kipwinger

I don't agree that he's getting close to "make or break" status. Abby toiled away on the bottom lines for years before he figured out his offensive game. It takes awhile. I think that Jurco is fine where he's at. He's only 22, so he's got plenty of time to grow. My only point is that he needs to produce if he wants a spot. And while it's hard to produce on the fourth line, it's not impossible. If he's as offensively gifted as I think he is, and he thinks he is, then he's got to make it happen. Right now there's a huge opportunity for a big winger to land a spot on the top 9. Nyquist is playing bad, and no matter what they do with him, it leaves two small guys playing together (which isn't working out). If we don't get some depth scoring, one of our skill guys is going to see the bench soon, and Jurco could be well positioned to take that spot if he's making things happen on the fourth line in the mean time.

I realize that Jurco on the 4th line isn't ideal, but I'm very wary about using it as too much of a crutch either. Last year Stephen Weiss scored 25 points in 52 games on the fourth line. Kindl scored 13 points in 35 games with almost no ice time. Glendening had 12 goals from the fourth line. He's got to get on the board. If he does that, he'll get an everyday spot. And if he has an everyday spot, the next time the lines need juggled, he might well end up with a little more icetime. But he has to produce despite the limitations in playing time. It's not impossible, it's just hard. But we've seen it happen before.

Ted Kulfan ‏@tkulfan 1m1 minute ago Looks like Jurco in for Ferraro... So our fourth line is Jurco-Glendening-Helm? Me likely. Edit: Nevermind, didn't see that Helm was still injured.

What the heck are you guys talking about? Barry Melrose coached Tampa Bay, and Stamkos, for exactly 16 games. He hardly impacted Stamkos' stat line.

Guy's a loser. Aside from the consistent winning he's done for the last 25 years, name one thing he's ever been successful at?

Lol. Holland doesn't know what he's doing? There's a reason why we've got more good players than places to play them, and it has EVERYTHING to do with Ken Holland.

Scrappletater!!!

Miller blocked two shots with no stick. Apparently that's why he's valuable.

Second and third lines are kinda invisible.

Who are you telling? I'm a govt. worker, I dare you to work less than we supposedly do lol!

Of course hockey would start on a Friday lol. I'm already not likely to work much on Friday, but especially if all I can think about is beer and Red Wings hockey.

Anybody else having the least productive day at work ever?

Is it possible that the kid could be good AND still be no big loss to the organization?

Babs teams are never easy to play against. They "compete" as hard as anyone. But I've always maintained that unless he's got superstar talent (which he doesn't in TO) his teams will pretty much always lose close games because his system doesn't allow for guys to play a structured game AND makes plays consistently (unless they're Datsyuk, Zetterberg, Lidstrom) like. They'll always lose more close ones than they'll win because nobody on that team is good enough to do both, and nobody else is empowered to make a play at the risk of abandoning the structure.

I watched Montreal and Toronto last night. Montreal is bad. They're pretty fast, but very weak. No grit to their game at all. Price was often the difference between leading the game and being tied, or behind. That said, Toronto struggled mightily (and lost) to a pretty bad team. So there's always that for a silver lining. Lucic has scored 20+ goals in 3 of his 7 pro seasons. So it's not even like he regularly scores that much. He occasionally does. Otherwise he's just a dumb tub of s*** that takes bad penalties and doesn't play defense.

Maybe. But I'm not sure he's any better than the guys who he'd replace as a top line winger. If it were me, I'd bump everyone up one line and fill in from the third. For instance: Nyquist-Z-Abby Tatar-Richards-Jurco/Franzen Pulkkinen-Sheahan-Jurco/Franzen In this scenario Nyquist gets the spot on the top line. And it's doubtful that Larkin is better than Nyquist (at this point). And Jurco fills the empty spot created upon Nyquist's promotion (rather than be a healthy scratch as he is now).

That's mostly true. Datsyuk has never really played significant time on the wing. He did for like 5 games one season under Babs and it didn't really pan out. But otherwise I agree with you. They "could" do it. But so can the natural wingers, of which we have a million. So why not leave the wingers as wingers and the centers as centers? What value added is Larkin on the wing over Pulkkinen, Jurco, Mantha, or Bertuzzi?

George Malik ‏@georgemalik 24s25 seconds ago Wow wow wee woo, Cleary on waivers? Stunned. Shocked.

I should have been more clear. Barring injury to a center. I never, ever, want to see Larkin (or Athanasiou) play on the wing when we've got really good wingers sitting on the bench or in the AHL. Need a top six winger? Give Mantha or Bertuzzi a call. Need a center? Larkin and AA are your guys.

I'd rather see Dylark in the AHL until he can take over full time for Richards next season. Or barring injury. Also, I'd like to see Pulkkinen on the bench, Nyquist in his spot, and Jurco with Tatar and Richards, but that's just me.

100% agree with this.

There isn't a problem. I was just explaining that while righties are important, they aren't the be all and end all of defensive strategy, though you might think so given how they've been spoken about in Detroit for the last 3 years. That's all. I don't doubt that it's an important characteristic to have, but not to the point it's been described in by Red Wings fans and sports writers. I've heard people arguing in favor of really s***ty defensemen, based almost entirely on the fact that they were righties. Which is silly, but it has happened in the not too distant past. That was all I was getting at. A s*** defenseman is a s*** defenseman, a good one a good one, regardless of their handedness. I really wasn't trying to get too in depth with it.

I predict he'll be sent down as soon as A) he struggles, B) Datsyuk is healthy.

I know. None of that was my point though. My point was that because Detroit hasn't had a right shooter in a while, and they REALLY wanted one, it's all anybody could talk about. It became a paradigm through which fans viewed our defense and as a result many have begun to fetishize the idea of right shooting defensemen. Often times, it's used as a sort of trump card when people debate players. "Well I know player X is better, but player Y shoots right". Which is absurd...of course. That was my whole point.

Yeesh. Bold indeed. These are the kinds of predictions I like. Risky, but not entirely out of the realm of possibility. That said, I don't agree with any of them lol.