Dabura

Well, that wasn't nerve-shredding at all.

I told my friend Smith would score two tonight. Halfway there.

How many of our best prospects have rotted in the AHL?

MASTURBATING Hopefully the 'yotes can take care of business tonight.

My list of candidates: Don Cherry Gino Odjick That Farhan guy Pierre McGuire Mike Milbury Craig Button Mikael Samuelsson David Letterman Mats Sundin Jay Leno Arcade Fire Jay and Dan Strombone1 Harold Snepsts

I think Abdelkader with Datsyuk makes sense right now. Dats is clearly nowhere near 100% and is, for the first time in maybe forever, pretty easy to knock around the ice. Abby gives him some muscle as well as some familiarity. Also worth considering: Abby doesn't really seem to be adding much in the bottom six. I wouldn't be surprised if Babs is trying to get both guys going here. Not to mention Franzen, who seems kinda...stuck.

Don't mind me. I'm just trying to guard against crushing disappointment.

Collect Dan Boyle ? Profit

I like that WIIM piece because it works on two levels. It's a piece about Smith and how valuable he really is, but it also demonstrates how valuable fancy stats can be. Smith = Fancy stats.

Sproul and Ouellet are 21 and 20, respectively. They're still very new to this whole being men and playing against men thing. Marchenko is 22. This season was about adjusting to the North American game. Almqvist is 23. He's gifted offensively, but there are several points of concern. He probably gets traded. So, for the most part, there's no rush.

Hope for a regulation win, expect a regulation loss.

If Darren Helm and Jesus had a baby, it would be Andreas Anatahanasiounosaoisuou.

Holland himself has said that he'd likely be hesitant to sign a UFA defenseman to a long-term deal, given what we have on the Griffins' blue line. And it's not like we don't already have three very young defensemen on the Wings' blue line. Point being, let's give him a little credit here. He's not a moron, nor are the people who report to him. They know what they're doing, and, given their track record, there's not much reason to doubt that they'll do the best they can. Now, maybe the decisions Holland ultimately makes won't please each and every kid in the system. But this isn't the Make-A-Wish Foundation, it's the best-run organization in professional sports.

Ah, didn't see Buppy's reply. What he said.

Reserving spots for kids who may or may not be ready? What if they're not ready? I just feel like we're inventing a problem where none actually exists. I think the system is in place not because Holland and Babs categorically don't trust kids, but because they don't want to have to rely on kids who may not be ready. Generally, they want Kid A to be Plan B until he's really ready to be Plan A. We know there'll be injuries every season and a couple of underachieving regulars along the way. Worst-case scenario: a kid is overly ready but stuck behind someone on the depth chart. That's better than having a kid on the roster who isn't ready but might as well stick it out because we don't have a Plan B. To me, it's a lot like shark teeth. http://www.sharksavers.org/en/education/biology/shark-teeth1/

I don't really see how you can call the Pens and Wings evenly matched. We're fully capable of knocking them off, but it'd be a huge upset.

Don't get me wrong, joshy, I totally get where you're coming from. I just don't think there's much of an actual organizational problem here. Maybe some issues with the way a few specific cases have been handled, but any true red flags regarding The Process?

I think what he means is that these kids are as good as they are right now largely because they've spent time in the minors. And I think he's right. I hate that I'm "taking the company line" in this thread, but here, as with Kindl and Lashoff (who's only 23, btw), I'm not sure there's a whole lot to justifiably complain about. Sheahan wasn't ready last season and he didn't really impress in training camp back in the fall. Jurco wasn't ready last season, but I imagine it was more or less understood that he'd be getting a look this season because he'd be filling out to around 190 (something Nyquist and Tatar never had going for them). Glendening wasn't ready until recently. Callahan wasn't ready until recently. I'm not sure Ferraro is ready even now. Nyquist and Tatar could've been regulars last season, but they didn't really need to be regulars last season. Just because you can insert a kid into the lineup doesn't necessarily mean you need to or should insert him into the lineup. It does kinda suck that injuries are a Griffin's only shot at, well, a shot - but we have tons of injuries every season, so it works out. And now we're looking at a lot of kids making next season's roster out of camp. We might even be seeing one or possibly two of Sproul/Almqvist/Ouellet/Marchenko joining what is already a very young back end.

Beat Buffalo in regulation and collect two points across our last three and we should be ok. I think?

I'm still failing to see the issue with Glendening. He's excelling as a shutdown center and agitator, he's been generating offense and chances, and now he's finally potted one. Callahan's a winger, and I tend not to put much stock in how good a fourth-liner's hands are. If we were absolutely starved for goals, I'd be worried. But we have firepower up front, even without Z. I suppose this is sort of moot, though, because I mostly agree with your lineup. Indeed, I've found it pretty much impossible to squeeze any one of Andersson/Glendening/Callahan into all the different "ideal" lines I've been toying with. I've wanted Jurco on the top line with Z and D for a long while now; I believe our current top line would be dangerous as a second line; I'd have Weiss on the wing on the third line; and I'd want all of Helm, Sheahan, Tatar, Miller, and Abdelkader on the roster. And, I really do want Alfredsson back. I might swap in Alfredsson for Abdelkader, who hasn't impressed me this season. I might hesitate to break up the kid line - but now I'm really straying from the topic. Glendening is awesome.

I just don't see the wisdom in bringing in a Ryan Sproul right now. Isn't that kind of the opposite of what we want? Isn't the whole problem with our D corps that it's so young and inexperienced and jumpy and offense-minded and prone to making stupid mistakes? With all but one of our remaining games being on the road, the opposition's strategy would be pretty simple: get [big guns] on the ice against the new kid at every opportunity.

If Kindl and Lashoff were singlehandedly blowing games every night, I'd be all for bringing up Ouellet. But, truth is, they've actually been pretty ok. I mean, think about it. Haven't we been winning? Haven't we beaten the likes of the Penguins and Bruins? Isn't it with Kindl and Lashoff playing pretty big minutes that we've surged back into the playoff picture? Sure, they cost us every night, but that's what third pairings do. They suck. They make you pull your hair out. They take ten years off your life. That Max Pacioretty terrorizes them one night in Montreal doesn't necessarily mean anything has gone terribly wrong. (The Habs have scored 12 goals in two games.) The real issue is our top four. The biggest knock against Kronwall is that he's not what we need and expect him to be, which is an undisputed Norris candidate who can play 90 minutes a night and go +147 on the season. Ericsson's the next best thing, and he's out for the rest of forever. DeKeyser's a rookie. Quincey is Quincey. Smith is Smith. All of which means Kindl and Lashoff need to do some heavy lifting. Fortunately, they've mostly gotten the job done, showing Babs that he doesn't have to break in a kid with no NHL experience with two weeks to go in the regular season and our postseason streak hanging in the balance.

What's up with Boyle? Is he testing the waters this summer?

I'm happy we lost last night and in pathetic fashion. The team needed a kick in the collective balls. You can't play for five minutes and expect to win. Lesson learned and edge regained, I hope. As for this topic...putting a call-up on the fourth line is different than putting one on the third pairing. Most teams are really pushing right now, which is why Kindl and Lashoff and Smith are being exposed the way they are. You throw Sproul into the fire right now and he'll likely be eaten alive. Probably ditto for Almqvist, though I have more faith in him than some do. Ouellet might be the safest choice, but, realistically, he's not gonna be that much better than Kindl or Lashoff. Basically, I'd only go this route if we've secured a playoff spot. Unfortunately, that's still very much up in the air. I'd try simply limiting their ice, giving them only offensive zone starts, maybe doing some double-shifting so they get to play with Kronwall or DeKeyser. Then I'd trade Kindl in the summer. Lashoff probably has zero trade value, and he's the only big mean defensive defenseman we have, so I'd probably keep him around, though not necessarily on the big club.