kickazz

It actually might since Tatar was on that line. Tatar - Datsyuk - Helm was one of our best lines year. Just that Richards - Datsyuk - Helm didnt work for whatever reason. If you look at the goal Tatar scored last game. Helm gave him one look and crashed the net, giving Tatar all the space to take the shot and score. I think Blash should try that line for sure.

Baiting? He's injured. Can't play a dude who was given a definite timeline of return.

Yes there's decline we know that. What I want to know is the quality of competition he faces vs everyone else on the Red Wings defense. Because it's easy to say he's -11 and single him out if he's facing tougher competition. And would anyone else be any better? If so who?

I'd like to see an analysis on the quality of competition that each defenseman faces and then judge why certain D-men are doing well and certain aren't. I can interpret stats but I'm not the best at finding the advance stuff and presenting it. If someone can look into this I think we could all objectively judge the players and see for ourselves. It might help explain why Kronwall is doing "bad" but Marchenko or Smith are doing "good". I'm inclined to say that Kronwall probably faces tougher competition. But I don't monitor each shift he's out on - this is where I think the advanced stats would help.

"He theorized that American children, who tend to take up hockey when they are older and bigger, can afford to put the stronger hand, generally the right, on the lower part of the shaft for more precision." That basically is me. Except I'm left handed and put my left hand on the bottom. Makes sense to me. I definitely felt I had better shot precision using my dominant hand on bottom. But not sure if it applies to kids who start at like age 4 (hell sometimes even younger)

Luc Robataille, Brett Hull, Chris Osgood, Brian Rafalski, Marian Hossa. Hull and Rafalski were right handed shooters. So Holland's 2 for 4 on the right handed UFAs hahaha. Have faith we got a 50% shot our next UFA will be right handed. (I'm not counting Brad Richards or Green but even then its 50%) Alright to be serious. I don't think right handed shooters will make or break our PP. We were the second best PP last year with practically the same amount of R vs L PP shooters. But having a balance imo does help. But I'd rather worry about getting other things we need than worry about handedness. We need a scoring forward (Stamkos? Andrew Ladd?), need a better D-man (Big Buff?) etc etc etc blah blah

why not just wait till he's UFA and make him an offer he can't refuse and rid all the useless players

Id do it if it guaranteed him staying. but it won't

I think his point is that people post a million times when we lose talking about the million reasons why this team sucks but when we win the activity simple decreases. He is right. That being said, human nature is human nature. People complain at work, they complain about school, they complain about sports. Seems normal to me.

Yes yes we all know you're not a fan of Z and wanted him retired a while ago. Plenty of players sucking on this team fyi. Not just the two you singled out. We should trade the entire roster except Larkin and Mrazek then.

Does this mean we need the Drew back?

You know who shoots right and is a beast on the PP? Steven f****** Stamkos. Get it done Kenny.

He'll go and then I'll see him on the news at a local hospital after that 3 on 3 xD

Yeah I think general consensus has been that dominant hand on the bottom helps with shot power and dominant hand on top helps with shot accuracy and puck handling. It probably also depends on your upbringing. I started playing baseball first and always did things left handed. So when I picked up my hockey stick (around age 7 ish) I picked the lefty stick. So I've always been a left handed left shooter. Aside from all this though I think the league has always been short on right shooters. In 2010 analysis they did on HFboard it was at about a 64% to 36% ratio of left to right shooters. The post is out there somewhere if you google search it. (Btw I feel like this Left vs Right convo has happened before)

Jagr is going to drop out of that game.

Yeah I agree. Manny doesn't stutter as much as Osgood. He's a bit more natural. Ozzy is a lot better now though than when he started.

That is true. Athanasiou is bigger than Helm is and can probably (?) score moreso. I think sadly Helm is actually pound for pound smaller than Datsyuk is.. So I don't know how him being a "net front grinder" for top 6 is that practical. But someone said in the blashill thread.. Blash has to use what he's got. Helm's probably his only realistic option to stick with Datsyuk (who wants a piano mover). But there's also Jurco, who is pretty big and has hands. So idk, maybe he should play with Dats and have Helm drop down. Abby - Zet - Larkin Jurco - Dats - Tatar (this was an actual line last year) Nyquist - Richards - Sheahan Helm - Glendog - Nosek (Miller) I know Jurco is injured for now but just thinking.. Alternatively they could swap Datsyuk and Larkin who could center Tatar and Jurco. There's practically a "goal scorer" and a big guy on each line and the 4th line is all PK guys.

I think Marchenko would be the guy to be swapped with Quincey. Doesn't Marchenko still have a 2-way contract? He doesn't need to be cleared from the waivers I don't think. Kindl or Smith would obviously have to clear waivers and Wings don't want to lose someone they can possible use for trade bait.

Yeah he's repped the Wings before I think he reps em because his girlfriend is from Michigan

I just don't see Helm being able to do what Abby does long term. He's either going to get injured, or he'll never be able to do it at the level Abby does it. I think their best bet is getting a another Abby type player. They tried it with Erik Cole and he was actually pretty good. Unfortunately the injury screwed us. If the Wing's can snag a guy like Andrew Ladd - he would be the perfect winger/ power forward AND a scorer + penalty killer. He would be a great winger for Datsyuk. He's a legit top 3 player.

No no I agree with you. Of course I see Smith flubbed it. He basically looked like a forward playing defense. Bit real hard on that. I was being sarcastic on that comment. The GDT before that game, had a huge bandwagoning and the next game Smith screwed up bad - was just making a joke. I'm along the same lines as Jimmyemery in his previous post there (except I think Smith is still a number 5 guy rather than top 4). Smith's doing better. But let's not get ahead of ourselves. We need to see him do well consistently. As for Rahmani, I actually had a recent appointment there for my astigmatism

Give it till the end of the season if we fail to make playoffs. We have a better team than we did last year (on paper at least). We should be able to make the playoffs at the very least. If we don't. Then yeah I guess I'd raise an eyebrow or two at Blash. In my honest opinion though, this is just another slump that we went through in November (?). We'll find our groove again.

The Red Wings should be utterly embarrassed for the 5 unanswered goals they just gave up to a slumping team. Call a damn players only meeting. Get your s*** together and figure out wtf is going on with yourselves. Terrible way to end 2015 for Hockeytown. Fans didn't deserve that today. Off to new years eve stuff - have a great night guys. (and forget about the last 3 hours)

1st PP unit is sticking Zetterberg and Datsyuk together. I prefer this.

. Remember when everyone complained about that? Lol