Joey v3.4

Babcock being all business, is a good thing. Would be cool to see Ozzie win 400 at home, but it's good that Babcock sticks with what's "Best". Ozzie needs to get 400, but Babcock has an entire team to worry about, and one that is slumping a bit. His all business approach, wins a lot of hockey games.

I know a good hit man for cheap.

What's up with that goalie? He barely got touched, but he rolls around on the ice for like 20 seconds. The dude on the black team got double teamed. Pretty dirty brawl. I think they saw some American Hockey footage, and took it WAY out of context

I made this comparison somewhere else, between Hudler and Williams. It's almost starting to look like Deja Vu. In my highschool there was a rich kid, who sucked at football. His dad was "connected" and despite the fact that this kid should have been cut almost first, he not only joined the team but went on to be the quarterback. Much like Hudler, he sucked at that position, and my HS football team lost every single game that year. Granted, I was more interested in setting off fireworks beneath the stands, than actually watching the game. What does this got to do with Hudler? Absolutely nothing. I just feel the same about Hudler as I did about the rich kid who lead our team to a completely losing season. It really didn't help that all of our cheerleaders were the size of a couch. Girls were kind of ugly in the early 90's.

Nah, been here for years. I just change my name from time to time. I'm objective and tactful because, unlike when I normally visit here, I'm not completely hammered this time

Presidents Trophy. And then they went Golfing, just like the Red Wings.

Crosby is the better player. The argument in favor of Datsyuk's defensive skill is old hat. Datsyuk is great defensively, and magical offensively, but he will never have a year like Crosby is having. Datsyuk is consistently good, but he brings the same thing every year. A lot of take-aways, fancy passes, occasional goals. Crosby goes home every season and comes back the next year with an upgraded skill set. Datsyuk has remained consistent more or less, but Crosby has only ever increased his talent, year by year. Datsyuk might be better defensively, but Crosby is no sloth out there. Realistically: 1) Crosby has enough defensive talent to shut down a lot of forwards. 2) Zetterberg/Datsyuk will not be able to corral Crosby like they did in '08. I bet if Crosby was on our top line, getting shut out tonight wouldn't have happened. That's how Crosby works. He is a great player with or without a great line. Datsyuk proved last year that he doesn't do so well when he doesn't have top line companions. Crosby could take Hudler and Jason Williams and turn them into a top line. I don't like the guy any more than the next Detroit fan, but pound for pound Crosby may be the best player in the world right now.

I wouldn't even compare the two. Hossa is a veteran forward, and a veteran top line player. Flip is at best a career second liner. I think Flip falls below his projected talent on a lot of nights. Other nights he has the occasional flash of brilliance, but he is rarely a game breaking player. I believe in a players "Potential", but rarely do you ever see it just pop out of no where. Players who have breakout years work up to those breakout years. I think with Flip what you see is what you get. Most nights it is enough because of all of the depth around him. I do feel like if he took just an average of two more shots per game, his scoring would double, but it's one thing to yell "Shoot the puck" from the seat of a couch, and entirely another to be on the ice. I'm certainly no pro...hell I'm not even that good at hockey, but it's a lot harder to "Shoot the puck" that anyone who's never tried it in a game understands. First off, as soon as you do shoot the puck you've effectively lost control for the next few seconds. If it goes in net, great. If it gets rebounded and your team picks it up, great. But if the other team snatches the rebound....you're skating backwards REALLY fast all of a sudden. I think Flip tries to wait for everyone to set up in the zone, but he doesn't have the hands or the size to maintain the puck that long. Unfortunately as a center you're largely responsible for getting the puck into the offensive zone. If Flip trails the play, or if he dumps it, the outcome is usually a lot better than when he tries to walk it in on net, and ends up back passing, or getting beat off the puck. If you're Datsyuk, you have the skill to buy the time to hold the puck while people get into position. Guys like Flip and Hudler should be playing, In My Opinion, more of a dump and chase style hockey. Driving the net over and over works, but right now we've got a whole line of guys who love to drive the net (Bert, Flip, Mule). Sometimes it works. Usually it doesn't result in much of anything other than a line change. I think if those guys dump and chased more, Mule and Berts size would come up with the puck down deep a lot more often, and Flip would be able to get a little freedom to shoot/pass. His current strategy of carrying it in while three defenders poke check him doesn't cut it very often.

This isn't my original account. Oh well. 51 shots on goal. 51 saves by quick. Howard might have let in some softies (Give or take 5). The offense didn't do anything, but they did have 51 shots on goal. For being shut-out, that's the most shots we have in a single game this season I believe. We outshot them 2-1. They outscored us 5-0. I think it's funny, a few GDT's ago everyone was expressing concern about Osgood being in net. In this GDT a lot of people are begging for Osgood to be in net. Fickle Fickle fans Detroit had 3 powerplays. LA only had one. Not that they needed it but they scored on it too. Game looked winnable through the first two periods. Even though we didn't score in the third, Howie is most responsible for letting the game get out of hand. If it had ended 2-0 or 3-0 it would be different, but to let in 3 goals in like 5 minutes, in the final period is not acceptable from a goaltender. It happens, but so does getting hit by a bus. If you get hit by a bus, I'm not going to blame the bus, I'm going to blame you. Same applies for letting in 5 goals. I'm not knocking Howard. Quick clearly outplayed every man on the ice tonight. 51 shots, averages out to about 4-6 goals. Statistically something should have gone in on accident......a strong wind gust should be able to put in a goal on 51 attempts. Positives from this game: a) 51 shots. Franzen had 8, Cleary had like 7. At least our goal scorers were trying. b) Nobody got injured. c) It was hard enough to think of a "B" let alone a C. Negatives from this game: a) Quick drank his Red bull, apparently. b) Howard did not drink his Red bull. c) Weak outside shots, too many dead to the chest shots. d) No rebound pick-ups. Poor positioning for the second shot. Quick to fire the puck, slow to get to the crease. e) It is not hard to think of points to go in this section. Detroit plays a game of numbers, where if you put 30+ shots on net, your bound to get a goal or two out of that alone, not including any particularly good plays. Games like tonight they played only the numbers, and the problem with numbers is that X doesn't always equal Y, when there is a hidden variable. In this game that variable was mostly Quick. Bottom line: Detroit got schooled tonight. This is one loss that there is absolutely no point in defending.