973 replies to this topic

[Firehawk]

It's the first game of the season, these guys have not played NHL hockey in nine months, and there has been significant personnel turnover. The wrinkles will take some time to iron out.

 

Those of you who have concluded, based on this single game, that the season is over should consider quitting right now.

 

I think reality is setting in for people, in that the blue line has been desimated and nothing has filled those holes.  And people have hoped and prayed that the Wings, being the wings, would overcome it, but that absolute disaster of a game exposed every hole on this team yesterday. 

One thing is for certain, it looks like this season we are going to find out just how good Howard is.  The goalies that stand on their head and will their teams to playoffs do it with average defenses.  We'll see if Howard can do that or something close to it, becuase the argument that the defense masks how poor he is will be taken away.

 

I'll be interested to see how Howard performs this season.

[BuckeyeWingsfan80]

I'm not sure which is worse: the over-reacting or the self-rigtheous why-don't-you-just-quit-then responses to it.

 

Both - and the usual suspects are playing their roles as usual too....

[Hockeymom1960]

Backes set the tone and the Wings didn't answer.

 

The question?

 

BLUES:  We're going to kick your ass so what are you going to do about it?

 

WINGS:  *crickets*

Edited by Hockeymom1960, 20 January 2013 - 09:56 AM.

[Crymson]

Both - and the usual suspects are playing their roles as usual too....

 

 

Reporting for duty.

[DtoTheZ]

Wings fan since '93, had to register. Need some virtual 'there, there', wife does not understand. Please help.

[HelmFan]

I got stuck watching the Blues feed last night. Those guys are horrible to listen to.  

 

My thoughts,questions and comments on the game (in no particular order):

 

-The Wings have games like that every year, but they sure didn't give us any glimpse of hope for this year, did they?

 

-The Blues continue to win by out working their opponent. This seems to be the way to win in the new NHL. The Wings can't rely on their experience and veteran savvy to win games anymore. You gotta work for it too.

 

-Are we still supposed to be a puck possession team? What type of team are we supposed to be?

 

-Abdelkader, Miller and Ericsson played their usual games and were the best looking Wings out there.

 

-Quincy got embarrassed, twice, by a rookie. Speaking of which, how many times a year does a guy score his first NHL goal against us? it seems like it happens quite often. By the end of the game I found myself cheering for a Tarasenko hat trick.

 

-The special teams picked right up where they left off last year:f******, embarrassingly awful.

-The first shift was the best shift of the game.

-Franzen worked hard,and finished his checks for his first few shifts.

 

-The Blues knew that the Wings planned to have "active" defenceman and exploited the hell out of it.

-Jimmy didn't stop one break away.

 

-The Wings passing was very sloppy.

 

-SNL had a few good skits last night. It's a pretty rare night, when the Wings are more disappointing than Saturday Night Live. I still haven't seen a good band on there in a while, though. (probably cause I'm in my 30s now)

 

that's not all, just everything I can think of right now.

[Dabura]

-Are we still supposed to be a puck possession team? What type of team are we supposed to be?

 

Boom. The million-dollar question, right here.

[Konnan511]

One team hardly made any changes. One team had a huge offseason turnover. Not hard to see why this outcome happened under all these other circumstances added on top. We got out coached and outplayed. Chalk this one up as a loss and move on. If after ten games we are below .500, then i'll start to worry.

[ben_usmc]

I loath Cleary.  Can't Bert make out with him Quincey, Sammy, Franzen get all thosef****** scrubs on IR

[haroldsnepsts]

Boom. The million-dollar question, right here.

It's the $60 million question really. 

 

As I said before, for years the Wings made up for their lack of size and could beat a strong forecheck by superior skill.  But that skill has been declining season after season so their ability to beat it through puck possession and outlet passes has gone away season after season as well.  Lids retiring was certainly the biggest hit to that puck possession style. 

 

So now what exactly is the system?

[Dabura]

I loath Cleary.  Can't Bert make out with him Quincey, Sammy, Franzen get all thosef****** scrubs on IR

 

Spit in their water bottles?

 

Ah, that's terrible. I don't wish mono on anyone.

[Hockeymom1960]

It's the $60 million question really. 

 

As I said before, for years the Wings made up for their lack of size and could beat a strong forecheck by superior skill.  But that skill has been declining season after season so their ability to beat it through puck possession and outlet passes has gone away season after season as well.  Lids retiring was certainly the biggest hit to that puck possession style. 

 

So now what exactly is the system?

 

 

Spot on.  I don't think they even know.  Well all I know is that  they better figure it out and fast or they are going to be left in the ice dust.

[Dabura]

It's the $60 million question really. 

 

As I said before, for years the Wings made up for their lack of size and could beat a strong forecheck by superior skill.  But that skill has been declining season after season so their ability to beat it through puck possession and outlet passes has gone away season after season as well.  Lids retiring was certainly the biggest hit to that puck possession style. 

 

So now what exactly is the system?

 

You're my favorite LGWer, Sir Snepsts.

 

I think we're coming up on an identity crisis.

 

I've beaten this horse to its bones. Now I'm gonna pick and grind those bones:

 

Skill. We've been blessed with oceans of it. This has allowed us to be a kill-with-skill (and only skill) team of frail little Euro-ninja assassin specialists. Beyond skill, we suck. At everything. Always have. So what happens when you take that skill away? Even Homer - he was the "ugliest" player ever, but damn if his one big asset made him uniquely valuable and effective in that one area of the game. Now? The skill is watered-down, worn-down. In a big-picture sense, the skill level that we've come to expect is altogether gone; it's just not there anymore. It's Datsyuk Zetterberg, maybe Kronwall. Maybe Brunner. Franzen has golden hands, but his heart is a cheeseburger and his brain is a coconut. So we've padded things with some garbage grinder types who don't actually do a whole lot of garbage grinding, and who certainly don't score a whole hell of a lot. And we're caling this...?

 

I mean, we can keep doing the whole puck-possession dealy. There's no law against it. But to be really effective at it, and successful with it, (never mind challenging for the Cup), (never mind winning the Cup), you need a requisite skill level. And we don't have it anymore. And we're certainly not getting it back, unless we make, like, two huge trades and two major UFA signings. Because, think about it: how many other teams do the kill-with-skill puck-possession thing? How many teams have done it really effectively? How many teams have won the Cup with it? The answer is, None. It was our thing. And now it's pretty much dead. And so, the brain trust really has to be asking the $60 million question.

 

I actually have a bit of a hard time giving the players crap for this problem. You could say Babs could be smarter about the lines or whatever. Ultimately, though, I think if this develops into a full-blown Thing, it's on Holland to try to turn it around.

 

Which reminds me: "We may not make the playoffs this year" = "We're really not very good at all."

[esteef]

Franzen has golden hands, but his heart is a cheeseburger and his brain is a coconut.

 

 

esteef

[DyingAlive]

I am not trying to excuse this loss away, but does any one think that the Red vs. White scrimmage should have been a Wings vs. Griffins scrimmage? Wouldn't this have given the lines more time to 'gel'? I know at the end it is just a scrimmage, but everyone just seemed completely out of sync with each other the entire night.

[wings_fanatic]

I got stuck watching the Blues feed last night. Those guys are horrible to listen to.  

 

My thoughts,questions and comments on the game (in no particular order):

 

-The Wings have games like that every year, but they sure didn't give us any glimpse of hope for this year, did they?

 

-The Blues continue to win by out working their opponent. This seems to be the way to win in the new NHL. The Wings can't rely on their experience and veteran savvy to win games anymore. You gotta work for it too.

 

-Are we still supposed to be a puck possession team? What type of team are we supposed to be?

 

-Abdelkader, Miller and Ericsson played their usual games and were the best looking Wings out there.

 

-Quincy got embarrassed, twice, by a rookie. Speaking of which, how many times a year does a guy score his first NHL goal against us? it seems like it happens quite often. By the end of the game I found myself cheering for a Tarasenko hat trick.

 

-The special teams picked right up where they left off last year:f******, embarrassingly awful.

-The first shift was the best shift of the game.

-Franzen worked hard,and finished his checks for his first few shifts.

 

-The Blues knew that the Wings planned to have "active" defenceman and exploited the hell out of it.

-Jimmy didn't stop one break away.

 

-The Wings passing was very sloppy.

 

-SNL had a few good skits last night. It's a pretty rare night, when the Wings are more disappointing than Saturday Night Live. I still haven't seen a good band on there in a while, though. (probably cause I'm in my 30s now)

 

that's not all, just everything I can think of right now.

 

 

I got stuck watching the Blues feed last night. Those guys are horrible to listen to.  

 

My thoughts,questions and comments on the game (in no particular order):

 

-The Wings have games like that every year, but they sure didn't give us any glimpse of hope for this year, did they?

 

-The Blues continue to win by out working their opponent. This seems to be the way to win in the new NHL. The Wings can't rely on their experience and veteran savvy to win games anymore. You gotta work for it too.

 

-Are we still supposed to be a puck possession team? What type of team are we supposed to be?

 

-Abdelkader, Miller and Ericsson played their usual games and were the best looking Wings out there.

 

-Quincy got embarrassed, twice, by a rookie. Speaking of which, how many times a year does a guy score his first NHL goal against us? it seems like it happens quite often. By the end of the game I found myself cheering for a Tarasenko hat trick.

 

-The special teams picked right up where they left off last year:f******, embarrassingly awful.

-The first shift was the best shift of the game.

-Franzen worked hard,and finished his checks for his first few shifts.

 

-The Blues knew that the Wings planned to have "active" defenceman and exploited the hell out of it.

-Jimmy didn't stop one break away.

 

-The Wings passing was very sloppy.

 

-SNL had a few good skits last night. It's a pretty rare night, when the Wings are more disappointing than Saturday Night Live. I still haven't seen a good band on there in a while, though. (probably cause I'm in my 30s now)

 

that's not all, just everything I can think of right now.

 

- Ericsson was not good last night... he looks like a lost puppy out there. He follows the puck too often and leaves his position. There were at least 3 different times last night where he followed Kronners into the corner to get the puck, before realizing that that is Kronner's side.

 

- I hate Babcock's new philosophy of spreading out the minutes among our Dmen... Kronners over played 20 minutes last night... that is what Pavel played and he is a forward!!! Quincy and Ericsson continue to be pylons out there and I think Babcock needs to establish Kronners as our CLEAR number 1 dman because he can handle it. Kronners should be averaging 26-27 minutes a game like Lidstrom and Rafi used to as our top pairing guys.

 

- With that said, Babcock also needs to play Datsyuk and Zetterberg more... they are our top guys... rolling the 4 lines is not going to get us into the playoffs... we need our top guys to play.

 

- Each of the Dmen combos sucked. Ericsson should not play on the top pairing with Kronners. I want the pairings to be:

Kronners- Smith (Smith had a great game and we all know about Kronners... this can turn out to be great)
Ericsson- White

Carlo- Quincy

Other than this I would say simply the Wings were not engaged last night and that is bound to happen when a team has not played together since April. Sure the Blues looked great last night, but any team will look great when they are 100% on and the other team is nowhere to be found. My guess is we see a much more familiar Red Wings on Monday night.

[haroldsnepsts]

- Ericsson was not good last night... he looks like a lost puppy out there. He follows the puck too often and leaves his position. There were at least 3 different times last night where he followed Kronners into the corner to get the puck, before realizing that that is Kronner's side.

 

- I hate Babcock's new philosophy of spreading out the minutes among our Dmen... Kronners over played 20 minutes last night... that is what Pavel played and he is a forward!!! Quincy and Ericsson continue to be pylons out there and I think Babcock needs to establish Kronners as our CLEAR number 1 dman because he can handle it. Kronners should be averaging 26-27 minutes a game like Lidstrom and Rafi used to as our top pairing guys.

 

- With that said, Babcock also needs to play Datsyuk and Zetterberg more... they are our top guys... rolling the 4 lines is not going to get us into the playoffs... we need our top guys to play.

 

- Each of the Dmen combos sucked. Ericsson should not play on the top pairing with Kronners. I want the pairings to be:

Kronners- Smith (Smith had a great game and we all know about Kronners... this can turn out to be great)
Ericsson- White

Carlo- Quincy

Other than this I would say simply the Wings were not engaged last night and that is bound to happen when a team has not played together since April. Sure the Blues looked great last night, but any team will look great when they are 100% on and the other team is nowhere to be found. My guess is we see a much more familiar Red Wings on Monday night.

I guess Ericsson's not totally done being the whipping boy here? 

 

Of the ways the Wings sucked last night, Ericsson was not even top 10.  I really don't understand picking him out as specific problem last night other than old habits die hard.

 

It was Kronners and Smith by the way who let two guys get behind them on the friggin PK on Stewart's goal.  That should never happen with Kronwall even strength but is even more embarrassing on the penalty kill.

 

Smith overall did have a very good game though, especially considering he's a rookie. 

[LeftWinger]

Ok, considering our D, last nights performance was no better than if we had three rookies in the lineup.  I say lets get these rookies up here and get them established now...

 

Kronwall - White

Smith - Colaiacovo

Ouellet - Sproul

 

They cannot do any worse, and they would probably do better...

[joesuffP]

<blockquote class='ipsBlockquote'data-author="LeftWinger" data-cid="2342763" data-time="1358716406"><p>
Ok, considering our D, last nights performance was no better than if we had three rookies in the lineup.  I say lets get these rookies up here and get them established now...<br />
 <br />
Kronwall - White<br />
Smith - Colaiacovo<br />
Ouellet - Sproul<br />
 <br />
They cannot do any worse, and they would probably do better...</p></blockquote>

Ericsson was our best defenseman last night colo was brutal. If we wanna go by last nights performance better scratch Kronwall he gave no f***s last night

When a team is completely out of sync, nobody is thinking fast enough to make a play and you don't make any adjustments while being dominated thoroughly you gotta blame the coaching staff a lot

[LeftWinger]

<blockquote class='ipsBlockquote'data-author="LeftWinger" data-cid="2342763" data-time="1358716406"><p>
Ok, considering our D, last nights performance was no better than if we had three rookies in the lineup.  I say lets get these rookies up here and get them established now...<br />
 <br />
Kronwall - White<br />
Smith - Colaiacovo<br />
Ouellet - Sproul<br />
 <br />
They cannot do any worse, and they would probably do better...</p></blockquote>

Ericsson was our best defenseman last night colo was brutal. If we wanna go by last nights performance better scratch Kronwall he gave no f***s last night

At this point, whatever works. I was just keeping Kronner in there because we know he is better, we don't know that of Ericsson.  If we had another NHL ready defender other than Cola, sure he would be the 7th guy, but Kindl blows.  Of course there is always the outside chance of acquiring Visnovsky...