dobbles

blackhawk fans hate us but i don't think they're on that level.

i think you underestimate the douchebaggery of chicago fans...

That is the answer, but that is also where the problem lies. Every defensman we have is in the mold of Lidstrom. Of all of the defensman, who do you expect to do what you are asking them to do? Keeping Lids out of the equation, I can name you 5 other's that aren't: Kronwall, Stuart, Kindl, White & Ericsson. That leaves noone. So until Babs puts away his pride and give Commodore a legit shot at playing or Holland gets off the soft-euro train and actually gets that type of defensman, then it isn't going to happen and Jimmy will wind up hurt one day and then we'll be stuck with Conklin/MacDonald for the playoffs. That is until someone runs one of them into an injury. Don't get me wrong, it's fine to have some of your defenders in the mold of Lidstrom, as a matter of fact, you NEED them, but draw the line at Lidstrom, Stuart, White and Kronwall. Ericsson is hot garbage and even though Kindl has been very solid, he is just another soft European player.  I am not bashing just the Euro's, if they had a Euro that would hit and defend his team, that would be great, but Holland likes a certain type whether they are Euro or North American, and that is what we have. I am not saying Commodore is the answer either, but JHC, let's see if he is, eh?!?! I don't believe in Smith personally, but if he is the answer, let's bring his ass up here, sit Ericsson, and let's see if he can make his presence felt. We cannot argue with the teams record, but one of these times Datsyuk or Howard gets hit, they aren't going to get up...

oh i agree with what you are saying. i just think our dmen should be expected to stand up for him. a huge dude like ericsson should be expected to protect howard and if he doesn't he should get called out by babcock, teammates, holland, fans, ken and mick or whomever... same goes for stuart and kronwall. both are guys that are physical players. they can't be shying away from after the whistle stuff. the defensemen we have are good players, i just think they should be expected to stand up for their team. and the people that matter don't hold them accountable.

minus 6 neg on my post for speaking the truth.  guess some of our fans run away and are gutless too.

or perhaps you are just an idiot?




regarding the issue, i agree with the folks that just an enforcer isn't the answer. we need defensemen that will make guys pay for driving the net by either tackling them and/or punching their face in. aside from lidstrom, every single dman we have should be willing to do whatever it takes to protect howard and drop the gloves at the slightest hint of taking liberties.

aside from getting rest which might be important to the team if conklin continues to blow chunks, the biggest reason to not vote him in to me is to give him a couple days to go home and spend time with his wife and baby. i can only imagine having to be away from home so much with a newborn.

sure being in the allstar game in an honor, but theres plenty of years left for that.

i like the taunting. hockey needs some more enthusiasm, passion, hatred, etc...

i think downie should be disciplined for leaving the bench. if he wants to get back at him great, but do it when your actually on the ice.

I'd replace him with Smith. Permanently.

if he continues to play bad, i think that would be in the teams best interest later in the season. getting smith significant games this year especially with lidstrom still on the roster would be huge for his development as he could really hit the ground running next season as an experienced guy. and with how bad E looks at times, the short term trade off would be negligible which is why the long term benefits would be huge.

now i doubt it does happen. but to me it might be what should happen if things continue.

as wings fans its in our best interest for E to play better. so i have no reason to root against the guy. but we have to be realistic and see that he continues to not improve after several years in the league. his contract makes it so he cant just be the guy you dont notice. he now has to contribute in a positive way to earn his pay. i just dont see that happening on a regular basis.

i think ericsson deserves to sit for commodore for a game or two. there needs to be consequences for bad play.

we could paint the number 52 on a pylon and pay it 3 million and it would be more effective.

i am sof****** sick of games on nhl network. nhln's studio show sucks ballz ever since they brought in jamie mclennan. that guy licks *******.

i love how everyone loves to rag on drew miller, yet the guy is +7 this year! i am not about to say plus/minus is everything. but think about it at the most basic level, if the bottom 6 is such a weakness, then wouldn't they all have bad plus minus ratings because they are giving up too many goals against? yet none of them do. bruunstrom is -2 in 4 games and bertuzzi is -1 in 11 games. thats it for bottom 6 guys. everyone else is even or plus. and heck, bertuzzi was last on the entire team 2 years ago so -1 ain't half bad for him!

i know people love to rip on plus minus, but to me it points to this basic premise: what games out of the 8 losses can be attributed to bottom 6 play? i would argue none of the losses have really been their fault nor have they even been significant factors in most losses. also, if having a more physical bottom 6 is essential, what games were lost because of a lack of physical play? the wings losses are because they are s*** on the PP and have not gotten solid play from their top 6. i really don't think a bottom 6 guy making some big hits is going to get dan cleary's head out of his ass...

i would love to imrpove the bottom 6. i would love to improve lots of parts of this team. but they aren't the problem. i dont even think they have underperformed. i would love to see a guy like brandon prust on this team, but i really don't think it would have improved the wings record at all.

this thread is stupid. the assumption is that we dont draft first rounders that turn into point per game players. and while true, its not important. the wings draft their point per game players in any round of the draft. detroit has an amazing amount of guys drafted and developed on their own. many more players that were traded in return for other assets that were drafted and developed. not to mention a pretty good track record of finding other peoples diamonds in the rough and turning them around.

the team is 5 and 4. its october. we all have our own reasons for why the team has been losing. but lack of good drafting or player development is the LAST place anyone needs to look as to why this team has been in a funk the last week or two. bad drafting and development is a long term, large scale overarching problem. to imply that it is an issue would be to imply that the wings have been having trouble for a while. thats just not the case. as disappointed as we all were the last 2 springs, there were only 4 teams that made it further than the wings. and i am pretty sure the wings have played more playoff games since the lockout than anyone. they are obviously doing just fine without any first round picks that were point per game players.

are youf****** kidding me????

why the f*** cant i watch the game?!?!?!

NHLN is showing HNIC and my CI channels both say the wings game is blacked out (because of NHLN)

edit:  nevermind. all of a sudden the wings are on... that was a close one!

i agree. i think he brings more to the table than miller. and i think depending on how things go, holmstrom will soon need to be regularly scratched to give other guys the chance to play.

Besides it not really being fair to judge Ericsson after four games, I disagree with the notion that Ericsson has been bad so far. Certainly room for improvement, but how many of us were scared to watch when we saw Ericsson and Kindl together before the first game? That pairing has done quite well so far.

we have had several years to judge him. and IMO, he has shown nothing in the first 4 games to show he is any different from last year. additionally, IMO kindl has by far been the better player in the pairing and is the reason they haven't looked that bad.

I kind of look at it this way with Ericsson: if I don't notice him during a game, that's usually a positive. If he kills penalties, keeps working in his own zone and doesn't excessively turn the puck over, I am just fine with him as a third pairing d-man.

i don't think his contract allows us to take that opinion anymore. he is the 3rd highest cap hit for dmen and the 6th highest on the entire team. (those numbers drop to 4 and 8 respectively when looking at actual salary) he no longer has the luxury of being the bottom pairing guy that is successful by floating under the radar.