So, with the 5-6 shootout win last night, we’re 8 games into the season.  I was hesitant to make any real decisions about how I felt about everyone’s play until we were a few games in but I think we’re about there so here goes.

I feel pretty good that they’ve been netting a lot of goals, but not so good that they’ve been giving a lot up as well.  I’m not really blaming either Conklin or Osgood - I think they’ve both played acceptably.  I think the team is getting out of them what they expect.  When you’ve got less than 1.5 million locked up in your goaltending and you’re getting what we’re getting out of these guys, I think you can’t not be happy.  Would it be nice to have a superstar goaltender?  sure - but I’d much rather be where we are than where a lot of teams with pricy fancy goaltenders are.  Chicago?  the Islanders?  No thanks.  I think if you rank “overall goaltending situations” instead of salaries and performance and everything else individually, Detroit’s near the top of the league.

Moving back to defense, I’m not impressed with the second defensive pairing’s play so far this year - especially Brad Stuart.  Are they just getting bad matchups?  Stuart is a -4 right now, I don’t think these guys are dominating quite as much as they did last year.  I’m a bit worried (just a tiny tiny bit) that we’re going to see more of the Brad Stuart that kings fans knew and loved.  Ok, he didn’t play horrible last night, but if things continue like they have, Babcock would do well to consider moving Lilja up to the second pairing with Kronwall.  Andreas has played pretty well this year.  I guess having your job on the line has that affect - well, sometimes.  Brett Lebda is a -7 right now.  Rotate Meech in a little more often, it definitely couldn’t hurt.

In the front, I’m warming up to Datsyuk and Zetterberg being split up.  Hossa is starting to get comfortable and we’re beginning to see some production with him.  On the second line, Franzen has had some mediocre shifts but generally has looked pretty good.  Samuelsson has settled into the second line during the past few games and he’s playing ok there.  It would be really nice if Filppula could fill that role on that line, but maybe he’s not quite there yet.  Unfortunately it looks like Franzen’s now going to be out a month because of last night’s knee sprain.  Dan Cleary will need to step up and play in Franzen’s spot; he’s shown he can do it but he can be streaky sometimes so it’ll be interesting to see how the line plays out in the next month.  The checking line with Draper, Maltby, and Kopecky has been alright I guess.  There were hopes that Kopecky could fill Dallas Drake’s shoes, but it’s not happening.  Maybe McCarty will be able to take on a little more of that role.

Speaking of Darren McCarty, he was put on and cleared waivers.  I was a little surprised by that.  I guess in the salary cap world teams are more adverse to taking on a risk like him.  It seems to me that a guy like him pulling in league minimum might not be a bad gamble.  There must not be a lot of teams hard up for a checking line forward.  What exactly does that mean anyway that he was put on waivers you ask?  If he plays less than 10 games or before 30 days is up, he can be sent down to grand rapids to free up cap space.  I’m not sure I understand the strategy since McCarty stayed with the Wings - maybe they were opening that option in case an emergency happened and they needed some space.  In any event, he remains with the organization.

Bruce said Lieno was called up but then backed off the claim.  Maybe we’ll get to see him once Franzen is put on long-term injured reserve (I hope).  I’ve been looking forward to seeing what the kid can do.  If he’s not called up and Helm is instead I won’t complain.  Darren played well in the two games he was called up for a week or two ago.

LA tomorrow.  Keep an eye out for Kyle Quincey.  If you go by stats alone, he’s outplaying Brett Lebda.