Wings Release Training Camp Roster

[MrazekFanBoy 223]

Kindl deserves power play time over Smith lol he's already proven he can produce why do we need 4 offensive defensemen, why play around with Smith when we already have 3 guys who can do the job, also since it's established the guy can't play defense why is he still on this team over Marchenko and Ouellet both proved they can play under Babs why wouldn't they be that much better under Blash since you think Smith will be?

Edited September 18, 2015 by MrazekFanBoy

[MrazekFanBoy 223]

MrazekFanBoy, I'd love to know how you KNOW Marchenko and Ouellet are better than Smith with such a small sample size...

They don't turn the puck over frequently, they are better defenders and good at moving the puck, they don't need PP time to be useful and utilize their skills and they don't grab the puck out of the air while on the bench, basically they both have working brains.

[krsmith17 7,191]

Ouellet and Marchenko are not better than Smith at this stage of their careers. Could they be down the road? Sure they can, but they're not there yet. Besides, they're not at all the same type of players...

No player on this team was happier to see Babcock leave this offseason than Smith and Jurco. Babcock is the worst coach to have for an offensive minded defenseman. If Babcock were still here, we would have A) not signed Green this offseason, or B) If Green were stupid enough to sign here, he would have been in Babs doghouse within the first month, guaranteed...

[HockeytownRules19 902]

Helene St. James ‏@HeleneStJames 37s38 seconds ago

Darren Helm went to hospital as precaution after collision with Jerome Verrier. Helm skated off on own; Verrier was on stretcher. #RedWings

[MrazekFanBoy 223]

At this stage of their careers I'd say they are, they both looked better than Smith last year.

[krsmith17 7,191]

... because they haven't been in the league long enough to be exposed... Like I said earlier, it's not hard to have success, what's hard is maintaining that same level of success...

Yup Smith is an idiot for grabbing the puck while sitting on the bench, but if that were DeKeyser or any other player it would have been forgotten about immediately after... But because it was Brendan f***ing Smith, it will be remembered forever as probably the worst, most idiotic play ever by an athlete... That was probably a huge reason we didn't win the Cup last season to be honest...

[Jesusberg 1,256]

Kindl deserves power play time over Smith lol he's already proven he can produce why do we need 4 offensive defensemen, why play around with Smith when we already have 3 guys who can do the job, also since it's established the guy can't play defense why is he still on this team over Marchenko and Ouellet both proved they can play under Babs why wouldn't they be that much better under Blash since you think Smith will be?

I can't believe I'm advocating for Kindl, but in this situation... yes. Kindl's really solid on the power play. If he wasn't so horse**** in his own zone, I'd have more faith in him. If I'm picking between Kindl and Smith, strictly for their skill on the PP, I go with Kindl - overall, probably Smith.

Honestly, I wouldn't mind seeing Kindl-Marchenko as a pairing at some point. I think Kindl, if given the chance, can put up some offensive numbers. You know what you're getting with Kindl, an offensively-inclined, PP specialist. I'm not sure what Smith is, but he's decent at a lot of things, not especially great at one thing, IMO.

Smith and Jurco might be happy about Babcock being gone, but Kindl probably went ape****.

[HockeytownRules19 902]

Well that was quick Larkin scores the 1st goal of the Scrimmage on Jimmy

[Jesusberg 1,256]

Well that was quick Larkin scores the 1st goal of the Scrimmage on Jimmy

...and it begins.

[number9 3,297]

Apparently I'm not the only one...

Ansar Khan - "A first-round draft pick in 2007, Smith was an offensive defenseman both at Wisconsin and during all or parts of three seasons in Grand Rapids, where he had a total of 27 goals. But in two full seasons with the Red Wings, he's scored just nine goals, partly because he hasn't been given much time on the power play. Will that change under new coach Jeff Blashill and will Smith play a bigger role in the offense?"

Jeff Blashill - "I think Brendan has that ability to do that (power play)," Blashill said. "You have to see where the whole puzzle fits at camp. He's somebody I know that's done that in the past because he's done that for me in the American League (for half the 2012-13 season)."

"lol"...

U and Ansar got me. Smith was definitely an offensive minded D-man in college and GR. I won't argue that point.

However his offensive mind clearly never translated to the NHL, like many players. And he doesn't have any type of defensive acumen to fall back on. Making him a very unimpressive NHL d-man.

[krsmith17 7,191]

If only Babcock were gone so that he could be given the opportunity to show off his offensive ability... If only there were a coach out there that would take over and allow his defenseman to jump up in the play and free wheel a little in the offensive zone...

Listen, I expect big things from Smith this season, but after season is over, if he hasn't proven his worth, I, like the rest of the fans, will be ready to let him go...

[Jesusberg 1,256]

Michelle ‏@Slapshotg0al 55s55 seconds agoView translation

Bertuzzi goal on Howard.

Michelle ‏@Slapshotg0al 32s33 seconds ago

Goose goal on McCollum. 2-1 Howe

Edit:

Michelle ‏@Slapshotg0al 15s15 seconds ago

Abby goal on McCollum. 2-2

Edited September 18, 2015 by Jesusberg

[HockeytownRules19 902]

Michelle ‏@Slapshotg0al 2m2 minutes ago

Smith with a wtf move to allow Bert to be free.

Abby makes it 2-2

[Jesusberg 1,256]

Michelle ‏@Slapshotg0al 2m2 minutes ago

Smith with a wtf move to allow Bert to be free.

Abby makes it 2-2

I saw that, too. Figured we'd be piling it on a little bit too much

[HockeytownRules19 902]

I saw that, too. Figured we'd be piling it on a little bit too much

haha

[NitzGuy 38]

What's with this about babs not wanting offensive minded D-men? when we actually had a nice blue line a few years ago a ton of production back there and take a look at team Canada half the shots were from the blueline. He switched it up when our blue line went to s***. Thing was babs didn't believe these guys could be up in the play and still provide the defense that we needed and or lacked. Have to look at these players as a team and not what would necessarily benefit one player to develop.

[MrazekFanBoy 223]

Is this being streamed or?

[joesuffP 1,746]

Yeah we had one of the top producing defenses in the league for multiple before lidstrom retired

Even in the Ian white days we were one of the top 5 producers from the back end

[number9 3,297]

What's with this about babs not wanting offensive minded D-men? when we actually had a nice blue line a few years ago a ton of production back there and take a look at team Canada half the shots were from the blueline. He switched it up when our blue line went to s***. Thing was babs didn't believe these guys could be up in the play and still provide the defense that we needed and or lacked. Have to look at these players as a team and not what would necessarily benefit one player to develop.

Yeah I don't believe the whole blame Babs angle either. Towards the end of his tenure here he was given a piss poor blue line, so to compensate he made us one of the best defensive teams as a whole.

Guy really is a great coach. I think we're worse off without him frankly.

[kipwinger 8,524]

I think the argument is not that Babs doesn't like offensive defensemen (he seemed to like Lidstrom, Rafalski, Schneider, and Kronwall just fine). But rather, that given the limitations of our blue line, it might have been better to play to the strengths of our defensemen (many of them are better offensively than defensively) rather than try to turn them into something they've never been.

The opportunity cost of such a strategy is high. When you play away from someone, or something's strengths, you limit its effectiveness exponentially. Take Smith for example, he needs work. Clearly. But it would be easier to turn him into an effective point producer than to turn him into an effective shutdown guy. So why ask him to do the latter? In the best case scenario you only end up with an ok defender, rather than a pretty good puck mover.

It would be like making Pulkkinen pass more if our offense wasn't very good. Best case scenario you lose a good shooter to create and ok passer. It's dumb.

If you've got a bunch of under achieving guys with a particular skill set, you try to maximize the potential of that skill set. Not move completely away from it.

If Babs is such a brilliant strategist, he should have developed a strategy based on active, good skating, defensemen. Since that's what he had a team full of. Instead, he clipped their wings and tried to make them be good at something they'd never done (or been good at) in their entire careers. Not surprisingly, they didn't respond well to it, and worse yet, it completely limited the offensive potential of the team overall.

Edited September 18, 2015 by kipwinger

[kipwinger 8,524]

It's also not like Babs only did this with the defense. Remember when he moved Filppula to the wing and wanted him to shoot more? He lost one of his teams' better playmaking centers, and gained a below average winger (who still didn't shoot more).

He'd have been better off putting Zetterberg on the wing (since he had no problem shooting) and letting Filppula center him (since he had no problem passing).

Filppula still would have had all the extra assists that he ended up getting that year anyway, but you'd have gained a guy with proven 40 goal potential on the wing.

Babs was infatuated with trying to jam square pegs in round holes.

Edited September 18, 2015 by kipwinger

[HockeytownRules19 902]

Sad news, Blash just said Verrier broke his right leg in the collision... Hopefully the kid recovers quickly

Also, Helm is going through Concussion protocol

[number9 3,297]

I think the argument is not that Babs doesn't like offensive defensemen (he seemed to like Lidstrom, Rafalski, Schneider, and Kronwall just fine). But rather, that given the limitations of our blue line, it might have been better to play to the strengths of our defensemen (many of them are better offensively than defensively) rather than try to turn them into something they've never been.

The opportunity cost of such a strategy is high. When you play away from someone, or something's strengths, you limit its effectiveness exponentially. Take Smith for example, he needs work. Clearly. But it would be easier to turn him into an effective point producer than to turn him into an effective shutdown guy. So why ask him to do the latter? In the best case scenario you only end up with an ok defender, rather than a pretty good puck mover.

It would be like making Pulkkinen pass more if our offense wasn't very good. Best case scenario you lose a good shooter to create and ok passer. It's dumb.

If you've got a bunch of under achieving guys with a particular skill set, you try to maximize the potential of that skill set. Not move completely away from it.

If Babs is such a brilliant strategist, he should have developed a strategy based on active, good skating, defensemen. Since that's what he had a team full of. Instead, he clipped their wings and tried to make them be good at something they'd never done (or been good at) in their entire careers. Not surprisingly, they didn't respond well to it, and worse yet, it completely limited the offensive potential of the team overall.

Typical crazy anti-bab ramblings, I expected nothing less.

Babs is a god. End of story. We're taking our bad day out on Smith here, try to get back on track

[HockeytownRules19 902]

Ansar Khan ‏@AnsarKhanMLive 13s14 seconds ago

Daniel Cleary didn't skate today due to a leg issue, Blashill said.

And it starts regarding Danny Boy

Helene St. James ‏@HeleneStJames 2m2 minutes ago

Jeff Blashill said Darren Helm undergoing concussion protocol, day to day but may be "a little longer."

George Malik ‏@georgemalik 47s47 seconds ago

So it looks like Helm will be out for the rest of camp.

#43 can't catch a break

[rick zombo 3,739]

...and it begins.

What begins? Larkin being awesome, or Jimmy letting in goals?