kook_10

I think that "we are what we are" and "we know how to play" stuff isn't cutting it anymore. It seems to make them unaccountable for their play on the ice. Granted, with as many injuries as the team as had this year, it would be difficult for any coach to effectively discipline players by benching or demoting. I think that is what he needs to do though. Just tweaking lines doesn't seem to have been the most successful the last couple years. Too much emphasis on chemistry and not enough on performance. I wouldn't mind him making a big off-season trade to show the boys that he means business.

Hope you enjoyed your gift Gord-O!

I always have rooted for the Red Wings but I am old enough to not always have believed in them.

PLEASE COPY AND PASTE THE SCHEDULE TO YOUR POST, AND MARK YOUR SELECTION BY MAKING IT BOLD AND BE SURE TO MARK YOUR DOUBLE GAME AS "X2". Picks have to be posted before the puck drops / everyone will drop their worst two week's scores / one game a week counts double Friday, March 25 New Jersey at Pittsburgh Florida at Buffalo Washington at Ottawa Carolina at Tampa Bay Vancouver at Atlanta Saturday, March 26 NY Rangers at Boston Colorado at Los Angeles New Jersey at Buffalo Toronto at Detroit Tampa Bay at Carolina Washington at Montreal Philadelphia at NY Islanders Dallas at Nashville St. Louis at Minnesota Anaheim at Chicago San Jose at Phoenix Calgary at Edmonton Sunday, March 27 Florida at Pittsburgh Ottawa at Atlanta Vancouver at Columbus Boston at Philadelphia STANDINGS RECAP a/o WEEK 21

[aka Kaneholio]

Occasionally people here bring up post-lockout parity, but to me it was some sort of a vague concept. So, in a bout of spreadsheet nerddom this afternoon I tried to figure out how to quantify the concept. I'm interested to hear how anybody else would put some numbers to the concept, but I thought the best way to represent parity was to compare the goals for/goals against ratios of the teams in the league. [goals drive the wins/losses and there are no ties] For instance if there isn't any parity, then the best team in the league would have 300 goals for and 150 goals against for a ratio of 2.0 and the worst team may be the opposite at 150GF/300GA for a ratio of 0.5. I used standard deviation as a measure of variability for the GF/GA ratios of all the teams for the last 30 years. The lower the standard deviation, the lower the spread in GF/GA ratios amongst the teams (PARITY). Here is what I got: 07-08 and 08-09 had measurably more parity than in the past, but for this year and 05-06 and 06-07 it doesn't look any different.

Congrats to CaliWingsNut, who picked up a huge 18 out of 22 available points this week! WEEK 22 RESULTS #1 CaliWingsNut 18 #2 Zombi 17 #2 Motown4013 17 #2 Vladimir316 17 #2 Echolalia 17 #2 wingslogo19 17 #2 MGreenberg 17 #8 hooon 16 #8 aflac9262 16 #8 Batigol2k 16 #8 RippedOnNitro 16 #12 GoWings1905 15 #12 LEBDA22 15 #12 dat's sick 15 #12 TheDetroitRedWings 15 #12 SeeinRed 15 #12 wingsgirl001 15 #12 Dan Bylsma 15 #12 redwingcapt 15 #20 Blood On The Ice 14 #20 ricky0034 14 #20 edicius 14 #20 NeverForgetMac25 14 #20 FinRedWing 14 #20 akustyk 14 #20 crotty99 14 #20 Norwegian Red Wing 14 #28 kook_10 13 #28 Aussie_Wing 13 #28 Hockeytown0001 13 #28 brett 13 #32 Dominator2005 12 #32 juice71285 12 #32 hokeychik22 12 #35 wingfanatic4alltime 11 #35 #19=Legend 11 #35 MulesWillFly93 11 STANDINGS a/o WEEK 22

Right - its artificial parity for marketing purposes. The league just wants the fans to believe every team has a chance. I agree the point system has created that artifice, not the salary cap or expansion. It has little to do with the parity of play on the ice, or the "product" on the ice that Bettman is always blathering on about. The irony is that most people would concede that it is tougher for teams outside of the bubble to make up ground, despite their appearance of a winning record (only six teams are under .500 points % wise).

Goals for / goals against is a better measure of parity than wins and losses. I posted mid-season last year about historical parity in the league (to a chorus of silence):

Z has 75 pts and is still also a -1. To me that is a little more concerning, especially given the years remaining on his big contract and that +/- is a more useful stat for forwards (relatively speaking). He has also never finished a -. *curiously enough - looking at Z's splits - it looks like someone has a case of the Mondays: Stats By Day of Week Sun GP: 7 +/-: +2 Mon GP: 8 +/-: -13 Tues GP: 5 +/-: +0 Weds GP: 14 +/-: +6 Thurs GP: 10 +/-: -1 Fri GP: 14 +/-: +5 Sat GP: 17 +/-: +0

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cyaYnUeavG4 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O3J-XYnZHfU

Theoretically the talent would be better with a smaller league, but to say that it is watered down from years past is incorrect. There are actually a good number fewer Canadians in the league than there were in 1980 when there were far fewer teams then. I don't think they have become worse at hockey, so it must be that better players are coming from a larger global talent pool.

Wings Chime In On Instigator Rule I would have to think the visor portion of the rule would have to remain. It's difficult to envision how they could write the rule in a way to allow instigation in only certain circumstances. In any case it would have to be even more subjective than it is now. Maybe they should just change the language of the rule as it stands now to allow it in the context of "obvious retribution for a previous incident in the game or season."

I don't. The writers at TSN are hacks. Remember Captain Hank? As much as I'd like to see it happen, it would be to the detriment of our dear and precious Wings. I think the league is too far away from the old-time standard of self reliance and preservation that they just couldn't get rid of the instigator outright. There would have to be some sort of middle ground.

"Novel" solution?

Friday, March 25 New Jersey at Pittsburgh Florida at Buffalo Washington at Ottawa Carolina at Tampa Bay Vancouver at Atlanta Saturday, March 26 NY Rangers at Boston Colorado at Los Angeles New Jersey at Buffalo Toronto at Detroit Tampa Bay at Carolina Washington at Montreal Philadelphia at NY Islanders Dallas at Nashville St. Louis at Minnesota Anaheim at Chicago San Jose at Phoenix Calgary at Edmonton Sunday, March 27 Florida at Pittsburgh Ottawa at Atlanta Vancouver at Columbus x2 Boston at Philadelphia

** we're coming down to the wire! anybody have any ideas on how to do the playoff picks?** PLEASE COPY AND PASTE THE SCHEDULE TO YOUR POST, AND MARK YOUR SELECTION BY MAKING IT BOLD AND BE SURE TO MARK YOUR DOUBLE GAME AS "X2". Picks have to be posted before the puck drops / everyone will drop their worst two week's scores / one game a week counts double Friday, March 18 NY Islanders at Carolina Washington at New Jersey Montreal at NY Rangers Phoenix at Vancouver Saturday, March 19 Columbus at Minnesota Atlanta at Buffalo Tampa Bay at Ottawa Boston at Toronto NY Islanders at Florida Philadelphia at Dallas Detroit at Nashville Colorado at Edmonton Anaheim at Los Angeles St. Louis at San Jose Sunday, March 20 NY Rangers at Pittsburgh Nashville at Buffalo New Jersey at Columbus Montreal at Minnesota Chicago at Phoenix Calgary at Anaheim STANDINGS RECAP a/o WEEK 20

Congrats to dat's sick, juice71285, and MGreenberg for coming out on top in a tough week! For me - I am disappoint. WEEK 21 RESULTS #1 dat's sick 13 #1 juice71285 13 #1 MGreenberg 13 #4 Blood On The Ice 12 #4 TheDetroitRedWings 12 #4 aflac9262 12 #4 edicius 12 #4 Zeowingsfan 12 #4 Zombi 12 #4 FinRedWing 12 #4 wingslogo19 12 #4 RippedOnNitro 12 #13 dirtydangles 11 #13 Dominator2005 11 #13 akustyk 11 #13 Echolalia 11 #17 GoWings1905 10 #17 wingsgirl001 10 #17 ricky0034 10 #17 wingfanatic4alltime 10 #17 Dan Bylsma 10 #17 Swayze 10 #17 Naranja 10 #24 LEBDA22 9 #24 kook_10 9 #24 Batigol2k 9 #24 NeverForgetMac25 9 #24 Hockeytown0001 9 #24 crotty99 9 #24 hokeychik22 9 #24 redwingcapt 9 #24 Vladimir316 9 #33 hooon 8 #33 Aussie_Wing 8 #33 SeeinRed 8 #33 CaliWingsNut 8 #33 #19=Legend 8 #33 Norwegian Red Wing 8 #39 Motown4013 3 STANDINGS a/o WEEK 21

RIP Pinetop

Howie is more of a bad fit with the Wings D-Corps than he is a bad goalie. Conversely, the D isn't as bad as Howie sometimes make them look - they are just not as equipped as other teams to put guys on their ass when he leaves a rebound out there. That is why I think Jimmy could have a more successful career in a place with more physical defense. I'm afraid that his style may be set. If that is the case, I think he would do better somewhere else, but I am willing to give him the chance to ride out his new contract and hopefully adapt to the team.

I know some of you out there root for the guy, but it just pisses me off to see him do well in Philly. I know someone will say "confidence...Babs...blah, blah, blah" but the guy just didn't have the character to work hard, persevere, and succeed in Detroit. Is he the most notable recent story of a local failure finding success elsewhere? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E2Oe6J8P7oM

Oh yeah...forgot. Carry on then!