yave1964

We are Wings fans, huge wings fans, we live in Mount Gilead, about 40 minutes north of Columbus and get to at least half a dozen CBJ games a year, Within an hour of the announcement my wife already had us signed up on a waiting list for the game and or the skill competition. If we can only get to one it will be the skill competition, Missed the draft a few years ago, glad Columbus has something after how bad the year has been.

Good pickup for the Hawks, a third line center who is good on faceoffs, can move up a line in a pinch. Gives Relief to Bolland and Toews. Still leaves cap room to go after another player before the deadline.

Always thought Kennedy would have a nice breakthrough sooner or later. He really derailed his career a few years ago with going through the arbitration process. Buffalo gave him a taste of reality and he hasnt found his way back to stay in the NHL since. The sharks are a bit thin in bottom six forwards, if he gets the chance he may stick.....

Looking at an eight seed if everything breaks perfect, likely an early out, Cammelleri was a great aquisition both talent and P.R. wise, but is he enough? Personally, I think it is time to shop Kiprusoff. The lightning and Jackets need goaltending desperately. The Jets, leafs and Devils are teams fighting for spots who could use a goalie. The flames have the largest collection of average players with average prospects in recent memories, you know what you are gonna get, year in year out, nobody has a upside which will help the team get to the next level, they are average. Vanilla. I cannot see them trading Iginla, so to break out of this rut it is either blow up the roster or trade Kipper for the best package and go from there. Victor Hedman. Derek Brassard and Steve Mason. Kadri and Schenn. Parise.Enstrom and Burmistrov. Some combo package to get a blue chipper or two gives you guys something to work with. Really, the flames have three choices 1. Trade Iginla and/or Kipper By trading Kiprusoff to aquire help for Iginla it may move the team in the right direction. 2. Trade the 30 something average guys, Morrison, Jokinen, Tanguay, Bouwmeester, Stempniak for the best packages of picks and prospects and let the 20 something average guys play, Moss, Backlund, Bouma, Nemisz and see if any of them have an upside. 3. Status quo and hope for the best. They are in cap trouble, adding Coumeau and Cammelleri was about it unless salary moves out. Truthfully, this is a hard organization to judge, they are neither bad or good. To get to the next level, truthfully they might need to take a step back, they have wonderful fans and I believe they would be patient during the rebuilding.

I thought the two Shark deals, Setaguchi and Heatley for Burns and Havlat combined with losing White as an ufa was a small step back for the Sharks, Burns is known for his inconsistency, all the talent in the world , and Havlat has seen his better days. Right on both counts, but somehow they are still playing elite hockey. I still think they are sitting on a bubble which will burst. They have had very few back to backs so far, their schedule gets tougher from here out, I really think the Kings will win the division and will finally get out of the first round. Been reading rumors, Hemsky to L.A. is on the front burner right now, not sure if he is the right piece but they do need a scorer.

Good job. I picked the Kings to win the cup this year, still think they have a good chance with Quick in goal. Surprised Richards has been as bad as he has this year. The Flyers look like Genuis's with the two trades at this point.

Hope its worth watching!!

Lets look at the standings right now for a minute.... 1. Detroit 2. Canucks 3. Sharks 4. blues 5. Hawks 6. Predators 7. kings 8. everyone else. Realisticly I cannot think of a season that the number one seed has mattered more. No offense to whoever gets the eight seed, Phoenix, Avalanche, Stars, wild or Flames, none of them is in the class as the top seven teams in the west. Whoever gets a one seed would easily in five games tops handle any of those listed, while 2 through 7 beat each other up. In all likelyhood between detroit, the blues and the Hawks, the two who dont win the division will likely face each other in a bitter first round battle. The worst is over for the Wings schedule wise and we have the best record in Hockey, the Blues have a tough stretch coming and the Hawks play a brutal nine game road trip coming out of the break. It is time to put some distance between these guys as the number one seed has the clearest path to the cup.

Yeah, I cant argue that, cheap is the word. I really thought the Avalanche made a horrible deal trading him away but he has been a zero this year, Shattenkirk has been the steal.

Right call by Shanahan, the great eight has a history of this kind of hit and is better than that.

Wow what a game!! A few observations. Pietrangelo had a horrid game. Drilled cleanly by Stuart led to a dumb penalty by chris Stewart and Datsyuk capitalized. Then got knocked down by Franzen before he stuffed in goal number two. Then got ran cleanly by Helm and Colaiocovo took areally, really dumb penalty which led to Kronwalls goal. He is on my fantasy team as my fourth defenseman, have never seen him look so confused and lost out there. I understand Halak has been hot, but I was surprised Elliot wasnt in goal, he has played the Wings tough this year. Jimmy Howard is reminding me more and more every game of an all time favorite of mine, Billy Smith. Since Pavelski and the constant snow showers last year he has found a level, and even though the Wings lost that series in seven you could see the intensity in Howards game grow and it has carried over this year. He has an intangible, his will to win and his god help you if you go into his crease mentality. I know it is silly, but guys like him and vernon Fiddler when they were teamates on Nashville always killed us. Fiddler played us tough in the playoffs with Phoenix and Nichol did the same with San Jose. For some reasons those two seem to score 90 percent of their goals against us, or at least play our top lines so tough. Of course,I could probably grow to like them if they wore the winged wheel. Is Chris Stewart facing a suspension? Suspended earlier this year for his cheap hit on Kronwall, he came off the bench and even tho the puck was a mile away from him went right after Brad Stuart. I know he is having a bad year and is trying to get out of Hitchcocks doghouse but that was cheap.

Been looking forrward to this one for a while. It is getting to the point where if the Blues are a fluke it is a long running fluke, gotta take them serious.Backes is solid, Oshie is having the year everyone expected since his rookie season. Pietrangelo and Shattenkirk on the blueline are solid as can be. Still waiting on the Elliot/Halak bubble to burst but this team is molded around their coach in his style, a pesky style of play, never give an inch, responsible play in their zone, everyone knows their role and god help you if you wind up in Hitch's doghouse (think Chris Stewart). Wings on a 16 game home winning streak but a little smoke and mirrors, too many shootout victories. Franzen got nicked up in the last game, I still think the wings will win tonight but expect the Blues to come out with a lot of emotion, almost like a playoff game. Go Wings!!

Well, my guess is you are looking at Pacioretty at his best. A solid top six/nine who cant carry a team but will be around forever. Subban will be okay, think Mattieu Schneider. Good years/bad years plays on first PP, better as QB on second. Diaz is fairly impressive but not overly so. With the huge franco thing in Quebec, Guy Boucher if he gets canned in Tampa (which I doubt) would be a nice peace offering. You guys need first line players. Maybe you could make a case for Plekanec. Maybe, but that is it.Some nights he is your only real top six player. I know Camellerri was supposed to fix it, same with Gionta, bad signings occur with almost everyone, but keep plugging away. Look at all the Rangers wretched signings before getting Gaborik and Richards. And the one player you didnt mention trading called him untouchable was Carey Price. He is a solid goalie, but what type of return could he net if les habs dealt him? He could fill two solid top six forward spots, take the pressure off a young defense with a good offense as it were.

I know that I am a Wings fan and can be accused of bias, but that hand on the shoulder of Nikitan by Zetterberg was not deserving of a penalty, let alone a game misconduct. Hard to believe Sanford kept them in this game, Columbus went 20 minutes, one full period without a shot after they scored their second goal. 16 in a row at home, only four off the record, but an asterisk needs to apply even if they hit the mark, the 1930 bruins and 1976 flyers did it pre shootout, the amazing number is the 1979-80 flyers 35 undefeated games in a row, wins and ties. 35 straight games with a point!! If the Wings do that, maybe we can finally shake the Hawks preds and blues. Hard to believe the Hawks went from best record in hockey to fifth in the west in one night. God is this gonna be a fun stretch run.......

Columbus played a good solid team game against Nashville two nights ago, outshooting them 38 to 24, everything went well except Rinne had a wonderful game. They looked so defeated and dejected when Weber fired in a shorty into an empty net. The Wings just got four points on a two game road trip, great shootout goals from big Bert and Happy Hudler won the games. 15 game home winning streak, fairly well rested, playing a dejected team, Wings lost to them the first time they played, a little revenge may play a factor too. Look for the Wings to win 5-1 tonight in a solid performance.

He has to be on the short list, wouldnt be surprised if Torotella doesnt win tho, east coast biase and all.

Wings take on the Coyotes this evening, I see this as a possible trap game, kind of like the Isles game week or two ago. The coyotes are hanging around the fringe of the playoffs, got it handed to them by the Ducks last night needing a win. Always emotional when the Wings come to town, we knocked them off in the playoffs two years running. Seems mediocre talents like Korpikoski and Pyatt always do well against us. Short on talent, this is one of the best coached teams in the league though. Expect them to come out hard after last nights debacle.

As a Wings fan, I get to see my fair share of Weber every year, gotta say, he is as perfect of a defensemen as there is in hockey today. Hope Nashville can keep him, a lot of young solid forwards breaking in, if Weber and Suter stay this team could be loaded. Of course, I think Suter is the heir apparent to Lidstrom after this year.

Great article!!! Looking forward to the rest of the divisions.I see Montreal and Buffalo as sellers, boston standing pat unless a perfect deal falls in their laps and Ottawa and Toronto as buyers.

The Sabres have lost nine straight road games, are banged up even more than the Hawks, and seem to have quit on their coach. The hawks should handle these guys easily. They do desperately need defensive help, it boggled my mind that this weeks Hockey news had a nice article about the hawks defense, when in fact they have given up more goals than all but nine teams. I have heard Beauchemin and a few others and wouldnt be surprised if they dont do something sooner rather than later. Also, scout Derek Roy tonight. The little centre has been banged up and having a poor year but a change of scenery would do him a world of good and I could see him in Chicago centering the second line. I hope not, I am a Wings fan, lol but think he is a perfect fit, fixing a glaring weakness.

Only problem with trading Nash is his contract, championships are built from the middle out, and that is an awful lot of money to give to a wing. Somebody might do it, but he will never fetch market value.

Unlike the Oilers and Isles who have done a good job of drafting and stockpiling picks, the Jackets record of first rounders, Filatov, Brassard, Zherdev, Leclaire, Picard Brule is horrible, Only Nash and Klesla have proven sound as a top ten pick. Voracek and brassard were the next best, and they have been minor dissapointments at best. Hard to think Howson deserves another chance. The Oilers and Isles at least have hope, the CBJ are the worst organization in all of hockey. My personal pick for the next GM in Columbus should be Jim Nill, a solid assistant GM for Detroit who has been part of the Wings management team for twenty years. Dont know how someone hasent snagged him up to run their organization, he has a lot of say in the Wings personel, and knows talent.

Not sure what the Sabres are missing, size up front? Heart? A new coach? Spent half the money in the state on free agent signings with a new owner, Leino for that kind of cash was a horrible signing but the others didnt look bad. Not sure what they can do other than blow it all up and start over, Is Miller expendable? Columbus or Tampa Bay would love to get ahold of him. guys like Roy, Stafford and Boyes seem to have all played themselves out of town but doubt anyone would want them. At least the Sabres tried and failed this year, too many teams stand pat and accept mediocrity.

Six minutes to go. Hard to be picky but we have to figure out how to solve this road curse.

Always liked this rivalry, since 1998 when we met in the playoffs and Ozzie gave up the goal in OT from three counties away, then came back to prove he was a champion as the series went forward. Guys like Hatcher, Hull, Gilchrist Turco, Modano have made for some fun exciting hockey. They are a wounded animal right now, their best player, Jamie Benn is out, Mike Ribiero is hurt and even if he plays will be nowhere near 100 per cent. We knocked them off 5-4 a week and a half ago, they have Robidas back but the forwards are hurt, look for the Wings to win 4-2.