Dabura

This series has been equally great and terrible for both fanbases. That's actually pretty rare. Good stuff. Game 7 is gonna be a blast.

I co-wrote a dorm musical in college. One of this other writer's contributions was the phrase "boob-shot-s***owsky," or something like that. I assume this is his work. It seems very him.

Thinking out loud... Matt Niskanen and Tom Wilson. That, to me, would be a pretty fantastic offseason. I wouldn't expect Wilson to be an impact player right away, but I really, really like his upside. At the very least, he's big and he'll fight. I think we could get him without having to part with any of Nyquist/Tatar/Sheahan/Jurco, which would be huge. But, again, it really does look like we're gonna have to move at least two or three (!) of Ouellet, Sproul, Marchenko, Backman, Almqvist. So...Niskanen, Wilson, and - dare I dream? - a top-six winger? What if - I dare dream! - we go balls to the walls for Simmonds? No, really, being serious this time. Could one of Nyquist/Tatar/Sheahan/Jurco (probably Nyquist in this case), one or two of Ouellet/Sproul/Marchenko/Backman/Almqvist (at least one of Ouellet and Sproul, probably) one or two of Abdelkader/Andersson/Smith/Kindl/Lashoff/Pulkkinen/Callahan/Ferraro and maybe a pick get us Wayne "Was a Wings fan as a kid" Simmonds? As someone who lives in Flyers territory, I can tell you there's pretty much no way in hell he gets moved this summer, or ever. But if we could somehow swing it, he would be manna from heaven. Imagine him on a line with Z and D. Imagine him as the net-front guy on our first power play unit.

I think the streak is amazing. I think the streak is important. But I think you have to be careful not to place too much importance on the streak itself. Zetterberg himself said he'd trade a season or two of the streak for a deeper run one year. Point being, the streak isn't really about making the playoffs every year. It's about sustained excellence, being in the mix for the Cup every season, not just being glad because "Phew! We kept a streak alive. Thank goodness. Now we can rest a little easier." The Cup is all that matters. 23 straight seasons is important not because it's a ridiculous streak, but because it shows a commitment to winning. But the Wings have to make good on that. The commitment itself can't be fetishized. There has to be some actual winning. Just making the dance isn't good enough, even in a transitional year like this one. It's really interesting to see Zetterberg basically say as much. Then again, I suppose it's possible that the whole sustained excellence and commitment to winning thing might not be doable without yearly playoff revenue. It's entirely possible that Mr. I has been able to spend like he has largely because of the streak itself.

I can dig it. Personally, I'm just wary of any player whose breakout season also happens to be a contract season. I'm not saying you should hold it against the guy. I just think of the 5,000,000 players who've set the world on fire for a season, scored a big ass contract, then gone on to be big disappointments. I fear that's sort of what would happen with Quincey if we were to re-sign him. "Man, Quincey improved so much last season, but he seems to have gone right back to being dog s*** this year. Why?" Probably because he was playing for a contract. It doesn't necessarily reflect poorly on him, it's just how it so often goes with this kind of thing. Also, I do wonder what we'd do about The Youth Below. Like I said, we've already got four defensemen who are going to be Wings for a long time. Niskanen would be a fifth. Maybe we trade Marchenko and Backman and Almqvist, but even then, we'd only have room for one of Ouellet/Sproul. Point being, if we're going to add someone who's going to be with us for a long time, we'd better be damn sure he's going to be damn good for us. Of course, this might all be moot; I've heard he'll probably re-sign with the Pens.

Malik: http://kuklaskorner.com/tmr/comments/red-wings-morning-news-holland-drops-a-hint-regarding-defenseman-shopping-l http://kuklaskorner.com/tmr/comments/a-few-more-post-elimination-red-wings-musings-assessing-blame http://kuklaskorner.com/tmr/comments/happy-we-have-another-day-to-complain-and-speculate-day I like how Z is like "The streak? Whatever. This blows" and Holland is like "Well, making the playoffs is a really big deal. Half the teams in the league don't make the playoffs!" OK, that's not fair to Holland. He seems more disappointed than usual. But he did say half the league doesn't make the playoffs, which, to me, actually takes some of the shine off the accomplishment. If half the league isn't making it, half the league is. Which means if you're absolutely vanilla-average, you've got a pretty good shot at making it. Which is why I hate this "Well, all you have to do is make the dance and from there anything can happen" business. No. If you're middling, you're gonna get rocked. Period. (Unless your goalie is lights-out amazing for you.) I don't think we're landing a big, physical scoring winger and a top-four defenseman in one summer. But if I were going to try to swing it, I'd realize that Kronwall, Ericsson, DeKeyser, and Smith - they're Wings for the long haul, and that's going to be an issue because Ouellet, Sproul, Marchenko, Backman, and maybe Almqvist are all looking like they're going to be pretty good NHL defensemen. Package one or two of them along with one of Nyquist/Tatar/Sheahan/Jurco and a pick and/or a roster player or two (Andersson? Kindl? Lashoff?), and I think that winger or defenseman might be obtainable. Then make a splash in free agency for the other half, and there is your winger+dman double shot espresso. It's gonna be a long summer.

I'm not convinced the Bruins are going to be the beasts of the East much longer. For one thing, being big and nasty and hitting everything that moves takes a toll on the body in the long run and becomes increasingly difficult as you move past your prime years and push deep into your 30s. Chara - who's 80% of their team - is 37 and slowing down. Iginla - who's been huge for them - is 36. Bergeron - who's, well, Bergeron - is 28 and probably about the best he's going to be, and he's already put his body through a lot in terms of both injuries and mileage. Eriksson (who's been a disappointment and might have lingering concussion issues) and Krejci are also 28 and also probably about the best they're going to be. Kelly is 33. Seidenberg is 32. Marchand and Smith don't strike fear into my heart. I dunno. I think Babs was right when he said what makes the Bruins special is they've got Chara and Lucic. I think that was a subtle dig at the Bruins. Can they be a contender for, like, 18 straight years? (See: Red Wings.) If (and when) they lose Chara, are they nearly as physically imposing and solid defensively? Are they really set up for a decade or more of dominance? If they're pushing deep into the playoffs every season, is fatigue and injury and wear and tear not going to be an issue? They've only won one Cup in the modern era, and if they don't win another within the next several years (and it's going to be tough with those top teams in the West pushing each other to be as good as they can possibly be), they'll be hearing about it from the very same people who were calling them a legitimate dynasty just a few years earlier. Not that we're sitting pretty, of course. We basically have no identity post-Lidstrom. We talk about skill and possession and defense, but, to be honest, the only area where we have a big advantage over any other playoff team is our coaching, and that's probably up for debate. In the past, we won on skill. We're not skilled enough to do that anymore. Our possession game is average at best. We're used to getting so very, very much from our blue line, and now we're getting so very, very little. If we're going to play a low-scoring, tight-checking, ultra-defensive game, well, we're not at all built for it. All I really know is, if we're going to win one more Cup before Datsyuk goes back home, we need to bring in high-end help from outside the system. Sproul and Ouellet and Mantha won't magically have us beating Chicago in the finals in three years. To me, "retooling" means steadily bringing in youth but also adding key pieces through free agency and the trade route. Otherwise, it's basically just a rebuild, minus the tanking. So, a poorly done rebuild. (See: the Flames prior to this season.) I think Chicago has it right. At their core, they're a skilled possession team that can move the puck like no one's business. They are ridiculously deep, talent-wise. BUT, they also have plenty of snarl. And they have great young talent that fits their current system.

Brodeur is washed up. Bolland is an injury-prone bottom-six center. Eager is horrible. We'll be lucky to get one of Niskanen/Boyle, and even then, Niskanen's body of work doesn't wow me (his breakout season happens to be a contract year), and Boyle is rumored to be looking for a multi-year deal, which is an issue, because he's old and declining. Miller is our best penalty-killer; where is he? Helm is one of the better third-line centers in the league; why is he slotted as a second-line winger? Abdelkader is basically the only "heavy" we have; where is he? Buying out Franzen only works if we have a long-term plan in place for replacing his production, e.g. Nyquist + Tatar + Jurco. But you've traded Nyquist, for nothing. And you've traded Howard, also for nothing? Two of our top-six scorers - Jagr and Alfredsson - would be one-year stopgaps, so the season after next we'll be without Jagr, Alfredsson, Franzen, and Nyquist, which is a lot of lost production. Who is Andrew Alberts? Is he better than Marchenko/Ouellet/Sproul? Why is Mantha sitting in the press box instead of playing key minutes for the Griffins? That said, THIS IS THE INTERWEB. IT'S SERIOUS BUSINESS.

Not sure if serious.

This is encouraging. But I think it's extremely unlikely he stays with the organization much longer.

Ducks win. Wow.

It's going to OT. Epic.

Perry gets rocked. Crowd is electric. Seriously, Game 7 (knock on wood) may be one for the ages. Just saying.

Garbutt gets called for diving. So it does in fact happen.

Daley, after each of his two goals, makes sure to skate to the other end of the rink and give props to Lehtonen. I really, really like that. Total class. These Stars. Man. Impossible not like them. 4-2. Start of the third.

That's so weird, I swear I've heard at least four noted Hockey People say the Ducks were the first seed last season. Maybe I've just been hearing them wrong. I think Dallas's big thing is they have an identity. We've still gotta find ours post-Lidstrom. Jamie Benn is a beast. I love that Seguin has been all-business this season. He and Been, what a duo to build around. Man. Sick pass by Selanne, Ducks pull within one on the power play. First period almost over. Garbutt scores! That is how you crash the net.

The Stars are the team Babs wanted the Wings to be when he said we'd be a tough out and wouldn't be backed off. They're just bloodthirsty right now. It's amazing. Weren't the Ducks the second seed last season? (Weren't we the seventh?) I keep hearing they were the first seed in the West. Is my memory just that bad?

Fistric almost breaks Roussel's neck on a boarding. He gets away with it, makes a high hit about a minute later. Stars to the PP. This is playoff hockey. Eakin makes the Ducks pay. 2-0! The Stars are the team Babs wanted the Wings to be when he said we'd be a tough out and wouldn't be backed off.

Dallas up 1-0 early. What a start. These Stars are a blast to watch. Absolutely. Arguably the GM of the year.

I'm not going to argue about this much more because I'm not saying anything especially controversial. Jarnkrok was (one of) our best prosect(s). It was universally understood, until he was traded. I met a scout once, he literally wouldn't shut up about the kid. Pierre McGuire made a point of gushing about him on, like, four separate occasions, all during national broadcasts. Every time someone would talk about our prospects, Jarnkrok's name would come up, and for very good reason. The kid's good. Damn good. Is it up for debate exactly where he truly ranked on The List? Sure. But then we're just nitpicking. It's easy for us to say, "Well, whatever. I didn't think he was so special - and look at that, Kenny agreed with me." It's easy for us to say, "Well, I think all the prospects that didn't get traded to Nashville for David Legwand - those are the players I would say are the next level prospects." It's easy to say, "A prospect is a prospect, nothing more, nothing less. (Plus, he wasn't very good anyway.)" But, bottom line, we traded Calle Jarnkrok and a second-round pick for a rental because we had to Keep the Streak Alive, because playoff games = bonus revenue. If you'd told me a year ago that we'd basically be flipping Jarnkrok for nothing, I would've laughed. If you'd told me Holland would cite a logjam at center as a major motivating factor, I would've laughed even harder, knowing full well that even with a thin group of centermen, Babcock probably would've put him on the wing anyway. Like I said, if it had been, say, Dave Nonis trading Jarnkrok for Legwand, we would've had a field day with it.

It's all moot, though. Whether he was our best prospect or just one of our better prospects, the point is that the return for Calle Jarnkrok and a second-round pick was a few games from David Legwand (unless he re-signs. Though, even then....) The only way that doesn't hurt right now is if we rationalize it. "He was gonna go back to Sweden anyway." "He's not that good anyway." "We have too many centers anyway." "We need to get bigger anyway." meh

I'm not just making stuff up or talking out of my butt. For the past couple of years, when people would talk up our pipeline, Jarnkrok would usually be regarded as The One. He has a lot in common with Zetterberg. He doesn't have Mantha's size or mutant scoring prowess, he's not a goalie, he doesn't have Jurco's size or shifty hands, but what he does have is elite sense, very good all-around ability, that Zetterberg-esque knack for holding the puck and making plays out of nothing, and tremendous upside. I've seen him play. He's extremely impressive. (I have no real reason to be defending him. It's not like I'm especially biased about this. If I didn't think he was all that, I'd have no problem saying so.) Saying he wasn't even close to being our best prospect is revisionist history after the fact. Same thing with "He had no future here, he was never gonna crack the lineup." What if Nyquist or Tatar had been moved? People would be saying the same thing. Hell, some people were saying that neither had a future here because too small not enough room blah blah blah. Datsyuk won't be around much longer. Zetterberg is a warrior, but he's on the wrong side of 30. No one knows if Weiss will pan out. Legwand probably won't re-sign. Sheahan probably ends up a solid third-liner. Helm is a third-liner. Andersson is a fourth-liner. Glendening is a fourth-liner. Jarnkrok projects as a top-end two-way centerman, possibly one you can build a team - or at least a top-six unit - around. Guys like that are very hard to come by. I'm not talking mystical voodoo or rocket science here, guys. I'm saying we lost a guy who, a few months ago, was the face of the next generation. He struggled in the first half of this season, but he was adjusting to the NA game. He seems to have figured it out, and now I expect him to get better and better and better.

Well, his numbers were pretty good on a last-place Sabres team. And he had that performance in the Olympics. It hasn't really worked out for him with the Blues, but looking at his body of work, I think it's hard to argue that Howard is clearly better. Plus, the Blues have sort of self-destructed as a team, e.g. their offense dried up. I wouldn't say he totally failed his new team. So, I rate Howard and Miller as pretty even, but I feel like I'd probably be more comfortable with Miller in net. Then again, which Jimmy Howard are we talking about?

I think Miller is steadier, more consistent. Howard has that zone of his, though, where he can win three games in a row all by himself. Overall, pretty even, but I'd give Miller a slight edge. Rinne is still my favorite.

I was gonna say, Miller has not looked especially l33t. Drew's probably pretty bummed for his older bro right now.