82 replies to this topic

[Majsheppard]

Okay hear me out.

We can't get first, we can only get fifth, sixth, or fourth, and fourth would require a bunch of winning and help from Nashville.

Even if we get fourth, it gets us one more home game which might not mean as much as their stellar defense...

I am going to say it, the Wings would do better to fall to sixth and face one of the LA, DAL, PHX, SJ bunch...

Dallas and LA look like the most likely ones to finish third. We can take Dallas easy, and LA would be tough.

The bonus would be no matter what we can say if we fell to sixth, either Chicago or Nashville would be out in the first round.

I cannot come up with a better argument than that... yet I have to say it everytime I am at a bar and come across someone rooting for the Wings. Sometimes you have to root for them to lose so they can win.

I just hope their are no more injuries, and the team starts looking better like they did against Carolina at times... but beyond that I hope they lose every last game to get to sixth. I figure they need to be at or below .500 to get sixth and playing the last game against Chicago gives us an excellent shot at taking a dive.

It needed to be said.

3-4 would do it...

[rwfan007]

Let's just play whoever we play. There is no use trying to wish for a spot. It doesn't matter. I would rather beat all the good teams to win the cup then take the "easy" road there. Our job right now is to win games and get some kind of rhythm going. Who we play is who we play, bring on all takers. Every year we get into these discussions of who we would rather play, but honestly it doesn't matter in the least. Look at '06... any team is capable of beating any other team. When the playoffs start, every series is 0-0.

[RedWingsRox]

I agree with OP and seriously think that we should aim for 6th. It's not that we don't want to face all the good teams to get to the SCF, if we are in 6th, we will face good teams in round 2 and Conference finals ... we want to face them as healthy as possible. Playoffs is a game of attrition, how many of your best players stay healthy till the end.

[Itchin' to go]

Getting healthy and getting on a roll is way more important than who they play in the first.

If they lose like you suggest and continue the struggles, than we all know how the playoffs are going to unfold anyway.

Ryan

[Doc Holliday]

I would not want to take the risk of playing against the Sharks in the first round and give up any home ice advantage during the playoffs.

Plus, no team lower than a 5th seed has won the cup before. Not sure I want to give up on the Cup just because the team is underachieving right now.

[hooon]

I understand the theory, OP, but I think it can get kind of dangerous when you start choosing your poison. The Wings have things they need to work on, and "trying" to lose should not be one of them.

In order to win in the playoffs they need to figure out special teams, get back to good team D, score more goals, and... learn to win games again.

The Hurricanes are hardly a measuring stick and the Wings barely beat them. They have not yet clinched a playoff spot, and the priority should be figuring out how to win games and play solid as a unit.

The Wings have proven they can beat Nashville, and LA and PHX are not pushovers. They need to worry about themselves more than other teams.

[GoWings1905]

I want the Red Wings to keep winning and develop/reacquire good habits going into the playoffs. You can't pick your poison. What happens when the Sharks finish 3rd instead and the Red Wings end up drawing the team that gives them the most fits in the first round? Nashville or Chicago would be much nicer for travel purposes as well.

The Red Wings are as strong as any team in the West when healthy and when they turn up their intensity. If they can continue to build off last night's win, they could very easily secure 4th in the conference and get that potential extra game on home ice where they have flourished all season. If it means playing Nashville instead of maybe the Sharks, I will take that trade off. No disrespect to the Predators, but if the Red Wings can't beat them they sure as hell aren't getting through Vancouver, St. Louis, Pittsburgh or the Rangers to win it all.

Wanting to lose games is playing with fire. The Red Wings have struggled enough for the past month. Play hard for seven more games and go into the playoffs with some momentum.

[MidMichSteve]

I would not want to take the risk of playing against the Sharks in the first round and give up any home ice advantage during the playoffs.

Plus, no team lower than a 5th seed has won the cup before. Not sure I want to give up on the Cup just because the team is underachieving right now.

Well said.

Home ice is extremely important in the playoffs, particularly for the Wings this season.

[crispychris]

I look at travel, the fewer miles we have to travel, the better our chances are to win.

[Majsheppard]

I would not want to take the risk of playing against the Sharks in the first round and give up any home ice advantage during the playoffs.Plus, no team lower than a 5th seed has won the cup before. Not sure I want to give up on the Cup just because the team is underachieving right now.

Who said anything about giving up on the cup?!?!? I never said to give up on the cup... I just said lose 4 games and get an easier path.

I am talking about winning it by making sure that we have the best path. Look at it this way. If we have sixth and all the top seeds win except our round. (which makes sense because we would be a better team and have a better record than all the possibly teams to face.) Then we would line up with St Louis in the second round, which would be the same as if all the top teams won and we were in fourth.

Either way we play Vancouver or more likely St Louis in the second round. My way we lose Chicago or Nashville guaranteed.

Dallas/PHX/LA= winnable. Second round St Louis/Vancouver= winnable. Third round would likely be Vancouver/Nashville/Chicago. The difference is whoever it is that time will have had to go through the other two...



You can also look at the teams we have a better record against. We would have troubles with Nashville and Chicago. Also, if Nashville beats us in the first round, you can forget about Suter.

Other point, you have to know that Nashville is going to get the calls in the early rounds this year. Less likely to get Bettman fixers in the later rounds.

I want the Red Wings to keep winning and develop/reacquire good habits going into the playoffs. You can't pick your poison. What happens when the Sharks finish 3rd instead and the Red Wings end up drawing the team that gives them the most fits in the first round? Nashville or Chicago would be much nicer for travel purposes as well.The Red Wings are as strong as any team in the West when healthy and when they turn up their intensity. If they can continue to build off last night's win, they could very easily secure 4th in the conference and get that potential extra game on home ice where they have flourished all season. If it means playing Nashville instead of maybe the Sharks, I will take that trade off. No disrespect to the Predators, but if the Red Wings can't beat them they sure as hell aren't getting through Vancouver, St. Louis, Pittsburgh or the Rangers to win it all. Wanting to lose games is playing with fire. The Red Wings have struggled enough for the past month. Play hard for seven more games and go into the playoffs with some momentum.

I do too, but no where does it say you can't get good habits and still lose. I am only saying 4 lost games with two of them to Nashville and Chicago. Losing those games wouldn't be a big deal if we played hard. It is the same as winning games and playing bad. We won against Carolina last night and played pretty bad at times, and good at others. I much rather would have lost that game and played well the whole time. God knows that happens to us all the time in the playoffs. I would rather come against a hot goalie in the regular season and lose shooting 50 times on net than to have it happen in the first round against the Preds.

I have to say I think you are wrong about Vancouver. We can beat them much easier than Nashville IMO. Luongo and co don't put up the D that Nashville does, and their offense can be matched because it is top heavy. Nashville will chip in more goals from all four lines and shut down your top lines with the best D paring in hockey. I also rather have Rinne than Luo right now, something about them is just wrong. If they are missing a Sedin it is even worse.

Bottom line is you can go into the playoffs with momentum and a losing record.

You can be on the edge of exploding, and then go off. Wouldn't you rather go nova in the first round than against CBJ twice, the panthers, devils, blues, preds, and hawks in the regular season?!?!

Lose to the Preds and the Hawks, lose to Panthers, and lose to one of the others once. Get sixth, then win in five against Dallas. That is the best bet.

[GMRwings1983]

I can see either side of this argument.

In one sense, we've seen the Wings lose in the first round to many teams we thought they'd walk over.

At the same time, I really don't want to see us play Chicago in the first round. That would be too stressful and too crazy for so early in the playoffs. And their annoying fans will come here to talk crap.

[MulesWillFly93]

It'd definitely be nice if we ended up playing a team like Dallas in the 1st round, but the points are so close that the best I can really hope for is home ice advantage and less travel. If we fell back to 6th, we could just as easily be playing the Sharks in the 1st round, which wouldn't be fun. I just hope luck is on our side and we can get SOME sort of advantage going into the playoffs.

[Detroit # 1 Fan]

I'd rather win more then lose down the stretch. Home ice of any kind gives us an advantage, healthy and home ice vs Nashville will be all we need. There's no guarantee that we go into a physical barn like Phoenix, Dallas or LA and win on the road. I believe habits developed during the year affect you in the playoffs, home ice means the world to this team.

[Dabura]

Let's just play whoever we play. There is no use trying to wish for a spot. It doesn't matter. I would rather beat all the good teams to win the cup then take the "easy" road there. Our job right now is to win games and get some kind of rhythm going. Who we play is who we play, bring on all takers. Every year we get into these discussions of who we would rather play, but honestly it doesn't matter in the least. Look at '06... any team is capable of beating any other team. When the playoffs start, every series is 0-0.

o___O

[Andrew]

F*** this. We're only 6 points behind St. Louis and still play them once. Crazier things have happened.

[Doc Holliday]

Who said anything about giving up on the cup?!?!? I never said to give up on the cup... I just said lose 4 games and get an easier path.

I am talking about winning it by making sure that we have the best path. Look at it this way. If we have sixth and all the top seeds win except our round. (which makes sense because we would be a better team and have a better record than all the possibly teams to face.) Then we would line up with St Louis in the second round, which would be the same as if all the top teams won and we were in fourth.

1. By giving up on home ice advantage in the playoffs, you are immediately looking for the harder path.
2. If you take any seed lower than 5th, you aren't winning the cup. No team has done it. No team will likely do it.
3. You are asking for a lot of upsets for that plan to even work out.

Detroit needs to take 4th, beat Nashville (look at how Detroit of 08 and Chicago of 10 did after a hard fought series against them) and use that adversity to take the next three.

[Z and D for the C]

F*** this. We're only 6 points behind St. Louis and still play them once. Crazier things have happened.

This. I was surprised to see we're only 6 points behind. We could still take #1 if we start getting hot.

[shoe]

The less points they have the better draft pick Tampa gets.

I say play to win every game anything less should be unexeptable.

[esteef]

Needs to be said, Hudler battling in front of the net is a thing of beauty!

esteef

[b.shanafan14]

There is no way of knowing who will win the Pacific at this point. I would honestly put my money on San Jose, since they are only a point back of Dallas with two head-to-head games between the two teams left and Dallas playing more games on the road. The only known quantity I see is the likelihood of playing either Nashville or Chicago if we maintain either 4th or 5th seed, with each equating to less travel than any of the possible opponents from the Pacific. THIS IS VERY IMPORTANT.

Seeing what the team is capable of when healthy, 4th seed and home ice should be ours to lose. With St. Louis only 6 points ahead for division lead and top seed, it is well within the realm of possibility for the Wings to catch them in the remaining games. If Phoenix wins tonight, its a 4 point separation with the Wings having a game in hand. St.Louis has a harder schedule and an additional road game compared to the Wings remaining schedule. I would prefer above anything to have home ice advantage, which could be the difference between starting ahead by a game or two, OR starting behind and chasing the series. THIS IS VERY IMPORTANT.

However, more important than either who wins the Pacific, how much travel, or whether the Wings have home-ice, the Wings MUST get into a rhythm of playing tough, smart hockey and winning again. The Wings need to being playing at the top of their game come puck drop of Round 1 Game 1. If the Wings can play like they did last night, while improving the PK/PP, and getting injured players (Datsyuk, Lidstrom, Howard, Franzen) back up to game speed, the rest will take care of itself.

Best case scenario: Wings win all/most of the remaining games, possibly catching St Louis, possibly holding 4th seed and home ice against an opponent requiring less travel.

Worst case scenario: Doing what the OP suggests, dragging ass into the playoffs, losing games and continuing bad habits, most likely drawing San Jose, while losing home ice with way more travel.

Edited by b.shanafan14, 25 March 2012 - 05:47 PM.