kipwinger

Well the Tigers are playing a hell of a game right now for those who are interested. Scherzer was an absolute beast, striking out 12 through 8 innings. Against a Cy Young winner no less. Extra innings now and time for the boys to go hunting.

Just finished watching Columbus. Late in the game, playoffs on the line, playing the second best team in the Western Conference and they were all over Anaheim in the third period. Watching it, you just knew they were going to score. Compare that to us. Late in the game, playoffs on the line, playing the second worst team in the Western Conference and we were nowhere to be found. Watching it, you just knew we were f***ed. Ugh.

Aaaaaand Gaborik assists on the game winner in OT. Columbus wins.

hmmm, what to watch the Columbus game or the Tigers?

I should probably be watching the Columbus game right now, which is far more indicative of whether the Wings will make the playoffs than their own play does.

"Some guys score goals and some guys don't. We've got a lot that don't" - Mike Babcock.

Ok I didn't see that goal. On the replay it looked like Jimmy stopped it behind the net for Ericsson to pick up, but then I couldn't see how it got back into Jimmy's skates. A little help please?

I'm not too upset right now because we're playing well, but why is Babs so dead set against playing Pav and Brunner together. He's tried every single other combination but hasn't tried Brunner-Pav-Big Body (Abby, Franzen, Cleary, whoever). Any theories?

dang, no need to double clutch there Kronwall

Nice shift there for Emmerton.

eeesh, Brendan needs to take his own advice and keep it simple during his interviews. Never thought I'd long for the days when Yzerman would say absolutely nothing at all during his intermission chats.

"I eat pieces of s*** like you for breakfast" "You eat pieces of s*** for breakfast?" "...no..."

not really too mad on that one, Kindl had his guy, the rebound came right onto his stick. Not much he can do. Sort of like that goal Zetterberg scored on Dekeyser's shot last game...can't really defend that.

Nyquist and Brunner seem to have some real chemistry. Give them another year's worth of playing together and I think they'll put up some points.

No doubt Babs. Of his 9 goals, three came in one game, three were banked in off his body by someone else and two more were empty net goals. So yeah, he definitely projects into a 20 goal guy over a whole season. Sure. Completely legit top sixer.

Anybody hear anything about Dekeyser being out tonight? My dad just called and said he heard it somewhere, but didn't recall where, and can't substantiate it. Given how piss poor he is at understanding the internet I'm assuming it was some rumor, or worse, some dumb s***'s opinion on Mlive or Freep or something. p.s. Kindl will be a boss tonight...for all the haters.

I'm pretty sure he never said a third line wouldn't help. I'm pretty sure he said that the third line wasn't the problem and the lack of a competitive top six was. Argue with him until you're blue in the face, but don't make up stuff he didn't say.

That's exactly the point, nobody expects much from the Blue Jackets and/or Scott Howson, so the fact that they put together a solid and very gritty hockey club out of nowhere is reasonably impressive. They don't have any history to bring in talent, there isn't a lot of it homegrown (in Ohio I mean), and once Nash was traded they didn't have any core talent either. So for this season alone they pieced together a quality team in spite of everything. Of course I'd be mad if Holland missed the playoffs four of five years in a row, because we're "hockeytown" and they're the Columbus Blue Jackets. We've got the history, the organizational prestige, the high end core talent. We've got everything they don't and we can't attract talent and it irritates me to no end, because I expect more out of a class organization with original six credentials than I do out of Columbus or Phoenix.

Wow hyperbole much? I used to think you were better than this and genuinely enjoyed reading what you had to say. Now you're spending your time disagreeing with things I've never said, or taking them out of context before disagreeing. 1. I said Howson deserves credit where it's due, and the current incarnation of the Blue Jackets are playing well with a team he almost entirely built. I didn't say he's a super star, but that he put together a solid team while everyone was treating him like a laughing stock. 2. I said specifically to you in another thread that "nobody has Ken Holland's resume" and he is therefore the best GM in hockey based on his career accomplishments, but that he hasn't done anything at all for four years while his team has become less and less competitive. Hard to argue with that. I don't know where you got your wires crossed, or whether you have some sort of ax to grind, but since joining this forum I've generally believed that if there was one person whom I didn't have to worry about being super reactionary and starting arguments based on conjecture, that that person was you. Hopefully you're back to form before long bud.

Link? Or is that speculation? Fact is that James Wisniewski was coming off his best career season, could have gone to most any team in the league, and signed with the worst team in the NHL because they paid him competitively and went out of their way to show him they specifically wanted him by trading for his rights. His negotiating rights were traded for a conditional seventh round pick and "future considerations". Apparently a conditional sixth round pick and future considerations was too rich for KH's blood. Never know what can happen if you get those extra couple weeks. In this case one of the worst teams in the history of the NHL was able to convince one of the hottest free agents in that year's class to come play for them. On the flip side, we have a hard time convincing anyone of any value to come play here. Maybe we should start trading for negotiating rights...

Well you've got em: Quincey, White, Colaiacovo, Sammy. They're all very willing to take less money and provide less quality play. Also, Holland could have traded for Wiz's rights just as easily as Columbus did. James didn't even make it to the UFA market because Columbus traded for his rights, showed him they meant business, and that they were willing to offer him a competitive wage. Detroit was "interested" in him but did none of that...so of course they missed out.

I've always like Semin, he's a quality hockey player. But I've REALLY wanted Wisniewski for a long time. I couldn't believe Detroit passed on him until I remembered that he's young, tough, and not currently working through any issues that would drive down his market value. But what I wouldn't give for a top four defenseman that can hit, fight, score, and run a powerplay? Alas, Ian White was available at the same time. And when a bargain like that comes along you can't afford not to take advantage of it.

That's actually sort of true. With Semin, Datsyuk would have a competent winger and not be required to attempt otherworldly moves in order to get offense going. With Abby and/or Cleary he has to try being superman just to get a shot on goal. With Semin, Datsyuk's production would go up while is jaw dropping super skillz would probably be shelved a little more often.

And speaking of things we probably could have used but were too cheap to look into. This is from last night's CBJ game...

Never miss a chance to perpetuate a rumor eh boys? Pretty sure the reason his numbers are down since then have nothing to do with him getting a new contract. Have a look at this... http://espn.go.com/nhl/team/schedule/_/name/car/carolina-hurricanes Carolina has won two of their last sixteen games, and during that time have been outscored 62-26. They're in the middle of a MASSIVE losing streak which, I hate to tell you, can't really be blamed on their (point per game) top line winger. Edit: Four times during this losing streak he was recognized as the teams top performer, and has compiled 3 goals and 8 assists in those sixteen games. Pretty sure it's not his fault.