Literally as a I rolled out of bed, I turned on my computer and caught the first wave of Leino tweets. I just woke up and had a gut feeling. Like something was happening, and I should get my day started. Basically what I'm saying here is I have untapped psychic abilities.

As initially broken by CBC's Jeff Marek, Detroit has traded Ville Leino to Philadelphia for Ole-Kristian Tollefsen and a 5th round pick in 2011. Helene St. James reports that, as I assumed, Tollefsen will be waived and sent down to Grand Rapids. UPDATE: Bob McKenzie is reporting that they've already waived him.

I'm actually pretty surprised. I'm seeing some people say "that's it?" but be realistic here. Don't think about Leino's talent level, think about his value as an asset. Leino will be 27 at the start of next season and he has looked like an NHL player in roughly a half dozen NHL games this season. He's under contract for next year, and for whoever acquires him, if you're going to send him to the AHL, or keep him in the press box for a long period of time, he'll probably just go back to Finland. And that's not to say he's selfish, that's just what happens to players who are getting a little to old to not be NHL players.

The worst part is, he never really looked like he fit in with the Wings. He had Langitis (the disease spread by Robert Lang which involves no moving of your feet after you have the puck), he wasn't a two-way player, he was an awkward skater, and although he was great at protecting the puck on the boards, he often got really confused and so focused on protecting it that he wouldn't get rid of it.

It's one thing to get scratched a few times. It's totally another when you largely lose a lineup spot to Brad May. I liked Ville, but he was just not fitting in anywhere in this lineup.

So does that sound like a player that's going to demand a high draft pick or a decent return? Does it sounds like someone you want Detroit to give up a 2nd round pick for? Sure, other teams have probably seen that the guy has great hands. But at this point in his career he's just a short-term gamble. I was about 80% sure they'd end up waiving him out of here. This is more than I expected we'd get.

And what did we get. We got an Olympian. Well, an Olympian for Norway (sorry, Andy, I'd like to hear what you think of OKT though). We've got the next Anders Myrvold here. I actually really liked Ole-Kristian Tollefsen back in his Columbus days. Based on those days, I'd say he's a better option for a #6 than Mebdeech, but that's only because I prefer physical defensemen for the #6 spot.

But there are two problems with that idea:

First, Tollefsen has only played 10 games this year after 18 last year, and it hasn't been a recurring injury. A knee injury kept him out most of last year. This year, he had a concussion that sidelined him earlier this year (his second in three years), and an MCL sprain that sidelined him recently. So admittedly, although I remember him being a good defenseman, that was two years and a ton of injuries ago. He could be an entirely different player. But ask a Jackets fan -- they really liked his game. He didn't make too many mistakes.

Secondly, this was a move to free up cap space, and Tollefsen makes $600,000, so Detroit would really only free up $200,000 after swapping Leino for Tollefsen. He's barely cheaper than Lebda, which actually does make a different if Detroit is really close to the cap. Tollefsen will be a restricted free agent after this season, so at the very least, Detroit can free up a contract if he doesn't work out.

I do like him. It is an interesting idea for Detroit if, knock on wood, something happens to Lilja. But knowing this made it pretty apparent that he'll go to Grand Rapids. At the very least, it gives Detroit flexibility in moving maybe both shape-shifting entities that comprise Mebdeech, knowing that they won't need to rely on the unproven Jakub Kindl or the terrifying Doug Janik for depth in the playoffs. He does seem to be healthy now, so I do recommend everyone check out a Norway game or two to see how he looks against NHL talent. On another note, the Griffins now have two Olympic defensemen (Sergei Kolosov being the other), so long as OKT clears waivers.

Truth be told, I'm probably more excited for the 5th round pick. It's unlikely that OKT makes an impact, but it does give Detroit some flexibility. The 5th round has brough such picks as Kolosov and Danger Helm in the past few years, so I anxiously await 2011 when Detroit can make that pick. I know, I better start scouting.

For as much as I ragged on Ville this year, I'm pretty sad to see him go. I'm not disappointed with what they got for him, just that he didn't work out. I do hope he gets it together, even if it means he's doing it for the Flyers, because he is really skilled. He just didn't look like a Red Wing to me, but you can't deny his talent. Not a huge loss either, considering what we got him for (nothing). And hey, at least he isn't Fabian Brunnstrom.

For starters, I think this is the earliest in a day that I've ever made a post that isn't . I'm going to see so much daylight today.

Last night we recorded the eighth episode of The Obstructed View. I was involved with Casey from Winging it in Motown and Joe from Red Wings Guy with Chris from Motown Wings playing host. If you liked the last show I was on, you'll certainly like this one. I actually have a headset so it doesn't sound like I'm calling in on a phone from the '90s. Also, I was a little more awake so I wasn't just stammering aimlessly. Good news. We talked about Jason Williams, Justin Abdelkader, Mebdeech and the impending roster decisions, Babcock's latest comments "about" Chris Osgood, and a lot more. So check that out here.

Take a second after you listen to applaud the efforts of our producer Brian Kiernicki. Usually this show is recorded Sunday afternoons, but that just didn't work out with everyone's schedule. We recorded this show yesterday at 9PM, with a turn around time of 12 hours for the Tuesday 9AM release date that is generally when people expect this show to come out. Personally, and this isn't a slight to Brian at all, just from my basic knowledge of low long it takes to edit anything, I thought this one would be a little delayed. Sure enough, I'm up early today, and nearly right on the nose of 9AM, the show is released. So as you're listening, just appreciate the hard work Brian did in getting this out in time.

Just passing on the quick note today that I was fortunate enough to interview Landon Ferraro last week, the 32nd overall pick (close enough to the first round, right?). The article is up over at Winging it in Motown, and I wanted to plug it over here while today is still a little slow.

Thanks in large part to Casey over at WIM, we're really just rolling along here and knocking off basically one interview a week. The current count is three, with Ferraro, his linemate (and obviously, a Detroit-contracted player) Willie Coetzee, and another 2009 pick, Nick Jensen. There are definitely more in the works, and without giving anything away since it's not officially official, it looks like we may have landed a big fish for this week.

My question to you all, is what sort of things do you want to know about prospects? Obviously with the way I follow them, I know their backgrounds pretty well and feel like I have unique questions for just about all of them. But I'm always looking for fresh ideas and different areas to focus on. Would more on-ice questions be interesting? Maybe more about what the player does off the ice, how they train? More on their developmental path, how they work with the Wings? Anything. Feedback either in here or over at WIM would be nice, I do intend to use it... I really find this to be an awesome opportunity for me, and the last thing I want is for my questions to get stale, I'm hoping to give everyone a reason to read these interviews every week. Let me know.

For starters, since I'm not up for making a separate post, Gazette Online's Jeff Johnson is spreading the word that Sergei Kolosov was named to Belarus' Olympic team. As you might recall, the word on the street was that Belarus bypassed him, but was going to send Dave Lewis out to personally scout Kolosov and decide whether or not he should make the club. I haven't seen it anywhere else, but as that source covers the Cedar Rapids team Kolosov used to play for, you figure they probably have a tie to him. Good for Sergei, and it will be great for Detroit to see how he fairs against NHL competition. Kolosov draws comparisons to Andreas Lilja and has come a long way in his short AHL career.

Onto the Wings of today -- they lost in a shootout. Gotta start putting a shortcut on my keyboard to type that. It's probably my fault. I ripped Dallas for getting so many loser points, but since then, Detroit's been racking them up and are now within one of Dallas. Whoops. To be fair, Detroit is just much, much better than Dallas.

Honestly, I'm not disappointed with today's performance. They got outshot pretty badly, but I felt like they really reigned in the stupid mistakes and gift-wrapped turnovers. Not entirely void of that, but a step in the right direction.

It was just the offense that couldn't get it going. Contrary to what NBC kept saying about how much of a statement Pittsburgh was making in holding Detroit to so few shots, a little background research (which NBC didn't have time for because they needed a third Sidney Crosby piece to fill out their intermission) would have shown that Detroit's struggled to put the puck on the net lately.

Jimmy Howard will be one of the first people to tell you that. Something like 250 more saves today. Pretty standard, average game from him. I wonder who the starter is.

"It's great, isn't it? It's called goaltending," coach Mike Babcock said. "He battled and gave us a chance."

I ran across that tonight via The Triple Deke, via The Ansar. Babcock is just so cryptic sometimes.

The best news today was that Niklas Kronwall isn't injured. It looked bad and worse during the replay, but it doesn't sound like he'll miss any time. I really have no idea what to make of these things anymore, but we'll see what happens on Tuesday.

It's funny when one play can really set the tone for what people take out of a game (see Todd Bertuzzi for more information). I don't think there's a better example of this than today when Valtteri Filppula missed that open net. That was a terrible, inexcusable miss. But Filppula was great other than that. I feel like since he's come back from his injury he's been quicker and more creative than ever. The finish might not ever come, but I'll take this Filppula any day. Great game from him, but I feel like people are focusing too much on the miss. Could be worse though, imagine how bad Todd would be getting that if it were him. Bert didn't even have a scoring chance today.

On the note of players coming back, I think it's about time we should be seeing Henrik Zetterberg and Dan Cleary step up. Pavel Datsyuk has really taken the reigns and was the best player on the ice today, but Zetterberg was on the inconsistent side, but now awful. Cleary has been pretty invisible lately. I'm wondering where his speed has been lately. I don't remember him carrying the puck much at all lately. That's usually a sign that someone's injured.

San Jose on Tuesday. Sounds like Tomas Holmstrom should be back, since he was close for this game. Hopefully we can give Jimmy a night off; say, less than 40 shots.

As some of you know, I've got a pretty cool writing gig at Hockey's Future, covering Anaheim's prospects among a random handful of articles for other teams. And no, my hatred for Corey Perry, does not get in the way of a fair and unbiased look at their prospects.

If you've never been to the message boards over there, you're missing out. They're too busy and chaotic for me to go regularly, but it's good for a once-a-week stop or so. One of the places I always check out is the Trade Proposals and Free Agency board, which allows users to be their GM and submit their own trade proposals for critique. It's got a reputation as being pretty brutal at times, but I think there are a few decently thought out proposals.

So what I do every once and a while is just do a search for anything containing "Detroit" and decide whether or not I like the ideas. Since once again my real-life "job" hasn't provided me with any "work," I've got some time before the game, and I figure with the trade deadline coming up, it would be a good idea to start keeping an ear on the rumor mill. I'll look at individual players at a later date -- for now, rumors are good for discussion... or a laugh.

If you don't know, with the Olympic break this year, the trade deadline falls in a unique spot. There is a roster freeze during the Olympics that unfreezes two days before the deadline. With two weeks for GMs to do nothing but watch hockey and talk to each to other, a lot of people are expecting some serious talk. That'll either lead to the busiest or most disappointing trade deadline ever.

Let's begin.

A frustrated Boston fan thinks that Detroit would send Brian Rafalski out in return for Tim Thomas and Andrew Ference. While it would be nice to free up Rafalski's contract, I do think he is still useful, and moving him in any fashion is something Detroit would regret if Nick Lidstrom retires. Thomas is from Flint, but that's as far as him coming to Detroit makes sense. He's being outplayed statistically by Boston's younger Tuukka Rask, and it doesn't seem as though Detroit gains anything by throwing him into their already questionable goaltending situation. If Detroit ever moves Rafalski, it would be only to clear salary (he has an NTC, by the way), and Thomas' $5 million cap hit doesn't do much for flexibility. Ference is a decent bottom pairing defenseman, but with Andreas Lilja potentially coming back, he seems like he'd be just as quickly a spare part for Detroit.

A Montreal fan likes the idea of Darren Helm straight up for Jaroslav Halak. I don't understand why Montreal fans don't want two good young goalies at the same time, but it does seem likely either Halak or Carey Price will move. For Detroit, adding another young goalie will not come at the price of what looks to be a guaranteed franchise player. This one is a quick no.

In a trade that looks bad, but sounds a little better when you read the poster's reasoning, a NY Rangers fan submits Brad Stuart and Valtteri Filppula (who everyone wants, as you'll see shortly) for Wade Redden, Enver Lisin, Evgeni Grachev, and Ryan McDonagh. The point of this trade from a Rangers standpoint is to get Redden's ridiculous contract off the books, and reward the team who does it with two top prospects (Grachev and McDonagh) and Lisin, who is one of those players who has top notch skill but can't get it together. It's a no for Detroit though, as they still don't clear the necessary cap room to fit Redden's $6.5 million price tag -- a lofty price for what would be a #4 defenseman. We're not Chicago here, Brian Campbell.

Prepare the laugh track: another Montreal fan is demanding Tomas Tatar, Justin Abdelkader, Ville Leino, and a mid-round pick for Carey Price, Paul Mara, and Matt D'Agostini. Yes, it would be nice to add another team's top two prospects for every player on your team that you want to get rid of. Price is clearly the lesser of the two Montreal goaltending projects, giving Detroit nothing but baggage in exchange for getting rid of Tatar. Mara is an overpaid and lesser version of Brad Stuart, and D'Agostini is a struggling sophomore year player. Even Leino has more points than D'Agostini. The presence of the generic "mid-round pick" being thrown in on Detroit's end just cap off this great idea.

Desperate as ever to get rid of their best player, a Leaf fan has a Tomas Kaberle deal for Detroit. Kaberle is by far the subject of the most proposals on Hockey's Future. This one packages him with Niklas Hagman for Valtteri Filppula (spelled wrong throughout the thread), Jonathan Ericsson, and Detroit's 1st round pick in 2010. Leafs fans are desperate to make up the pick that Brian Burke traded for Phil Kessel, so most of their proposals involve getting a 2010 1st back -- though it definitely won't be as high as the one now in Boston's possession. Kaberle doesn't do much for Detroit as they already have three elite puck-moving defensemen. Hagman is a great player -- but Toronto wanted him bad and threw big bucks at him, ensuring his un-tradeability (that's probably a word) for years to come. Detroit keeps a more skilled version of Toronto's skilled Finn, and doesn't give up yet on Ericsson, who, despite struggles, has the tools to be an elite defender. Sorry, Tronna, keep trying, eh?

A Wings fan thinks that Detroit should pursue Florida's Nathan Horton for Filppula (what did I tell you?), either Abdelkader or Jakub Kindl, and a 3rd round pick. This one does require some thought, but I think I'd turn it down. Horton still has the potential to become a big goal scorer, but it's a big gamble for Detroit. Filppula has just as much potential if he could ever learn to finish, and has a two-way game far more advanced than Horton. The loss of a big prospect hurts when Horton for Filppula is nearly a wash, and the 3rd round pick is the HF standard for "this team should throw in one more thing."

A Los Angeles fan, pumped about probably making the playoffs this year, wants to buy at the deadline. Tomas Holmstrom for Trevor Lewis and a 2nd round pick. Doesn't make sense either way. Detroit just doesn't trade Holmstrom, plain and simple. But the Kings have the second-best net-front player in the league already in Ryan Smyth. Lewis has always been pretty vanilla to me, I don't see him making an impact for Detroit. Holmstrom would be way valuable if Detroit ever absolutely had to sell him, and a checking line prospect with a 2nd round pick is too little in return.

Buffalo and Detroit? Filppula (spelled wrong again) for Drew Stafford. I'm not sure how to feel about it. For starters, I don't think Detroit should trade Filppula because I still think he has the ability to be a bigger point producer, and I think his past few games have been a shining example of his speed and creativity. Stafford is more of a natural finisher, but like the Horton deal, Filppula is the clear winner as a two-way player. That kind of versatility is coveted throughout the league, as you can tell by everyone wanting Filppula. I'd say no, but I wouldn't stop being a Wings fan if it happened.

Trades with big rivals aren't generally too popular and none would be worse than Detroit trading Filppula (spelled wrong for the third time) to Chicago for Cam Barker and Andrew Ladd. It's a good video game trade, but both players are underachievers based on where they were drafted. By this point, Barker should be one of the most promising defenders in the league, and Ladd should be a legitimate power forward. 0-for-2. Meanwhile, seeing Filppula in the wrong shade of red six times a year for the next however many years is a nauseating thought.

A Wings' fan (notice how few Wings propositions fans of the team actually come up with) is all about Scandinavia in a trade that sends Detroit's two Finns, Filppula (spelled correctly -- yay Detroit fans) and Ville Leino, or Brett Lebda, who's last name sounds a little Scandinavian, and a 3rd round pick to Carolina for just one Finn, Tuomo Ruutu and Swede Niclas Wallin. I don't think I'd do this trade with just Filppula, but I guess it would be nice to get anything for Leino or Lebda. Still, not enough from Carolina's end -- plus, they're not exactly huge trade partners with the owner squabbles and all that.

Finally, the newest trade out there has Los Angeles trading Jack Johnson for Brad Stuart, Ville Leino, and a 2011 (why?) 3rd round pick. Accepting this one for pure ironic value is very tempting -- Detroit acquired Stuart from Los Angeles for just a 2nd and 4th round pick, and would be getting a former third overall pick, and a free pass to get rid of Leino in return.

Sadly, nothing stands out as overly exciting. But it was fun to take a look at anyway, right? After the game tonight, I'm hoping to sit down and finally figure out exactly what the deal is with Detroit's cap situation -- as in, how much free space they'd have to make a deal. I suck at math though, so I'll probably spend an hour looking into it and have someone here point out in five minutes some major error I made. We'll see.

This is one of those games that's usually best not to write about the night of. It's usually full of bitterness and strong statements that don't quite hold up after a night of sleep. However, I've got some ideas.

To preface this, this loss sucks. By far the most disappointing of the season, but not the worst. This was a sure win where Detroit looked like the better team for 58 minutes. I said some terrible things during the end of this game, and it ruined my night. This type of game is absolutely inexcusable. And it's not one you can just throw out, because this is a trend that's been happening all season, and it's been happening even more frequently of late. Before I launch into my little spiel, I need to acknowledge that I'm even guilty of some negative thinking via Twitter, something I already regret saying and currently disagree with. I was mad after the game, and the last thing I wanted to read was something along those lines -- as if this wasn't a total team collapse and Howard had a chance.

After reading the thoughts of others on Twitter and the Winging it in Motown game thread, I changed my tune. The mood of the internets right now is something slightly worse than hopelessness. People are taking this loss hard, and I don't blame them. It did give me a little perspective, and the opportunity to say something that maybe other Wings fans won't be saying:

Let's. Be. Positive.

This line of thinking comes from what was recently a major event in my life. Obviously, I'd like to think hockey is something I know a lot about. But what a lot of you probably don't know is that entertainment is what I consider to be my second big interest. Films for one, but also the world that is late night television. If you're interested in that area at all, you're obviously aware of the recent tragedy that is the late night scene at NBC involving Conan O'Brien. I have been absolutely transfixed on this situation over the past three weeks. I've been watching more late night TV than ever, and watching clips of what every late night personality is saying about this in my spare time. The reason is, Conan has always been an idol of mine. He's shaped my sense of humor more than any other single person.

I was the only 6th grader who regularly watched Conan (through re-runs mostly, but there were definitely a few nights I was up until 1, regretting it the next day), and my fascination with the show continued into high school and heavily into college. I have no doubts he'll land a new job, but I couldn't help feeling bitter and a little sad that he lost The Tonight Show. Sure, $33 million is a pretty good deal -- it's not like he was completely screwed over. But when you put yourself in his shoes, it's the job that he worked his whole life to get, and dreamed of getting to that point. How easy would it be for you to give up your childhood dream job for a few bags with dollar signs on them?

These were his final words at his Tonight Show desk:

To all the people watching, I can never thank you enough for your kindness to me and I'll think about it for the rest of my life. All I ask of you is one thing: please don't be cynical. I hate cynicism -- it's my least favorite quality and it doesn't lead anywhere. Nobody in life gets exactly what they thought they were going to get. But if you work really hard and you're kind, amazing things will happen.

That stuck with me. It's not all that deep, but I found it pretty inspiring. He could have said anything he wanted to end his show, but he chose those words. After sticking it to NBC for weeks, he was able to end on a classy note. I really started thinking about it, and was able to apply it to my position as a blogger. Obviously, I dislike losing. But there's nothing that sets me off more than bitterness and cynicism from commenters, even some bloggers, after the Wings lose a game like this. It's pointless. I spend far too much time arguing with people who are being too cynical, when really, things are pretty good. Relatively speaking, to where we could be, that is. We could be a lot worse off. We're in sole position of 8th place, by one point with one game in hand. Over a team playing some absolutely terrible hockey. We could have made up some ground today and made our jobs a lot easier, but that just didn't happen. But it's not over.

There's a ton of time left in this season. Making the playoffs is not nearly going to be as difficult as people are making it out to be. We're 8th now. Ninth place, Calgary, is fading fast. Dallas just isn't good and is finally starting to lose more games in regulation than overtime. Minnesota and St. Louis are playing decent hockey but are still a ways behind. The major threat to Detroit from below is Anaheim, who's starting to get it together after some terrible first half play. Los Angeles is only barely hanging in there after falling from the top of the West, and Nashville still has to play Detroit four times. We control our destiny.

People see games like this, and Washington and Los Angeles where Detroit blew leads, and they say things like "we're not going to make the playoffs with stuff like this." I couldn't disagree more. Larry Murphy had a quote earlier this season about how "there's just a few of those games every year that you just ball up and throw away" and it's become increasingly concerning that Detroit is having too many of those games. As a rule, I would agree with that. However, Detroit has had a ton of those games and are still in a very good place heading into the final 30 games. They got one star player back tonight and have a couple impact players coming back very soon. It is just... ridiculously negative to think that with the guys we have out in the lineup, we're going to continue dominating teams and blowing leads in the waning minutes. It sucks that we've done that as much as we have, but it just... will not keep happening, and that's what I honestly believe.

I take way more good out of this game than bad. What's bad is obvious: we blew a third period lead. We gave away points to a team we need to gain on in the standings. Nearly every goal was the result of a defensive melt down. This "worst loss of the season," "there's always the draft" stuff has got to stop. The following things happened during this games and are reasons for optimism; if you disagree, I will question whether or not we watched the same game.

• Pavel Datsyuk was by far the best forward on the ice, as he has been each of the past ten games, but not as many before that.
  
• Nicklas Lidstrom would easily be a Norris nominee, again, if his past 10-15 games were anything like his first 35. He's been exceptional, and it's clear what most people saying were right -- once he gets his first goal, they are just going to come in bunches. I would wager money that he scores 10 by the end of the year, he looks great out there right now.
• Niklas Kronwall came back and made an impact. He could probably play a little more (21 minutes is a little low for him), but he looked really confident with the puck. Kronwall is the best defenseman in the league at making a move on a defending forward at the blueline, and he did that about four times tonight. It's a sign that it won't take long for him to get to 100%. He made no mistakes. He's not Derek Meech. All good things.
• Detroit's 3rd line continued to be absolutely excellent. Once everyone's healthy and they are likely the "4th line" (which could be before the Olympic break) Detroit will once again be among the deepest teams in the league.
• Detroit dominated for roughly 59 minutes. All but about three minutes in the 2nd, and the final two minutes of the game.
  
• Most importantly, for those saying this is the worst loss of the season, Detroit took a point out of this. They didn't lose 6-0. It's disappointing, but it's not the Islanders. We lost to a team playing good hockey, and a team that did not give up after falling behind twice. Not even close to the worst loss this season.
• This is another tally on the list of teams Detroit has looked clearly superior to in the past few weeks: Chicago, San Jose, Minnesota, Washington, Los Angeles, Dallas, and now Phoenix. Are you afraid of playing any of these teams in a first round matchup?
• Detroit was six inches away from sealing this game with an empty net. You can only blame puck luck so much; but missing an empty net from your own end by six inches is just about the definition of puck luck. And if that isn't enough, Phoenix's 3rd goal went off the inside of Brad Stuart's elbow. You can only beat yourself up so much over that.
• Unlike recently games where Detroit's choked, where offense and capitalizing scoring chances has been the problem, Detroit scored four goals tonight with only three powerplays.
  
• Detroit rebounded from a major setback (two quick goals by Phoenix) for the first time this season when Patrick Eaves scored 11 seconds after Keith Yandle.
• Todd Bertuzzi was very good and actually found some pretty instant chemistry with Valtteri Filppula. Best game from a 2nd line in a month or two.
  
• No weak goals.
• Brad May had three shots and drew a penalty. It's a Festivus miracle.

To me, the team playing well and losing makes is better than the team playing poorly and winning. Granted, only to a certain extent. Making the playoffs is the priority. As long as we're in that position -- the seed doesn't matter to me. Once we get to that point, I'm looking for positive trends that will continue in the future. To me, the individual performances we saw from a handful of players today greatly outweighed the disappointment of the outcome. I don't feel like I'll be completely joined in that thought in the comments tonight.

My second points, briefly: context. Going hand in hand with cynicism, I hate when people take one stat, and use that as a reflection of poor performance. Case in point: people saying Brad Stuart played poorly because he was a -3. Yes, he was a -3. But I can guarantee you that most people pointing this out don't remember what he was doing on the three goals he was on the ice for.

1. He was defending along the boards. Kronwall vacated the front of the net covering a forward in the high slot, and Filppula got beat down low by Yandle. Tremendous pass by a talented playmaker in Radim Vrbata.
2. Stuart and Lidstrom each took a side of the net to protect the pass out front. Before Stuart was completely set, a centering pass banked off his skate and went in front. No Wing, even Howard, knew where it was before it was put in.
3. Jonathan Ericsson abandoned Shane Doan in front of the net and Doan had all day.

Maybe I'm just naive, but I don't see the doom and gloom today that everyone else does. I'm mad, sure, but this won't last. Being a cynic and calling for the head of Babcock, Howard, Stuart, Lidstrom, whoever, is just, frankly, dumb. You don't have to be as positive as me after this, but let's not be needlessly cynical. There's no doubt in my mind this team won't make the playoffs and isn't capable of a long playoff run. And I don't think there's anything from this game or any of the other disappointing ones before it that should make you believe otherwise.

Wings are in Minnesota tomorrow (what is with these back-to-back, different city games, Gary?). I'd expect Chris Osgood to start, but I hope Howard starts. I'll get heat for this after what I said about Osgood blowing leads, but Howard made some huge saves for us. It was a miracle that it took Phoenix as long as it did to tie it up. I fully expect a convincing, thorough effort.

They should come up with a word for that.

Eat your heart out, Mebdeech

Extremely spectacular news today from The Ansar. Too bad he (or almost certainly, his editor) still doesn't know the difference between Niklas and Nicklas.

Guess what? You'll never guess. There's a distinct chance that in the next ten or so days, Johan Franzen will be the only Red Wing injured. Well, because we're the unluckiest team ever, there will probably be some new injuries. But of the current players injured, there's a very distinct chance that Franzen will be the only one injured. Dig this:

• Niklas Kronwall is set to return to the lineup tomorrow. Confirming speculation that I will be booking it back to my apartment after my class gets out at 7:40.
• Jason "This is only significant because he's better on the powerplay than Derek Meech" Williams is looking at a Friday return against Nashville. (thanks to @thenewthomas for bringing to my attention that Meech will leave the lineup tomorrow for Kronwall).
  
• So is Tomas Holmstrom, but based on the face that they also mentioned Sunday's game against Pittsburgh probably means no for Friday. But Wings fans aren't too picky anymore.
• Franzen isn't in the immediate future but seems to be really set on returning before the Olympics. I don't care as long as he's 100% because I would hate nothing more than seeing him come back for two games and tweaking something when he could have an additional three weeks of rest.
• Get this: I solved a mystery. For the past year or so, I've noticed that this guy named Andreas Lilja is listed on our roster. I just wasn't sure who he was. Apparently, he's been having some headaches. Mick dropped a huge bomb on Saturday that Lilja could return next week. Ken Holland gave him the old, "well, nothing's changed" and Wings fans chalked it up to Mick's in-game beverage habits. However, apparently what Ken Holland didn't say was that Lilja has been thirteen days without headaches, and doctors will clear him if he makes it fourteen days. Pray to your deity, sacrifice something, do whatever you can to make sure Lilja makes it through this last day. Don't make any annoying loud noises either, just in case. He works out like crazy and practices every day. Is 1-2 weeks an unreasonable time frame if he gets cleared by doctors?
  

Now the questions arise as to what Detroit can do to make room for this. They have 21 players on the active roster. Kronwall makes 22. Holmstrom and Williams makes 24, putting Detroit one over the limit. The easy solution is sending Justin Abdelkader down to the AHL, but he's 12th in the league in hits. He's looked very good at times, although a little shot of confidence (although Grand Rapids kinda sucks right now) from the AHL might help his offensive game. Other options include trading Derek Meech or Ville Leino or biting the bullet and sending Bray May down to the AHL. Doesn't seem like something Detroit would do, but the bottom line is Abdelkader is one of the team's best 12 forwards and at least needs to be in the playoff roster.

Thoughts? Scenarios? It's just so nice to get all this unbad news at once.