kickazz 5,459 Report post Posted April 12, 2015 When asked by reporters last night to respond to 'genius-best-coach-ever' coach's comments about "not thinking the team was a playoff team" back on July 5th said, with a grin, "you should have asked me because I thought we were a playoff team back in July" Btw where can I find the quote? Have to save epic quotes like these. I don't understand not thinking we're a playoff team. The rookies were more mature and the vets weren't expecyed to miss more games. How exactly was it thought we would get worse Idk Babs goes from saying "i didnt think we were a playoff team" to "this is the best shot we've had since 2009". He might just be humoring the media. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
rick zombo 3,739 Report post Posted April 12, 2015 Btw where can I find the quote? Have to save epic quotes like these. Near the end of this post-game media scrum http://video.redwings.nhl.com/videocenter/console?id=807479 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
DatsyukianDekes 2,428 Report post Posted April 12, 2015 Babcock is drunk. July: "We are not a playoff team" Then in late November "This is the best team since 2009" Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
GMRwings1983 8,793 Report post Posted April 12, 2015 Before the season: Success At the trade deadline: Disappointing That's what I was going to say. Good thing there's still the postseason left to change everyone's minds (hopefully). Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
LeonardSankar 434 Report post Posted April 12, 2015 You want successful regular seasons you have to look at 01-02, or 07-08 or the ones one they got atleast a top 3 seed. This team hasn't been a Cup contender heading into the playoffs since the 2009 post season as since then they have been longshot dark horse teams. Successful regular season is when pretty much all of your series open at the Joe remember them? In the 90's when the Wings had postseason results that mirrored the ones they had from 2010-present coaches were fired and if not for 97 Cup I bet Scotty Bowan would've been given the axe shortly after. Don't give me cap excuses b/c last time I checked a cap existed from 05-06 to 08-09 and the Wings were seeded no lower than #2 heading into each of those postseasons and were considered Cup favourites. Since game 7 2009 this franchise has headed downhill for the most part as that game served as the end of a chapter in Wings lore. Right now we are in the 2005-2013 New England Patriots but I think our cup drought will last longer than the Patriots SB drought! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
DatsyukianDekes 2,428 Report post Posted April 12, 2015 You want successful regular seasons you have to look at 01-02, or 07-08 or the ones one they got atleast a top 3 seed. This team hasn't been a Cup contender heading into the playoffs since the 2009 post season as since then they have been longshot dark horse teams. Successful regular season is when pretty much all of your series open at the Joe remember them? In the 90's when the Wings had postseason results that mirrored the ones they had from 2010-present coaches were fired and if not for 97 Cup I bet Scotty Bowan would've been given the axe shortly after. Don't give me cap excuses b/c last time I checked a cap existed from 05-06 to 08-09 and the Wings were seeded no lower than #2 heading into each of those postseasons and were considered Cup favourites. Since game 7 2009 this franchise has headed downhill for the most part as that game served as the end of a chapter in Wings lore. Right now we are in the 2005-2013 New England Patriots but I think our cup drought will last longer than the Patriots SB drought! Presented to you by Belle Tire, the doom and gloom post of the week. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk 1 BuckeyeWingsfan80 reacted to this Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
roboturner 562 Report post Posted April 12, 2015 I don't understand not thinking we're a playoff team. The rookies were more mature and the vets weren't expecyed to miss more games. How exactly was it thought we would get worse Well, the young guys did great last year, but you never know how that is going to carry over to the next season. The term 'sophomore slump' isn't thrown around for no reason. It's quite a common occurrence. In addition to that uncertainty was Howard. He had a really poor outing last season, and there was no knowing how he was going to respond. Add in the defensive problems this team has had for a while now and it's not really hard to see why it may have been in doubt. Babcock is drunk. July: "We are not a playoff team" Then in late November "This is the best team since 2009" It's OK to give an honest assessment of the situation as it stood at that time. Situations change, and with that assessments and opinions should change with new information. There is no reason to continue to hold a position solely because that is what you previously thought about it Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
DatsyukianDekes 2,428 Report post Posted April 12, 2015 Well, the young guys did great last year, but you never know how that is going to carry over to the next season. The term 'sophomore slump' isn't thrown around for no reason. It's quite a common occurrence. In addition to that uncertainty was Howard. He had a really poor outing last season, and there was no knowing how he was going to respond. Add in the defensive problems this team has had for a while now and it's not really hard to see why it may have been in doubt. It's OK to give an honest assessment of the situation as it stood at that time. Situations change, and with that assessments and opinions should change with new information. There is no reason to continue to hold a position solely because that is what you previously thought about it Not saying that. I think it's ridiculous he made that declaration and then only a month and a half into the season declare this as the best team since 2009. Why not wait until, I don't know.. April ? Pretty bold statement otherwise and people will bring that up as multiple users have already. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
mvanpop 98 Report post Posted April 12, 2015 I don't think it was all that successfu given our history of making the playoffs but don't really think our regular season performance matters unless we don't make it to the playoffs. Otherwise our performance in the playoffs is the important think, look at the Kings as evidence 1 Nightfall reacted to this Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
evilmrt 636 Report post Posted April 12, 2015 Not a failure by any means... But this current lineup has some serious shortcomings. Let's see how they can handle Yzerman's squad and go from there. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Nightfall 871 Report post Posted April 13, 2015 I am just glad we didn't #tankit At the beginning of the season, many here thought this team sucked and we should just write the season off. Before the trade deadline, we were competing for top spot in the division. Then the trades we made were very solid and added depth. Of course, March sucked pretty badly. I think this season was a great overall success. Made the playoffs and a 100 point season again. I don't think it was all that successfu given our history of making the playoffs but don't really think our regular season performance matters unless we don't make it to the playoffs. Otherwise our performance in the playoffs is the important think, look at the Kings as evidence I agree with this. The measure of a team in the regular season is only a small part to what happens in the playoffs. Look at Colorado and Tampa Bay last season as two examples. Both teams had great regular seasons but fizzled in the playoffs. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Jesusberg 1,256 Report post Posted April 13, 2015 I feel like Babcock's answers just change depending on what he thinks the team needs at the time. Maybe he's hoping for a, "what do you mean you didn't think we were a playoff team!?" reaction. They could use some fire. Hopefully they come out flying on Thursday. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
haroldsnepsts 4,826 Report post Posted April 13, 2015 I feel like Babcock's answers just change depending on what he thinks the team needs at the time. Maybe he's hoping for a, "what do you mean you didn't think we were a playoff team!?" reaction. They could use some fire. Hopefully they come out flying on Thursday. Agreed. Unless it's specific information about the roster for next game, I don't put much stock in a lot of what he says to the media. Sometime he seems be trying to motivate his team, other times it seems like he's just screwing with reporters. He doesn't quite have the open disdain for post game interviews that Darryl Sutter does, but he's not too far off. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
BuckeyeWingsfan80 209 Report post Posted April 13, 2015 Given last year's disappointing exit from the playoffs, I'd say success with a caveat - they could have finished much stronger had they kept playing like they did November thru January... They even improved their standing. Improvement is always a good thing. 1 DatsyukianDekes reacted to this Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
GoWings! 179 Report post Posted April 13, 2015 (edited) I think you can say this year's regular season was a success. But last year we lost a lot of guys to injuries. Something like 461 games or so I think. A couple of more shootout wins and we could've had home ice on Washington or the Isles if we play them. But whatever. I'm truly happy there's no more Samuelsson, Bertuzzi or Brunner and that Cleary's play is limited. I consider dumping all that dead weight, in itself, a success. Now I just hope the defense and goaltending can step up the way they did the first 3 quarters of the season. I'll say this regular season was a success but not the playoffs if we are out again in the 1st round. We should all check out the thread from August on our predictions for this season. Some of us did a nice job with our predictions: http://www.letsgowings.com/forums/topic/76646-predictions-for-the-drw-2014-15-season/?hl=%2Bpredictions+%2Bnext+%2Bseason Edited April 13, 2015 by GoWings! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Jesusberg 1,256 Report post Posted April 13, 2015 Agreed. Unless it's specific information about the roster for next game, I don't put much stock in a lot of what he says to the media. Sometime he seems be trying to motivate his team, other times it seems like he's just screwing with reporters. He doesn't quite have the open disdain for post game interviews that Darryl Sutter does, but he's not too far off. Which is why the Babcock to TOR or BUF rumors amuse me. I can't imagine Babs wanting to deal with the Toronto media after every game, but it would be hilarious to watch. If McDavid lands in Buffalo, I imagine the media there kicks it up a notch, too. Neither destination makes much sense to me. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
MrazekFanBoy 223 Report post Posted April 13, 2015 I think we slightly underachieved based on our roster. I really like the kids on this team, and I think they could have done a bit better, but unfortunately they hit a huge roadblock after the trade-deadline. But that's a pretty common thing for young teams, consistency is typically one of the last skills for young players in any sport to pick up. I also think Howard's injury hurt this team badly, I don't believe that its a coincidence that his sub par return happened to coincide with our D starting to get exposed. I think his great play early in the year may have hid some things. Overall its our best placing in a few years, and the most points we have gotten in the post Lidstrom era. A lot of our kids are showing they have what it takes to play in this league at a high level, and I would say I am satisfied with this season. I do think we could have done better, but we're a young team and we had a very rough stretch to end the season. Lets hope we can make a run and give these kids some much needed playoff experience! Funny that we are facing TB in the playoffs, the team everybody was comparing us to in the off-season. i agree Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Andy Pred 48 337 Report post Posted April 13, 2015 For this set of players to hit the 100pt Mark I would say it's been a very successful regular season. If we get to round 2 then I think we have punched way above our weight. 1 greenrebellion reacted to this Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Ekmanc 586 Report post Posted April 13, 2015 Slightly better than I had predicted, I thought we would take a wildcard spot yet again. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Richdg 267 Report post Posted April 14, 2015 It all depends on what you expected heading into the season. Before the season I thought as I have the last 4 or 5 years now, that we would finish somewhere between 6th and 10th in the conference. Which is what we did. I thought 1 or 2 of the young guns from last year would progress and others would regress, which also happened. TBH nothing that happened this year was a surprise. Now in the big picture, every year you don't win a cup is a failure. That is the goal. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
toby91_ca 620 Report post Posted April 14, 2015 Personally I don't think it makes sense to look at the regular season and judge whether it was a success or a failure. If it makes sense to do so, it probably means the team isn't very good at all (one that would be very happy just to make the playoffs = success). Here's how I'd judge the season after it is finished: Success - make it past 1st round Neither - lose in 1st round Failure - miss playoffs So far though, they look to be exceeding expectations and well positioned to have a successful season. We'll see if the regular season results are indicative of how good the team really is. 1 RedWingsRox reacted to this Share this post Link to post Share on other sites