Hey folks. Welcome to the Tuesday edition of the mailbag. We've got a handful of great questions for you. Remember, to have your own question featured, send it in to WingingItMailBag@gmail.com. Let's get this ball rolling.

Question #1

What's the karmic load of touching/not touching the Campbell Bowl or Prince of Wales Award -- or any other award?

-Sunday

J.J. I'll admit that I am a regularstitious person. I believe thing that are caused are caused by the things which caused them. I definitely don't believe that there's some cosmic force which decides accepting a "lesser" trophy than the Stanley Cup means that the team has settled for the lesser prize and therefore doesn't deserve to win the Stanley Cup. ProHockeyTalk did an article about it before last year's cup finals which had the record for trophy-touchers (which sounds awesomely dirty) at 4-5 since 2001. Ultimately, I won't say that the mental effect on players who believe in superstitions isn't real, but I don't really think the hockey gods hate players who accept trophies.

Graham: Personally, I couldn't give a shit if anyone touches the damn thing or not. I get the whole "that's not the one we want to win" thing, but I don't see anything wrong with celebrating the achievement of winning your conference, even if it's just to pick it up and take it to the dressing room to use as an iPod speaker. However, I'm also (unlike JJ) a very superstitious person, so I understand why a player may feel like he "jinxes" the team if he touches it. Ultimately, I think it's about the mindset of the players and whether they believe in that stuff.

Jeff: We've seen teams touch it and win the Cup and we've seen teams avoid it like the plague and win the Cup. One way or another I don't think it really makes a difference. I wouldn't touch it though. That's just me. I do, however, think it was weird when the Bruins entire team all skated and posed with the Wales Trophy last season. I thought that was a bit much and a little "hey we're just happy to me" moment. But they won the Cup, so who knows. As long as the Wings' win the Cup, I could care less what Nicklas Lidstrom does with the Campbell Bowl.

Continue reading this post »

It's Friday (Hi Casey!) and that means it's time to get down in the mail room on Friday!

If you'd like your question answered, please email it to us at WingingItMailBag@gmail.com.

Question #1 from Kyle:

Do you guys have suggestions for new tweeters on who to follow for updates about the Red Wings, NHL and anything else hockey related?

Jeff: Well, Kyle, we're glad you asked. There are tons of people to follow on Twitter to get regular updates on the Red Wings and other NHL news. The go-to for Red Wings news is easily @RedWingsFeed. It's operated by friends of the blog @mserven and @Lolabythebay. The twitter account updates all day long with Red Wings articles, blog posts, photos, videos, and more. If there is something on the internet about the Wings...that feed will have it.

There are a ton of other great news outlets, writers, bloggers and Red Wings players and prospects on Twitter too. Check out our post from August and Michael Petrella's post over at The Production Line for even more people to follow.

More of your questions after the jump.

Continue reading this post »

We're back with more of your question in our weekly mail bag. Thanks to those who submitted questions. If you would like to have your questions answered, please email us at WingingItMailBag@gmail.com.

Question #1 from Jessica:

If Holland is shopping for a backup goalie, who might be available?

Thanks for all your time and energy! WIIM is a fantastic blog, Jessica

J.J.: You know? I'm looking around the league and there's not a single goaltender I can see who fits all the criteria of being realistically available, understandably a backup, and paid a sane amount for the Wings. We're probably stuck with Ty Conklin for the foreseeable future. For the record, if Evgeni Nabokov were to come available, I think I'd snatch him up in a heartbeat.

Jeff: I agree with J.J. on Nabokov. He doesn't have the worlds greatest numbers right now (1-5-0, 2.83 GAA, .910 SV%), but he's also playing on the worst team in hockey. Put the Wings defense in front of him and their top 6 goals against per game average and Nabby would play a lot better. Believe it or not though, a potential new back up goalie might already be in the organization. Joey MacDonald was playing very well down in Grand Rapids (2.17 GAA, .930 SV%) before he was sidelined with a concussion on November 5. He starting skating again and could return for the Griffins in mid-December. If he keeps playing well it might be good to see what he can do if Conklin continues to struggle.

Graham: Are we panicking about Conklin a little too much? Yes, he has not played well, but he's played a grand total of 198 minutes in a Wing uniform this year, which is 3 games and 1 period. His job is simply to give the Wings a chance to win when he plays, and I still believe he does that. Remember, 2 of his losses came during "The Streak" when the Wings as a whole were playing like dog shit. Looking around the NHL (and at free agent goaltenders), I don't see a ton of help out there that would be an automatic upgrade for Detroit. I think the only reason why Conklin hasn't gotten a start or two lately is because Jimmy's been so hot Babcock wants to keep him in the zone. If he stinks up the joint in his next couple of starts, then I'll join the bandwagon looking for a new backup goalie.

More of your questions after the jump.

Continue reading this post »

Last week, we opened the floor for our new WIIM Mailbag and asked you guys to fill it with questions that we'd answer on a weekly basis. We got some great questions on our first run, which we'll go over below. Thanks to everybody who submitted questions. 

If you'd like your question answered, please email it to us at WingingItMailBag@gmail.com. 

Let's get started with Question #1 from zfan16:

As someone who is relatively new to WIIM and until recently, not a regular poster, I have a couple of questions about various names for players and other references used frequently in articles and comments.  First, how did Jimmy get the name "Tiberius," Danny get the name "Buckets" and any of the other names (other than TPH, which goes without saying) given to other players?  Second, I don’t want to appear totally ignorant, but what is Futurama?  I’m not into video games and don’t watch a lot of animated shows so it’s not a reference I understand.

Fan-given player nicknames are as fluid as they are fun. A lot of them are as easy as a play on the guy's name (Afrogator, Flip, Kronner). The more esoteric among them usually develop in blog comments, posts, and on Twitter. Some names just tend to stick. Sometimes one name evolves, fades, or is replaced by something different. For specifics, calling Danny Cleary "Buckets" came from Abel to Yzerman and is described in their glossary. The short answer is that when Cleary came to Detroit, he was on his last chance and that he turned that last chance into his golden ticket with the organization, much like Charlie Bucket did in Willy Wonka.

The Tiberius nickname for Howard comes from the glossary at The Production Line. It's a reference to noted interstellar bad-ass panty-dropper James Tiberius Kirk of the USS Enterprise. At the time it just kind of happened. Jimmy was solidly stealing Osgood's starter spot from him and it looked like he could do no wrong. FWIW, I don't precisely remember where the "Danger" nickname came for Helm either, but I'm pretty sure that it's a name given to him by his teammates as a reference to his speed and the movie Top Gun.

As for Futurama, it's an animated show created by the same guy who created The Simpsons. It follows a 20th century delivery boy who gets cryogenically frozen and wakes up a thousand years later to join the crew of an intergalactic delivery service. The show has always received higher critical acclaim than ratings and was taken off the air in 2003. It was recently brought back after the hiatus. Overall there are 114 episodes, most of which are incredible. Aside from random hilarious esoterica (mostly about sci-fi), the show shines in using the 31st century as a mirror to the human condition today (even if that human condition is being played out by a Jerry Lewis-esque lobster alien or a misanthropic hedonistic alcoholic robot). It's a quality show that does a good job staying earnest even when going for cheap laughs without taking itself seriously enough to get preachy. I'd recommend it to anyone. Thanks for the question!

Keep reading for the rest of the questions.

Continue reading this post »

We're introducing a new feature here at WIIM.  Starting Next Friday, we will begin a weekly mail bag called Winging it in the Mail Room where we answer YOUR questions.  Send as many questions as you would like to WingingItMailBag@gmail.com.  

We'll answer the best submissions every week.  You can ask Red Wings related questions, league-wide NHL questions, blog questions, anything you'd like us to answer.  If you want a specific writer to answer you question...not a problem!  Just include which writer you want to hear from in the email (But make sure your Brendan Smith questions are directed towards me)  So send us your questions now and stay tuned for for the first edition of Winging it in the Mail Room next Friday.