so someones back off the Hudler bandwagon i see?

though i agree with you...against San Jose or Anaheim, Hudler’s about as much use as Mitch Albom column..

i’m not betting McCarty into the playoff lineup, and if it is, i bet it won’t be on a line with Draper and Maltby..

i’d make a guess at out lines for the first game (Colorado or Vancouver i’m guessing) being

Franzen - Zetterberg - Sammy
Filppula - Datsyuk - Cleary
Maltby - Draper - Drake
McCarty - Kopecky - Hudler

(don’t expect to see Homer for a while)

i don’t see any way Downey’s anything but a H/S unless we get mad injuries, same with Hartigan. I’d actually bet Hartigan would be in the lineup before Downey.

Posted by Pharazon from England on 03/27/08 at 07:00 AM ET

Samuelsson is such a disappointment.  Not only does he shoot every time he gets the puck, but he misses the net by a mile.  Worse yet, one of his errant shots nearly killed Charlie Buckets.

Frankly, I would rather put him on the 4th line and bring up Kopecky.

Posted by w2j2 on 03/27/08 at 07:10 AM ET

w2j2, I’m with you, Samuelsson’s act is just getting a little old.  The other night against the Blues, he was on a line with Z and Dats most of the night, and while the two of them basically dominated the game almost every shift on the ice, the minute they passed the puck to Samuelsson, the play ended up going the other way.  He can’t receive a pass cleanly for whatever reason, which makes his spot on the point on the power play even more rediculous, and like Chief says, while he shoots a lot, he couldn’t hit the net in soccer.

Posted by Chris from Columbia, Tennessee on 03/27/08 at 07:21 AM ET

Sammy is the new Robert Lang. He is great at turning the puck over, he can’t take a pass, and he sucks.

Posted by Kate from Pa. on 03/27/08 at 07:28 AM ET

F@*K… the NHL network may have finally won.

Posted by BDH on 03/27/08 at 07:38 AM ET

I’ve been saying for a couple of years now that only three things in life are constant:

1: Death
2: Taxes
3: Samuelson will absolutely positively shoot the puck every time, no matter the distance from the goal, the amount of defenders in the way, in spite of a better passing option, and usually from the worst angle attainable.

Posted by moocat on 03/27/08 at 07:42 AM ET

We’ve got something good going for us in the fact we have a lot of depth up front and on D.  And I wouldn’t rule the possibility of Meech up front, he’s relatively well, he adds speed, he is very responsible in his own end, and he finishes his checks.  You can bet that everyone will be used at some point in the playoffs, be it injury, or energy.

Zetterberg / Datsyuk / Cleary
Filppula / Franzen / Samuelsson
Maltby / Draper / McCarty
Kopecky / Drake / Downey

Once Homer gets back, Cleary moves down and Samuelsson hits the bench

Posted by Jdunc from Flint, MI on 03/27/08 at 07:59 AM ET

I agree about Slammin Sammy:

1.  the bastard couldn’t hit the broad side of a barn—yet he shoots at nearly every opportunity;

2.  He is prone to the turnover ala Langsidaisical;

3.  if he does manage to get the puck to stay on his stick, the play, almost immediately thereafter starts going the other way;

HOWEVER, this is his line:
73 g/p, 11g, 29 a, 40 pts, +21

Hard to sit a guy who averages over .5 pts night, and is a +21 player.

Last year during the playoffs the Oompa Loompa was playing way over his head.  Even Babs had to remark, more than once, why he wasn’t getting more minutes.

Gee—isn’t it freaking wonderful to have discussions on who might be a “HEALTHY SCRATCH”!!!

Posted by Jeff OKWingnut from Hockey Netherworld on 03/27/08 at 08:07 AM ET

I’m all for the live blog.

And Samuelsson sucks.

Posted by moore00 from the Ohio State University on 03/27/08 at 08:13 AM ET

Yeah Jeff, he’s +21, but you have to wonder how.  If he plays with Dats and Z a lot, it would be a little bit difficult not to be a plus player.  I’m not totally discounting that stat in Sammy’s case, but I think his +/- total could be a little deceiving.  We all know that he doesn’t do a lot of goal scoring to help his own cause.

Posted by Chris from Columbia, Tennessee on 03/27/08 at 08:28 AM ET

Sammy is the new Robert Lang. He is great at turning the puck over, he can’t take a pass, and he sucks.

Robert Lang could at least get hot for stretches and actually play pretty well for a spell—thus earning the nickname, The Enigma. 

Samuelsson is always colder than a Bubba double-wide in the dead of winter.  He’s is the Un-Enigma.

Not that I’m bidding for that to be included in the next glossary update, by the way.  Like ‘Stillwoozi,’ I wouldn’t get proper credit for it anyway because of the thieving fascist overlord that runs this joint.  Ass.

Posted by O-Joe on 03/27/08 at 08:35 AM ET

Thanks O-Joe.  I’m assuming you’ll be sticking around for the playoffs?  And how the hell do you expect me to remember who created “Stillwoozi”?  Isn’t it fair for me to assume that all the best ones were my own creations?  Ass.

Posted by IwoCPO from Washington, DC on 03/27/08 at 08:42 AM ET

Definitely bring the liveblog back, as with the time difference, it’s a better chance for me to be a windy gasbag about a bunch of European fairies in tight shorts and their flare-tossing fascist fanatics in the context of a sport that has nothing to do with them.

Given that Friday is effectively D-Mac’s NHL tryout for the playoffs, I expect he’ll really get stuck in eagerly, making the big hits, skating for his life, pitching in offense and shots in all possible and impossible situations, playing sound defense and not holding anything back at all.  And if he plays anything like the D-Mac of old, he’ll be *#$%@& awesome to see out there, pardon the sailor-talk.  He’ll be absolutely ragged after the game, but loving every second as the cheers reverberate around the Joe.  Blues fans anguished by the bruises and bangs and crashes on the team they cherish will cry to shake the very foundations of the Gateway Arch, and there will be no wussy-talk on Blues message boards come Saturday.

And I won’t be able to see one minute of it on my television.  Thanks Gary...Ass.

Regardless of what Bitter fans flap their bitchy gums about, I’m still somewhat uncomfortable with Downey not stepping up to King.  He’s bigger and heavier than Downey, but Downey still has a job to do.  I can understand some part of why he did it-- the fear of the idiotic instigator penalty, needing to stay ‘fresh’ and in fighting shape for the playoffs, not wanting an already-injured team to have to play too physical in a non-playoff game, and so on.  But it still leaves a bit of distaste in my mouth.  Probie wouldn’t have turned his back.  Joey Kocur woudldn’t have.  D-Mac was probably in the press box licking his chops at the thought of what he would do Friday-- and it won’t involve walking away.  I still think highly of Downey for what he’s brought to the team this year, and his putting Laperriere in line.  But the fact that nothing ever came of it in the game doesn’t rest easy with me.  Of course, HHD has called him “The Machiavellian Masher,” and perhaps that was one microscopic cog in some catastrphic elaborate plan that I don’t understand.  Like waiting until tomorrow when he’s on home ice to jump King-- a plan fiendishly clever in its intricacies…

Chief, I like your second set of lines.  Makes a lot of sense.  Only like you I don’t think Homer will be back any time soon, so I think Franzen takes his spot, Samuelsson or Kopecky move up, and Downey and D-Mac will both play.

But Samuelsson, on a fully healthy roster, should be on the fourth line.  Dave at Gorilla Crouch made another good point about Sammy, that as he’s seen his offense fall off the face of the earth this season, he should be put on a line that matches the player he is now, not the one he used to be.  Of course, the fact that he went to the crossroads at midnight and bartered his immortal soul with Beelzebub means that he’ll still be in the top-six come playoff time.  But the fact remains that Sammy three years ago was like Cleary today.  Sammy today is like Cleary three years ago.  And that fourth line needs some good defense.  I just wish Babcock would approach him like he supposedly approaches every player-- the whole ‘odometer set back to zero’ after every game, treat ‘em like they just joined the team yesterday and stick ‘em in appropriate places.  A plus-21 on a team that leads the league in plus-minus isn’t all that impressive.  I mean even Lilja is only minus-two, and he was a plus stat for most of this year.  That wouldn’t happen on any other team.  Most of our worst players in terms of plus-minus, the ones who lack offensive flair and don’t score many goals, like Draper, Maltby, and Drake, are still pluses.  And they have some merit because they can go on as a shutdown line against opposition top lines.  That isn’t what we expect from Sammy, although perhaps that’s what we should start demanding.

Watch it, Chief and O-Joe, or I’ll start whining and pouting about William Tell again.  Do you really want that?

Posted by AndrewFromAnnArbor from the War Room, feverishly devising battle plans on 03/27/08 at 09:12 AM ET

I’m all for the live blog because I don’t get NHL Network and I’ve no idea what Versus will cover for the playoffs.  I hate Gary Bettman.  F#$king hate that guy.

First line of D, Z, and Franzen is fine.  Best line in hockey even without Homer.  Whatever mishmash of Cleary, Fil, Hudler, whatever is fine for a second line.  Throw out the grind line for a third and we’re fine.  D is fine.  Stuart coming back will make it the deepest in the playoffs.  I know I am obsessive about this, but goaltending is still the question mark.

The Diggers continue to report that “it’s unclear how Hasek is” with the flu.  MacLeod calmly listens to the Griffins press team, who says Howard is back down.  Presto!  News on Hasek’s flu!

What IS it about the Detroit press?  Why do they all suck?  Why is mitch albom so terrible?  Why must this p*ss me off so much?

Posted by TDeters on 03/27/08 at 09:26 AM ET

Gary is ruining my Friday night once again.  I’m just hopeful that the Blues don’t injure any of our major players.

Look more and more like we are going to have Wings/Dive for the first round unless Bubba pulls off some kind of miracle.

Posted by hockeychic from Denver, CO on 03/27/08 at 09:27 AM ET

Not that I’m bidding for that to be included in the next glossary update, by the way.  Like ‘Stillwoozi,’ I wouldn’t get proper credit for it anyway because of the thieving fascist overlord that runs this joint.

To be expected, I guess, from someone who borrows a smoking hot officer’s wife and darling officer’s kid for a Christmas photo and attempts to pass them off as his own.

Posted by Subic Bay Ray on 03/27/08 at 09:41 AM ET

To be expected, I guess, from someone who borrows a smoking hot officer’s wife and darling officer’s kid for a Christmas photo and attempts to pass them off as his own.

Now that’s good.  Feels like a Chief’s Mess in here all of a sudden.

And my wife is going to be PISSED you referred to her that way...

Posted by IwoCPO from Washington, DC on 03/27/08 at 09:45 AM ET

Sam on the fourth line?  Yep. You’re damned right. It’s where he belongs.

One reason Sammy is a +21 is because he’s learned how to play a pretty good defensive game. On offence, he gets all caught up in making those ridiculous head fakes and trying to toe-drag pucks past the defense. You’re not Pavel, Sammy. The defense knows it and that’s why they end up with the puck instead of your linemates.

But as a fourth-liner, he has some shut-down ability. Personally, I’d like to see Sammy, Kopecky and D-Mac on the fourth line (with Drake-Draper-Malby being the third line). Sound defensively. Some scoring potential. And with the ability to bang some bodies around.

But if Uncle Mike’s love affair with Sammy continues, and he simply has to give him top-two-line minutes, someone needs to teach the guy how to shoot the puck on-net. In fact, just get him to shoot it at the group of guys in front of the net. That shouldn’t be too hard...and then let the mad scamble for the puck lead to one of those “dirty” goals that we all love so much.

Posted by OlderThanChelios from Grand Rapids on 03/27/08 at 10:23 AM ET

Can’t imagine why a woman would be offended by the suggestion that she’s perhaps a snobby, self-absorbed, maddeningly insufferable bitch thinking her social ranking within the all-hands community is derived from the ranking her husband holds militarily.

*shrug*

Posted by O-Joe on 03/27/08 at 11:58 AM ET

@ Andrew:

I have you to blame for keeping me up all night re-reading a book so I’m sluggish today - but that’s okay. 

Here’s the full title/author info:

The Boys of Winter: The Untold Story of a Coach, a Dream, and the 1980 U.S. Olympic Hockey Team

Crown Publishers, 2005

Very well-written book - and structured well, too, which I like.

Posted by Baroque from Michigan on 03/27/08 at 01:41 PM ET

Sammy is ok on the point, but I don’t like it.
You don’t reward your defensemen for taking all the hard knocks and winning the battles in the corners by putting a forward on the point when a PP comes along.
WTF Mikey, are you trying for a clinically depressed defense.

Downey, McCarty, and Drake in the same line-up is cool...just spread ‘em out. Put Drake on the # 2 line, McCarty on the 3rd and Downey on the 4th.

Expecting your policemen to bang their knuckles up on a team missing the playoffs and risking suspension is nothing but a wet dream. Next time out to sea IWO, try pissing in the wind...you don’t even have to report back...I happen to know the results.

Posted by HockeyTownTodd from upset when blogs don’t live up to my expectations on 03/27/08 at 04:30 PM ET

Oh yeah, what I started to say...A live blog beats the hell out of that silly chat rooom

Posted by HockeyTownTodd from upset when blogs don’t live up to my expectations on 03/27/08 at 04:31 PM ET

Sammy on the point makes about as much sense as Jason Williams on the point, and we all know where Williams ended up. They are forwards and have trouble keeping the puck in the zone on the power play. The only forward that ever made it look easy out on the point was Sergei Fedorov. Thanks to Scotty Bowman.

Posted by Kate from Pa. on 03/27/08 at 04:56 PM ET

Oh , I almost forgot. Welcome back D-Mac! Lets Go Red Wings!!!!!

Posted by Kate from Pa. on 03/27/08 at 05:01 PM ET

Here’s the full title/author info

What, no ISBN number? 

Thanks, aniele!  At the risk of sounding like a broken record, that was really sweet of you.  (Where’s that damn thesaurus?) Worth a re-read, and foreword by Jim Craig-- it’s definitely going onto my shopping list.

If it’s any consolation, I’m pretty listless this morning too-- out late at a show last night.  The sacrifices I make for decent music.  As a result, I can’t bring myself to care too much about the groins snapping left and right.

Meh.  Let’s go Wings.

Posted by AndrewFromAnnArbor from the caffeinated IV ward of the DMC on 03/28/08 at 04:46 AM ET