UP-Wings Fan

The great thing about being a fan of any team is that you get to choose how much passion you put into it, and how much pain you tolerate from it, and perhaps how much money you spend on it! I love being a fan of the Red Wings! I jump up off the couch screaming and hollering when things don't go well. I jump up off the couch cheering when we score that much needed goal. I throw my Wings hat at the TV often, sometimes leave it there until morning. I'm critical of the players when they are playing poorly, and yes this includes our star players. I'm extremely critical of the players that don't develop into what we thought they would. I'm critical of the coaching, scratch my head and cuss when Babcock doesn't seem to know what he's doing. I'm excited by the young prospects in the organization, and love to read about them and watch them when I can. I hate just making the playoffs, but love making the playoffs! Bottom line for me, a true fan experiences all these emotions I describe above, and that true fan wears his Wings hat proudly the next day no matter what! Had the Wings been knocked out of the playoffs this year, my hat would still be on my head the next day! Love the Wings! GO WINGS!

Trading him would be a good thing, unfortunately there isn't a lot of value there so upgrading from him would be difficult. He is still young by Wings standards though, with only two full seasons under his belt, so I may be apt to give him more time to develop. After all the Wings, and many from this forum, have given Ericsson 6 full seasons, and he still coughs the puck up like a rookie! (but that is another topic). Smith's current upside does not balance his down side! He needs to improve greatly to swing that to an up side that significantly out weighs his down side! GO WINGS!

GO WINGS As Wings fans we often over look the challenges faced by hockey players attempting to win the big trophy, the Stanley Cup. We've been spoiled by the Red Wings winning ways. Every year we expect them to go deep into the playoffs. This year they have done what many previous year Champions cannot accomplish, a return trip to the finals. I'm proud to be a Wings fan, Win or lose! I'm very confident that the Wings will rise to the occasion, as they always do, and will be skating with Stanley Friday night around the Joe! GO WINGS!

Agreed! Bottom line is that Championship teams play through all adversity! Including poorly officiated games, bad bounces, cheap shots, etc., etc.. The Wings do it with pride and integrity game in game out. GO WINGS!

The question isn't power plays anyways, if you are going to attempt to prove that the games have been "tipped" in one teams favor, you really should look (with no bias) at full game videos and total up the "No Calls" of each game. ie the number of potentail power plays that other teams don't get. To be most accurate you would have to rank the severity of the "No Calls" as well, and weight the results based on the ranking.

This whole topic is a bit of a joke. Yes, the top players on the Wings are not scoring, Dats = no goals in the playoffs, Z = mostly empty netters, Hossa = 2 goals against the Ducks. You need to look deeper than goals and assists, and even beyond the ± stat, what these players bring to the ice is a huge threat to score if left uncovered. Teams are smothering them to prevent them from scoring, which opens up the ice for Frazen, Cleary, Filppula, Hudler, etc. Without the Wings top guys and the threat they are, the others would garner more attention, as Frazen will in the future. Where the Wings are always underated is the depth and skill that is developed in GR by the supporting cast, the guys that have to work harder day in and day out, because they are not blessed with the skill that Dats and Hossa have. Depth is the key, as has been proven, and will continue to be proven! Don't question the contribution of the top guys, as their production requires measurement in other ways!