The not seasonally adjusted index edged 0

Osgood showed in the playoffs that he still has something in the tank but had Ty Conklin, one of the league's best backups, spelling him often last season. Between Howard, who hasn't yet shown us he's ready to be a big-game goalie, and Osgood, who turns 37 next month, the Wings don't have a go-to puckstopper.2. Most of their top offensive performers are missing or gone...Detroit's offense will always at least be decent with Pavel Datsyuk and Henrik Zetterberg in the lineup but four of their top six goal scorers from last season are gone. Check out this milk carton:Marian Hossa (free agency)Jonan Franzen (ACL surgery)Jiri Hudler (KHL)Mikael Samuelsson (free agency)3. The Red Wings lost all those key offensive contributors and replaced them with...Todd Bertuzzi Sheesh.

Is Ken Holland simply following his blueprint We never saw Franzen or Zetterberg coming, did we Or is he getting a bit arrogant4. The blueline stalwarts are long in the toothNiklas Lidstrom is one of the greatest defenseman of all time and arguably the best NHLer of the last 15 years, but he's 39 friggin' years old. Puck-moving dynamo Brian Rafalski, who also logs major minutes, is 36. But can we really say the Wings are better than Chicago, Calgary, San Jose, Vancouver, Washington, Boston, Philadelphia or Pittsburgh right nowI don't think so..

ARLINGTON, Va., Jan. 26 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ The American TruckingAssociations' advanced seasonally adjusted For-Hire Truck Tonnage Indexplunged 11.1 percent in December 2008, marking the largest month-to-monthreduction since April 1994, when the unionized less-than-truckload industrywas in the midst of a strike. December's drop was the third-largestsingle-month drop since ATA began collecting the data in 1973. In December,the seasonally adjusted tonnage index equaled just 98.3 (2000 100), itslowest level since December 2000.The not seasonally adjusted index edged 0.6percent higher in December.Compared with December 2007, the index declined 14.1 percent, the biggestyear-over-year decrease since February 1996.During the fourth quarter,tonnage was down 6.0 percent from the same quarter in 2007.ATA Chief Economist Bob Costello said the December reading confirms that theUnited States is in the thick of a recession."Motor carrier freight is areflection of the tangible-goods economy, and December's numbers leave nodoubt that the United States is in the worst recession in decades," Costellosaid. "It is likely truck tonnage will not improve much before the thirdquarter of this year.