kipwinger

I've had the chance to watch a lot of the Griffins games this year on AHL TV and figured I'd give my impressions of a few guys: Edvinsson and Berggren: I'm grouping these two together (and not saying much about them) because they're both too good for the AHL and everyone already knows that. William Wallinder: His offense really hasn't shown through in the AHL because he's basically stuck behind half the roster and doesn't get those juicy offensive opportunities. I think he stands to gain the most when Edvinsson is inevitably called up. He transitions the puck better than any defenseman in our system though. Cross Hanas: Like Wallinder I think he stands to gain a lot from a Berggren promotion. He's my darkhorse to be an impact guy in the NHL. I see a lot of Bertuzzi in him. He's skilled enough to compliment top players, is an adept shooter and passer, is very smart in the offensive zone, but his skating will stop him from being a star. Marco Kasper: I think all the "Kasper has limited offense" talk on draft day really got to his head because he spends too much time playing East-West hockey and trying to be cute now. Once he realizes that being a big, fast, gritty, two way guy is his bread and butter he's going to be fine. If I could I would hook him to one of those Pavlovian response machines they used in "A Clockwork Orange" and force him to watch JT Compher's shifts over and over again, giving him electric shock every time he thinks about trying anything cute. Amadeus Lombardi: The only thing stopping this guy from being a difference maker is time and opportunity. He's absolutely awesome and just needs time to physically grow (which he's still doing) and for some of the players above him on the roster to move on. He's got it all, skating, passing, shooting, etc. but he also does the little things too. Really good faceoff guy and backchecks like a demon. I've heard it said that the most important attribute to have in order to be an NHL center is a brain, and he definitely does. I'm still convinced he can be a star in the NHL. Sodorblom and Mazur: I'm not going to say much about these two because my impression is that they're both playing exactly as advertised. Mazur is the Red Wings version of Reilly Smith (I mean that in the best way) and Sodorblom has all the skill and just needs to keep working on his skating (like Rasmussen did). Albert Johansson: Incomplete. Played hurt for a while and is just now getting back. Plays in all situations AND on his off side though, which is useful. Reminds me of (Chicago) Nick Leddy. Sebastian Cossa: I'm not well versed enough with the mechanics of goaltending to really give full insight here but he sure seems like he's figuring it out. He still lets in the occasional bad goal and in 2 of his 8 starts he looked pedestrian, but most of the time he's really really solid and I don't think that's a bad place for him to be 8 games into his pro careers. He's definitely outplaying Michael Hutchinson (a career AHL/NHL tweener).

What's the deal with Stamkos? I haven't heard anything about this?

I think that coaching, just like playing, is a process that (hopefully) evolves in a positive direction over time. Lalonde has never run an NHL bench before, so it stands to reason that there is going to be a learning curve for him just like there is for everyone else. There are definitely things that I can (and have) pointed out that rest more or less entirely on the coaching staff. But very few of my criticisms of the coaching can outweigh the fact that under Lalonde our offense, defense, penalty kill, and powerplay have all improved dramatically. Quite a bit of that is on the players no doubt, but take a look at how Edmonton started the season if you wanna know what great players with bad coaching looks like.

I'm not worried about him or anything. I think he's a very good player. But he's on track to match his rookie point totals while playing worse defensively. His underlying numbers are all worse too. I think it's just as fair to point those things out for Seider as it would be for any other player. The only difference is that he's much more important to the team's success than someone like Rasmussen (who also hasn't taken the step forward that I'd expected of him).

Ahhhh, yeah I've never heard that one before.

I think the whole notion of a 1D, 2D, 3D, etc. is pretty outmoded. I mean, fans can label them however they want for the sake of discussion but I don't think their usage would reflect this type of hierarchy. I think back to the 2008 Wings and while Lidstrom was nominally the 1D partnered with Rafalski, neither of those two were taking on the toughest matchups. That was Kronwall and Stewart. I think you could argue our "2nd pair" was the more important pair that year, and I'd personally argue that Kronwall was our best dman. These days I think you want to find those cornerstone pieces and get them throughout your lineup. Kinda like Pittsburgh using Phil Kessel on their 3rd line sorta thing. If you've got Walman-Seider and then Edvinsson-ASP then I imagine it will be a coin flip each night for which line gets more minutes and/or scores more points. Kinda like back in the day when we had Lidstrom and Konstantinov on separate pairs, sort of a "pick your poison" type scenario.

I agree with some of this. We have a top five offense in the league, so goals aren't really our problem. Now, if Kane can make our powerplay better and we start putting other teams on their heels earlier in games then I'm all for it. But the bigger problems as I see it are: 1. Our defense. Holy smokes does our defense suck. Seider and Walman have been a trash first pair this year and the rest of the defense (except Gostisbehere) has been worse. I like a lot of those guys on the 3rd pair, but none of Maatta, Chiarot, Petry, or Holl should play in the top four. We get pinned in our zone A LOT. What happened to the Mo Seider that used to demolish guys with his physical play and toy with the opposition when he had the puck on his stick? He's obviously still a good defenseman but he has not really progressed since his rookie season. 2. Figure out the goalie situation. How does it make sense to carry 3 goalies on your roster and then not play one of them (perhaps the best one) for 17 games? What was the point of that? It would be like going 11 forwards and 7 defensemen and then not playing your 7th defenseman. And then when you finally do play him your realize he's better than your other six defensemen. Dumb, dumb, dumb. Go with Lyon and Husso (I've detailed how I'd use them in a previous post) and get one of Berggren or Mazur or Sodorblom into the lineup full time. This is stupid. 3. Stop. Taking. Stupid. Penalties. These are killing us. Of the teams currently sitting in a playoff spot we're one of the most penalized. That's not gonna bode well when we're consistently playing teams better than Montreal. I don't mind penalties that result from setting a physical tone, or defending a guy, or whatever. But stick penalties, particularly when you're chasing the play, are a killer. This needs fixed. 4. Maybe the biggest thing, we need to learn how to play 60 full minutes. We're horrid to start every game and we're abysmal at the end. The numbers back this up too. We score almost all of our (nearly league best) goals in the 2nd period and then fall apart in the 3rd. We need to play a consistent game. This one I blame on coaching. Last night we changed our forecheck to a more conservative 1-2-2 setup in the 3rd and almost blew the game. Our team is an attacking team and when Lalonde asks them to lay back they struggle.

I don’t know what else you can do with the goaltending except ride Lyon. I’d give him 3 out of every 5 starts, give Husso the other 2, and look for a better solution in the offseason. There are so many teams in need of goaltending that to get a decent goalie via trade you’re gonna pay a premium.

Yowza, that was closer than necessary but I'll take it. Huge two points given that Florida, Toronto, and Tampa all got beat tonight.

I'd really like to see Larkin get one in the 3rd, he's had two or three really great chances so far tonight.

Stutzle and Yzerman? I haven't heard this one.

Veleno and Sprong both scored and are both from Montreal. Expect a big 2nd period from David Perron.

How do you not love Christian Fischer? What a nice hustle goal!

The key is to read the article and immediately repeat and share it without ever thinking about it. That's how you know you're winning the internet.

If he'd help us win games then there's every reason to get him on the team. Points are at a premium. It's MUCH better to make the post season in a divisional seed rather than the Wild Card and it's clear he's ready to play in the top four in Detroit and contribute to wins. It's getting to the point where he's making highlight reel plays every night in the American League. I realize it might take a little patience for something to give, but he needs to be up as soon as possible.

Compher is new, we were already getting good last year before JT came on board. Remember, we won seven games in a row and were sitting in a playoff spot? Much as I love what Compher has brought to the table he and Sprong and Gostisbehere and Kane are the Johnny-Come-Latelys of the team. Perron and Chiarot and Copp were the dudes that bought in early and provided a little leadership and swagger (in the case of DP). Perron genuinely reminds me of Shoresy. Talks trash all game, pretty dirty, lets the goons do his fighting for him. Love that guy. As far as the bolded, that's what I'm driving at. Given how unsuccessful so many players have been after having this surgery what makes the team optimistic it'll be different for Kane? Just wishful thinking or was his situation not as bad? I know they'll never say, but I wish I knew.

Sweet pass by Edvinsson last night. He does this quite a lot and it's going to lead to a ton of offense for our team in the very near future.

Maybe I'm being a nerd about this, but I really wish I knew a little more about Kane's hip procedure. We've all heard that many other players (most recently Backstom) have had the surgery and were unable to resume playing shortly thereafter. Sounds like this procedure was done a little differently according to Yzerman's interview with Mick the other night. I wonder if Kane's hip was in better shape overall BEFORE the procedure? Like, was his injury less severe than Backstrom's to begin with? And that's why they were able to do the procedure differently? I'm just curious why they might anticipate a different outcome? Or maybe the fact that he signed for 2.75 million means they DON'T expect a different outcome.

Fiiiiiiiine, you can add Copp too

Shai Buium with a goal and two assists tonight at well. Great night for Red Wings prospects.

All the Detroit media outlets are talking about "the best part of Kane coming to the Red Wings is that he chose us", and I think it's the weakest sh*t ever. What are media for if not to pump the team's tires? I hate Boston's Jack Edwards with the intensity of a helicopter fight but at least he will go to comedic lengths to prop up the Bruins. We got nobody in Detroit sports media willing to go on the record saying Kane joined the Red Wings because he recognized a rocket about to head to the moon. Losers, with a loser mentality. They all went to the Mitch Albom school of "Sports only matter if they make you think of your dead dog/grandpa" journalism. Kane chose the Red Wings because the Red Wings are awesome. And the Red Wings are awesome because David Perron and Ben Chiarot saved this franchise. You heard it here first.

Did you even read it? Like, really really read it?

Edvinsson’s 2nd.

Good night for Red Wings prospects so far tonight. Edvinsson with two goals, Sodorblom, Berggren, Johansson, and Kasper with assists. Cossa with 35 saves on 36 shots. Elsewhere, Nate Danielson has 3 assists.

Two for Edvinsson tonight