kipwinger

I don't even ague that. Nobody can take Babs' successes in international play away from him. I'm certainly not trying to. I'm simply stating that it's easier to win a Gold Medal than to win the Stanley Cup. So holding up gold medals as accolades is dubious. Especially when Quenneville has as many Cups as Babcock has Cups AND Gold Medals. It's like saying a guy with 1 Superbowl Championship and 2 NCAA championships (Pete Caroll) is a better coach that a guy with 3 Superbowl Championships and zero NCAA championships (Joe Gibbs, Bill Walsh). Nobody would believe it in any other sport, but they do in Babcock's case for some reason.

Lol. Way to rewrite history. Babcock had as good, or better, teams that Quenneville for the vast majority of his career. Quenneville has NEVER coached a single player better than Datsyuk, Zettererg, or Lidstrom. Babcock had all three, in their primes, at the same time. Babcock had 2 Hall of Fame goalies (yes, Osgood will get in), Quenneville has had none. And you're trying to make it seem like he had nothing to work with. Lol. Even the last few years Babcock has had playoff caliber teams. He wasn't coaching the Buffalo Sabres into the playoffs. He was coaching a perennial winner with a number of stars, some of whom were occasionally hurt. Big deal. The year we had the 2nd most man games lost to injury we limped into the playoffs and lost in the first round. That same year the Pens had the MOST man games lost and won their division...and a playoff series. Yet nobody says Bylsma is the greatest coach in the league (despite having as many Cups and a higher win percentage than Babcock I might add). You're selectively remembering the past to support an untenable argument. And I don't understand why. Canada DOES have the best coach in hockey. A guy who consistently wins. A guy who consistently brings out the best in his talent. A guy who displays, and expects, excellence. His name just isn't Mike Babcock. Embrace it.

Who knows? Probably for the same reason that John Tortarella is the Coach for Team USA instead of better coaches like Laviolette, or Cooper, or Bylsma. You're not the best because you have a particular position. You're the best when you've had more success at the highest possible level. And by that (completely reasonable) standard, Quenneville is the best. Edit: That's like saying whoever is Team Canada's captain is by default the best player in the world (so long as they win Gold), regardless of what they've done in the NHL. Which is absurd.

It's problematic that you're seemingly equating being the best coach with being Canada's National team coach. It makes your argument at tautology . Babcock is the best because regardless of his NHL successes (by which he's been good but not great) he's been REALLY successful with Team Canada, and he's REALLY successful with Team Canada because he's obviously the best. Which would work were it not for the fact that there's this whole other level of hockey, which is WAY more difficult to succeed at. And at that level, Babcock has been notably outshined by several other active coaches. Quenneville is pretty clearly the best hockey coach in the world. At the highest possible level, in the best possible league, he's got the most wins and the most championships. That's a lock.

Good point. f*** Boudreau.

Firing Boudreau would be dumb. Who are they going to get that's any better? Carlyle? The Ducks and the Blue Jackets have the same problem. They had a lot of expectations going into this year, and when they didn't perform excellently right out of the gate everybody panicked, which only made the problem worse. The last thing they should do is start screwing with a competitive team just because they started their season with a slump. Anybody remember when we lost six in a row last year? It would have been dumb to start firing coaches or trading good players. It would be equally dumb for Anaheim to do the same. Let them work through it.

He's not even our guy. That's the funny part. It would be like Dallas fans insisting that Ken Hitchcock is the "best coach in hockey". It woudn't make any sense at all. Not only because he's clearly not, but also because why the hell would Dallas fans care about Ken Hitchcock anymore.

Acquiring Byfuglien in 2015 would be the equivalent of acquiring Rasheed Wallace in 2004. First, it would give the team a little swagger. A little moxie. Second, it would be the most "Detroit" thing the Red Wings could do. An intense, hulking, maniac representing an intensely maniacal city would be perfect. Let Zetterberg be the stoic, humble, face of the franchise. Let Byfuglien be a wrecking ball.

How many Stanley Cups does Joel Quenneville have to win before people stop calling Babcock the "Best coach in the world"? Six? Seven? Fifteen? This is the biggest issue I have with Babcock. He's clearly a good coach. Nobody would argue that. But it's this asinine insistence, by his legion of acolytes, that he's "the bestest of the bestest" that drives me ******* crazy. He's not. There's not a single objective measure that indicates he's the best at anything. Other people have more wins. Other people have a higher win percentage. Other people have more Cups.

We haven't won without Lidstrom, Holmstrom, and Draper yet either. And those guys didn't intimidate anyone. It's a little short sighted to pretend that Dallas Drake, or Joey Kocur played more of a role on those winning teams than some other, non-fighters, did.

You're welcome?

Kindl has been good all season. Not a superstar or anything, but solid. Also, why is Dodge Ram promoting the Hunger Games? Not exactly the same demographics I'd think.

Last week's shoutout to Eminem's "Detroit vs. Everybody" did not have the intended effect on team performance. So I've decided to change up genres with another Detroit favorite. Wings 4-2 on the backs of Zetterberg, Kindl, Pulkkinen, Sheahan. Rip it!

I wondered how long it would take someone to make the comparison to Todd. Lil' Bert would have had to play like a complete cupcake in order to avoid someone, at some time, saying "see, he's just like his uncle...durrrrrrr". Aside from the fact that Todd Bertuzzi, for the vast majority of his career, wasn't a "dirty" player, there's also the fact that slewfooting a guy isn't even in the same ballpark as nearly killing a man on ice. Jordin Tootoo charged, and boarded, guys all the time, yet nobody ever said "see, he's just like Todd Bertuzzi". Why? Because those things are nothing alike. Niklas Kronwall elbowed and forearmed guys in the head for years, yet nobody said "see, just like Bertuzzi". Why? Because those aren't the same thing. But Tyler slewfoots a guy and gets the comparison. Not because they're comparable (they aren't) but because it's easy to make half-assed comparisons of this sort. Tyler is going to be saddled by this absurd comparison for the balance of his career because A) his uncle (who he's nothing like) is Todd Bertuzzi, and B) because most people don't think about something for 2 seconds before they type (or say) it. What a shame.

I think Babcock is an overrated blowhard, but just like with Blashill, it's WAY too early to judge his body of work with his new team. Especially when you consider he lost his only high end player in the off season. Give him a while and they'll be better. Not great, of course, because Babs won't have Dats, Z, Lidstrom, Osgood, and Kronwall to carry him to a Cup. But they'll be better than they are now.

Tonight the Wings start turning it around. Tonight the Wings win 3-1 on the backs of Tatar, Nyquist, and Abdelkader. LGW!

Various reports have mentioned that the contract talks between Ladd and the Jets have stalled. He said all the right things before the season, "I like it here", "We're going in the right direction" etc. Plus he's their captain. So it really should have been a slam dunk. The fact that it wasn't probably means that A) he doesn't want to be there, B) they don't want to spend what he'll surely make on the open market. Either way, Ladd and Winnipeg aren't in the same ballpark right now.

Blake Wheeler is under contract for the next six years. You must be thinking of Ladd, who is a free agent after this year, and who Winnipeg can't get re-signed.

Again, the standard payment for a good player on an expiring contract is a roster player, prospect, and pick. With the quality of each depending on the value of the other. The likelihood of giving up two roster players is small too. Since the kind of guys you'd want, teams aren't giving up, and the kinds of guys they'll give up aren't the kinds you want. Aside from the odd "hockey trade", which rarely happens with expiring contracts, you're pretty much always going to see prospects and picks as the center pieces of trades for good players. I'd especially expect this to be so in Buff's case because Winnipeg is seemingly stacked with NHL talent (other than a goalie). Seems like they'd be after young guys and not two or three forwards that they don't have a need, or place, for.

Nobody on an expiring contract costs three roster players. Hell, guys who aren't on expiring contracts don't cost that much. None of Jarome Iginla, Bobby Ryan, Ryan Kesler, Jason Spezza, Keith Yandle, Jay Bouwmeester, Dougie Hamilton, Tyler Seguin, or Phil Kessel cost 3 roster players. Where did you come up with this?

Ladd's a winger. Wheeler is awesome, but he's not going anywhere. Both Buff and Ladd are in contract years and Winnipeg is having a hard time getting either of them re-signed.

I'd keep him on defense too. He's got more value there. Guys who can score 50 points from the back end are incredibly rare. If you want a power forward and you're looking to trade with Winnipeg, get Ladd. He's awesome as hell and fits the bill.

No, we couldn't get him for that. You'd probably have to give a good roster player and a mid level prospect and a high 2nd, or a mid level roster player and a high level prospect and a 1st. Byfuglien is a very good player, you don't get guys like that for a fourth line winger and a young guy who hasn't (so far) panned out.

Larkin now back with Zetterberg and Abby. Tatar with Nyquist and Sheahan. We've now seeing Tatar paired with Nyquist and/or Pulkkinen on a line with Richards, Larkin, and Sheahan. It keeps not working. Maybe the difference really is the center (it isn't). Or maybe its the winger combinations (it is).

For context's sake. Jon Cooper was 5-8-3 in his first 16 NHL games. It takes a second for new coaches to find their groove with the team. Can we maybe give it a ******* minute?