Bill Berzeench

Im in FULL agreement with you on the Carolina game. Worst Ive ever seen him play. He was on the ice for 4 of the goals, and was mostly responsible for 3 of them. Cant really defend his play for that game.

Richards is not worth 3 mil, in my opinion.

I cant, brother! It's a good point. The only thing I can say back is think outside the box. Do we really have any players other than Miller that you could call a 4th liner always? Jurco goes from bench to 1st line to 4th line to 2nd line to bench again. A lot of our forwards travel up and down the 1st 3 lines, as well. I feel like if we play our top 12 players, we dont really need to classify each line in rank. Instead, just roll the 4 lines. The ice times will vary, sure. So you will be able to tell who's getting top minutes and rank them that way. But I dont think we need to have role players who can only do a few things like Miller, Andersson, and Ferraro. I think we need the best 12 forwards in our system to do all things as best they can. Remember when Hank and Dats were killing penalties with Helm and Franzen? Our pk was SICK back then. Because we had our best players doing all things.

Agreed. But signing 5 defensemen to 4-5 mil each pretty much means you gotta play those 5. Ericsson is not gonna sit, unfortunately. He could use a week off to get his shyte together.

I differ from you there a bit. I feel like a good coach should be able to take the 12 best forwards a team has and mold 4 lines out of them. I dont think we need to have a "grind line" so to speak. And I dont think winger/center really matters. I think Glendening-Helm-Athanasiou would light it up after 20-30 games together. All centers.

I like your line of thought. I just think he could help us now. Maybe im wrong.

You were right. Richards looked lost out there a lot of the times. Sheahan was ok, tho.

The Demers hit was pretty bad too.

I hear you. Problem is these guys dont grow on trees. Athanasiou is 6'2", 190 lbs right now. He should fill out to 205 or so. He hits with his speed, though. Have you watched him?

Absolutely. He's fast.

Holland doesnt know what he's doing. Working 3 days a year is going to lose us a lot of talent we've spent a lot of time developing. Devellano is now way past his prime, Bowman is gone, Nill is gone, and Andersson is surrounded by a million scouts in Europe now. Holland is exposed now. How many years of not winning the cup with a full payroll does everyone need to see before Holland takes the blame? Seems like he's real good at taking the credit for things other people were a lot more responsible for.

Enter Athanasiou.

I like it.

I love Smith. Got a signed photo on my desk at work. He's awesome!

Rewatch the Tampa Bay series. Aside from a few gaffs in game 6, Smith was outstanding. Especially in game 7 where he was thrust into the top pairing role. I'd like to see Smith with Green. I think those 2 would feed off each other.

Ok, first things first - it's 2 games. Smith has played in 4, sat for 2. And he should be criticized for poor play, but we shouldnt put the blame solely on him when we lose. And I havent blamed Miller for the entire pk being junk. Im making a point that whatever pk magic people say or think he has isnt helping us much. Our pk is junk.

You're a selective post reader. We were 17th on the pk last YEAR. And we are off to a poor start so far. I have zero dislike for any of these players. I have dislike for Drew Miller playing over Athanasiou, Mantha, Jurco, Ferraro, or Nosek. I feel like we should play our 12 best forwards. If our 12 best make 4 grind lines, so be it. If our 12 best make 4 scoring lines, fine. Drew Miller's specialty penalty killing and non-existent offense/physicality/speed are not helping the Red Wings. How many games do we need to see this before it sinks in? Cal Ripken's iron man streak is impressive because he was GOOD. Drew Miller's streak is impressive because a stupid GM and a stupid coach (maybe 2) have failed to see that he is NOT that good. P.s. hope you arent getting upset or taking anything personally. Im just debating with you. Meant to be in a friendly manner.

Yes, I dont think Smith has lived up to his billing over the last 2 years +. But I dont base my opinion on him for one bad game.

So none of those guys were factors last night. Are Abby, Hank, and Larkin to blame for losing to the Oilers? Or is Smith still on the hook? I just want to learn how the blame game goes around here. I tend to criticize players, coaches, and gms over things I can see over the course of a season or at least a long stretch of games. If a player has one horrible game, I tend NOT to pin every problem with the team on him.

Cant wait for the return of 13.

You are finally coming around! What is our next roster move? Who sits when Smith gets back in? Ericsson? Kindl?

3 and 1 with Smith. 0 and 2 without Smith. I dont think there's good evidence to support the Smith is collectively bad argument. What there is good evidence for, however, is replacing Drew Miller. He's our best pk specialist? Well, our pk sucks. Maybe it's time we bring up some speed (Athanasiou) to replace 180 lb, slow Drew Miller so we dont have to be on the pk as much??

Athanasiou time.

0 for 6 on the pp. Smith could help there...

Ha ha ha