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They are not playing down to their opponents...they are just not that good. Take a look at the goal differential...it's like -9. Look at our power play. It's abysmal. We have actually gotten lucky with some of the games we have won lately. We have played like garbage ever since those two games against the Hawks.

Fire the power play coach now...he is useless

What do you expect? Ken Holland operates like it is 1999. It's 2016. You have tied up gaggles of dollars on players that our past their prime. You are running a loyalty show...not a hockey club in the NHL with cap limitations in 2016. Your off season signings are over the hill guys. Your $6 million dollar defenseman can't even manage the puck behind his own net. You pretend like Jonathan Erickson is a first pairing defenseman when he is a 3rd pairing defenseman. If I am running an NHL team in 2016, my core is between 24 and 31 years of age. Those are my highest paid players. Once a player gets beyond 31, I trade them for assets. Picks or solid young prospects. Or they take a pay cut and go to the bottom 6 or bottom pairing. You have to trade assets when they are worth something. It does no good to just throw guys on waivers and then trade them for a 6th when they clear (Kindl). The modern NHL requires no loyalty and constant reinvention. Players are better younger now because of modern training etc. You have to bring them up early and let them contribute early. We lost tonight because the other team was better. Except for Mrazk, Larkin, AA we have nobody. Dats gives 100% but he is on his last legs. All those young guys on Toronto had more energy. They were quicker to the puck. They were more dangerous. They clogged up the neutral zone better than us. Mrazk actually saved us. Could have been 4-0. Kenny is a disaster. He is like your old uncle who is using a flip phone while everyone else is hip to a smart phone. He has these ancient principles that he sticks to even though all the data points in a different direction. His house is cluttered with all sorts of maudlin memorabilia because he just can't bear to get rid of anything...and when he gets something new, it's like something he finds at a garage sale that reminds him of how things used to be...like an old useless 8 track player (like Cole, Zidlicky, Green, and Richards). The steady downward trajectory of this team since the last Cup is all on him. Notice the Bowmans are doing well. They know how to reinvent themselves even after they win a cup. Jim Nill seems to be doing well. Yzerman has things rolling. But Kenny is showing himself to be a guy who has not adapted to the NHL in it's current state. And this team is a joke because of that.

Here are some suggestions: ​1) We need more goals. Shoot the puck at the net more. And don't miss the net. We get power plays and put on a "pass around the perimeter" exhibition. Get the puck towards the net, collapse towards the net, wait for the puck to squirt out somewhere and get some dirty (not pretty) goals. 2) Petr is very good and at times outstanding...but sometimes he is not positionally sound. Watch video of Lundquist and Price and be a bit more compact, positionally sound, and conserve movement. On Buffalo's first goal, Petr's stick has wandered off the ice and the puck squirts thru the five hole. Stick down and blocking the five hole and the puck is stopped. When you wander out of the crease too far, you have less time to react to tips and redirections. Cutting down the angle by coming out of the net too far is a bit overrated. Just my observation. 3) Blash whatever you are telling our guys to do in the 3rd is not working. We are playing afraid when we have a one goal lead. Instill an attitude that up by a goal is really down by a goal. And play a bit desperate. 4) Jurco watch some youtube highlights of yourself...and do some of that. We are ok...we are a work in progress...but so are virtually all the other teams. Disappointing loss though. Standings say we are ok...

Smith has been playing very well recently in my opinion. Not sure the ending was really his fault. Howie should have stayed big on the breakaway...he instead went down and then got horizontal to the ground and was flopping around like a fish. I mean he got really small there and the goal was a gimme...not a great Jimmy Howard moment. Also Tatar should have backed up when he saw Smith was having trouble containing his guy along the boards...but he just stood there too close to the blue line...giving Cammelleri a two stride head start and a breakaway. Also Tats should have pulled the trigger earlier in OT when he got the feed from Nyquist on the left wing...gotta shoot there!

I was wondering what thoughts there are on this idea that is being floated out there to make the nets bigger to increase goal scoring. Personally, I really dislike this idea. I think it is just a weird and gimmicky move. And I think it is a change that alters the nature and the visual of the game too much. I just do not like this idea. I would agree with perhaps reducing the size of some of the goalie equipment. And i would really like to see a larger ice surface (like international size rinks). The problem now in my mind is that the players are bigger and faster and the space all 10 players are occupying on the ice has effectively been shrunk. Increasing the size of the ice surface will allow for a more open play and more creative puck movement leading to more scoring chances...kind of like the effect you see in 3 on 3. This is the change I would be most in favor of. I think it would enhance the excitement of the game.

I like the Wings jersey...it's very modern looking but still classy. I would think about getting one cause it is pretty unique. I didn't really like the old fashioned English D on the older winter classic jersey. These are modern and interesting.

I'm curious, why do you think more open ice is a better solution than making the nets bigger? If you don't want to see major changes to the way the game is played, why double the size of the ice before making the nets 5% bigger? _____________________________________________________________ 1) Well I am not talking about "doubling" the size of the rink. Just tweak it up to the international or Olympic size. 2) There's already a precedent for having a larger rink ( International/Olympic). 3) it would open up the ice for more exciting play (such as what you are seeing in 3 on 3). 4) I think tweaking the net size may lead to more "garbagy" type goals. Not necessarily better play. 5) Larger rink may lead to more benefit to skilled teams ... like the Wings. 6) A bigger net may lead to a focus towards extra large goalies...or may lead to some other weird gimmicky strategy that is going to change the game in an odd way. I just find the idea to be misguided on a number of different levels.

Interesting article on the business aspect of the NHL and what drives the value of the franchises. Several franchises (Montreal and Washington) are benefitting from better TV contracts. http://www.forbes.com/sites/mikeozanian/2015/11/24/the-nhls-most-valuable-teams-2/

1) Taking a few rows out of the lower bowl is not going to kill revenue if you can actually improve the flow of the game and the offensive chances out there, open up the ice, attract more of the general public to the game and then enhance TV REVENUES!! The whole reason these kind of issues come up and there is talk of increasing scoring is that the league is looking at ways to attract more eyeballs to their game to enhance TV revenues. It is all about getting improved TV deals in the United States. TV revenues are far more lucrative than a few rows of seats in the arena. Why do you think the NY Rangers are the most valuable NHL franchise (they probably have a great TV deal with their market and the number of TV eyeballs they attract. Or why does the Big 10 expand to gobble up Maryland and Rutgers (answer: to tap into the East coast market which enhances their TV revenues). This type of talk doesn't just show up in a vacuum. 2) The seats along the boards will still be premium priced seats. You are just losing the back three rows of seats in the lower bowl. 3) I am not sure that you have to severely retrofit arenas to increase ice area. After all, many arenas (like MSG) are dual sport arenas. They are switching over from basketball to hockey all the time (not to mention the circus, the monster truck rally etc.). Increasing the size of the rink is probably not that costly of a move. 4) The players are faster and stronger. They are plowing into each other along the boards and this causes injuries (often to star players). There is a lot of grinding along the boards, kicking at the puck to move it along and get it freed up along the boards. Opening up the ice will get rid of some of this and actually have players skating and passing to open areas rather than plastered to the boards fighting to dig the puck out. 5) Opening the ice up will allow for more interesting offensive flow AND perhaps more goals. Making the nets bigger will just more ricocheted pucks to fly in. Is that all that interesting? 6) People are raving about how interesting and exciting 3-on-3 is. Why is that? More open ice. More exciting chances. Less clogged up play with guys constantly standing in lanes to block shots. And it is no coincidence that when there is more open ice the goals come more quickly. You don't have to make the net bigger to get more scoring...you have to create more open ice which then creates more opportunities. 6) If they make the rink bigger, then OT should go back to 4 on 4. Personally, i like the game as is. I don't need any changes to occur. But i am pretty dead against making the nets bigger to increase scoring. If you need one solution to increase scoring, make the rink bigger.

I think the one thing that has become a bit annoying is all the collapsing around the net and shot blocking. I think the answer is to make the rink bigger. If the D collapses too much around the net then the offensive team can really control the puck on the perimeter working to find an open lane to shoot. It would place a premium on skill over the clogging of zones and lanes that goes on now. I am surprised that there has been so much talk about making the nets bigger. Patrick Roy said he was in favor of this (it would inflate his stats...). I think making the nets bigger is really a bizarre idea and would change the game in a gimmicky way. I think making the rink better would perhaps enhance the skill aspect and passing aspect of the game.

If we play like this the rest of the season, we will make the playoffs. We played very well tonight. Just couldn't put the puck in the net when we needed too. We are improved since Dats, Richards and Green have been back. I would like to see AA up here and Miller or Andersson out. We need to be a bit more dangerous offensively.

Well, you eventually need scoring threats...Pulkinnen is a scoring threat and I think he should have been in there somewhere. Ferraro played the last game of the season and then all of a sudden he is a fixture. Not really sure why. I would have scratched him rather than pulks. I like Jurco's "battle" and Andersson...well he was there all year. He did get that fluky goal...

We scored a whole 2 goals in the last 2 games. I wonder if Pulkinnen was a better option in this series than Ferraro.

Mraz #1 Trade Howard for something we actually need (a solid top Dman or a rugged, scoring winger).

My post series thoughts: 1) Always disappointing to lose like this...I remember when we lost game 7 to the Pens for the Cup. I was seriously down for like a week...we were better than them. We were the best team in the league then. This is bad...but i am already over it. I don't think the Wings had what it takes to get out of the East. The Rangers defense is stacked. Price is tough. There are just too many barriers and our best players are a bit too old. It would have been nice to continue in the playoffs...not meant to be. 2) I thought we played a good series...nothing to hang our heads about. We had our chances to nail this down in games 4 and 6. The great teams get it done. We didn't. But the guys played tough. Guys i admired during the series include Glenny, Abby, Helmer, Dats, Mraz. I like their game... 3) I am not sure getting really old players at the deadline is a great idea. Keith Yandle would have been a good get. Zidlicky is too slow and really cost us in these playoffs a bit...I am not sure he is really any better than Kindl, Marchenko, or Oulett. Cole ended up being a non-factor. Getting old players at the deadline for a bunch of "spare part" assets, messing up the chemistry, sitting young players, then slumping your way into the playoffs. Kenny has not really made a lot of outstanding moves lately. Giving 5 mill to Weiss who was coming off injury was incredibly bone-headed. The whole "overripe" thing is overrated. Hockey players in this era are beaten up after 31 or so and on the downside of things. Just my opinion. If you want to be a franchise that competes for the Cup every year you have to make bold, smart moves. If you make bad moves...no Cup. 4) I am really impressed with Mrazek's demeanor, puck handling, and athleticism. He overplays things and that needs to be fixed...but it is fixable. I like him in net over Jimmy who does to handle the puck so well and seems to be always tweaking his groin. 5) I would trade Jimmy to a team that really needs a goalie (? St. Louis) for either a rugged scoring winger or a top tier defenseman. Mraz starts...and then find a serviceable back up. 6) No more really old players please. Unless he is a core guy (Z, Dats, Kron), the secondary players should be young and not have a lot of miles on them. 7) We need a bit of grit and size in our forwards...Franzen is pretty much done. I would trade him for a low pick and a back up goalie...if he actually can still play. Get rid of him. 8) Weiss needs to go...back to Florida for a low pick...maybe his game needs Florida...I don't know. 9) It would be great to have a #1 D-man...I have no idea how we get one of these. 10) I would not re-sign either Cole or Zids...too old. 11) There is a lot of negative talk about Zetterberg here...but he is not going anywhere. I am hopeful that as he gets farther out from his back surgery he can still be a contributor. That's all i got for now...disappointing that we are out and i have no more playoff games to worry about.

More on our friend Stephane Quintal...sound like a real winner http://www.nytimes.com/2000/04/02/sports/hockey-rangers-out-of-the-playoffs-suspend-disgruntled-quintal.html

Is there a way to send the video of the Palat hit on Glenny to this guy...have him explain that one. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stéphane_Quintal Look at the teams he has played for...the f***er is biased....

On Palat's hit on Glenny.....was a penalty called? Sorry i missed that due to my work...

I would sit Zid and put in Kindl and Marchenko...and see how that rolls for game 7. Kindl sometimes has good games, especially offensively. Marchenko can be solid. The ruling is absolute s**t but now we just have to win. It may light a fire under our butts.

Moral of the story is do not sign role players over the age of 35...they either get hurt or are too slow. Does anybody think Zidlicky is performing better than Kindl would...or Marchenko...or Oullette...

Elevating Mrazek to #1 is a good idea and probably past due. Jimmy has been off since his injury. He is really reacting slowly...like he is moving in cement. Sit him for awhile. Our best portion of the year was when Mrazek was #1 (after Jimmy went down against the Caps). While Mrazek can have a stinker of a game, he kind of exudes a certain confidence, reacts quickly, and moves the puck well. He doesn't play well every game, but he keeps you in a majority of games. Jimmy keeps you in a minority of the games (since his injury) which is not cutting it. Goalies are streaky and I think you should rotate goalies in and out throughout the season depending on how they seem to be reacting to the puck and handling the stress of the position. You need points...you can't just ride a guy forever because you have deemed him "the #1 goalie."

Mrzak first star. Deserved it...he should be #1 for now.

Mrazek has tenacity...like so far how he has protected this lead

I think the team plays more relaxed in front of Mrazek because of how he handles the puck. He handles it with more confidence than Jimmy. He is also at times more confident and poised in the net. It is also true that sometimes Mrazek will really get a bit lost coming out too far and over-challenging. But, on balance, my opinion is that Jimmy has not played great since coming back from the groin tear (which by the way was caused by one of his horrific mishandles behind the net...resulting in him scrambling awkwardly back to the net). I think overall we played some of our best hockey when Mrazek was starting...perhaps his puck handling gets the offense rolling from the defensive end. I would let Jimmy sit and gather himself for an extended period of time...and go with Mrazek. This team needs a shake up and this would do it. Let Jimmy back up for awhile. I also would get Marchenko back in there once he is healed and perhaps sit Ericsson for awhile...he makes way too many mistakes and needs a bit of a break. Weiss should sit as well...he is inconsequential on a team that needs difference makers. I think players go thru funks and when they are in a funk, just sit them. Rest them for awhile. Don't grind the same guys out there who are having problems.