dteowner

You really should. It takes a couple views to really get what's happening. To the folks still claiming this was a blindside hit, you need to pause your way thru the :52 mark of the video back in post #7. Rome nearly comes to a stop before jumping into Horton. Pause thru the video and see. At the moment of impact, the only part of Rome not directly in front of Horton is the right leg that he used to plant himself (you can see the ice spray from that plant near the end of the video if you want to). Even at the moment of impact, Horton is still admiring his pass, but the angle of body contact is nearly face-to-face. You can also see that Horton's accelerating stride (with his left leg, as he presumably heads to the net) actually angles his body toward the hit.

I generally agree with most of your posts, but I just can't go with this one. I don't spend 5 hours with a TiVo after each game taking stats, but I try to pay attention when I'm watching and Rig's passing just isn't that good. Let's clarify that a little--the mechanics of his passing is good (the puck goes where he aims, he doesn't need a lot of room to make a pass, and the passes usually are easy to receive), but his decision making (will this pass be intercepted, is it safe to make an "area pass") just sucks rocks. Thing is, I don't remember it being as bad last year, or even early this year. Maybe he's trying to do too much in a contract year, or maybe practicing with guys that make it look easy (Lids, Rafi) has made him inattentive. Either way, he's regressing on the most important skill for a Wings blueliner and doesn't bring anything else to the table (such as Stuart, who at least plays physical and reliable D to make up for admittedly average-at-best-for-a-Wing passing) to make up for the lack.

Did you see his passing toward the end of the season and particularly in the playoffs? Horrid. Absolutely terrible. Seemed to think he was Lidstrom, slinging the puck across the ice at our blueline--nice if he checked for guys with other sweaters coming up the middle like Lids does, not so nice when he consistently skipped that step.I don't really care if the guy's a marshmallow. I don't really care that he's our new version of Sammy the Logo Hunter (there's some board whipping boy memories for ya), on the rare occasions he actually takes a slapper. We're a puck possession team and our D guys have to be VERY smart about that first pass to get the possession going. Ericsson doesn't get it done. Call him a #6 and he still can't pass for s***. If you can't trust him on the ice, he shouldn't be there. For a dump-n-chase team, I think Rig would be a solid 5-6 guy and worth $2mil to them. He's mobile, provides some threat on a pinch, and his positioning is improving. For a puck possession team like us, he's not worth the cardboard center of a roll of stick tape. I'm more than willing to agree that Babs is smarter than me, but I simply don't understand the patience with a turnover machine on a team structured like the Wings.

It took me several views of the clip to really get a good handle on what happened, and I've got to admit I've switched sides because of it. First off, the 3 stride thing mentioned in the thread is wrong. Rome took 2 "steps" to come to a halt and then drove (kinda jumped) into Horton. No strides at all. Second, it's pretty borderline to call it a blindside hit. I understand "blindside" to mean something roughly perpendicular to the shoulders. Rome comes in at a 45. If Horton is looking forward instead of admiring his pass, he sees Rome coming. That's not blindside. The point of impact looks to be something close to shoulder-to-collarbone, so I'm not sure you can even say it's a blow to the head. Horton probably took more damage from bouncing the back of his head off the ice than the actual hit, but that's certainly conjecture. The puck's long gone, so it's interference. We've seen 5 minute interference calls, and this one probably qualifies given the nastiness. So we've got that. The hit is undeniably illegal. Add it all up and you've got an illegal hit (which negates any Chara comparisons), and you could spin a pretty good case for "intent to injure". Although it's not "right", you've got a scrub taking out a star, which will tip the scales some. I come up with 1 game, maybe 2 max. 4 games seems excessive to me.

Since we're playing the speculation game... I'm going to throw out there that Lids gets bumped to the second pairing. Primarily to reduce his ice time so we don't wear him out, but also to allow him to pair up with a younger guy without that guy having to face top-pairing competition. I'm going to bet that Big Rig gets brought back, which makes me want to chew holes in the couch, but what can ya do... Kronner - Stu Lids - Ericsson (Lids covers for E's lapses, E gets much-needed confidence from being elevated beyond his abilities by the Lidstrom Effect) Kindl - "Salei" (probably not Salei himself, but a similar guy--$1M/yr defensive dman) Janik (it would be completely out of character for Smith to be brought up and locked in the pressbox while there's still some questions about his ability to play NHL defense and he still has eligibility in the AHL where he'd get 30mins a night in all situations) As situations merit, Ericsson and Kindl switch spots, giving Kindl time with Lids and Ericsson time to be the offensive/risk-taker half of a pairing. Or, if Holland plucks a better quality FA from the shallow pool, it makes more sense to balance ice time like we did this year by dropping Ericsson with that new guy and putting Kindl with Lids full time--kinda a 2A/2B pairing arrangement.

The difference between early Fischer and Potential Ericsson (this "potential" thing is being treated like a completely different player, so I'm giving him a name) comes down to passing. Fischer was a whipping boy because he had the bad habit of getting out of position and often taking stupid penalties trying to recover. In spite of that problem, his passing was never a problem because he knew his role and didn't try to get cute. Potential Ericsson seems to think he's a regular dishin' machine when the reality is he can't make a safe tape-to-tape to save his life. Positioning is something a Dman learns with experience. Picking your spots, for the physical guys, is another (think how Kronner has had the light come on the past two seasons compared to earlier when he's tend to go for hits when a miss meant certain goal against). Smart passing doesn't seem to be something these guys learn with experience. Either they come into the league being a puck handler, or they don't. Potential Ericsson is a turnover machine and that's not likely to get better, even once he gets more comfortable with positioning and using his size. We're a puck possession team and it starts with reliable first passes. We're losing a very skilled passer in Rafi which will put an ever bigger spotlight on the primary weakness of Potential Ericsson.

Whether you blame the players or blame the coach, the team has to shuffle the deck to improve the defensive performance. Since our blue line isn't going to see much change due to the contracts we've got, the only other option is to dump the coach.

We're a puck possession team. Ericsson is a turnover machine. He got steadily worse at his passing as the season went on and really screwed the pooch in the playoffs. You simply can't have that on a team that expects their D to get the puck possession started. All the other factors (scoring, physicality)are secondary at best. If the guy can't make smart passes, he needs to go. With Lids getting less ice time, we can't have a 5-6 pairing that we're afraid to put on the ice--hiding Ericsson there on the hope that someday he'll figure out that his passes are supposed to go to the guys with the same sweater as him just isn't going to work. I'd take old broken-down Salei over Ericsson every day and twice on Sunday.

Big Rig has just been brutal this year. I don't know what happened to him. Rafi hasn't been that great either (hurt again?) so I have no idea why Babs would insist on putting them together.

It's pretty much a given the Mo will play in game 2, so really, who sits (and that's assuming Z isn't back)? Miller played pretty darn well last night. Hard to see his reward being time in the press box. Hudler scored. He's safe. Eaves had some really nice forecheck pressure, but didn't light the world on fire. Maybe. Abby looked like he belonged on the 2nd line. No way he's sitting. Draper looked fast last night, played very well on the PK, and did well on draws. Probably too good to sit. Mo will get a chance to prove he's got the fire under his butt that Babs put there, so I'm guessing Eaves gets a game off.

Thanks as always. Any chance of swapping the sides on future editions? I know that puts the west on the "east side", but the current arrangement hides the important stuff (Wings) under my desktop icons. Not bitchin', just askin'.

When Holland moves guys in the minors, it's in the offseason and generally via release rather than trade. Probably cross them off. Only person on the team that's move-able (ref eva's list) that you'd really want to move is Huds. You wouldn't get a bucket of shoveled octupus slime in exchange for him right now given his performance, so what's the point. We've got some forwards on the farm at the "cup of coffee" stage of their development, but none so awesome that you'd give Huds away for nothing (even as bad as he's playing) just to open a permanent hole in the top 13. Ain't be no trades.

Bah, nothing wrong with that. Pretty funny when you watch all 3 "episodes". It's certainly sad that they're having to do gimmicks to sell tickets for a team that's doing reasonably well, but that's not the fault of the team. Blame traditionally bored and fickle fans in ATL or blame Buttman for his evil Southern Expansion Campaign, but it's sorely misplaced to blame the team as they try to make some lemonade from the lemons. A few of you need to get over your dignified selves, me thinks.

Pronger's a ******. You might give him a pass, if he hadn't done it twice. Watch him when the puck's on the left side (if we say the goal was scored from the right) maybe 5 seconds before the goal. He's not directing traffic, and it wasn't an "unconscious" thing.

Doug Gilmour Adam Foote Cam Neely Wendel Clark (I know, briefly a rental Wing) Can't really think of a fifth one.

After the flames die down, we're left with the important question and the appropriate response.

I'm not sure how disagreeing with one decision means that we think Holland sucks. I expect that Holland couldn't get some of the other folks to consider a 1 year hitch, so we got Willie. All this "root for another team" crap is just silly. Overall, Willie won't be too bad except for one issue--Babs has a hard-on for a right-shooting forward on the 2nd PP. Willie proved without question that he was completely and totally inept in that position a few years ago and there's no reason to assume anything has changed in the meantime. Willie will man the point and he will suck but Babs will leave him there anyway. That's the downside. At even strength, Willie's basically a $1.5Mil placeholder, which isn't unreasonable. On the good side, LGW has a clear winner for 09-10 Designated Whipping Boy.

Yep. What's the holdup, Mr. Arbitrator? It's 72 hours already, and we're not likely to get anything on a Sunday. I bet Kenny Holland is pacing holes in the carpet even worse than we are, though.

We ran him out of here for a reason. He was the magical right hand shot on the PP point before Sammy took over, and as bad as Logohunter was back there, we never ever wanted Williams back. Bad call at any price and positively insane at $2.5M.

Looked like Claude LePew at the end there...

It would probably be an easier sell for owners and players both to just introduce the "home grown talent" discount rather than introducing a luxury tax system. Keep the hard cap (cost certainty for the owners) but guys staying where they are can get more money (players can "get paid" without having to move their families all over North America) without trashing a team's cap. For that matter, if you only allow 1 contract per player to fall under the discount, it encourages long term contracts (stability for owners and players) and produces a pool of older vets with mobility for playoff rentals or for guys wanting to chase a cup.

I gave them 101-100 with a 4th seed. I can see Chicago really booming in the regular season and then all those young bucks discovering they've shot their wad too soon and collapsing in the playoffs. We'll be much more sensitive to injuries next season due to our "quality depth" being on the roster already, which opens the window a bit more for the Hawks to sneak thru.

I'd like the backup goalie spot. Since I haven't been in skates in 2 decades, I've got a plan just in case I actually get sent into the game. I'll pull a McLennan and slash the crap out of the first guy I can reach, and then park my happy butt in the press box. Deal?

Not so. I'm listening to the "listen live" option via www.wxyt.com right now. Unless they've got some sort of blocking based on IP location. Since I'm in southern Indiana, I'm well outside any blackout zone.

WTF? When I bring up the stream at wxyt.com, I get some talking head. Listening to the game audio via NHL.com, I've got the usual WXYT call from Ken Kal but at a lousy quality. Anyone know what's going on? edit- Well, it's right now. Not sure what that was all about. Mods can kill the thread if they so desire.