Dabura

Hell yeah.

Yep.

HYPE! LGRW!

Just for the record, for the people who didn't catch the game: Chicago dressed Kane, Toews, Saad, Keith, Seabrook, Rutta, DeBrincat, and probably a couple other key guys I can't remember off the top of my head. The Wings? On defense: four kids with no NHL experience + Jake Chelios (27-year-old AHLer) + Kronwall. At forward: some firepower, lots of grinders, not much two-way prowess. (Which pretty much sums up what we should expect from our forward group this season.) And, again, Chicago had five power plays and we had one, because the refs were garbage. Point being: Context is important. And let's forget the fact that our NHL D group is the gold standard for getting shelled and contributing no offense.

Their names kinda look the same? And the Seabrook shot from the point. This WINGSNATION piece is why I'm getting tired of possession metrics.

o m g

To be fair...Moneyball was a good movie.

AA is a centerman now, ya dingus. That being said, I wanna see him build on nights like this and eventually push Nielsen out of the 2C spot. Mantha has also been very good.

The Ottawa Senators are like that scene in Thor where Thor is beating up the SHIELD guys except Thor is Eugene Melnyk and the SHIELD guys are the Ottawa Senators and their fans. Or maybe Melnyk is more like Bane.

Same.

AA was a force tonight. Vanek is a madman and he and AA have undeniable chemistry.

Very little separation between the four kid defensemen tonight, IMO. They all committed some goofs, but they all made positive contributions as well. I thought they all looked like NHL defensemen, on the whole.

Overall I was pretty happy with our defense. The score is kinda misleading. Chicago had five power plays to our one and they converted on two of them and at least two of the penalty calls were really questionable (refs sucked). One of Toews' goals was probably goaltender interference, but it's preseason so they let it go. Keith's goal was a shot from the point that Howard probably didn't see.

Well that was nutty.

HYPE! LGRW!

Mantha. Athanasiou. Morrissey. Reinhart.

This.

#TeamCholo #TheBigCholowski

Eh, I'm sticking with what I've said: Hicketts is an acceptable 7D (someone who could spend many nights in the press box) and that alone probably gets him in. "He's been the best" is a nice way of saying that. IMO, the real battle is between Hronek, Sulak, Cholowski. Jensen is probably safe, for the time being.

For the record, I too will be eating crow.

Rasmussen's definitely in. Svechnikov probably has a slight edge over Zadina (who doesn't look ready), but I'm not sure he's on pace to outright steal a top-nine job over the next couple of weeks, which probably means he'd be spending time on the fourth line, which might not be the best situation for his development. So, if Frk is good to start the season, maybe Rasmussen is the only rookie forward in the lineup. I think Veleno has done enough to at least earn himself an NHL audition, but there's really no place for him on the roster at this time, so you might as well just send him back to junior after a couple more exhibition games. On D...I'm assuming Hicketts gets a spot, because I think everyone's ok with him spending time in the press box. So he's a kinda-sorta reserve, a 6D or 7D, depending on how Jensen and [other kid] are playing. I really don't know who [other kid] is going to be. The other day I said Hronek makes the most sense because he's a right-shooting PPQB and Blashill likes him as a PPQB and Green is out. But Hronek has looked a little shaky, and I still worry about his scrawny build (look how much physical abuse Green and Jensen take). Sulak has been impressive, but I feel like it's been sort of a superficial impressive; he's a fantastic forward-skater and puck-rusher, but Blashill said he needs to improve in certain areas and I don't necessarily disagree. Of the four defensemen (five if you count Saarijarvi), Cholowski has impressed me the most. He's smooth, steady, poised, precise. He makes good decisions. He makes good passes. He can run a PP. He can kill penalties. My only concern is that, at this stage in his development, he needs to be playing big minutes in a big role and I'm not sure he'd have that opportunity as a Wing right now, even with Green out.