kliq

Then what is it when every player regresses?

Tonight they won their 16th in a row, 17 is the NHL record.

Agreed, the only reason why Mantha is being talked about is because we need a #1 d-man, and right now its pretty clear that he has a lot of value and would have the best chance of all our players not named Larkin to get us one (even thats now debatable).

I dont think Howard's contract this offseason is as bad as some people thing. At that point its essentially 2 years 10mil, not exactly crazy money. If there is a team out there that thinks all they need is a goalie, I believe trade could be made. Buying him out would just be stupid. If we do that we then face a cap-hit from him for 4 years rather then 2.

No need to get personal, comments like that just make you sound bad. I have given Blashill a hard time for a lot for alot of things, but his treatment of Mrazek is simply not something he has done wrong. I am a Mrazek fan, and I want to see Mrazek thrive, but when you play like s***, you are going to get benched. It sounds to me like some fans want Blashill to coddle him, simply keep playing him until he inevitably gets better (which may or may not happen). Young players need to be held accountable, if they are not that is how how end up with the Kovelev's and Radulov's of the world.

100% agree, some fans just don't get it. It's similar to politics, GM's say what they need to say to attempt to get the narratives they want out there, and/or to pushing something (ie. ticket sales). As much as a vocal minority want to see the Wings tank, I would put money on it that the casual fan would be upset to hear the Wings actually say "we are re-building". People can argue all they want about if the lower bowl is full or not, but what Wings management care about are the ticket sales and this is something they are very good at keeping up.

I agree with you, but we are not a team that really benefits from that. We have 5 loser points which puts us at 8th out of 16 in our conference. We would pretty much be in the same spot if they didn't exist. Shootouts on the other hand help us, that we rank #1 in the conference.

There is something to this. Putting all your eggs in one basket can really hurt you, just look at Montreal last season when Price went down, or a few years ago in the semi's when Price went down.

Completely agree. what he's saying is ridiculous. We do have a #1 d-man, DD is our #1. Should he be our #1....no. Going to your baseball analogy, ace and #1 are too different things. Do all teams in baseball have a #1...yes. Do they have an ace...no.

Definitely a hard stretch, but it wouldn't surprise me to see them go .500 through it. Especially when you have the loser point. We'll see, nothing will surprise me.

I completely agree with Dickie here. A #1 D-man by definition is a guy who is able to be the #1 D on his team, its no different then a starting goalie. Would you not call the 19th best goaltender in the NHL a starter? It would sound stupid to say if a goalie is not top 10 or 12 that he is not a starter. Its not different with #1 d-man, the definition really should be top 30. Rich what you sound like you are talking about is getting into "elite" d-men" or franchise d-men which is a completely different story. With your logic 18 teams dont have a "#1 d-man".

I never said he was Mathews. What I said was that counting total goals on the season was a weak argument.

You're probably right in that Matthews is a better player, but your argument is weak as Mantha has 9 goals in 22 games to Matthews 20 goals in 36 games. Had Mantha played in 36 games he would likely be closer to the 15 goal mark which is not much lower.

There is no doubt that they cant keep up this pace, but why would calling the a contender be "lol worthy" and "insane"? I wouldnt say they are favourites, but havent they proved they should be in the discussion? Why such disrespect towards them?

Personally I would trade Mantha for Trouba in a heartbeat. As for Fowler, I am not 100% sold on him as a #1 d-man. His stats look great on Anaheim, but I am not sure if they would translate here. 11 out of his 22 points are on the PP, so he could only help in that regard. I look at Fowler as a very good #2 or #3 guy. Who knows though, I could be wrong, it's not as if I watch every Ducks game.

Anyone else having Déjà vu lol? Kidding aside, agreed. I dont like AA being on the 4th line with Miller & Ott, its almost as bad as Larkin playing with Glendening and Sheahan.

Just last night the announcers were saying that the Wings PP on the road this year was 2/50, that's 4%! You are 100% right.

Agreed. Certain posters will spin stats any way they can in order to tell the story they indented to tell before they even looked at the stats.

They're also 3-1 when Drew Miller scores, how is that a relevant stat?

I dont think its that they WANT to trade Mantha. If I had to guess, I would say outside of Larkin, Mantha is the only player who has a chance to actually fetch that return. I'm sure if they could trade AA or Tatar, or Nyquist etc. for a 1A d-man they would do it in a heartbeat.

He's no Lashoff though lol.

lol, this is going to drive the Mrazek fans nuts! He does deserve it though.

Kronwall with the nice setup!

Mantha!!!!!!!

Did I hear that right? The Wings are 2/50 on the PP on the road this season?