kipwinger

It's good to see Franzen and Filppula heating up. However, I don't think that it's some sort of miracle or something. With Datsyuk and Zetterberg on the same line, teams have to put their best defensive units on the ice against them, and Franzen and Filppula end up taking advantage of the mismatch. Also, having Filppula back at his natural position does wonders as well. I'll admit I wasn't a fan of having D and Z back together at first, but the proof is in the pudding and it's working for both lines. Kudos to Babs for finally getting the lines sorted out. I do sort of wonder if it's worth putting Bert back in the lineup now though. On the one hand I think he's probably better than Abby OR Cleary on their respective lines, but on the other hand I'd be hesitant to mess with success.

Jakub Kindl = B- He's shown considerable progression in all aspects of the game and easily won a spot on this team's defense. However his very good offense has been offset by inconsistency in his own end. I don't expect him to be a shutdown guy, but I would like to see him stronger on the boards, and use his size more to his advantage when defending.

I really hope that Minnesota loses out and both us and Columbus make it in. I think Columbus is exactly the type of team that could upset Chicago and lord knows I'd love to see it. That team does not go away.

It's amazing how much better Filppula looks at his natural position. It's also amazing how much less aggravating it is when you're not expecting him to shoot a lot.

Gonna be a nail biter. Ugh.

As deep as this year's draft is, I'm having a really hard time trying to determine why White, and to a lesser extent Filppula, weren't traded. I realize with Flip it was a "just in case" we make the playoffs thing, but man wouldn't it have been nice to land another first rounder?

Why would we put three wingers together without a center?

Isn't the same true for every team playing us though? They all know we're still in the hunt.

Yup. For a few years there nobody could touch the guy, as both Gretzky and Lemieux admitted.

It'd be worth extending him a try out that's for sure. It's hard to say with Halifax though, they've got so much talent up front that you have to wonder whether the rest of these guys are benefiting that heavily from the coattail effect. I know that's one concern with Frk, as well as the same criticism used for Jurco when he was with St. Johns.

As far as the game goes, I don't really miss much. With the exception of diving, which isn't as out of control as some make it seem, I think the game is better in pretty much every way now than it used to be. Goalies are tougher to score on, forwards are super skilled and moving faster, and even the lower end guys need to be able to play the game. I love not seeing the Marty McSorley types bungling up and down the ice. Tough guys need to be able to play now, and I love it. Sidebar: I love watching Brandon Prust play hockey. I guess the only thing I miss are the individual players who were so good over the years. Lidstrom, Yzerman, Fedorov, Shanny. All amazing. And when I think about how much time I spent watching them, and knowing that I'll never see them play again, bums me out a bit. I'll see other amazing players...and have (Datsyuk)...but I'd be lying if I said I wouldn't do just about anything to see Fedorov take an outlet pass and race up the ice and do this one more time... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aDkodlLc274

Yeah, Datsyuk does virtually the same thing all the time along the boards, but instead of using his elbow he uses his shoulder and steps into the oncoming guy's chest. Brown needed to do that there, but used the elbow instead and got it up high. He's not a dirty player or anything, but a bonehead play.

Wow, that's a pretty ugly elbow. What a huge screw up that was. I'm sure Brown's pissed at himself for that one.

No need, this kid is small. I know he's super skilled and all, but given the number of big bodied goal scorers in this year's draft, if we have to settle on one of them I'm not mad at all.

I'd be pumped about Mantha, kid's got size and some serious goal scoring skill. Plus he's North American. Seriously, screw the playmakers and defensemen in this draft. Lock this kid up so I can look forward to our wingers in the future.

This is one of my favorite standups of all time. Well played.

I wasn't suggesting he call them out in the press. The fact that he makes excuses to the press is a symptom in my opinion. If my guys weren't executing for s***, and because of this aren't winning games, I'll let them know it by reducing their ice time/benching them. And then when the media heads ask questions I'll tell them what happened. We failed to execute properly. We made lazy line changes. We left our goalie out to dry. No need to downplay the fact that this team has looked like garbage all too frequently this year. Own it, and prove that you're trying to fix it through your personnel moves. If San Jose can bench Joe Thornton for playing like sh*t, then Babs can quit making excuses for two f*** ups which cost us valuable points, or saying how consistent we are when after we lose to Calgary (for the third time). To me, that undermines accountability.

You seriously just killed me with that one. Well played.

I have a strange brain the works in progression. So one thing leads to the next which leads to the next, and so on, until finally my thought process finds a resting place. So here's how it worked when I read that Dekeyser needs a nickname. Dekeyser -> DK -> Donky Kong -> King Kong -> Kong. So Kong it is. Edit: This is nearly identical to the way I nicknamed my younger brother, who has been called "squeege" or "Squeege McQueen" for over two decades. Johnny -> Dirty Johnny -> DJ -> Deege -> Squeege -> Squeege McQueen (optional).

Nyquist and Brunner are going to be lethal together after they get a training camp's worth of time together and a little more weight and strength to go around. They really work well together.

We're not a very good team. Most nights we're going to play teams that are better than we are, and because they're better it's going to make it harder for us to execute...and hence...lots of bad games. Part of the reason why these guys are professional athletes is because they're SO COMPETITIVE that they're willing to put the time, effort, hard work, and sacrifice into making themselves pro-level athletes. If you don't care whether you succeed or not, win or lose, you don't becomw a professional athlete. You join the band. Real life is not a movie. The "Miracle on Ice" wasn't a miracle. That team worked hard, prepared, learned from mistakes in their previous game, and executed their game plan properly. That's why they won. Not because the Russians didn't care, or some other silly b.s.

Good call, they make mistakes so they obviously don't care. That's rock solid logic.

Well whatever the reason, he gets castigated for "quitting on the play" while Brunner does the same s*** and not a peep around here.

This Kostitsyn thing is overplayed. Remember against Calgary when Brunner quit early on a shift and Jimmy threw up his hands after getting scored on? Didn't hear anybody saying "Brunner" didn't care, or didn't want it. He f*cked up and made a bonehead mistake, probably because he was exhausted and therefore wasn't paying attention to the play developing. Same with Kostitsyn, but he's from Nashville and he's Russian and his last name's Kostitsyn so all of the sudden the doesn't care if he wins or loses, gets scored on or not.