Echolalia

An uncreative answer isn't necessarily an incorrect one, but I can certainly flair it up for you if that's what you want (and excuse my wall of text because its coming!) Here's Sheahan's career stats (taken from hockeydb) 2013-14 Detroit Red Wings NHL 42 9 15 24 6 8 5 0 0 0 0 2014-15 Detroit Red Wings NHL 79 13 23 36 16 -3 7 2 1 3 2 2015-16 Detroit Red Wings NHL 81 14 11 25 12 -8 5 0 1 1 4 2016-17 Detroit Red Wings NHL 29 0 5 5 12 -11 points per game ordered by season: 0.57 0.46 0.31 (Blashill yr 1) 0.17 (Blashill yr 2) That first year was the best, and he had a bit of a sophomore slump (not uncommon, mind you) the following year, but still respectable for his role and experience. Then Blash takes over and instead of the numbers recovering or even plateauing, they drop even more, and at a steeper rate. And then they drop some more, and again at an alarming rate the following year. A little unusual, especially for someone who initially showed so much potential, but maybe that's just Sheahan. Except it isn't. Here's Tatar's stats: 2012-13 Detroit Red Wings NHL 18 4 3 7 4 2 -- -- -- -- -- 2013-14 Detroit Red Wings NHL 73 19 20 39 30 12 5 0 0 0 8 2014-15 Detroit Red Wings NHL 82 29 27 56 28 6 7 3 1 4 2 2015-16 Detroit Red Wings NHL 81 21 24 45 24 4 5 0 3 3 2 2016-17 Detroit Red Wings NHL 29 4 7 11 12 -9 Again looking at points per game but omg at that goal drop off. .39 .53 .68 .56 (Blashill yr 1) .38 (Blashill yr 2) Again we see a noticeable dropoff when Blashill takes over, and again instead of it recovering or plateauing we see the numbers drop even more (and even steeper) in Blashill's second year as coach. Here's Nyquist: 2012-13 Detroit Red Wings NHL 22 3 3 6 6 0 14 2 3 5 2 2013-14 Detroit Red Wings NHL 57 28 20 48 10 16 5 0 0 0 0 2013-14 Grand Rapids Griffins AHL 15 7 14 21 6 6 -- -- -- -- -- 2014-15 Detroit Red Wings NHL 82 27 27 54 26 -11 7 1 1 2 2 2015-16 Detroit Red Wings NHL 82 17 26 43 34 -2 5 1 0 1 6 2016-17 Detroit Red Wings NHL 29 4 11 15 4 -1 again p/g. aaaannnddd again omg goal drop off. .27 .84* .66 .52 (Blashill yr 1) .51 (Blashill yr 2) * note: to be fair that second year was a bit of an anomaly. That was the year Nyquist scored like 25 goals in 30 games or something ridiculous, and had a shooting percentage of a million. I don't blame Blashill one bit for failing to get Nyquist back to that point. Its an unrealistic expectation. The numbers from the following year, however, are more reasonable. Recurring theme: All three players are currently playing statistically the worst hockey of their careers as established NHL players, and all three players are approaching what should be their prime ages for production (meaning not only should they not be getting worse OR plateauing, we expect they should be improving). And these three players are not isolated cases. I could have put up Abdelkader's numbers, or Dekeyser's. Across the board just about every Red Wing has played worse than compared to when before Blashill took over. (Quick and dirty evaluation of goal scoring as a loose supportive data set: Red Wings ranking in goals/game the last few years: 16th, 10th, 23rd, 26th. Guess when Blashill took over.) And as I mentioned in another thread, the roster has arguably been improved bit by bit from year to year, so at least on paper there's more support for our guys to continue to produce, or at the very least earn points for the team (which have also incidentally plummeted since Blashill took over). Considering how just about everything across the board has suffered since he took over, and considering that just about everything has gotten worse and not better in his following year, I have a hard time looking at anything else beside Blashill at this point. He is the most glaring and obvious problem, and the one with the most repercussions throughout the makeup of this team. I struggle to properly evaluate other aspects of this team because I have such strong conviction that The Blashill Effect is already negatively muddling the results, and I wouldn't trust making adjustments or tweaks elsewhere because elsewhere might not even be broken and we could be potentially doing more harm by trying to find fixes where none may even be necessary. To take that a step farther and to underline a more ominous problem that's impending: do we trade away Sheahan at the deadline for a 5th round pick because he's dead weight and we're clearly missing the playoffs, only to see him immediately rebound under another coach? To be fair that's just speculation, but its also a real possibility that I want to convey, and one that leaves us trading down in value. As we approach this upcoming deadline likely to be sellers, right now the organization and potential trade partners are at high risk of under-appraising our goods and selling them off for less than they're actually worth (unless of course Sheahan and Tatar and etc and etc and etc actually are playing at their true levels and all the data before Blashill took over was just anomalies across the board). Holland is on his way to a terrible position because when the phones are ringing in February and Chicago wants Tatar (or just about anybody on the roster), Holland is either selling low based on the last two years of performance and continuously diminishing trends, or not selling at all (and then the fan base calls for his head for "kicking tires at the deadline"). I don't mean to derail this thread and I have no problem with people analyzing the actual on ice product that has been Sheahan to see if he's working the corners enough or skating with confidence or whatever, but I think its worth at least partially derailing to discuss exactly the magnitude that a poor coach has on this organization, both now and for the future, and that if Holland wants to maximize his chances at turning this team around, right now is probably the time to fire Blashill, if not to make a playoff comeback, but to reclaim some value on potential trade pieces by February. Anyway, sorry to totally go off on a tangent and do so in an endless wall of text.

Blashill.

It wont change unless something with the team changes.

I think getting Sproul back in is at least a start but the way the entire team is playing on the ice right now just isn't working, and line shuffles and changing up who's scratched isn't going to solve the problem. Something fundamental needs to change, because this level of consistent underperformance is ridiculous. Nyquist on pace for 12 goals this season. Tatar on pace for 12 goals this season. Larkin is on pace for 32 points this season. Sheahan has yet to score a goal and has only 5 assists. These are abysmal numbers. Blashill needs to wake up and learn how to get our team rolling, or Holland needs to cut ties with him and find someone who does.

This is an entirely winnable game. It would be so frustrating if the Wings continued to not give Jimmy any offensive support and spoil this game, especially considering how desparate the Wings are for points in the league

howard swallowing pucks

I have nothing against Glendening up there as long as he keeps coming out of the corner with pucks. On the whole that has been a consistent weakness thus far this season. also kickass maybe youll get a few chf exacerbations with the cold weather. Or better yet maybe you can find an intern to tell you to go home early lol

you on floors? the wings not looking too bad thus far.

Its actually pretty bad here. I don't blame folks for staying home through this snow.

Edit: Buppy is correct. I never said I was using win% vs point %. You assumed that (incorrectly), then proceeded to get worked up about it. Who has the crack pipe again? But regardless. This team is severely underperforming for how they're built, and as I've demonstrated the numbers back that up.

i guess Glendening never let him win a faceoff :/

This. Forwards cycle in the offensive zone, and the "center" on defense is most often the first guy back, who's typically the highest guy in the o-zone whenever the puck is turned over. That and Blashill has the team playing such a tight collapse in our end that all five players are essentially crease clearers at this point.

I disagree with the first part. Babcock's last year as coach we were a .610 team. Blashill inherited that team minus Weiss and plus right-handed defenseman Green and wonder kid Larkin, and with our "new core" or Tatar, Nyquist, Sheahan etc all with another year experience under their belt. On paper the roster looked even better than Babs final squad, and many folks thought the fresh voice of a new coach would be even more to be optimistic about. But the Wings dropped to a .567 team. Okay maybe that was just growing pains from a first year head coach. The last offseason we lost Datsyuk, which is huge, but to be clear we lost 2016 Datsyuk who misses 25% of the season due to injury and is only giving us ~50 points a season now with diminishing returns yearly, and not 2008 Datysuk. Nielsen alone should be enough to cover his production, as well as much of his defensive awareness. We also added Vanek, who has exceeded everyone's expectations. Blash has some NHL experience now and the young guys have another year under their belt. Again, I think this roster is built to be better than last year's, as well as the year before. Yet right now the Wings are sitting at .518. There is absolutely no reason why this team shouldn't be at least .600 with the players they have.

My point still stands. The product the Wings put on the ice is inferior to many other options we can find, Friday or not. There's only so much free time in a week, I can appreciate that more people would rather sit down and have dinner with their family or watch a movie or something than watch Larkin play on the 4th line and Lashoff s*** the bed and Mrazek get pulled in yet another loss. At some point the Wings have to earn our time and money and this year they've been failing in that regard. People have better things to do than watch the same disappointing product over and over.

So what's the recap on this one? Pertaining to the low gdt activity, it mainly comes down to the entertainment the Wings providing being subpar to other opportunities out there. It's a Friday night. I figured I'd have more fun tonight going to the movies with some friends, and based on the boxscore I made the right choice. Ten years ago it would have been a more difficult decision because the quality on ice was way more entertaining. Maybe that makes me a bandwagon fan, but I'd rather be labeled a bandwagoner and get the most out of my limited free time.

Ken Kal?

I have no idea. I wasn't speculating, so much as exploring how it could possibly be a heart-related issue per hockeytown's question, given the limited info we have.

people are too busy watching youtube clips of when he beat up the class bully in highschool to actually follow his hockey career, so you're looking in the wrong place for answers

I suspect not, based on the combination of his age and that he died in his sleep, as opposed to doing some sort of exertional activity that would stress his heart out, unless of course he loaded up on cocaine or something before he fell asleep.

what a sexy little chip shot

mantha is playing so good

Apparently it would be nice indeed

Frankly i think they're the least of the Wings' issues. This roster isn't terribly built. By all indications it should be better than last year's (and last year's should have been better than the previous year). If there was competent coaching this team would be so much different.

Larkin has looked really good thus far. I'll just echo(lalia) what everyone else has already said in that he needs more support around him. The puck is finding him tonight, it would be nice if there were somebody out there that could help him get the puck in a more opportune moment.

I'm personally not a fan of assembling lines (not that I have anything against those who do). Its pretty rare that a line built on paper works out how we expect it would in real life, and I've seen plenty of lines kick ass when I would have never guessed they had any chance at production. I'm done trying to figure it out lol. Also Blueadams has already analyzed every possible combination of red wing lines for the next 15 years.