Yzerman is quiet and unpredictable, but don't see him doing anything before the trade deadline unless something falls into his lap.

Yzerman is quiet and unpredictable, but don't see him doing anything before the trade deadline unless something falls into his lap.
- Bigfrog

You are probably right. Unless it’s a perfect fit or great deal for the organization not hearing any real legitimate buzz on anything. Speculation and people mad about Berggren’s (non) usage. That’s about it

The pain of Detroit's two-game slide and losing Larkin for a few weeks is blunted somewhat by the fact that none of the trailing teams are doing much to take advantage of it, with the exception of the "OTL merchant" New York Islanders.

Detroit's in sixth in the conference on points percentage. Here's their advantage over those following:

TB: +0 with 2 games in hand
PHI: +0 with 2 games in hand
NYI: +4 with no games in hand
WAS: +7 with 1 extra game played
PIT: +8 with 1 extra game played
NJD: +8 with 1 game in hand

Even though we're in WC1 right now, Detroit can actually get passed by two of these teams in the final standings and still make the playoffs, since one of them would take Metro 3 and the other would take WC1. As long as we don't get passed by three or more, we're in.

A couple of weeks ago I would have told you that Pittsburgh and New Jersey were the "sleeping giant" teams that scared me most, but the Devils continue to flounder and Pittsburgh has made a mess of their games in hand. Washington seems like they're throwing in the towel, too.

The only team that's really been making noise in the last week or so is NYI. They're also -19 on goal differential and are being buoyed by 14 OTL points, so I question how good they really are.

Getting Colorado and the Vegas on the road as 2 of the next 3 games is obviously not ideal and a couple of losses there would start to make me nervous. But also, unless one of the outside teams gets really hot to close out the year, the playoff cutline is probably looking like 90-93 points or thereabouts. If the Wings can average a point per game the rest of the way they're probably in.

EDIT: The Islanders have SJ, ANA, LAK, BUF, and OTT as their next five games, yikes. Couldn't ask for a much easier schedule to try to extend their hot streak.

Does anybody think Detroit could move one of Holl, Petry or Matta to Edmonton for Philip Broberg?
Wings would need to retrain some salary.

Whose roster spot does Rust take? I saw a mention of Andrew Copp. Would the Pens be willing to take on his remaining salary? Copper hasn't lived up to his contract. He's helped on the PK, but where are the points?