Well, this is convenient for me, as I haven’t left the fetal position since, oh, the middle of February or so…

Posted by mudshark from Divetown, Colorado on 03/20/08 at 02:41 PM ET

I’m already on board the train, I like it here, and I have dibs on my seat.

Note to Wings’ PR staff for next season:  Zetterberg night every freakin game.

As for Stuart, we could always look at the bright side:  ...ummm ...ummm ...ummm ...

Posted by BobTheZee on 03/20/08 at 02:48 PM ET

Note to Wings’ PR staff for next season:  Zetterberg night every freakin game.

No - not fair.

Alternate Zetterberg and Datsyuk nights.  Pavel has never had a hat trick! 

And Stuart will be more important in the second round of the playoffs - more likely to encounter the Ducks then than in the first round.

Posted by Baroque from Michigan on 03/20/08 at 02:57 PM ET

Well, this is just a chance for other guys to step up and… Oh, crap, that was last month’s mantra.

Well, then this is a chance for Stuart to get some rest before the playoffs begin. Oh, crap, that only works if the Sharks aren’t breathing down your neck.

Then, it’s...it’s...oh, crap.

Posted by OlderThanChelios from Grand Rapids on 03/20/08 at 03:00 PM ET

While I’m like you, Chief, and am not going to get all fetal about this latest injury to Stuart, it just seems like we can’t win for losing.  I know that we’re not the only team that has to deal with injuries throughout the course of the season, it just seems like it affects us more than it does other teams.  Look at last year’s playoffs. If Scheider and Kronner don’t get hurt, I guarantee you we win the West, bad officiating aside.  And now this season?  We roll along all season long, and then right about as the All-Star break happens, it’s this guy here is hurt, then that guy is hurt and so on and so forth.  Granted everyone should be back by the time that the playoffs start, or soon thereafter, but I hate it when we lose and the cause of us losing is not because the team played poorly.  We didn’t exactly “lose” to the Poultry last year.  We had 2 of our top d-men hurt and we got SCREWED by the refs as everyone knows.  I don’t have a problem losing to a better team, all things being equal.  It just seems the last few years that the injury bug screws us over, and is trying to do that again this season.

On to tonight’s game against the ‘Turds.  I hesitate to watch this game tonight.  For one, I am going to get stuck watching the Idiot Twins on FSN South, and FSN Detroit is going to be blacked out on my Center Ice, which SUCKS!!!  The other reason is that, for some reason, we don’t play well at the SoGay, and I don’t want to take the chance on feeling like I’m going to throw something through the screen of my 65” t.v. like I did the last time we played Bubba.  Ever since Bubba came into the league, it just seems like our boys take these losers lightly and just suck when they play them.  It drives me nuts, because we all know we’re a better team than them, but for some reason, we play down, yeah I said down, to their level.  It even happened when Scotty was coaching.  But, I hope for the best and expect the worst for tonight I guess.  I of course, want a win and another 2 POINTS!!!

Posted by Chris from Columbia, Tennessee on 03/20/08 at 03:02 PM ET

Just pray that Hank and Pav do not get hurt.

Posted by w2j2 on 03/20/08 at 03:04 PM ET

While I certainly hope and believe that the Red Wings will enter the playoffs relatively healthy, and that Stuart will effectively play through his injury when necessary, I’d like to state the following, for the record:

#*()$(*#$ #$))(*#)($ &#)$*(#*(&$#)*( $#*)! #)*&!*(# @#%$)(* #%(*@ #())!&%&()#$&%^#)!&_(*$!# )#)*@$ DAMN INJURY GODS, YOU )#($*#)(*@#$ &)(*#$)(*@#$ERS!.

Thank you.

Posted by George James Malik from South Lyon, MI on 03/20/08 at 03:15 PM ET

I’m already on the train, but this definitely helps keep me in my seat.  I won’t be too worried about it if he can come back sometime during the mid to late 1st round or even second round of the playoffs.  We should be ok, but damn injury bug, go away already!  Maybe this just means it won’t show up in the post-season?  (fingers crossed)

Posted by Bryan from Athens, OH on 03/20/08 at 03:18 PM ET

I’m sorry, he’s taking a week off from skating because....his finger hurts? I see.

Posted by scsgoal31 from Harrison Twp, MI on 03/20/08 at 03:23 PM ET

I haven’t backed this up with scientific research or anything, but it seems like teams that go on Cup runs get lucky with injuries.  I don’t remember anyone being out in 97-98 or 2002.  Four lines, three d pairings healthy and happy.  We all saw what happend last year with Kronwall and Schneider.

It’s still possible I guess for our top four lines and top three d pairings to be ready to go on April 8.  That’s three weeks away, and I don’t think any of the injuries are more than three weeks.  So there’s still hope, but I’ve seen the Wings end the regular season stronger than this.  I am firmly on the stress train.

Posted by TDeters on 03/20/08 at 03:32 PM ET

Man, here I was all relaxed after the Hank show last night and then I read this.  I guess I’m not getting up off the floor out of my fetal position on the stress train any time soon.

Posted by hockeychic from Denver, CO on 03/20/08 at 03:37 PM ET

Alternate Zetterberg and Datsyuk nights.  Pavel has never had a hat trick!

Let’s see… with 41 home games that would work out to 60 goals for one and 63 for the other.  Ok then, Ms. B, I accept that compromise.

Posted by BobTheZee on 03/20/08 at 03:43 PM ET

Like the rest of you, I panicked when I saw this. Then I started twitching when I saw George swearing. Then, I thought to myself, I might become like the rest of these idiots actually join in that long running metaphor that is out of steam; the stress train.

I decided two things: 1) Meech is going to play a more prominent role and I’m happy about that. 2) I have a ticket for a Stress Plane, and it’s a moeffin Concord…

That’s right: creativity

Posted by Osrt on 03/20/08 at 04:29 PM ET

George swearing doesn’t bother me - too many parentheses and too few ampersands, so I don’t think he’s REALLY upset yet.  The left hand side of the keyboard is for serious symbol-cussing. 

Pre-emptive strike for Andrew:

CALM DOWN and lay off the strange mixed drinks and meth and whatever other mind-altering substances you might be tempted to drink/snort/absorb through you skin! Take a deep breath......slooooowly let it out......everything will be fine. 

Posted by Baroque from Michigan on 03/20/08 at 04:49 PM ET

Is there any chance the Wings are just giving him time off to go home with his wife about to pop out their first child?  I know they’re letting him go home now that’s he’s “hurt”, but I’m curious if that wasn’t the plan to begin with.

Posted by scsgoal31 from Harrison Twp, MI on 03/21/08 at 06:53 AM ET

Pre-emptive strike for Andrew

In light of the last two games, with Dom making THOSE SAVES that we all needed him to make, Hank ending his scoring drought in a big way, and the generally solid games played, I really haven’t taken this news all that badly.  Could be that because before the trade deadline, without Stuart, long before The Plague, with the guys we have now (give or take a few) we were still the best team in the League.  So Stuart’s out?  We can probably get through the first round without him anyhow.  And he’ll probably be craving ice time and the opportunity to hit like a Mack truck when he gets back.  So it sucks, but I’m not losing any sleep over it.  I’ll just relax in my Stress Seat, sipping a tall mint julep and watching the Ozarks roll by.  Thanks for your concern, though Baroque, but I only sell the meth, I don’t use it

A couple of notes from Bubbaland-- The CMOI is back.  Aside from the glorious saves (yes, I know three goals against won’t cut it in April, but I have a bit more confidence in him now), Dom wanted to fight not only Mason, the opposing goalie, but Arnott, a big guy who outweighs him by about fifty pounds.  He had his fist ready to go.  Screw having your teammates stick up for you, he’s our net-front enforcer!  Also, I noticed in the BJs game that Raffi took Stuart’s spot on the second pairing with Kronner.  Maybe they think that since his body slam on Woywitka, he’s a tough guy now.  And finally, did anybody see the fifty-year old woman in the crowd with a face like Keith Richards and pom-poms behind Barry Trotz?  Yikes.  Talk about your puck bunnies.  A terrifying one at that.  She was like, well...a train wreck.  If anybody’s got a screenshot, we can put her and Garcia side by side.

Second PP unit had Kronner with Meech and Lebda alternating (Stuart occasionally before he got injured) on the points, Samuelsson occasionally making an appearance at forward.  Glad to see my long-distance telepathy is getting through to Babs.

Now if I could just get Sasquatch’s head to explode…

Posted by AndrewFromAnnArbor from the Scanner research institute on 03/21/08 at 06:56 AM ET

I really haven’t taken this news all that badly.

Good to hear - you’ve had me worried before.

I don’t doubt that Stuart is injured, but I think it is an opportune time to give him a week or a few days off to visit his wife.  A good mental break for him, and plenty of time to get back in practice before the playoffs.  Babcock sounded before the game as though he expected Stuart back for the start of the playoffs, so that would be on the low end of the recovery time.

Of course, he could always be lying…

Posted by Baroque from Michigan on 03/21/08 at 07:18 AM ET

Thanks for your concern, though Baroque, but I only sell the meth, I don’t use it

NevergetHighonyourownSupply!  Indeed. Your new nickname is Scarface.

Posted by Osrt on 03/21/08 at 09:59 AM ET

I think that left-handed people must swear with their right typing hands...the @ key’s never been the most natural one to reach for me. 

Aside from spearing a guy in the groin (or, in my case, saying, “Hello, and I don’t like where you’re standing” by tapping a guy’s inner thighs with your sticks to remind him that you’re there), the bottom of the blocker hand is a really effective implement.  About fifteen inches of hard plastic and high-density foam end in a point, and these days, the tapered edge means it’s that much more blunt, so when you pull your blocker hand back, you’re not saying, “I will use my catch glove to push you away from my crease without inflicting harm.”

I thought that seeing Meech on the second unit was brilliant.  Samuelsson’s one-timer tends to fade away in lieu of over-passing when he plays on the point, and Meech and Kronwall provide both good outlet passes and enough speed that they can both jump into the rush and scurry back if the Wings get caught by PK players breaking the other way. 

As for the meth, well, there’s a certain song by Nick Oliveri’s Mondo Generator that sums up that jazz, but the lyrics aren’t safe for work.

Posted by George James Malik from South Lyon, MI on 03/21/08 at 01:21 PM ET

Good to hear - you’ve had me worried before.

Oh, that’s really sweet of you, poppet!  Thanks.  I don’t deserve it.

But don’t worry too much about me.  If I’m coming on here to rant, it means I’m most likely okay and not (usually) in some sort of intoxicated irresponsible helpless stupor.  It’s when I disappear from here for a while that you gotta send out the search parties and the St. Bernard with the keg of brandy around its neck.  It means I’m probably on a three day bender, caused by: a Wings Stanley Cup Finals series loss; Bob Seger or Thomas Pynchon kicking the bucket; a close friend being diagnosed with a serious disease; or Matt Millen getting a contract extension.

I think it is an opportune time to give him a week or a few days off to visit his wife

I’d forgotten about Stuart using his injury to visit his eight-month pregnant wife.  Let’s hope he’s describing to her the wonders of the Eastern Market, the liveliness of Greektown, the rockin’ scene of Hamtramck, the hoity-toity shopping of the Somerset Collection, and the great grub at Fishbone or Gator’s.

Your new nickname is Scarface.

Just as long as it’s not on my chin.  Zay hallo to mah leetle fren’!

George, thanks for explaining the blocker.  It sure didn’t look innocuous when Dom wound it up and nearly let it fly…

It almost looked like he was in a meth frenzy. 

Posted by AndrewFromAnnArbor from a conveniently darkened street corner on 03/21/08 at 02:11 PM ET

Yeah, cranking the blocker back is threatening to put the pointy end of a piece of plastic designed to both stop thousands of pucks and withstand the impact of being slammed down end-first on the ice.  You can rearrange facial bones with a “perfect” punch.

Posted by George James Malik from South Lyon, MI on 03/21/08 at 06:20 PM ET