kipwinger

No, we've got two guys who are supposed to be offensive d-men (Kindl and Smith) who aren't very good, and one (Kronwall) who is. If you don't think those types of guys are valuable, notice how terrible our transition game has become. We can barely break out of our zone most nights. Also, I'm not sure where you get that these guys "barely crack their lineups". Kulikov has played every game for the Panthers this season and Del Zotto has played the majority, in spite of the fact that he's the odd man out on a team that boasts three VERY good offensive d-men in Staal, McDonough, and Girardi.

Of your ideas, I like the addition of Ott the best. But he makes too much to be on the fourth line, and we've already got a pretty badass third line center. I don't like Kassian because he doesn't fit our style of play any more than he fits Vancouver's. He'd struggle here. I don't think the problem is that our bottom six aren't tough enough, toughness has never been our hallmark, we win or die based on speed and skill. We're struggling right now because our team lacks a lot of both. The only trade I'd really want to see would be for at top four puck moving d-man. Someone who could help out our transition game (which is f*cking horrible). Dmitry Kulikov comes to mind. In terms of forwards, ideally I'd like to see us promote a couple of skilled forwards from GR and lose the dead weight. But obviously that's not happening anytime soon. So, all things considered here's my custom lineup. Z-Dats-Bert Alfie-Weiss-Abby Tatar-Helm-Franzen Jurco-Andersson-Nyquist Cleary-Miller Kronwall-Ericsson Dekeyser-Kulikov Kindl-Quincey/Smith Lashoff Howard Gus Never going to happen, but I can dream.

Lol. You're a real card.

If the line of Franzen, Helm, and Tatar keep producing well, it would mean more and more nights off for Dan Cleary...or at least a demotion to the fourth line once everyone gets healthy. I can most definitely live with that.

I would lose my s*** if we could find a way to get Nyquist AND Jurco into the lineup. Z-Dats-Bert Alfie-Weiss-Abby Franzen-Helm-Tats Nyquist-Andersson-Juro Talk about speed and puck possession. Alas!

Wow, aside from the Red Wings some of you guys have horrible taste in sports teams. Mets, Bills, Yankess?!? Yuck.

Yeah because he's been so much worse than our other shooters this season.

Wow, at this point it's like a tragicomedy of terrible. I cannot believe that this is a Detroit Red Wings hockey team.

speaking of mustaches...ugh.

Also, Gus' mustache is superb!

Could the Isles sweaters possibly be any uglier? They make the Dallas Stars look dapper.

I had no idea we were playing back to back. I missed the first two period, how does the team look?

"Henrik, you catch that new Gaga track? s*** is hot!"

I agree with you to an extent, but there's a danger in thinking that anytime a team trades away a prospect or pick that they're mortgaging the future of their club. For instance, we've got defenseman prospects and goalie prospects bleeding out of our ears, and we've got a young goalie and a young defense. You could realistically part with a high quality prospect without losing too much organizational depth. Obviously you don't want to throw them away for nothing, or some marginally good quasi-star player. But if the right piece was available for a package containing Mrazek or Sproul or Ouellet I think you could pretty easily pull the trigger without cursing your organization's future.

Because Bertuzzi is playing good and we don't have the roster or cap space to call up two more "young'uns"?

Unless Holland can make a miracle trade to shed some salary, I'm afraid we're stuck with much the same for the remainder of the year. And thus another season of D and Z's prime passes without any meaningful attempt to build a team around them.

Hey look, we've got nobody in the lineup younger than Zetterberg who has shown he's capable of putting up 40+ points consistently. No wonder wee don't have any secondary scoring. All the young guys we've developed since Franzen are either gone (Hudler and Flip) or not point producers Helm, Andersson, Abby. You can't go without developing scorers for six or seven years.

I heard that too, hilarious.

I thought about it, but I'm actually pretty pumped to see what quality power forwards can do in a game like this. Even if they are on the other team.

Ugh, if I have to watch our guys gain the zone and circle back one more time I'm going to puke.

And if he'd taken the third guy and Wheeler got the pass through to the guy driving the net, you'd be blaming Kindl for not taking that guy. Good pass, good shot, good play. Nobody to blame on that one.

Well as Mickey just said, it was a perfectly executed three on two. When a guy is driving hard to the net like that you've got to take him. If he'd have been floating a bit or hanging back then you can try and tie up two guys with positioning. But when he's coming hard like that you've got to slow him up, which Kindl did, and Wheeler made a hell of a pass to set up a hell of a shot for the third guy. But my sole point to begin with was that not every goal scored against the wings is the result of a f*ck up by one of our guys. There doesn't always need to be a scapegoat. Sometimes the opposition just executes particularly well. They are professionals after all.

Again, Kronwall took the puck carrier, Kindl took the forward driving the net, and the third man scored. Wait for a replay and you'll see that. On this one, you got it wrong.

That was not Kindl's man, stop with the blame game. It was a three on two, Kronwall took the puck carrier, Kindl took the forward driving the net, and the third man was uncovered. Neither of our d-men misplayed that one, it was just a well executed three on two.

Also, Nyquist isn't close to as fast as Helm. Even if you strapped a jet pack on his back, a la Wile E. Coyote, he'd still not touch Helm's speed.