Dabura

Not sure I agree that this is a league-wide thing. I mean, on one hand I agree that the loser point is incentivizing teams to play more conservatively in certain situations. But what the Wings are doing? I think it's largely a Wings thing. Our system is fundamentally broken. I believe that if the Wings are going to have any success this season, they can't be content to let the opposition dictate the terms of the game. They have to play a game that better suits the team's strengths. If this team keeps playing OMG Line hockey, they're going to keep getting the same results, if not even worse results. http://www.sportingnews.com/nhl/news/la-kings-news-darryl-sutter-quotes-corsi-for-definition-sidney-crosby/1ty2k6440ww8213spqckr4u09n

THEM'S FIGHTIN' WORDS! But srsly. "Fronting," in this context, is establishing position in front of an opponent who's established position around your net. For a defenseman, this is somewhat of a risky, aggressive strategy -- but I maintain that, overall, our D-zone defense is way too passive. This rings pretty true, I think. We box out, but, in doing so, we box ourselves in. We get too deep in our end. We get too bunched together. Yes, we push the cycle out to the perimeter, but 1) that gives the cycle a lot of time and space to work the puck and try to make something happen (like methodically pulling our box apart just enough to work a give-and-go play to the inside), and 2) it makes breaking out of our end with possession and speed that much more difficult -- because we're deep in our end, we're bunched together, we're flat-footed/standing still, and we're encircled by the other team. This makes sense in a PK scenario, where you're outnumbered and you can throw the puck out of the zone and down the length of the ice without being called for icing. But if you're trying to drive up the ice with possession and push the opposition into their own end? That's tough sledding. It's a perpetual uphill battle. It's a big reason why we struggle to generate offense and a big reason why we collapse in third periods when the game is up for grabs. We don't play to win. We play to not lose. You mention the closest defender attacking the puck carrier hard. My problem with the way we apply this pressure is the fact that we're barely applying actual pressure. It's a collapse defense, so, by design, we're hesitant to pressure. Even when one man does pressure hard, it's like a lesson in futility, as the man with the puck just has to make a pass to a man who's bound to be wide open, because we give the cycle so much time and space and respect. Other teams don't give us this time and space and respect when we're trying to work the puck around in their end, whether we're at even strength or on the power play. I'd like to see us pressure the cycle more aggressively, with the closest defender going harder after the carrier and a second player providing support and anticipating the carrier's pass, making it harder for the cycle to execute.

It's Jeff Blashill's world, we're just dying in it.

That was my first thought.

Terrible.

To be clear, I don't mean I'm rejecting what the metrics tell us about this team. I'm saying this team has performed so poorly that I'm not sure there's much to learn from the numbers right now.

I haven't been digging into the underlying numbers as much as I normally would, mainly because this team is playing boneheaded hockey and it's making me increasingly apathetic. I'm pretty sure, though, that his CF% (5-on-5) had in fact been relatively good for a long stretch of time. Even now, I think he's currently sitting at something like 45, which isn't great, but it puts him somewhere in the middle of our lineup. I stand by the notion that when he's playing well, he's making good plays out of our end and helping to push the puck up the ice while also being responsible on the defensive side of the puck. That's largely the eye test talking, but he's so young (for a defenseman) and inexperienced and our team is so resoundingly awful by most metrics that I'm putting more stock in what I'm seeing than I normally would. So, I'm ok with what he's shown so far this season. I do think Blashill was right to sit him after his most recent games, though. I joked about this in a different thread, but I actually do believe a young and inexperienced defenseman can really benefit from watching a few games as a spectator. If nothing else, some time in the press box gives him a chance to mentally reset.

As for fixing this defense... It depends on where we are come the trade deadline. If we sell, we're basically launching a rebuild. If we don't sell...I dunno know, man. Sign Michael Stone in the summer? (We're not getting Shattenkirk.) Try to trade for a young up-and-comer like Julius Honka, Shea Theodore, Anthony DeAngelo? Pray? Drink?

double post

All things considered, I'd say Sproul's been fine. Prior to his recent struggles, his CF% had consistently ranked among the best on the team -- and, watching him play, I don't feel that's a fluke. When he's on his game, he's visibly effective on both sides of the puck, especially in driving the attack up ice. (Dat first pass tho.) When he's not on his game, he looks like what he is: a naturally gifted 23-year-old offensive defenseman...with less than 20 games of NHL experience under his belt.

I'm gonna go do productive things. I can't do Red Wings hockey right now. It angers me far more than it entertains me.

I would say the whole house is on fire.

[Insert stock Blashill comment along the lines of "Well, we just felt like the game was getting away from him a little bit. Sometimes, with a young player -- and I think this is especially true of young defensemen -- it can be good for them to step away for a few games and try to see the game from a different perspective. I just told him to watch what Niklas Kronwall and Jonathan Ericsson do. They play a real solid, steady, smart game. And obviously Lashoff is a real steady presence, an everyday player. The thing we always talk about, as a team, is it's not enough to be good for just one game or two games. You've gotta do it everyday. This is an everyday league. The other thing we talk about is you've gotta get better each and every day."]

"Larkin is our leading goal-scorer and is one of our best possession players, but he doesn't use his wingers enough and he can't be trusted defensively, so let's put him between the two worst players on the team our top defensive specialists. That'll learn him a lesson in Responsible Hockey." - Jeff Blashill #BlueCollar #DetroitTough #MadeinMichigan #200ftGame #WeH8Kids

http://www.wingingitinmotown.com/2016/12/6/13845726/its-manthas-world-and-were-just-living-in-it Anthony Mantha is really good at hockey.

I don't know if this defense can drive a dominant possession game -- but I think they can drive a respectable possession game. Virtually any team can play a respectable possession game, if they're coached properly. Look at the Hurricanes. While they have some good talent up front and Justin Faulk on the back end, they're by no means loaded with top-end talent. And yet, they're one of the better possession teams in the league. Bill Peters clearly knows what he's doing. (There was a sequence earlier in the season where they managed to keep the puck in the Sharks' end for two straight minutes, at even strength. It was awesome. Like, I was laughing maniacally. Vintage Russian Five s***.) I think we can all agree that the lack of top-end talent means that whatever this coaching staff and these players do, the team's ceiling is pretty much set at well below Serious Cup Contender status. But, at the same time, I think poor coaching is making this team look much more feeble than it actually is. I'm hoping the effectiveness of the Tatar-Zetterberg-Mantha line (by all measures, i.e. eye test and basic stats and underlying numbers) helps guide the team back to a more aggressive, possession-based style that embraces puck skill and playmaking. We need to be playing a game that plays to the strengths of our better players. Thus far, we're playing a game that plays to the strengths of our lesser players. Also, Blashill needs to stop with the square-peg-in-a-round-hole bulls***. Glendening as a top-six winger? Piss off! Larkin centering Ott and Miller? Piss off! Putting the fourth line out for an o-zone faceoff after a commercial break, at home, in the third period of a close game? Piss off! Personnel choices matter. Slotting matters.

No, I wouldn't say that's the case. Teams are being coached to play a slightly more passive kind of defense in their end, where you try to box out the other team's cycle and limit them to low-percentage shots from the perimeter, which you do your best to front/block -- but the Wings are taking that to an unholy extreme, i.e. they're waaayyy too passive. As for dump-and-chase hockey...I mean, dumping and chasing is a tactic that every team uses, but few teams these days lean on it as their go-to method of gaining the zone and establishing a forecheck and generating offense. As with the collapse defense, the Wings are leaning far too heavily on it and it's dumbing their game down and de-clawing their attack.

DK WITH THE OT WINNER! TWO POINTS!

We're not getting a single power play tonight, are we. (Not that would necessarily be a bad thing, mind you.)

Z!

Nope, goal overturned. Bulls***.

GREEN GETS THE HAT TRICK!