haroldsnepsts

Really?? Nowhere near? What would you call this then? Browns feet going flying up in the air he ended up on his back so fast. As I've said over and over, me too. But he needs to back off a little because eventually the league will come down on even one of their poster boys. Could you show me where I said it was the end of the world? Or even a big deal? Good god you love to argue. You seem to make up points just so you can refute them.

Osgood had a .926 save percentage in the playoffs last season. The only players above him were Hiller, Thomas, and Brodeur. And Marty's sv% was only based on 7 games. Ward had .915, Luongo .914, Fleury and Lunqvist .908. You may never use "pretty damn good" to describe Ozzy's play, but that's how I'd describe his performance last playoffs. This season our goaltending hasn't looked incredible, but last night the Wings only goal came from Kris Draper. That's a bigger problem, because it's near impossible to win a lot of 1-0 games in today's NHL, no matter who is between the pipes.

This had nothing to do with height. I don't think it was meant to be dirty, but he got nothing but Booth's head. It resulted in a dangerous play. They might when clips like Booth getting knocked out suddenly makes the news highlights. The GM's may not want it (though the main guy quoted is Burke, and it sounds like he's talking about an automatic penalty rule), but it sure sounds like the players do. And their the ones whose brains are on the line. http://www.tsn.ca/blogs/darren_dreger/?id=280669 http://www.tsn.ca/nhl/story/?id=280695 I don't think so at all. Often knee on knee results in a guy trying to avoid the hit more than it's a clear case of a player flaring his knee out.

Honestly I think it was more than a matter of inches. He didn't get his body at all. I just think players would have to pull up in certain situations if they don't have a guy lined up right, much like if he's turned his back to you. It'd be different if Booth had tried to avoid the hit and moved, but he was a relatively consistent target. Open ice hits are hard to pull off well. You better be sure you've got him before you put the shoulder in. But I agree there a lot of other issues that could help player safety, like getting rid of the football size, hard shell shoulder and elbow pads.

I got the sarcasm. It's there because you couldn't or didn't feel like making an actual point. The youtube clip in the original post has two angles. Booth's head snaps back. There's almost no contact with his body. As I've said, I don't think Richards was trying to brain him, but he lined him up and missed everything but his head. intentional or not, it's a dangerous play and one the league should work to eliminate. And I think they can work on eliminating headshots without taking out the hitting that is such a great part of hockey. That's all I'm saying.

Only one goalie in the NHL had a sv % above .93 last season, Vezina winner Tim Thomas.

Yes, this is the typical overreaction. Carry it to a ridiculous extreme because you can't put together a sensible argument. There are already plenty of rules about how a guy can and cannot be hit. There is plenty of wiggle room between limiting head shots, and eliminating all hitting. By your logic, why are knee on knee hits illegal? Hockey is a full contact sport, sometimes a guy may catch you in the knee.

Yeah, the guy kept trying to put a hat on him or something. Don't get me wrong, it's definitely a risk signing a crazy ass goalie, but from a GM perspective it's more about chemistry than about losing a player for nothing.

Its called histrionics not generalization. The Wings get off to a poor start 9 games into the season and you're calling them the Dead Things, but I'm the one who needs to relax? Sure thing sparky.

To me the hit on Hudler was different. It was a full body hit, it's just that Hudler is a little guy. And real time, the puck was off his stick for less than a couple seconds. Richards missed Booth's body and smoked him in the head. And Booth didn't really have his head down. He was looking at his pass but his head was looking forward again when he got smoked. Technically there is no rule against headshots right now, but there needs to be, for the same reason knee on knee hits are illegal. They often happen when a player tries to line a guy up but doesn't do it successfully. they end up hitting knee on knee, and could cause a serious injury and even end a guys career. I don't see how a blow to the head is any different. A player's knee is more valuable than his brain?

Signing Emery is definitely a risk, but his problems were behavioral. He played overseas because he crazied himself out of a job in the NHL. To me that's different than an RFA going to arbitration while simultaneously negotiating with another league, then bailing on his contract and going to that league. Emery the risk is he's still bats*** crazy. Hudler the risk is he follows the money again and you get nothing in return.

I didn't forget anything. If he only wanted to play for the Wings, he'd be in the lineup right now. If memory serves he had signed with the KHL before arbitration even came back. The arbitrator awarded him a 2 year 5.75 million dollar deal, which I thought was less than what the Wings were offering him. Yes it would be tight with the cap, but this organization has a pretty strong history of taking care of its players. It's not like the Wings were trying to screw Hudler over. When you enter into arbitration, it's under the pretense of bargaining in good faith. Simultaneously negotiating with an outside league isn't exactly good faith. And we're talking about an RFA, not a UFA. the Wings lost him for nothing. I don't know exactly what Holland's position was, but I do know he made it clear that if and when Hudler decides to return to the NHL, the Wings own his ass. I didn't say he abandoned the Wings, I don't get all offended or hurt like some people here when a player chooses not to play for Detroit, but he chose not to honor his NHL contract. If I were a GM I sure wouldn't take a risk on that happening again. And say the Wings don't do well this season, a big part of the reason being a lack of offense. Do you think if Hudler returns a couple years from now when the Wings can pay him what he wants, he'll be welcomed in the locker room with open arms?

Would you feel the same way if it was Zetterberg or Datsyuk who got caught in the head like that?

Yup, but he chose to leave after going to arbitration. I'm sure he had his reasons, but he burned a major bridge. Who in the NHL is going to want a player who could jump ship to Russia at any time, and you'll lose him for nothing in return?

I think Chelios was a helluva lot better at covering up defensive gaffes when paired with Lebda, whereas Ericsson is still learning to play the position at the NHL level. Like on the first goal tonight, Rafalski makes a bad pass to Ericsson that leads to the turnover. A more experienced guy might have been able to handle the bad pass and bail out the situation, but Ericsson couldn't and it ended up in the back of our net. As for Lebda, it amazes me he gets caught out of position so much when the biggest thing he has to offer is speed. He's undersized, but usually his bad plays don't involved being physically outmatched. It seems like he doesn't have it between the ears.

This is a perfect example of what is wrong with certain people on this site. The inability to understand anything other than the extremes. In my little world, I think the Wings and their fans should absolutely be concerned. They've lost a ton of scoring, they have two average goaltenders at best, and their team defense is nowhere near what it was in 2007, which is where it needs to be if they're gonna win games without offense. My point was that it might be a tad premature to declare that they're going to miss the playoffs and this season is a wash. Actually, forget I said that. The Wings suck. They will suck all season. They will miss the playoffs. There's really no point in even talking about them, so you might just wanna not bother posting here. EDITED to clarify that there's nothing wrong with the site, just the way some people post here.

The Dead Things were a team that only made the playoffs 2 times in 17 years (this was when all but 5 or 6 teams made the playoffs), and could barely manage 20 wins in a terrible division. Games only became worth watching when they signed Steve Yzerman, and even then many of them were brutally bad. By comparison, we're 10 games into this season. The previous season, the Wings were in game 7 of the Cup finals, won the cup the year before that, and were in the Conference finals the year before that. Throw in I don't know how many Presidents trophies. Do you really not see the distinction between over a decade of horrendous play, and 10 games?

Some perspective before people call this team the Dead Things. That era Red Wings made the playoffs once between 1971 and 1983. In the 80s when they really were called the Dead Things, they could barely manage to win 20 games a season, and this is when the Norris division mostly sucked. This team has not been good so far, but they are far from the Dead Things.

The only silver lining is Jimmy looked good tonight. A little out of position on that second one, but it was pretty much a seeing-eye goal.

Only that I keep coming back to these threads and wading through the histrionics. I should know better by now. The good news is if the Wings don't lead the league this season, a fair amount of those folks will go away.

Umm....

Anderson makes all these saves, and almost gets burned on a 50 ft wrister from homer.

How many games into the season are we, and people are declaring the Wings won't make the playoffs?? gotta love LGW.

The Wings are going to have a hard time winning games if their only scoring is from Draper.

No, but they are older than these kids the Avs have. The good news is the young players on these teams getting hot starts will likely wear down as the season goes on, whereas the vets on the Wings will warm up and get stronger.