MDCard

Vanek is a positive addition to this team.  He has great hands, passes well, and has a high hockey IQ.  He can score (which is something we need).  When he was out, we suffered.  And we seem to be turning things around a bit with him back in.  We have enough dead weight on this team that truly needs to go.  I would not include Vanek in that category.  
I am not sure why we overpay guys like Helm, Abby, Errickson, and others and then when a guy comes in and outplays his contract we are ready to trade him for a second rounder.  If we are out of it at the deadline and want to trade him as a rental for someone else we should demand a 1st rounder (or more...like an added prospect).  Vanek is a difference maker.

I think our offense finally opens up a bit tonight and we put up a solid 5 goals to their 2. 
Mantha, Larkin x2, Nielsen, and Green with the goals. LGW!

Does anybody still remember Mrazek in the shootout against St Louis a few games ago??  He is the #1 guy.  
Rotate Jimmy in when Mraz needs rest and on back to backs.
Goaltending is not the problem with this team...it's everything else.

Does anybody still remember Mrazek in the shootout against St Louis a few games ago??  He is the #1 guy.  
Rotate Jimmy in when Mraz needs rest and on back to backs.
Goaltending is not the problem with this team...it's everything else.

Does anybody still remember Mrazek in the shootout against St Louis a few games ago??  He is the #1 guy.  
Rotate Jimmy in when Mraz needs rest and on back to backs.
Goaltending is not the problem with this team...it's everything else.

1) Why is Ericcson out there.  Ridiculous up the middle pass and turnover lead the their 2nd goal.  Why can't Ericcson sit and play Sproul and Ouellette.
2) So on a 6 on 5 you put Glenny on the draw and have Miller and Ericcson out there...Jeesh this is who we have out there at that time!  Just put your most skilled guys out there so they can get the puck and race down the ice.  So annoying.  Instead we sit back and wait for mayhem to occur in front of the net.
3) Helm just rip it...we played ice capades with the puck the entire overtime and never just get to the net and finish.
This whole thing is so frustrating...the whole thing...the Kenny Holland nonsense and his compromising, loyal, veteran-loving attitude, sit on his hands, kick the tires, playoff streaking, overpaying average, overpaying players way past their prime, over investing in a bunch of smurfy forwards, underinvesting in sized D men and wingers clown show.
And then our annoying coaching with their 4th line, grind line, non-scoring line, hiding AA, playing Ericcson routine.
And finally our players who seem to not have a killer instinct (Helm).
Waste of my time watching this.

1) Why is Ericcson out there.  Ridiculous up the middle pass and turnover lead the their 2nd goal.  Why can't Ericcson sit and play Sproul and Ouellette.
2) So on a 6 on 5 you put Glenny on the draw and have Miller and Ericcson out there...Jeesh this is who we have out there at that time!  Just put your most skilled guys out there so they can get the puck and race down the ice.  So annoying.  Instead we sit back and wait for mayhem to occur in front of the net.
3) Helm just rip it...we played ice capades with the puck the entire overtime and never just get to the net and finish.
This whole thing is so frustrating...the whole thing...the Kenny Holland nonsense and his compromising, loyal, veteran-loving attitude, sit on his hands, kick the tires, playoff streaking, overpaying average, overpaying players way past their prime, over investing in a bunch of smurfy forwards, underinvesting in sized D men and wingers clown show.
And then our annoying coaching with their 4th line, grind line, non-scoring line, hiding AA, playing Ericcson routine.
And finally our players who seem to not have a killer instinct (Helm).
Waste of my time watching this.

On the positive side:
1) he has hands
2) term is a bit long, but probably what we needed to give to get him
3) he can get it done in the shootout. That may make the difference between making the playoffs or not
4) I prefer this guy over Lucic who I think will be on the decline.
5) he seems durable
Now, I would have preferred Backes. This is not a terrible signing

Hate Shaw.
Helm is the least of our problems. He works his butt off and is fast.
I'm ok with this.
The real deadweight on this team = Erickson, Kronwall, Howard
Move some of these pieces if possible

Mrazek is better...he had many good saves tonight. All those power play goals in my mind are on the penalty killing which was very weak tonight. Mrazek made some key stops throughout this game that kept us in the game. Jimmy would have given up 3 goals in the first period and then have to be pulled. Remember Jimmy is coming off of a 4 game losing streak. Games we absolutely had to have and he could not get it done.
Mrazek's one problem is he plays too far out of the crease at times. But so does Jimmy. Maybe they are coached that way. They need to watch video of Carey Price and Lundquist. Those goalies are very efficient...not spastically out of control.

This team has lots of issues...
But they continually hamstring themselves with sticking to guys that suck...like Erickson.
That guy is like personally responsible for at least 2 of the goals tonight. He is a soft, turnover machine.
We win tonight if he is scratched instead of Marchenko.
He is primary reason #1 that I have little confidence in Holland's ability to assess things with this team...Holland has old man syndrome where he can't think outside of his outdated box.
​Primary reason #2 is pushing Filpulla away and signing Steven Weiss to a $ 30 million deal.
#3 is signing Franzen over Hossa.
There are more but i have to go vomit now.

1) Mrazk is the better goalie. Play the better goalie. Howard can make a few great saves, but he gives up soft goals, does not handle the puck well, and is not as mentally strong in games that are tied or in which we have the lead going in the third. Howard is always good for giving up that critical goal. It's mental. The team is not good enough to survive mediocre goaltending. You have to go with Mrazk the whole way.
2) Since 2008 this team has gotten worse and worse and worse. That is on Kenny Holland. He like Joe Dumars was for the Pistons. Resting on past glories while f'ing up the present big time. He basically ran Filp out of town only to sign Stephen Weiss. Filp is a solid 2 way player and Weiss was damaged goods on arrival and afraid of touching the puck. He spent years resigning 37 year old washed up players and wasting the prime of Dats and Z after we won our last cup. He signed Ericcson to a 4.5 million dollar contract when he is barely a 3rd pairing guy. He has constructed a team of smurfs that gets pushed around. Holland should just retire. The game has passed him.
3) Our line combos are a joke. We have the all slow line of Dats-Z-Abby. All of a sudden we decide that we need to play Andersson again. On a team that struggles to score. Great....
4) We have no consistent net front presence. We have no one who is actually hard on the puck.
5) We are satisfied to play a close game against a team from a non hockey market missing it's two best players. Really disgusting.
Frustrated that we seem to be satisfied to play to a level where we lose games by one goal...we are mentally weak.

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.

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.

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 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.

Red Wings stadium jerseys are ******* dope. Now I need to decide what name to get..

I know I'm likely in the minority but I like the Red Wings jersey.

I dunno that increasing the size of the net really solves anything. We'd see more goals, but do we want more goals for the sake of having more goals, or do we want more offense, more open ice, more displays of skill - more scoring chances?

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.

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.

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.