GoWings1905

A little too convenient, no? This has to look suspicious to the league because I sure as hell am not buying it. The timing is almost way too perfect for Miller to go on LTIR. Of course, Holland could just not make stupid roster decisions in the first place and avoid this.

Nice win! The Kings on back-to-back was always going to be tough, so getting two points tonight is huge. Mrazek is masking many of the Wings' flaws right now. They can win low-scoring, close games like this because of his ability to come up huge. Eventually, I think the Wings have to get the power play going, but for now they get some timely goals at even strength and Mrazek is able to do the rest. Will be interesting to see what they do on defense tomorrow. My solution would be trade Helm for whatever to keep Marchenko around, but Kenny isn't exactly adept at the whole trading part of his job.

That is an absolutely horrendous icing call. Typical "you are losing" so here's an edge garbage.

Sheahan! He has been great lately. Larkin making the team has saved this season.

Don't understand the strategy right now by Blashill. Glendening is practically playing every other shift, yet Larkin, Tatar and Nyquist have hardly been out since he juggled the lines. Too much Glendening, Helm and Richards. Those guys are black holes offensively.

I fully support Mrazek as the starter being best for the team going forward, but a part of me really feels for Jimmy. I hope he does get an opportunity elsewhere because he is a good goalie that just fell victim to the circumstance of Mrazek blossoming into something special now. Jimmy has always represented the Red Wings well and seems like a class act. Whatever happens, I'll always be a fan.

More roster mismanagement and another bad contract by Holland. Just thankful the Red Wings made the right decision in this case and kept Marchenko around instead of taking the easy way out again by sending him down. Now if Blash could just sit Ericsson instead of Smith or Marchenko going forward, we are on to something. I would actually embrace a rotation on defense that allowed Kronwall some time off. The guy looks done this season. He has been regressing for years, but those tough minutes have really caught up to him now. Embrace the youth movement on defense -- DeKeyser and Marchenko have done real well with more responsibility and Smith is playing his best hockey too.

Second game back and I would be more willing to overlook it if he wasn't a steaming pile of trash before the injury too.

Isn't that basically the case now? Mrazek has started four of the past five and Howard's only start was the second half of a back-to-back. I would say the timeshare is all but dead already.

Yeah, I hated the pairings today. We know 55-52 does not work at all and the other two pairings were players matched together that play similar games. I would prefer a bit more balance to each pairing. I don't know who to put with Kronwall though at this point. He seems to make everyone worse this season. Smith and Marchenko have been very good, so I would keep them together and then go back to DeKeyser-Quincey when Quincey returns because they can provide a more "shutdown" pairing like last season. Then it leaves Kronwall with Green still and no Ericsson either, which we all know won't be the case.

Not pretty at all, but they got two points. That's the critical thing at the moment. Lines looked slightly better at least -- getting Tatar, Sheahan and Nyquist going again offensively is important.

I don't think they care who wins in this scenario. I do believe they officiate based on the score and that happened again.

That wasn't a penalty when it happened to Larkin a few games ago.

Nyquist looks much better today away from Tatar. Not a knock on Tatar -- they just don't mesh.

Agreed, I like Quincey. Don't know he was very good, but solid, which is about the best you can expect from Quincey. It still goes back to asset management, though. He has a history lately of re-signing his own players to bad contracts.

Blash is a rookie coach (with flaws obviously) halfway into his first season with an extremely mediocre roster. I question some of his decision-making too, but shouldn't we be more upset with the man who keeps throwing the same crap on the ice every season and clinging to a stupid playoff streak?

Ken Holland at his finest. Gives out stupid contracts to players like Ericsson and Quincey, which forces them to continue playing over someone like Ouellet. His decision making with his own players is insanely bad.

Meltdown in the third now? This team doesn't have any idea how to play with a lead.

But I thought that's why we needed Glendening and Andersson in the lineup?

Ericsson is ridiculously bad. If Holland didn't give him that terrible contract, he would easily be the man out when Quincey returns.

Smith has been terrific lately -- probably the best stretch of hockey he has put together in his career. I think he's always going to be prone to an inopportune stupid play or careless turnover occasionally, but he has cleaned that up even while being very active offensively. His offensive instincts are the best on the team from the d-men. The little move he made last night to get the puck to Marchenko before scoring the goal was really slick. It would be a complete travesty if Smith was scratched when Quincey comes back. Sometimes d-men just take longer to develop and it looks Smith is finally starting to achieve some of his massive potential. Ericsson will never sit because of his contract, but he has consistently been the worst d-man. Besides, why do the Wings need three d-men dressed who all essentially play the same style of game (E, Quincey and Marchenko) when they don't have anyone else who can do what Smith can? Kronwall is really slowing down offensively and Green still hasn't contributed much in that regard either.

That and the fact he has three goals playing with Datsyuk most of the season. Again, Athanasiou (when healthy) could do everything Helm does and actually finish on some of the chances that his speed provides.

Agreed. I was thinking about this last night too. At best this season, what are the Red Wings? Maybe third in the division, wild card spot -- basically a borderline playoff team again. They are stuck in the same place and the biggest problem is, you aren't going forward soon if Holland doesn't change because your two best players are slowing down considerably. Which brought me to my thought: it will NEVER happen with Holland, but shouldn't the Red Wings consider trading Pavel Datsyuk? If you really want to turn this around quicker, you almost have to take some risks in trades, which Holland has been extremely reluctant to do. Teams just don't let quality free agents get away much anymore, or if they do, you have to throw money around to compete with all other interested parties in that player. Howard is the most obvious trade piece, but you aren't getting anything significant back for him. I'm not bringing this up, just based on the past three games either. This is looking big picture and the fact this Red Wings team looks exactly like the ones of the past five or six years. Talented enough to get into the playoffs, but nothing more. Mediocrity is the worst place to be in the NHL and Holland is so stuck on embracing this stupid playoff streak that it overshadows the organization from getting out of that complacency rut. Something has to be done differently. I'm sick of hearing about "24 consecutive playoff appearances." Call me spoiled, but that isn't a good enough reason to celebrate a season.

Blash has been even more stubborn than Babs was lately with not changing the lines. Helm is a joke in the top-six, Tatar and Nyquist do not work together and even the Z/Larkin combination has slowed down. Z - Pav - Abby Larkin - Richards - Nyquist Tatar - Sheahan - Jurco Helm - Glendening - Nosek I still have no idea why the Wings signed Richards with the intent to move Z back to wing and he has played center practically every game this season. I think Z and Pav need to play together now for both the team's sake and their own individual success as well.

Agreed. I think they need to put Z on a line with Pav again for awhile. I thought the whole idea of signing Richards was so they could move Z back to the wing and they haven't gone to that at all. I just don't think either of them is at a point anymore where they can carry a line, but together they can still complement each other's play. You still have Larkin/Richards to center the second line and Sheahan the third line.