kipwinger

I don't know about the rest of you guys and gals, but I'm just going to assume that Kindl will be exceptionally good for one night only. If not, this is going to be a depressing afternoon. As such, Wings 3-1. Goals, Kindl, Tatar (Kindl assisted), Miller (empty net). The Jak is back!

Smith-Kindl huh? Greeeeeeaaaaaat.

Soooo, Kindl AND Marchenko in? s***.

Not sure about that. Laviolette played a little bit tougher of a team in the Blackhawks. And played them really well I might add.

I disagree with your premise though. I don't think he has been colossally bad in FA or at the trade deadline, at least not during the time period you're talking about. You yourself said that if you can't get a guy like Suter, you should get a mid level guy. Which he went out and did, in White and Quincey. He later got Dekeyser to play in that role too. He also signed depth defensemen in Colaiacovo, Commodore, and Zidlicky as well. On top of that he signed or traded for four top six forwards (Alfredsson, Legwand, Weiss, and Cole). Two of them were busts because of injury. We don't make the playoffs without the other two. During that time he also signed depth forward in Tootoo and Sammy. And he brought in Brunner, I don't really know what you'd call him, though he really didn't play bad for us. Finally, he brought in a backup goalie for cheap, who acted as a bridge between Howard and Mrazek and did a pretty good job...especially a year ago when Jimmy was injured. So, in the last five years, Holland brought in: White Quincey Colaiacovo Commodore Zidlicky Dekeyser Alfredsson Legwand Weiss Cole Brunner Tootoo Sammy Gustavsson. That's not terrible. And, aside from injuries (which you can't anticipate before they happen), it's actually a pretty good mix of players that filled a variety of roles for us. It should also be noted that we didn't give up a hell of a lot to get any of those guys either. So he managed to do all that AND not mortage the future. I'd say that's pretty good considering the alternative (give up a fortune for guys like Vanek, Iginla, Jagr, Pominville, Nash, Suter, Parise, etc.) hasn't exactly yielded positive returns for the teams who have gone that route.

Remember when Helm was coming back from his groin and back issues and he generally didn't seem as effective as before? It seemed due to the fact that he hadn't regained that extra step of speed he had, which made him a special (as opposed to just a decent) player. As he began to regain that step, his game began to round back into form. I never saw Weiss play in Florida. But at the time of the signing, all the reports I read on him said that he was a very quick player. They listed skating as one of his biggest assets. During his time in Detroit he's looked average in that department, and I wonder if the speed he lost due to his groin and hernia issues is the difference between Stephen Weiss the 60 pts. player, and Stephen Weiss the 25-30 point player. Just a hypothesis.

Take it easy Harold, I was being a smartass. Not lobbying for Kindl. Shoot over to the Zidlicky bashing thread and you'll see I actually defended how the defense has played thus far in the series. I'm not at all upset with the current makeup of the blueline, and was speaking more to Kindl's weird trend of coming in off the bench this season and looking really good, only to wind up right back on the bench. Which says as much about him as it does about anyone else.

Hello hyperbole, it's been a long time since I've seen yer' ugly mug around these parts!

I'm not actually worried about it. If history is any indication, Kindl will come in and score a goal and an assist in Game 7. He will then be banished back into the nether realm...of course.

You've clearly got an axe to grind, which is the point of contention. You're blaming Holland for things like Nyquist being small and lost, and Stephen Weiss being less effective than he was prior to an injury he didn't have when Holland traded for him. You're right to say that Holland has made some mistakes over the years. Nobody would argue that. But you're attributing things to him which are totally asinine. And what's more, you're doing it while the team is actually performing pretty well in the playoffs. Which also suggests some sort of agenda. You might have a point if we'd just been swept. But we didn't. We've played well and earned a 7th game. Why don't you wait and see how the season turns out before assigning blame/finger pointing.

As a "special consultant". You know who else is a "special consultant" to the Red Wings. Chelios and Lidstrom. It would be a stretch to attribute the team's successes or failures to "special consultants". You're reaching dude. You can search the entire world over, and you will not find ANYONE who's a better NHL General Manager than Holland. He's got the hardware to prove it. He is, literally, the most accomplished executive in the business. Period. Fin. So I'm not really sure what you're trying to do here, say that he should be replaced with someone better? There isn't anyone. Demonstrably so. Or are you saying that he's really not that good, and that his underlings did all the work? Which would be silly, because the team was arguably MORE successful when he was the underling. No matter how you cut it, he's the most competent person at his job...by a ******* mile.

Lol. Disagree. Whole heartedly. Since Bowman left (2002) we've made the playoffs every single year, went to the finals twice, and won the Cup once. Since Yzerman left (2010) we've made the playoffs every single year. Same with Nill (2013). You know who's struggled since Yzerman and Nill left? Yzerman and Nill.

Only on LGW does a GM "deserve blame" for building an almost entirely homegrown roster, making the playoffs for the zillionth time in a row, and being poised to upset a better team in the first round. The only thing Ken Holland hasn't done is play/coach the actual game itself. Has he made some mistakes over the years? Sure. Have those mistakes seriously inhibited our chances of being competitive? The results certainly suggest otherwise. Or is he supposed to make no mistakes whatsoever?

This was an absolutely killer series. Very very good. I watched most of it, and was really impressed with it. It had everything you want in a playoff series. Great goaltending, overtime, game 7, lots of chippiness/hitting, stars shining, etc. I watched game 7 last night, and you just knew that Washington was taking this one home. Also, Evgeny Kuztensov is pretty awesome. Guy's finally becoming what he was drafted to be.

He was acquired to do EXACTLY what you just described. Not to be a stalwart defender. I really haven't been too upset with the defense in this series. Sure, some have played better than others, and not surprisingly the guys higher in the depth chart have tended to be better than the ones lower in the depth chart. But overall, it's about what I expected. Tampa has an insanely high powered offense. They're going to score goals. Mostly against our more mistake prone/weaker defensemen. This series won't be won or lost on the back of Marek Zidlicky's play.

Funny thing is, if he scores a goal next game everybody here will immediately change their tune. Such is the nature of LGW hate. Zidlicky isn't great, but he's not as bad as must of you are making him out to be either. Look at the scores in this series. It's not like ANY of our players are getting absolutely exposed out there. Did people think that we were going to win every game via a shutout? Tampa Bay has the best offense in the league, in part, by having the depth to score against third line defenders. It happens.

What do you gotta be such a girl about it?

Not surprised. I often get the feeling that SOME New Yorkers feel like they live in their own separate country.

I heard Brian McGrattan lost the rubber match in a best two of three Greco Roman wrestling contest. His opponent? The U.S.S. Enterprise. Rumor has it, "The Mouth of the South" Jimmy Hart interfered in the third match to secure the Enterprise final victory.

Brain McGrattan uses his own thigh as an anvil.

I'm really confused right now. Are you screwing with me? You're not seriously upset about us making fun of him are you?

I thought you were all about glorifying Brian McGrattan beyond all sense of proportion? He's like the Keyser Soze of the NHL. A boogie man. So what's wrong with treating him that way? And don't you dare pretend like you want to have a serious discussion about the role of fighting in hockey. That ship has long since sailed.

C'mon, you know you love it.

After 10 months and 140,000,000 miles, NASA's Mars rover, The Curiosity, landed in the Gale Crater of Mars and began sending back pictures. The first images? The end of Brian McGrattan's erection...of course.

I once watched Brian McGrattan stuff Marshawn Lynch on a fourth and inches.