kipwinger

Oh ok. Well Torts isn't very successful and he inspires by being a hardass, and Bruce Boudreau isn't very successful and uses the other approach. My guess is, either method could be successful depending on the way the coach and the team interact.

I'm joining this conversation late. What was your point about the differing methods of inspiration?

Haha, I get what it is, and I'm not condemning you or anything. I'm just saying that if you go back to the beginning of any argument you'll usually find two individuals or groups inevitably instigating one another. Ten minutes, days, years, or pages later that basic dynamic is obscured and you're left with irrelevant ping ponging back and forth. Again, the basic facts are this. The Blues are a better team (right now), but this is a Wings forum so acknowledging that the Blues are a good team is one thing, fan boying them is totally different (and out of place here).

Who does this? You are being awfully general while still indicting every member on this board. Some people may think Holland can do no wrong. Most people acknowledge that he does a damn good job, and that managing a team to the Stanley Cup is probably pretty difficult, and therefore we cut him some ******* slack when he fails to do that thing we (as individual fans) really wanted him to do. Could the team be better? Probably. Is it as easy to make those decisions as you or I might think? Probably not.

Well to be fair, and I know this won't make me any friends around here, there's just as much obnoxious and demonstrably false Blues bashing around here as well. Everybody knows that this is a Wings forum, and that talking up anybody else will be met with a certain degree of hostility, but I can't count the number of times I've read "St. Losers" or the like. And then once that ball inevitably starts rolling you get "Oh yeah, well the Blues are better this year!" to which we get "Nu-uh, how many cups huh?...huh?...huh?...that's what I thought...4 in 15 baby...4 in 15!" Which is all entirely beside the point which, to the best of my knowledge, is that the Blues are a better team this year (so far) but nevertheless, this is still a Wings forum.

Haha, Oh you didn't know that unless we win the cup every single year the entire team, including coach and GM are worthless and need to be replaced by overpriced free agents and unproven AHL prospects? Yeah...me either. Which isn't to say that there aren't ways to improve ANY team in the league, but that those decisions become a hell of a lot easier to make in hindsight.

Pittsburgh 2008-2009. 19-15-6. Boom!

I like the Blues in the first round much better than I like anybody in the Pacific Division, and maybe even the Canucks. LA are chokers in the playoffs, San Jose isn't even in the picture now, and neither Dallas nor Phoenix have enough depth to go too far. Blues are fairly safe in the first.

Very few "30 goal guys" play all 82 games every year. Rick Nash is a 30 goal guy and he's only played a full season once. Here's a link to what a 30 goal guy looks like. Certainly not Franzen, I don't care how many games he plays. http://espn.go.com/n.../1569/rick-nash Correction, Nash has never played a full season and yet averages over 30 a season. That's a 30 goal guy. Last I knew we didn't determine a guy's worth by his projected stats.

Johan Franzen has scored 30 goals or more once...once!

I agree with you. Unlike many on here, I don't think Cleary is past it, or washed up, or whatever. I think he's just been playing hurt for a really long time and I agree that it would probably be better for him to sit right now rather than try to struggle through it and be ineffective.

I'd like to see him work on a line with Helm and Miller, and give Abby, Mursak, and Holmer the fourth line. I don't see Nyquist as a top six on this team. He's too unproven and I definitely don't want to see two guys in our top six weighing in below 180 lbs.

Here's a better one...http://www.firstrowsports.eu/watch/113050/1/watch-los-angeles-kingsvs-detroit-red-wings.html

Thank god none of those three are hurt. That's our whole offense.

Yeah we're missing a few more guys than just Datsyuk, but way to over simplify.

aaaand that's why he's a rookie folks!

Agreed.

Am I mistaken, or was this the slowest burn of them all?

Well if the Kronwall hit and non-suspension was any indication, players won't skate with their heads down at the NHL level for too long.

I completely agree. I'll see if I can find where I read it last, it was only a few days ago. Update: Check the last page of the "Smith Watch Thread". That was the most recent reference, but I've seen it here many times before.

Doesn't it sort of defeat the purpose of the salary cap if you constantly increase it enough that high profile and quality teams can spend as much as they want in the offseason? Giving 7 or 8 million dollars each to the NYR or the NYI does not put those teams on equal footing.

That is sort of funny. I don't recall Leino ever racing for a puck in Detroit, so it's sort of hard for me to work up a mental image for all of this.

This whole thing was sort of silly. I get that St. Louis has a better record than Detroit, if you think that makes them a better team then o.k., I guess that's one reasonably legitimate way of coming to that conclusion. But the justifications here are absurd. Trading away Adam Oates was a bad trade, but I certainly don't see how it did anything positive for St. Louis. Additionally, I don't really see how Chris Stewart or Shattenkirk are more important trades than Quincey, and I definitely don't see how Brad Stuart losing a fight is proof that St. Louis has Detroit's number. As a matter of fact let me go on record as stating that BRAD STUART HAS NEVER EVER EVER EVER EVER EVER EVER BEEN A FIGHTER IN THE NHL! I hear this silly s*** all the time around here..."well back when Stuart used to drop the gloves..." He has never been the type to drop the gloves...period. Anyway, sorry for the rant, this article is fairly dumb, and that's coming from a guy who sort of likes the way this St. Louis team plays hockey. Go Wings! p.s. Why does every sports writer or "blogist" in the country feel like it's necessary to blatantly rip off Mitch Albom's style all of the sudden? Not every blog or article needs historical narrative you mooks!

Who knows? I don't ever have a clue what's in Holland's head so I'd hate to even speculate on what he's thinking. Suter is a good defenseman, but I don't think he's as good as the money that will get thrown at him, so personally I'd rather not see Holland chase him up in the 7-8 million dollar range. All I know is that I'm happy with the defense we have for the remainder of the season, and that's with any one of Smith, Kindl, and Ericsson as the 6th guy. I also think our powerplay and pk will start shaping up once everybody gets healthy. Finally, I have been more than happy with the way several guys have been stepping up and playing better in the absence of our key guys. If we can keep that up I'm pretty pumped about this team moving forward.

I know the kid has a load of talent, but I think he's got a long way to go before he's an upgrade over the most defensively responsible d-man, on what I consider to be one of the top defensive corps in the league. The kid may be that good one day, but aside from point totals, Stuart is either the best or second best defender on this team. Just have a look at Kronwall's plus minus if you don't believe me.