DickieDunn

The crease is one place there isn't a conflict. Right now Howard is on, Mrazek is waiting there for him to do his customary fumble into the crapper. It's every other place on the roster,t he coaching staff, and front office all the way from the scouts to ownership we need to worry about.

there are three ways to get elite talent. Get lucky later in the draft, like the Wings did several times leading up to Datsyuk and Zetterberg, make a trade for a Seguin type, or draft in the top 5. They haven't gotten lucky in a long time, and Holland refuses to make a trade, and management seems intent on keeping The Streak going at all costs. In other words, buckle up, it's going to be a bumpy ride.

As much I as I don't think he has the chops to be an NHL coach, Trashill is only part of the problem. The issues start at the ownership level being content to keep the streak going until the new barn opens, down to Holland and his over reliance on vets and determination to lock them all up and worry about the cap later, then finally coaching and the insistence on using the OMG line late in games when they should be sitting. Like I said before the season, they have no top line caliber forwards or top pair caliber defensemen, and a lot of the games that they won were because their goalie stood on his head. The winning streak and Helm's hot start, which was never going to be close to sustainable, as well as Vanek's better than expected play, masked some of the issues, but in the end, water finds its level. I don't see this team making the playoffs unless Holland breaks from his career long pattern and actually makes an in season trade that sends a roster player or three out to bring in some real upgrades.

Especially since management went all in on veteran depth over experience for youngsters.

Ya think?

Generally when a young player sis showing flashes of elite play, good coaches don't cut their minutes or bench them.

For the most part we're not talking about Zetterberg, we're talking about everyone else, particularly the superstars on the OMG line who do no wrong. But the idea that he shouldn't be criticized for his play because of his past is ludicrous.

If you have the puck the other team can't score. If you don't have the puck, you can't score. Possession is one of the biggest factors in winning.

Tough live is one thing, needing to pepper every ounce of praise with a pound of criticism and calling out a kid for the same mistakes you ignore in your vets is flat out stupid.

And one of the issues with Holland is he won't fire Trashill

My theory is he can't pronounce AA's name correctly and that makes him mad, so he doesn't want to play the kid. That and the Darren Helm Jr. thing, along with a healthy dose of "Babcock had a whipping boy I should too."

When you don't have the players to play a style a smart coach switches styles. Blashill hasn't.

He wants AA to play just like Helm and when he doesn't he gets criticized. Everyone else gets a pass for some weird reason. Very Babcockian

I think he should be fired regardless of if they make it or not. He's making the same mistakes he made last year. Larkin, despite his struggles, needs to be at center. That's his future. He's not going to get better at center by playing wing. Helm has predictably cooled off, only 2 assists in his last 6 games, but he still gets a bunch of minutes while the more productive AA plays 9 or 10 a game, because Blashill thinks he needs to be Darren Helm Jr. Zetterberg needs to be playing less so he doesn't have his legs fall off the last month of the season, but he's not. He continues to overuse his over matched 4th line, it's like he doesn't see the problem with the other team having the puck most of the time they're on the ice. What made the Grind Line so effective was that they could get the puck, get it up ice, and put pressure on the other team, not sit back and try to block shot after shot.

Wiim are a bunch of bloggers, their opinions are less well thought out than half the post on this board

Hard work - talent = career minor league player

Teams have other ways to evaluate their prospects than give them NHL games. Coaches can watch them in practice and see they don't have the skating ability, compare them to the players they're competing against to see if they're strong enough, and they can break down every goal for and against to see if it would be scored against NHL competition. The idea that they have to play 20+ games with top 6 players to know if they're going to make it is BS.

Keep Frk and Pulk or keep Miller and Ott, you're keeping guys who are at best border line NHL players who would be reserves on a good team, and if the Wings were looking at what was best long term they'd be reserves here, too. Frk and Pulk WERE mid level prospects, At this point they've shown that they're unlikely to be NHL players. That makes them low level prospects, if you even want to call them prospects any more. I don't consider guys who are career AHL/European league players prospects.

AA could have been sent down, or Kronwall could have gone on LTIR, or both. Then Pulk and/or Frk could have stayed on the roster, they could have even played. The issue is that they wanted to keep Sheahan and Helm off the 4th line, and Trashill wants pluggers or guys with speed on the 4th line. That means Pulk and Frk can't play there, and since they don't want Helm or Sheahan there, there's no room for them in the lineup. They aren't mid-tier prospects anymore. They're guys who don't have NHL level talent and aren't likely to develop it at their age. These guys just have no value because EVERYONE has guys like them. Sure, MAYBE they're just late bloomers and they'll suddenly "get it" at 25 years old and turn into regular 20+ goal guys at the NHL level. And MAYBE my wife brings home a hot 20 year old and tells me that she's my birthday present. Both are pretty unlikely. And no, I don't particularly care about helping GR. AHL level talent is all over the place, they lose one guy they get someone else instead, and I'd rather see legit prospects getting the ice time.

You realize this is untrue, right? They could have easily kept Frk and/or Pulk without waiving either Miller or Ott. Frk and Pulk were waived because they're not NHL caliber players. Period.

Why are so many people acting upset about Howard playing well and getting in games? It's silly. BTW, the last time a Cup winning goalie played in 70+ regular season games was Broduer in 02-03. Quick had 69 in 11-12, only one other guy had 60 games played.

Nyquist-Nielsen-Abdelkader Tatar-Zetterberg-Larkin (with Larkin and Z splitting time at center) Mantha-AA-Sheahan playing protected minutes Ott-Helm-Glendening Once Vanek is back put him with Nielsen, Abby with AA, and Sheahan in Ott's spot. Three lines that can score and a checking line more capable than what they roll out now.

Maybe they see more upside in Mthr Frkr than Pulk, or maybe Pulk requested to not go back to the Griffins and they honored it.

Assuming he proves he can play well for 60+ games a year.

The Tuscan Raiders almost got him, but they were scared off and he escaped before they returned with larger numbers.