Richdg

Buff on D? Great, another Dman that doesn't know how to play defense. Not what we need. Right now we need to take it easy and be paitent. Let's get healthy and let the lines form for about 25 games, then see what we need and who we can trade with.

The struggles out of the gate shouldn't be a surprise. This is still the same team that has had to win the last game of the year for three years now to even make the PO's. Now we have removed the best coach in hockey from the mix. The guy that focused on shot reduction and had a defense first focus. Add in we are missing our best forward-Datsyuk, had our best defenseman-Dekeyser, miss time, and Blashill/Holland are giving Kindl and Smith one last chance to prove themselves. BTW the same things are happening to the Griffins as well. Same team as last year yet they are also having issues with the change to a new coaching staff. The one advantage they have going is, they are in a stretch of playing 1 game over a 2 week period, so lots of time to practice. Blashill isn't going to get fired-even if we miss the playoffs. It isn't going to happen. he has been groomed by Holland and Babcock to take over. They are not going to spend this much time on developing him to make a knee jerk reaction to 9 games, 40 games, or even 1 season.

Not to crush opinions with facts, but as of today through the games played Jimmy has a better GAA and a better save %. That would be outplaying Mrazek. Neither is our problem atm. In fact G is the one position we can count on every game so far. The 2 of them have more than done their job. Both have had games were they alone keep us in the game.

Green gets hurt every year, which was the worry when we signed him. This shouldn't be a surprise to anyone.

Griffins win! 4-3 over Charlotte. 1-4 on the season now. Mantha, Porter and Frkx2 with the goals.

Torts will be good for them for a season or 2, then he wears out his welcome. he is a high energy guy and his teams play that way for a short period of time. Is it enough? Nope.

Coaching chnage is having a major impact. They should be fine in time but right now it is ugly.

Griffins are 0-4 which is a shock. They can't score at all. 4 goals in 4 games is all they have produced.

No joy in GR tonight. Another loss....... The O is not very offensive right now.......

Second time that the Canes have outplayed us. Glad we don't play them again. Ugly both games.

This is/was always the concern. That many concussions is never a good thing. The scary thought is what would have happened if he gets another one..... I hope he is smart enough to see that risking his life for hockey is not worth it. He and his family shoulkd be set for life, so go home and enjoy it with your family.

larkin and Jurco can both be sent down without risking them to waivers. I expect that to happen or a trade. No need to give away players for free atm. Chances are good others will be hurt before these choices need to be made.

Many reasons for this. 1. Lower bowl are season tickets, so even if they don't go the RW's are being paid. 2. Tuesday night games. All mid week games draw lower turnouts-always have. 3. October. There are so many things going on right now: Baseball playoffs, college and pro football, last few days/weeks of nice weather, etc... 4. RW tickets are very expensive. The economy is not strong at all. Many fans simply don't have $75+ per seat to go to a game. A family of 4 is $300 + travel costs, + food/drinks, on a school nite to boot.

Rough trip out west to start the year. To much fun in the sun.....LOL

You only asked for 3, but here is a 4th: Mantha will play at a 30 goals in 50 games pace for GR. When Franzen gets his next concussion (one that I hopes he decides to retire and not end up in a vegatative state) somewhere before he plays 40 games, Mantha is called up and scores 20+ goals for the RW's.

The past few years have all been: have a good start, get towards the top, have injuries and then scramble to make the PO's. I expect that to continue. Yes we finished 3rd last year, but had to win our last 2 games to even make the PO's. it is that close in the East. Yes we should have 95-100 points again. But we haven't made any real improvements yet. The kids are the key. when Z, Pav, Green, Franzen etc get hurt-and they will get hurt and miss time, are the guys in GR ready to come up and carry the load? Is Blashill ready to lead every day for an 82 game season at the NHL level? When I add all of this up I end up in the smae spot I have been for several years. Finish somehwere between 6-10 fighting untill game 82 for the PO's. Yes in January we will be torwards the top of the East. So we shall see.

1. The Islanders win the Presidents Trophy. 2. Kings win their 3rd SC in the last 6 years. 3. Streak ends. Yup.

Not a surprise to us RW fans. Z is an average athlete with great heart/comtete levels which is what has made him a star.

I know Larkin has played great, but send him to GR and let him play 18 mins a night. We are still talking a very young player with only a handful of pro games. The standard to be called up should be the same for everyone in GR: When you are dominating, you come up. Keep it simple and stright forward. ATM if Larkin stays in detroit he is going to be playing wing, not C. He is a natural Cman and needs to be developed as such. With Z, Richards, Sheahan, and Glendening already on the team, he isn't needed as a C. Let's get him 76 games in the AHL so that he is ready to play next year when Richards is gone.

So Mr Lazy finished the preseason with 5 games played, 3 goals 4 assists and 1 fight. Ya he is a bumb, trade him now! LOL!!!!!! https://search.yahoo.com/search;_ylt=AkUODcKunWVgsC1O.4hzmcWbvZx4?p=mantha+vs+holland+hockey+fight&toggle=1&cop=mss&ei=UTF-8&fr=yfp-t-901&fp=1

Overall points? Green if he stays healthy. Yes many of those will be second assists, but those do count as points. Goals Tatar most likely.

I do find it interesting that so many want to hate on Howard, but when he out performs mrazek it is like a graveyard in here. Game 1 of the preseason with an AHL roster playing in front of Jimmy vs the Hawks SC roster, there are countless posts about his poor play. Yet on the 26th when we play the B's AHL roster with most of our starters on the ice Mrazek gives up 4 and nothing is said. I don't care who the starter is. IMHO at this point in time I believe that Jimmy is the better NHL goalie. He has the experience and the mental makeup to be great-thus the AS nomination last year. In time Mrazek should also be a great NHL goalie, but he needs to develop the mental toughness for the job. Having 2 very good/great goalies is a great and wonderfull thing! We are blessed and should be acting that way! Half of the league doesn't have 1 good G and we have 2! We have the perfect setup atm. A very good proven veteran starter that is signed long term and a very good young prospect developing and pushing the starter that is hungrey for playing time. This makes us better as a team. I mentioned earlier this summer in the trade howard thread that the best option is to let thme both play and have a gradual passing of the torch. This year Jimmy 50 Mrazek 32 games, next year a 41-41 split, then the following year Mrazek 50 and Jimmy 32 games. At that point Jimmy is in his mid 30's and we can move on while wishing him well.

Some of the move Howard feeling comes from his cap hit. Like we are somehow in cap trouble. we are not. Using generalfanager's numbers, as of today we have 53.1 million towards next seasons cap. That includes franzen. We should resign the following guys: helm, Abby, sheahan, pulks, dekeyser, and mrazek. maybe bring back guys like miller and andersson. The cap should be around 75 million next season. That leaves us with about 22 million to resign 8 guys. Plenty of money. Add another 4 million to the pot if as expected franzen ends up on the LTIR. if Kindl is traded/cut/bought out that could add another 2.4 million to the pot. In the summer of 2017 another 12 million comes off of the books plus whatever the cap increase is, so another 15+/- to spend. Point is we are in great shape cap wise.

Every year in every sport teams overpay for players that have a great half season or playoff run. In many cases those deals fail. To small of a sample size. That is the heart of the question here. is a guy that has played all of 30 games in the NHL ready to be a #1 G? That is a huge risk to take that leap. There is no need to rush into anything. we have depth! That is a good thing. The flip side is, we move Howard and mrazek fails. then where are we? Screwed. Like half the league now that can't find one good G.

I's go the other way around. Nothing like crushing a young guy by putting all the weight in the world on him. This season I would PLAN-things change, to play Howard 50 and Mrazek 32. next year do a 50-50 split with each playing 41 games. Then 2 years from now go mrazek 50 Howard 32. take our time and build him up as Howard starts to age. Then move Howard. It gives us 3 more seasons to find the next good young G prospect and develop him in the minors. of course if anyone calls and offers an AS power forward that is signed long term and under 30, for either of our G's you have to listen. But the chances of that happeneing are very small.