kipwinger

Quincey is having a pretty strong game thus far.

Well you're certainly free to speculate about what he could or couldn't do. But we've already established that he's not going to come up as a result of his waiver status, so I'm not really sure why you've chosen to play the contrarian on this particular talking point.

He should, he's been more visible. But I didn't know he had more, for some reason it seemed like the second line was out there more, but maybe I was just paying attention to them more.

Well I've liked the Weiss, Helm, Jurco line and hated the Sheahan, Tatar, Nyquist line. Hopefully we'll see more of the former in the next period.

Typical. Another quality free agent signs to another team as a result of Ken Holland's inaction. When will this joker's reign of terror end?!

I wonder if the outage has the ability to affect the quality of the ice surface? I know absolutely nothing about keeping the ice quality up to par, but it seems like they must use electricity in some capacity. Hope it's not out too long.

Yep, he is. So?

Aha, you are correct sir. Nevermind what I was saying. I hadn't thought of that.

Why not call up Callahan, since ya know, he does all the same stuff that Abby does for his respective team? PK, net front on PP, puck retrieval on top line, defensively responsible, gritty forechecker.

Who? Never heard of the guy.

I'm no good at reading fine print, so I'm just going to assume you said something to the effect of, "I went to the same high school and church as dozens of strippers and will be sure to bring them along". As such, welcome aboard buddy.

Every time I say something isn't working on this team, they turn around and make it work. Inconsistency? They win four in a row. Too many centers on the team? Offense starts scoring like gangbusters. Powerplay's a mess? Top ten in the league. So I guess what I'm saying is...they will absolutely, positively, not win the Stanley Cup in decisive fashion in front of a home crowd while Kid Rock and I are in the front row (surrounded by strippers) getting hammered drunk. Nope, not at all.

Haha I know. I could not have been more wrong about this line. Ugh. I suppose this is why I don't coach professional hockey teams.

This team is inconsistent. We haven't won 3 games in a row all season. We've got skilled players, the core veterans are all playing well, Jimmy is playing excellent, and the kids that needed to be good have been. So what's the problem? Speculate away!

Because it's reasonable to assume that both those guys will play a full 82 games this season, or going forward? I'm not skewing stats. I'm going by their totals. Neither of those two will ever play a full 82 games again. So why would you go by their full season projections?

Well I didn't think the Helm, Weiss, Jurco line would score and it did, so I'm just going to shut up. But man do I think that Datsyuk, Weiss, Helm line is doomed to failure. None of those guys averages more than about 130-140 shots a year.

Have you been on a bender for the last couple of days lol? Your posts are...interesting?

I can't believe I missed that game last night. Good to see Stephen Weiss get a couple. That first goal was a dandy. Would like to have seen the boys lock it down after going up 4-1 but glad to get the win.

Really, attendence doesn't have a significant effect on success and failure? Is that why small market teams around the league continue to have such great success? Owners who are accountable to their fan bases (through ticket and merchandise sales) work to improve their teams. Owners who are going to turn a handsome profit regardless of their on ice product don't. Why bother to spend money revamping your scouting, drafting, and player development (all noticeable weaknesses of the Maple Leafs) if you're going to sell out every game by throwing a bunch of goons on the ice and occasionally overspending on a free agent?

Again, I don't care if "they" do or don't. I'm not a Leafs fan. However, it would be nice if "they" shut the f*** up about getting saluted by the team, since "they" don't deserve it.

You didn't think that insinuating that Helm and Sheahan were equally viable second line centers to Legwand based on a sample size of 20 games would be controversial? I do. All of their respective careers suggest otherwise. And after the first 10 games Tatar was on pace for 4 goals. So what? History has shown David Legwand to be a 40-50 pt. player. He scored 51 points a year ago and will probably be somewhere in that ballpark this year, despite his slow start. He didn't forget how to play hockey over the summer. Suggesting that he's not a better option than Helm, simply based on a 20 game sample size is hugely misleading. A year ago Helm had 12 goals in 42 games. My guess is you didn't expect him to double that output this year did you? Why, because nothing in his career suggests he's capable of that. So, like I said before. David Legwand is, was, and will be a better option for second line center than Darren Helm is. Despite his slow start.

Ah yes, the aforementioned favoritism. Like that time he said... “I believe in Mike Babcock, I believe he’s the best coach in the league,” McGuire said. “I believe in Jimmy Howard, I believe he’s the most underrated goalie in the league. I believe in Henrik Zetterberg and Pavel Datsyuk, I think they’re probably the two most underrated superstars in the league.” - http://tbd.radio.cbssports.com/2013/05/08/pierre-mcguire-its-going-to-be-a-reach-for-islanders-to-eliminate-penguins/ Or "I can't wait to see what Mike Babcock's young speedy Red Wings are going to be like because I think they're going to be extremely good." - http://www.freep.com/story/sports/nhl/red-wings/2014/10/09/octopus-garden-detroit-red-wings/16955973/ Or this scathing prediction of the current season "Eddie talked about there’s a limitation on defense, and I would agree with him on that, but I’m with Doc on Brendan Smith being able to take his game to another level. They’ve got a couple young guys on the way, Xavier Ouellet is a tremendous young player out of the Quebec Junior League that’s done some time in Grand Rapids playing for Jeff Blashill, and they also have Nick Jensen out of St. Cloud State, who I think has a chance to be extremely good. And then finally, Ryan Sproul out of the Ontario Hockey League, so actually they’ve got some guys that aren’t NHL names yet that have a chance to be very good NHL names, but the one up‑and‑coming, you talk about breakthrough players, I hope he gets Anthony Mantha. I think he’s got a chance to be really special for the Red Wings." - http://nbcsportsgrouppressbox.com/2014/10/01/transcript-nbc-sports-group-nhl-face-off-conference-call/ Favoritism indeed.

And now it's a bandwagon of two. Come on board ladies and gentlemen. There's plenty of room. I tend to have that effect on people...unless I'm talking about Smith, Babcock, or Pierre McGuire apparently.

I was mostly just being a smart ass, but I agree with your concerns. However, I'll wait to judge whether he's being put into a position to succeed until after Datsyuk is back. I don't mind where he's at now because you really don't want to break up the Zetterberg or Sheahan lines. So give him a few games to find his legs on the wing. But once those tops lines are broken up anyway (as they will be when Datsyuk returns) then I'd like to see him centering his own line. Edit: For grammar

If he doesn't score on his first shift Babcock demotes him to water boy?