11/7 GDT: Red Wings 1 at Maple Leafs 5

[haroldsnepsts 4,826]

"Hindsight: it's like foresight without a future."

I think there's a big difference in recognizing that management isn't perfect and thus not holding things like this against them. Again, it's blatantly obvious that he failed to show the Wings what he was capable of otherwise they wouldn't have let him go. They're not stupid. Part of not being perfect is not having a crystal ball.

Hell, maybe part of not being perfect just means that your Mike Babcock. Maybe Mike Babcock is generally a damn good coach, but maybe he drove Quincey nuts and thus Quincey was unable to put his game together for the Detroit Red Wings while Babcock was coach. Whether the Wings could see that or not, the bottom line is that Babcock's the coach and Quincey failed to do what he needed to in order to convince Babcock to give Ken a call and say, "I want Quincey on my team. Do what you have to do to make that happen."

I mean, honestly, what the hell do you want anyone to say? What do you want Holland and Babcock to say or do? They're not ignorant people. Quincey didn't do enough to prove what he was capable of. That's all that matters. Because again, maybe it really was as simple as the environment. Maybe he hated Babcock. Maybe he hated the idea of being so far behind some of the stars we had floating around. Maybe he was intimidated and scared s***less. It doesn't really matter why because whatever it was, he failed while he was here otherwise he'd still be here. The Wings have proven more than a few times that they will do all they can to give guys a chance to prove themselves.

If you're going to question the management for letting him go, ask what might've happened if he had stayed. Perhaps he would've floundered under the pressure. At the time, it was a far more likely outcome to predict than him becoming a 20-25 minute, 40 point scoring defenseman.

It's not like I think this was all managements fault. Obvious a lot was on Quincey's shoulders to prove himself. As I've said over and over, I just think it's funny that people don't think that just maybe the wings management missed something, and/or painted themselves into a corner. The total reluctance to give responsibility to anyone other than Quincey baffles me.

Maybe, just maybe, Quincey had the tools to succeed given the right situation and could've been a valuable defenseman on this team. But he didn't step up enough, AND management, for whatever reason, missed his potential.

My guess would be he was a victim of two things. One, the ridiculously long time the Wings keep players in the minors and two, the logjam created on defense at the time by re-signing Chelios.

And I think you're overstating Babcock's power here. He raved about Ericsson for a looong time, even saying he couldn't believe he wasn't in the lineup. Sure he can give his opinion, but he definitely doesn't have the power to get a guy into the lineup just because he wants him there.

The Wings get it right a lot more often than they get it wrong, but it's like brainwashing around here. No one can conceive that the Wings could possibly have gotten one wrong. I guess a Stanley Cup will have that effect. Because without it, there would probably be a whole forum dedicated to how much Holland sucks.

The Wings get it right most of the time, but they mishandled Quincey. Not only did they not see the potential he had, but they also backed themselves into a situation where they lost a prospect for nothing. That's all I'm saying.

Edited November 8, 2009 by haroldsnepsts

[zettie85 106]

I dunno.....Buffalo was pretty bad....

Maybe....but it was the Leaf's.

[RedWingsRox 614]

Just one question ... why can't we beat the bottom feeders?

2 losses to St. Louis

1 loss to Leafs

That could be 6 pts in the bank or even if we just got 4 pts from those three games, we'd be on top of our division.

[Drake_Marcus 890]

This.

And what exactly did re-signing Chelios do for us last season?...Not all that much if I remember correctly, and that's what burns my biscuits

Hey now, it did boost the average age of the team. Significantly.

ZING!

[Drake_Marcus 890]

Just one question ... why can't we beat the bottom feeders?

2 losses to St. Louis

1 loss to Leafs

That could be 6 pts in the bank or even if we just got 4 pts from those three games, we'd be on top of our division.

Because the Wings believe in giving back to the community and bottom feeders have fans too damn it. If someone doesn't bow out to them a lot of people will be bummed at the 0-82 record.

[hankzet40 233]

Reason # 3448 why the Wings are the biggest Jekyll and Hyde team in the league. Beat three quality teams in a row and then lose to one of the worst in convincing fashion. The sick part is as angry as I am the loss was not a complete shock.

[Yak19 303]

Wings took a night off anyone could see that, i wish they could get up for all 82 games but thats not going to happen.

That being said the Leafs are a much better team then their record indicates, Gustavsson is unbelievable.

Im over it even though im going to have to hear about this loss at work for a while. And oh ya Janik over Lebda now plz.

GO WINGS!!!

[Guest ZetterbergFourty]

Seems to me Detroit always loses to Toronto in that one game a year, they lost the opener to them last year for example. I picked Toronto on my proline thats how concrete a Toronto win vs. Detroit is, they just dont show up to play the Leafs, ever. Sure enough, my pick was correct.

[dat's sick 1,002]

I kind of expected this loss to be honest. After 3 solid 60-minute games with Ozzie and the defense playing great, a letdown was bound to happen.

And the Leafs have been playing pretty damn good the last 6-7 games. They could actually be on a big winning streak if they had some luck. With Gustavsson and Kessel their biggest weaknesses goaltending and goalscoring are not as bad anymore.

[dicksmack 33]

Everybody sucked last night, Osgood included.

[canadian wings fan 305]

everybody did suck last night. Anyone else notice how bad Rafalski has been for us on the powerplay this year? I honestly believe he misses the net on over 80% of his shots. He has had so many quality chances to blast one home and he always misses. Even Lidstrom has been doing this alot it's pretty iritating. Datsyuk really needs to start scoring again, Zetterberg too and I think we will be ok.

Also, Chris Osgood lets in so many weak goals five hole it's a joke