2/25 GDT : Avalanche 4 at Red Wings 3

[jroc86 90]

Heres what I wouldnt mind seeing - some of our youth future skill guys (Tatar, Nyquist, Mursak) get the odd shift or period with a skilled veteran line. Pav and Hank got their start as quick footed work horses for Hull ... why not see if some chemistry like that exists somewhere here in games where we need a shakeup anyway?

Glad we got Quincey now with E out. Look around the league - weve got it pretty good. If we lose against Columbus ill probably s*** the bed. Pav should be back in a few games and all will be well in the world again. If we get anything less than 110points this year it would be a huge disapointment given the spot we were in last sunday. These guys have been here before - Im confident theyll step it up.

[Doc Holliday 1,888]

We should keep Franzen in GR and call him up around March to get him ready for playoffs.

I'll be waiting while you figure out a way to replicate his production with him out of the lineup, lack of effort or not.

[Jeff6851 168]

Here's why we should stay optimistic.

Even with how badly we've been playing these past three games, how many have we lost by more than one goal?

How many times have we seen this team slump around this time and they are firing on all cylinders in the playoffs?

Relax everyone, I know it's frustrating as all hell and it's just not fun especially after all the energy we're used to seeing this team play with. They were in first in the NHL and really, coasting will probably still get them into the playoffs. It's times like this we realize just how good Datsyuk is, he's a playmaker and he gives the team confidence and when this team is confident they are near unbeatable.

Dats will be healthy for the playoffs, we've got two great goalies and everybody seems like they're getting all rested for the playoffs, be nice if they showed some jump though, a blowout to get the team going would be nice.

Ah well, these are the Detroit Red Wings everyone, a little February slump isn't something to worry about and barely leading the division with 19 games left isn't anything to fret about

[egroen 384]

I expect slumps and outright bloodbaths this time of year. Last time the Wings finished the season strong the Coyotes took them to 7 games.

[Jeff6851 168]

Did you know? From February 7, 2008 to February 29, 2008 the Red Wings won only one game of the eleven games they played? We all know what happened in June that year right?

Edited February 26, 2012 by Jeff6851

[kylee 727]

A bit of a slump collectively. Zetterberg picked it up everyone's slack in the 3rd but alas, hockey is a 60 minute game. Not worried but it always sucks to lose.

[Hockeytown0001 7,652]

Not the best game, but oh well, can't win them all.

[Guest Hatethedrake!]

Holland's running out of time and if the season ticket holders have any say in the matter, he might be running out of "The Joe". GM's are expendable, too. So are coaches. Babcock isn't the best motivator and obviously no Scotty Bowman. Yet another loss due to lack of depth. Too many marginal players at both ends. Certainly not a Stanley Cup contender with the current roster. Changes have to be made. Possibly "upstairs" as well as "downstairs. Holland might need the next 48 hours to keep his job. Not surprising that they lost to another mediocre team. Home or away. Doesn't seem to matter.

Thanks for the laugh.

[Nev 1,085]

Holland's running out of time and if the season ticket holders have any say in the matter, he might be running out of "The Joe". GM's are expendable, too. So are coaches. Babcock isn't the best motivator and obviously no Scotty Bowman. Yet another loss due to lack of depth. Too many marginal players at both ends. Certainly not a Stanley Cup contender with the current roster. Changes have to be made. Possibly "upstairs" as well as "downstairs. Holland might need the next 48 hours to keep his job. Not surprising that they lost to another mediocre team. Home or away. Doesn't seem to matter.

Hahahahaha!!!! Congrats on your Worst Post of 2012 award!

[LeftWinger 4,951]

Mickey said it best last night on Red Wings Live. "You cannot win a Hockey game in 20 minutes"

I didn't watch the third myself due to my utter disgust over the first two, but again, it seems another instance of too little too late. The Wings have consistently played that way on the road this year and yesterday it showed up at home. I certainly hope Holland addresses this before tomorrow 3pm. Plus, Babcock should jockey the lines around and demote some people until they step it up CONSISTENTLY every night. Hudler with two goals and Franzen with nothing. I hate Hudler but damn he is becoming more reliable than Franzen. Babcock needs to mix the lines up to get Abby and Miller back on the 4th. Not that they haven't played well enough to be with Helm, but our 4th line is the worst in the league. Holmer is just washed up, Emmerton is below average and Mursak has shown me nothing. Not that I expected a superstar out of him, but with all the hype he gets here and even by the Wings, I expected much more. Put him with Abby and Miller, maybe he'll shine more. They need to call Conner back up, when he was playing with Helm, that was the best third line in the NHL. And Holland definitely needs to add a pure scorer who can help this powerplay and maybe push Franzen for that top line spot and help motivate his lazy, dumb ass...

[chrisdetroit 189]

Mickey said it best last night on Red Wings Live. "You cannot win a Hockey game in 20 minutes"

I didn't watch the third myself due to my utter disgust over the first two, but again, it seems another instance of too little too late. The Wings have consistently played that way on the road this year and yesterday it showed up at home. I certainly hope Holland addresses this before tomorrow 3pm. Plus, Babcock should jockey the lines around and demote some people until they step it up CONSISTENTLY every night. Hudler with two goals and Franzen with nothing. I hate Hudler but damn he is becoming more reliable than Franzen. Babcock needs to mix the lines up to get Abby and Miller back on the 4th. Not that they haven't played well enough to be with Helm, but our 4th line is the worst in the league. Holmer is just washed up, Emmerton is below average and Mursak has shown me nothing. Not that I expected a superstar out of him, but with all the hype he gets here and even by the Wings, I expected much more. Put him with Abby and Miller, maybe he'll shine more. They need to call Conner back up, when he was playing with Helm, that was the best third line in the NHL. And Holland definitely needs to add a pure scorer who can help this powerplay and maybe push Franzen for that top line spot and help motivate his lazy, dumb ass...

It's entertaining to come on here after a loss and see some of the idiotic posts. Worst 4th line in the league? Worse than Columbus? The Islanders? The one about firing Holland and Babcock was pretty funny too.

How 'bout this Wings fans - The Sharks lost their division lead last night and are now 3 points above the 8th place Stars and the Hawks are 5 points above the Stars and 24th in the league is GAA. And people on here are whining about a 3 game losing streak. hahahahah

Edited February 26, 2012 by chrisdetroit

[Red Crazy 201]

I agree that we can't win every game. I agree that Ken Holland and Mike Babcock probably won't lose their jobs.LOL

I am not crazy though about letting Franzen have a pass on giving a s*** during the regular season because he wakes up for the playoffs. In my opinion if he does not perform this year in the playoffs then perhaps he can go. His team needs him now with Dats out and he once again is nowhere to be found.

Work ethic is contagious good or bad.

[HelmFan 84]

I agree that we can't win every game. I agree that Ken Holland and Mike Babcock probably won't lose their jobs.LOL

I am not crazy though about letting Franzen have a pass on giving a s*** during the regular season because he wakes up for the playoffs. In my opinion if he does not perform this year in the playoffs then perhaps he can go. His team needs him now with Dats out and he once again is nowhere to be found.

Work ethic is contagious good or bad.

This. Imagine how many goals Zetterberg, Datsyuk, would Flippula score in the playoffs if they got to take the first 82 games of the season off?

When we excuse Franzen's lazy play we say "just wait to the playoffs". Well, that's just lip service to the 08 and to some extent 09 playoffs. He's been average since.

does Franzen have a no trade clause? This guy is the total anti-redwing. We have to get rid of him before the next generation of Wings pick up on his work ethic.

Trade him to Anaheim for Selanne. then in the off season, go hard after Parise.

[LeftWinger 4,951]

It's entertaining to come on here after a loss and see some of the idiotic posts. Worst 4th line in the league? Worse than Columbus? The Islanders? The one about firing Holland and Babcock was pretty funny too.

How 'bout this Wings fans - The Sharks lost their division lead last night and are now 3 points above the 8th place Stars and the Hawks are 5 points above the Stars and 24th in the league is GAA. And people on here are whining about a 3 game losing streak. hahahahah

I never said fire Holland or Babcock....

...and yes, our 4th line is the worst in league. Along with some other teams lines, but it really does suck. Holmstrom (I love him to death) but he needs to sit. He is useless on the 4th line, he obviously isn't the power play specialist he once was which is proven by the lack of power play production. Emmerton looks like he will never be more than what he is, average. Mursak was touted by most of you guys to be on the second line...he has shown nothing. I am not putting blame on them for losing the last three or the woeful road record, that is on the top scorers on this team to step up and be clutch when needed. I give Hudler credit for his attempt last night, but there were others that failed as NHL players. Zetterberg has had a bad back since he signed his life long contract, now we a stuck with that until he retires and his back is only going to get worse. Trade him? Of course not, but if he is gonna be injured every year, then Holland is going to have to find someone who is going to fill his shoes on the scoring end, because he just is not producing. Franzen is lazy and he sucks (sorry Lang.) For those of you that are thinking Franzen is going to turn it on come playoffs, I laugh. He won't, but everyone will give him a pass because of one magical playoff in 2008.

[VM1138 1,921]

The fourth line lacks any kind of identity. It's such a random hodgepodge of forwards. Emmerton is clearly the weak link. Replace him with a gritty center and bam, suddenly you've got a balance of speed, grit, and faceoff wins.

[korrowan 111]

The effort in this game is pretty pitiful. This is the 3rd game in a row that the effort by most of the guys (non 3rd line) has been awful. They do realize there are 3 periods in a hockey game right?

[GMRwings1983 8,794]

Did you know? From February 7, 2008 to February 29, 2008 the Red Wings won only one game of the eleven games they played? We all know what happened in June that year right?

This doesn't get mentioned enough around here. I'm glad you brought it up.

This. Imagine how many goals Zetterberg, Datsyuk, would Flippula score in the playoffs if they got to take the first 82 games of the season off?

When we excuse Franzen's lazy play we say "just wait to the playoffs". Well, that's just lip service to the 08 and to some extent 09 playoffs. He's been average since.

does Franzen have a no trade clause? This guy is the total anti-redwing. We have to get rid of him before the next generation of Wings pick up on his work ethic.

Trade him to Anaheim for Selanne. then in the off season, go hard after Parise.

You know what I realize now. Franzen is in his early 30's and it's too late to instill any kind of work ethic in him. He'll never play hard every game, because that's something a player has to learn early on in his career.

Babcock has never really punished him, Holland kept him over Hossa, and he's not likely to be traded. As I stated earlier, he has immunity and knows it.

[jroc86 90]

Franzen reminds me of a smaller, slower, weaker version of "Monster-Bert" back in the 2001-2004 time period when Bert was 250lbs and the leagues best power forward - as a kid growing up in Vancouver at the time it was painful watching him playing because aside from a few explosive plays a game mixing brute strength and butter soft hands (ussually into a highlight reel goal or setup) he would coast around, lose defensive assignments, and never win foot races. 10 years later, 25lbs lighter, a few serious back and knee surgeries and Todd has finally decided to try and play a team game to try and win a cup before he retires but I cant help but think - if he bought in and tried to be a more responsible player a decade ago, imagine the career he would have had. If Franzen can be packaged as part of a deal for a Parise kinda of player sometime in the future Im all for it. That being said, Pavel will be back in 3 or 4 games - so that should help light a fire under his ass.

This doesn't get mentioned enough around here. I'm glad you brought it up.

You know what I realize now. Franzen is in his early 30's and it's too late to instill any kind of work ethic in him. He'll never play hard every game, because that's something a player has to learn early on in his career.

Babcock has never really punished him, Holland kept him over Hossa, and he's not likely to be traded. As I stated earlier, he has immunity and knows it.

[Jeff6851 168]

This doesn't get mentioned enough around here. I'm glad you brought it up.

I made a Bleacher Report article on it even

[chrisdetroit 189]

I never said fire Holland or Babcock....

...and yes, our 4th line is the worst in league. Along with some other teams lines, but it really does suck. Holmstrom (I love him to death) but he needs to sit. He is useless on the 4th line, he obviously isn't the power play specialist he once was which is proven by the lack of power play production. Emmerton looks like he will never be more than what he is, average. Mursak was touted by most of you guys to be on the second line...he has shown nothing. I am not putting blame on them for losing the last three or the woeful road record, that is on the top scorers on this team to step up and be clutch when needed. I give Hudler credit for his attempt last night, but there were others that failed as NHL players. Zetterberg has had a bad back since he signed his life long contract, now we a stuck with that until he retires and his back is only going to get worse. Trade him? Of course not, but if he is gonna be injured every year, then Holland is going to have to find someone who is going to fill his shoes on the scoring end, because he just is not producing. Franzen is lazy and he sucks (sorry Lang.) For those of you that are thinking Franzen is going to turn it on come playoffs, I laugh. He won't, but everyone will give him a pass because of one magical playoff in 2008.

So you are sticking to the opinion that the Wing's 4th line is worse than the Columbus Blue Jacket's 4th line. That just shows that your arguments are not based on logic. And as far as Franzen and his "one magical playoff in 2008"...

2008 18 points in 16 games

2009 23 points in 23 games

2010 18 points in 12 games

That's a total of 59 points in 51 games.

But don't let the facts get in the way of your rantings

[Detroit # 1 Fan 2,204]

So you are sticking to the opinion that the Wing's 4th line is worse than the Columbus Blue Jacket's 4th line. That just shows that your arguments are not based on logic.

Columbus' 4th line is more effective then ours. I'd rather have Derek Dorsett (59 GP 10G 5A -7 177PIM 146 hits) over Jan Mursak (11GP 0G 2A +2 0PIM 7 hits). I'd rather have Derek MacKenzie (61 GP 5G 6A +1 38PIM 175 hits) over Cory Emmerton (52GP 6G 3A +4 10 PIM 28 hits) any day of the week.

Holmstrom-MacKenzie-Dorsett would be a heck of an energy line, alot better then our current 4th line. I understand there Red Wings and people like them, but there are much better options for the 4th line, you know, guys who actually create energy by hitting and getting dirty and creating offense.

[GMRwings1983 8,794]

So you are sticking to the opinion that the Wing's 4th line is worse than the Columbus Blue Jacket's 4th line. That just shows that your arguments are not based on logic. And as far as Franzen and his "one magical playoff in 2008"...

2008 18 points in 16 games

2009 23 points in 23 games

2010 18 points in 12 games

That's a total of 59 points in 51 games.

But don't let the facts get in the way of your rantings

Read post directly below yours.

"Elementary dear chrisdetroit"

Edited February 26, 2012 by GMRwings1983

[LeftWinger 4,951]

Columbus' 4th line is more effective then ours. I'd rather have Derek Dorsett (59 GP 10G 5A -7 177PIM 146 hits) over Jan Mursak (11GP 0G 2A +2 0PIM 7 hits). I'd rather have Derek MacKenzie (61 GP 5G 6A +1 38PIM 175 hits) over Cory Emmerton (52GP 6G 3A +4 10 PIM 28 hits) any day of the week.

Holmstrom-MacKenzie-Dorsett would be a heck of an energy line, alot better then our current 4th line. I understand there Red Wings and people like them, but there are much better options for the 4th line, you know, guys who actually create energy by hitting and getting dirty and creating offense.

Honestly, I would like to see Miller/Abby/Mursak(Holmstrom)for a fourth line and reunite Cleary/Helm/Conner for the third line. But Those two would be nice to see here as well!

ChrisDetroit, don't let those 4th line stats get in the way...and yes, Franzen sucks now, he will be invisible this playoff, guarantee. I said one magical season because everyone who try's to defend him always refers to the 2008 playoff series.

[MulesWillFly93 199]

Okay, so we know Franzen floats a lot in the regular season. Frankly, all I can say about that at this point is too bad for us, but I DO expect him to look alive when a key player like Datsyuk goes down. And he's not. THAT makes me mad. If he can't even look interested when the team really needs him, I've got a huge problem with that. Oh well, there's nothing to be done about it. I hope he decides to wake up for the playoffs, or else he's really no good to anyone whatsoever.

I'd like to see Conner back in the lineup, too (Babcock can figure out the lines). He seems like a hard-working guy, and he'd actually be excited about playing for the big team in March, unlike certain regulars I could name. Sorry I sound so bitter - I know that end-of-the-regular-season stretch is grueling, and we're in WAY better shape than we have been the last two years at this point, but I don't know, these games where we just don't give a flip kind of bum me out a little.

[kipwinger 8,521]

This. Imagine how many goals Zetterberg, Datsyuk, would Flippula score in the playoffs if they got to take the first 82 games of the season off?

When we excuse Franzen's lazy play we say "just wait to the playoffs". Well, that's just lip service to the 08 and to some extent 09 playoffs. He's been average since.

does Franzen have a no trade clause? This guy is the total anti-redwing. We have to get rid of him before the next generation of Wings pick up on his work ethic.

Trade him to Anaheim for Selanne. then in the off season, go hard after Parise.

Agreed. Since the lockout Zetterberg's numbers in the playoffs are better than Franzen's in every category and we don't make excuses for him all season long. We expect stars to be stars in Detroit.