kickazz

It's not that easy. You're comparing an NHL coaching artist to a guy with zero NHL head coaching experience. Blashill is great but I still have skepticism about whether he can be the same Blashill at an NHL level. It's a whole different style and competition. ---- Babs did make it pretty clear in his previous interview that anytime he left for a new place, there was always a better place to go to. And he also mentioned that this time around, there ISN'T a better job. I think he just wants to see if it's true. And if it isn't he will probably be heading out of Detroit.

Even if you used that anaology. Babcock the year before had a roster that was uninjured and got them thru the playoffs. Then the year after he had an incredible amount of man games lost and got the Wings through the playoffs with basically an AHL roster. In my opinion that's a bigger feat than what Roy did. Roy had Mckinnon and Duchene. He had a pretty good team he took with him last year. We had neither of our superstars. And that's the thing. Babs did it AGAIN this year. But Roy didn't. They didn't even make the playoffs. They ended up 12th in the conference (yikes). Hindsight: Who is the better coach then? I'm telling you, year in and year out they chose guys that might seem great candidates on the surface but that's about it. Why did MacLean win it in 2013? Their team qualified the year before. What was so special? Why did Dan Balysma win it in 2011? His team had the same exact record the year before and the year he won it. Pittsburgh was 4th in the standings both years. A very inconsistent way to chose if you ask me. It's extremely biased against certain coaches, including Babs. He's proven time and again the he deserves it. There's a reason people are shocked that he has yet to win it because the fact of the matter is he IS the best coach in the league atm.

That's the thing. I don't think you should take previous year and define it into what you do. If its an award for 2014-2015, it should be for that season. What if the coach before Roy was just terrible but the players always had it in them? Did they do better because Roy is better or was it because the coach the year before wasn't good enough? It's too subjective. Way too subjective.

You're right. That's why I bolded the PPG rather than the total points or total games. In a population sample you would look at average, plus it's not like Nyquist played only 50 games. 179 is pretty significant. But it still doesn't change the fact that Pav/Z did put up those numbers with far more responsibilities on ice. There's a reason Babs said what he did today in his interview. "Datsyuk and Zetterberg came in and made older guys around them better. We need the current young guys to do the same thing" I wouldn't say that we played inferior teams either. We may have been ranked higher in standings but the Anaheim team in 2003 was better. The Edmonton team in 2005/6 was defensively sound as well. They're "A-formation" really shutdown our offense.

This is not at all correct. Datsyuk took a long time to develop in the playoffs. His season numbers were good but his playoff numbers were bad. And he was not "injured" like you're saying. That is an excuse man. If he was injerud his season numbers wouldnt be that great and his playoff numbers be the complete opposite for 4 years in a row. Datsyuk just simply was not a good playoff performer just like Nyquist isn't at the moment. He was a season wonder for a long time. If he was injured for all those years like you say, Then why did he have good numbers in the season but not in the playoffs year in and year out? That doesn't make any sense. Was he healthy for 4 seasons then every playoff run he just happened to get injured? That doesn't make sense. Especially given he played in all but 3 playoffs games the Red Wings qualified for from 2002 - 2006. Zetterberg from the get go WAS actually the better player. He was 2nd in Calder trophy voting behind Jackman. As their careers progressed Datsyuk became the better player and Zetterberg's back led to his decline in 2009 and beyond. Until 2008 they were on par with each other and Z actually was better as a goal scorer and playoff performer. Selke Rankings: 2006: Zetterberg 9. Datsyuk Unranked 2007: Zetterberg 7. Datsyuk 20 2008: Zetterberg 3, Datsyuk 1 (Winner) ^ Hence the start of Datsyuk Selke legacy and Zetterbergs decline.

Wrong. Nyquist in 4 seasons - Season: 179 Games played - 115 points. PPG 0.64 Playoffs: 30 Games played - 7 points PPG 0.23 Zetterberg in 4 seasons - Season: 280 Games played - 240 points. PPG 0.85 Playoffs: 40 Games played - 25 points PPG 0.625 Statistically, Zetterberg was better in his first 4 seasons in both playoffs and in regular season than Nyquist. Datsyuk in 4 seasons - Season: 284 Games played - 241 points. PPG 0.85 Playoffs: 42 Games played - 21 points PPG 0.5 Datsyuk had the same exact Point per game ratio in his first 4 seasons as Zetterberg and still higher than Nyquist in his first four seasons. Datsyuk's playoff numbers were inferior to Zetterberg's in his first 4 seasons but it was still better than Nyquists. Can't look at Tatar's number's quiet yet as he's only played 2 legitimate seasons and playoffs. Both Zetterberg and Datsyuk also killed penalties and had more responsibilities than Tatar and Nyquist did (or ever will, they simply are not even close to being as good defensively as the other two were).

He didn't win it when the team won the presidents trophy and was the best in the league. He didn't win it when the team overcame injuries and got into the playoffs either. If he can't win it when both extremes happens, you know there's something the hell wrong with the league. He should have gotten it last year with all the man games lost and the way we still got into the playoffs. He took a bunch of AHL players and turned them into pro hockey players on the fly. NHL is ridiculous.

The Jack Adams trophy is probably one of the most biased and subjective awards in the league. I wouldn't read too much into it. NHL is known to pick favorites for its awards. There's been times where I've wondered why the hell Datsyuk didn't win the Hart Trophy in 2009. Don't get me started.

I just hope that the next time some of these young guys return to the "locker", their pads are a bit bigger and the jersey size is a bit larger. Some of them need to bulk up and get some muscle tone. Only takes some time for the league to figure out that it's easy to squeeze a player out of his space. (cough cough Nyquist)

Ok that makes sense. That's actually my hometown area. (Plymouth/Canton - Northville-Novi). That's a very calm and family oriented place. Northville/Novi social life is actually pretty damn good too, probably the best in Michigan next to Royal Oak or Ann Arbor. Downtown is on the rise but it's been taking a while. The Red Wings arena should help as well.

The rich live well here. Zetterberg lives around Birmingham and it's pretty damn nice. Datsyuk also has a really nice place in one of the suburbs. I'm not at all sure where Babs lives but I assume one of the nicer suburbs as well. A lot of the 2002 players lived in Northville area which was nice as well (30 min from Detroit) The problem is the weather and roads here are just god awful. Social life here is meh. Aside from all that though, if you're from here, you have an attachment. Babs sort of said it too in the interview. His kids have roots to this place. No matter how sh*** Detroit is, home is home. As for the Babcock wife/husband combo, they may not feel the same way about it. Ahh too many speculations.

Jesus. I just watched the video in the link. He was trying really hard to hold back his tears. I feel terrible for Babs, he really took the loss to his heart it seems like. In 10 years, I've never seem him that let down. He must have really meant it when he said "I think this is the best team we've had since 2009".

He's right though. There aren't any other jobs that are better. Here, he has a core group he built up. Everywhere else is rebuilding and he would have to go there and set up his new coaching style/system. That can be a pain in the a** especially if you're walking into a tradition of losing (Edmonton, Toronto, etc.) I heard Boston could offer but will Babs be a good fit there?! Boston plays a tough and big game and Babs is not known to have his players go play a grind game. He's all about the speed and pass, pass shoot. Pittsburg seems plausible. They still consistently make playoffs and Malkin/Crosby are still young. He could probably win a cup with them, they have most of the pieces needed. He's probably trying to take back some of the stuff he said post game 7. He was a bit too heated and to be honest I couldn't believe he blurted out some of the stuff he did. It wasn't very Babcock like.

Wait so if Babs re-signs is Blashill a for sure loss? I thought Blashill was still under a contract with Griffins. Bet Babs wants to stay but his wife wants to gtfo of Detroit, Michigan. while she still can. Bet she wants some sunshine in Anaheim.

Those two injuries are most concerning to play with imo. The rest of them are not too bad to deal with if you're playing. Can't believe Abby and Glendening played with broken finger and torn tendon....tough guys. Whoever made the prediction on Abby's broken finger two weeks ago was correct! (one of our posters)

First of all. Where is this "playoff no show" concept coming from? Is it from what you saw others posting here? Thornton has 100 points in 131 playoff games and he's been close to a point per game playoff player since 2005 except for last season where he only had 3 points in 7 games. People need to stop reading into what some of the trolls on this website say and make their own informed conclusions by looking up stats and facts before speaking their minds. Second of all. Just because Thornton had issues with the Sharks front office, we are to make a judgement of his ability to fit in and possibly contribute to this franchise? Yeah that makes a lot of sense. It amazes me how much people underestimate the Red Wings organization. They're an elite organization that grooms players into hard workers. We took Jordin Tootoo, a player everyone in the league hated and made decent use out of him while it lasted. We brought back alcoholic, drug abusing Darren McCarty for the 2008 season and got him another Stanley cup. This is the Red Wings, not some joke of an organization.

Pretty sure the talk with Holland is going to go something like : Holland - "We'd love to keep you, 5 million dollar offer" Babs - "Um are you going to get your s*** together and get me some real players?" Holland - "Yes I promise" Babs - "Nah I'm calling your bluff, f*** off Kenny, I'll see you in hell" The world will never know.

What if Babs goes to Toronto to be the GM/Coach and makes a deal with Holland that he will send Phaneuf and Kessel over here for some of our future picks, Smith and Kindl. Toronto is going to be trying to re-rebuild after all. If Babs left on a condition of "hooking us up". I'd be okay with it. Hah. Could be possible.. Holland and Babs do have a great relationship. Jim Nill sort of helped out with the Cole situation.

A lot of those aforementioned teams currently have coaches. Can't assume that they all will fire their current coaches and wait for an answer from Babs. Babs will get a hell of an offer from Toronto. I think his next best offer will be the Red Wings. I wouldn't be surprised at all of Detroit matches Toronto's offer. The Red Wings are quiet a rich franchise.

All the job offers for Babcock are pretty bad right now. All except Toronto. And that's only because they could offer him GM/Coaching job so he would have more power. Other than that his best option is to stay in Detroit. None of the other teams that have vacancies are at Detroit's level. Detroit has a subpar roster with a lot of experience (at this point) that successfully makes the playoffs each year. Most of the job vacancies for Babs are bottom teams that can't even get a crack at the playoffs. Buffalo, Edmonton, Toronto. If I were Babs, I'd stick with Detroit for the time being and get paid a lot of money to do so. He could sign a short contract for 3 or so seasons and get paid big money for it. This is a team he's groomed up and with Mrazek and younger players getting all the experience they have at the moment, I think he's still got a better shot of being successful here rather than anywhere else. All other places need a big revamp, will he be patient enough for it? Honestly I'd stick it out with Detroit and wait till better options are available for him. Then again Toronto IS the trump card because it DOES have the GM/Coach option. But with their history of firing coaches and GM and fanbase that's very very critical, you would wonder if that's an environment Babs even wants to be a part of. The guy hates media pressure. Guess we'll find out shortly.

Yes because the NHL has so many 28 year old great players in their prime that are just ready to be signed. Unfortunely that's the league for ya. Either call up the young kids or signed aging vets who are no longer useful for their team (Thornton). I guess there's a few possibilities with Toronto possibly trying to revamp. There's Phaneuf or Lupul or MAYBE Kessel (highly doubtful).

Why would you want Thornton when we already have such GREAT centers. (Datsyuk! and the amazing superfast Henrik Zetterberg!) and the league is full of amazing centers ready to be signed. Good lord that Thornton. He's probably one of the worst centers. He can't even put up like 60 points a season. Oh wait.. Hell I'd take Shehean, Weiss, Andersson over Thornton ALL day. Those guys are real all-star level. I'm telling ya.

How about: Z - Thornton - Tatar Abby - Datsyuk - Nyquist I say this because Thornton + Z and Tatar combo wud be a heavy scoring line. I say Datsyuk with Nyquist because. Well Z and Nyquist didn't go so well for us. Dats still has the ability to make his winger look real good. Even if it's not like it used to be. Abby wud be the powerforward for Dats. But we wont get Thornton. So lol.

Thornton > Zetterberg at center. I'd take him. Let Z play winger and have a less stressful season from here on out so he can last the whole season + playoffs. Again, wishful thinking..

A legitimate center and a legitimate defenseman that can play 27+ minutes a game and a PURE goal scorer. Wishful thinking. But those 3 are what we need. If you consider Tatar and Nyquist as goal scorers, you're kidding yourself.