haroldsnepsts

It'll be interesting to see what parts 2 and 3 hold. Mainly I just think it was interesting to hear about Boogaard's path to the NHL. I don't have a problem with fighting in the NHL or enforcers, but honestly I had forgotten about where it all starts. 16 year olds beating the snot out of each other week after week is a little harder to swallow than grown men doing it for hundreds of thousands of dollars.

Translation: I don't like Ryan Miller.

The Lions are young, talented, and extremely stupid. They hurt themselves with so many unbelievable stupid penalties.

He wasn't funneled towards Miller. Tootoo took a path that had no other result other than running Miller. And Tootoo has done little in his career to expect a fair fight since he's usually the one throwing punches before the other guy even knows he's in a fight. And Hextall was the king of slashing guys and clobbering them with his blocker a lot more than he ever squared up and fought.

being a little kid? Props to Miller for taking matters into his own hands since no one on his team will. If someone ran Jimmy like that, I'd love for him to start throwing bombs with his blocker. And I can understand him being pissed when it's his first game back since he got ran last time, and he gets full on barreled into again.

Right, but Tootoo was the one who chose that angle. Where was he expecting to end up other than into Miller?

Interesting piece on Boogaard here. Part one. Parts two and three coming this week. It's got to be hard on you when you're considered an enforcer as a 16 year old. One of the guys in the video talks about potentially getting in 5 fights a week in the juniors. http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2011/12/04/sports/hockey/boogaard-video.html

Agreed. It is very much like a Kronwall hit. Honestly though I think the exploding up into hits has been a bad development in hitting style over the years, and something the league may try to curb. Because when you're exploding up into a hit, you're putting your force up towards a guys head, even if your skates are on the ice at the point of contact. It's possible to crush guys without that leaping up. Stevens was the master at it.

That's good of him. Strader and Mick together again!

Shanny is now in the position of suspending Tootoo and looking like he's letting star players off easy. Or not fining or suspending Tootoo at all and making it look like he is still okay with running goalies.

But it's not like he could expect to somehow leap over a 6'2" standing Miller. Whether malicious or not, it was absolutely reckless. There was nowhere for him to go but into Miller.

The Canadiens got away with one late in the Kings game when Subban karate chopped Stoll's stick into pieces after a face-off and somehow didn't get called for it. Sometimes I'm just baffled by the officiating in this league. Especially when the penalty in question involves the guy with the puck.

That's a really good point when you put it that way. What about 10 minute 4 on 4 in OT, then the shootout. 2 points if you win in regulation or OT. 1 point if you win in the shootout. No points for losing (I know it's a radical concept in the NHL these days). So that way the shootout can get you a point, but not what you would've earned in regulation.

He made zero effort to avoid Miller, and this time Miller was in the blue paint. Tootoo is garbage. The league would be better if he wasn't in it. He may have started by cutting to the net but it's pretty obvious he had nowhere to go with the angle he took. As I said it's not like Miller was outside his crease. Miller needs to start going Hextall on guys since his teammates are unable to protect him. Shanny also helped make this bed when he didn't even give Lucic a fine. It only gives credence to Ruff's overreaction saying it was open season on goalies.

It makes some sense in that it sounds like Stuart wants to play closer to home anyway, so they may lose him in the offseason. And it would be something the Ducks could use. But you're right, it's hard to imagine trading away a top 4 guy headed into the playoffs, which is also where Stuart steps up his game. Ericsson has been good this season, but I don't know that he's ready to pick up big minutes like he'd have to if they didn't replace Stuart. Though they do have Commie and Smith waiting in the Wings too, so there's a lot of guys to help spread out that ice time, with the major question mark if they can handle it.

I'd put Kindl out there before Big E. Kindl doesn't have a great shot, but he's been much more effective at getting it off quick and getting it through to the net, or at least deep in the zone. And I'd put Smith out there over either one of them.

I don't like the loser point but you're exactly right. It's forced parity, because it's so hard to put distance between teams when they're handing out points in losses. So late in the season a lot more teams are in contention and the games are still meaningful. Which means more ticket sales and tv ratings, in theory.

Hudler's been working hard, though overall still has been a disappointment. But I really don't understand Babs insisting on using him on the point. That's built to highlight his weaknesses. Hudler is so much more effective down low. If you're going to give him ice time on the PP, at least put him in a role where he's more likely to succeed. As for Kindl, it's hard to believe he'd do any worse on the point. And they'd at least have a defenseman back at the point who's reasonably quick. I only saw the highlights of the game, but what an awesome play by Zetterberg on Flip's goal. When Babcock refers to Z as a puck hound, that's what he's talking about. And it sounds like it was another awesome performance from Jimmy. The Wings have been streaky so far this season, but Jimmy's been rock solid.

Exactly. When Howe looked at the ref, it was to find out if they called a penalty on him for the elbow he just threw, not whining expecting a call the other way.

Franchise cornerstone? That's just some guy at redwings central, and he's apparently smoking crack. Especially because he's not projecting E to be that. He's already calling him a franchise cornerstone. Which he obviously is not. E was definitely the #1 prospect once upon a time, but like I said, I think #4 D man was about his most realistic NHL potential. Ericsson shouldn't be trying to model his game after Lidstrom. He should be trying to model it after Pronger, if anyone. I realize Pronger isn't a teammate, but Lids hockey IQ is so off the charts Im' not sure how relevant it would be to model E's game on his. Ericsson will never have that hockey sense. And I said in another thread, if Smith continues to play as well as he has, I think he'll be competing with Kindl more than Ericsson. Kindl's role has much more overlap with what Smith's would be on the Wings. A more offensive-minded puck moving D man who plays on the PP. Whereas Ericsson can still carve out a niche to be a physical more stay at home guy who plays PK minutes. Like I said, I think he's overpaid too. Id' be surprised if Ericsson is ever more than a #4/5 guy. If he's knocking guys around, playing solid D, and is eating up PK minutes, maybe he'd be worth that contract. I think if Holland had White and Commie locked up first, Ericsson doesn't get that much money.

You're going to need to back that up with a link or something because I've never heard or seen anything like that. A replacement for Lidstrom?? No way. If people seriously thought a converted forward who's only been playing defense less than 10 years in his life was going to replace Lidstrom, no wonder they're so disappointed with Ericsson. Hockey's future, who I think is often overly optimistic with prospects had him as a 4-6 guy. I could see early in his development maybe hoping he'd be a #2-3, though even that would be extremely optimistic. Which is why in the portion you quoted I said he needed to utilize those assets better. I wasn't giving him a pass. White was already an established defenseman in the NHL when he came here. He was already a better defenseman than E when he came to the Wings, so it's not really seizing some opportunity that Ericsson had and passed up somehow. Criticizing Ericsson for not being Ian White doesn't make much sense to me. I've said many times I doubt that Ericsson will earn his full contract. But he is improving and has been a solid D man for the Wings, if an overpaid one.

He occasionally says good things about the Wings but to me his bias comes through in how he'll point out all these alleged penalties that should be called on the Wings. As someone said earlier, basically he comes off like a local broadcast guy doing a national game. He can't seem to set aside his bias.

Since when does Ericsson have a great shot? He set a crazy high mph mark in the AHL skills competition, but that's not the same as having a great shot. I disagree that the Wings expected him to be like Rafalski or White and have had to adjust his role. There's a reason E was taken dead last overall. I don't think anyone in Wings management was expecting him to be a Rafalski. They've always talked about his size, strength, and first pass, which are by far the biggest assets he has to offer the Wings. He's improved but still needs to utilize those assets better, and now that he's more comfortable he's shown he can jump into the play on occasion. But I find it hard to believe they expected him to run the PP or anything. I don 't really understand the White comparison either. In his 6 year NHL career White has put up 20+ points several times in his career. It's not like he's suddenly leaped ahead in development here. For him it seems like it's mostly been about staying healthy. It's not surprising he's flourishing being on the Wings spending time with Lidstrom.

Absolutely agree. Right now they're in this middle ground where they're not quite skilled as they were to outmaneuver physical teams regularly, but they're also not quite physical enough to hold their own. The thread title is a wee bit melodramatic, but I think there's a valid discussion to be had about making better use of the Wings 4th line.

I don't agree with the OP's assertion that the Wings are soft as hell, but I really don't understand this point, which has become a frequently stated opinion as of late. Are we only allowed to talk about potential changes to the team after they lose? I'm not saying that to be a smartass, I just really don't follow the thinking. When things are going well, how many times can we post "woohoo!" and "Go Wings!" In another thread, Crymson attacks another member because after a loss that person allegedly makes several posts criticizing the team, but after a win is nowhere to be found. So it's this no-win situation where if you only post after a loss you're a whining fan who does nothing but complain when the team loses, yet if you talk about changes to the team during a win streak, then you're still a spoiled fan because you can't enjoy the team winning. This isn't directed so much at you, but mainly I'm tired of the thinking here that we should do nothing but say positive things about the team (except of course for Hudler and Ericsson who are apparently exempt from that rule) as if that's the only way to support them and be a true fan. I do support the team. I also want to discuss hockey in a hockey forum. Sometimes that means talking about larger issues with the team, or even just wild ass speculation. The season is long, even if they're on a win streak, that doesn't mean there aren't things to talk about that will have implications down the road this season and in the playoffs. As I've said before, a lot of the criticism here is done with an eye towards the postseason and getting past San Jose, so it's not even about the current win streak. For those who don't like threads criticizing the team and think they are ill timed, it's very simple to avoid and not post in the thread. It'd be great to have more posts here that actually talk about the Wings and hockey in general, instead of all the ones that only judge how other people post here, including this one. *getting off my soapbox*