, because his posts never seemed to cross the line to me.

Oh, and OP - agreed.

Though I am honestly not sure if that is a good thing for this team, however. The reason being is it is not part of their ingrained, perfected 'style'.

I think part of the reason the Ducks have given the Wings so much trouble is that they successfully throw the Wings off their 'game', and get them playing chippy - which is fun to watch, but I don't think the Wings (at least this team) excel at that sort of play (they do well playing with grit, but not necessarily a chip on their shoulder).

I think we could see them play more successfully with that style in the future, with a lot of the prospects coming up.

Edited April 1, 2010 by egroen

[GMRwings1983 8,803]

I can't believe no one has mentioned Bertuzzi's name yet.

Teams are afraid to f*** with us, because no one wants to get paralyzed.

[Guest Lidstromboli]

Newbury's first shift this year was the greatest Red Wings shift of all time.

[Doc Holliday 1,888]

You've forgotten the return of noted tough guy and pugilist Johan Franzen. His willingness to drop the gloves and protect his teammates has spurred the Wings to these great heights.

Epic post.

[McAwesome 754]

Little thing I've noticed:

Both sides of this argument have made and continue to make valid points regarding the pros and cons of having an enforcer in the lineup, but the pro-enforcer folks seem to concede the valid points that are brought up during the debate, whereas the anti-enforcer folks rarely concede anything.

Brad May was a valuable piece of this team while he was needed, and when we got our regular players back from injury, he was no longer needed. Not because of his style of play, but because we had too many players under contract and we needed space. IIRC, May was brought in towards the end of training camp without much realistic expectation of making the regular lineup, and only got a contract after Franzen went down with what appeared to be a season-ending injury. I'm grateful for his contributions when he was in the lineup, I'm glad he wasn't claimed when he was sent down, and I firmly believe he will get some playing time in the playoffs, especially if we have another deep run, but he is a role player and nothing more.

How many fighting majors have the Red Wings had this season aside from May? I can name a few, Ericsson had one against the Ducks and I think against the Sharks, Janik had a couple during his brief stint (which he lost if memory serves), Eaves vs. Versteeg which was a great fight, Abdelkader fought Corey Fairy, and I think Cleary had a fight too. Does fighting have its place in hockey? Absolutely. Does having an enforcer directly correlate with fewer injuries and/or star players being roughed up? Debatable. Are having a tough team and having a skilled team mutually exclusive? No, and that is where I think most of the partisan debaters are mistaken. You can be tough and not fight, and and you can be European and not be a wuss.

/rant

Newbury's first shift this year was the greatest Red Wings shift of all time.

Absolutely

[Rivalred 630]

And here we go....

Enforcer debate #401256

Yet you post in the thread? Why not just ignore it.

I am hoping May will be back up here for some games during the playoffs; I think it will be based on who we play. Bert and Big E need to become a little more physical. And as other members have mentioned since Lilja returned, the Wings have played a lot better.

Edited April 1, 2010 by Rivalred

[uk_redwing 495]

I think we need to goon it up for the winnings. No gooning no Lord Stanley to drink out of. Just regular glasses for us.

[uk_redwing 495]

I think its safe to say this is well and truely another enforcer thread.

Im still upset the mods got rid of THE enforcer thread.

Edited April 1, 2010 by uk_redwing

[Drake_Marcus 890]

On that note, the wrongly banned E_S_A_D says hi to all at LGW.

You have to admit that E_S_A_D wasn't even trying not to piss people off. He wasn't MaleLion bad, but he was bad.

[uk_redwing 495]

You have to admit that E_S_A_D wasn't even trying not to piss people off. He wasn't MaleLion bad, but he was bad.

Haha MaleLion. Hes brilliant. Randomly appearing from time to time to post a few words surrounded by thousands of smileys. Usually angry ones.

[SouthernWingsFan 854]

Yet you post in the thread? Why not just ignore it.

I post in the thread because I can.

[55fan 5,133]

Rob, Jack... here is a spot for you boys.

It's much easier to stand up for yourself if you know that someone has your back. It's also easier to stand up for someone on your side if you know that someone else on your side has your back.

It is also easy to get your side and your back mixed up when you stand up and sometimes you land on your bottom.

Enforcers are good. Winning is good. The two are not mutually exclusive.

[Bring Back The Bruise Bros 1,029]

Yet you post in the thread? Why not just ignore it.

I am hoping May will be back up here for some games during the playoffs; I think it will be based on who we play. Bert and Big E need to become a little more physical. And as other members have mentioned since Lilja returned, the Wings have played a lot better.

When Bert wants to be physical,he's seriously a monster,but for whatever reason he is rarely physical.Someone else mentioned this too,but i seriously dont think theres been as many cheapshots because Nobody wants to get paralyzed from the neck down.i think guys do think about it out there.Bertuzzi,as he has shown before,is capable of really ******* someone up.anyways I'd like to see May back up here for the playoffs,i guess it depends on injuries and slumps,etc.

[j.hoop 64]

See Andreas Lilja.

We started winning when he came back.

Coincidence? I think not.

this is definitely it. andreas lilja has brought the manhood back to this team, and above all, the pk.

i was also watching the 08 cup win and they had a 2 or 3 minute montage of drake laying people out, how beautiful it was.

[Frozen-Man 144]

Whether this has any effect on the scoreline is debatable, but it definately makes for more entertaining hockey.

Gotta agree fighting in hockey does make the game more entertaining and like most other things is good for a team at times and bad at others. May was a huge boost to the team earlier but definitely needed to be the one cut as the season progressed. To me that is why you can't deal with absolutes on whether a team ought to dress an enforcer, sometimes they should and it is very helpful and some times (mostly either because of cap or roster restrictions) one is not helpful.

Why do you think Maltby has been somewhat useless these past several years?...No Kocur/McCarty/Lapointe on his line = a non-agitating Maltby.

I've been saying this for years - having a true/legit tuff guy, or having a handful of guys who are capable of dropping their mitts will make everyone else on the team play alot bigger/meaner.

It's why I'd much - MUCH - MUCH rather have our beloved Detroit Red Wings circa 1997 over todays team any day of the week!

I agree the 1997 team was incredible but very improbable to have another one of those teams as there was no salary cap in 1997. That seriously changes the ability to create a team like those.

You guys do realize that just because we've gone on a winning streak here doesn't mean that enforcers are completely useless now in hockey.

That argument can go both ways.

That's why taking one factor or event and attributing it to the success or failure of a team is silly, there are far too many variables involved.

[Finnish Wing 110]

I'd like to add that I'm supporting getting a GOOD enforcer for us this off season. Someone who could stick around longer (not like May) with us. Fighting is definitely a good way to solve problems between two men. Much better than swining someone to the head with the stick.

Even though I'm supporting enforcers and hockey fights like they are now, I'm definitely against removing the instigator. But that has been discussed enough in the "head shot thread" or something like that.

[Finnish Wing 110]

Haven't you noticed that the game is much faster than before and players are also much bigger than before. I think it's obvious that there will be more injuries.

Removing the instigator -> NHL:s best fighter could hurt who ever he wants as he aren't afraid of fighting. Hell, a team could even sign some real pro-boxer just to do stuff like that and after that he could just win everyone in the fight. If people really think fighting is the solution for the injuries, then I'm very confused.

I think that even if there is an instigator penalty everyone who doesn't fight when they've done something stupid (headshot for example) will be known as cowards. I don't think any player will want that kinda reputation so they'll fight. I think getting a coward reputation/having to fight + the suspension is a much better punishment than letting players punch other players in the head without the other player even being ready for fighting.

[Doc Holliday 1,888]

That is evidence the NHL office doesn't know how to discipline its players.

[Finnish Wing 110]

I don't see why the instigator penalty is preventing the punishment here. Someone can go and challenge that cheapshotter to a fight. If he doesn't fight everyones knows that he's a chicken, plus he gets suspension for the cheapshotting. If he fights he fights and he gets suspension. I think that's a good method punishing.

[esteef 2,679]

The Wings need to go out and get a legitimate ball puncher. Anybody know where we can get one of those?

esteef

[mjlegend 155]

The Wings need to go out and get a legitimate ball puncher. Anybody know where we can get one of those?

esteef

They'd be crazy not to sign Keith Hackney.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z4iZ-NEz-mg