kipwinger

Well like Mike Babcock likes to say, you've got to earn more minutes and better linemates. If Brendan Smith isn't getting the minutes or the linemates, it's because Babs doesn't think he deserves them. Should be be gifted more opportunities just because? I mean, ALL players will produce more with more minutes and better linemates. That's a truism. Doesn't mean you deserve them though. Clearly the coach doesn't think he does. Oh, Smith screws up just as much as everyone else eh? So why's he on the third pair? Did Babs just arbitrarily decide Smith would be down there, despite being just as good as everyone else? Of course not. Brendan Smith is on the third pair because he's not a better defenseman than Kronwall, Ericsson, Dekeyser, or Quincey. Which, coincidentally, is why people focus on him more. Because he's not as good. And screws up more often. That, or Mike "Greatest Coach in the League" Babcock is actively trying to make this team worse because he doesn't like Smith.

Exactly, at what point is he one of these? How old, and how many games, before he can no longer get a pass because he's got "potential"? Also, saying he's better than Kindl isn't saying much. And yes, Ericsson should be given a longer leash. When you draft a guy dead last in the draft you assume it's going to take a while for him to develop. When you draft a guy in the first round you assume it won't take him as long. I don't that's too controversial a statement.

Smith is 25 and has played over 150 games. He's not exactly inexperienced. And he was a first rounder, so he doesn't exactly get the kind of leeway that Ericsson did either. He had proper development in the AHL (perhaps even overripened) too. By all accounts, for a first rounder with his pedigree (Hoby Baker finalist, 1st round pick, AHL stud), he's developing at a snail's pace. At what point do we say Smith is garbage? Seriously, how old and how many games before we stop using the "he's inexperienced" excuse for his f*** ups and lack of production?

Those pun titles keep getting zetter and zetter.

I just turned the game on. Can anybody tell me what the f*** happened?

Agreed. It was an excellent game, and hopefully a precursor of things to come. I was really impressed with how fast we played. We transitioned excellently last night. It was the exact opposite of the Washington game, where we couldn't seem to get any momentum to our game. It's two good wins in a row, against two very good, very different, systems. I'm happy with the Detroit Red Wings right now.

I agree with your assessment of Marchenko. He's a "shutdown defender" in the way that Dekeyser is. Which is to say that he's not known for his offense, and he definitely prioritizes his defense and plays a safe game. But he's also an effective puck mover and is really good at getting the puck up the ice. I actually think he'll put up more points at the NHL level than he does in the AHL when he's surrounded by more first rate finishers. Edit: As far as Mantha goes, I think he struggles from the same thing that Jurco does. He's a big guy, and at the pro level will be expected to play a big man's game. But until he came to GR, he played a skilled, finesse game, despite his size. He's basically learning how to be a power forward at the pro level and the learning curve is steep. Once he figures out the power forward's game (i.e. where to be on the ice, how to play without the puck, etc.) he'll be fine. But until now he's always played the way a center has to play at the pro level (carry the puck and make plays on individual effort).

I've made my stance on highbrow humor clear. Shame on you.

Lol. I thought you were just talkin trash. I understood it, and still understand it, as gamesmanship. No apology necessary. Also. You should have punned on ASSinine. Just saying.

Excellent win, and two wins against two really good teams. Keep it up boys. Also, in my opinion that was the best game Mrazek has played as a Wing. He's had other games where he was flashier. But he faced a reasonable amount of shots tonight against a good offensive team, and weathered a few long dry spells to stay in it. I liked it.

I assume you mean you think his defense has improved in general, because he's given up two odd man rushes on one shift tonight.

As bad as he is defensively, watch him pass. Ugh.

Otherwise, our team is dominating tonight. We look really good.

Brendan smith is ******* terrible. Is anyone watching this knucklehead?

Why Hartley? Calgary isn't even going to make the playoffs?

And God bless you for that. High brow humor is the worst!

What I appreciate most is how organically it happened. You could tell that it was a clear evolution of thought from "Kip's an ass" to "I'll write ASSociation because puns are ironic and funny" to "it's a pun free for all!". You're right. Booze is probably involved now that I think about it.

I never expected this to turn into a pun thread. Does that mean it's a success or a failure?

That's exactly the point. I don't think we're that good. I was trying to make my case for that. To "admit" that we are, would be contrary to how I feel, and also what I've witnessed while watching us flounder against teams like Toronto (lately). We were good in November. We were crappy in December. And we'll see how we look in January and February.

Lol. Looks like someone caught a sense of humor from his exercise equipment haha. Welcome to the "This is an internet forum and doesn't actually mean anything" club. We've missed you buddy.

Exactly my point. A lot can happen as the season drags on. So saying "well, we're only three points out of first" isn't saying much at all. The question I have is, are we three points out of first and getting better, or are we three points out of first and getting worse? Last night was a good start. We do that consistently and I'll say we're getting better. Lose to good teams and split with scrubs and I'll say we're getting worse. Where we stand right now means very little if we don't play better in the second half. Because playing the same way we have been lately, against better teams, isn't a recipe for success.

I'm not trying to take anything away from the win last night. It was a good win against a good team. I'd like to see more of that. Because for a while we weren't doing that at all. I'm just a little sick of people explaining away marginal performances (i.e. losing in the shootout to Toronto, Colorado, Buffalo, Florida, etc.) by saying "well if it weren't for the shootout we'd be better". No we wouldn't. We'd MAYBE have more points, but it doesn't mean we'd be better. The fact that you're consistently going to overtime against bad teams is proof enough that you're not "better". I'm also sick of the "well we're only three points out of first" argument. At one point, a year ago, we were leading our division. By the end of the season we barely squeaked into the playoffs and got humiliated in the first round. And all you've got to do is compare the teams we played in the last two months, with the teams we play in the next two months to see just how little our record currently means. The only way for this team to prove it's good, or a contender, or whatever, is to consistently beat good teams. That's it. And if you don't consistently beat good teams, or do lose to bad ones consistently, then getting rid of the shootout record or counting up points won't make a bit of difference. It's a little bit like the Carolina Panthers in football. Sure they made the playoffs, but what does that mean? They had a losing record entering the playoffs. Anybody with a brain knew that they weren't good just because they made the playoffs. Like I said, hopefully last night was the start of something good. A turn around. We sure looked really good. But I've got to see that kind of effort, consistently, before I think this team is going to make any noise from here on out.

Sure, we're close in points. But we just finished the easiest part of our schedule. It only gets harder from here. Look how many good teams we've played in the last month, and look how many we play going forward. We're close in points because we had a hell of a November and then followed it up by going .500 against crappy teams. Now, hopefully, we'll get the ball rolling and do some damage against good teams going forward. We've certainly got the talent for it. But don't fool yourself into thinking that we've played just as good as everybody else has. We haven't. We banked a bunch of points and then coasted. At one point we were the top team in the league, we've clearly fallen since then. And if we don't figure out some consistency we'll continue to slide. Will we miss the playoffs? Probably not. But I'm getting a little tired of hearing "look at the standings" or "if...if...if not for the shootout". Anybody who's thrilled with our performance up until now is delusional. There were some good things, and some bad things. But the goal is to compete for Cups. Not be happy with third in the division just because we're "not that far behind". Because we're not that far ahead either. We need to play better, and with more consistency. I hope last night was a stepping stone for that.

Jesus Christ. You know how you can tell I was screwing around? Because I suggested you could catch "losing" from exercise equipment.

You guys know that we can't just blame everything on the shootout right? Like...the fact that we even went to shootouts against non-playoffs teams isn't good. We've lost in the shootout to Toronto, Columbus, Florida, Colorado, and Buffalo. So even if there were no "skills competition", it's hardly a feather in our cap to regularly go to overtime against the trash of the league. I agree that last night was a good win. And I hope we can build on it. But can we stop with the shootout blaming already? No matter how you cut it, we haven't been very good over the last month, Skillz Kompetishon or no.