kipwinger

I thought Chara and Boychuk were a pair? I never, ever, heard that Krug had been promoted to top pair minutes last year.

According to Malik it isn't. But I have yet to check any of my usual streams to see if something will be up and running.

I don't know about other teams, but I suspect that your characterization of Wings fans' attitudes is right...yet incomplete. People around here buy into Kenny's philosophy partially because they don't have an alternative, and partially because it's been SUPER successful during his tenure. If he espoused a "no fighting" philosophy and we missed the playoffs every year I imagine fans wouldn't be so quick to go with it. Likewise, Peter Chiarelli's teams are "pro fighting" and they win, so why argue with it? If they started losing consistently I'd imagine fans would be less enthusiastic about the organizational philosophy.

I usually send out a press release. But you LGW bozos are too busy reading about hockey to read them. Hockey...the opiate of the masses.

And if Pittsburgh had Orr, McGrattan and his soccer hair would run away or get his nose broke. So what?

I agree that we're a young team, and I by no means bemoan the fact that we're "old". But, I think it's at least worth noting that while only a handful of guys are over 31, they're all our best players (with the exception of Cleary). D, Z, Fran, Knonwall, Weiss all have VERY important spots on this team. So I think the point could be made that while we're not old overall...the most important parts of our team are getting up there.

No I'm not serious. I was making a joke about his growth potential. He's only 5'8. But if his dad and mom are both over 6', then maybe we'd have reason to be optimistic. And LGW optimism is reason enough to invade the privacy of a couple of middle aged Canadians. I made a funny. Ugh.

There are "Lemieux" beatdowns all the time. Not a year goes by that there isn't some big line brawl. Look up line brawl on youtube and you'll find a TON of them. And here's the funny part, they usually take place between the same teams. Buffalo, Boston, Philly, Toronto. Nobody is using them to keep other teams honest. They're doing it because they're the types of teams built to do it. Last year Toronto and Buffalo had a line brawl because John Scott tried to fight Kessel. And Buffalo acquired John Scott because the year before that Lucic ran over top of Ryan Miller. This crap just perpetuates itself.

"I have it on good authority that Brendan Smith's game will be risk free this year. And that he's the best yahtzee player on the team. Oh, and he makes a mean lasagna. And he once beat a polar bear in a dance-off. Oooh, ooh, and he's as handsome as a young Richard Gere" -Brendan Smith

Didn't Athanasiou grow two or three inches in the last year alone?

Congratulations to Joe "The Cricket" Hicketts for signing a 3 year entry level deal with the Winged Wheel. Atta boy kid.

Aha. I'll say this about Smith. For two years everybody around here has been talking about how Smith needs to get some PP time. For his confidence, for his numbers, etc. Supposedly he's going to get it this year. Everybody knows I don't like Smith. That's no secret. Thus far in his career he's been an offensive defenseman who neither plays defense nor puts up points. I'm willing to cut the guy a lot of slack if he shows he's an offensive defenseman who produces offense; something he hasn't done yet, but might with PP time. That's his role. That's why he was drafted. If he does that, I'll gladly overlook his boneheaded defensive miscues. But woe to him if he gets PP time and still doesn't produce. At which point we should be able to agree that he's trash.

Was this directed at me?

I think the term "doorknob" used above is about right. I've always got the impression that Smith was the epitome of a dumb jock. Lots of talent, nothing between the ears. We've been lucky over the decades that our team has been full of pretty articulate, ambassadors of the game. So we tend to forget that a lot of athletes are dumb as s***. Brandon Inge was dumb but athletic. Matthew Stafford is dumb but athletic. And sadly, I think Brandon Smythe is dumb but athletic.

I agree with half your point. Boudreau did use Maroon and Pely-Smith on the PP more in the playoffs than he did during the regular season. My guess is that he was trying to match power with power against Los Angeles, and so he decided to ice a bigger group. You can argue the validity of that coaching decision all day, and I'm sure you'd have very legitimate points. After all, Anaheim lost, so it's not like the ends justified the means or anything. As we know, it didn't work. But because it was ineffective doesn't mean it was illogical. Maroon did out produce Selanne during the regular season. And that was with less even strength AND PP time. So it's not like Boudreau was basing the decision (wrong as it may have been in the end) on nothing. He was basing off of current levels of production.

You are correct sir.

Understood, but no coach is going to give you playoff icetime without considering regular season production. Like any other intelligent coach, Boudreau's going to look at how you've performed all year long and allot your playing time based on that. Giving Selanne icetime based on what he used to do, is a lot like giving Dan Cleary 53 games based on the past. Selanne had done very little (or less than others), with more opportunity, last season. If he wanted more playing time in the playoffs he should have produced more during the season. He was benched BECAUSE of ineffective play, which is the way it's supposed to go. He seems to be arguing that he should have been given ice time DESPITE ineffective play. I would understand if he was producing well and got his icetime cut. But he wasn't. So I don't know why he's bitching.

They said he was going to get a look on the powerplay, and we had about a million powerplays yesterday, so it doesn't really surprise me his totals are that high. But I wouldn't expect that to continue. That's getting close to Kronwall levels of ice time. And even with pp time I don't think Smith will see #1 d-man minutes. It's an anomaly skewed by the number of powerplays we had. I'd imagine he'll be somewhere around 19-21 minutes a game most nights.

I think that Quincey and Dekeyser will be the second pair. Just like last year. Kronwall-Ericsson Quincey-Dekeyser Smith-??? I don't necessarily agree, but I think that's what will happen. Babs likes Quincey a heck of a lot more than LGW does. Look at how he used him all year last season. There's a reason why he played all 82 games while guys like Smith, Kindl, and Lashoff where scratched at times. In Babs' mind, Quincey is a top four defenseman.

That's true, and I don't want to downplay it. But it also should be pointed out that Kindl and Dekeyser (or Lashoff and Dekeyser) is nothing close to a top pair. And yet were forced to play as one against one of the better top six teams in the league. And we still only lost 2-1 in OT. So while we should definitely not make excuses for anyone. We should put it into context. Kindl was bad. But not so bad that it kept us out of the game. Hell, if Pulkkinen does what he's supposed to and buries that open netter we win the game in regulation. So there's that.

Selanne was fourth among forwards in powerplay ice time per game, behind Getzlaf, Perry, and Bonino (all of whom massive outproduced him). He did get used. He didn't produce. Should they have given him more time? And if so, at who's expense?

Can we please just stop trying to make playmakers into scoring wingers? For every one success, there are about a million failures. If we've got so many centers, and not enough wingers, that we need to use them interchangeably then why don't we trade some of them? Heaven forbid we actually slot guys based on a skill set they currently have, rather than one we'd like them to develop after 5-10 years in the league.

Lol. Did either of them even throw a punch? I think you're jumping the gun a little bit. Those pairs last night will never play in real games together. Kindl with Dekeyser, only to be replaced with Lashoff and Dekeyser? You've got about a 0% chance of seeing those pairings outside of the preseason unless there are MASSIVE injuries again.

I would like to reiterate that Weiss is playing with Abby and Kevin Porter. So even if he has no points and is a minus 4. It's still not really indicative of anything.

Best way to ensure that Weiss gets his confidence going and starts making plays? Make sure he plays with quality wingers. Check.