kipwinger

Maybe. I just don't see it though. Admittedly, it's not like I've watched every game the guy's played. If our team strategy continues to be shot suppression, I don't see how breakup up one of our better pairs in Quincy-Dekeyser, and making that pair smaller, weaker, and less defensively responsible will make it better. If they think Marchenko can do with Dekeyser what Quincey can do. And Quincey-Zidlicky can be an effective third pair then we're ok. But to me, adding Zidlicky to the top four just made us marginally better offensively, and a lot worse defensively.

As a puck mover he's probably better than Kindl or Smith. But you certainly don't want to go giving him too much responsibility or ice time. Puck mover on the third pair, and second PP QB seems like the most logical choices to me.

they've tried that off and on for the last couple of games.

Three things: 1. The Wings have stated over and over that the play of Marchenko has lessened the need for a big deadline acquisition. Which I agree with, to an extent. But that certainly implies he won't be going anywhere if the deadline strategy was predicated on him being in the lineup. 2. Zidlicky isn't very good defensively. For those who think "Yandle's good offensively, but bad defensively", prepare yourselves. We did not just acquire another Brian Rafalski. We just acquired an older Mark Streit. 3. It doesn't really make sense to rationalize the Cole trade by wanting "to be able to better handle physical teams", and then make our top four smaller and weaker by adding Zidlicky in place of Quincey. That makes us much more susceptible to bigger teams. He's be on the bottom pair. Mark it.

Why would Quincey sit? He's been better than Smith ALL SEASON LONG. Why would they sit a better player?

Seriously, how do you think they'll look. I'm really confused by how they'll fit these guys together and who the odd men out will be.

Why? Part of the reason we didn't have to go big at the deadline is because Mike Babcock wanted "Marchenko to be our deadline acquisition". He's up for good. And they're not going to put him with another righty. And if they're smart, they're not going to put Zidlicky in the top four. So I don't see how else it works.

So I'm assuming our pairings look like this now? Kron-Ericsson Marchenko-Dekeyser Zidlicky-Quincey Smith Or no?

Pick becomes a 2nd if we reach the finals. I don't understand this year's deadline strategy. Not at all. I don't hate it, but I don't get it.

Cole is arguably as good as Cleary? Lol. Zero credibility after saying that. Why O Why isn't Brendan Smith nicknamed "Motor City Smitty"? I'd cut him some slack if this could catch on. According to THN, the Leafs want Smith for Phaneuf...any takers?

Well, no need for me to expand on it. You pretty well nailed it. I'd do something like this when Z is back, just to see what it would look like. Tats-Datsyuk-Abby Z-Sheahan-Cole Nyquist-Weiss-Helm Miller-Glen-Jurco Move Jurco up and Andersson in while Helm is hurt.

Not to mention, I'm not sure that giving former players important jobs within the organization is such a good thing. Especially if they haven't proven themselves. I don't care if Maltby is a scout, or Draper is an assistant. But I would be very reluctant to make a former player the GM or Coach or President of the team just because it would be popular with the fans. Wanna know why? These guys...

Sooooo, the Cole trade was a good one then? Or bad? I'm confused by this thread? Does Holland suck for the Cole thing or no? I mean, I already know he sucks for not giving his job to a less qualified dude, just because said dude is a feel good story. But does he suck for the trade?

Reilly's brother was recently described by one of our peers as "a dynamic two way defenseman". If Cole punched somebody, he'd be an "elite power forward" in no time.

If I was Erik Cole, I'd come into Detroit and get in a fight the first game I played. If you punch someone your first game, you can be completely pedestrian the rest of your time here and everyone will still love you. Just ask Brendan Smith.

Yeah, suuuuure it is. Because you're so super, duper, ultra smart. Riiiiiiiiiiight. I never condescend, and that's the best way to get people to listen. But I wouldn't expect a girl like you to understand that.

Yeah, I'm fine with it. I've said for a few weeks that we needed another Abby. We got one today. I can't complain. Still think we're in trouble without a scoring defenseman though.

Lol. Holland's overrated because his assistants are the ones who really do all the scouting, drafting, development? If that's the standard, Holland is even better than you think. Because back when he was the Director of Amateur Scouting the Red Wings scouted and drafted Osgood, Konstantinov, Lidstrom, Lapointe, Fedorov, McCarty, Drake... He's held, and excelled, at almost every single job in the organization because he's incredibly competent. No matter what the position, he's excelled at it. To say otherwise is laughable.

I like it. Cole should help play near the crease, which is something I wanted. And we didn't give up too much to get him. Backman made his own bed, so I'm not heart broken about that. Janmark is a good prospect with a lot of upside, but you've got to give to get. I remember when we traded Jarnkrok and sudden he became a "bust" that was too small, or too Euro, or too far down the depth chart. None of that is true, and isn't about Janmark either. But if he had no value, I doubt Nill would have wanted him. This helps us now, without sacrificing much later. I'm fine with it.

I'll expand on this more when I'm not on my phone, but I think getting Nyquist out of the top six is a good idea. I'd love for Holland to get a big winger tomorrow.

Thanks for the link. I stand corrected on the number of times shorthanded. It's definitely more than I thought. Still not convinced that there's a concerted, league led, effort to screw us over though lol.

Can you provide a link on that short handed total? I don't see where you're finding that?

Aha, here's our problem. You're looking at "Total Minutes" stats, which are affected by the quality of your PP and PK. If you powerplay is good, and scores early, you won't have a lot of total powerplay minutes despite having a lot of powerplay opportunities..and vice versa for PK. Total powerplay/penalty kill time is a function of your special teams' play. The number of opportunities is a function of the refs' willingness (or unwillingness) to call penalties. The point of debate was how often penalties are called for and against the Wings vs. other teams, and not how long the resulting PP or PK lasted. So the total minutes doesn't really matter to the debate. We're third in total powerplay opportunities. We're 11th in total penalties against. So we're on the Powerplay more than 27 other teams, and (although not as high as I last heard) we're penalized less than 18 other teams. Hardly proof that the refs have got it out for us.

Where are you getting those stats? Last I knew we had the most pp opportunities, and the fewest penalties in the league. Edit: Fourth fewest penalty minutes per game...http://espn.go.com/nhl/statistics/team/_/stat/major-penalties/sort/avgPIM/order/false Third most powerplay opportunities...http://espn.go.com/nhl/statistics/team/_/stat/special-teams/sort/powerPlayOpportunities

I don't know? And yes, I remember the puck coming off the netting and us scoring. You know what I don't remember? Anybody crucifying the refs about getting it wrong. Or anybody insinuating that the ref/league/commissioner "want the Red Wings to win", etc. I don't recall anybody going on and on about how unfair it was that our goal against Dallas was allowed to stand, despite the fact that Abby clearly obstructed Lehtonen, either. Bad call happen. But our fans' endless complaining about it is (as I said earlier) one of the most annoying things about us. Especially given the fact that we demonstrably don't get penalized much at all.