kipwinger

Of course there's a point in waiting, you don't hurt your team while the game is still winnable. Especially if you're down two goals and trying to come back.

Might want to read back a few pages. A few folks were. That's what my post was in reference to, but my quote function isn't working correctly on my not-smart-enough phone.

Dumping beer on a player is classless. I don't care who it is. A couple years ago many here at LGW went on and on when Chicago fans did the same, bemoaning how disrespectful it is. Looks like at least one of the Red Wings faithful is no better.

Lol. Brendan Smith has got to be the least self aware guy on the team. I'm glad he's in tonight, but he should never...eeeeevvvvveeeerrrr...be allowed to do media AGAIN!

Sure. If that's how you call it. Another is that we are transitioning to youth. Something you've repeatedly advocated. I'd let the old free agents walk. Make market rate offers to Stamkos and Okposo (no harm if they go elsewhere), trade Pulkkinen to move up as far as possible in the draft (selecting the best offensive defenseman possible), and pencil ALL of Mantha, AA, Larkin, and Callahan into next years lineup.

I feel like I'm one of the few people around here who don't think we look too bad going forward. And that our "down years" aren't all that down. We will be as good or better next year than we were this year. Even without Datsyuk. Two years from now we will be really good. We've already got our next first and second line centers in the organization. We've got two higher end goal scorers in Nyquist and Tatar. We have quality supplementary power forwards in Abby and Mantha. And we've got a future franchise goalie. Our defense needs work, and even its not as bad as people think. We are in a position now where our old guys are too old, and our young guys aren't quite there yet. What we need is time, for our next generation to mature. That's it. Chasing guys like Backes or Lucid would only put this team in the same spot its already in...just two or three years from now. All I want from Holland and company is to commit fully to the kids in the off season, and improve the defense if possible without losing anything significant.

I don't think we are sunk without datsyuk at all. Especially if we can sign Okposo. Tats-Larkin-Okposo Nyquist-AA-Abby Z-Sheahan-Mantha Helm-Glendeninh-Callahan Doesn't win us the Cup, but is at least as good as we have now. For all the hand wringing about Datsyuk leaving I'm really not that worried. We've hardly had him for the last few years anyway.

This isn't that hard. Split Tatar and Nyquist up. Larkin-Pav-Tatar Nyquist-Z-Abby AA-Richards-Mantha Sheahan-Glen-Helm

Stars in 5 Blues in 7 Kings in 6 Preds in 7 Panthers in 5 Wings in 6 Caps in 6 Pens in 5

Use Pulkkinen to trade up as far as possible and take the most offensively competant defenseman available...provided he's not a midget.

Certainly decreases the likelihood of another lockout.

On the plus side this pretty much guarantees a full on shift to the young guys. I hope Holland goes hard for a quality scorer (Okposo) as a bridge to the young core and makes Larkin, AA, and Zetterberg our top three centers next season. Datsyuk was amazing, but its time to see if the next group of guys can take over. I'm optimistic.

Hopefully this will be something fun for a boring Monday morning. The Rules: You get THREE predictions for the whole league. They need to be BOLD but not fantastical (based on your discretion and subject to LGW scrutiny), and you can't use a paragraph and a half to explain each one. Keep it short, simple, and BOLD. Any shenanigans should be immediately called out by the LGW faithful I'll start. 1. Kessel scores less than 35 goals on Crosby's wing. 2. The Florida Panthers make the playoffs, the Canadiens don't. 3. Neither McDavid, nor Eichel, win the Calder Cup (but I don't know who does).

Its almost like I know what I'm talking about eh? Lol. To be fair, McDavid would clearly have won the Calder if not for his injury (he still might), so we will call it 2 for 3. Still, kudos to me for the Kessel and playoff picks. Nobody called that, either on LGW or in the hockey press, at the time.

Brayden Schenn? Hell yeah, I love that guy! Gritty and can score, what's not to like? Id totally sign him for 5 million. What's that? The other Schenn? LUKE Schenn? At 5 million? No...s*** no man. No, no, no, no. NO. NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!

No thanks on Yakupov. We already have too many small, skilled, euros, and he's not better than most of them (except maybe Pulkkinen).

They look tentative because they never, ever, leave the defensive zone with speed. Everyone looks tentative if they're standing still while the other guys are skating hard. Can we please get Helm down with Nyquist and Tatar up with Datsyuk? Not sure why that's so hard.

Why can none of our defensemen one time a puck? Man that pisses me off. Of course you don't have shooting lanes if you tee it up on every shot.

Tatar and Nyquist have not played good together, ever. I'm not sure why Blash is so intent on using them on the same line.

Helm back in the top six. Jesus Christ.

Tatar-Datsyuk-Mantha score two last game. Break them up. Good call. Why not put Tatar and Nyquist on the third again? They've scored like gangbusters when together all season...ugh. And AA on the fourth...obviously.

Dumb lines again tonight. Atta boy Blash.

New pp coach, keep the kids up, get rid of old dead weight, and activate the defense. Our coaching at even strength is WAY too conservative and as a result we can't move the puck our play to our team strength (speed).

Apparently there's some speculation that you don't need to protect rookies, they'll be automatically protected, which is a huge boon for rebuilding teams like ours. You can protect 7 forwards, 3 defensemen, and 1 goalie, OR 8 forwards and 1 goalie. We wont be in any harm of losing any of our quality players. Maybe a Howard, Sheahan, Jurco, or Pulkkinen, but nothing we couldn't live without.

To protect: Forwards: Dats, Z, Larkin, AA, Abby, Tatar, Nyquist. Defense: Dekeyser, Green, Kronwall Goalie: Mrazek With any luck they'll take Howard off our hands.