kipwinger

One of my all time favorite hockey moments. Awesome by all involved.

Hard to argue with you. I was obviously always more of a Kindl guy, but he's been sitting and it hasn't really hurt us so I really can't say I've got strong feelings either way anymore. I'm not particularly happy with either, but I suppose a s***ty defenseman, who scores occasionally, and punches someone once in a while is better than a s***ty defenseman, who scores occasionally, and doesn't. To be honest I think both of them would be drastically better if they were on different teams. Like every other position, Babs requires his players be good both ways, and neither of these guys seem up to it (so far). On a team where they could just do all offense, all the time, both would at least excel in that regard. Seems like Babs would rather not have the offense if it means being bad defensively, while others might rather accept the bad defense in favor of more offense. On a team where they were turned loose they'd produce more, but their defensive development would essentially end right where it is now.

Haha, there are soooo many smart ass things I want to say right now. Instead I'll try to be productive. Move Abby back to center for the time being and call up Pulkkinen or Callahan. Other option is to finally give Ferraro a ticket to the big show.

I actually think with Kindl it's about guts, and with Smith it's about smarts. Kindl won't take a hit to make a good pass...Smith WILL take the hit AND THEN turn around and make the bad pass. It's hard to gauge what's worse, a coward or an idiot.

I think you need to temper that a bit. I agree that he's a rookie and therefore it's premature to throw in the towel on him...but...lots of other rookies (Lashoff and Dekeyser for instance) manage to go game to game without being noticeably terrible at protecting the puck or maintaining zone coverages. Smith is bad at both...even for a rookie. The guy you were responding to is wrong for thinking that Smith's deficiencies doom him to a awful career, likewise you're wrong for insinuating that his being a rookie excuses him from having to play responsible defense.

I don't know how any of you could possibly know what type of player he's going to be one way or another. People used to have the same arguments about Tatar and Nyquist, and before that Filppula and Hudler. Fact is, you just don't know this early in his career what type of player he's going to be. Secondly, it's entirely possible that he could be BOTH a big time player in the NHL as one of you suggested and a 40-60 pt. player as the other suggested. If Jarnkrok was scoring 25-30 goals a season and another 25-30 assists PLUS good defense wouldn't that make him a "big time player"? Stop arguing, neither of you know what he'll turn into and truthfully you're both pretty close to each other when you decide to speculate what he'll be. Truth is, we traded long term potential for short term gain. Apparently Holland believed it was preferable to lose the potential of a top flight center (Jarnkrok's upside) for a chance to sneak into the playoffs this year. Personally, I think it's a bad decision but you're welcome to disagree. But to try and make it seem like Jarnkrok was a B prospect, or that Legwand is a horrible trade (or a savior of one), is both incorrect and intellectually beneath each of you.

I usually follow any former Red Wings. There are a lot of guys around the league that I respect, or whom I'd want on our team, but I wouldn't say I have any favorites. I don't even really have a favorite Red Wing...just a favorite team.

Until Yzerman wins something at the NHL level I say he's not good enough to be the GM here. No cups, hit or miss on the playoffs, and often quite dubious with his contracts. Lot's of things to not like about Stevie as a GM...and nary a Stanley Cup to make me over look them.

He's clearly a number one defenseman. Anyone who says otherwise is being argumentative just for the sake of it.

I'm on a business trip next week too, but at this rate I'm not too worried about missing anything haha.

Ugh, I'm having such a hard time right now. I REALLY don't want to join the ranks of cynical hater, but I also don't want to sit here and say "it's just the injuries". It is the injuries, plus the fact that all of our current best players are guys who our coach and/or GM didn't even envision on the team 8 months ago.

You know how Babs' coaching strategy is aimed at keeping the games close and winning low scoring games? Wouldn't it carry more wanter if we didn't lose every single low scoring game? Every single one. If that strategy worked for this team, as Babs' if fond of telling everyone, then why doesn't it work for this team?

Was there nobody competent on the powerplay available at the trade deadline? And by competent I mean, was there nobody willing to put even a single shot on goal during the powerplay available at the trade deadline?

Yeesh. I'll take it.

Yeesh, fluke.

This is literally the first time I've got to comment on the trade, I've been traveling for business and not near my computer.

It's not that I have a problem with Legwand, he's a good player. I just don't like what we gave up, or the fact that he's not a defenseman.

How's our new #1 center look? Ready to lead us to the playoffs?

Well just got back from a business trip. Heard about this, but didn't have access to it. VERY, stupid trade. Why O Why do we never "overpay" for top end players but ALWAYS overpay for depth?

A tiny bit of good news amidst all the trade day speculation. Just came across this gem online.... "The Ilitches' development company gets naming rights in the complex deal to build the arena, but it could be months before a decision is made on what to call the building. 'We have not finalized that," [Christopher] Illitch told WJR's Paul W. Smith. "We refer to it just as we've been referring to it externally, which is the Detroit event center. That's our working name for now. Of course we'll be working through all those details within the coming months.'" While it's no guarantee that this means the new arena won't get a corporate name, it's a really good start.

I'm watching the NJ guys too, they're actually really fair.

Ugh, I hate having to say nice things about Brendan Smith. Atta boy kid!

With passes like that it's hard to see why Brendan Smith leads the defense in turnovers.

He's a young center, and we've got freakishly good young wingers coming along. I don't think this will be a problem. I'd have to think Custance is reaching here.

So wait, why trade Schneider then? Gillis is a goon.