kipwinger

Well they did say the Red Wings would be getting a Swiss sniper didn't they? Talk about accuracy.

Well I think Smith is undoubtedly tougher in front of the net, and he's a decent penalty killer. But White would surely not turn the puck over as much, and hasn't been known to take penalties the way Smith does. So I guess I don't really know who I'd rather have out there, but lord knows I'm hoping Dekeyser makes it back sooner rather than later.

What Smith are you talking about? Surely not the one who had two interference calls against him and a load of turnovers. If Dekeyser were healthy tomorrow Brendan Smith would be in the press box until someone got hurt or training camp started.

I don't think it's unreasonable to think he could put on about 10 more pounds in the offseason with professional training and fitness coaches. Bulk this kid up to 195 and you'll see every area of his game improve. I'm looking for him to be a big deal going forward.

I agree to an extent, but you can't you "being a rookie" as an excuse for everything. Not every rookie defenseman struggles like this. And Smith was supposed to be better than most rookie defensemen. Furthermore, while he's playing against tougher competition in the playoffs, that doesn't explain why he's been so poor all during the regular season. He doesn't need traded, but the fact is he's got a lot of learning to do before he can be considered a reliable NHL defenseman. And that's the same whether you're talking about the offensive or defensive side of his game.

He's coming along, and has a long way to go, but I truly believe that if you can skate well enough to keep up then you can play defense in the NHL. Maybe he won't be a world class defensive foward, but if Brunner can skate along and lift sticks, poke check, etc. then he'd be doing all that was asked of him.

Yeah that 03-04 season was terrible. What with his 31 wins, 2.24 goals against average, and .910 save percentage. Just awful. This is getting lame. Put ANY player on a worse team and their numbers will decrease. You don't think Patrick Roy would suffer if he played for a garbage team?

Torts is a jackass for a lot of reasons, but this isn't one of them. He's clearly screwing around and has a smile on his face the whole time. There's enough youtube evidence of Torts acting like a huge jackass that everyone should know the difference. This one is tongue in cheek.

I agree with you, he's an offensive defenseman. The problem is, he hasn't been all that good offensively either. I'm not just talking about playing in his own zone. The guy doesn't pinch smartly, turns the puck over in transition CONSTANTLY, and rarely shoots when in the offensive zone. Again, he'll get better I know. But I don't think it's unreasonable to expect more out of Smith given what he brings each night, given what he was supposed to bring, and given how other young guys have played. Dude, Quincey can't be the whipping boy here. Aside from the first few weeks Quincey has been solid defensively. And his game has no bearing on Brendan's boneheaded turnovers, bad pinches, and poor shot selection. Brendan makes bad choices on the ice and lacks a degree of situational awareness. He may develop it, but it's not unfair to expect more of it from him, even if he is a rookie.

I need to preface this by saying that I don't think he should be traded (unless it's for someone amazing), but you can't use "being a rookie" as an excuse for everything. He has played MUCH worse than Dekeyser and arguably worse than Lashoff as well. They're both rookies, and far less heralded than Smith was. Why is it that they manage to look solid despite being rookies while Smith can't seem to go two games without giving up the puck for a goal? Nobody is expecting him to be a super star, but given that he was our top rated and most highly touted prospect, I think we can expect a little more out of him than this...rookie or not.

The thing I like about his play right now is that he's shooting from everywhere all the time. He's got confidence coming out of his ears.

MVP: Jimmy Unsung Hero: Jimmy Best Rookie: Andersson Unexpected Surprise: Tie Abby/Eaves

Who knows, if we're lucky he'll be a Clarkson type who didn't develop his offensive game until a little later. Either way, I'm not complaining.

Yeah I have no idea where this guy's offense is coming from, but I hope he keeps it up. I'll readily admit that I never liked him, and have given him tons of s*** over the years. So this is definitely egg on my face. But I'll gladly be wrong when it comes to something like this. Dare I say...he plays like a...power forward?

And have you guys heard the latest outrage? Young kids all over America are hitting baseballs off a tee instead of being pitched to. How will they ever learn the requisite skills to play a sport if they're not doing it EXACTLY as the pros do from the earliest possible age?

This is not a big deal. Most children start out playing flag football, which is noncontact, and then graduate to full contact later. This is no different.

The new CBA may have helped us out a lot on this actually. We could realistically give Flip a five or six year contract, start high, and slowly decrease down to the 30% mark. He'd get more money in his prime years, and it would taper off as he ages. Start him at 4.5 and taper down to 3.5 as the contract goes on. It would be a reasonable contract that could be moved in the future if necessary.

My boy Kindl looked bad on that last sequence. Gotta say it, though I don't like it.

Tatar had a fight the other night. That's the same number of fights that Brendan Smith had this year. Doncha just love those ballsy guys who stick up for their teammates? Tatar and Smith...truculence dudes, plain and simple.

Smith and Tatar for Yandle. Sign Horton or Clarkson, or potentially Christ Stewart (he might be an RFA though, I'm too lazy to look) and we're all set.

Before the season began, back when all the media types were beating the "Lidstrom is gone" horse to death, Babcock talked about how this year would be an opportunity for some guys to make a spot their own. We got pretty much the same or a little less from Kronwall and Quincey, and White and Smith underperformed expectations. But thanks to Ericsson, Kindl, Dekeyser, and Lashoff over performing, our defense is better than a year ago. Although, to be fair, Jimmy made them look real good far more often than he should have.

I might be in the minority here, but I thought Sammy looked fine last night. I loved Bert and Eaves too. I generally look for any excuse I can to complain about Mikael Samuelsson being on this team, but for a first game back I thought he looked good. Also, as good as Bert was all game, I really like him out with Andersson and Nyquist. I was almost impossible to get the puck from him and Andersson on the cycle. Anyway, they all looked good and I've give them all another game in the lineup.

I don't think it's a matter of Eaves OR Tootoo. They both should be playing. You need Eaves because he kills penalties and Tootoo doesn't. But there's really no reason to play anyone else on the opposite wing other than Tootoo. Eaves-Emmy-Tootoo. Nuff said. Then put Bert or Sammy up with Dats and Z.

Too bad the Griffins are still in the playoffs. Jurco has been tearing it up for the last couple of weeks. Would love to see what he'd do on a line with Pav. That kid is going to be sick.

I'm trying to tell ya. And the thing to take from it is, it accomplished everything it was supposed to WHILE AT THE SAME TIME not injuring anyone. He imposed himself physically, he separated the man from the puck, he broke up the rush AND he didn't injure anyone. That's exactly how you should be hitting in any era, past or present.