grimace1970

https://detroitsportsnation.com/potential-coaching-candidates-replace-jeff-blashill-behind-red-wings-bench/mwhitaker/detroit-red-wings-news/10/26/2019/211264/ Too soon? I theoretically like the idea of Boucher...

https://www.freep.com/story/sports/nhl/red-wings/2019/11/05/detroit-players-blowout-losses-us-not-coaches/4154287002/?fbclid=IwAR1im22m4OF09Lm4cak6vB1CsRRcTVbDdenHZIflPSTqVGOq-9X-Lm88Fgs Maybe it isn't too soon after all... ...although it is good to finally hear him say “we had a whole bunch of guys that couldn’t execute a tape-to-tape pass.” Should've said it 3 years ago, but its forward progress of a sort.

Flaming poop on the bottom of your shoe.

Honestly, I don't believe changing the coach at this point is going to have a significant effect. Although someone willing to incessantly drill them on their passing wouldn't go amiss.

https://www.yahoo.com/sports/capitals-waive-2018-playoffs-standout-smith-pelly-195704098--nhl.html Pick 'em up, Kenny!

Why not? Especially if we're seriously going to lose Gus?

Looks like the freaking Borg.

Something's been bothering me about the way this team has played in the last 3-5 years, and I'm wondering if it reflects a fundamental difference in the way players are being taught to play the game, a difference in how teams have to play now to be effective, if it's a comparative lack of skill on these Wings teams, or what exactly. Two things: 1) we don't see the crisp, accurate passes in the O-zone (or anywhere really) that used to mess with other teams so completely, and related, 2) we're not seeing the puck possession that was such a hallmark of the team since the success of the 90s/early 00s. With 82 Wings games to watch every season, I really haven't watched a significant number of non-Wings games to determine whether it is just this team or if the whole league works this way now. I find myself every game yelling, "Pass it TO [insert name here], not TOWARD them!" So not only is every shift is dump and chase, now it's pass and chase all the time. We gain possession in the zone, and almost immediately give it away. Why would anybody be surprised if this system produced fewer shots on goal (and therefore goals)? And I just can't imagine the coaches watching this game after game and not thinking, "Next practice, we're doing passing drills until these bone-heads can pass tape to tape. And then we're going to do it some more." I know the game is faster than it was in the 90s - we have kids like Larkin and AA flying across the ice. But to work, this speed has to be combined with teamwork, as there are nearly always at least two opposition players back - relying on one-man breakaways almost completely for your goal scoring is crazy. You need to be able to make those accurate passes to the second/third man in to discombobulate the opponent's coverage in the zone. The only way to do that in my mind is to keep the puck moving - obviously in our possession. Keep the opposition so off-balance that they can't keep up. And we just can't do that. When we do get the puck back in the zone from a dump-in, we lose it to sloppy passing 1/2 the time (being generous here). Do accurate passes just not work with speed anymore? Were our 90s/00s teams just that much better than everybody else, and I shouldn't expect several players on a line with both speed and accurate passing? I don't think it's speed on the other side that's completely disrupting this, because I've seen plenty of occasions every game where we pass toward an open guy and lose possession, because the pass was in his skates, or way off the mark. And even if the speed of the opposition is a problem, why would coaches abandon passing accuracy as their primary skill to counter that in favor of scrums? Constantly chasing puck possession in the zone and digging it out of scrums clearly isn't working for us. OK, now I'm starting to rant, so let me stop. Can someone enlighten me about why passing is such a problem now? Is the game strategy just so different now that this isn't a seen as a major solution? Are the coaches encouraging this constant dump/pass and chase approach to O-zone time - encouraging a constant "get the puck back" approach over a "keep possession of the puck" approach? Help me understand this. Maybe these games won't be as frustrating if I get it.

The "everybody's playing this way" thing resonated a little with what I think I've seen. So I immediately thought if the whole league is playing this way, maybe goals are down. Looking at the chart below, the league is definitely among the lowest mean goals per game per team that it's ever been, and consistently since 2011, despite the constant meddling by the league to push goals back up. Maybe this shows a more defensive game has been played roughly since we stopped being successful. So maybe we're not doing defensive hockey as well as everybody else (perhaps not coincidentally, Lids left in '12, which more or less signaled the complete decomposition of our defense). Definitely feels like we've had this problem for around 5 years or so... Season Goals Per Team Season Goals Per Team 1990 3.46 2003 2.57 1991 3.48 2005 3.03 1992 3.63 2006 2.88 1993 3.24 2007 2.72 1994 2.99 2008 2.85 1995 3.14 2009 2.77 1996 2.92 2010 2.73 1997 2.64 2011 2.66 1998 2.63 2012 2.65 1999 2.75 2013 2.67 2000 2.76 2014 2.66 2001 2.62 2015 2.67 2002 2.65 2016 2.64 I know man. But I still cringe every time one of the Canada Hockey Night or NBC guys uses that word. Was that a Melrosism?

First of all, you referred to the verb "to front" here, which should automatically render everything else you say null and void. But seriously, this seems to be what I'm seeing: d-zone - box out, closest defender attacks the puck carrier hard, get the puck to the wall, scrum, pass TOWARD a teammate, if you're lucky it connects, dump it to center. Repeat. O-zone: dump in, go get the puck off the wall, scrum, pass TOWARD a teammate, promptly giving the puck away, and skate after the play. As you say, it seems like we're doing this to a ridiculous degree, but I'm seeing other teams doing it too. I was thinking it must be coming from somewhere. But I'm sure getting praised in the media for your grit in scrums rather than the accuracy of your passes or your puck possession game isn't doing much for the other two more desirable behaviors in this sentence... Not sure if Blash's goal here is flexibility, but it certainly doesn't seem to be resulting in goals.

"According to Corsica, the Red Wings are last in the league in five-on-five Corsi for per 60 minutes at 47.91 through their first 24 games, last in the NHL in Fenwick for per 60 (36.90) and 27th in shots for per 60 (27.74). Instead of shooting the puck and looking for second-chance opportunities, they generally opt to make a pass that either gets intercepted or leads to a turnover and loss of possession". Wow. Pretty good timing with this story, http://thehockeywriters.com/note-to-red-wings-shoot-more/.

This seems to match what I think I've observed the past few years with this team. I feel like part of it is Blash is continuing with Babs' game, and therefore several guys who play really good offensive hockey are squeezed - round-peg-square-hole - into a defense first, dump-and-chase type of game. Maybe this is why so many guys have seemed like they were going to be huge, and fizzled. But maybe everybody plays this way now, and if you can't learn to, you're going to have problems. It worked in the past, but now that everybody's doing it, we can't stand out. I dunno. Probably not a clean answer to this question. And I thought you guys were cool...

Been watching too much Game of Thrones...

And I thought Gus was the second coming of Shanny there for awhile. And that Pulki was the second coming of Hull. And...and...and. I guess none of the guys that have been these dream future players have necessarily gone on to become superstars, but I have to wonder about the role the system plays. Are they being used in a way that lets them be a Shanny, or a Hull, and so on?

And if this is true, I'd think the coach would be emphasizing the crap out of passing in practice, to encourage the kids' skills to evolve. Good passing is like the most fundamental part of the game (next to skating I guess). I'd think I'd be seeing a better and better passing game over the last several years, and I haven't. This is what makes me think the system might be a problem.

So I'm hearing there may or may not be a talent component to the problem. We definitely don't have a younger Zetterberg, Dats, Shanny, Feds, Lids, Vladdy, Professor, Cheli (although I doubt now that Cheli was ever actually young), ad nauseum anymore - any pair of whom would put the team on their shoulders on a rough night and win the game. It seems though, at least against us, a lot of teams are playing a dump and chase game now rather than emphasizing passing expertise. Is this the approach for the majority of teams now, in the same way the trap became the way to handle the neutral zone for awhile? Is it just the kind of game our system makes our opponent play? I've always wondered what the extreme emphasis on forwards always playing both sides of the ice have done to scoring as well, but that's probably another discussion. The game just seems to look and feel different now, and passes seem to me to be a fundamental component of what's changed. I see these guys dumping in every play, where before a dump in was a last ditch resort. And Kenny & Mick have mentioned the need for our guys to dig in the corners a lot more over the years, so I feel as if there is some change to the approach I might have missed. If I was a better student of the game, I'd probably have a better answer. Maybe I'm holding onto this idea just because it would represent a "simple" thing that could improve things if it was changed. Because getting some new top three forwards and another couple of Lids reincarnations don't seem like a viable approach...

"When some wild-eyed, eight foot tall maniac grabs your neck, taps the back of your favorite head up against the barroom wall, looks you crooked in the eye and asks you if ya paid your dues, you just stare that big sucker right back in the eye, and you remember what old Jack Burton always says at a time like that: Have ya paid your dues, Jack? Yessir, the check is in the mail."

First attempt...shout it out if you know it

Please get it together guys. Seriously. I don't know what the frick Thursday night was about, but please, get a goal early and don't look back. You guys do not want to be the team that broke the streak. Get somebody in front of the net and shoot the puck. And stop the stupid behind the back blind passes. Z, be better. I have never seen you quite like this. Lead. You've been making really cruddy mistakes, are showing no hustle, and aren't showing the captain's heart you need to show the team how to win. I don't know if you're hurt or just getting old, but now is the time. If this is what we can expect from you going forward, maybe we need a different captain. We can't limp into the playoffs and expect to go anywhere. This team can't luck out against the Rangers in preparation for first round play, or you guys will be playing golf before 3 weeks of April have passed. Every shift. Every period. Sixty minutes of play. Lead from the start. LGW!!!

C'mon boys. Win this one. You NEED this one. This one and the pressure's off. Pound em and find the back of the net. Time to get the goal carousel going. Let's Go Red Wings!

Last game in Det I saw we won. Seriously starting to think its me. Also, braving the neanderthal freaking Philly fans blows. That and spending endless amounts of money to see us lose.

I'm seriously beginning to take this personally. Six games since we moved to Jersey. Six losses when we go to the games. Unbelievable. Suck. Suck. Suck.

Gonna be there tonight. Please win. I've seen five games in Philly and Newark and we've lost every one. Please win. Please?

Go get 'em boys. Good passes and speed.