kipwinger

Glad to see Frk scoring again. Keeps this up he might play his way off the fourth line one of these days. We're actually a fairly decent team. Give us a coach who isn't a complete dips***, and a defense that's serviceable (after watching this game I really wish we'd got Poulliot instead of Wilson in the Sheahan trade) and we might make a little noise. Our forward corps is actually better than advertised. Get those lines sorted out (I actually like Helm-Neilsen-Abby though) and I think we're pretty good.

Since Blashill recently said that Helm-Neilsen-Abby are his "matchup line", I'm not really sure what the 4th line does? So ideally I'd go with something like this, for now. Nyq-Z-Mantha Tatar-Larkin-Svech Frk-AA-Bert Helm-Neilsen-Abby Glendening Dekeyser-Green Daley-Hicketts Ouellet-Jensen Ericsson

If only we had a guy on our team with game breaking goal scoring ability. But where would we find such a player? And how could we possibly justify paying him more than Luke Glendening?

Listlessness implies that they CAN make plays, but just aren't putting in the effort. I'd counter that many of our players have no idea what to do with the puck when they find themselves with it.

But our "good in the locker room"/60 is off the charts.

Watching us try to pass is excruciating. 50% of our team has essentially no chance of making a play at any given time. Tends to happen when you value things like grit and hustle more than you do skill.

Mrazek's rebound control is abysmal tonight. Jesus.

I hate when teams hire home town heroes to coach and GM, it's always received well by the fans and almost never works out. Usually sets bad teams back even further. Of the people currently available I'd take Lombardi, but I'm not even crazy about that. The only GM I like absolutely is Tallon, and I don't see him going anywhere. So I guess I'm no help on this. I'd be fine with Martin I guess. Seems to do a good job with player acquisition in his role as Griffin's GM.

Don't get too excited, we will waste it on a guy that projects as a 3rd line, two way, forward with tons of intangibles.

Mike Green is trying to play his way off this team.

HEY BLASHILL, STOP DEFERRING TO VETERANS!

Geoffrey Fieger is a badass, just look at how he's posturing in that commercial. Also, hes clearly ride or die if there commercial has taught me anything. He's probably good friends with Gucci Mane.

I am.

Antoine Roussell is a menace. Hence, he's my favorite Dallas Star. Loved that guy every since he crosschecked Boston's McQuaid in the neck for taking a run at him.

Nyquist with zetterberg and mantha Tatar with Larkin and AA Frk with Neilsen and svechikov Abby with helm and bertuzzi

Two things, we aren't even icing our best possible lineup (which would have AA, Svechnikov, and Bertuzzi), and so as a result we have two lines which have no realistic shot of contributing offensively. As a result is say our forward lines are trash in their totality. Ice our best lineup and they're probably 12-18 in the league.

Could be worse, you could be like the Wings organization and beat writers who are still "joking" about luring Lidstrom out of retirement. A joke which was funny the year after he retired, but sad when made 5 years later. I think Ken Holland and co. would burn an orphanage to the ground if it meant they could go back in time to 1997.

Like, 15-20 years ago you mean lol. Seem like it was only yesterday...

I feel like the Avs and the Wings are basically the exact same team right now. Hard to believe a player would find New Jersey a more desirable destination than Colorado.

I remember reading that he was probably already a top four offensive defenseman, but that he likely wouldn't be a top pairing guy. But I've never seen him play so I have no insight. He definitely got dragged quite a bit around here though. Then again, they are playing the Avs. So maybe it's that.

Good for him, he definitely had a lot of doubters. But it's only one game.

I read an Athletic article about some new drills that the Wings were doing in practice. Apparently they require you to skate with the puck and make anticipatory decisions. They asked Ericsson how he liked it and he said something like "It's really fun for guys like me who don't really ever have the puck during games". Not a hint of irony. I wanted to cry. Edit: Correction, it was the Free Press and his quote was as follows: “We don’t really do a lot of these things but we do need them in the games,” Ericsson said. “We don’t touch the puck that much in games - we basically get it and pass it, so it’s good to get familiar with the puck a little bit more in different situations, a little bit awkward situations.”

I'm looking back through the game log now, and so far it looks like AA assisted on Vanek's goals just as often as Vanek assisted on AA's. So at best it's a wash. Admittedly, this is only a cursory glance.

His goals per game average was just as high the year before, without Vanek, as it was last year. But what you're saying is a truism anyway. Of course most of your goals are set up by your linemates. The only other options are that you score all of your goals by yourself, or your goals are set up by guys who aren't on the ice with you.

AA's points per game average is better than Bennett, despite being on a worse team. So yeah, I'd pay extra for the guy who scores more despite being on a worse team. I'd be wary of guys who score less on better teams. But that's just me. Are you saying that you'd rather pay more for a guy who is on a better team but produces less? Also, you said AA's production was hardly worth "big money". But nobody, including AA, is suggesting he's worth big money.