Broken 16

One needed change will be the end of the Holmstrom era hopefully. He was only effective in front of the net and now the league has basically taken that away from him by targeting him.

Personally... I don't see the reason to continue hanging on to some (most) of the second tier players after they have won a Cup on the Wings with a regular roster spot.


Cleary, Hudler and Flip could all leave town for instance and I'd be fine with it. Defense is a little tougher with Lidstrom's future still up in the air and Rafalski's contract winding down but it wouldn't break my heart to see Stuart and/or Kronwall go too.

It makes me sick to hear that, because I think the Wings played with nothing but heart, and expended nothing but whatever fumes they had remaining in their tank at the end.  I DO NOT BUY that ANY player on a team that work sof****** hard to get where they are "plays with no heart", even when they do poorly.

There were no energy reserves for the Wings players to have to pace in the last five minutes, so they sprinted with all they had left, to try to convert the finish into a forced overtime.  And it was a MAGNIFICENT effort - which many fans took as a slap in the face, as if they somehow had ALL that energy to expend over 60 minutes of play. f***! How maddening that must be for them, how can nobody see that?

The last two games helped to ramp the Wings stamina back up some, and will no doubt pay dividends as the next three days of rest puts badly needed fuel back into their (now capacity increased) tanks.  The Wings skated better in Game 2 (so said Babcock, so disagree with him, not me), but so did the Sharks. However, the Sharks were already near their peak capacity. For that reason, I fully expect the Wings will be able to skate MUCH better in Game 3, even relative to the Sharks.

And some will say "they finally showed up", "they finally played with some heart this time".  :::: GAG - VOMIT - SPIT ::::

Go do push-ups until I get tired, because if you can't do as many as I want you to do, a terrorist is going to shoot your mother.  And when, finally, you cannot raise your body even an inch above the floor, I will kick you squarely in the face, then hard to the stomach, for not doing pushups 'with heart'.

The Wings need to work harder and skate harder. Write as many paragraphs as you want to explain it, but that is what it is. If every athlete has heart just because they made pro (which makes no sense to me btw), then they should all know how to stay in somewhat shape over an 8 day stretch. The only reason they needed to sprint at the end was because they wasted all their energy being out of position and trying to retrieve passes out of their skates all game long, while chasing around a San Jose team that is supporting each other very well atm.

Days off don't make nearly the impact that you claim. Teams don't become extra gassed at the end of a game because they had an extra day off... they get gassed at the end of a game when they play with their heads up their asses all game long and have to keep turning and reaching all game long.

Players play the game. Babcock can't go out on the ice and physically put players into position to support each other. That takes a little determination and desire from the players and the Sharks are just doing it better right now. These guys have been playing puck possession for years. They don't need to be reminded every ten minutes to support each other, they just need to get off their asses and do it.

Happens every game for every team. Tons of missed and blown calls. They are not special in that regard by any stretch. Do you have any idea how many times a night Datsyuk gets dragged down with no call? Canucks need to stop blaming the refs... and the flu... and whatever else they can come up with and just win the game.

Holmstrom gets brutally mauled every game and Canuck fans are gonna cite a broken stick and a punch in the face as missed calls? LMAO!

Seems that these days, a 3-0 playoff series lead is the most dangerous.

Tell ya one thing, if this is a result of league parity, then I'm loving the salary cap right about now.

Milbury calling for octopi. I hate when he makes me like him...

I could see Modano taking Miller's spot. While Miller has been awesome on the PK, that line is begging for someone with more offense to make it a scoring threat.

Ya, but will the gain of Modano's offense be enough to make up for the loss of Miller's defense and hard work? Not too sure about that.

Wonder how Ovechkin feels about Semin voting for Datsyuk, haha.

I doubt he cares. The Russian players have always seemed very supportive of eachother.

i think 'good staff' (if you google-translate it to russian) comes very close to what you actually meant.
'дерьмо' - has always a negative meaning in russian.

It translated to 'good s***' for me... which it is.  

Good job Hank.  

Datsyuk also provided his explanation of his coach Mike Babcock's words when Babcock told The Detroit News:

"As soon a Pavel gets on the ice, the whole team suddenly has more space and has the puck way more."


"I think he meant that I am really small," Datsyuk explained.  "So when I, a small slim person, am on the ice, there is more room for bigger guys. Maybe he said that to cheer me up that I look skinny!"

That's GOLD Jerry! GOLD I TELL YA!


Seriously, how lucky are we to have this guy on the Wings?

The lack of professionalism amongst NHL referees disgusts me almost every game. They are a joke. That's all I'm gonna say.

Agree with eva. I just don't see Modano's game elevating much. He might look ok out there right now but he's doing little more than floating around hoping to get off a one time wrister. Not impressive so far.

So everyone who says fighting has no place in the game, isn't it odd that the wings go down 3-0, Bertuzzi puts a good licking on Nashvilles toughest player and all of a sudden the wings have momentum swung their way and a comeback made?

I strongly believe fighting can sway the momentum of a game, from playing and watching games like this.

Anyone think Bertuzzi didnt play a big role in this comeback?

PS.. what has gotten into Bert lately? Playing like his old self between his 2 fights today and getting ejected last game. Just in time for the playoffs

I've never heard anyone suggest that fighting has no place in the game. Just that it isn't a priority in the Wings system. Which it isn't.

I believe...


I believe that a loss from a team who has locked up a playoff spot basically months ago to a bottom feeder that won't make the playoffs means NOTHING once the playoffs start.

Go Wings!

Kindl>Ericsson

Ericsson still looks like a lost puppy on the ice and it's been two seasons now.