kipwinger

For the millionth time. I'm not saying that Marchenko "should" be ahead of anyone. I'm saying that the GM AND the coach said the "ideal" situation would be an even balance of righties and lefties. So that seems to suggest that they'd like to keep the righties they have in the lineup. Right?

I don't really know how the pairings will shake out. But I do know that Holland and Babcock have both said that "ideally you'd have three lefties and three righties". That was before they had ANY righties. Now they've got two. If the ideal is three, and they've got two, I don't see Babs' scratching one of them (Marchenko). Particularly after after all the praise he's heaped on the kid. IF that premise is to be believed, and I don't see why you wouldn't take them at face value, then that leaves four other defense spots for six lefthanded defenders. Kindl is one of the odd men out, clearly. Who's the other?

I agree. He's a positive possession player, and helps keep the puck in the o-zone. So does a guy like Keith Yandle. His possession metrics are some of the best in the league. And while I can't speak for everyone, I for one, was suggesting that his ability to traditionally defend (in the d-zone) is limited. Which is the same criticism used against Yandle. And this seems to be supported by the fact that he's almost never used in the d-zone by his former team. He started in the d-zone 28% of the time. That's 2% higher than Smith (who's highly sheltered), and quite a bit south of other recently traded defensemen like Wiz (31%), Petry (35%), Franson (37%), Coburn (33%), and even Yandle (29.9%). Now obviously, he's going to play on our third line and get sheltered, so it doesn't matter that much. BUT, it would be misleading to think we just acquired some stud two-way defenseman. We didn't. We got a guy who's really good at maintaining possession in the o-zone, but who will likely struggle should he find himself in the defensive zone for too long a period of time.

You've provided quite a lot of evidence, and observation, that seems to support the theory that he needs to work on getting his shot off. 1. As you've said, he's got a higher than average rate of blocked shots. 2. He's got a low shooting percentage, so he misses a lot. 3. Poor shot quality as a result of the coach favoring quantity over quality. You've also suggested he needs to improve a couple of things, which are directly tied to shooting as well. 1. You've said he's unprepared when the puck gets to him. Unprepared for what? To get the the shot off? 2. You've said he needs to work on "beating NHL players". Again, beating them and do what? Drive the net and bang in a rebound goal? Probably not. Beat them and get a shot off? Probably. I'm not really sure you're disagreeing with anything we've said above. He's got one offensive weapon. By your own admission he's unable to beat defenders to use that weapon, and he's unprepared to use it when his teammates set him up. Further, you've stated that when he does use it, it's got a higher than average chance of being block, or missing, as a result of poor shot selection. Doesn't that all suggest that he needs to work on getting his shot off? Or at least, he needs to work on getting BETTER shots off?

He needs to learn to get his shot off quicker and find the open ice at the pro level. He's got exactly one weapon, and he has no idea how to use it at this level. Which makes him pretty useless for the time being. He needs to go to GR and learn to score the right way, not just score a whole bunch.

Unlike Jurco, if Pulkkinen isn't scoring he isn't doing much. I like it. He's not ready to consistently contribute in the NHL. Particularly for a team that's looking to finish strong and position itself for a playoff run.

Nyquist sucks in the top six. He's a sweetheart, but a waif. Let him eat up third line opposition while the adults do the hard work against the big boys.

Where did Quincey go?Edit: lol. Scratched or waived huh? Priceless.

He's expected back this week and the doctors said he could wait until the off season for surgery. Expect Quincey back in the lineup where he belongs.

So, does the acquisition of Cole mean that we can get Helm off the top line? He's going to break into a million little pieces if they keep giving him that many minutes. Tats-Dats-Abby Z-Sheahan-Cole Nquist-Weiss-Helm Miller-Glen-Jurco Please?

Agreed. I'm much happier with this than I would have been if we'd given up the farm for Dion. I would have preferred Anisimov and Wisniewski. But I'll settle for this. It's not a sea change in the quality of our team, but we didn't give up that kind of return either. Fingers crossed Dats, Z, and Kronner stay healthy a couple more years though.

That's because he never starts in the defensive zone. To get a scoring chance when Zidlicky is on the ice you've got to go 200 ft. Not really a surprise. Edit: Nevermind, his defensive zone starts are pretty low. But not insanely low. I'll give him his credit there. He starts in the D-zone a little more often than Smith does.

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?