Anyway, Torts is right, Buffalo didn't play all that well last night. The Rangers were just awful. Hopefully the team gets the hint and comes out on fire tomorrow in Winnipeg.

Hank kept them in the game with a solid first period, but the fact that they could only manage one shorthanded goal (against a power play that was somehow more pathetic than theirs, no less) last night was pathetic.

Hell, he's been on Detroit's second line, it's not like he's got no talent.

I was sitting next to the Wings' penalty box in Columbus on Saturday. Abdelkader took 2 minutes for diving (it looked like he was trying out for the Italian national soccer team) and wound up sitting next to me.

I heckled him for a bit about the dive. Nothing noteworthy like my encounters with Malkin, Downey, or Montador. Abdelkaer just kept drinking his water and spitting it on the pick freezer.

My friend didn't yell. He just said, "C'mon! Quit spitting on the puck freezer! Ron (the guy in the box) has to handle that." So Abdelkader grabbed a towel, wiped the spit off the freezer and smiled. We quit heckling after that.

There are a few teams I could see being interested in a pure sniper. He's only signed for one more season at his current rate ($7.5M, I think).

Thing is we'd need a solid second line guy coming back. Don't know if Abdelkader fits the bill there.

As an aside, I remember people justifying their dislike of trading for Nash with "Kreider will pot 20-30 next year, we don't need Nash". That didn't work out too well for them.

Whether he's producing right now or not, he's a threat to score and gives opposing defenses another line to defend against. Stepan/Cally/Gaborik is a pretty good second line to Nash/Richards/Hagelin.

The team has more offensive depth right now than they did last season. Why shake things up?

Now and the deadline. I think he'll be gone in the offseason for sure, especially if the Rangers have a shot at one of the big name UFAs.

You're right that it isn't worth it right now. If he gets it together we'll be looking pretty good. Until then here's to hoping he finds his mojo.

Part of that has been missing Flip/Bert/Sammy, but really none of those guys are pure goal scorers or known for generating their own offense -- they are complementary players. Datsyuk's going cold has something to do with the lack of complementary players to put on his line.

A pure goal scorer would be a tremendous plus to this team.

No point in giving up Gaborik unless he gives us some depth.

If he isn't gone at the deadline, which I think there's only a very slim chance of that, I'd bet on him getting dealt at the draft.

probably a first too. Gaborik would wind up costing.

that guy on the second line or on the powerplay again. By trading him Babcock will no longer have that option.

Flip takes Gabby's spot, and Abdelkader allows us to demote Boyle to the 4th line, or trade him, and/or send Miller back to Connecticut. Demoting or trading Boyle would also solve our problem with Stu Bickel.

happen.

Filppula-Zetterberg-Brunner
Franzen-Datsyuk-Nyquist
Cleary-Abdelkader-Andersson
Miller-Emmerton-Tootoo

That second line looks good. Hoping Nyquist can make it stick.

If he doesn't decide to resign with the Wings I am blaming Babcock personally for making him play with Cleary and Abdelkader for 6-7 games... damn that was awful.

I dunno why you'd skate the one way in practice and the other in the game. But one point out of six against Columbus and Calgary isn't getting us into the playoffs. We can blame Gustavsson all we like for this one, but shit.

I think Babcock is doing it on purpose to force Holland to find a legit scorer to play with Dats.