Leaderboard

Yes Mrazek did come and take the job away. The thing is once you take a spot you have to put a stranglehold on it so it cannot be taken back. That is the step Mrazek has failed to deliver on. Twice hes been for the most part given the team but hasnt played consistent enough to make the spot his permanently. I know you wish Howard were gone last year but you should take the fact that he wasn't as a blessing in disguise. This teams going to be bad this year and the next. More than likely the year after that too. Mrazek getting 40-50 games instead of 60-70 this year isnt more important than Howard getting 30+ with solid play. You get 30+ games of Howard playing as he has so far this season then hes going to have quite a bit of value come deadline day. Howard showing well with a good workload this year helps the organization more than Mrazek playing 20 more games behind a crap team. He gets to look forward to playing behind crap teams the next two years so why rush it unless you absolutely have to.

Justin Abdelkader Henrik Zetterberg Gustav Nyquist Dylan Larkin Frans Nielsen Luke Glendening Tomas Tatar Riley Sheahan Anthony Mantha Tyler Bertuzzi Steve Ott Drew Miller Defensive Pairings Dan DeKeyser Mike Green Jonathan Ericsson Alexey Marchenko Niklas Kronwall Ryan Sproul Alex Ovechkin Evgeny Kuznetsov Andre Burakovsky Marcus Johansson Nicklas Backstrom T.J. Oshie Zachary Sanford Jay Beagle Tom Wilson Brett Connolly Lars Eller Justin Williams Defensive Pairings Karl Alzner Matt Niskanen Dmitri Orlov John Carlson Nate Schmidt Brooks Orpik Jimmy Howard Confirmed Nov. 17, 2016, 12:32 p.m. More info: DET Lines DET News Howard will start Friday in Washington. Howard allowed five goals on 25 shots in the Red Wings’ loss in Montreal last Saturday. Petr Mrazek started on Tuesday, but they’ll go back to Howard tonight in Washington. Howard has gone 2-2-0 with a 2.69 GAA and .913 SV% in four November starts and draws a rough start tonight against a high-powered Washington team. Ansar Khan Braden Holtby Confirmed Nov. 18, 2016, 11:17 a.m. More info: WAS Lines WAS News Holtby will start Friday vs. the Red Wings. Holtby allowed one goal on 26 shots in the Capitals’ 7-1 win vs. the Penguins on Wednesday. Holtby has won five of his six November starts while posting a 1.98 GAA and .933 SV% and is a must-start tonight vs. the Red Wings. Detroit is banged up, struggling and Holtby is 4-2-0 on home-ice this season. JJ Regan

they played well in the 2nd, last game. As always, a full 60 minutes of buckle-down, coherent effort would win the game for them. Perhaps tonight is our night... LGRW!!

Classy. Damn that sucks. Tampa's going to probably do well without him as usual tho.

Some goalies just need a lot of work to get into their rhythm. Kind of hard for Mrazek to find his right now when he barely gets to play. Even some of the best goalies in the league go through slumps, but Blash is always too quick to turn to Howard. Just another example of how the team is being run to do what it takes to squeeze into the playoffs for a meaningless streak rather than for the development of the young players on the team. All Blash is gonna do is overexpose Howard and destroy any trade value he may have been building up early in the season.

I think you actually bring up a good point here and I agree to an extent. The one thing I do get excited about is seeing our team speed....when the transition game isn't completely off the rails. Also Sproul's slap shot. It's been a while since we've had a shot like that from the point. But those are not worth the price of admission. lol

My problem with this team, is I barely care to watch it. I can watch / be a fan of bad teams. I've watched the Lions,Tigers,Pistons for 20+ years after all. But I gotta have a player or two worth my time to watch. No one on the Wings at this time is fun to watch. At least with Datz, even last season, when he was on the ice I felt like I could jump out of my seat at any moment. Just not a single player on this team worth the ticket price if you ask me. That's the main problem for me. Maybe that means I put players before the team. I don't know, but as it is I don't see that changing anytime soon. I've not missed more than two hand fulls of Red Wings hockey well over 10 years. I can say that.

You've found pretty much everything I read. As I said in the first post, Friedman speculated (I don't even consider speculation a rumor). However I saw today that both McKenzie and Dreger said he's been "on the block" for a while.

I was the one who brought up coddling. I never said Mrazek was being coddled, what I said was he shouldn't have to be coddled because that is what certain posters were suggesting. I am a huge Mrazek fan and am behind him, but what I want is for Mrazek to demand that job by his play, not be handed it despite his play.

Do we need more proof thay blashill sucks? Mrazek has always played well against washington. Double standard. Howard got to play against the rangers because of his history but now mrazek doesnt get to play against Washington? It could have been a great opportunity for confidence. In addition he scratches smith instead of dekeyser or ericsson or marchenko...what a joke. O and glendening on the 2nd line. Fire him!!!

Ott is gonna be centering that 4st line... omg that crazy Blash making some...

...and Bertuzzi has been recalled...again. he had to make a u-turn at the Lowell exit.

well if the order fits the Bill....

How shocking, you dismiss the first bit of info provided. If only I could had seen that happening. Please tell me Dickie, what is it you are looking for? Is there anything possibly out there that anyone can show you that wont lead to a cynical response? I dont recall anyone getting upset with you for "cluttering threads". What people do get annoyed with is your obsession with Helm & Abby's contracts. We all get it, you don't like them.

Not really irrational to think it's stupid to have a checking line guy who probably would be a reserve on a good team playing on your second line. It's not like he's some kid who has a lot of upside but isn't quite ready, but they want to throw him into the fire to see how he responds.

This is EXACTLY what I was trying to say earlier in this thread. Howard getting starts he never should have. If you designate a #1, you play him as your #1 unless he is struggling badly, and even then,you play your backup for a game or two, then get your starter right back in there. This whole playing the "hot hand" backup is bad coaching. Jimmy Howard needs to be moved. This situation kinda reminds me of the Cujo/Hasek debacle. Not as bad, but along those lines. Mrazek needs to have complete control of the crease so he can deal with his highs and lows and figure them out for himself with the coaching staff standing behind him 100%. Not have the goalie he replaced getting played in his place when he does have have a bad couple games. You can say "oh these guys aren't kids, deal with it". But it's not all that simple. This team isn't winning a cup soon anyway. It's the perfect time to let Mrazek learn whatever he needs to without blocking his way. He'll be much better from it.

My preference would be something like this with everyone healthy: Nyq-Neilsen-Vanek Tatar-Larkin-Abby Z-AA-Mantha Bertuzzi-Helm-Sheahan Jurco Smith-Green DK-Sproul Kronwall-Ouellet Ericsson Win or lose with it, but get Larkin and AA at the center positions where they belong. And get the best possible puck moving defense corps on the ice permanently.