254 replies to this topic

[GMRwings1983]

It's amazing how cynical some people are even admitting that they know nothing about him. I drafted lots of Ducks and Sharks in fantasy hockey over the years and got to watch a good chunk of his games and he's not fast, he's not super offensively skilled but he's very solid in his own end and won't make a ton of mistakes. And for a bottom pairing guy that's what we should be looking for right now. We've got enough offensive defensemen and you don't need more of them on the third pairing. Third pairing should just be able to go out for 15 minutes a night, stay at home and not make any mistakes. He's not lazy, either. He's pretty intense and works very hard.

 

But he's big and that means he has to hit for us or we hate him.

 

Really?  

 

Kronwall is the only established one we have right now.  

[NyquistianDeke]

I like the signing.  Is it a big splash? No, but he is the kind of defenseman we need.. a stay at home, good in his own zone defenseman

 

 

My hope is that that the pairings get shuffled

 

Kronner-Lashoff

Smith- Huskins

Quincy- White

[kipwinger]

It's amazing how cynical some people are even admitting that they know nothing about him. I drafted lots of Ducks and Sharks in fantasy hockey over the years and got to watch a good chunk of his games and he's not fast, he's not super offensively skilled but he's very solid in his own end and won't make a ton of mistakes. And for a bottom pairing guy that's what we should be looking for right now. We've got enough offensive defensemen and you don't need more of them on the third pairing. Third pairing should just be able to go out for 15 minutes a night, stay at home and not make any mistakes. He's not lazy, either. He's pretty intense and works very hard.

 

But he's big and that means he has to hit for us or we hate him.

 

Not necessarily, but given that there isn't a single member of our current defense who is big AND hits, it might be nice to have.  For instance, on the PK when clearing the front of the crease, or against power forwards who are quite common in our division.  And it's not like we haven't had trouble in those areas so far this season, or last, or the year before that.

[evilzyme]

Really?  

 

Kronwall is the only established one we have right now.  

I'd have to disagree with you there. Kronner offensive, Quincey offensive, Smith sure as hell offensive, White is alittle 2-way, Ericsson is prone to being more offensive but has regressed to defense more the past few seasons. I'd tend to think the majority of our defensemen are offensively minded with the lack of stay-at-home, defensive defensemen. Stuart was our main stay-at-home guy, and we lost him. 

[kipwinger]

Yeah because Holland knew we would have these injuries.

 

I know right.  I would have taken Nostradamus like foresight to see that in a lockout shortened season, with essentially no training camp, that injuries were going to be quite common in the first part of the season.  It would have taken an all knowing God to have foreseen the glut of groin pulls and hamstring injuries that would result.  And even that God wouldn't have seen that injuries are likely to occur when you are playing in an intense shortened season, where guys like David Backes habitually run over people every shift, and our defense corps is full of guys like Jakub Kindl, Carlo Colaiacovo, Ian White, and Kyle Quincey. 

 

Who could have known that a bunch of softies would likely succumb to injury, after being repeatedly hammered by freight trains?

Edited by kipwinger, 22 January 2013 - 12:54 PM.

[hillbillywingsfan]

- We have terrible luck with injuries.

- We went into this season minus Nick Lidstrom and Brad Stuart (not to mention the also-recently-departed Brian Rafalski).

- GMs are supposed to be smart, intelligent. Part of that is being reasonable, rational, logical, objective. Part of that is having foresight. A lot of people here seem to want it both ways, such that Holland is incredible, knows everything, is always in the right - and yet, "Aw, man, how could he know we'd need extra help on the blue line? No one could've predicted we'd be in this hole!"

 

Please, don't give me this "don't criticize the GM" rubbish.

Please don't give me 

*wah our gm sucks" crap either when he has no control over injuries or how someone who has played great in GR but just cant get it going in the NHL.

Let me guess Holland should of done more to land suter right? 

[Motown4013]

It's amazing how cynical some people are even admitting that they know nothing about him. I drafted lots of Ducks and Sharks in fantasy hockey over the years and got to watch a good chunk of his games and he's not fast, he's not super offensively skilled but he's very solid in his own end and won't make a ton of mistakes. And for a bottom pairing guy that's what we should be looking for right now. We've got enough offensive defensemen and you don't need more of them on the third pairing. Third pairing should just be able to go out for 15 minutes a night, stay at home and not make any mistakes. He's not lazy, either. He's pretty intense and works very hard.

 

But he's big and that means he has to hit for us or we hate him.

I like this signing for the money. he is very dependable and is a physical guy. Our D is getting killed and I thin he is a veteran guy who can calm the waters back there. For under a million, this was a good choice given we need someone RIGHT NOW. I hope Kenny is looking for a Top D man, but until that gets done, I am happy to embrace a defensively responsible player wearing the winged wheel. We need some stability....so welcome to Motown Huskins!

Edited by Motown4013, 22 January 2013 - 12:54 PM.

[jollymania]

HE has won a cup, has experience, put up good points a few years ago, can fight, had an injury-plagued season last year. I don't think it is awful for the price.

[mmorland]

This signing really makes me re-evaluate passing on Wade Redden. I still think Redden had more upside after playing two years in the AHL than taking a journeyman like Huskins.

I can't be alone on this...

[kipwinger]

Please don't give me 

*wah our gm sucks" crap either when he has no control over injuries or how someone who has played great in GR but just cant get it going in the NHL.

Let me guess Holland should of done more to land suter right? 

 

No, he should have done more to land Bryan Allen.

Edited by kipwinger, 22 January 2013 - 01:13 PM.

[GMRwings1983]

I'd have to disagree with you there. Kronner offensive, Quincey offensive, Smith sure as hell offensive, White is alittle 2-way, Ericsson is prone to being more offensive but has regressed to defense more the past few seasons. I'd tend to think the majority of our defensemen are offensively minded with the lack of stay-at-home, defensive defensemen. Stuart was our main stay-at-home guy, and we lost him. 

 

Offensive minded is different than offensively effective.  It's a matter of semantics, probably.

 

I guess White can be a decent offensive defenseman, but a lot of that was thanks to Lidstrom last season.    

 

Smith still has to prove himself and Quincey has been a disaster.  Ericsson doesn't have an accurate enough shot from the point, which is why he never plays on the PP.  

[hillbillywingsfan]

I know right.  I would have taken Nostradamus like foresight to see that in a lockout shortened season, with essentially no training camp, that injuries were going to be quite common in the first part of the season.  It would have taken an all knowing God to have foreseen the glut of groin pulls and hamstring injuries that would result.  And even that God wouldn't have seen that injuries are likely to occur when you are playing in an intense shortened season, where guys like David Backes habitually run over people every shift, and our defense corps is full of guys like Jakub Kindl, Carlo Colaiacovo, Ian White, and Kyle Quincey. 

 

Who could have known that a bunch of softies, would likely succumb to injury, after being repeatedly hammered by freight trains?

hahahahahaha wow. hahahahah what would you of done....we should of done more to get suter right? hahahahaha wow. You guys kill me. so funny.

[matt198913]

SO WAIT.... NOT LIDSTROM

[kipwinger]

See post #70 where I tell you exactly what I would have done.  Or you could dig back through old threads where I repeatedly argued for signing Matt Carle AND Bryan Allen for less than we eventually DID OFFER for Suter.  Or even older threads were I repeatedly argued for signing James Wisniewski.  Holy s***, there's three top four defensemen I wanted who aren't named Ryan Suter and who are all currently playing top minutes for their respective teams. 

 

hahahahahaha wow. hahahahah what would you of done....we should of done more to get suter right? hahahahaha wow. You guys kill me. so funny.

Edited by kipwinger, 22 January 2013 - 01:03 PM.

[evilzyme]

Offensive minded is different than offensively effective.  It's a matter of semantics, probably.

 

I guess White can be a decent offensive defenseman, but a lot of that was thanks to Lidstrom last season.    

 

Smith still has to prove himself and Quincey has been a disaster.  Ericsson doesn't have an accurate enough shot from the point, which is why he never plays on the PP.  

 

In terms like that, there isn't that many offensive effective defense men out there. And when there do exist, they come at high value because they don't exist at a high rate. Basically, you are going to have to rely on those offensively minded defensemen, and count them as your "offensive defensemen."

[Dabura]

Please don't give me 

*wah our gm sucks" crap either when he has no control over injuries or how someone who has played great in GR but just cant get it going in the NHL.

Let me guess Holland should of done more to land suter right? 

 

You're being childish. I clearly stated that I'm not complaining about this signing - rather, I'm confused (and, yes, concerned) re: Holland's Plan re: our blue line (if he has one). You got a whiff of negativity, I guess, and some alarms went off in you brain and your knee jerked. Granted, my knee jerks a lot, and I have definitely been known to get on Holland's case. But in this case, I don't see how I'm in the wrong.

 

Our blue line was super-thin heading into this season. Add to that the fact that we have, as I said, terrible luck with injuries. Compound that with the fact that Nick's retirement clearly caught Holland with his pants down, so to speak. Taken together, this all worries me.

 

As I've said numerous times, my beef with the Suter thing is not so much that we lost him - but, rather, that we were so hard after him in the first place. It should never have gotten to that point. Ken Holland - The Man Who Can Do No Wrong - had no plan in place re: Nick's looming retirement, beyond thinking, "Ah, we'll just throw a bunch of money around and someone will sign here, because this is the Detroit Red Wings. And even if we do strike out, well, then I'll just talk up the importance of building from within and drafting well and cultivating prospects."

 

Also, Carlo Colaiacovo is the most injury-prone player in NHL history.

[hillbillywingsfan]

I'm sorry that I don't agree with you yet again. But I would never resort to petty name calling. I will bow out of this one. Thanks.

 

 

I think it's a ok depth signing for some size and a decent defensive D-man. We haven't even seen him play yet on OUR team. Who knows.

Edited by hillbillywingsfan, 22 January 2013 - 01:08 PM.

[Dabura]

I haven't called you anything. I said you're being childish. Didn't mean to offend.

 

We can continue via private messages, if you'd like.

 

(Sorry, mods.)

[DSM]

I love how everyone thinks Holland was supposed to have some sort of back up plan in place for Lidstrom's retirement. You can't exactly just stockpile NHL worthy Dmen in the AHL....

[kipwinger]

I love how everyone thinks Holland was supposed to have some sort of back up plan in place for Lidstrom's retirement. You can't exactly just stockpile NHL worthy Dmen in the AHL....

 

Nobody said anything about that.  You can't replace Lidstrom, and you certainly can't stock pile people in the AHL.  But the off season after Rafalski retired you could have signed Wisniewski for the price of his current contract and still saved money (as Rafalski made more).  Or, you could have signed Allen AND Carle this offseason for the same amount as you were willing (and did) offer Suter.  No need to stockpile anyone.  They would have walked straight on to our team, and straight into our top four, no AHL stockpiling necessary.

Edited by kipwinger, 22 January 2013 - 01:16 PM.