dropkickshanahans

"Shut up Randy I'm on the phone!" I've always liked it, just was never able to watch it on TV unless the World Cup came around back then. Had to look everything up on the internet (before youtube exploded) before it started being televised more and more, but I admit I knew more players a decade ago than I do now, so I'd like to get into it again soon. I probably stopped paying attention altogether when Henry left Arsenal, are they still good now?

haha nice!

Nice avatar

I don't know much about formations but if I'm looking at that right, Helm/Flip are defensive mids, Dats line are attacking mids, right? And I'm guessing the striker position doesn't do as much work as everyone else except trying to score goals?

I wonder if centcougar has been paying attention?

Reminds me of this:

Wow...

What a meltdown

No, not a big time scorer and never will be, but he does take a load off of Datsyuk and Zetterberg, puts pressure on the other team with his forechecking and brings energy. I've always thought he was our third most important forward. I think he would have been the difference maker this series if healthy since, for example, Babcock wouldn't have to worry about getting Z out on the ice every time Toews got on.

I had a couple more topics that I wanted to talk about that were questioned differently, but after looking at the other threads, and seeing my paragraphs grow to gcom length, I decided to shorten this to two-ish topics and maybe I'll ask those questions in the other threads. I must say that I feel a little relieved. Not that the Wings have been knocked out-- I certainly wanted them to keep going. It's just that “OK, it's finally over, I can move on.” Sounds strange, but when you're emotionally invested after what they've done, upsetting the #2 seed and being so close to knocking off the #1 seed, I guess it messes with you. I shouldn't be that invested but hey, I've been following this team all my life so I can't help it. I can only imagine what the players went through. Anyway, even though I didn't sleep well at all last night, I actually feel rather good today. The sun came out for a bit, and I already can't wait for next season. So let's talk about a few things if you'd like. Is Justin Abdelkader a top 6 player? Honestly, I think he is for the time being. I liked what I saw from him later in the season + playoffs when he got more comfortable. He's the closest this team has to Holmstrom, and I thought he filled that role better than Bertuzzi, Franzen and Cleary the more comfortable he got with it and I believe it's a role he relishes. He still needs more work to be better at it since I think that line fizzled during the Blackhawks series, but I think Babcock should give that time to him again next season. He bangs and crashes, gets under the opponents skin, got better at puck retrieval, did a good job of creating room for Datsyuk and most importantly, went to the net very often and set good screens. But to avoid more Shane Doan criticisms, he needs to work on this role more. Get better at deflections and be aware of loose pucks to knock in, and dare I say I think he could be the next Demolition Man. It's hard to get players that can do what Homer did, and Abby's certainly not there yet but I think the best course of action for this team is for Abby to keep working at it. Emmerton vs Ferraro, Miller vs Eaves, Callahan... This probably doesn't matter much, but I wanted to hear opinions anyway. How do you feel about Miller compared to Eaves? They're both about the same, Eaves is paid more and is a right hander, but overall I think Miller was always the better 4th liner. Eaves always seems to get hurt, and is paid more. I only bring this up because I think the team will let Miller go, which I'll be sad if they do and being a 4th liner he's replaceable, but still. I also wanted opinions on Emmerton vs Ferraro. I know Emmerton is liked by some, but I never thought he was that good, just a defensive 4th line plug. Could Ferraro be ready and beat him out when training camp comes? Or does Ferraro still need more ice time in GR? I think his speed, energy and offensive ability will be an upgrade over Emmerton's. Defense may be a wash, but I wouldn't know, I just assume Ferraro has worked on it over the last couple years, so there can't be that much of a difference right? I also wanted to know more about Callahan for anyone that watches GRG. Will he be an NHLer some day? Reading about him over time he looks to be another Abdelkader/Maltby-type. Energy, hits, agitator, fights and a little bit of scoring. But I confess I don't watch much of the Griffins, so I haven't seen his progression or anyone else. I mainly read about our prospects. Could he possibly take Miller's spot after training camp if Miller is let go? A Callahan, Ferraro, Eaves line would be great to watch.

Stalberg did have a couple of great chances, but yes, other than those few chances he didn't seem to do much else. If he's been in Q's doghouse, I don't see Babs giving him more love. His size+speed is intriguing though...

Highest since 2005?

Nice and thanks for your insight on Mitchell. Hopefully he keeps progressing then because I would really like to see him become a legit bottom sixer for the Wings in the future. This was going to be my other topic. I agree with this as well, they were the difference maker during the playoffs imo. As much as anyone would like to think Nyquist or Brunner belong in the top 6 now (maybe they do), I'd rather see the lines spread out with more scoring depth until we start seeing vets retire and more kids ready to make the jump up to the team. Ease them into that top 6.

How good is Ferraro defensively and how would you compare him to Helm? Or maybe Tatar is a better comparison?

Interesting that the next four were games 3 and 4 from their respective series. Those must have been aired around the weekends. I wonder what Detroit-Pittsburgh game 7 was rated?

I was impressed with Bickell. He's been big for them in the playoffs. Ideally I would like someone bigger and better than Abs, but I'm just not sure Holland will sign anyone unfortunately. They still have Bert, Sammy, probably resign Flip, maybe Cleary, plus the kids coming up. I guess we'll see what happens. I would like either of Horton or Clarkson though.

I disagree that his playoffs were trash. I thought he did very well for Datsyuk's line, and did a better job than anyone else at creating havoc in the crease. He's the only one that seemed to go to the net consistently and get his ass kicked for it, so he's doing something right. I think with more work he'll be better in that role and be a close replacement of Holmstrom... hopefully. He is a bonehead afterall, but we'll see if he gets close to Holmstrom's point totals if he stays up there.

Wasn't he out on the last shift? I honestly think Z was just out of breath and simply didn't want to do a quick interview.

I haven't looked at the replay today and don't care to, but seeing the replay live after they scored I thought it was a clean hit on Nyquist's side, not on the numbers.

Haven't been that interested in boxing lately. I used to watch it a lot back then but when I still see old guys like Shane Mosley and Bernard Hopkins beating youngins it just tells me that the talent isn't what it used to be. Well, that and controversial decisions and bad referring makes me lose interest altogether. Is Joe Cortez still calling fights? He's plain awful at his job.

I can't watch TSN here in Michigan, but I got to see their clips on youtube and liked their personalities, so I'm looking forward to seeing them on FSN. They were imo reminiscent of Sportscenter back in the day before ESPN became the E!SPN garbage it is today.

idk if you have a PC but DayZ was pretty unique in that aspect. Not quite RE-esque, but an everyone for themselves/don't trust anyone survival mod for ARMA. I haven't played it in awhile though and heard it's turned to crap, so we'll see how the standalone version turns out. Heh, I recently bought a USB SNES controller and played Super Mario World on an emulator. As for in the future, I'm not really anticipating any games currently. I think I'll wait to see what comes with the new consoles later this year.

I'm pretty confident that the Pens won't win it all. They're just too one-dimensional.

I guess, it just seemed more normal to me compared to the crap he did earlier in the series. It'll be interesting to see how he acts against LA.

I just wish he played with more "umph". I believe even you said he's been timid, which is the perfect word I'd describe him as and it's been irritating me for awhile that he's been like that. I want to see the Flip that knocked Ovechkin on his ass and crashes the net. Perhaps he was hurt?