Doc Holliday

Team is just giving up the season. This is pathetic.

Man, even when he isn't playing he is getting dogged.

It is situations culminated together like this that can win or lose a serious for you, regardless of talent. Look at the 1996 Wings. The 2009 Sharks. The 2009 Wings for f***s sake. Anything goes in the playoffs and anyone has a chance to beat anyone. I don't care how good the Penguins are right now. They will never be the lock to win the cup until they win the deciding game in the Cup Finals.

He can hold his own easily on defense, and has been getting better. Honestly, how long are people going to parrot that nonsense until they realize it isn't 2008 anymore?

Is it just me or is this board starting to crack up? Not saying it isn't warranted, but still.

Abdelkader shouldn't have been behind him in the first place, let alone keep pushing him into his own goaltender. Bad defense all around. Abdelkader should not be on a 4 on 4 situation, especially against the Sharks.

Murray has such a fat face.

Where was that call from?

Situation seems serious for Captain Serious.

Why would you expect 40 goals out of a forward who only managed 34 on a stacked offensive roster? That's crap, and with the way offensively the league has been trending downwards you shouldn't expect that of him anyway. Marian Hossa is a PERENIALL 40 goal scorer and isn't even at 30 yet. And before you get all huffy, I'm not comparing the two. Just saying that goal scoring as a whole is down. It annoys me when people talk about salary. How is that relevant to team success again? Ilitch owns the 4th most valuable franchise in the NATIONAL HOCKEY LEAGUE (behind Toronto, Montreal, and New York) and you are telling me that him slightly overpaying on salary is going to hurt him financially? Jokes. You say "continue to decline" as if he has declined. He is paid to score. And he is scoring. Babcock chooses not to use him on the PK (he was even with Hossa in 09 in PK time on his 34 goal run) so I'm not sure how he can do much about that. Tell me when he stops playing up to his contract, and when the cap is 5-10 million higher than it is now. Then you can talk about how overpaid the guy is.

Took them long enough.

Don't you mean "if the standings say so"? No I didn't. I regarded it as irrelevant because you admitted that the injuries sustained by the Blues were not to the same degree as Detroit's. End of discussion on that front. That is the point I was trying to make all along. Happened in 2010 as well. Detroit had to play a dump and chase style because they had so many injuries. If not for a push at the end of the season, they were potentially looking at a playoff season at home.

So you mean to tell me it is likely he won't get either two goals or two points to pass his last season goal/point totals? Come on. Also this is is second full season after his contract was signed, so saying he is expected to continue to drop in production (when he is on pace to surpass both of last years totals in goals and points) is short-sighted. What franchise goal scorer gets paid $4 million a season?

The Wings were ahead in the divison and would either still be ahead or be in a much closer position. Thank you for agreeing that my point is correct. And the Blues' strength comes from behind the benches. Hitchcock runs a system that can be successful even by interchanging its parts. Similar to the way Trotz has run things with Nashville, except with more talent on the front end. That is one issue with the Wings. They rely on high end talent which gives them an advantage over most "system-driven" teams, but they have problems when those high end pieces are out of the lineup for any period of time.

My point is the Wings were on perfect pace to surpass the Blues and ended up having multiple injuries at the same time to key players in the lineup (three of those being more important than any of those you listed) which allowed for the Blues to sneak past with relative ease. To act like the injuries to a team that relies on top talent don't make any difference (especially when the entire success of the Blues can be traced to the man behind the players and not the ability of one or two players themselves) is asinine.

The Wings injuries say you are welcome, btw. I'd still root for a Wings roster over the Blues. Sue me.

Quincey?

As a matter of fact, remember when there were Blackhawks fans out the ying yang the last couple years seeking the same validation when their team was doing well? Wonder where they ran off to.

We can't forget that, can we?

This vexes me. I'm terribly vexed.

I remember Vokoun and Ellis, too. This isn't 2003 Giguere we are talking about. And neither the Blues nor the Wings have Dave Lewis behind the benches, either.

He has the size and shot. His moves are very deliberate and in all honesty not world-class. His defensive skills are fair. He is not a fast skater. Also his ability to protect the puck on the boards is fairly weak. I don't know where people are getting this idea that he has the tools to be an elite talent. Even when he had the work ethic and linemates on both sides of him and not just one, he scored 34 goals. He is a good goal scorer. He is not an elite goal scorer.

No, it really wouldn't. Nashville is not Detroit. Even if they get Radulov, who would have to become acclimated to the system in time for the playoffs to start, they would not scare me if we had home ice. People love to overrate Nashville every season. But they just don't have it.