Echolalia

Yeah I have to say Glendening has not looked out of place. Not necessarily the most offensively gifted guy but he's making things happen, forcing turnovers, hounding down the puck etc.

Corsi is the most overrated thing right now, and this is coming from someone who values numbers and objective data more than the eyeball test. I understand it has merit but it's being used synonymously with "possession" which is quite a stretch. I wish the league was more adamant about tracking who has the puck before and after player X, because I think that would be the most efficient way of measuring a player's effect on team puck possession. Corsi is a +/- of shot attempts, and runs into a lot of the same problems that +/- does.

I read no call-ups defensively cuz they have Kronwall still, and Jurco on offense.

lol so predictable. Mraz was awesome tonight.

I don't expect he will be. One of the main measuring sticks the organization uses to keep prospects up full-time is whether these guys are difference makers on a scoring line and not as a 4th liner getting 5 minutes a night. Its why Larkin stayed up, and Dekeyser, and its why AA hasn't played in GR since last Feb or whatever. Mantha has met this criteria playing in the top six, and has been noticeable for all the right reasons. So at this point I'm looking at this situation more as "who will Holland expose to waivers to keep Mantha up" rather than "will Holland expose someone to waivers or send Mantha down". Hopefully my thought process is correct.

Eh, I mean even if Holland interviewed 100 guys, I still think we would have ended up with Blashill. He had a flawless resume in every league he's coached, mentored directly under Babcock, and worked directly with the majority of our roster as an assistant coach in the NHL or as head coach in the AHL (or college). There's certainly a level of risk with hiring a first time NHL coach, but all the best coaches were first timers at one point or another, and the risk was probably calculated to be relatively low with Blashill because of his familiarity with our system. Unfortunately he's really struggling. I wouldn't peg the blame on Holland for that, but I will point the finger his way if he decides to wait 5 years before bringing in someone new.

This should be a good opportunity for Mrazek to reestablish some confidence. These guys do tend to come through when the other one is unable to, or playing poorly.

4 pts in 6 games for Mantha, 5 pts in 10 games for Sproul. Mantha I'm not surprised about, but even with his defensive lapses, Sproul provides something on defense that besides him, only Green can give, and for that reason, at least thus far I'd rather he in over Oulette and Marchenko.

When the puck is in the corner of our zone, it baffles me how consistently close all five of our players on the ice are to the puck.

edit repeat post

God traffic is going to be miserable. My buddy lives across the street from the new arena. Hes gonna hang himself.

I dunno. They were winning more back then but I personally don't think they looked particularly good during that span.

I would like to add that our players have adapted a very aggressive swarm, almost to the point of peewee nonpositional hockey, easily countered with one pass. Thats either players not trusting one another or poor coaching.

I didn't pay much attention last year but I've noticed this year that defensively the Wings have often had a very heavy four (sometimes five) player swarm, which is just ridiculous to me. I don't know if it's just our players being stupid or if this is a coaching strategy, but it's been a regular thing this year so I'm inclined to think it's a strategic thing (but who knows). In any event it's terrible defensive hockey and it should have been addressed long ago.

just walked in whats the recap

Really haven't been a fan of Blashill. This team is not as bad as their record indicates. When Babcock left there was no Green (or any righthanded balance on defense), no Larkin, Tatar and Nyquist were still kids and not close to their prime ages, Weiss was still on the team, etc. The roster we have now should not be playing this poorly, especially against a Washington team that only had 9 forwards. I'm ready for a new coach.

I just want to see a solid effort from them tonight.

Mrazek started 8 of the first 11 games of the season. How many losses must the Wings endure for Mrazek to get into rhythm (assuming he even gets into rhythm- so far in his young career Mrazek has been unable to consistently play at a starting goalie level). When it comes down to it, Blashill is in the business to win. Not to give Mrazek as many starts as he needs to try to piece together some consistency. The whole situation becomes even more loony to think about when the alternative is one of the statistically best goalies in the league thus far. I mean, I know people irrationally hate Howard. And I know people irrationally love Mrazek. But I never thought it would get so bad that people would actually actively vouch for Blashill to play the guy whos 35th in save percentage and 39th in goals against over the guy who's 6th in the league in both stats.

Shocky have you had a chance to read the forum rules? You're obviously a very smart guy but just in case you forgot I'll just leave this here. Even the smartest of us can forget things sometimes: · DON'T personally attack other members. This includes name-calling, flame-baiting, etc.. If you can't discuss your point with maturity then don't discuss it. People that violate this rule will be dealt with swiftly. Of course I'm not a mod so I personally have no jurisdiction on the matter, but I'd hate for the forums to lose a very smart poster because of a ban.

Lol now it's Blashill's fault that Mrazek can't stop a puck.

If it was Howard in net we'd be hearing about how Howard is a terrible puck handler on the first goal, the 2nd goal Howard spit a juicy rebound out right into the slot, and the 3rd goal would be Howard just doesn't know how to get in front of the puck when the team needs him to.

The power play really needs to get going

Hes struggling bad. As demonstrated by the fact that it is Glendening on our second line and not him

I mean.... Glendening has been prob our best player thus far. If he can maintain this level of play I wouldn't be against him getting more top 9 minutes.

Zetterberg really lost his man there. This is getting ugly