PavelValerievichDatsyuk

I'm in! My positive vibes will be me imagining him celebrating his long earned goal:

You scared me for a second there. I missed the beginning and you made me think Sheahan scored and ruined his streak.

I like the Dekeyser-Jensen switch that they've been going with the past 2 and a half games (i think that's when they changed it. Another battle of the bottom-feeders. Let's Go WIngs!

Best stick! Sherwood with the Coffey curve. Still use them too.

Yeah, Here's my favourite:

Yeah, the other clip in the KHL playoff thread shows that it was a retaliation hit.

I think there's definitely a false narrative around Mantha's treatment by the coach. Mantha averages 16:42 per game. That's 5th amongst forwards. Only Z, Nielson, TT, and Goose average more. That's pretty favourable treatment for a rookie with a total 60 NHL games under his belt. If he's been getting benched every time he has an "off shift or a bad period" as Dickie says, he must not be having many. I don't think Mantha should have been scratched, but he hasn't been great in the last chunk of games. Maybe they're learning from the experience with Larkin last year where the hot rookie hits a wall and then slumps hard for the next half year or more. Maybe it's an attempt to stop that from happening. When Babcock was around this site made so many jokes about how we'd never see any young guys higher than the 3rd line. Now we have Blash, who put 19 year old Larkin on the top line most of last year, Mantha there this year, named Mrazek our #1 after his first full year (and hadn't really earned it). You can disagree with his treatment of some players, but this narrative of favouritism toward vets doesn't work very cleanly. He gave Vanek limited minutes, just like AA, and probably for the same reason of defensive short comings. He sat Ott a number of times and I think we waived Miller a couple of times.

He's coasting (not moving his legs) and barely moving in that clip. Maybe the slow-motion video is misleading, but I wouldn't even call that charging, let alone a misconduct. Must be different standards in KHL.

I think that's right, but I don't really remember. I just checked stats to try to remember and they have McCollum at 12.00 GAA for that game/year!! haha. How does that happen? I guess it's because he didn't play the whole game and they must calculate as if he played the whole game. Anyway, It says he played less than 15 minutes and let in 3 goals. Any situation were they pulled him was probably warranted. http://www.hockey-reference.com/players/m/mccolth01/gamelog/2011 I was never impressed with McCollum - even when I watched that World Juniors that got him hype. To tie it all to thread, I'm still big on Mrazek despite his struggles and I think he's been pretty solid in the last while.

I don't think McCollum was mismanaged. He was just a really big disappointment. He was great in the OHL and had that one really good World Junior tournament, but took quite a while to even be competent in the AHL - splitting with Toledo in his first 3 years pro. And I don't see the problem with the 10-3 St. Louis game from a development angle. McCollum was in his 2nd year pro and that's when many goalies get a shot. He probably wasn't ready, but it was forced by injuries to Ozzy and Howard. Anyway, he was only there to be Joey MacDonald's backup until Joey got blown out. McCollum was only in for 3 goals, so it's not like we sent the young kid out to the slaughter.

I definitely would have bought that jersey if he was on the team! And we could have had a fanclub called the melen-heads and worn cheese-head-like head gear. All the missed opportunities...

I think a player like Aston-Reese could look at our team and see opportunity. If he wants a spot where he'll compete for big minutes, he'd be better served coming here or somewhere else with roster holes rather than a place like Pitsburgh.

Sadly, the melenmania was short lived. There was a report a year or 2 ago, that he had to miss a year due a health complication (think it was a heart problem?). He's playing in a lower Swedish league and the Wings haven't signed him to an entry-level deal, which I think they would usually have done by now if he had any future with the organization.

He is slightly badmouthing the team and the city it seems: "There's so much stuff to do," Jurco said. "In Detroit, we were so bored, my girlfriend and I, we didn't know what to do. ... There wasn't much to do. Here there's so much stuff to do." "The biggest difference is that here we're told to make plays instead of just making safe plays and chipping it in and playing safely," Jurco said. "Here you actually should create something if you want to stick in this lineup because there's so many creative players." "I played that third-, fourth-line role so it's in me now," Jurco said. "I have that bad habit sometimes to play safe and chip it in. When I played juniors (and) in the AHL, I was a creative player, so it takes a little while for me." http://www.chicagotribune.com/sports/hockey/blackhawks/ct-tomas-jurko-adjustments-blackhawks-spt-0312-20170311-story.html

Just think of how awkward it would be if you knew your team left you exposed and then you weren't claimed: It would be like returning to a marriage when your spouse tells you they don't love you, haha. It'd be even worse if everybody else knew the situation. The expansion draft shouldn't be something that causes animosity amongst other organizations. I hope even the player don't hear about the lists.

AA definitely needed to develop his defensive game and you can see that he's getting better at that now. Mantha does need work on his compete level. The idea that you should just let a rookie play their game is something new to me. Pretty much every player from Datsyuk to Yzerman has had to change or develop their game coming into the league. I don't necessarily think Blash needed to bench these guys since many others have similar problems, but there is reason in thinking that you should treat rookies differently. Especially when they're rookies that your team needs to develop into significant players. Glendening is 25th on the team with ATOI. The only regulars that have less are Miller and Ott. Sheahan is 23rd. These players are not putting up big minutes even despite the fact that the get a lot of PK time. http://www.hockey-reference.com/teams/DET/2017.html Athanasiou's usage is concerning to me since he's 24th. He should get more.

I thought i noticed that DK playing with Jensen a bunch in the last period. Was that change made or just a result of some late changes. Anybody else notice this?

Thank you cap'n serious!! No moves Nyquist? Got do something there.

Two for Tots!!!

TATAR!!!!!!!

Hmm, so all we had to do was sit our 5-on-5 scoring leader to get the scoring started. So, Jurco has 5 Blackhawk games under his belt and is still pointless on the season.

Including guys like Green, Sheahan, and Tatar in your list makes no sense. Green was a very reasonable UFA signing. All the commentary at the time was asking why he didn't go for a bigger or longer contract. He's played up to the caphit (and probably above it if you look at the cost of RH offensve Dmen around the league). We could move Green very easily if we wanted to. Good signing - not in garbage pile. Tatar's underperformed at his current RFA deal (2.75) his production isn't way out of the pay range. If he signs his next deal and doesn't return to his previous form then we'll be in trouble. Sheahan fits into a similar situation - His epic scoring drought has been something special haha, but he hasn't been as bad as some say and his 2 mill deal is what he would've got on any team. Both are complimentary players and would look much better if we had those missing elite pieces.

Win by any means necessary!

I think you misread what I was talking about. I said "some" and was talking about the effects of trading Vanek, Smith, Ott, and Jurco. It shouldn't be expected that we'll be as good without them (mostly the first 2). And now's the time when you give young guys more time to play and work out mistakes.

I mean some of the reason this is rough is because we smartly traded Vanek, Smith, Ott, plus Jurco (though he wouldn't be playing) And I like that Blash put our youth as the top 6 (plus Z): tat-Z-Ny, And AA, Larkin, Mantha. Let them make their mistakes and sink or swim (sinking seems to be the current state of things). The stakes are low and that's what you should do when you're out of playoff contention. Bunch of rookies out there tonight: Russo, Jensen, XO, Coreau, Mantha, AA, Just got to get Miller out the line up too. Maybe let Kronwall rest.