Aussie_Wing

Mike Babcock, Give Filppula MORE ice-time. Thanks.

BTW, Draper still a beast on faceoffs.

Griffins went down in 2-1 in a SO. Syracuse 2 goals on 3 shots Griffins 0 from 4. The lone goal looked like this: 2. GR Oulahen, (3) (Abdelkader, Kindl), 11:17 Abdelkader had a pretty eventful game. Missed a few minutes in the first period after blocking a shot, came back to start the second and had an assist on the lone goal. And he took three minor penalties including one in OT. We went 0/6 on the PP and I'd say not being able to score on a 2 man advantage late in the 1st period was costly. Griffins outshot the Crunch 33-24. Howard was awarded the games 2nd star.

Griffins failed to capitalise on just under a minutes worth 5-3. Scoreless going into the second. Shots 13-10 in favour of the Griffins.

Is the end in sight for Kirk Maltby and Darren McCarty? We’ve been discussing it a bit during tonight’s GDT but I feel as though it deserves its own thread. Tonight against Los Angeles the two players in question received very little ice-time, Maltby: 6:57 and McCarty: 3:43. Those are alarming numbers but perhaps what’s even more alarming is that Maltby played less than 5 minutes at even strength. He was a healthy scratch against Chicago and with Franzen out he came back into the line-up but barely played. By scratching Maltby, Babcock obviously feels as though he isn’t of much use to the team anymore and I agree. He was a PK specialist and a fine agitator but these days his role has become so reduced that there’s not much he can do. On top of Dats and Hank killing penalties we have seen the emergence of guys like Cleary, Filppula and Franzen. Maltby will see little time on the PK and it seems at ES too. As for McCarty, I really don’t see why he’s even in the picture anymore. Sure he’s been a terrific contributor for the team but realistically we have to move on. Babcock wasn’t here when he was at his best so in theory he wouldn’t be biased towards him. If he’s no longer capable of playing at the level required, why is he even here? I could be reading too much into the TOI but less than 7 minutes for Maltby? Up until this point I haven't even mentioned Draper but he's under the gun too. Just over 10 minutes for him but Drapes is still brilliant on faceoffs and has speed and better defensive skills so he's worthwhile having around, for this season at least.

Now people, I was this close to putting up the new thread and I see it's already done! Mac, BRTD, could you possibly move this post up to the top of the thread? Thanks. Included are positional arrows showing your change from the previous week. Standings: 1. Dano33 30 (↑1) 2. GoWiings1905 29 (↑8) 2. timothy1997 29 (↑8) 4. Aussie_Wing 28 (↓3) 4. LEBDA22 28 (↓2) 4. sibiriak 28 (↓2) 7. Dominator 2005 27 (↑17) 7. North Guy 27 (↑38) 7. Mithros 27 (↓5) 7. MSDoubleJ19 27 (↑3) 11. CrossCheck24 26 (↑13) 11. FinRedWing 26 (↓1) 11. Systemfel 26 (↓1) 11. juice71285 26 (↑13) 11. DatsyukownzU13 26 (↓9) 16. Reds4Life 25 (↓14) 16. Drake_Marcus 25 (↑8) 16. HD30 25 (↑8) 16. Duck Guy 25 (↑8) 16. Hockeytown0001 25 (↑8) 16. T-Ruff 25 (↑8) 16. Hockey13Playa 25 (↑29) 16. cirov19 25 (↓14) 24. #19=Legend 24 (↓14) 24. Osgood4President 24 (-) 24. johnnyoski 24 (↑21) 24. wingschamps 24 (-) 24. David 24 (-) 24. Wildwings44 24 (-) 24. JohnS 24 (-) 24. edicius 24 (↓14) 24. Landstander 24 (↑33) 33. jawbreaker 23 (↓23) 33. Mickeyisms Rule! 23 (↓23) 33. Superman54 23 (↓9) 33. betterREDthandead 23 (↓9) 33. rwfan007 23 (↓9) 38. NeverForgetMac25 22 (↑7) 38. akustyk 22 (↑42) 38. McCartyFanForLife 22 (↑19) 38. shannyfan1414 22 (↑7) 38. jmgriffith 22 (↑19) 38. wingsfan40 22 (↑19) 44. Doc Holiday 21 (↑13) 44. mindfly 21 (↑13) 44. redwingslady87 21 (↑1) 44. interminded 21 (↓20) 44. j.hoop 21 (↑1) 44. wingsfanatic4alltime 21 (↑13) 50. naranja 20 (↓5) 50. TRD604 20 (↑7) 50. wingsfan13 20 (↑7) 50. hawkupaloogie 20 (↑7) 50. CupChamps979802 20 (↑7) 55. Elshupacabra 19 (↑18) 55. wingsgirl001 19 (↓10) 57. Shutemdown 17 (↑19) 57. stormboy 17 (↓12) 57. Ontario Wingsfan 17 (↑16) 60. marcaractac 14 (↓58) 60. Sebastian 14 (↓50) 62. ashenhigh 13 (↓52) 62. Sgt Sharpie 13 (↓52) 62. Konnan511 13 (↓52) 62. FinWing 13 (↓52) 62. zata40 13 (↑19) 62. redwings56 13 (↑20) 68. WingsRJ91 12 (↑14) 68. Chunkylover 12 (↓44) 68. Kween78 12 (↓44) 68. Blood On The Ice 12 (↓44) 68. irishtemper14+25 12 (↓44) 73. P. Marlowe 11 (↑9) 73. SeeinRed 11 (↑9) 73. Chase 11 (↓16) 73. discohadestwo 11 (↓28) 73. zetterisbetter 11 (↓28) 78. frederick9125 10 (↓21) 78. swedishconnection 10 (↓21) 78. puckhog419 10 (↓21) 78. ZETTERBERGPWN 10 (↓21) 82. SwedeLundin77 9 (↓9) 83. ManLove4Homer 8 (↓7) 83. Williams29fan 8 (↓7) 83. wings1fan19 8 (7) Friday: Anaheim @ Ottawa Philadelphia @ New Jersey NY Rangers @ Columbus San Jose @ Florida Atlanta @ Detroit Los Angeles @ St Louis Saturday: New Jersey @ Philadelphia Atlanta @ Boston Ottawa @ Toronto Anaheim @ Montreal Carolina @ NY Islanders Pittsburgh @ NY Rangers San Jose @ Tampa Bay Los Angeles @ Nashville Columbus @ Minnesota Washington @ Dallas Detroit @ Chicago Florida @ St Louis Buffalo @ Colorado Edmonton @ Vancouver Calgary @ Phoenix Sunday: No games scheduled

I thought Samuelsson was rubbish last night. He made poor decision after poor decision, most notably shooting while on the PP from the blueline with absolutely no traffic in front of net. Needless to say the goalie had no difficulty stopping the shot. And then there was the time, again on the PP, where he had numerous defenders in front of him and yet he decided to shoot it anyway, this time the shot was blocked. His decision making and shot selection leave a lot to be desired. Points don’t tell the full story, he might be playing at a decent level this season but he’s hardly been the start his point total would indicate.

Well he hasn't exactly played too many games has he? And you're selling him short with the Draper comparison, he could be a lot better than that.

I’ve been thinking about it and Abdelkader has a real shot at developing into a legitimate NHL power forward. He hits, he isn’t afraid to drop the gloves, he goes into the corners and he has 6 goals in 5 games, in his rookie season. His development since being drafted has been absolutely flawless, it really has been smooth sailing ever since he became a Wing. There were early doubts, most seemed to want Latendresse, but I’m more than happy with Abs. He’ll be a full-time Wing in a season or two and he projects to become a scoring line forward when it was initially predicted he'd become merely a grinder.

Yeh I don't think he and Quincey are great mates.

Good to see he didn't take the advice of some stranger!

First of all let me say that I really do love the loyalty this organisation shows and there is no doubt it goes a long way towards the success this club has. However they also need to weigh up whether the player(s) in question is actually still contributing to the team and whether there is anyone else who could do the same job. Now I don’t know about you but personally I think Helm and Abdelkader could both come in and do what Maltby is doing. McCarty really has no reason to be here. You could possibly mount a case for Maltby but as far as I’m concerned McCarty is just wasting a spot someone else could fill. He doesn’t score, he doesn’t play on the special teams, he barely hits and he certainly doesn’t fight these days. So he’s still around because of…loyalty? What concerns me is that Maltby is signed for next season. Are we really prepared to let Helm and Abdelkader play out another season in a league they’re clearly too good for just so we can keep Maltby around to play <7 minutes a night and keep on being loyal? In our past 2 games he’s been a healthy scratch and has played 6:57, another season and his role will be decreased even further. I think Babs is sending a pretty clear message that his time is just about up. Holland and co are going to have to make some tough decisions at the end of the season and I’d say whether to retain Maltby will definitely be one.

Disagree, especially with Meech and Pyett in our system. Sad but probably true! Stuart? He was GREAT tonight.

Not sure about everyone else but I REALLY like Flip and Hank on the same line.

Sammuelsson, you are worthless, seriously.

This game is pretty...boring. Every line but the 1st looks terrible.

Stuart is having a very nice game.

Shocking by Rafalski, nothing new there really.

Fair enough. He's a good fit for this team, can score as well as playing good defence, but perhaps not quite worth what he's getting paid. But hey, I've got nothing against him and I'm more than happy for him to be here. Yeah, he's said he liked it here and we had a great group of guys.

Quincey! "Hockey's fun again".

Surely the way to "get the system down better" is to play? And I just realised, Cleary is signed for a further 4 years after this year, the last 3 being at $3million per season! Overpayment or what!

Why is Maltby out there on the PK? The first PK meanwhile... And this might be controversial but I think Cleary is expendable.

Lebda, just give it up. Agreed again. I love our loyalty but sooner or later we're going to have to make the decisions that are best for the club in the long term. Maltby is contracted for next season right? Because I can see Abdelkader having to play out another year in the AHL just so we let Malts play out his contract. Ideally, Maltby and Draper are gone next season. Babcock scratching Malts the other day is a good sign though. True. I'd argue that Helm and Abdelkader are superior to Maltby and Draper right now though. The only reason they're still playing is because of our loyalty and the fact they'll be needed come playoff time.

Lilja saved the day there!

Mac, BlueMonk, could one of you kindly unpin the Weekend Picks thread? Thanks! And I really don't like that 4th line. It's frustrating because we have great prospects who can play the same role yet better but for one reason or another they just won't get a shot.