kipwinger

Second time I've said this now, the first goal was a mishandled puck from McDonald, the third was shorthanded. How is a goon going to help fix that?

our powerplay will be able to answer once everyone gets back. Getting Quincey on the point and Hudler off of the point and onto the sideboards will give a us a MUCH better PP. No goons necessary, I'll take the PP.

The only goal the Flyers scored after the Kronwall hit was shorthanded. So unless you think we should put tough guys out on the ice during a powerplay, I'd say toughness isn't the reason why we got scored on. On a side note, our powerplay can't get any worse so maybe we should just goon it up on the PP.

Go about two pages back and look at the references to the "Smith Era". Sort of looks like fawning to me. But I agree that there isn't much to fawn over, that was my whole point actually.

I like the responses that fail to see that the return of Lidstrom and Pav and the addition of Quincey on the powerplay makes a ton of difference, considering he's been a point on a top power play and is clearly more well suited for that job than Hudler, whose addition to the second power play unit along the half boards is also likely to increase that units effectiveness considering if you take all the end to end skating and defense out of the game (which a power play essentially does) he's actually a really good player.

Mark my words, the Wings can NEVER, and will NEVER beat the Sharks in the SCF...ever!

I don't know if it's all just a hilarious game for you or whatever, but your constant cynicism and nay saying is hilarious. It's a strange dynamic in which your almost endless negativity actually turns out to be a positive...at least for me. Keep up the good (or bad) work, as this board would surely be a little too dull without you.

Smith's a pretty good rookie, but the way people around here fawn over him is pretty wild. It's going to be tough watching and listening to how insufferable some people will be when they inevitably realize that he's a rookie, he's going to make mistakes, he's not going to be in the lineup every night, and that he's got a LONG way to go before he's as good or better than any of our top five defensemen. Note to everyone, don't start holding your breath for the "Smith Era" quite yet. How about letting him be a rookie first before you make him the last great hope for your dream of a fighting Red Wings team? As for me, I'll be thrilled by a handful of decent games as a fill in for Ericsson.

haha it might be simpler to just keep track of the teams/players you don't like.

so why not get excited about Smith putting up a point or two on the powerplay, en route to a convincing regulation win, rather than a fight "two games in a row" which doesn't really suggest anything about how well the team will do? Maybe it's just me, but I'd rather see the kid contribute to team wins.

It would be way cooler if we got two desperately needed points, regardless of whether or not someone fights.

Since the lockout, Zetterberg, Datsyuk, and Lidstrom all have better numbers than Franzen in the playoffs. So no, he isn't the Wings "biggest playoff factor" and no there's no guarantee he'll show up anywhere. God knows it will be nice if he does, but no guarantee.

hmmm...that's a lot to keep straight. Thank god I root for Detroit in everything...and Michigan State. Keeps it simpler that way.

well I should hope not, considering he's never scored 40 goals and only scored 30+ once.

The powerplay will be better when everyone gets healthy. Getting Hudler off the point was huge. Quincey will play there now, and Jiri will give us another option down low. As for the PK, I don't have any answers.

Meech was drafted 229th by Detroit. Lebda was undrafted and signed after given a pro-tryout. Lilja was drafted 54th overall by the Kings and was traded twice before being signed by the Wings for close to the league minimum. Ericsson was drafted dead last and plays regular minutes on our defense. Kindl hasn't even played one completely season yet and has looked streaky but good. Kronwall and Quincey are both top four dmen on pretty much any team in the league. I really don't know what you guys are expecting when it comes to developing talent, but I'd love to know which team in the league meets your lofty expectations if turning out Kronwall, Quincey, Kindl, Smith, and Ericsson means our system isn't cutting it. If all you've got is Meech, Lebda, and Lilja to ***** about, I'd say look at how they were acquired and what they provided (marginal though it might be) and I think you'll realize we got more out of them, and for less, than anybody else would have. As for the other five I mentioned, show me another team in the league that regularly starts five defensemen that they drafted and developed?

Wait, you're a fan of Duke, and the Red Wings, and the Lakers before they traded Shaq? Where are you from again?

In an effort to destroy the season, as well as undermine his own job security, Ken Holland decided to move Commie because he knew that we were going to have three defensemen get injured a week after the trade.

Are we watching the same team? I've thought Kindl has looked like a completely different player of late. I especially like his work on the powerplay. If our bottom three defensemen are any combination of Kindl, Smith, and Ericsson I'm not complaining a bit. Why would we trade Kindl? Has his rookie season somehow left you with the feeling that he's a useless throw away player?

Roughing is the league's catch all penalty for "being to rough with the other boys".

Whatever the weight of Stephane Robidas, here's the statement I was originally responding to: "When the Wings had players who were more gritty and could throw down, I guess I'm thinking the Grind Line or a Dallas Drake, they brought something else to the table and were a good overall hockey player as well who could sometimes bury and always got back on defense. That kind of player is hard to come by in this league these days." Keeping in mind that we're on a thread about Justin Abdelkader fighting, I thought it was germaine to the discussion to point out that in the 2007-2008 season (e.g. the one everybody loves to talk Drake up in), he fought less and "buried" less than Abdelkader. Additionally, as Abby is a +7 on the season I find it hard to believe that he get's back on defense any less than Drake did. So as much as everyone wants to make Drake out to be a superhero, at least in the few instances just discussed, he didn't add as much as Abby has this season. The only reason anyone thinks so is because when he did hit guys, he hit them harder, which is cool and all...but doesn't really amount to s*** when you're comparing all around performance. However, I'll concede the point when you bring in the grind line, because they were all better players than Justin Abdelkader, in spite of the fact that only one of them fought as much or more than he does.

Exactly. But to add to that, in my opinion he still has the skill to do it, just not the work ethic or motivation.

Ok, I'm confused. Doesn't part of the new enforcement deal with hitting guys when they're in vulnerable positions or no? Note: Nevermind, the vulnerable position stuff was added to rule 48 on boarding. As he wasn't boarded this isn't an issue and the hit is ok.

I agree with you. All I'm saying is that the way that they've been enforcing hits all year suggests that you're supposed to bail out on a hit if the other guy is in a vulnerable position and one could argue that Letang was. I like Nystrom and love his hard hitting game so I doubt that he ever considered letting up, but I think that's what the league expects guys to do in that situation from now on. Like I said, I don't think he deserves a suspension and I don't think he'll get one. But I won't be surprised if he gets a fine.

I don't know how the rule works here. Obviously there's shoulder to chin contact, but it seems like this is only the case because Letang was crouched and his head was down around shoulder level. Nystom doesn't jump or lift his elbow or shoulder at all really. I guess the question becomes could Nystrom have avoided the hit entirely without taking himself completely out of the play. That, I think, you could argue either way. Note: After watching it closely for the fourth time, Letang plays the puck first and Nystrom never even really makes an attempt to play it. I don't think Nystrom got up high, but he didn't need to make that hit. Letang is vulnerable because he reached out to poke the puck away. My best guess is Nystrom gets a fine but no suspension.