krsmith17

Exactly. We were never out-"tanking" Ottawa. It was always going to be somewhere between 2nd to 5th(ish) best odds for this team. The odds aren't that drastically different there. Sure, I'd like to finish 30th and have slightly better odds, but I'm not going to get all bent out of shape over it if we don't. There's still a lottery to come. Also, if it's actually dropping from 5 to 7, rather than 3 to 5 that everyone's worried about, there's really not a huge discrepancy between 5 to 7 or so in my opinion anyway. Regardless where we pick, at least one of Cozens, Zegras, Turcotte, Byram or maybe even Hughes or Kakko will be available. We're getting a very good prospect in this draft, and there's no telling where we will end up, until after the draft lottery, or where these players will end up, until after the draft. 8pm EST on NBCSN.

I'm aware. I think you missed my point...

One of the 26th, 27th or 28th placed teams is going to pick in the top three. We're currently sitting at 27th. Do we want to stay at 27? Move up to 28? or drop back to 26?

People keep talking about "worst case scenario, dropping 3 spots", which means that THREE teams ahead of us in the standings each win one of the top three picks in the draft lottery. To which I reply, we should have spent a hell of a lot less time tanking and more time winning...

No.

No. It's all about the positive vibes. F*** all that negativity. Say it with me... "We Will Win The Draft Lottery"... Well, I hope he slides past us... Nah, to be honest, I don't know a whole lot about him. He wouldn't be my first choice, but he could be another Pettersson, so...

I hope we get a top 3 pick, but if not, I'd be thrilled with any of Cozens, Zegras, Turcotte or Byram.

You didn't. It's just another straw man. He does it in just about every post... THIS! I'm okay with losses, but seeing the emergence of the young players is fun to watch.

I hope we win one of the two games against Pittsburgh, but if we lose the other and lose against Buffalo, I'd be fine with that. Still, I'll be watching all three games and while watching will be cheering on the boys. If we lose, cool. No sleep lost. People can do whatever the f*** they want, but I just find it crazy that some people are watching these games and actually getting pissed off when we score or win. Or worse again, get excited when the other team scores...

Such a straw man. You always come up with these false narratives. Am I saying how dare you? No. I just think it's dumb to get this upset over a few wins. Who's throwing whiskey bottles? LOL

LOL You're the one getting mad at people for getting excited about winning... Get over yourself. You're not the "messiah"...

This is actually a reasonable take on the whole tanking thing. We all understand the odds, but what some people fail to understand is that management can do what they like (within reason), but the game is still played by the players. What should Holland do? Scratch Larkin, Mantha, Bertuzzi and Athanasiou and call up Megan, Terry, Smith and Holmstrom? That's not going to happen, nor should it. We're already dressing a team full of AHLers... I know losses are better for the lottery odds, but losing doesn't guarantee a high pick. Getting pissed off with wins is one thing. Getting pissed off at other fans for getting excited about wins is something completely different...

Finishing. Bottom. Three. Doesn't. Guarantee. S***. One thing that is all but guaranteed, is that at least one (maybe three) team(s) in the bottom 3 WILL draft outside of the top 3, and at least one (maybe three) team(s) outside of the bottom 3 WILL draft in the top 3... Like I said, if you're going to b**** and complain, you should at least wait until after the draft lottery. You're going to look so f***ing dumb if we end up winning the draft lottery due to this recent win streak. I don't know why I even bother responding to you though because you either don't bother reading, or are too dumb to understand it. Better odds, blah, blah, blah, blaaaaah

@nyqvististhefuture You keep saying that we were s*** from game 1-72. That's not entirely true though. We went on a streak in late October / early November where we won 7 of 8, got points in 10 of 11 (one OT loss). We played a lot of tight games, and beat a lot of good teams. We beat the Bruins three times, Leafs twice, Preds twice, Sharks, Golden Knights, etc. This team is not good right now, but they're not the worst team in the league either. The standings represent right about where we should be. What do you want this team to do? Shoot the puck in their own net? We've been dressing our top line and the rest of the players are borderline NHLers. The guys we want to see leading this team through the rebuild, are doing exactly that. And you're going to get upset about that? To what end? Like @ChristopherReevesLegs mentioned, we as fans have no bearing on the outcome of these games, so what's the point in getting this bent out of shape about your team winning a few games? As a fan, I'm going to continue to cheer for wins, but be okay with any losses. I also hope teams around us win their games to keep up, and / or pass us in the standings. There's not a single person here that doesn't understand how the lottery works (except maybe you...). We get it. Losing gives us a better chance at a higher pick, but the difference in finishing 4-8 is so insignificant, I don't care enough to hope my team loses. I just can't fathom spending three hours every night watching my team, hoping they lose. Especially when you consider how small your odds are regardless where you finish in the standings. Here's a look at how the last three draft lottery's played out... In 2016 the Leafs, Oilers and Canucks finished at the bottom of the standings. 2 of the bottom 3 teams dropped out of the top 3. The Leafs won the lottery and picked 1st, but the Oilers dropped to 4th, and the Canucks dropped to 5th. The Jets jumped from 6th to 2nd, and the Jackets jumped from 4th to 3rd. In 2017 the Aves, Canucks and Coyotes finished at the bottom of the standings. All 3 of the bottom 3 teams dropped out of the top 3. The Aves dropped to 4th, the Canucks dropped to 5th, and the Coyotes (Rangers) dropped to 7th. Golden Knights slotted 6th. The Devils jumped from 5th to 1st, the Flyers jumped from 13th to 2nd, and the Stars jumped from 8th to 3rd. In 2018 the Sabres, Sens and Coyotes finished at the bottom of the standings. Again, 2 of the bottom 3 teams dropped out of the top 3. The Sabres won the lottery and picked 1st, but the Sens dropped to 4th, and the Coyotes dropped to 5th. The Canes jumped from 11th to 2nd, and the Canadiens jumped from 4th to 3rd. If this doesn't tell you how much of a crapshoot the lottery is, nothing will. AGAIN, finishing in the bottom three doesn't guarantee s***. At best it's a coin flip that you're even going to pick in the top three. To get this riled up over a few Red Wings wins regardless when it happens, is beyond ridiculous.

Are you watching the games, actively rooting for losses? Because to me, that's f***ed up. Did you boo your TV screen when you seen Mantha score the hat-trick? Did you curse when you seen Hirose score his first NHL goal? What about when Hronek scored that beauty one-timer? Did you cheer when the Bruins scored?... I have no issue with people being pro-tank, in the sense that you don't get upset about losses, but never hope your team loses. That's dumb in my opinion. Tonight was one of the best Red Wings games all year, and I for one, and so happy they pulled out the W. Anyway, you do you. Same with nyquististhefuture... But just don't be too over the top with the bulls*** like that dude is... Or do... whatever...

I'm so confused... I thought for sure the draft lottery was scheduled for April 9th, only to come on here and realize that we already lost... Well s***, that sucks... Oh wait. What? The lottery hasn't happened yet? We still have a chance? Awesome! No, you're not being a realist. A realist would tell you everything everyone has been telling you all night. It's a f***ing lottery. There's no guarantee one way or the other. I'm not sure if you know the odds, because they're not great at the bottom, and they don't drop off significantly beyond that. Being 31st overall, you have less than a 1 in 5 shot at number one overall, and a 50/50 shot of dropping outside of the top three. We lost a whole 2.7% drafting top three tonight. Big f***ing deal... The odds of someone in the 4-8 (28th-24th) range picking in the top three is actually really high. Who's to say that won't be us? I think we're due for a bit of luck. And if we don't jump up, I'll bet anything that it will have come down to a point or two in the standings. Maybe we should have lost one more game, or maybe we should have won one more game... We won't know until after the lottery balls have dropped. Quit b****ing and moaning. We still have a chance to draft that franchise changing player, and regardless, this is an extremely deep draft, and there's always that possibility that whoever we draft in the top 8 could be the best player of the draft anyway... Get over yourself dude. You don't know s***, and you sound like a whiney little *****... Anyway, another great f***ing game from the young guys. Larkin, Mantha, Athanasiou, Bertuzzi and Hronek have been playing lights out. We still need a couple pieces for sure, but there's some good one's still on their way and another big draft coming up. Hard not to be excited about the future of this team... but of course, some people will always find a way...

Hirose > Nyquist...

Myself and a few others around here have said plenty of positive things about Blashill over the past calendar year. But yeah, we're totally basing our opinion on a two week stretch... The problem with that theory is that Larkin and Athanasiou are NOT stuck on 20 goals... They're both 30+ goal scorers under his coaching. IF Larkin and Athanasiou were at 20, Mantha and Bertuzzi were at 10 and so on, you're right, we probably wouldn't be saying that Blashill has done a good job with the kids... That simply isn't the case though... So Blashill doesn't get credit for developing 1st round picks, Larkin or Mantha, and he doesn't get credit for developing 4th round pick, Athanasiou, because he was going to be good anyway... Does he get credit for developing 2nd round pick, Bertuzzi? What about Hronek? What about 5th round pick, Jensen? Just trying to figure out which players he should and shouldn't get credit for, according to you... I said "coaches available"... Are there better coaches in the league? Absolutely. Are there better coaches available? I don't think so... Cooper, Babcock and Trotz are NOT available... There are a few coaches available, but they're all either, probably not interested in a rebuilding team (Joel Quenneville), currently unemployed for a reason (Alain Vigneault, Marc Crawford, Mike Yeo), or probably a lateral (at best) move (Dallas Eakins, Sheldon Keefe). One coach I'd hear an argument for is Todd McLellan, but I doubt he'd be a significant upgrade over Blashill. And him having a connection with the Wings, maybe Holland already had a conversation with him, and he wasn't interested... Who knows. Anyway, this isn't a bad move. Blashill has done a fine job, despite what you and a few other angry fans want to believe...

Which is fine. I get that part of it. But if you're going to complain, at least wait until after the draft lottery. It's only another 9 days... Who knows, this last little streak we've been on, may be exactly what we've needed to get that top (three) pick... or maybe we end up dropping back. It's all luck of the draw... Me personally, I'll never root for losses, or get upset with wins for exactly that reason. I may look back after the lottery and say, "man if we lost one more game", or "if we won one more game, we would have gotten Hughes"... "But oh well, there's no way we could have known that at the time"...

It's cute that you think "this little streak" is the reason some of us think Blashill is actually a half decent coach, and not a pile of s*** that some dumb ass Red Wings fans on the internet see him as... Also, not a single person would say that Blashill is the sole reason Larkin is the player he is today. Of course he's not. Larkin was going to be good regardless who coached him. Like you said, his desire and tenacity are the biggest reason he turned into a legit number one center, instead of the middle six center he was projected to be when he was drafted. However, when you say that the coach has "no bearing" on any player on the team, it just sounds dumb and petty. Do you think when Larkin played in his first NHL game, on Zetterberg's wing, he was the player he is today? Of course he's not. He's grown a lot since then. The coach deserves some credit for that. No one thinks Blashill is Bowman, not even close. So why even bring him up? There are so many coaches available that would do a better job than Blash?... Name them. If you think there's a single coach out there that's going to do everything the way you want them to, you're in for a lot of disappointment. There are a ton of things that piss me off about Blashill. Just like there were a ton of things that pissed me off about Babcock. (And even Bowman). I understand though, that that's going to be the case with any coach. Most Red Wings fans, and hockey fans in general are irrational. We've all been there from time to time. Some more than others... Thinking that a 2-year Blashill extension is some sort of monumental mistake is irrational in my opinion, but whatever...

Key word there... "was". He was a better player, but anyone would have put money on Athanasiou being the better player in the future (now).

Man, people really have a difficult time grasping what a lottery is... Luck is exactly what the draft lottery, or any lottery for that matter, is... More than likely some team outside of the bottom 3 teams will draft in the top 3. There's no way of knowing which team that will be until after the balls are dropped... It's literally all luck.

I agree with the bold. He's been good with the kids. The underlined is pretty much where I'm at as well. As of now, there's no reason to fire him, or not to extend him. Who's the better option? I don't know of one. Blashill has done a fine job, especially this season. Maybe I'll feel differently in a year or two when this team starts to turn the corner, but as of now, stay the course. I disagree though, or at least think it's too early to say, that he'll never win a Cup, or that we should be gung-ho ready to fire him when we're finally ready to compete. I've liked a lot of what I've seen from Blashill to this point, so I'm not ready to say one way or the other what we should do beyond, or even through this two year contract. I'd like to see what he can do, and reassess things later. I'm sure management will have the same mindset.

The head coach has no bearing on Larkin being the player he is? This sounds oddly familiar... Holland gets blamed for anything negative and doesn't get credit for anything positive. I guess the same applies to Blashill... It's his fault it a player doesn't develop as projected, but gets no credit for players that do develop as projected or exceed expectations... That's some f***ing dumb ass s*** right there...