evilzyme

Ah thanks for the reminder, I forgot last weekend due to my buddy from the service visiting!

Maybe Babcock is pushing his buttons

Ever since the lockout I swear it was known that the Winter Classic was still going to be at the Big House, just the following year. I have zero idea why people act surprised or expected anything different. I hope they still do 24/7 though, unfortunately we don't have homer.

Well i'd imagine it's Red Wings oriented because it's a Red Wings forum! And i'd imagine you never post your site because this is your first post! Okay, now that i'm done busting your balls, welcome.

Those are done through the assistant coaches, last season being Bill Peters and Jeff Blashill. Blashill got sent back down to work with the Griffins and we brought in Tom Renney. Although Babcock oversees the whole thing, it isn't simply on him. He's tried to get a better supporting cast, but unfortunately we just haven't found the man. You start treading deep waters when you fall into failure this much on the power play. You start losing composure, confidence, and generally just the flow of it. It forces them to take second guesses, trying to hard, looking for that perfect shot, which has only been hurting us. We need to start banging a couple in game after game consecutively so the units can get some confidence in their game. I think once we find some confidence, we'll see better performance out of the units. The penalty kill has been getting better and better, which I believe Bill Peters is in charge of (I believe he does all defensive scheming). The penalty kill is strictly on Tom Renney, as he was brought in the be the "power-play" specialist. I can get frustrated with Babcock's decisions, absolutely, but he guy has the resume he does for a reason. I can't question that, because I simply hold no credibility while looking at his. I do remember numerous times that sources said that Holland and Babcock just don't see eye to eye on the team.

I have to disagree with that, in my opinion. I think he did one hell of a job at holding the fore-check within their zone, numerous times while they were trying throw it up the boards to get it out, he staple gunned them to the boards and held the play. That allowed for abby to push in, support and pasha laid back to grab a takeaway/pass/open puck. It worked good last night, against one of the bigger teams in the league. I understand Tatar could use his speed, hell, any relatively good coach will tell you it's wiser to use your speed on the breakout rather than trying to dangle your way through. Kid's normally have the hardest time with this. They'll go to be deke-master-flex and not realize that they could've easily just burned the defender on the outside.The problem is, Tatar shows really good board play, forechecking abilities, finding positions but it's against bottom 6 lines. I just don't think he would be able to handle himself all game going against a guy like Weber. As much as i'd like to see cleary sit, and i'm ALL for that, we need him right now due to these injuries. And no, I don't think Tootoo would be productive playing with Pasha. Line-mates don't equal statistical explosions, it's been discussed more than enough times to go research via HFB.

I just posted this in the DC thread, but it'll get more spotlight in the heated debate here;

I'll say one thing that will most likely upset majority of you, but in reality, it makes the most sense. I'm not a Cleary lover by any stretch of imagination, nor do I think he's been playing unbelievable but when it comes down to it, Cleary is a better fit for the top 6 than Tatar is. Immediately, most of you will think i'm crazy but realize what one of our problems is, puck battles and coming out on top, keeping the forecheck going, and maintaining pressure down-low. Cleary will excel at this role, more than Tatar could, at this current time. Tatar would not be able to handle the size, nor experience of majority top 6 lines and top pairing defensemen, which would put him at a disadvantage. Cleary can hold traffic at the boards and compliments Pasha just because of that. He gives pasha what bert did, able to control the big bodies, work it down low, and get the puck back to Pasha to create space. I love Tatar, and I think he's flourished when given this opportunity, hell, I think we should keep him up with how well he's been playing for us, but I honestly don't forsee him giving top pairings a challenge within their own zone, not as much as Cleary can. The recent games, Cleary has been rolling like a work-horse and giving it his all. Does he score like he used to? No. Is the same player as he was? Absolutely not. We need to realize that we don't have the cleary back in the day, but he still can complete his role when needed. With injuries to Franzen ( ) and Bert, we need someone down in the top 6 that can help assist winning puck battles, and unfortunately, that's Cleary.

I've seen twice that Abby has tried to go with someone. He's ruffed em up after the play but no one has responded, looking to get that instigator. They're trying to seriously kill Pasha tonight, someone needs to stick up for him (abby is trying but no one will go obviously)

I just had to show this one off for you guys; from reddit; http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HsIoh0ehKQY he scores on his own net, throws the universal finger puppet and salutes off

The refs are trying to make up their gongshow call against the Preds the other night. So they're just going to keep calling everything, granting them numerous powerplays. I can see it now.

LGW is about to explode, rofl clearssssssssss

MONSTER TIMEEE

I don't think he'll get any games, most likely just a fine. He immediately looked back and was concerned. He absolutely jabbed him straight in the face with his twig, I believe Q got 20 stitches.

Absolutely. Mrazek simply got called up because the franchise had more faith in him than McCollum. Monster is healthy and ready to play, he was the intended back-up. The franchise brought him in for a reason, and they're going to use him the way he was intended; making Jimmy compete for 1G, and to give him split time finally. Monster is a tall goalie which is something we needed. Mrazek didn't have the same trust with the franchise than Monster, he just got some time in to help the team when needed. He came out and did a good job. Help beat St.Louis and for the most part a solid performance against Minn. He's got a future, it's just not now. Give him time in GR as the starter, and working with the goalie coaches. It's going to help him improve and he'll be more than ready by the time he has a chance in the big show.

I know this was coming especially after Babcock's little post-game interview. Last night showed that the kid needs more time in the minors to develop. I'm not blaming the game on him, because he certainly made some outstanding saves, and kept us along. The first one should've been avoided regardless if he saw it or not. That stick needs to be covering the 5-hole at all times, it shouldn't just find itself a black hole in the universe. The second one that went 5-hole same thing, but at least this time he just didn't get down in time, and openly admitted it. He legitimately got beat on one goal last night. Is there future with him? Absolutely! It's good to see that we have someone in the pipeline that will have a future with us, he certainly is going to get better and better but he needs time with the goalie coaches. Monster will get more trust with the franchise and I think we'll be seeing more split time now.

Larry should be miller time good time thing tonight haha. This man can't complete a sentence to save his life. He just has to shut himself up some times, haha.

I thought this wasn't true? One buyout was strictly for before the season had started, and one during the off-season.

Bert was in good shape this season and was looking outstanding out there. It certainly hurts not having him in the lineup, as much as everyone seems to ***** about him.

Once Helmer is back, it'll put Abby back where he belongs as the 4th line center bumping out Emdog. Abby is more effective as a 4th line center, going against other 4th lines. He is one of the few players on this team that knows his role and plays it to a tee. I may be alone but I thought he did a hell of a job on the 1st line. For someone who is meant for the 4th line, to come out and play against the Blues 1st line and not make horrible mistakes, it just stands out to me. He seemed like a bat out of hell on the forecheck and provided hits which our top 6 isn't used to. Normally other teams 1st and 2nd lines can get away without the grinding of hits all game, but Abby brought that dimension while he was on the 1st line, and once again it was against the big bodied st louis.

up 2-0 and lose, it's frustrating. down 0-1 and can't score, it's frustrating. i'd like to say one is more frustrating than the other but both suck.

There's rumors about that?! Oh my god! Unfortunately, he doesn't deserve to be an assistant coach, he certainly deserves to be a head. I just can't see him ever being an assistant after being the head for SJ, especially to come take his old job. He did some good things there, knows how to get into the players heads and motivate them, and certainly destroyed us while doing so.

Normally he is spot on when he says it. We need to set the pace more. Last night we came out swinging and fore-checked like I haven't seen us fore-check in awhile. It worked for us, and then we started to slow down. The second period we didn't work hard enough. We weren't winning battles, we weren't pushing the pace, we couldn't even break it out of the zone. That's what he means by we need to work a lot harder. We need to win those battles, we need to get the transition going as fast as possible. The third period we set the pace again but couldn't get a shot on net until nearly 10 minutes into the period, if that. As much as I hate him saying, "we need to compete more, we need to work harder." it's honestly true. He needs more drive out of these players, more heart. You biggest offense is your defense, it really relies on crisp passes out of the zone, and clean exits. If your defense isn't throwing a solid pass, you won't catch it smoothly and it'll break the momentum and speed through the neutral zone, which just drastically destroys your fore-check. It allows teams to re-establish their defensive positioning, and they can get man on man until we gain full possession, then they're going to run their system. That was one of our main problems at the beginning of the season, we had no breakout. Against a team like St.Louis, which relies more on work ethic than skill, you need to compete harder, you need to out-work them, otherwise they'll have a field day with you.

big blow to ott since spezza is already out for the season. is he also out for the season now? im not exactly a MD

We obviously need to go after Mike Yeo! No seriously for what Babcock has to work with, he's been doing a damn good job. Renney, Peters and Babcock have made changes with this team. This season you can see the system has changed some. We're shot blocking, closing gaps, doing the right thing. It's an improvement from previous seasons with a worst lineup. They're finding ways to win with a depleted lineup and one drastically less skilled on the back end. No complaints here. There's. a reason he will be coaching team canada once again...