F Williams returns to Red Wings

Hey hey, now the pinkies have gotten another of their "stars" back, it should be clear and easy sailing to the cup, right?.....right......I mean they were completely dominating the league before all of these "stars" got injured......

being a redwing fan, the last thing im worried about is them making the playoffs, this has just been a rest season for the wings, after the last 3 seasons , come playoff time this team is dangerous, may and bertusi can be the grit that the wings lacked last year,but had in 08. with everyone healthy, they are still the team to beat in the west, just ask chicago and sanjose, NO ONE WILL WANT THE WINGS IN THE PLAYOFFS, IT DOESNT MATTER WHERE YOU SEED COME PLAYOFF TIME ANYMORE, WHAT MATTERS IS HOW HEALTHY THEY ARE, thats what cost them the cup last year, 3 full seasons of being beat to hell. screw the presidents cup, the wings want the stanley cup.

Once Holmstrom and Franzen returns..they still have to make roster room even with Abs down in GR. Eaves is safe cause of his PK and seeing that his entire line (Draper, Helm) has been reliable all season.. Miller is young and has meshed with the team great on his limited time here..need to keep him around seeing that he contributes more than just PK. I hate to say it but maybe Maltby would get put on waivers. May won't go anywhere since we have no other enforcers...Leino...had high hopes for him this season but something just isn't right with his style or decisions... What happened to the Leino that had that incredible semi-break-away goal last year??? Howard has been more than anyone could have thought. Looks at his GA and Save Percentage...why would we want to search for a #1 goal tender...and who would we even get at the price of Howard or Osgood?? Lebda or Meech also could be gone. Not sure who would be better to keep around. Lebda has more experience...Meech can also play forward in a pinch.. Lila is under contract so trying to have him clear waivers in hopes that someone takes his contract doesn't seem feasible.

I agree that Helm needs to work on his scoring touch to go along with his incredible speed.. Draper seems to have found his youth again... Seeing that they are our 4th (when everyone is healthy) or 3rd line...any scoring from them is added bonus. It's our top 2 lines that need to produce on a consistent basis...

It is funny how people are writing the wings off. Not making excuses but Detroit has had the second most injury games and to very key people. If most teams had to reach into their minor league system like Detroit had to they would not win many games. Detroit won the cup 2 years ago without Hossa. Samuelson and his 9 shots per game are easily replaced by either Bertuzzi or Williams. Hudler was a loss but not too much of one. And Kopecky is still an OK 4th line player who Detroit has about three players better than him (Miller, Eaves, Helm). I think that this year is perfect for Detroit, all of their young players got a chance to get "seasoned". Not to mention Detroit is still waiting to get Franzen back who has been the best player in the playoffs the last 2 years. Sorry to all you haters but Detroit is not going anywhere, in fact I would put money on it that they will climb up to 4th in the standings by the end of the year and make another run towards the cup.

In case you have missed the last few seasons, it only matters who is hot at the end of the season. Remember Pittsburg, they were out of the playoffs at this time last year and they did alright.

Nice goal Jason Williams. Welcome back.

Abdelkader is as soft as a marshmellow and he is a toasted on one defense, He plays with no daring and does not sacrifice to get to the areas where you score in the NHL. Holmstom gets ugly goals because he pays a price, Abs i hope you hit the weight room and figure out your skill isn't good enough to float around and beat goalies from 40 feet. This season is not over, Wings will be peeking at the time of the playoffs...

Everyone righting off the Wings do so prematurely; they will likely sneak into the playoffs, and like the Coyotes, be a team other teams don't want to face. Win the Cup? hell no, but have more cap room for next next year so can pick up a quality player or two. Will they ever have the firepower they had in the past? Likely not, but to write them off completely as high quality as the organization is with possibly the best GM in the game and a lengthy winning tradition is just nonsense.

As I read some of the people's comment in here, and other places, and question their intelligence. People like to bash success because they are jealous. The wings have the longest active PO appearance streak @ 18 Detroit Red Wings (1991-2009) . You can't stay on the the top of the NHL forever. Other teams, and their fans, would be over joyed to have "half" the success the Red Wings have had over this lot of time. So you Red Wing bashers, get a life, and an IQ.
Go Wings, Nostradamus says so.

Don't count on Williams to be the Wings' savior. He's okay, but not great. His best season was 21 goals several years back, hasn't been much to write about since then. You can shuffle the current Detroit/Grand Rapids roster around all you want, but the critical ingredients are still missing, mostly good, reliable goaltending. Howard has been a pleasant surprise this year, but let's face it, a team shouldn't have to rely on their 2nd string goalie while their #1 sits healthy on the bench. We need to trade/borrow/steal for a solid #1 goalie because Osgood isn't it.

Abby is gone because he can go to Grand Rapids because he doesn't have to go through waivers. When Franzen & Holmstrom come back we will have a problem (roster spots & cap room). I say bye-bye Leino...

Losing Hossa and Hudler was bad. Osgood should be history. But the worst thing is the Wings appear
to be a team in a steep decline. You have to keep getting better in this league and the Wings haven't kept up.
Look at the roster and wince at how overpaid most of the Wings are...

Yes, we need some fire alright. Not in our bellies, maybe in the seat of the pants will help ? If we can't hit the 8th spot by the 3/4 mark, tank it and play for the draft. Right now we're looking just like the Joe. How about 40 mins pay for 40 mins work, and a 1/3 reduction in the ticket price, pay as you exit ?

Glad to see Abdelkader go down to the minors. He will get another chance. Maybe this time around he'll actually contribute a few more points.

The Wings need to get rid of Lilja, perhaps Osgood and I would not mind seeing Lebda or Meech (or both!) disappear in favor of a goal scorer that can contribute in the offensive zone.

Abs is a great player? He's been awful the entire season. I know he's a young guy and will get better but this team has too many players like Abs...Helm, Miller, Eaves. The team needs scoring and Abs has no scoring ability at all at this point. Helm has blazing speed and tenacity but he needs to refine his shooting and scoring ability. Miller is just a fill in player who provides next to nothing. Eaves has shown his ability to shoot the puck at least but doesn't contribute enough either. The team is in trouble. I really think with all the injuries, they've gone so far down the rung that now that they are getting these players back, they still have a team identity of being a bad team. There's a mental block on this team and Babcock needs to find a way to fix it....period.

I'm with Jay. Abby needs to score more points. the wings are struggling in the point scoring department (in standings and in games) and lets face it, williams has a much better avg of points/game. i dont see the need for discussion

Abby was sent down purely because he was waiver exempt. It really has nothing to do with his play. If we all think back to the beginning of the season, the only reason he was not in GR to begin with was because Helm was hurt, then Mule, then Willy...well you get the picture. So, this was bound to happen. He will further his development playing top line minutes 20 minutes a night and come back either for the playoffs or full-time next season.

The Wings lack what I call the fire in the belly. Perhaps winning is not that important to them. I guess that's what happens when you've been successful for a long time. You could tell in game 7 against the Penguins that they simply wanted it more then the Wings. Neither Williams or Abdelkader will make much differance. Making the playoffs and getting bounced in the first round isn't success in my book. Perhaps not making it will let them get some better draft picks who will return the team to their glory years.

I think Abdelkader needs to be here as much as some but lets face it i rather have vetrans in the lineup then rookiesespecially when the points are counting and do we ever need to catch the @#$%hawks and the fruity Sharks lol .

Best part of getting Williams back will be the blaster on the power play.

Abs is a great player but the wings do not need him in the lineup right now. He has one of the lowest +/- ratios on the wings and needs to learn a lot more. He will be someone like Maltby or McCarty in the end. I would much rather see the wings deel their bottom two defense men to make room for Abs and try and get some cap space cleared so he can play. Its all a numbers game b/c the wings don't want to have to risk putting Miller or Eaves on Wavers and Abs is the only one they can spare right now. It would have been great if they can deal Leino but he's pretty much worthless at this point and his salary is a little to high for someone to take on.

"seven points in 15 games" vs. "six points in 50" I think that is the motivating factor at this point.

He has a role, and being rested come playoff time might also be a good thing, assuming they manage to make the playoffs.

Abdelkader needs to be in this lineup somehow if they make it to the Playoffs. All he does is contribute when he's up. Am I missing something? He's the next Holmstrom and needs to start playing consistent minutes.

And this team needs all the help it can get. I like Jason Williams don't get me wrong, but Abdelkader brings an energy that this team needs.