Dabura

sup Guess we can't trade Howard now. We just spent an entire minute in the Flyers' end.

OH MY GOD SOMEONE ELSE IS HERE PLEASE DON'T LEAVE ME Also, Flyers scored. 0-1. Larkin just knocked Gudas on his ass with a reverse ass hit. Glorious. End of 1st. Wings trail 0-1. Wings played really well and deserved a better fate. Score could be 6-1. Mantha could've scored three.

Marco Polo

Good shift from Rasmussen. He's looked much more comfortable lately. Making plays, using his size, skating hard. Good stuff.

Yep, looks like that's a line. For now. Good pace to this game so far. I'm an idiot. It was only a line because Mantha was serving the fighting major.

Daaayum, the forechecking and puck movement from AA-Larkin-Bertuzzi. Is that a line now? Cuz I feel like that should be a line.

Simmonds fights Mantha. I get why that has to happen, but meh. Simmonds is throwing and Mantha's just kinda like "OK, you done yet? I don't wanna fight."

I hate NBC.

NO YOU MUST SUFFER WITH US Hope you have a good time! You'll be missed tonight. Peace!

Mood:

I hear ya. I guess I just don't see anything really unique in the way our players -- old and young -- are being managed. Fans of every single team complain about how their coaches and GMs don't hold veteran players accountable and don't give young players a fair shake. It's actually one of the reasons I stopped reading stuff like SB Nation -- it's all the same talking points, all the same complaints, all the same stuff. One thing that does separate the Wings from most organizations, I feel, is that we really don't have much in the pipeline. Or, at least, we don't have many prospects that are making extremely strong cases for full-time promotions. Hronek seems ready, but we didn't necessary know that at the beginning of the season. He's spent some time with the Wings and he's taken what he's learned from those stints and worked on increasingly specific things (e.g. PKing) in his stints with the Griffins. It's a pretty good situation for him, IMO. I think one thing we really have to consider is the idea that being a rookie defenseman on a bad NHL team can easily become a negative, demoralizing experience. We know Hronek is extremely hard on himself (every coach he's played for has said so). Cholowski seems incredibly chill about everything, but I'm willing to bet he was starting to feel uncomfortable with the fact that he wasn't really helping the team all that much and was costing them goals against all over the place. I'd like to see less of Vanek on the power play. I'd like to see less of Kronwall on the power play. I'd like to see a defense group that isn't running Windows 98. Overall tho? I'm good with where we're at and how players are being managed. But that's just me.

Yup. Nyquist basically never misses time We learn Holland has asked for his no-go list And now we learn he's out Could be legit, but I'm guessing it's trade stuff.

I imagine Mantha's gonna be forced to fight someone. Hopefully he doesn't break a hand again. (Might help the tank tho.)

"an illness"

This thread has basically become L O S T and I am all for it.

Fact check: True. hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm

I'm reminded of the Leafs in their Matthews tank year. They kept Nylander and Marner off the roster because everyone knew it was going to be a brutal year and there was no point in giving them big minutes on a tank team.

But ultimately he was exposed as being not quite ready for primetime, no? He's spent most of the season struggling (defensive liability, stopped putting up points, wasn't driving possession), so, if anything, he sort of validates the slow-and-steady development philosophy...no? I don't disagree that the Wings need to get younger, but I'm not seeing a bunch of NHL-ready defensemen banging on the door. Hicketts is probably a career AHLer. Sulak...skates well? Saarijarvi isn't doing much. Hronek's been going back and forth between Detroit and Grand Rapids and that's probably what's best for him.

I'd be ok with that. I think?

And it's not like Cholowski hasn't been given a shot. Made the team out of camp, had a good start, fell off a cliff. Now he gets to help the Griffins while we sell and tank.

It frustrates me that our blue line continues to be old and slow and outdated, but I don't think we should look at the Flames dressing Hanifin and other good young defensemen and say, "Hey! The Flames are dressing young defensemen and they're winning lots of games! The Wings need to get with the times!" We have a Hronek and a Cholowski. The Flames have a Hronek and a Cholowski and a Hanifin and a Giordano and a Brodie. And a Gaudreau. Et al. The Flames are looking to win a Cup. The Wings? Still rebuilding. The Flames are going for it. The Wings are bringing along their top prospects slowly and carefully, because there's no rush, because we're nowhere close to winning a Cup.

I was starting to fear you'd been mugged by a Preds fan! P.S. Go Flyers!

The Flames have a better group of players tho. Backlund, Brodie, Gaudreau, Giordano, Hamonic, Hanifin, Lindholm, Monahan, Tkachuk...there's a lot of talent on that team.