unsaddleddonald

Love the move, but shocked he made it. White doesn't belong. No size, no mobility, no offensive production, nothing. But to be fair to him, we brought him in to be something he wasn't. Purely a depth D guy.

Hudler has no one to blame other than himself in my opinion. He seemed to figure the NHL out in the 07-08 and 08-09 seasons. Then he went to Russia and the rest is history....

Winning is all that matters for sure. And to your second point, absent of an acquisition, my hope is that once Smith gets back Ian White will move to the 3rd line where he belongs (i.e. where every other team that has had him in the past has played him at). But that is a different argument.

I think part of it is that this fanbase wants to see more young top talent. Tatar is definitely a start. The Wings' fanbase wants to see a Jordan Eberle, or a Sean Couturier, etc. We want to see impactful young guys. Obviously they aren't a dime-a-dozen, but we WANT!

I agree. Unfortunately, Rick Nashs and James Neals don't come around often enough....

In my opinion, that alone is why Tatar is with the club right now. He didn't have that in seasons past. He is a hound out there right now. Scrap to go along with his offensive skill.

That's a good point. I mean I am one who is annoyed with the lack of roster spots for guys like Andersson, Tatar, and Nyquist. I dunno, this is a tough situation. We simply have too many forwards. I realize what he brings, but at this point I would like to see us move on from Bert. And Filppula is just.....frustrating.

See: Tomas Tatar He has thrived playing with guys who don't match up from a playing style perspective. I'd like Gus to have the opportunity to play in a good stretch of games and build some continuity instead of seeing spot duty.

I'd like to see Gus do whatever Tatar did. I don't know about you guys, but I was thinking Tatar was on his way out before the season started and then he showed up and started playing the way he has.

Right, and I agree with your premise. So my question is what are Holland and Babcock thinking with this kid? What is their plan? There just doesn't seem to be one. As far as prospects go, I would think he is still one of the top players (in the minds of league GMs) not playing in the NHL right now. Our lineup is lacking enough to justify bringing him up, but that hasn't happened. So my knee-jerk reaction is if you're not gonna play him, then trade him. But that is just frustration talking, fair or unfair.

In my opinion, only the (stacked) first unit has looked better. The second unit is just a hodge-podge. First unit: Strategy also needs to be, and for the most part is, let Pav take the puck into the zone. NO ONE ELSE! He is the only one that can stickhandle comfortably into 3-4 defenders and retain possession. And to boot, Kronner is the best PP QB on the team and Pav/Hank/Brunner all seem to take turns on the second QB spot. Which is exactly where the 2nd unit fails: at the blueline. White and Kindl are not effective playing the blue line tight on the PP and they can't really get shots through effectively which, in my opinion, is essential for the PP. Let's face it though, White and Kindl are 3rd pairing d-man that are out of their element. Makes you realize how good Nick was for our PP.

I would think Miller will almost definitely be back. He is everything you want in a bottom 6 player. Pending roster upgrades, if he is on the 4th line, I would consider that to be a steal.

I agree here. I thought Nyquist was supposed to have a good shot of making the team this year? And yet he has only seen action in a handful of games with forwards falling by the wayside left and right. Although he has picked it up recently, Cleary hadn't done a single thing for a large stretch and our bottom six wasn't scoring at all. And yet they still didn't call him up from Grand Rapids....? So he goes from "good chance to make the club" to not being called up when the opportunity presented itself. Curious....

I'm not seeing coincidental minors in the box score. Looks like we'll be on the PK. Huge.....

I wouldn't say lazy as much as a bone head play ONLY when you consider what they see as "hooking" these days.

What was the second?

UGGHHHHHH!!!! Gotta end the period cleanly. Applefritter drivin' me nuts!

LOL, how many times has Fil tried that drag play and how many times has it actually worked....?

Miller Time!!!!!!

Anybody else take note of Burrows setting a pick on Huskins on that goal....>?

LOL

Absolutely huge win if they can somehow muster the strength to get through this one! Regardless, the big positive that has come from these last 10 games is that Tatar has pretty much secured a spot on this team going forward

....... I want both......

Remember when Kenny was kicking Alex Semin's tires? Cool....

Ian White is Brian Rafalski without the offensive skill....