kickazz

There are answers. You're taking a very defeatist approach and being very narrow minded here. Lessening Z's icetime isn't for the benefit of one game it's for the entire season so he can be as effective towards the end and in playoffs when it actually matters. Playing the hot hand means if player x is doing well, keep it going as long as you can. Eventually he might hit a bump, in that case switch (that's the beauty of having two starting goaltenders, BTW Howard IS starting next game so I'm assuming they're hoping his good play results in a win). Optimal lines would be not having Sheahan on the top line for a bunch of games in a row when it's clearly forced and not working. Glendening took the faceoff when he was 20% on the faceoffs all night and lost that faceoff which led to the eventual game tying goal. Helm taking the faceoff was a smart decision last game because he was 54% on the faceoffs that night. In life you look at the risk benefit ratio and if something is beneficial you go with it regardless of the outcome. Even if AA's increase in ice-time didn't result in us winning more games it was still the right decision to do since he was making the most out of his ice time with limited minutes. Nothing I listed was extraordinary. They were simple things that almost everyone has been wondering whether it's fans, beat writers, journalists, bloggers, players themselves (seriously you do realize AA was probably wondering why his icetime wasn't increasing right? Not to mention he probably thought he deserves it and probably felt like he would bring a lot to the table with it because that's the natural human mentality). It's not that complicated. But people seem to think it is.

Case and point, you don't hear complaints about the Vanek signing. If that guy hadn't been producing and leading the team in points we'd be hearing things like "See what a waste of a signing that was, we should have just let the young kids play blah blah blah Holland sucks, they're screwing Mantha out of his play time" Instead we see people post "Omg this team needs Vanek back" "I miss Vanek" "Vanek at the Disco baby!!!!"

Actually there IS hindsight. If Nielsen had 20 points in 12 games and leading the league you or anyone else wouldn't be making this argument. Also let's not start overrating Chych, we don't even know if he's going to be a flub. Not to mention a lot superstar defenseman aren't actually out of the top 5 or 10 talent of the draft. Defenseman are some of the hardest prospects to predict when it comes to how good they're going to be.

Okay but you do realize that if we didn't move Datsyuk's cap hit the fans would be saying "He's such a bad GM, he couldn't even more Datsyuk's contract, the guy does nothing!" Hindsight = 20/20

Well regardless of what people tihnk Jimmy Howard is getting the start on Sunday http://www.mlive.com/redwings/index.ssf/2016/11/red_wings_hoping_jimmy_howard.html

I've been seeing a lot of "well this isn't as big of a deal as people are trying to make it out to be" style of attitude around here. That's the EXACT kind of attitude that has brought the Red Wing's to the level they're at. "Oh it's not a big deal, we still have Datsyuk, Zetterberg and Lidstrom. "Oh it's not a big deal we still have Datsyuk and Zetterberg". But it is a godam big deal now because the sum of the all the little parts has added up and we don't have anyone to rely on. We don't have star power. And we're not going to be getting it for a while. So how about we start working on the basics and work to make every little thing better? How about we ice a good 4th line without Drew Miller. How about we have more optimal line combinations instead of being stubborn about it for 6 games straight? How about we bench a D-man or two? How about we play the hot hand between Mrazek or Howard? How about we lessen Zetterberg's ice time? How about we increase AA's ice time? How about we stop having Glendening take the most important faceoff with 1 minute left and a 1 goal lead? How about we stop the dump and chase hockey that clearly hasn't worked in a while? I just listed maybe 8 or 9 things off the top of my head on a LONG list of things. EVERY single issue on the list has to be addressed because unfortunately we don't have a superstar to negate all those problems like we once did. When you fix every issue that's possible within your control it can add up to make a big difference. And if it doesn't, oh well at least you tried.

You have to play the hot hand imo. But Howard's been benched a while now and probably wouldn't be as good since he's been sitting. That ship might have sailed. Watching these losses.. having one elite guy could make all the difference. And by elite I mean a superstar player

Cushioned backup goaltender stats? Weren't you complaining about how Howard is playing more than the average backup the other day?

No lol. Not at all. And he's obviously joking......

As of now? Yeah probably Howard. And the stats don't lie.

Get the hell up Tatar dont sit on ice looking like a bum. Take the loss like a man.

Can we get this kid his hattrick too

I'd like to be butt patted tonight.

Whoever made the "Fire Blashil, Dave Lewis 2.0" thread last year is laughing at all of us right now.

Blashill always tries to cover his bases too much. He just has to come up with excuses for AA or some sort of criticism. But the guy he's making the most of his lesser icetime. Lets not overrate AA though. He's doing well but not amazing, better than some of our others definitely . At the same time, criticizing AA is unwarranted imo. Like where the hell is Tomas Tatar? Can someone tell the guy that the season has started?

Please don't put Zetterberg in the same sentence with Abby or Tatar. One of them has been the work horse on the team and MVP on multiple occasions and holds individual franchise records for nearly a decade while the other two aren't at his level or ever will be. They're not going to criticize a guy who is in decline post-back surgery after playing like an elite forward and bringing it every night and carrying the team on his back for like 12 years. The only people who turn on a guyt like that are people on LGW.com. Because people here are unappreciative close-minded fans.

He's the new Shane Doan of the Red Wings. With the beard.

And continues to play 19 minutes a night. At what point does the league call it abuse?

Blashill's obsession with the 4th line guys far exceeds Babcock's.

something block shots

Well that's the thing though. If we use the "they get put up against tough match ups that's why their corsi is so low" stance then my response to that would be... "Let's not use them then". Because clearly having them against top lines isn't working since the top lines are in our zone most of the time and you want to do whatever you can to keep them out of our zone. Used to be that Zetterberg/Datsyuk were put up against the opposing teams top lines and had corsi's of like 60% or more. But since we no longer have the 2008 version of those two anymore , we're resorted to putting the OMG line against top lines and their corsi is whatever that article stated it to be (30%? can't view article on phone right now) meaning they spend 70% (assuming that corsi i listed) of the time defending... Not good.

Hah, I'm pretty sure it was GMR who mentioned Z scoring and Cubs winning if that's what you guys are talking about

It's starting to happen a lot more now that we have 2 of a kind. Call Coreau up ------ Well I was hoping we were gonna win in Philly, oh well, next time. At least we got a point. I'll take it.

I don't blame Helm. Blashill made the dumb decision to have a guy who was 20% on faceoffs tonight take the most important faceoff of the game which eventually led to the game tying goal. I mean I get it, Glendog adds a defensive role that Blashil values, but holy s*** put someone who wasn't struggling on the faceoff circle and have him on winger position. Nielsen was 57% on FO, Zetterberg 50% , Glendening 20%. Someone please explain to my why Glendening was told to take that faceoff. Anyone?

You can just ignore it