kipwinger

Can't wait for the inevitable Bertuzzi scapegoating tonight, as if he'll be the reason we play terribly. Talk about setting a guy up for failure.

Well at least Babs has finally identified the source of our goal scoring problems and taken steps to mitigate the issue...(puke).

And Pittsburgh would have to beat Columbus, which is not a guarantee.

If Columbus doesn't blow two third period leads this series is over and Crosby's back in Halifax (or wherever the hell he's from), cod fishing and playing tiddlywinks (or whatever they do there).

Look back over the posts. It happened just like this. I criticized Babcock more misusing Legwand and got a "23 straight playoffs response". Be as combative as you want, but in the future maybe look back over what was said before climbing your soapbox.

I don't dictate the market. Supply and Demand does. And there aren't a lot of 50 pt. centers on the market. Expecting Legwand to make the same money in a thin free agent class after putting up 51 pts. as well as being a quality veteran, leader, and 2 way player is silly. If you don't think so, I don't know what to tell you. You're right, I don't know why Babcock is playing him down there, but I do know that Legwand looked plenty comfortable with Nyquist and Franzen when that line was singlehandedly carrying us into the playoffs.

I certainly don't mean to suggest (or sound like I'm suggesting) that there's something wrong with making the playoffs, or that it's not an accomplishment. I'm saying that failing to acknowledge (and to the extent possible, rectify) existing issues or mistakes, simply because we've made the playoffs, is not an especially productive way to approach getting over the hump. For instance, if I say "I think Holland and Babs have an issue because one keeps acquiring players that the other doesn't use", and you reply "Whoot! We made the playoffs didn't we? 23 Baby!", then a real issue is glossed over which could potentially cost us. In this instance, the problem may well have cost us a very promising young prospect for nothing as I'd be amazed if Legwand resigns given that he waived his NTC to come to a team only to be demoted to the fourth line after having (nearly) career best year. But nobody seems to give a s*** because hey...23 Baby!

Even know my irritation with Babcock is at an all time high, I've got to admit this is pretty awesome... "Pavel Datsyuk didn’t skate because his wife delivered a girl. Niklas Kronwall’s girlfriend is expecting. Coach Mike Babcock expects both to be in the lineup for Game 4 of a playoff series Thursday against the Boston Bruins (8 p.m., Fox Sports Detroit). Boston holds a 2-1 lead in the best-of-seven series. “I would assume that they’re both playing,” Babcock said. “They’re not giving birth. Their wives are.”

How does Legwand look bad against Boston? If you demoted Datsyuk down to the fourth line, moved him to his unnatural position, and gave him 15 shifts with Miller and Glendening as linemates I imagine he'd probably not make much of a difference either. Doesn't mean he's bad, it just means he's been put in a position he can't possibly succeed in. Also, he has an awful lot of points for a "3c at best".

Why in the world would he play on the top line, the coach just demoted him to the fourth line and won't move him despite the team's obvious offensive struggles? You think he's going to take less than market value, coming off one of his best years ever, to play for a coach who treats him like a scrub? Good luck.

If I were David Legwand and I just got demoted to garbage minutes on the fourth line after I put up more points than anyone on the Red Wings team, waived my no-trade clause to come here in the first place, and centered the team's highest producing line of the year, I'd tell Ken Holland to go f*** himself if he called and asked me to re-sign with no raise.

Here's hoping, because the Wings definitely look like a team without a Captain. Zetterberg-Datsyuk-Abby Franzen-Legwand-Nyquist Tatar-Sheahan-Jurco Miller-Helm-Glendening Yes please.

I mean I saw the 1,000 yard stare on their faces, but I thought everyone had that last night. They were terrible, knew they were terrible, and on top of that they had been physically beaten up for 60 minutes. Hardly a situation in which you'd expect a look of steely determination and not surprisingly nobody (including the veterans) had one.

I could see them trying. I don't now who would take Letang. His contract is the only thing more terrible than his defense. 8 years at 7.2 million dollars. Unbelievable.

He's all but played Letang out of his top line spot in these playoffs. Which is funny because the Pens just spent a fortune to keep Letang and likely won't be able to resign Niskanen now despite his obviously superior play. Anyway, Niskenen is like a young Kronwall (without the hits). His defense is average, and his puck moving ability, hockey smarts, and point shot are all above average.

I have mixed feelings about your post. Sure, fans overreact when their team looks as bad as we have the last couple of games. And obviously, the sky is not falling. You're right, we've made the playoffs a whole bunch of times and in general we're lucky we never have to watch a bottom feeder. But you also make it seem like we should pat ourselves on the back for making the playoffs as if that's some victory in and of itself. It would be...for the Lions. But given that the Red Wings ALWAYS make it, there's some expectation that periodically they'll challenge for a Cup, or make it to the finals, or even make it to the conference finals...none of which we've done since 2009. If it's an overreaction to assume that everything about the team sucks and the Wings are terrible, its an equally bad under-reaction to assume that nothing is wrong with the team, and if not for a few less injuries we'd have been competing for Cups these last few years. I guess all I'm saying is that if you look at it objectively, there is some reason to worry that the team is trending in the wrong direction (e.g. barely making the playoffs, stinking up their first round series' against Nashville and now Boston, blowing 3-1 series leads, etc.)

People may have. I didn't. If you can find any post I've ever made saying that Babcock was the best coach in the league I'll donate a thousand dollars to a charity of your choice. You're right, there are no magic line combos to make us a Cup favorite. Nobody ever said that. But changing the line combos might improve an offense which is currently producing less than a goal a game to an offense that is at least competitive. Which is all anybody is asking.

What makes you think the kids are "shook"? Sure, they're not scoring...neither is anybody else. Their strength all season was their chemistry. None of Tatar, Jurco, or Sheahan played as well apart as they did together. The same is true of Nyquist with Franzen and Legwand; he never produced as well away from those guys as he did with them. Babs has yet to use either of those lines in this series. No wonder they're not producing. These guys aren't a Zetterberg or Datsyuk who can produce no matter where you put them. Doesn't mean they're "shook". It means your coach needs to pull his head out of his ass.

You're talking about Paul Holmgren, the guy who traded Mike Richards, Jeff Carter, James Van Riemsdyk, and Sergei Bobrovsky for Wayne Simmonds, Jakub Voracek, The Schenn brothers, and draft picks. He's definitely that stupid.

Next year's needs? A new coach.

The only thing that I can think of is that the man we know as "Mike Babcock" is actually a performance artist named Skye Rainwater who got his liberal arts degree from UC Berkley. For years Skye had toyed with the theory that the American public was getting slower, duller, and more obtuse by the second. It's not hard to imagine someone from UC Berkley holding such an opinion. Eventually, Skye found an opportunity to prove his theory when Gary Bettman cruelly tricked Marian Illitch into biting an apple from the Tree of Knowledge, thus tearing the organizations' decision makers out of their pre-2005 enlightenment and into the dark age of "parity" and "Mike Babcock". Ever since that fateful day, Red Wings fans have been the subject of hockey's biggest social experiment. The man we know as Mike Babcock (aka Skye Rainwater) does the dumbest s*** possible all the time...yet cleverly misdirects scrutiny by consistently uttering meaningless platitudes such as tonight's postgame "You shouldn’t give up easy access to your blue line" and "The second thing is we got to have a better plan and execution on our power play". Convinced that nobody will notice, his idiotic decision making and meaningless gibberish will continue until one day the Messiah will return, flanked by the Mahdi, and Dale Earnhardt (R.I.P) to vanquish the serpent (Bettman), send Skye Rainwater back to bowels of California, and promote Jeff Blashill to coach the Detroit Red Wings. Blashill's first act as newly appointed head coach, and survivor of the fight between good and evil... REUNITING THE f****** FRANZEN-LEGWAND-AND NYQUIST LINE!

If you've got an analytical mind and you really want to piss yourself off, mosey on over to the box score and have a look at the ice times for various Red Wings. Here's a couple fun things that stand out... 1. Jurco and Legwand nearly had as little 5-on-5 ice time as Shawn Thornton: If these two didn't run a train on Bab's wife to get in his doghouse, they probably should now so they'll at least deserve the punishment. 2. Andersson, 8:17 seconds: If you aren't going to play him why call him up? Surely Bertuzzi is better than Andersson for 8 minutes a night. 3. Kindl, 18:02: Lol. 4. Legwand, 15 shifts: 2 more than Jordan Caron, Boston's worst player. 7 fewer than Brian Lashoff, our worst player.

My point is that if we score at the pace of either of the teams in that series we're probably up 2-1 right now.

Kudos. Tampa Bay scored ten goals in four games and they're on a long, lonely, quiet flight out of Montreal right about now.

Not from the training room.