kipwinger

I agree in principle, but I disagree that tonight should be make or break. You can't expect a guy to play well when he's up for a game, down for two or three, up one, down again. What does every hockey player in the world say when they return from a summer off, or a long injury? "It will take a while to get my timing back, and get into game shape". Timing matters a ton in hockey, and so bringing a guy in, putting him with a new partner, and then letting him sit for a few games does nothing to help improve that timing. Kindl needs to prove something this season, but I think it's only fair to give him about three games in a row to make sure that he's comfortable out there. s***, if we can give Quincey 5 games, I don't think there's any reason not to give Kindl 3.

I agree with what you're saying here, and will take it a step further and say he'll be up permanently when the roster expands before the playoffs.

Babs has a history of trying to squeeze blood from a stone. All the time he's trying to make guys into what they aren't. If you don't want to use guys in the roles that got them to the NHL in the first place, then you're not typically going to have great success in their development. Kindl was drafted as a puck moving, offensive minded, defenseman. If you ask him to be a stay at home, shutdown, type, and judge him according to that standard, you'll be disappointed and he'll me incorrectly utilized. Use him as he ought to be used, or trade him for a stay at home guy.

I completely agree. That's my point. If you say "Jimmy won't win 24" without qualifying it, you're not saying anything at all. You're not really explaining why. Jimmy's a good goalie, and I'm not sure whether he'll win 24 or not because I don't know what type of team we have yet. But he's certainly capable of winning that number of games behind a team that can score on the ******* powerplay once in a while...but I digress.

I can see this happening too, but you're not really saying much. Will he not win 24 games because he's not any good, or because the team isn't any good? Now if you said, "The Wings will win their division, but Howard won't win 24 games", that would be saying something.

I honestly think that the problem with the defense (aside from the injuries) is that we've got some quality defenders, but they all largely play the same type of game, with varying degrees of skill level. Quincey, White, Colaiacovo, Smith, Kindl, and Kronwall all play essentially the exact same type of game. As such, when you pair any two of them together one of them is forced to play a different type of game than he is used to, and a different type of game than what made him a professional in the first place. I don't think we need a superstar defenseman right now, I think our defense would be fine if Holland was able to land a first rate stay at home defenseman, who cares if he can score or not, and let him play with Kronwall. Then let Ericsson play on the second pair with White or Smith, and Lashoff on the third with whoever is left. Then all of our offensive minded puck movers can do what got them into the league in the first place, and the defensive PAIRINGS will work more efficiently.

Wet socks. Or does nobody else find this as awful as I do?

The PP is obviously horrible, and I have no idea why except that they keep thinking that they can generate all the offense from the point. The PK has looked really good the last two games though, so maybe we're over the hump on that one.

"Our power play is our penalty box"

How boooooooooooring! If only he slid around like a jackass I'd be impressed.

Well it's sort of a moot point because Corvo has played in 3 of the Hurricane's 4 games so far. So it's not like he's just sitting around waiting to be traded.

Here I thought it was key goals, hits, and saves that made the game exciting, not the obnoxious celebrations afterward. Maybe that's why the world goes so nuts for European soccer, lots of showmanship over there. Datsyuk's been lighting the lap here in Detroit since 2002, with no dancing afterward. Has it seemed boring to you?

Brian Burke's team is looking pretty good against the vaunted Rangers right now.

Yep he is, and while I'm sure he was "genuinely thrilled" at scoring a late game winning goal, he somehow managed to not "lose himself" and make his teammates and opponents look and feel like total assholes. He celebrated with him team, who surprisingly enough, actually put in some work of their own to help him make the play. Yakupov must have been temporarily unaware that in order to score a rebound goal like that, at least one of your teammates needed to be doing something right too, but then again he "lost himself for a moment", so it's cool.

Show some respect, it's AGENT Jack Bauer to us mere mortals.

I agree with you on the point about the PK, and I did think that Kindl was playing a little more physical. Hopefully he keeps that up once he gets back into game shape.

When Datsyuk scored late to win a game, not just tie it, he celebrated like this. Yakupov is a showboat, plain and simple. And as I've said already, I don't like it, I wouldn't do it, and I wouldn't teach it to kids.

Jesus he did crush him too. I miss Brad Stuart.

Remember when half of LGW was saying that Bertuzzi was past his usefulness and should be bought out? Me too. Haha. Kinda nice to have a guy who can hang on to the puck in the offensive zone eh? Pav. That's it.

You got me there. Those two goals in those two situations were exactly the same. Yzerman was all the time sliding across the ice on his knees and blowing past his linemates. Good call. Yzerman = Showboat.

Personally I don't like to see it, having growth up in a city where stars like Steve Yzerman, Barry Sanders, Lidstrom, etc. would score and go about their business. However, at the end of the day I don't think it's that big of a deal. I'm sort of in the "if you don't like it don't do it" camp. Also, I'd never teach kids to do this either. But good on him for getting excited and having a hell of a beginning to his career. Edit: Additionally, I have a feeling he'll pay for that one the next time he plays the Kings.

A little small for sure. But I do like that you picked people who are already signed/in our farm club rather than make up a dream team roster with free agents that we can't realistically bank on signing.

I completely agree. I was just trying to figure out their thought process, I don't agree with the decision at all though.

I agree with you, I wanted to see those lines as well. I think that would be better for the team. However, Abby does bring a big(ish) body at 215-220 lbs. and I'm just saying that they must want that on the third line with Bert in the top six and Sammy out. If that's not their thinking then I don't know what is, because Eaves is a MUCH better winger than Abby. The only thing that makes Abby preferable to Eaves is his size, in skating, scoring, PK, forechecking, and defense, Eaves is a better player.

They anticipate he'll make the jump over from Europe next year and play for the Griffins, he's still quite young though, so the chances of him making the big club are small. He'll likely play in GR for at least 2 or 3 seasons.