roboturner

Cleary. Not so much him (Ok yes him), but the people who brought him back this year, then let him take the spot of a better more productive player, then played him at all this year, then wasted our best player with him, then waited waaaay too long to realize he's not worth it. Could you imagine if he had signed that rumored 3 year deal?? Seriously, close your eyes and imagine Cleary on this team for 2 more years!! What were they thinking?? Who in their right mind thought that would be a good idea??

It was just too much of an oversimplification. Didn't mean to jump down your throat or anything.

Even worse if you only used one person from each position! Yes, I was saying he should play the puck more. It's my own opinion and only my own. Anybody else is free to have their own opinion about what he should do. It makes total sense that I was saying what I want when I'm not getting it, and they would say what they want when they're not getting it. (By the way, I never ever imagined that Howie would, on a whim, decide to start playing the puck in between the last game of the reg. season (which he didn't play in) and the start of the most important games of the year. Although I DO appreciate the fact that he came around to what happens to be my position, THIS IS NOT THE BEST TIME FOR THIS HOWIE!!) But yeah, I'm gonna say you're wrong here. Had you said "some of" or "a couple of people" I don't think I would have had a problem with what you said. But again, you made a huge generalization, saying "Wings fans" (implying all wings fans), Everybody (meaning everybody!), and Everybody (again!). You didn't stop to think that maybe different people have different ideas about how situations should be handled. If you look back in the GDT to when that first goal was scored, you'd see that *some* people think he should improve his stick-handling so that kind of thing doesn't happen, while *a few others* think he shouldn't try to play the puck at all. I don't know where people have gotten this notion that ALL fans must agree on every little thing. That's absurd. I don't know why changing your mind (if anybody even did), after seeing the other side of the situation, would be such a bad thing. It isn't.

Oh really?! I had no idea I'd been posting in such an unpopular/rarely used thread that you had to link it to me here! Thanks for the information! That thread has over 750 posts in it (of which I've contributed maybe around 20) and was started over a year ago (not by me). Go back in the two GDTs to when those two goals were scored and see the reactions from everybody else. It's clear I'm not the only one that thinks Howard isn't anything special. By the way, I don't "hate" Howard. How manyf****** times do I have to tell people that just because I'm not giving him a free pass, that doesn't make me a "hater". And nowhere have I said that just because Howard has some flaws that it doesn't matter what anybody else on the team does or that the rest of the team shouldn't work on their weak areas. All I was saying is that it's ridiculous for people to demand that a single player out 25 have all his flaws and mistakes willfully overlooked and be immune from criticism based on the position he plays (and it happens to be quite an important position). Maybe that's not 'productive' to you (I disagree, I think it's one of the best way to be productive as it's the only way to find out what you need to improve on), but in any case that wouldn't make what is being said untrue. Bottom line, I would never go around telling people they can't make a comment when a goalie (or anyone) makes a big play if he had actually just made a big play. And yet I'm always seeing people telling other people that they shouldn't make comments about a bad play a player (specifically a goalie, or perhaps only a goalie, or even more specific only the starting goalie) makes even if they had actually just make a bad play! Again, maybe you think that's unproductive, but it wouldn't mean that the play somehow doesn't contribute to the teams overall problems the way every single other problem does.

I don't really see a whole lot of 'blaming only Howard' for this loss like some are claiming. It's more holding him accountable for his mistakes. If you're going to say that "other people shouldn't be blaming only one person (Howie), because the team as a whole is playing poorly and you're letting them off the hook." Then you shouldn't turn around and say "the whole team isn't playing well, but I'm going to let Howard off the hook for his own contributions to this debacle and hold all of the skaters to a higher standard." You're doing the exact same thing. There's plenty of blame to go around and EVERYBODY (skaters, goalie, coaches, GM) should be held responsible for their parts in this.

This was my point. You took what 3 people said, compared it to what 3 different people said, and made a huge generalization about what an entire fanbase wants.

You know different people are allowed to have different opinions, right?

I wasn't blaming it only on Jimmy, like I said, we probably would have lost regardless (that's on the whole team), and that everybody has to be playing their best right now. But seeing as how the goalie, regardless of who it is, is the last line of defense, they can't be making the same stupid mistakes as everybody else. Especially if they are going to leave the net wide open and then make a boneheaded 'pass' that not even a magician like dats would have been able to receive. If a defenceman had made that atrocious pass, at least someone would have been in the net to make a play on it.

That'd be fine if this was the Wings of '02 or '08/'09. This current Wings team can't overcome those kinds of stupid mistakes in a series where they are clearly over matched talent-wise. They need everybody playing their best hockey right now, including especially the goaltender. Howard of Game 1 gives us an excellent chance to win this series. Howard of Game 2 means we're not gonna win another game till October.

I gotta say, I felt quite vindicated after seeing the responses here & in the GDT to that utterly ridiculous "pass", if it can even be called that, by Howie. I just hope that everybody can now see what I've been talking about in terms of his lack of puck-handling skills coming back to bite us. We almost surely would have lost that game regardless, as Boston thoroughly out-played us. But, when you are an underdog against the Presidents Trophy winners and you're trying to weather the storm early in a game, you absolutely can not have you're goalie making bonehead plays and spotting them their first goal of the series. That goal, and to a lesser extent the second goal, completely changed everything. Demoralizing. Any intimidation that we had from game 1 vanished in an instant. Just can't happen.

Click you name in top right corner, click 'manage ignore pref'

Well people do in fact have lives that don't revolve around sports teams, and considering its kind of a big holiday (I'm not celebrating as I'm not religious), people probably have other family commitments and aren't going to watch a game where Detroit (possibly/probably) won't win anyway.

Someone Gets It!!!

No it wasn't, howard fired it at his shinpads

Nobody around the other side of the ice and howard fires it towards the only bruins player around.

Not unlucky, it was stupid.

And again Howard can't handle the puck. instead of making a PASS he fricking SHOOTS it at the guys shinpads!!

I hope that was an intentional pun!

I have no clue how to post a picture

Can anybody with skillz put the Bruins jersey into that old "No Country For Old Men" photo?

So, I take it some of you might be coming around on Mrazec? Maybe being a better choice for our future than un-named others?

Hi I'm Brendan Shanahan of the Toronto Maple Leafs. In the spring of every year, an incident occurs where the Maple Leafs blow their playoff spot with a magnificent collapse. As the video shows in slow motion, the leafs continue to hand out lengthy contracts to players who to will certainly become a disappointment, and who will disappear when needed most. Taking into account that the Leafs have a previous history, I have suspended the Leafs from the National Hockey League for 10 seasons.

Gus's struggles don't negate Howard's struggles

No one is forcing you to read it

Pit has gotten only 9 shots so far.