kipwinger

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.

What's your take on posts that aren't overly serious? Do you pick up on them? Do they go over your head? Do you recognize the inherent absurdity in suggesting that someone could "catch" losing, as if it were a disease? Or does the temptation to nail me with an awesome zinger put you on autopilot? I was goofing around. Lighten up. I like Murphy, Rouse, and Macoun just fine. But I will never, EVER, like Wendell Clark.

There are a few of their players I think are good. But I've got to be "all in" on this. So I'm calling it. No Toronto losers. None. Even the ones I like. They'll leave their loser germs on the equipment in the training room and before you know it all our guys will have loser. Next thing you know we'll be extending crappy defensemen to 7 million dollar deals and blaming everything on our top line wingers. Not on my watch.

Based on his recent history I think Holland would sign Green, and go into training camp with the exact same defensemen he has now, plus Green and Ouellet. Then make them compete for spots and figure the roster out from there (aided by inevitable injuries). That's what he's basically done with the forward corps for the last two seasons, so why not the defense? That's said, I'd be really surprised if Kindl is still on the roster after this season. I think he'll get traded. And if that doesn't work he'll get waived and probably bought out/defect to the KHL. I know I would. Lashoff's position is tenuous and he's easy replaceable if waived/traded. So there's plenty of room there. Even more if Smith or Quincey are traded. And I don't that's as far out of the realm as some might believe.

I don't want anybody from Toronto. They're tarnished with "loser". I don't want our players catching the loser bug too. I'm sick of losers. I'd rather keep our guys. Our veterans are winners. Our kids are winners. The only guys who aren't winners are Weiss, Quincey, and the fourth line...and see how that's working out for them lol.

He'd have to clear entry waivers to sign with Detroit...and if he's any good, then he'd probably get claimed. Remember when Detroit signed Nabokov from the KHL? Same deal.

Yandle's super good. He's got Mike Green's offense, better defense, and is MUCH more durable. He's a workhorse. BUT, we don't need a workhorse. We need an offensive defenseman, and Yandle will cost a lot to acquire (and keep when his contract is out). As such, I'd rather just wait and pursue Green in free agency. At least that only costs the price of the contract. When we talk about "rentals" aren't we usually talking about guys who are free agents at the end of the season? Not guys with another year on their contract? So, Mike Green (if traded for) would be a rental because you'd only be getting him for the remainder of this season, while Yandle wouldn't...because he'd play the remainder of this year and all of next year, at least.

Good win! Finally beat a good team. Good work boys!

Oh, is that all? Just a power forward and two hall of famers? Lol. I'm just kidding with you. I agree. We're a decent team, but we're not a contender. I've said elsewhere, we don't beat good teams and we're only .500 against crappy teams lately. Our offense is not existent most nights, and our blue line defense well but does nothing else well. Like krsmith17 said in another thread, I think we could be a contender in the next couple of years but a couple solid acquisitions. But not this year.

We have no chance of winning the Cup. But I still wouldn't trade those two...so yeah, what the f*** is he even talking about lol.

First line centers don't grow on trees, even aging ones are hard to get your hands on. Who'd center our team? Helm, Sheahan, Weiss? Larkin, AA, Nosek? No thanks. All good players, but not legit, contender level centers...yet.

I dicked that whole post up and combined several thoughts into one, which made it all wrong lol. These were... 1) We need to beat good teams. 2) We haven't played a lot of good teams lately so it's hard to gauge ourselves. 3) St. Louis is a good team, so it should be a measuring stick game. To answer your question though, yes. Washington is a good team. I was completely forgetting about them (despite actually going to that miserable game).

Well one thing we can all agree on...at least we're not paying Dion Phaneuf 7 million dollars to defend guys like Ryan Johansen. Yikes!

I was just coming here to say the same thing. This is the first good team we've played since getting thumped by Vancouver. Should be a good way to gauge whether we're headed in the right direction.