Uncle Danny

Please someone do something with Maid Marian and The vicious hook he received from Kronner  around the waist that tripped him.

On Cleary, the fact that he scored on "flukes" wasn't flukey at all.  He was doing exactly what he should be doing: going to the net and being in the right place at the right time.  I'll grant you that his body is breaking down some, however, he is EXACTLY the type of guy I want playing for us right now.  He knows his role, he digs and works harder than anyone else on the ice every single shift, and has been to a few rodeos before... oh, and he's scoring.  Grit, determination, hard work and experience.  That sounds like a playoff warrior to me.  He's playing beyond what his body should allow at this point, showing the kids how it's supposed to be done, and that's beyond admirable.

Well said, aside from his 5 points, there were a fair few other goals we scored this series where Cleary was screening the goalie and didn't get an assist.  And as was pointed out in the game 7 GDT he was talking a lot to the rookies on the bench too.

Sure the guys's body is breaking down, but why is it breaking down?  Because this MAN has put his body on the line time after time after time for this team.  Cleary is going to suffer for the rest of his life for what he has put his body through, a little more gratitude and respect from certain keyboard warriors would not be out of place, instead of the graceless, thankless running out of town that seems de rigeur.

What were Z and Getzlaf arguing about?

Z pointed out that he has more hair on his chin than Getzlaf has on his whole head.

not mine but funny

"The ever on going debate Hossa or Franzen, Franzen or Hossa, which one should we have kept?"

I HATE this question.  I hear it all the time on LGW, as if it was some clear A vs. B choice.  Nobody ever says "Why did we keep Zetterberg or Kronwall instead of Hossa", even though those guys have more comparable contracts - they only want to compare the two LH-shooting Euro power forwards.

Here is why I lose ZERO sleep over the Hossa vs. Franzen thing:

• Hossa was a known mercenary from the day we signed him.  He was a mercenary for Pittsburgh, and he was a stopgap solution for us.  If both sides had been so committed to keeping Hossa here long term, he would've gotten more than the glorified "Alex Semin" one-year deal that he got in July 2008 from us (1 year, $7.45 mil, IIRC)
• Franzen and Hossa were roughly the same age (both born in 1979) and have similarities in their game, so spending $10 mil + on the same type of player would have been superfluous when we needed to sign goaltending and defense at the time.
• At the end of 2009, Franzen's reputation was as a clutch playoff performer, whereas Hossa had a disappointing playoff performance, which soured the fanbase on him.  (The same fanbase, btw, ignores the fact that Datsyuk scored all of 1 goal in the '09 Playoffs on a bad foot, and celebrates Lidstrom's toughness for his "groin" injury, while ignoring played all 23 games with a destroyed shoulder)
• Franzen's contract was FAR more favorable heading into an uncertain CBA situation.  Not only is the cap hit about $1.3 million less, but it's a year shorter, and notably less egregious in terms of circumventing the CBA with "backdiver" provisions, which was a growing concern of the NHL at that time, as they cracked down on the Kovalchuk deal
• While both are "power forwards" (and Hossa's defensive game is admittedly better), Franzen seemed the more likely of the two to assume the role of "guy who stands in front of the net, screens goalies, and picks up garbage goals.  Holmstrom was on his way out, and the Wings really hadn't been absent a player of that type dating back to Ciccarelli in the mid-90's.  Hossa is a better overall player, but (particularly in the '09 Playoffs), he plays more of a finesse game and stays on the perimeter a bit.
• Amnesty buyout.  This whole conversation basically became moot anyway in the 2013 CBA.  If Franzen's contract is so bad, they can just buy it out, rather than keeping it until 2020.  If they don't do that, and elect to keep him despite the lower salary cap and other changes in the CBA, that tells you that they probably still view it as a pretty good contract.
• The Hossa signing only "worked" for Chicago because they had to bend and twist the 2005 CBA in every way possible.  It was perceived at the time that it might cost them one of their other core players down the road, like Duncan Keith.  What they did instead was bury Huet in the minors (which you can no longer do) and thin out all their role players, which led to early exits in 2011 and 2012.  They have since rebuilt those lower lines, so the Hossa experiment has "worked", but it's not clear that it also would have "worked" for us.

Oh, hi Filppula with GWG and major assist now that he plays with competent linemate.

"It is an impressively arrogant move to conclude that just because you don’t like something, it is empirically not good. I don’t like Chinese food, but I don’t write articles trying to prove it doesn’t exist." -Tina Fey

I can't help but cringe when reading some of these comments... Filppula hasn't had a very productive year point wise but to say he isn't worth the money to resign him is flat out ridiculous. He doesn't always put up points but he is a very valuable player on both sides of the puck, whether he is pick-pocketing an opponent or spending valuable time in the offensive zone wearing down the other team. To say Val isn't hard on the puck is crazy, I would have agreed with this statement two years ago but the past year and a half he has been a force in all three zones and extremely hard to strip off the puck.

He is worth anywhere between the $4 - 4.25 mil he WILL receive. Just ask any other team that would love to have a dependible guy like Val on their team, almost every GM in the league would love for him to become available to throw upwards of $5 mil easy his way. He is the type of player every coach loves to have on their team, the guy you know plays hard every shift and backchecks on every play. The points will come, I'm very confident in that, just like the entire Red Wing brass. Filppula WILL be resigned so accept it and move on. Just like all the Ericsson haters on here just one year ago you will eat your words. Count on it.

There is so much negativity on here, I can't help but laugh at times... We are now going into the second round of the Playoffs (thanks to Filppula's game winner) to play against the Blackhawks. It's sad that so many "fans" (and I use that word loosely) counted us out of even making the playoffs halfway through the season. Sad...

Go Wings!!

^^Objects in mirror are losing is mine

My first submission of probably many for this series. Created minutes after the game concluded tonight.

No matter what happens, I'm proud of this team. With all the changes, all the kids, and the short season with next to no training camp and no pre season. The way they responded when in a situation where they had to win out the last 4 games of the season just to make the playoffs. Having the kids learn playoff intensity on the fly and make this a hell of a series that WILL go to game 7. 

Love the direction this Wings squad is going, and even if no moves are made, this team will be even better next year. 

When most teams rebuild, they dwell in the basement for a few seasons. When the Wings rebuild, we give the #2 seed all they can handle in the playoffs. And when we force game 7, anything can happen! BELIEVE

This seems pretty childish to be honest. All I can think of when I read this thread for the first time yesterday was when I was in first grade and someone told on me for saying a bad word, and then I tried to bring all the others down with me by telling on them to a different teacher. Abby got a suspension for a flying elbow, it's not a huge deal. There is no need to make a thread to blame Shanahan on incidents that he's "missed" as a way to somehow reconcile your displeasure. I'm fairly certain if Abby was not suspended, this thread would not have been here and instead the tone would be along the lines of "Shanahan is letting the players play real hockey!!!"

Are we really still stuck on this subject?  Really?