Anyone still depressed

[LeftWinger 5,153]

Injuries to Yzerman, lapses of focus by Osgood, and a few other problems, if I remember correctly. Didn't Osgood blow a series against the Kings? And I think Yzerman had a busted foot in 2 of those years.

In 2001 when the WIngs losts to the Kings, the Wings scored 9 goals the first two games then only scored 8 the next 4 all of which were one goal losses with 2 of those coming in OT. If you call that Osgood blowing a series, then what did the offense do? Lidstrom lead the team with 8 points, Kozlov lead the team with 4 goals (everone else had 2 or less) and Yzmeran only played in 1 game that playoff year.

[Jake Ryan 1]

Okay I think you're missing my point, but you can tell me if that's a wrong assumption. The Wings were decimated in the playoffs last year with injuries. Abby and Helm not playing, as wonderfully gifted as these two prodigies are offensively, weren't the reason why the Wings lost. The players that we rely on to produce weren't producing, again, because of injuries. What happened to Yzerman essentially happened to Lidstrom, Datsyuk, Cleary, Ericsson, Draper, Kopecky, Rafalski, and Lilja. They got injured and they became less effective because of it. But this is what makes the Stanley Cup so elusive. It requres far greater a grind than any other trophy, so that it does take more than skill to win it. It takes a good deal of luck also. We just had bad luck last year and the Pens had good luck. Just like the year before, we had good luck and the Pens not so much.

I'm agreeing with you on the injury bug. It's devastating to a team. But look at what the Penguins coach did in the last two games of the series. I don't know if you noticed, but he took the FRICKING TEAM CAPTAIN off the ice! That was a coaching move. Crosby was killing the Penguins on defense, and the coach removed him from 5 on 5 play. That was one of the ballsiest and smartest coaching moves I've seen in a long time. And that's why the Penguins shut down the Wings. They played DEFENSE. Meanwhile, instead of Babcock throwing out young, big, hungry guys to overcome the jam up defensive style the Penguins were using, he let HURT players back in the line-up (Rafalski, Datsyuk, Draper) and took out players that were holding their own and creating havoc (Abdelkader, Leino, Chelios). Babcock simply got out-coached in those last two games. I'll give the Penguins their credit, but the Wings should not have lost the 2009 Stanley Cup. Their coach let them down.

[Doc Holiday 0]

I'm agreeing with you on the injury bug. It's devastating to a team. But look at what the Penguins coach did in the last two games of the series. I don't know if you noticed, but he took the FRICKING TEAM CAPTAIN off the ice! That was a coaching move. Crosby was killing the Penguins on defense, and the coach removed him from 5 on 5 play. That was one of the ballsiest and smartest coaching moves I've seen in a long time. And that's why the Penguins shut down the Wings. They played DEFENSE. Meanwhile, instead of Babcock throwing out young, big, hungry guys to overcome the jam up defensive style the Penguins were using, he let HURT players back in the line-up (Rafalski, Datsyuk, Draper) and took out players that were holding their own and creating havoc (Abdelkader, Leino, Chelios). Babcock simply got out-coached in those last two games. I'll give the Penguins their credit, but the Wings should not have lost the 2009 Stanley Cup. Their coach let them down.

You must be riding the short bus if you think Chelios had any positive impact on the team last season.

Also, Draper scored Detroit's only goal in game six.

Edited September 9, 2009 by Doc Holiday

[RedWingRed 0]

Because we know that despite not winning, we were the better team. Sometimes in sports and especially hockey the best team does not win the championship. I take solace in the fact that we were and still are better than the Penguins.

Exactly.

[Hockeytown0001 7,652]

Not depressed. Just want the new season to get underway.