newfy

Cmon man, the last two games we played our asses off. Its just not there this year.

For whatever reason, it just wasnt there.

Lets see what happens in the next 6 months and maybe we will get a surprise. It takes a whole lot of luck and other things to line up to win a cup. Most teams will never experience the 4 I have seen in my lifetime!

Go WIngs!

It wasnt their year because ******* like Filppula and Hudler sit at teh top of the circle flicking weak wristers at a good goalie cause no one wants to get their nose dirty. Too small and weak upfront, feels like back in the day when they had to shake up and trade for Shanny to balance some of that skill out. Nashville has a bunch of guys like Bourque who just have went to the net and got rewarded. The wings used to score like this all the time but Homer is getting older, the grind line is gone and guys like Hudler are in our top 6 ( )

Wouldnt mind seeing the wings go after Ryan Malone maybe, hes been up for trade. Babcock has wanted some more bigger, greasy type players for a while and it seemingly been a weakness for awhile. Time to see if he has the balls to address it. Bertuzzi has size but hes getting old as well. Seems like anyone who plays that style is old or broken for the wings and theyre relying on all their skill and finesse which doesnt work in the playoffs (especially out west)

Hell, even throw Sheahan in on that fourth line next game in replace of Emmerton and see if he can light a little fire up there with his size.

I'll be posting the mother of all UFA lists for grinders coming up here in a few days.

Haha we do it every year, too bad Holland wouldnt just read this site!!!

There are way too many damn pretty boys trying to finesse themselves around the ice on this wings team. Zetterberg and Datsyuk are the most capable but aren't playing the perimeter. Meanwhile, Hudler and Filpulla havent cut int the middle of the ice or crashed the net yet it seems. Theres a reason Rinne can get this many shots and not allow any goals.

Having skilled guys and all is nice but there needs to be a mix. The best line for the wings has been Cleary and Abdelkader because they actually muck, grind and play playoff style hockey. They've crashed the net and generated chances. I cant believe how many weak outside shots I've seen Filppula take but its embarrassing almost.

This team needs grittier scorers. A not broken down Cleary would be a great start, maybe find a guy to replace an aging Homer as well. That gritty Maltby, Mccarty type playoff scoring is lacking from this team. People say that a 4th line barely matters, but having a fourth line getting all over the goalie is what this team needs. This team is just not greasy enough. Parise is a greasy goal scorer and would be a perfect start

This change starts with getting Hudler outta here. Cool he scored 25 goals, but so would a lot of guys given his linemates and ice time. He's soft and small, even if he crashes the net he does nothing cause he gets manhandled. UFA at years end

Replacing Holmstrom with a guy that plays his style of game is also critical. Trying to find a guy like Hornqvist would be huge for this team. Ryan Jones would be nice. He can score around 20 goals but plays a bit like Homer or Cleary as well.

Hopefully getting some of the bigger guys drafted lately into the line up will help. Sheahan doesnt seem that far off and is a big body that is capable of banging around the net and playing that style. This team needs to get some new garbage men. Babcock must be ready to rip his hair out watchign these guys dance around the outside while Rinne eats up everything.

Luke Schenn will definitely be on the trade market this offseason, and with Stuart leaving does anyone think he cuold be a good trade target?

Hes still really young, one of the most physical blueliners in the league and could develop into an Adam Foote type player. He looks brutal in Toronto so his value might be lower than one would expect. I think he could turn out well in Detroit with their strong development of defenseman.

He wouldnt step in right away and replace Stuart but could eat some of his minutes with Smith potentially.

Ericcson or Kindl plus something could get it done.

This thread isnt even about fighting, just soft play in general. Everyone on here always says you dont need to fight, just get a guy back with a big, clean hit. Well did anyone even breathe on Jack Johnson after he roughed up Filppula 3 times for no reason? Where was someone actually hitting Dorsett while he cross checked Kronwall infront of our own net for half of a shift or was running around all game? If youre not gonna fight, at least have some push back to show if you wanna run around so can we, and this wings team just doesnt do it.

Same posters who are against tough hockey always say the wings are fine and blah bla blah but why is Babcock subtly calling out the players to get tougher out there?

"we need Mule and Bert (Todd Bertuzzi) and (Danny) Cleary and Abby (Justin Abdelkader) and (Darren) Helm, when he gets back, all the guys that are capable of being physical."

“It's a physical time of the year coming (in the playoffs). The neutral zone is basically taken out of the game and you got to win the game below the tops of the circles in both zones, and those guys help you do that.''

If Babcock thought that the wings physicality was fine he wouldnt be saying s*** like this, he made a mentoin of it as one of our bigger problems in a loss against friggen columbus for gods sake

Its funny though, Babcock is calling out this teams physicality in an article on mlive but than if a poster or 2 say it on here its terrible and blasphemy. Guy gets a few negatives for saying what Babcock has been saying as well, go figure

B b bb b but for the wings to sign a tough guy he has to be able to score 30 points a year and play 15 minutes a night... eventhough emmerton provides a lot of nothing.

Seriously, Dorsett is under 6 feet, runs around at the end of a blowout game than goes and has his way with the wings next game? This team had no spark last game at all, its pathetic

The Miller salesman that comes into my work used to play hockey at Western.  A couple of weeks ago he told me that the Wings sent Ken Holland, Jimmy D, Chelios, Draper, and more a while back to one of his games. Anyways, Ken Holland apparently had told him that the Wings would like Dan to stay in college for another year. Now that this report has come out that he will stay another year at Western, I wonder if that means he has secretly decided to join the Wings in the future.

Also, I realize that this does sound unreliable coming from me, but if anyone can remember, I did report that the Wings signed Jason Williams on this forum before it was out on the press. (A lot of good he did us)

I remember that, something about you seeing Holland at a baseball game and he told you? A select few ripped on you for about a week until the signing was announced then they all shut up.

I could see this being true. Dekeyser takes one more year in the NCAA, Kindl, Ericcson and Smith battle it out and see who needs to stay. Move one of them and bring in Dekeyser after this season

Maybe you should just drop the whole neg thing and let it go. You are the only person who cares about it, like its some kind of currency or something. This is a Wings message board. Maybe you should just talk about hockey instead of your strange obsession with the +/- buttons that serve no function.

People might actually stop negging you too, just a thought.

I couldnt resist

Me too! I'd hate to see him go anywhere else but here, but NHL or AHL...which would you choose? I just hope he decides to take the I-96 route...

NHL wont happen in toronto either though is the thing lol.


And seriously people youre negging leftwinger as hes sitting here giving us insode info on a top prospect that could be signing with us in days? Yeah lets all neg him so he stops feeding us info, real smart guys  

Smith is better offensively than both Ericsson and Kindl, but he is most definitely NOT better defensively than either player, or anyone else on that side of the bench.  The kid has a lot of talent and he sees the ice phenomenally, but he's also underestimated the speed of oncoming forwards and has been beaten plenty of times in his short stint up.  He has a lot to learn and a lot to get accustom to before he is equal defensively to either Kindl or Ericsson.  I'm not saying he doesn't have that potential, but if we need to preserve a one goal lead late in the third, I'm sending any defenseman out there before Smith.  In two years that will likely change.  But not today.

Ericcson can PK but I dont think Kindl has separated himself from Smith much at all defensively. You also have to remember that he only played a small sample of games and the first three or four alone were him trying to adjust to the game speed. I do think Ericcson has a defensive edge but Kindl has done nothing to show me he would be much better defensively over a full season.

Either way, the offense and physical edge Smith brings is much better than both and I think he should be in the lineup over Kindl easily

Selleck is one of the toughest enforcers in the AHL people, Callahan is a rookie and small and he challenged one of the toughest in the league for a dirty hit. Good on him

Lucic, and Marchand are 2 more right off the top of my head.

I'm not placing blame upon Holland/Nill for not drafting these guys, but to say that we have the "best GM" along with the "best scouts" is a little off the mark in my opinion.

The North American scouts take a lot of crap, they do alright though. Reaching for Smith seems to have paid off big time for example. Howard as well.

But man they should add another scout or 2 or something for North America. If they could pan out a few North Americans more their scouting would be ridiculous. Clifford or Lucic would have this team right where I want it. Abdelkader would be just a complimentary tough guy, and with Smith and one of those guys the wings would have no problem when games got tough and they could still play their style of game.

Maturation takes time.  I would rather Smith get through these growing pains in the minors than in the NHL.

He wont have these growing pains in the AHL. Hes too good for that competition and the little s*** he gets away with down there will make him develop habits he cant get away with at this level. He seems to already be ironing some wrinkles out of his game already

Like in 2008?  We could go back in a time machine and see the same "WINGS NEED TO GET BIGGER" claims a few weeks before they won the cup.  

Well I agree Mursak and Emmerton aren't ready yet, and Holmstrom needs to retire, just getting some big guys isn't going to do anything.  They need to mesh with the team and we aren't built to be a big throw your muscle around team.  So I would rather see them getting replaced by some more well rounded scorers and shooters.  But the last thing I want is one dimensional players just because they are big.

In 2008 some people were probably still saying that, but that team was still by far the most physical the wings had dressed since the lockout. They also had a bottom 6 with identity. The third line was Draper, Cleary and Drake that season and they knew what they were out there to do. Drake had a big hit a game, all 3 forechecked like crazy, Draper was great defensively and Cleary was a very well rounded player back than.

Bringing up the 2008 team compared to now is a joke

I'm gonna skip the car analogies and get to my point lol

The wings are built in a way that when a top guy or 2 gets hurt they completely suck. They dont have the personel in the bottom 6 to switch up the system a bit and play a more rugged style of game necessary when youre using bottom guys to win.

Look at the pens, whenever they have top guys hurt they rally and seem to do just as good as they did before because they play a pretty rugged dump and chase style of game outside of the top few guys.

I dont think Babcock has the guys to start playing that way when you only have one good scoring line. A Gaustad or Moen in the bottom would be a good start.

People always comment when I complain about the bottom 6 saing if thats the worst thing than who cares and think I make a big deal about it, but its true. The wings have 2 good puck possession lines and than 2 lines with no identity. If we had a couple more Helm and Abdelkaders it would make the bottom 6 more effective on the forecheck/ grind it out game and when top guys go down a little tweak away from the skille puck possession game would be possible