evilzyme

It doesn't clog the lines because Monster isn't going to be playing here forever. Monster can be let go after his contract and Mrazek would be ready to start backing up Howard full-time. Run that tandem for awhile, giving each other rest and fighting for the job and then allow Mrazek to take over the starting job down the road.

I think that more of less has to do with the mindframe of the team. For the past 22 seasons they have gotten into the playoffs, for the majority of the cast, they have taken that for granted. They think they can just coast against these teams and magically make the playoffs. As much as it would hurt to miss the playoffs and not have the Wings in there, I think it would be a wide awakening for numerous players that they need to fight for it (these past games, and this season should've sent the same message but obviously didn't). It's one of my principles for mixing Veterans with youth injection. The youth and inexperienced players are the spark, ignition to the engine. They provide the motivation and the energy, the heart, the passion, the drive for the championship. The Veterans are the calmness, the experience, they can help teach the new ones what their mistakes are, and to provide them with more confidence. You have a perfect mix of that, and you will be deadly. I can agree that right now, we just don't have enough drive. I just want to punch a wall when I think of Franzen's work ethic. I've just never seen someone seem like they just don't simply care, especially getting paid millions a season... I don't care how front loaded, or how much you're making now; you signed the contract, fulfill it *******.

Happy to have a solid starting goalie, but 5m a season is a little rough. Would've liked to see it more closer to 4m but he certainly has stood on his head for us more than once. Gives us a fighting chance to win every night, is a workhorse and can take a load of games, and he's been improving every season.

Really? I personally think he's the one that has taken over Helmer's job at attacking the forecheck and keeping the pressure on the puck. He's been doing this to a tee all season, in my opinion atleast. Last night right before his fumble, he had chased them all the way into their zone, grabbed possession, and dumped it down into our zone burning a nice 30 seconds.

Filp played really good last night, especially for not playing for 7 games. He did get an assist on one of the Flames goals though, just randomly dishing it to mid ice within our zone... But, it honestly looked the best he's been in awhile, atleast in my opinion. Is he worth 5+mil/season? Eh, not so much, especially when he knows the cap is going down. What I don't get is all these players want all this money, but if you wanted your team to win.. you'd be willing to take a lower paycheck inorder to bring in more talent. Look at frickin Crosby who took a discount. I'm sorry, but if the best player in the world is willing to take a discount for their team, you better be frickin willing to take a discount for yours, because you sure as hell ain't no Crosby.

Doesn't this make any team win? I mean... playing a full 60 minutes, playing a sound game within all 3 zones, and grinding down, that just sounds like any team that wants to win. It isn't just the Red Wings kryptonite, it's the kryptonite for every team.

Although he did have his fumble yesterday, I think Miller has been outstanding on the penalty kill this year. He may not be making noise production wise, but he certainly is doing his role to a tee. I wouldn't mind keeping Miller and Andersson. I would throw Helmer on 3rd line center and Andersson as 4th line center; push Abby back to winger so he can play his actual game. He's a hitter and a pest, he can't be centering, he's more efficient on the wing. Absolutely, Abby is way better on the wing, when he can actually play his role. Right now I think Abby is mixed between two different roles and he doesn't know which one to accomplish right now. We ask him to be a pest, and finish checks; he does good at this. We ask him to be a net front presence and be the big body on the top 6; he doesn't do good at this (outstanding screen last night but still, he's not and will never be a top 6 player, injuries simply made that move happen). If we want him to shine, keep him on the bottom 6 and allow him to fulfill the role he's good at.

Babcock is an *******, lol. He said he sent Tatar down because Filp's return was going to remove Tatar's powerplay time, thus giving him less opportunity. Who's on the 2nd unit tonight? Filp AND Nyquist. Smooth. I'd be raging a little if I was Tatar, but he's gone through the system and has dealt with enough dickhead coaches along the way.

What an outstanding screen by Abdelkader, and a BEAUTIFUL CLAPPER by Kronner.

Article: http://redwings.nhl.com/club/news.htm?id=660040

Yep, Monster gets the start due to Howard having the flu. He'll be backing up Monster still though on the bench, recording faceoff stats.

Chopping block is usually meaning they're on the hot plate... aka they're the one to get cut. Trading block would be the term you're referring to. In that context, Helene is just saying if Tootoo does play, Goose is the odd man out, which is dumb.

....something has to be happening. makes absolutely NO sense to put Tatar down, bring Goose up and then healthy scratch him.

So.. soo.... sooooooooooooo similar to all the Vancouver and San Jose threads asking for AV and TM's heads. You could interchange names and it would be the same stuff over and over again. First thing I read today on HF and I had to double take to make sure I was on HF not LGW

our beautyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy all from the 2012-2013 season

It's not an excuse, but they're not some random "bottom feeder" club. They have skill, and they can win. Unfortunately we were at the wrong end of it. It's you pretending that Columbus is some random automatic win that makes me laugh. No team in this league, especially with parity at an all time-high, is an automatic win. Sorry to bust your bubble. As displayed, they can keep with some of the best clubs in this league right now, simply losing in OT by 1 goal. I'm putting it in context that they aren't some random horrible team, they certainly know how to hang on to games and can finish them when the others don't. We were that case.

Columbus last 12 games: FINAL CBJ (2) - ANA (3) - ANAHIEM #2 IN WESTERN CONFERENCE FINAL CBJ (3) - DET (2) - DETROIT #7 IN WESTERN CONFERENCE FINAL CBJ (1) - STL (2) - ST.LOUIS #5 IN WESTERN CONFERENCE FINAL CBJ (0) - CHI (1) - CHICAGO #1 IN WESTERN CONFERENCE FINAL DAL (5) - CBJ (4) OT - DALLAS #11 IN WESTERN CONFERENCE FINAL CBJ (3) - CHI (4) OT - CHICAGO #1 IN WESTERN CONFERENCE FINAL COL (1) - CBJ (2) OT - COLORADO #14 IN WESTERN CONFERENCE FINAL EDM (3) - CBJ (4) SO - EDMONTON #12 IN WESTERN CONFERENCE FINAL VAN (1) - CBJ (2) OT - VANCOUVER #3 IN WESTERN CONFERENCE FINAL DET (0) - CBJ (3) - DETROIT #7 IN WESTERN CONFERENCE FINAL CBJ (3) - DET (2) SO - DETROIT #7 IN WESTERN CONFERENCE FINAL VAN (2) - CBJ (1) SO - VANCOUVER #3 IN WESTERN CONFERENCE 9 games played against top 8 seeds, 2 against #3, 2 against #1, 1 against #2, and all within 1 goal games except for their victories. On top of injuries to some of their best players, and most important players. Columbus is mad garbage, right? Context my friend, context. Oh, and Bob was #1 star of the week with a 0.77 GAA and .972 SV%.

Babcock like majority of ALL coaches, will play favorites. Why they're the favorite in the eyes of the coach has numerous different influences, but the main one is trust. Babcock is going to play the players that he has the trust in, not the ones that he has absolutely no trust in, or minimal (hasn't seen enough, not enough to make an impression, etc). He's a coach, he's going to play whom he feels is going to give him the best chance to win. Whom he thinks is going to give him the best chance to win, most likely goes in trust and defense. You can play like the Blackhawks of last season when they had to outscore their defensive mistakes, making their offense responsible for 4-5+ goals a game, which is just unreasonable over the course of a season or you can play the way Babcock wants to play which is defense comes first. He would rather field a team that was more defensively responsible, than offensive powerhouse. With the group we have right now, we need to concentrate on defense first because we don't have the skill to just out-score our mistakes. We need to be defensively responsible and that's exactly why Babcock is playing the group he is.

To what Babcock has done with this team and their injuries, is beyond impressive. Replace Babcock with any coach available right now, and we would be a lot worst looking right now. Hell, even try to replace him with an "elite" coach by your standards, which Babcock is. People forget, this guy knows how to run a team, not just the Red Wings. He's one the few coaches that belong to the elite trio club winning a cup; WC; and Olympic gold. From a coaching standpoint, he has the experience and he knows how to win. We can sit here behind our computers all day, spew comments thinking we're the most intelligent people but we're not, otherwise we would be coaching right now. We simply comment from the outside, we have ZERO idea how the locker room is, personalities, how the airplane trips are, whos fighting with who. They're real people, they have the same problems as we do. I'm sure it isn't all cherries within that locker room because frankly, i've never been in a locker room where exactly everyone got along. If anything, I would continue to question the work ethic of the team, not what Babcock is doing. We all want youth, and that's great, but we can't field the Grand Rapids Griffins and expect to magically get to the 2nd round. They're in the AHL for a reason, to develop and get more ice-time than they would in the show. Look at RNH, because he's too young, and now he got moved to the first line center, he's getting DESTROYED. He can't do ANYTHING. He's just too small, he needs more sheltered minutes going against less skilled players. If you think some random call-ups from GRR is going to magically run the 1st line and give teams top pairings trouble.. you're wrong. We're starting to get within the hardest part of our schedule, against some of the top teams, we can't field a young inexperienced team and hope for the best, it just won't work. The influx of veteran appeal and youth is the way to go, and that's exactly why Tatar isn't playing while Nyquist also is up. I suck at copying and pasting charts blah. I think I got everyone, but you guys can look over it. I considered Abby and Miller "veteran" to the team, so I placed them over there. If you moved them over to the youth category it would've evened out even more, and adding Tatar would've bumped out another vet, which would've basically put more youth than veterans.

Dude, I don't care where the hell Sammy is, that's my thing. I don't know where the hell you got that I simply want him on the point. I'm sitting here arguing that the guy can contribute on the unit, regardless of positioning. Also, either i'm completely blind or you just get butthurt easy, where the hell is stupid within that quote besides once?

Easily pick(s) for each/together/etc, and that's something you can always use especially in Ken Holland's ways. He strictly believes on developing in-house and through the draft.

There is such a thing as a roster limit. You can't just simply dump all of your "fillers" that aren't waiver exempt and 1 way contracts. As much as some of us would love for all these guys from GR to play, it's unrealistic without the trades. I know you say that you wouldn't mind just "dumping" some of them to the waiver process and not caring if they get picked up, but you're losing value without return and that's going to get you knee deep somewhere you don't want to be; whether it be immediately or delayed. You will strip your pipeline to your roster and have nothing developing meanwhile. Injuries happen, and what do you call up? It's a bad practice and you simply just don't do it.