Bill Berzeench

Yah, Mrazek has a way to go before being the guy to 100% of the people. That's true.

Battle Over. Mrazek emerges victorious. AGAIN.

Yah. Mrazek is our #1. It's clear as day.

Cool! It's almost like there's a beatles/elvis thing with Yzerman and Fedorov. It's ok to like both!!!

Youre right. Bobby Orr had a huge plus for his career cause of multiple bulls*** stat luckouts like that. Half of hid Nortis trophies are b.s. too. Why even keep any stats?

Why?

Ok, one sec. You are right on Holland. That guy is totally 100% on my shyte list. Holland has wasted so much cap space on dirt crap junk over the last 5 years, he deserves to be fired. His Cleary dealings should also have gotten him fired on a conflict of team interest basis. Howard, I just dont think he's paid right. That's Holland's fault, but I still have a hard time promoting a back-up who's paid like a starter and plays so inconsistently. Miller, I cant believe has an NHL job. Again, that's Holland's fault. But get one thing straight - i dont blame Miller for our pk issues. I think he's a pretty good pk guy, actually. I just dont think we need to put any emphasis on our pk by devoting specialists to it. We have a HUGE 5 on 5 problem if you havent noticed. We need more guys who can create offense 5 on 5. Miller is useless in this regard. There are only 12 forwards and 20 total players. Its not like football where you have a 53 man roster and can reserve 3 spots for guys who only play 5 to 10 of the 70 or so offensive plays (punter, kicker, long snapper). Having a pk specialist who is a liability 5 on 5 instead of a threat or at least a stopper is a problem for our team. We simply dont have the scoring depth (or size) that Chicago, Washington, etc. have. Hope that helps clear it up. I dont dislike Miller personally. I just think we need someone, and have someone, better in the 12 spot.

Game Time = 3:00 PM EST. Starting Lineups (Subject to Change): DALLAS Benn-Seguin-Sharp Janmark-Eakin-Spezza Shore-Faksa-Nichushkin Roussel-Fidler-Sceviour Goligoski-Klingberg Oduya-Demers Jokipakka-Benn Lehtonen DETROIT Larkin-Zetterberg-Abdelkader Tatar-Sheahan-Nyquist Andersson-Helm-Pulkkinen Miller-Glendening-Jurco Kronwall-Smith Dekeyser-Ericsson Kindl-Green Mrazek

Hence - spread the talent. Stop thinking in terms of line priority and you will open yourself to a new world.

Ok, point taken. Smith back at practice today or still sick?

Feds in the rafters, please. He's ours.

Agreed. 5 on 5 scoring is the glaring problem right now. How do we fix that?

I understand what you are getting at. The top line d sees better forwards, so they should tend to have more minuses. They get more minutes, though, so some of that will be compensated for by pluses. The checking line sees the top line of the other team, so expect more minuses for them in the same fashion. I get that. But when you look at a career of 3 or more seasons, the plus/minus stat is telling of the type of player you are looking at and how he impacts the team. Point well taken, tho.

I love the snotty attitude. As if you are the final decision on right and wrong. Let me play along Zombo style: Good Call. We've been doing SOOOO well with Miller blocking all those shots. The penalty kill MUST be first in the league, and Miller MUST have a huge + in plus/minus. And why on earth would we want to put a big guy on every line? Jurco-Shehan-Abdelkader as the 4th line, and then lets roll with 9 smaller guys in the top 9. Our offense is so dynamic right now, so who needs a forecheck or dirty goals? And last, Good call on your overall critiquing of others' proposed changes. We've won so many Stanley Cups and have had so much playoff success since 2009. Why would anyone want to try anything different.Hogwash, dude. Read the post above yours, Zombo. You dont have to agree with me. But please offer an opposing argument that makes sense instead of your irrelevant and unfunny sarcasm. I agree. I dont like line 3 either, but thats the best we have now. That line REALLY needs developed Mantha instead of Pulkinnen, but Mantha isnt strong enough yet to be a force in the corners. Do you think we should bring him up?

Spread the talent. Larkin, Datsyuk, Sheahan, Helm down the middle. Zetterberg-Larkin-Abdelkader Tatar-Datsyuk-Jurco Nyquist-Sheahan-Pulkkinen Glendening-Helm-Athanasiou That 12 would be hard to keep up with.

Youre still not over me catching you the other day! Let it go, brah!!!

Exactly. Our team has so many bad contracts. If we could unload a few of them for picks, Id be happy.

Would you re-sign him?

Yah, the forwards arent supposed to help out at all.

Agreed. Good post. And calling Franzen a pf is even a stretch.

People dont like stats around here. Miller is gonna be a minus 100 for his career at this rate, but people are infatuated with him. Makes me laugh that we play him over Jurco and Mantha.

Yah, nobody says hey, Nyquist was a minus 3 and was picking his ass the whole game instead of helping Smith and the Defense. They look at the only guy trying to play defense out there while 4 other red wings are ready for lazy boys. Smith isnt Lidstrom. Get over it.

Am i the only one that is sick to death of the drop pass on the pp? Its so forced and dorlesnt work because Brendan Smith, who can skate fast enough to make something of it, isnt on the fricking pp! New plan - give it to Larkin. Dead serious.

If we can get rid of our excess that easily, why not shoot for Crosby for Andersson, Miller, and Ericsson as well?

Agreed. And Smith lost his guy on that goal and made one horrible pinch, but was nowhere near the worst defenseman out there today. Green was a holy mess and by far the worst. Ericsson was chasing the play all game, and Dekeyser had a poor game as well. Part of me thinks the wings sucked today, but the big part of me knows the Stars are good and just beat the Wings.