Ducks Gameday—What can Brown do for you?

Anaheim Ducks (8th in west) at Detroit Red Wings (2nd in west)
Red Wings lead series 1-0, JavaGeek Odds: DET 78%
Winging It In Motown, A2Y, On the Wings -- all preaching the sermon this morning about the sin of Mike Brown.

Need to send a strong message to an opponent, but can't wait the extra few days for regular mail service?  Want to ensure that the message will arrive just in time to avoid suspension?  Trying to take that rivalry up a notch in the early stages of G1, but want to avoid any unnecessary Pronger fees?  Well, look no further -- finally there's a cheap-and-quick alternative that provides affordable service to many of America's neutral-zone-bullying industries. 

Suspension-free since 2007.

Yeah, that's probably a lame post start considering the circumstances, but Rudy asked the question in the previous comments (regarding the suspension review), "I don’t understand: you want Mike Brown to play next game?"  And as much as I believe Rudy's sincerity there, that answer is a definite "yes".  While Brown is definitely a fist-thrower and will get slammed as a nothing player by Wings fans, he has served a surprisingly useful role for the Ducks since his mid-season acquisition.

In the first round against the Sharks, only Todd Marchant among the forwards played more shorthanded minutes than Brown -- Brown in fact was on the ice killing penalties for as many minutes as Chris Pronger, and we know how frustrated the Sharks' power play was.   His fourth-line shifts with Parros weren't terribly frequent, but they weren't costly either.  And hey, Brown did chip in two assists in the first round, which was as many points as Teemu contributed.

I'm not going to overly glow about Brown's abilities -- he's still a grinder who specializes in simple plays -- but he's definitely got on-ice value for this year's Ducks.  His postseason legacy at this point is smeared in Hudler's blood, but moving forward, I for one am relieved that Brown's available the rest of this series.  With the Wings' advantage at forward depth and power play, the Ducks need all hands on deck if this is to become a series.

A few of the successful message deliveries from Mike Brown.

Feel free to leave your own thoughts about "What can Brown do for you?" in the comments -- and for sure, Wings fans, I'll accept snark. 

As for the game today, I'll add this tidbit: the Ducks haven't lost consecutive games since early March, and they haven't lost consecutive playoff games to the Wings since the late 90s -- let's hope both trends continue.  I'll be arriving a bit late to the comments today, but should be around for the 2nd and 3rd periods, at least.  Feel free to get started without me.

Prediction: Brown gets booed.

Go Ducks.