kipwinger

The one with the ducks slays me.

The six best Ryan Kesler tumbleweed gifs. You're welcome everyone. http://vansunsportsblogs.com/2012/04/18/the-six-best-ryan-kesler-tumbleweed-gifs/

That's funny because I imagine much the same thing happens when Eklund comes up with this "insider" trade rumblings.

Eklund is reporting Detroit has interest in Kadri, so it's as good as done right?

I agree with what you guys are saying, and want to clarify that while I'm in favor of moving Nyquist (and a little less so Tatar and Jurco) I would not do so for a rental. It would need to be with someone who's trying to retool, or rebuild, or just dump salary and was looking to move someone under contract. Not that you need to agree with me, but I wanted to clarify that I have no interest in a rental.

Atta boy Gus. Played your way right onto an Olympic team. Good job.

Totally agree with this. I'm a big Lashoff fan and I'm happy to see him in the lineup. But you're right, Babs doesn't trust him. He's continue to improve over the next couple of years though, and despite his occasional mistakes he's still a great value for the money paid. I'd give anything if either of the other two dummies vying for a third pair job would play defense as well as Lashoff.

I know what you're saying, but two or three years from now when Nyquist, Tatar, Jurco, etc. are ready for a bigger role, Datsyuk, Z, Franzen, Kronner, etc. will be on the decline. So it's a wash. We'll be further away then than we are now. Unfortunately that's what happens when you only develop two moderately decent top six forwards (Filppula and Hudler) in a decade, lose them both, and replace them with a 41 year old and a guy who's struggled through an injury. We've got no bridge talent. Nobody aged 26-30 that can score goals and win a game for you. We've got a bunch of old guys, and bunch of young guys, and nothing in between except bottom sixers. Ken's got to decide whether he wants to win one more before our core guys get too old. If so, trade some young guys and high picks for high quality support staff. If not, sell everything that's not young or franchise for picks and let every bottom sixer and old guy walk in the offseason.

You're right on the money. Which is why I personally think now is the time to trade Nyquist. His value has never been higher, you have to give quality to get it, and I'd rather keep Tatar's aggressiveness (X factor to me). But yeah,I agree with you on all points.

Thank god. I'd prefer they sit Kindl, but at this point I assume he's being showcased for a trade of some sort.

You are absolutely spot on with the second part. Though I'm still skeptical that he'll make a move at all.

He also logs harder minutes than Smith, Kindl, or Lashoff. Say what you want about Quincey, but he never gets protected minutes, which exposes his weak points but also says a lot about how much Babs trusts those other three.

Nyquist is very good, but Tatar is better. Tatar creates all his offense on his own. Nyquist has superior linemates, more icetime, and more PP time (with better linemates again). Look at his hatty last night, Zetterberg basically gift wrapped that one for him. No reason to believe that Tatar wouldn't do the same with similar opportunites, since he's basically doing the same with third line minutes and two rookies. Also, Tatar does not play bad defense...and Nyquist is no shutdown defensive forward. They both work extremely hard on defense (watch Tatar backcheck), but they're both too small to be effective right now. I think everyone saying Nyquist is better defensively is just something people repeat for the sake of it. Tatar gets back as often as any on the team at this point. Well then don't set your sights too high on trade deadline day because if you're not willing to part with a good player, you're not going to get anyone back who's worth a damn.

Nyquist, Kindl, pick for Kyle Okposos?

Based upon the graphics for the GDT I can safely posit only one thing. Riley Sheahan's head is roughly 3 times the size of Patrick Eaves' head. Given their relative TOI lately, I can only assume that Babs has some sort of head size bias.

You're right, that was pretty condescending. I apologize to everyone. I get a little frustrated with referee blaming, but that's not an excuse to be a d*ck. My bad.

Edit: What this? Oh, it's actual facts suggesting that they call less penalties now than in the past. Interesting. http://www.hockey-reference.com/leagues/stats.html

As long as they were in favor of the Wings many around here would love 30 powerplays a game. Compelling hockey for sure. Just read back through old GDTs and count the number of times people are begging for calls around here.

3 tripping and 1 holding call. Wings getting outskated much?

Anybody else think there's a correlation between our team suddenly getting noticeably worse on defense and Brian Lashoff being taken out of the lineup. Maybe we should consider putting him back in, ya know, because he's good at playing defense.

Oh they did....soooooo bad. Because it's a well known fact that "the refs" hate the Red Wings with the fire of a thousand dying suns. The Detroit Red Wings are to NHL referees what freedom is to a terrorist. They'll stop at nothing to destroy the things they hate because they have nothing but evil pumping through their cold black hearts.

I live in D.C. but didn't get a ticket. Watching at a Red Wings bar in Alexandria.

I didn't know that there was any animosity between the two, but I don't follow Blues hockey. I guess that's a good enough reason...maybe...but I'd still be REALLY hesitant to mess with chemistry on a team playing as well as the blues are.

I really thought the "future stars" thread had the potential to meaningfully discuss the ceiling of our current young players, and focus on developmental trajectories. Prior to merging, only one person had discussed trading of any sort and it was pretty clearly meant to derail a discussion that was nonetheless a nice break from the "trades", "Cleary sucks", "our team sucks" threads. Edit: Nevermind. The OP did discuss trades at the end of his post. I guess I need to read more closely.

Tatar especially has not been "the focus" all season. Additionally, he's got 12 goals in 45 games in his rookie season, with third line minutes and minimal powerplay time. Nyquist probably has a lower ceiling in goals, but higher in assists. Also, he has really come alive the last week with both Z and D out of the lineup at times. Now, I'm not guaranteeing that it will happen, but I don't think it's fantasy either. I agree with this. I was only talking about whether that had that kind of ceiling. I'm not making any statements about how good the team will be.