kickazz

Gentlemen do we see a Zetterberg-Stamkos matchup?

Kronwall himself isn't a top pair d-man imo, and to putting others on his line shouldn't be considered blasphemy. The Red Wings don't truly have a legitimate top pairing. Although I dislike Smith's play, I wouldn't mind seeing if him being put on a line with Kronner cud help make a difference. Crazier things have happened in this sport. This should be the least of things to argue about on this roster.. especially with the slim pickins the Red Wings have. The overall D line is just awful in general. DK and Q are decent.

We used two already, not sure if that's the max

It's win - lose situation. Q and DK reuinite which is great for us. Smith and Zid are a liability together but at the very least it allows our best defensive pairing to get back together. I'd take my chances with this.

This might be Smith's shot to redeem himself. I really hope he does, otherwise that short leash that broke in Montreal and seems to be re-tied... breaks again.

When the JLA starts playing better win songs instead of stupid rap songs that don't belong it will be intimidating again

First round is always crappy. I remember the San Jose series a few years ago when we game back from a 3-0 deficit and tied it 3-3 at home, JLA was super hyper. Best game I experienced in a while. We just need to make a deep playoff push and the fans will get back into it. These early exits are not fun. The crowd hasn't been into it like it was since 2009 or so. I remember in the 2009 Pittsburg series my ears were ringing after one of the games. I'll be there Tuesday night tho!

Can't think of many orgs that take 6th and 7th draft picks and turn them into Conn Smyth winner or Hart Trophy candidates either. Hollands done well with what he's had to work with. What we're going thru right now we should have long ago in the mid to late 2000s since we didnt have good draft picks even then (due to our continuous winning history). But we lucked out because our crappy late picks (Pav and Z) turned out to be steal picks (unpredicted superstars) and got us the 2008 cup. Unfortunately we haven't had "lucky" late picks like Pav and Z in this decade and now we're facing the challenge we were supposed to last decade.

I really dont think he's talked to the refs more than like 10 times in his career lol. The guy is in his own magical world doing magical things. But i know what you mean

Woah relax... Even tho Z is playing subpar his game is still 100% better than most of our forwards. Most of us are complaining about Z and comparing him to his own personal playoff standards, not the teams standards. Z is still doing better than most of the squad is. He's actually got the same amount of giveaways in this series as Datsyuk does.. Less giveaways in the season than most of our forwards including Datsyuk. Pav wearing the C, the refs would have a grand slam throwing us penalties when the dude theyre talking to cant effectively communicate in english to them. I understand you're unhappy with game 2 but dam gotta relax a bit there lol. This organization would never scratch their superstars. That's why its the Detroit Red Wings.

Per Ansar, Marchenko may be getting benched for Kindl or Smith. http://www.mlive.com/redwings/index.ssf/2015/04/justin_abdelkaders_anticipated.html

Zet-Pav-Abby >>> Zet-Pav-Helm. Helm is useless for the eurotwins style of play. But Babs will probably split Pav and Z up without giving the Zet-Pav-Abby line a chance. Z's play is awful, But maybe centering his line and shutting down other team 2nd line is a better strategy so the other lines can do some of the scoring. At this point I just want Z to atleast help shutdown the other scoring top line. That's all im asking for.

Why do we even need any defensemen to score a goal? What we first need to have is our own offensive guys scoring goals or taking quality shots (which they arent) and then we can talk about offensive minded defensemen. Currently our defense cant even play defense so why is there even any talk of defensive scoring? Marchenko does a better job defensively and is a more mature player than Smith is. Hence why he's in the line up. Babcock isn't worried about why his defensemen arent scoring what he wants is a player that wont add to the high amount of turn overs and make dumb mistakes both on and off the ice. And the reality is, Smith's "off ice" clutch move in Montreal was probably Babcock's last straw. And since when is our team rolling over and dying? You're acting like Smith is some god like player that is going to come in and clutch the series. Smith if anything has had most of the worst stats on the team this entire season and Babcock seems to be quiet fed up with his immaturity and lack of smart play. This team didnt lose today because Smith wasn't in there. They lost because Tampa is that much better. They lost because our offense can't get it going and takes weak shots. They lost because Tampa's defense plays tight. They lost because our defense didn't help out Mrazek when needed. Smith is a nonfactor. The amount of support Smith gets, if only he lived up to it. Jeez.

Why are you asking me about Smith? Ask the guy supporting Smith. I'm merely pointing out that you can't take just take one stat, "Hits" and define it as physicality in hockey.

Smith's offensive abilities arent going to carry this team because his offensive ability isnt as great as people keep giving it credit for. He's not Niklas Lidstrom and not a game changer. We need people in general to step up.

Hits does not equate to physicality. Multiple things equate to physicality. That would be like saying Zetterberg is not a physical defensive forward just because his hits per season is on the low end.. because Zetterberg actually does have a reputation of being pretty physical when asked to be matched up against offensive superstars (Crosby, Malkin, Toews matchups).

Well, we as fans may not be happy with Detroit's performance but Babs and the rest of the team feel like they accomplished spliting it 1-1. I don't know if a Defensive change is on their minds quiet yet. Maybe if we lose game 3 horribly. But that wont happen and hence there wont be a change

I mean this isnt 2009 anymore. Abdelkader is actually a pretty decent player now that listens to coaches, leadership core, creates space and scores goals fed to him by the superstars. His net front presence is a bit under par with Holmstrom (except he doesn't go down as easy as homer did), almost as good as homer but not quiet as good at that job. That's what happens when you play with superstars. Babcock's decision to continually put Abby with Pav or Z the past two years, despite fans thinking it was a dumb idea, actually ended up helping Abby develop into a good player. The only reason I'm looking forward to Abby returning is so Datsyuk gets a legitimate winger on his line because Z is not getting it done and maybe its better that Z centers a line and Abby can score goals off Zetterberg feeds. I dont know, here's to optimism

Should stick with Mrazek in game 3. As far as the Zetterberg situation. No matter what he says about how his "post surgery rehab went well". I'm sorry guy but post surgery you have just not been the same player. This is a completely different player than from 2014 and before. He's simply not an offensive threat for us anymore. I don't even think you can be this regressed as a player at age 34. He's playing like he's 38. Abdelkader must return.

http://redwings.nhl.com/club/blogpost.htm?id=39044 Did babs really switch Zetterberg to Right Wing?

Tampa's hungry to win but Detroit is hungry to challenge Bishop more than he was last game. Edge Detroit. I say they win 4-3 with a Zetterberg site-ing. Time for Tatar to flex a bit on the powerplay.

For his first NHL game, Marchenko did just fine. He had 1 major giveaway that Mrazek bailed him out. But even Kronner has made 1 or 2 mistakes per game. It almost felt like Zid was thinking too offensively and not enough defensively. He's got to realize that Tampa is too damn offense heavy to try to make cute plays. He's got to play more balanced this series.

Yea blind passes suck but its awfully hard to do that when their defense plays tight and we have zero power forwards. I remember last night Datsyuk got bodied at least 3 times trying to enter tampas zone with puck. Unfortunately for us due to our smaller sized players we don't have much of a choice but to dump it in. This is why Abby needs to be back to create space

Hell of a wrist shot he has ----------------- But yea the PP + goaltending will help us get thru this series. That starts with having less penalties being called against us.

Idk, D and Z are too slow to not have a fast skater or at the very least a power forward on their line that can retrieve pucks. Tatar and Nyquist are neither as fast (as helm) nor can they help with upfront battles like Abby can. My only issue with Helm is he shud just be the fast skater and retrieve pucks instead of trying to get cute with the puck.