Aethernum

The Chicago Blackhawks of the last few years will go down in NHL history as the best team ever at winning games in which they were dramatically and consistently outplayed. It's so infuriating.

Talk about not being fazed by the moment...

All I heard was a cross-check to McCollum and then my radio feed exploded. Apparently we won? Did anyone die?

Honestly feels like the Hawks just have the favor of the hockey gods this year. How many bounces have gone their way? How many close officiating calls? The first two 2+OT games they won they were being outplayed throughout the extra periods and just got the good bounce first. Even the games that the Ducks have won the Hawks have gotten some absurd breaks and timely goals. I really hope Anaheim shows up this weekend because it really feels like they're going to need their best play yet to finish off this Hawks team.

Too bad they weren't smart enough to also edit "Years with current team"...

This is important.

He's had all year to think about it - but he hasn't had all year to fly around the country and talk with organizations and discuss salaries and prospects and how much input he gets on the roster. Those are important aspects of the decision, believe it or not. Has he had time to think about "Do I want to stay in Detroit or not"? Sure. But if he gave even more than cursory attention to "Hmmm, what do the up and coming St. Louis prospects look like..." that would have been irresponsible given his coaching duties. How does he think he would get along with management in Buffalo? How much control would he get over the roster in San Jose? What would his kids' college situation(s?) look like if he moved to Toronto? Out of country applications for US universities versus in-state? Is there a decent (and affordable) neighborhood for him and his wife in St. Louis? These are all things to think about - and if you really think he had spare time to consider these details during the regular season, you don't have enough respect for the profession of coaching an NHL team. Which is why - as he keeps repeating to the media - he hasn't thought about it as much as he needs to in order to make a call. There are a LOT of aspects to this decision that he can't/shouldn't have been thinking about until the Wings were eliminated. I don't begrudge him that. And no, he hasn't had a squad at the level of Chicago or Los Angeles. But in mid-February Detroit was considered a sneaky-good contender for the Cup at the level of any team in the West. That's my point. It collapsed eventually, but we still made it into the postseason. Would that have happened under another coach? Would the Wings have even been in that position (fighting for the top spot in the division over halfway through the season) with the same roster but a different coach? I doubt that. He has made the team better. Period. I'll grant you it's probably an exaggeration to say the roster wasn't playoff worthy last season, but an average coach doesn't get that roster in last year. Maybe not even this year. He has gotten well above average results with (and I think this IS fair) only a slightly above average team - at least in the last few years. All I'm saying is that we should respect that body of work and give the man some time to sort out his business without berating him for not being undyingly loyal to the place where he's already delivered a Cup and spent over a decade of his life. He's earned that.

As the hysteria in this thread has risen to unbearably higher levels, I'd like to point out: In what other profession would it NOT be acceptable for someone with 10+ years in one location to take a few weeks to explore his options? He's gotten us one Cup (and damn close to two), ten years in the playoffs, and in the last few years he has kept the team in the mix of Cup contenders despite barely having a playoff-caliber roster. Are we really not okay with giving him (AND HIS FAMILY) a few weeks to make a major life decision? And are we really going to shovel all the blame onto him for the hoopla the media makes about his decision? He didn't ask to be the biggest FA name on the market this off-season. He didn't ask for major markets like Toronto to have an opening that inspire a media feeding frenzy. Do we expect him to believe so strongly that Detroit is the best hockey place in the history of forever that he wouldn't so much as glance elsewhere? Is that disloyal - or to put it another way, are we that insecure? He's been here for ten years. Come on. The only thing I see here is a guy who has served the Detroit organization well and faithfully for over a decade spending a few weeks to decide what is best for the future of his family. And we're really shallow enough not to grant him that without ill will? I'm disappointed. Blashill has done a great job in Grand Rapids. I hope he continues to do so. And I hope we have another 10 years of Babcock.

Red Wings posted the link to voting on their Facebook page. Nyquist now has 10% lead.

Yeah I don't know what bull**** TSN is pulling but here's the deal: I work in a computer lab that teaches Photoshop classes. No class on Sundays, so I've got 15 computers running this script on about ten tabs each. It's been half an hour and Nyquist has barely gained a few hundred votes. If my math is right that should be a few thousand. So either TSN's vote counts are way behind or something's fishy.

On the video they circle Kronwall's feet at the moment of contact. Am I the only one who doesn't see skates off the ground yet? You are allowed to leave the ground after contact. No injury, no prior disciplinary history, and this is a Game 7. I hope Babcock absolutely lights up the commissioner when the media asks him about this. Screw the paltry fines. This team shouldn't take this blatant slap in the face laying down.

Really interesting article. Out of curiosity, who has the locker next to Z now?

Hey-o, there they are!

"A little bit of contact" with Mrazek? He deliberated slew-footed him.

THAT'S not the close-up we wanted...

Was that a penalty or a delayed offsides that the ref was calling before the break? I swear to god if we're on the PK again...

The no-look pass is really cool. Until that happens.

It was the right call. I just wish they'd call Callahan for his thuggery at some point. The whole reason he and Smith were going at it was because he grabbed Smith's stick behind the play.

Agreed. If they continue playing like this into the third they'll be really happy by game's end. I don't think there's any denying that Tampa is the more skilled team, but Detroit is working harder tonight. It feels good to be able to say that.

Let's "kick the puck in" more, just to spite Tampa's announcers.

I appreciate your loyalty. That's great. But I've been to a few dozen Wings games. Now that I'm living near Chicago I always try to catch the Det@Chi games, too. It has been a LONG time since the atmosphere in the Joe has matched what I see every time I'm at the United Center. Just look at the lower bowl once play starts back up. I can count a dozen empty seats in each section. All I'm saying is that I hope that will change if we make it past Tampa.

Compare this game with the Chicago game later tonight. You'll see what I mean.

I just can't get over how empty the place looks. At the beginning of the game I could excuse it, but we're almost to intermission now. Say what you will about consecutive sellouts, this is a quiet building that doesn't seem to provide a huge home ice advantage. That needs to change.

Tampa is showing their skill here. We get a goal, they instantly flip a switch. If we can weather this PK and get some pressure, there's a chance to create some serious momentum.

So where the hell was that whistle?