Wingsallwin

Basically, our offenses are not struggling. We all know our defenses are on descent right now and not improved well. But we cannot avoid blaming Osgood because he is considered as a starting goalie in this team but he has had only few remarkable games and in other games, he allowed too many soft goals. More important fact is that he has not improved anything during few months from October to today. If Osgood is not improving, it is not somehow all defense problem. He just seems to have no motivation like last season anymore. Last season, because Dom was in this team, Osgood probably had an ambition to be our first starting goalie over Hasek and that is what boosted him up. But because we won the cup and Dom retired on the off-season, he just looks lost and still think he is captured in a role of starting goalie but the truth is that is a totally wrong thought.

That's what I just said about your problem. If goalie has only few games and many terrible games, are you gonna be comfortable to see the goalie players in the net? Games you mentioned was only 3 games. You just sound to protect Osgood regardless what he has done so far this season. Then if some say Osgood sucks; the game against the Sharks, Stars, Coyotes, Leafs, Senators, and some other teams that score around 3 or 4 goals on him, can you say it is good? Even the worst goalie in the league can have 2 or 3 good games depends on himself condition. We are talking about the whole story of Osgood this season, not only particular games that he serviced some good performances. According to your statemnet, no goalie in the league should be blamed because every goalie has some good games. How many do I have to repeat? Stats is still number but stats is not a joke at all. Don't deny the genuine story going under this team right now.

He was far better than an everage goalie level. But the problem is his playing level right now is way lower than the even level of average goalies.

those are examples only but the real important thing is we have only few perfect games.

Did you not already post this on another post? Whatever, but I think it is about the lack of concetration on the game. Osgood and our defenses never worked hard at all. But when our defenses were good, it was not only game against the cheap teams. Our defense was solid against the Sharks, Hawks, Oilers, f***s, and some other teams too. However, it does not matter who you play against, there is no consistency in this team's defense right now. And I agree with you at the last part. Nothing has changed. And some people here are very delusional of last season's playoff. Where is the clear eveidence we wil get hot in the playoff? Did they watch Wings hockey only last season?

I told you before, who cares about the beginning of the season's performance and stats. You never watched the Stars games? I never mentioned Turco is back on his game but he is enough and he is being improved. What has Ozzie improved? Can you say anything about this? He allowed around 4 or 5 goals many games in the beginning of the season. He allowed 6goals against the Sharks, 5goals against the Stars, 3goals against the Stars, can you say anymore than this? Yes, Osgood has those kind of games already a lot this season. And the thread you made Conklin against the caps, did you even watch the game? How many good saves did Conk make? I know the 3rd goal was soft. Ok, you said 1st one was a joke. You are the kind of guy who just say when Osgood allows a goal by deflection, it is not his fault, but now is Conklin's fault? Did you see Kronwall fell on the ice twice on the back of the net? I don't say Conklin was great but if our defenses play better, then we would win, and Conklin was enough good. You also said Conklin is never better than Osgood. Is stats just a number and joke? Then, Mike Smith is gonna win the Vezina? Ok, let's forget about the stats. How many times did Osgood allow more than 4 goals? Do you expect this to happen in the playoff? It will be embarrasing. I also blame our defenses but you just sound like nothing is Osgood's fault. You need to realize the truth.

Sorry for saying like that. Let me change to Osgood, then does it make sense?

I agree with this post. We know Osgood is not as good as top goalies like Luongo so our defenses should cover a lot of part but they did not. But the problem you did not mention is Osgood is not improving at all. We already gave him ton of chances to prove his stats so far was a joke and wanted him to bounce back but he did not. We now finally have to realize Osgood cannot carry this team to the far in the playoff with this performance. If he has good 5 games, and terrible 10 games, I don't know which is good, and it shows how inconsistent Osgood is right now. Throughout this season so far, I remember only one game Osgood's performance was great, game aginst the Wild. Even though Osgood makes key saves, there is no excuse for any starting goalie in the league that allows more than 4 goals pretty much every game. Next monday is game against the Blues. It does not matter we lose or win, in next few games, we finally at least need to show the progress or improvment on our problems. 30 games seem to be many games but the truth is, it is not.

I understand the goalie lists you show there, they are all bad right now. But Giguere at least has better stats than Osgood and Turco is loooking to be back on his track, his last few games stats are great. We all know the Wings are having a rough time to solve the defenses but the goalies should not give up soft goals too many times. We don't blame Osgood for unstoppable shots. Like Conklin yesterday against the Caps, except for the 3rd goal, he never gave up any soft goals. I agree our bad defenses make our goalies look bad but we cannot say Osgood is good this season and Conklin has been better doubtlessly by performances on games and stats. I don't say Osgood is the worst goalie and terrible but I don't think we can expect Osgood to bounce back to his game right now. The thing is we really now have to decide who should be our first starting goalie for rest of the season and the playoff. I like Babcock still rotates our goalies but Conklin has to have more chances to start than now. I don't mind Conklin is a carried as a back up goalie. Any back up goalie can alternate the spot of starting goalie.

I think Maltby is playing fine enough to be our 4th liner through last few games. But real problems are on Draper and Kopecky. We all see Leino and Abdelkader are super better than Draper and Kopecky and if Babcock is still stubborn on keeping Draper and Kopecky on 4th line instead of Leino and Abdelkader, that sounds non-sense for me. Draper's only strong point is face off. But we have to know this. Our 4th liners do not receive that much of ice time and we still have so many guys that can do as well as Draper in the faceoff: Zetterberg,Datsdyk are real players too. My ideal 4th line is Leino,Abdelkader,Helm(after he is back on his injury), and Maltby. But we have to have only 3 players so since putting like this, then rotate them and filter what 3 players are the most fittable on this team's 4th liners.

Another agreement on you, but we also have to know the deadly last PK on the road and best PK at home should have something to do with a goalie. During the game against the Hawks this season when we beat them by 4-0, Babcock interviewed that goalie should be the best penalty killer. We all know we have many two way forwards that can cover up some mistakes on the defensive zone. And they have done pretty good this season. Others are on defenses. Except for Lids and Lilja, Rafalski is an exception for me but like Kronwall and Stuart, they are not clearing the puck well enough. Moreover, Stuart can hit well but I don't know what happened to Kronwall since the last summer, but he does not hit that much, which is the forte of him. As we watch, defenses are the most important part in this team. Every our play starts from defenses. Hopefully, we can do some surgery on this defense problem and become very tight defensive team again like last past many years

That part is related to coaching staffs but we just simply cannot make our guys to be motivational as the last season. That's why we have to bench or send down our slumping players to the AHL; which can remind every player that they can be sent down in any time. Like Kopecky, Draper, Maltby, they are doing nothing this season. 4th checking line's role is sparing the time for the 1,2,3rd liners, and this is the only thing that our 4th liners are doing this season. They have to play physically and not robbed by opponents all on the ice. The only guy who is playing good pretty much every game as a defense is Lilja. He wants more ice times and capture the important places of this team. Lidstrom is not playing as last season and his prime but we have to know he is 38 right now and he is still one of top 5 defenses in the league. However, we just cannot trade some guys for new motivation. We know Kronwall was supposed to be impressive this season but he has not been so far. It is very hard to trade him because he still has potential to be better and because of his offensive skill.

Maybe the bold part should be "offense is fine", not "we are fine". Do you think the deadly last PK on the road and lower than 20th GAA is fine? Besides, I never mentioned if we put our best games together, we couldn't win another cup. I don't see where I mentioned this, don't just misjudge my whole point by your eye view. I said it will never be pretty if we don't put any effort then we will not win the cup definately, not even go to far in the playoff. It is not important whether you are pessimistic or not. We have to realize the true situation going on this team right now. Let me ask you. How many times have you repeated to say "I think we can put perfect games together when it counts" and just sounds like your statement is only mentioning we are going to win the cup whatever happens right now since one guy who I don't remember the account name posted that we need to panic a bit. What is the standard of your head to say which game is perfect or not? We have far more unperfect games defensively than perfect games defensively. Is the meaning of perfect game only winning game regardless what accurately happened during the whole game for you?

Very agree about this part. We have not made any perfect game except for some. I don't care the Wings were brutal in the first part of the season. And most of our winning games were one goal game. But I meant, like you, the team knows to win by scoring only 2 goals. Like the Devils, do they score a lot? No. Do they have Brodeur? No. Is Scott good? Yes he is playing well but as everyone saw the progress of the Devils, they were horrible in the first part of the season but they showed the improvement. To contrast to that, what has been done in a good in this team right now? We have to score more than 5 goals to win the game. That's not supposed to happen in the playoff. In the playoff, better defensive team and more motivational team is winning doubtlessly. Do the Wings show both cases as well? Not at all. I just sometimes don't understand people here who just say " we have good offenses, we will win". Are you guys kidding me? Defenses are far more important than offenses and you guys have to know this if you guys watch any other sports!

now and that February are very different. We sucked last Feb because we had too many injureis on defenses. We do not have a long injured player except for Stuart for the main roster for this team right now. Zetterberg and Homlstrom are going to be back. I don't even remember the total number of time that I keep saying " we need some changes". The season started in October and nothing has changed. The only thing that has been improved is that any our offense lines can score except for the 4th line. -Terrible PK on the road -Disappointing GAA -Osgood slumping -No motivation -Lazziness -Brutal 4th line's performance Above those lists, can you tell me what has been fixed? I don't see anything on those lists have been solved yet.

We are definately going to make a playoff, that is not what I am concerning badly right now. Told you before, I dont care what seed the Wings finish in the regular season. Then, can you think the Wings playing level lright now will be alive well in the playoff? I meant, how can you just say they will have a success in the playoff? Did you watch only last year? Before last season, we were really bad in the playoff, upset by the f***s, Oilers, in the first round and once in the 2nd round by the Flames. I am not recalling history to happen again. But what is important is that the cup hangover. Stop thinking we are the champion. Yes, we won the cup last year. This is new season and we have not improved anything. How can you expect the Wings will improve many problems they have right now just by few days between the end of Regular season and the start of the playoff; we even have not been able to fix this problem by few months. By a similar example, there is a test and exam of math. One student got 50 percentage in the math test. Do you expect this guy to get perfect in the final exam which is not super easy and just one day after the test he got 50?

Anything that can frustate their favorite team's players can be only one game. Yeah, but I gotta agree with you about this. Our 4th line is just useless and I kept mentioning that we need to bring up our GR. It is only few game that we put our GR and if they suck, then send them down again. Past was the time because those time was not as important as now. But Babcock probably stay in the nostalgia of last year's champs too much. The interesting fact is that Kopecky was not even on the line up during the playoff and Babcock is using him still. But I gotta disagree with you about Maltby. I think he is the best player in the 4th line right now but if we really need Downey back, I will do that. I hope our 4th line will be blown up and built again.

Every team that won the cup earned the luck. But you know what, luck comes out with the effort and favor of winning. I don't think we will get hot. Last year, we had the peak of the motivation but we are decling very fast. How can you just say we will get hot in the playoff? Do you expect the Isles to win all games left for them?

This is what really matters. Accoring to your stats, we are just the best in the league with every stats part of offenses. But if you see the PK, GAA, that is just horrible. Mentioned before, the most important thing that leads any team to win the cup is defenses, not offenses. I don't care the Wings lose or win every game but the level of how they play is extremely significant. How many have you guys repeated saying "we will be fine". How can you be such sure about this part? Talents, yeah we have a lot of talent. But real talents are combined with a lot of effort and what makes us sloppy this season is that we are playing with no heart every game.

After October and Novermber last year, I thought we would bounce back to our Red Wings games because we have talents and we are the champions even though our defenses were terrible in both October and Novermber with goalies. But now, 50 games have been paseed so far and the defects of the Wings still do not look to be fixed in the short time. Before the season started, I was highly pumped because we got Hossa and won the cup and thought we will be able to do again. However, so far this season, as I have watched the Red Wings games for around 6 years, it is the least favorable and scary season that I ever watched. I think now is a time to take each game a bit more seriously than before. 30 games are left and by the calendar, two months and few days are left. We know January is over. We were great in the beginning of the Jan to the middle of Jan. But last 5 games, not only the losing streak, but we look lost and those games looked like games in October and Novermber. I know we were exhausted because of chain road games but nothing really has looked to be fixed. I agree with that no one can predict the result of playoff. However, if we go to the playoff with this team right now, no matter what top seeds we clinch on, we will have a really hard time to go really far in the playoff. We know offenses are good but not perfect. I am saying our 1,2,3lines are good but our 4th line is brutal this season and now is probably the time that Babcock really needs to change the 4th line. We all saw Leino and Abdelkader can bring up good impacts on this 4th line and replace Draper and Kopecky. Besides, I think we also need Downey as well. I have loved our defenses every season but this season, we have allowed too many goals. Previous seasons, we were the top 5 team in the league that allowed the fewest goals every season and our offenses were also top team. However, when the team tries to win the cup, defenses are far more important than offenses as baseball team wins the WS by good pitchers first, not batters first. Goalies, I am not blaming Osgood anymore. I heard from people here and we lost by team and thanks for those people who reminded me. But, the decision time will have to be soon. We know Osgood has a lot of playoff experience, which led us to win the cup last season but this season, Conklin has been better than Osgood and he was enough today. I don't say Conklin was great today against the Caps but except for the 3rd goal, he never allowed any soft goals. I don't know his stats right now but sv percentage was .914 and it is good. But more of these team problems, I think the biggest problem is a lack of motivation. Last year, we had not won the cup since 2002, and our players played really hard every game and some players tried to show their best. This season, however, I don't say any particular player is playing bad but every player looks very inconsistent except for Datsyuk. If we play without our best effort still in Febraury, I think that will be very afraid.

I agree with you. But winning one goal game, I think it is good but the problem you have to mention is that too many one goal games are repeated. Winning one goal game means we know how to win but last minute heroic is also a problem. But I like you say all lack of effort. Like last year, we were working hard every game but this season, it looks like we showed our best only few games like beat up the Sharks 6-0, beat the hawks 4-0, beat the Flames 4-3, and some other games. I don't think the laziness will be fixed in the short time. We probably need a big operation to fix this, like losing game by a shutout with score like 4-0.

I don't believe we play bad in the 1st and 2nd period both on defenses and offenses and also Conklin. However, as the game turned into the half of the 3rd period, we looked really lost out there. Conklin was good in the 1st and 2nd but like the 3rd goal, he had to save that shot even though that was Ovechkin. The problem is that some our defenses are extremely inconsistent. I don't remember who said we have to trade Kronwall to Volchenkov from Ottawa. I am kind of agree with you because Kronwall has a really good offensive skills as a defense but he allows too many turnovers on the back of the net or beside goalies and that is scary because that's directly a scoring chance. Rafalski is on the same way. He is good offensively but like the 4th goal on the rebound, he had to cover Ovechkin, but he was doing defense locationally. If Conklin could not cover more of shots today, we would definately be blown up. I don't say Conklin was good but he was enough. I am very impressed with our two new faces: Leino and Abdelkader. I think we really need to send Kopecky and Draper down to the AHL and bring up Downey and keep those two guys in this team. Our 4th line can do nothing this season. Draper is used to be good in the faceoff but if we compare Draper to both Leino and Abdelkader, he does not deserve to be there. I don't know what Babcock was thinking but still cannot understand that Kopecky was in a role of PK unit. But I don't think we are in slump as offensively but defensively, we are back to the October of this season. Excuses of injury is not really proper because without Zetterberg and Homlstrom, we can still win and no team in the league will have all games without injuries.

wow.. game is over. Our defenses were terrible, Kronwall made some brutal turn over even though did not become goals against us.

Conklin missed that shot but overall, last few minutes, our defenses look lost..

Isn't it the last year contract of Kopecky in the Wings? I think he will be RFA but we are not going to resign kopecky. Leino and Abdelkader have been far more impressive than him. I don't know anything about the friendship between Kopecky and Hossa but I think not resigning with Kopecky really does not matter with the resigning possibility with Hossa if we have enough cap rooms.