kipwinger

Lol. And why Lord, why, did the NHL force Calgary to trade Phaneuf for little return while forcing them to trade Iginla too late to make any difference? And shine your light, oh heavenly father, on why the NHL made Jay Feaster pay Jay Bouwmeester 6.8 million dollars when he was only worth 5.2 million? Pray tell thee Lord of hosts, didn't the leagueth knowest that two Jays don't makest a right? Finally oh merciful and most righteously of fatherly fathers, tell me why the league made Jiri Hudler maddeningly slow, yet also maddeningly good at producing secondary scoring? Surely thust doest not jest oh knowingest of knowers. Youest makest a mockeryist of truest hockey fan throughout the league's control of team level decisions.

Who is?

I hate that Nestrasil gets power play time. Give me a break. I like that Brendan Smith gets pk time. It works to his strengths (skating and physical toughness). Those are my first period takeaways.

I agree with you 100%. But you can also find new players. Like that time Scotty Bowman (then GM of the Red Wings) decided not to bring Bob Probert back because he wasn't talented enough to play Scotty's system. Just gotta make hard decisions.

I know. I that's exactly how I interpreted your post.

I mean, other the arguable "no call", I don't think any blame NEEDS to be directed. Kronwall toe picked, everyone thought a penalty was getting called, and Ryan Getzlaf is one of the best players in the world. In short, it was a flukey goal. I'm not too interested in pointing fingers on that one.

Ahhhhhh. Yeah that goal was clearly Ericsson's fault lol.

I'd agree on the Bergeron goal. Which other?

Probably not to most of our bottom six players. If Babs had a different philosophy in mind, guys like Glendening, Andersson, and Nestrasil would still be in the AHL and Helm, Abby, and Miller would be on the fourth line. They're probably thrilled that he coaches the way he does. If he had any interest in scoring goals those guys would all be marginal NHL players.

And you'll get it...next year...when Jeff Blashill's the coach. Don't hold your breath for scoring as long as Babs is the coach. Offense isn't really part of his game plan.

Why should Ericsson be demoted?

Agreed (partially). As such, if we're going to count on unknown quantities to step up, I'd rather we rely on the potential of our own prospects than hack defensemen making 4-5 million bucks a year. Myers scored 25 points last year and was bad defensively (all for around 5 million dollars a year). I'm POSITIVE that Ryan Sproul could score 25 pts and be bad defensively for a much more palpable price tag.

Well unless his hands are beautiful at fightin' we need to trade that bum for someone to keep Datsyuk healthy. Besides he's redundant. We've got size, grit, and offensive savvy in spades.

Is that what I said lol? I could have sworn I said I'd take Yandle, and leave Myers (and the other two) in the dust bin. Unlike much of the NHL watching masses, I'm not mesmerized by big guys just because they're big. He's an underachiever who makes too much money. I want producers, not question marks.

None of Petry, Bogosian, or Myers is noticeably better than Brendan Smith, and all of them are worse than our top three defensemen. As such, I'm not willing to give very much in trade. I'm definitely not losing the first goal scoring winger (with size) that we've developed in ten years for a new fourth best defenseman. Yandle sure. He's legit. But just say "no" to the still-waiting-to-reach-their-potential club.

Either that or The Fourth Period is just recycling content year after year.

Of course they ask for first rate players, doesn't mean they expect to get them. That's negotiating. I have a hard time believing that GMs across the league ask for premium prices from Holland, but ask for considerably less from everyone else. Apart from anything else, it's a terrible negotiation strategy because it ensures you'll A) never trade with a team that's renowned for the quality of their prospects, and B) in the event that your player is actually worth a guy like Mantha, you're asking for less than he's worth from 28 other teams.

I've got to disagree with you there buddy. I don't think it would take that much. The last three players of that quality to get traded were Bobby Ryan, Jason Spezza, and Ryan Kesler, and none of them went for that kind of return. Actually, not even close to that really.

Rumor from The Fourth Period today... "As it has been well documented, the Red Wings have expressed interest in Buffalo Sabres defenseman Tyler Myers... It's believed Holland has also inquired about Arizona Coyotes rearguard Keith Yandle, who remains unlikely to be moved and Winnipeg Jets blueliner Zach Bogosian." In the order that they're listed...Nope. Yep. Nope.

Qwuintzy Suxssss!!!!!!!!

I think the point is that Holland shouldn't get credit for anything...ever.

I largely agree, but you're right, I hate that third line. Weiss isn't going to get going if you give him two linemates who have never played on the wing for any significant amount of time, and haven't ever really been known for offensive production when at their natural positions. Putting Weiss with nonscorers means he's got to shoulder the offensive load, which is the exact opposite of easing him into it until his confidence returns. Give him wingers or trade/waive him. Carolina would pick him up tomorrow (all their centers are hurt and they suck). Anyway, heading out for the night. Good talking to you though.

The GM has had the exact same philosophy since he took over the position in 1997 and it's been pretty successful. I'm not sure why you think he should change it for the coach all of a sudden. We have drafted and developed based on skill for 20+ years. Our organization (from top to bottom) is founded upon it, our scouts are some of the best in the world at seeing a guy like Gustav Nyquist and imagining what he'll be when he matures. You want them to stop doing that and change the whole organizational philosophy because you don't like it? So what? It works. Secondly, stop with the ******* hyperbole will you? Nobody "traded the future" for anything. We've got so many NHL ready prospects we can't get them all into the lineup, and we've got even better prospects coming. It would be a lot easier to talk to you if didn't constantly distort reality to justify some anodyne point you're stuck on for the day.

I don't think so. Not every team has an elite defenseman, and yet we don't ever seem to create goals by forechecking other teams hard. We've got pretty good forecheckers. Remember Helm giving Jovanovski fits a few years back? If it was the Achilles heel of pretty much every defender on every team I'd expect to see some positive results for our team. But I suspect we don't forecheck hard because that would increase the likelihood that teams (not all of whom have anything close to elite defensemen) would create offense going the other way...and our defensemen aren't good enough to deal with a steady diet of odd man rushes. Teams do it to us for the same reason we don't do it to them. Their defensemen are better than ours.

Not necessarily. Babs buried Legwand on the fourth line wing last year and it had nothing to do with injuries or effectiveness. When he demoted him Legwand was centering the best offensive line we had all season. So, there's always the chance that Babs just doesn't like the guy, regardless of how much he could help, or how well he plays.