haroldsnepsts

http://www.mlive.com/redwings/index.ssf/2011/11/red_wings_brendan_smith_gains.html I hope they're wrong about this. The kid deserves to stay in the lineup. And like they pointed out, the level of competition is different in the NHL so he needs to adapt his game at this level. More time in the AHL playing against weaker competition is only going to get him so far.

I didn't count Lidstrom because I was just talking about forwards on the Wings who are at the level of Crosby, as more of an apples to apples comparison. Lidstrom is absolutely one of the all time greats. Probably #2 on the list of all defenseman, but I don't have a lot of knowledge on guys like Shore and Harvey. But on hfboards it's hilarious that he's regularly put behind Bourque, or even in the bottom half of the top ten. His greatest sin there being that he's not Canadian. The highlights from last nights game showed how great Crosby is and also why so many people hate him. His goal 5 minutes into the first period, then later on in the game he was knocked on his butt and sat there on the ice for a second, reacting like a 5 year old who just had his favorite toy ripped from his hands. Wondering why the ref didn't immediately call a penalty, I assume. But then off the ice in interviews, he was absolutely humble in his comments. I have to wonder if some of his on ice douchiness is just that he's grown up winning most of the time and being the star on the ice, and still hasn't learned how to conduct himself like a grown ass man and captain. Yzerman used to yap at the refs constantly, especially as he got older, but he wasn't such a little ***** about it.

2 G 2 A 8 SOG +3 67% on Faceoffs. Welcome back... ya ******. EDIT: And that's in 15:54 TOI.

It is pretty funny that we're all sick here of how much attention he gets, but this thread is almost getting as long as the GDT's.

It's a bold statement Wings fans don't like to hear, but seriously, who's better than Crosby on the Wings? Who has a better resumé? Maybe Datsyuk if you want to argue defensive play and Selkes? Assuming he stays healthy, he has 9 years to close that gap defensively, and he's already better in every offensive category. Crosby is 24 years old. At that age Dats was just starting in the NHL and hadn't scored more than 12 goals in a season. I don't like him, but there's no denying how friggin good he is. Like I said, that just makes him even more annoying.

They are not a good team. Still, I think a lot of people were expecting a more tentative return. I kind of was.

Just got another assist. And he's 7 for 10 on faceoffs. And it's only the second period. cripes.

That's probably the most annoying thing about Crosby. He may be a whiny little ***** who gets a disproportionate amount of what little hockey coverage is out there, but he's really friggin good.

Crosby is definitely hard to like, but I think using AO as the standard is a bad example. Ovi sure as hell isn't a two-way player, whereas Crosby actually is. And Ovechkin is also arrogant, dives, whines, is entitled, and plays over the line sometimes. I was a big AO fan the first couple seasons, but it's gone down several notches with each questionable thing he does. This.

I meant playmaking in the broader sense, not just setting up teammates. He has good offensive instincts and is creative. And I think we're basically agreeing with each other. He doesn't use his size like he should and go to the tough areas of the ice. And he takes shifts off.

Agreed. I'm sure there will be growing pains, but he's shown he can play at this level. He doesn't need over-ripening, because the Wings could use his offensive instincts. It's hard to believe the Wings went from a panic-inducing empty blueline when Rafalski retired this offseason, to another logjam on defense. I dont' see how Commodore is going to make it into this lineup unless there's a ton of injuries.

It's got to be so frustrating for Babcock. With Franzen's size, playmaking ability and a wrist shot like that, how has he not scored more than 34 goals in a season?

They've apparently been listening to Selanne... Koivu had a pretty good crosscheck on Zetterberg too, right before he hooked him around the waist and forced him to the ice.

Another good showing from the Wings. They bent but didn't break. I won't say he's back just yet but it's the best looking game from Zetterberg in a long time. Bert looked good on the line with Pavel and Mule too. It seems like he's gripping the stick a little tight, but he really was doing the right things out there, as cliche as that sounds. Another awesome game from Jimmy. And I like Ericsson chatting with Stuart after the game as they skate off the ice. I'm guessing he was offering to buy Stuart dinner for bailing him out with that empty netter. Smith continues to impress. And can someone please punch Koivu in the mouth? He apparently gets a free pass from the refs and makes the most of it with crosschecks and hooks.

Lidstrom in the box. I feel like the refs must doublecheck the number to make sure it was actually Lidstrom taking a penalty.

He definitely looks more like the Z of old. Where he'll carry the puck into heavy traffic and I think "what the hell are you doing??" Then it turns into a great scoring chance.

The puck started going in for Datsyuk yesterday. Here's hoping it does for Zetterberg today. Against the Kings Z did have a really nice backhand shot that looked like the Zetterberg of old. Hopefully he keeps it up.

I don't want to derail the thread any further with tinfoil hat theories about Babcock's player obsessions. Wings won 4-1 and had one of their best efforts all season. You guys have fun bashing Ericsson though.

Actually your entire post makes me feel better. Kindl had probably his worst game of the season and played less than 11 minutes as one of six defenseman. Even Smith had more even strength TOI. But you're seriously arguing that Ericsson's having nearly double the TOI of Kindl in spite of being an inferior defenseman is because of a weird obsession Babcock has with E? AND you try and disprove my argument by using forwards, and even then their ice time is only a couple minutes apart? I feel pretty good about where I stand. The little equation is cute though.

If you consider that Ericsson isn't as awful as most people make him out to be, his ice time pretty much makes sense. Ericsson's contract is another issue altogether. Back to the original point, it's not that I dislike Kindl. It honestly is that if Smith keeps playing well, it's more likely to take away from Kindl's ice time than Ericsson's. In his two games in the NHL, Babcock already gave Smith more ice time than Kindl. Kindl is better on the PP and more offensive minded than Ericsson, but he's not as good in that area as Smith. At the same time he's not as good as a stay at home guy and on the PK as Ericsson, and he doesn't have as good of a first pass as either one of them. So he could end up in no man's land. But all this is based on Smith playing as well as he has the past couple games, which seems unlikely for a rookie. He's bound to have his ups and downs, but he's looked great so far.

Ericsson 26 SHF 20:31 TOI 2:57 SH TOI Smith 20 SHF 13:22 TOI 1:14 PP TOI Kindl 15 SHF 10:48 TOI 0:00 SH 0:00 PP I guess Babcock is an idiot.

Ericsson and Smith bring different things to the table. Ericsson is more of a stay at home guy with some size (which he's using a little better) and on the PK, while Smith is more of an offensive Dman with PP capabilities. If anything he makes Kindl the odd man out and could definitely keep Commie sitting. Edited to try and make more sense.

Great effort all around. Nice to see Dats get a couple. Smith looked really poised for a rookie. I hope he gets to stay in the lineup for a bit. He'll make rookie mistakes for sure, but it doesn't look like he needs more ripening in the minors.

Great game by the Wings. I hope this version of the team sticks around for a while.

Wow. Had they not just gotten a soft call, that easily could've been a penalty on Z. He just about mugged Brown. Luckily Kings have no movement or creative on their 5 on 3. They should seriously decline the second penalty. It was just like that all last season.