kipwinger

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.

Agreed.

Nobody is taking hitting out of the game, and nobody is penalizing anyone for playing hard and finishing their checks. You just can't recklessly hit guys in the head and/or leave your feet and/or charge. That's it. You hit properly and you're good. I've used this video a thousand times to illustrate how you have to hit in today's game. It's instructive because it's a hard clean hit, without any of the questionable things involved in the Abby hit. Everybody laments the "good" old days when Scott Stevens would roam around head hunting, but to me, this hit (and all hits like it) are the mark of good hard nosed hockey.

Well there are lots of opinions in the world, but only some of them are right. By any definition that's charging. Plus he hit him in the head. Plus he injured him. Suspension every time. If he hit him in the head but didn't charge, or if he charged but didn't hit him in the head, we wouldn't be talking about this right now. He did both, and he deserved the suspension because of it.

Good god, are people actually mad at Shanahan for suspending Abby on what was obviously a dirty play? Why did he jump at all? Had he not left his feet he would have not hit the dude in the head at all, and he still would have crushed him...LEGALLY. Anybody blaming Shanny, or talking about how the integrity of the game is ruined now, needs to head to the doctor's office and get checked out. You have an acute case of homerism that could turn deadly.

Didn't have a chance to catch the game last night, had to work. What the hell happened? I doubt seriously Dekeyser accounts for that kind of a fall off. Was Lashoff in for him? If so, how did he look?

I wouldn't ship him just to do it, but just like I was saying at the deadline, I'd trade Smith for Yandle any night of the week. It's funny, because when I was saying that before everyone was screaming that Smith was "untouchable".

Not really sure why they shortened the bench in the third there. That third line was playing well and all but disappeared in the third.

I recall reading somewhere that this was sort of a make or break year for Jensen given how well the other defensive prospects are developing, so he must have impressed. That or they're planning on leaving Backman and Marchenko in Europe for another year. I don't see how they can take on contracts for the two Euros plus Sproul, Oulette, Nedomlel, and now Jensen too.