28 replies to this topic

[F.Michael]

I'm guessing that's why Babcock had mixed up the pairings this year. Stuart and Lids never really played particularly well together this season, but it mixes up some size and physicality on the pairings. It's not like the early years when Murphy and Nick could handle the Legion of Doom line by playing the puck and not the body. It's been a continuing strategy for the Wings with having guys like Schneider and now Raf on the top pairing, but the reality is that Lids and Rafalski are getting up there in years and have lost a step, so against a team like San Jose it would be too hard to battle around the net.

Stuart and Kronwall can hold their own fairly well. Assuming we keep Ericsson he still needs to play more physical. More like he did in the first round. And Salei has apparently stopped playing with an edge. Kindl's got good size, but it'd be nice to have someone big that will really make guys pay around the Wings net.

Whatever became of the Ruslan Salei that rammed an unsuspecting Mike Modano into the boards years ago?

Not saying this team needs thugs, but we could certainly use some added size/grit on this team at both forward, and defense.

[Dimaline312000]

Last night after the game while I was lying in bed I got this feeling of what I call summer feeling. I get it every year but it's usually after all the playoffs are over but this time I happened after the Wings were eliminated. I'm pretty sure I've said this before but I hate summer and when I got that feeling I just feel sick. However I stand by my orginal statement as this loss has nothing on the horrible feeling as the 09 Cup Finals where we lost in Game 7 at Home. Summer may not have officially started yet but that feeling is here and I'm sure it will get stronger when all the playoffs are over. Now I probably shouldn't feel this bad becuase over the years I have taped a bunch of Red Wings and other Hockey games and I have them to watch during the summer months and that does help ease the pain a little. I'm not really sure what happened other than the fact I think San Jose just out played us. The Wings could have very well been swept by the Sharks but they dug in and played hard it just wasn't meant to be for us not this season. I don't think San Jose has any better coaching or more depth I think it was just a case of them out playin us again.

[haroldsnepsts]

Whatever became of the Ruslan Salei that rammed an unsuspecting Mike Modano into the boards years ago?

Not saying this team needs thugs, but we could certainly use some added size/grit on this team at both forward, and defense.

Honestly I think he just got old and injury prone to play that style anymore. Too bad because I was hoping he would bring some sandpaper to this team.

[gcom007]

We almost beat this team with numerous significant injuries. I doubt Z was 100% and at the very least had some rust to deal with starting out. Dats had the wrist issue, despite still being the best player in the series without a doubt. Franzen was just a mess. That's your 3 top offensive players dealing with injuries.

Then you think about the fact that we did take it to game 7, and consider that in that game, already playing with no Franzen, an injured Datsyuk and maybe still an injured Z, you lose Cleary and Bertuzzi completely. And still, you're in the game to the final seconds and lose by one goal.

Give me a break.

The Sharks are living on a strong prayer named Antti Niemi and the Wings didn't have the firepower to finish them off.

I have no problem admitting that the Wings aren't perfect and have problems, and I am probably one of the few here that genuinely respects and admires other teams in the league. But I won't for a second say that the better team won that series. I don't believe it at all. We had some bad luck with injuries...that were at times caused or exacerbated by Joe Thornton cheap shots. I'm not going to give my respect or props to the Sharks. They won, that's far more than they deserve for their efforts, and I don't think they'll get to 16, let alone 12.

But we will be back.

[HankthaTank]

We almost beat this team with numerous significant injuries. I doubt Z was 100% and at the very least had some rust to deal with starting out. Dats had the wrist issue, despite still being the best player in the series without a doubt. Franzen was just a mess. That's your 3 top offensive players dealing with injuries.

Then you think about the fact that we did take it to game 7, and consider that in that game, already playing with no Franzen, an injured Datsyuk and maybe still an injured Z, you lose Cleary and Bertuzzi completely. And still, you're in the game to the final seconds and lose by one goal.

Give me a break.

The Sharks are living on a strong prayer named Antti Niemi and the Wings didn't have the firepower to finish them off.

I have no problem admitting that the Wings aren't perfect and have problems, and I am probably one of the few here that genuinely respects and admires other teams in the league. But I won't for a second say that the better team won that series. I don't believe it at all. We had some bad luck with injuries...that were at times caused or exacerbated by Joe Thornton cheap shots. I'm not going to give my respect or props to the Sharks. They won, that's far more than they deserve for their efforts, and I don't think they'll get to 16, let alone 12.

But we will be back.

Spot the f*** on up and down this post. A+

[Crymson]

We almost beat this team with numerous significant injuries. I doubt Z was 100% and at the very least had some rust to deal with starting out. Dats had the wrist issue, despite still being the best player in the series without a doubt. Franzen was just a mess. That's your 3 top offensive players dealing with injuries.

Then you think about the fact that we did take it to game 7, and consider that in that game, already playing with no Franzen, an injured Datsyuk and maybe still an injured Z, you lose Cleary and Bertuzzi completely. And still, you're in the game to the final seconds and lose by one goal.

Give me a break.

Good words.

[SouthernWingsFan]

They've been covered more or less in this thread I think, but the Wings PP let them down the most I think. You could play the what if game on countless scenarios in any series, and this series was as even as it got, but the lack of efficiency on the Wings PP stands out the most.

This series also showed that the regular season does matter. The Wings screwed the pooch of course in a game 7 at home in the SCF of all games in 2009, but given my choice, I'd take playing a game 7 at home every time still. While finishing as a lower seed than San Jose isn't the only or main thing that caused the Wings to lose, I think it could have certainly been a factor.

[dragonballgtz]

Our 2nd tier scoring being way too inconsistent and not showing up every game. Datsyuk, Hank, Lidstrom, and Howie kept us in the games from games 1-3. If Flip, Hudler, Bert, Cleary or anyone else helped out we could've gotten a win in one of those earlier games.

[eva unit zero]

It came down to a few lucky (or unlucky) bounces, not even necessarily injuries.

Things like last night; Kronwall takes a pass on his backhand and he's wide open with an open net in front of the net. He moves it to his forehand and the puck hadn't quite settled down and it's gone. If he's a righty, if he is three feet to his right, or even if he just has that puck settled a little more that's in the net. And that's just one example. The whole "righty/lefty" thing happened a few notable times where a Detroit player took the puck on the backhand and had to move to the forehand, when if they shot with the other hand it's a goal, or cleared puck, or whatever.