Congratulations on clinching early!

Surprised this hasn't appeared yet, but you guys have already clinched a playoff spot! Forget about NHL.com btw. It only keeps track of points technically remaining. Due to the remaining matchups, however, and the division leader rankings, you guys can actually finish the season 0-13-0 from here out and finish no lower than 7th in the conference!

Don't believe me?

http://www.sportsclubstats.com/NHL/W.../RedWings.html

Congrats, and happy hunting in the post season!

BTW, your most likely opponent is Nashville. I think you guys have basically split the season series, so should be fun.

Nashville won't make the playoffs.

i'd love to play vancouver, so we would have "the battle of sweden"!!!

a close race for the final PO spots in the west. i think the preds will make it and the wild will fail.

That very well may be, but they do have the greatest chance of all the teams in the west of finishing 8th in the conference. The numbers don't lie!

I dont want to play Vancouver.. they have Luongo.. you never know with him..

Thats true, but I do know about the rest of the team. They suck.

Now, if this were the Wings circa Dave Lewis, I'd want to avoid the "hot goaler" too.

But this isnt the same team anymore. They score nasty goals alllll season long. This is why I like Babcock so much. No more "Hull from the slot" or "Shanahan from below the circle"....its more "Holmstrom in front", "Datsyuk across the crease" and "point shot tipped in front".

I have absolute faith in a healthy Wings team to beat anyone in the league. The only two teams that even have a chance against the Wings are the Ducks and Sharks.

Dallas has Turco...Im not sold. I said this in another thread, but...Turco supposedly "cleansed" himself last year in the playoffs. He did play very very well, I was impressed, at the time.

On reflection, who was Dallas playing? Oh...thats right...the offensively inept Nux. Until Turco brings that sort of performance against some of the better offensive teams in a series (ie Sharks, Wings...maybe Colorado and Anaheim too), I dont believe the hype.

you have a good point, actually the only real "weakness" in Luongo's game is deflections.. (if you can call that a weakness)

I dont want to face Luongo...ever.

same

Why not? It's only Luongo (I know what you mean). Vancouver is only better in goal then Detroit. I think that we have a fair chance against Vancouver.

They are the #8 seed for a reason

idk TG, we don't exactly have a sparkling history of playoff success against top tier goalies. Especially if they get hot.

Like I said, I know what he means. But look at the Ducks last year, the won the series 4-1 against a "hot" Luongo.

Off course I wouldn't want to face Luongo during the playoffs, but Vancouver = Loungo and they are the #8 seed for a reason!!

P.S. were stands IDK for?

IDK= I dont know

Yeah, the name "J. S. Giguere" tends to make Wings fans cringe a little. So does "Mikka Kiprusoff".

I'd rather have the Canucks over a more physical team.

Aren't the Canucks getting banged up too? I thought I read that Ohlund was done for the season.

Either way, no round is a given. Every series is a battle, whether it's against the 8 seed or whatever. And with the goalies in the West every team has a chance.

Their defense and goaltending scare me, their offense.. not so much. Throw Nik and Raffy to stick it to the Twins and i dont think it would be much of a problem.

edit:
http://sports.espn.go.com/nhl/standings

we havent clinched yet but we will this week. Nashville has 78 pts and 12 games left, making that 102 pts possible. We only have 96 for now, so we offically arent in yet, but come on, we cant lose every game/nashville cant win every game.

Correct me if im wrong.. ?

You're wrong, sort of.

We haven't clinched the division, that much is true. Nashville could still catch us for that if they win almost all of their remaining games and we lose almost all of ours. It's not likely, but is possible.

However, based on the remaining schedule it is impossible for 8 teams in the West to pass the Wings. Several teams play each other in games that are mutual "must-wins" if they are to catch Detroit in the standings. They can't both get 2 points from those games. That's why we've clinched the playoffs.

If you were to work out all the possible outcomes for every team's remaining games, there aren't any scenarios that leave Detroit 9th or worse in the West. In fact, the Wings can not finish lower than 7th in the conference standings. Our 96 points assure at least that much.

-edit
IMO, after taking a quick peek at the numbers my guess is we're looking at the Divealanche in the first round. They have the highest odds of being the #8 seed. Vancouver is second and Nashville is third. Our opponent is likely one of those three.

Dives would be ideal. It'd be fun to eliminate Foote, Sakic, and Forsberg all over again. Flip side is Theodore has never lost a first round matchup in his career. A bonus is the fact that the Avs haven't scored on us in 3 games + almost 2 periods this season.

Preds are equally as good. Mason and Ellis aren't going to steal a series, which is pretty much what it takes to eliminate the Wings in the 1st round.

Canucks..... not so much. I'd rather see them match up with Dallas so that one of Luongo or Turco will be bumped. In a perfect world they'd face San Jose, the premier chokers, and bounce them while Dallas handles Anaheim like they've done all season.

I think the Wings will draw one of Vancouver, Nashville, or Colorado, each has its pros and cons.

Nashville
Pro: Not as physical as some other teams and they lack experience.
Con: They're a central team, meaning they know how we play.

Vancouver
Pro: They're also not physical and they lack overall depth.
Con: They have one of the best goalies in the world.

Colorado
Pro: A great early round warmup, beating them will have the Wings alert and ready for the next rounds.
Con: They have a deep line-up that could potentially be fatal.

In my opinion I'd go with Colorado, they would be a similar matchup to last year's Calgary which I think helped the Wings stay in their toes the entire playoffs, and I would rather avoid the Canucks because a hot Loungo on his own can beat the Wings, we sometimes lose to average goalies on hot streaks, imagine Loungo.

Very good point. I really wonder what team these posters here have watched lately. The Wings used to play kind of the game which the goalies in the playoffs dreamt of where they got the best chance to shine. But this is not the case anymore.
I say bring that overrated @$$ on.