% chance of making the playoffs

[NitzGuy 38]

Wasn't it nyr vs. Columbus

yea Chicago played Carolina which they are hardly relevant anymore so that's why it was only a 0.1 gain.

[wingsfan4795 552]

Chicago wins affect us if they play someone in the mix with us.

By winning against the Rangers, they kept the Rangers from adding more points, thus they could - potentially - drop from third in the Metro division, opening the spot for Columbus or Washington. Which then puts the Rags in play for the wildcard spots we are fighting for.

Yeah I realized after I posted that it was a game against Carolina. My bad

Big boost with that win, eh? Within striking distance of Toronto now

I'll take 64.8% any day haha

[themcityblues 249]

Toronto is going to hell, both inside their locker room chaos and on the scoreboard. 1-0 Canadians.

What is our % if Leafs lose?

And...... 2-0

[sjr2012 439]

i want toronto to lose so we can catch them

[Euro_Twins 4,485]

Per nhl power rankings from yesterday, note the respect given to babs in the last sentence.

16. Detroit Red Wings (31-24-13) LW: NR

The Penguins lead the League in man-games lost to injury by a wide margin, but the sheer number of players the Red Wings have been missing at times this season has been stunning. The replacements for the injured players have gotten hurt. Detroit had a player not finish the game because of injury in six straight.

And yet the Red Wings still are hanging around. If they keep "The Streak" alive, it will be remembered as one of the best coaching jobs of Mike Babcock's career.

http://www.nhl.com/ice/news.htm?id=710436

[SDavis35 140]

Pretty awesome that our playoff chances jumped up about 20% in just 2 games. Hopefully they can keep on winning, as it can drop just as quick.

Another +15% with today's results (so far). All for naught if we have the wrong results tomorrow.

[Guest DeGraa55]

Euro twins I personally agree with that last sentence you pointed out. Holland assembled a pretty crappy team IMO to start the year.

But due to many of the trash being out it's given so many young kids to prove their worth. I believe it's because of their talent and the great coaching of both blashill(spelling) and Babcock.

Honestly if our roster stayed the way it is except for z dat and E being back it's the best we could be.

The unfortunate thing with e being back is smith will get dumped to s*** pairings again. And idk who I'd put with z and dat as I'd want the legwand nyquist an Franzen line to stay together. Maybe Alfie with z and dat so we could actually have a "puck control" line lol.

Ya I'm Prolly forgetting someone but I'd do:

Alfie dat z

Franzen legwand nyquist

Tatar Sheahan jurco when healthy again forgot him...miller for now

Glendening helm Ferraro

Kronwall smith

E DK

QUINCEY and lashoff or kindl.

Unfortunately z will be out for season most likely. Hopefully dat back soon!

Edited March 23, 2014 by DeGraa55

[Datsyukian-Deke 722]

The Wings have to go 7-4-1 in the last 12 games to get to 94 points which is what experts think will be the magic number to get into the playoffs. If we win tomorrow we would only need 6 wins out of 11 games. Thats def possible especially if we can get any players back from now till the end of the season.

[wingsfan4795 552]

The Wings have to go 7-4-1 in the last 12 games to get to 94 points which is what experts think will be the magic number to get into the playoffs. If we win tomorrow we would only need 6 wins out of 11 games. Thats def possible especially if we can get any players back from now till the end of the season.

I think it will take less than 94. I don't see any of the current bubble teams winning 7 games

[marcaractac 3,963]

I think it will take less than 94. I don't see any of the current bubble teams winning 7 games

Agreed. Especially where they only have about 10 games left and tougher schedules.

[wingsfan4795 552]

Agreed. Especially where they only have about 10 games left and tougher schedules.

And everyone plays each other

[OnkSauce 3]

Ya I'm Prolly forgetting someone but I'd do:

Alfie dat z

Franzen legwand nyquist

Tatar Sheahan jurco when healthy again forgot him...miller for now

Glendening helm Ferraro

Kronwall smith

E DK

QUINCEY and lashoff or kindl.

That 3rd D pairing is just asking for it any way you combine them. I'm not a huge bert fan but I feel he deserves a spot too.

Also if Helm can stay healthy for any amount of time he gives me much more confidence in our PK.Weiss is also supposed to return soon but honestly not sure if he would have any immediate impact considering he's been out so long.

[Guest DeGraa55]

That 3rd D pairing is just asking for it any way you combine them. I'm not a huge bert fan but I feel he deserves a spot too.

Also if Helm can stay healthy for any amount of time he gives me much more confidence in our PK.Weiss is also supposed to return soon but honestly not sure if he would have any immediate impact considering he's been out so long.

Maybe Bert instead of Ferraro. But I would play Bert every other game or something to keep him a little fresh with some off games. And I've been against Weiss signing from the start so if he doesn't play I'm ok with that but maybe he will prove me wrong. He has four years to do it lol.

[FlashyG 1,799]

Euro twins I personally agree with that last sentence you pointed out. Holland assembled a pretty crappy team IMO to start the year.

But due to many of the trash being out it's given so many young kids to prove their worth. I believe it's because of their talent and the great coaching of both blashill(spelling) and Babcock.

Honestly if our roster stayed the way it is except for z dat and E being back it's the best we could be.

The unfortunate thing with e being back is smith will get dumped to s*** pairings again. And idk who I'd put with z and dat as I'd want the legwand nyquist an Franzen line to stay together. Maybe Alfie with z and dat so we could actually have a "puck control" line lol.

Ya I'm Prolly forgetting someone but I'd do:

Alfie dat z

Franzen legwand nyquist

Tatar Sheahan jurco when healthy again forgot him...miller for now

Glendening helm Ferraro

Kronwall smith

E DK

QUINCEY and lashoff or kindl.

Unfortunately z will be out for season most likely. Hopefully dat back soon!

I'd go with the exact same top 3 lines, although I doubt Babcock will.

Abdelkader is missing and he'll definitely be in the line-up, Weiss will too if he gets healthy. Ferraro will definitely be back in Grand Rapids, and its likely Jurco will too If everyone is back from injury.

Fully healthy I think the best we can hope for from Babcock is something along the lines of

Zetterberg - Datsyuk - Alfredsson

Nyquist - Legwand - Franzen

Tatar - Weiss - Sheahan

Abdelkader - Helm - Miller

scratches - Glendening, Bert. Andersson

Kronwall - Ericsson

Dekeyser - Quincey

Lashoff - Smith

Kindl

[derblaueClaus 1,668]

Our depth is ridiculous when you think about it. E.g. Abby can play decent Top6 minutes, yet when full healthy he would legitimately be "only" on our 4thline. Same for Weiss if he can get back to his normal form.

BtT : How are our chances after the Habs won ?

[Paul MacLean's Mustache 44]

I'd go with the exact same top 3 lines, although I doubt Babcock will.

Abdelkader is missing and he'll definitely be in the line-up, Weiss will too if he gets healthy. Ferraro will definitely be back in Grand Rapids, and its likely Jurco will too If everyone is back from injury.

Fully healthy I think the best we can hope for from Babcock is something along the lines of

Zetterberg - Datsyuk - Alfredsson

Nyquist - Legwand - Franzen

Tatar - Weiss - Sheahan

Abdelkader - Helm - Miller

scratches - Glendening, Bert. Andersson

Kronwall - Ericsson

Dekeyser - Quincey

Lashoff - Smith

Kindl

This would be ideal for me. I'd even be up for making the kid line the third line when Jurco comes back and sitting Weiss. At this point, he's almost gone two full seasons without playing a significant amount. I really wonder about his future with the team. From what we've seen with Legwand, I wouldn't mind seeing Weiss bought out this summer.

Barring we make the playoffs, the only wildcard would be Cleary. If healthy, I could see him reinserted back in the lineup due to the gritty/veteran presence in the playoffs mentality. I haven't seen any news about his injury recently, however.

[DannyD 79]

I honestly don't know if Weiss will play again this season so I'm gonna take him out of my lineup. Even if he does make it back last time he was going to play Babs said he was going have to earn his place. Start on the 4th line and work his way up. I think we should just sit him for the rest of the season and hope he comes back healthy next year.

Z-Dats-Alfie

Nyquist-Leggy-Franzen

Tatar-Sheahan-Jurco

Abelkader-Helm-Glendening

Kronner-Dekeyser

Big E- Smith

Quincey-Lashoff

Scratches: Bert, Andersson, Miller

3 scoring lines and an incredibly pesky, irritating 4th line. All three of those 4th liners are good PK'ers. Especially Helmer and Glendening. I think we the great play we have seen from the younger guys, especially Nyquist, that Miller's tiny bit of offensive potential isn't a big loss if he isn't in the lineup. You could rotate the other three guys in to keep Helm healthy. Slide Glendening over to C and put Miller or Bert at wing or leave Glendening at wing and put Anderrson at C. This also gives us the chance to keep Bert fresh.

I hate the last D pairing but the top two should be pretty good. Smith plays a much better game when paired with someone he can trust. Big E is much more stay at home type guy and that could help Smitty not get burned when he pinches in to make a play.

PP#1

Z-Dats-Franzen

Kronner-Alfie

PP#2

Nyquist-Sheahan-Legwand

Smith-Tatar

I took Dekeyser off the PP because he will probably log very heavy minutes on the 1st line with Kronner. Kronner has proven he can handle the load over the years, but I would like to keep Dekeyser's legs a little fresher. Plus I think Smitty has a better shot anyway.

[Shinzaki 72]

I would not touch the Jurco, Sheahan, Tatar line for the next ten years or so. Sheahan has been a huge surprise this year. He has very quick hands around the net, a nasty wrist shot and he's a far better passer than I ever imagined.

[OnkSauce 3]

I agree in keeping that new kid line together, they always seem to make things happen. I want so badly to love glendening but him on the same line as abs might be a line that will rarely score.

[DannyD 79]

I agree in keeping that new kid line together, they always seem to make things happen. I want so badly to love glendening but him on the same line as abs might be a line that will rarely score.

We aren't putting them on the ice to score. We would already have three scoring lines. They are there to shut down people and kill penalties. A line of Abelkader,Helm,Glendening would be as close as we could currently get to the "Grind Line" of old.

[Dabura 12,232]

Why would you have Ericsson and DeKeyser as a pairing?

[FireCaptain 563]

All in all, a good day, the only one that hurt was the Sharks' loss.

I'll try and update this daily with the latest projections from Sports Club Stats.

http://www.sportsclubstats.com/NHL/Eastern/Atlantic/Detroit.html

Today's (3/22/14) chance: 53.6%.

What we need tonight (all %ages assume regulation win/loss) (red is status with undesired outcome):

Wings win (MIN loss) - +11.2% (-10.1)

Canadiens win (MTL loss) - +3.0% (-1.6)

Sharks win (WSH loss) - +1.2% (-2.0)

Rags win (NJD loss) - +0.7% (-0.2)

Blues win (PHI loss) - +0.7% (-0.7)

Dallas win (OTT loss) - +0.1% (-0.2)

Jets win (CAR loss) - +0.1% (-0.1)

If the stars align perfectly, that's a ~17 %age point swing to the good! The major must-win game, obviously, being ours.

[OnkSauce 3]

We aren't putting them on the ice to score. We would already have three scoring lines. They are there to shut down people and kill penalties. A line of Abelkader,Helm,Glendening would be as close as we could currently get to the "Grind Line" of old.

I feel like that wouldn't utilize Helmer as much as they could. He would do fine on a line like that but his speed makes him so dangerous and with that trio he might only get chances every now and then.

[FireCaptain 563]

Gang, can we keep it (relatively) on topic here?

Line threads and their discussions are great, but they distract from the discussion related to the topic of this thread!

[OnkSauce 3]

Currently at 66.5%

Detroit vs Minnesota +8.0 (-12.4)

New Jersey vs Toronto +2.0 (-2.0)

NY Islanders vs Columbus +2.5 (-1.6)

Numbers for today from the same site listed above.