Jeff Blashill

[kliq 3,755]

2 minutes ago, kickazz said:

Man the winning chance is still low tho 

[kickazz 5,459]

One out of a million baby

[kliq 3,755]

Just now, kickazz said:

One out of a million baby

lol....In all seriousness, I know its low, but I like the fact that tanking no longer pretty much guarantees anything.

[wings_fanatic 677]

When Nyquist and Tatar are coming from 2 seasons of being near 30 goal scorers to their disappointing season last year and so far this year, I would say its a coaching issue. It is no coincidence that under Blashill they have not been doing good. Heck in international competition this year both have excelled. Then they come back to Blashill, and for whatever the reason, are underperforming again. I have to think it is coaching. Dekeyser is another example. He has regressed the most since Babs left. Blashill has no handle on this team. 

[DatsyukianDekes 2,428]

5 hours ago, wings_fanatic said:

When Nyquist and Tatar are coming from 2 seasons of being near 30 goal scorers to their disappointing season last year and so far this year, I would say its a coaching issue. It is no coincidence that under Blashill they have not been doing good. Heck in international competition this year both have excelled. Then they come back to Blashill, and for whatever the reason, are underperforming again. I have to think it is coaching. Dekeyser is another example. He has regressed the most since Babs left. Blashill has no handle on this team. 

Nyquist didn't play in the World Cup.

[wings_fanatic 677]

He played in the world championship.

[DatsyukianDekes 2,428]

5 minutes ago, wings_fanatic said:

He played in the world championship.

Not best on best I don't count WC as anything really. The fact he didn't make the world cup speaks for itself.

[kliq 3,755]

13 minutes ago, DatsyukianDekes said:

Not best on best I don't count WC as anything really. The fact he didn't make the world cup speaks for itself.

I don't know about that, all it tells me is that he is not one of the best 12 or 14 Swedish forwards in the world, it doesn't mean he isn't a solid second liner, or a very good third liner. Nobody is calling Nyquist an elite talent.

Edited November 20, 2016 by kliq

[DatsyukianDekes 2,428]

27 minutes ago, kliq said:

I don't know about that, all it tells me is that he is not one of the best 12 or 14 Swedish forwards in the world, it doesn't mean he isn't a solid second liner, or a very good third liner. Nobody is calling Nyquist an elite talent.

Which is fine, but wings_fanatic said Nyquist and Tatar excelled at the international play. My argument was Nyquist played well in the world championships against lesser competition. Against the best on best, he didn't make the team.

Edited November 20, 2016 by DatsyukianDekes

[kliq 3,755]

1 minute ago, DatsyukianDekes said:

Which is fine, but wings_fanatic said Nyquist and Tatar excelled at the international tournament. My argument was Nyquist played well in the world championships against lesser competition. Against the best on best, he didn't make the team.

Oh ok, I didnt know the context which is my bad.

[krsmith17 7,191]

I'd even argue that Nyquist should have made that roster, making him one of the best 12 or 14 Swedish forwards in the world. I think he is as good or better than Backlund, Berglund, Kruger and Soderberg.

Also, if you go by the logic that because a player didn't make a World Cup roster their somehow not good or great, just look at all the snubs from the Canadian and U.S. rosters... Hall, Subban, Letang, Kessel, Galchenyuk, Shattenkirk, Faulk, the list goes on...

[kickazz 5,459]

A lot of people may be forgetting this but, Tatar is currently playing through shoulder (I think it's his shoulder) injury this season. But the injury had been ongoing since before the world championship, so I don't feel bad for him. Wings are his employer after all. 

Edited November 20, 2016 by kickazz

[Wheelchairsuperhero 1,453]

32 minutes ago, kickazz said:

A lot of people may be forgetting this but, Tatar is currently playing through shoulder (I think it's his shoulder) injury this season. But the injury had been ongoing since before the world championship, so I don't feel bad for him. Wings are his employer after all. 

I think this also. Honestly Tatar has been getting his chances lately, so I'm not really worried. I think if his shoulder was 100%, we'd be seeing the production we expected.

[PavelValerievichDatsyuk 1,935]

39 minutes ago, kickazz said:

A lot of people may be forgetting this but, Tatar is currently playing through shoulder (I think it's his shoulder) injury this season. But the injury had been ongoing since before the world championship, so I don't feel bad for him. Wings are his employer after all. 

Yeah, I don't think that article was noticed by a lot of people. Tatar clearly doesn't seem to be himself. It makes you wonder why he doesn't take some time off and deal with it rather than playing through it - which isn't really helping him or the team. The only positive I see is that it will help us re-sign him at a lower number than expected in the offseason if he keeps playing this way. I think he's on pace for 27pts and 9 goals. 

Edited November 20, 2016 by PavelValerievichDatsyuk

[kickazz 5,459]

Right. And that's what I meant when I said "I don't feel bad for him".

He didn't take the time off this summer and decided to go play in the world championship and world cup. He should have rested or gotten the surgery done. So the blame is on him imo. But at the same time, hopefully this means we can sign him for cheaper. Win-lose situation for us. We lose the production but could possibly come out with a good contract. 

Edited November 20, 2016 by kickazz

[kickazz 5,459]

Anyways in regards to what I said last night, if we played at our best we could be a playoff contender for sure but I still feel as though we're missing a key piece in order to become that top cup contender. Regardless of Jeff Blashill or Mike Babcock.

Edited November 20, 2016 by kickazz

[Richdg 267]

Blashill got the job because that was the plan dictated by Holland. Not because he deserved it. There were no other options even looked at. This was the plan from the start and we all know Holland doesn't make any mistakes. Blashill is in over his head. Much like Asmus is with the Tigers. He is trying to be Babcock 2.0.

When you have a bunch of vets that have polayed together for 8+ yes like Babcock did while here, you can juggle your lines game by game and yes shift by shift. You can't do that with young players. It takes playing time to develop as a unit-something we lack.

He makes bad in game decisions-look at yesterdays game. Why is Kronwall out there? He is clearly hurting and unable to be effective. Yes Holland needs to IR him but Blashill can also not dress him. So once again Kronwall makes a bad mistake that leads to the last penalty of the game and we are down by 1. Of the 5 on the ice: MANtha, Z, Nyquist, Kronwall and I forget the other D, we put MANtha in the box. Why? MANtha had a great game and was one of our best players yesterday. Kronwall is hurt. 1:47 to play. We can go with 4 Dmen for that long. Now there is no way of knowing if we would have scored-I would bet we didn't. But why put one of our few offensive threats in the box? Micky sarcasticly meantioned it on the air. "they put MANtha in the box? Hummmm".

[xault 272]

 

27 minutes ago, Richdg said:

Blashill got the job because that was the plan dictated by Holland. Not because he deserved it. There were no other options even looked at. This was the plan from the start and we all know Holland doesn't make any mistakes. Blashill is in over his head. Much like Asmus is with the Tigers. He is trying to be Babcock 2.0.

When you have a bunch of vets that have polayed together for 8+ yes like Babcock did while here, you can juggle your lines game by game and yes shift by shift. You can't do that with young players. It takes playing time to develop as a unit-something we lack.

He makes bad in game decisions-look at yesterdays game. Why is Kronwall out there? He is clearly hurting and unable to be effective. Yes Holland needs to IR him but Blashill can also not dress him. So once again Kronwall makes a bad mistake that leads to the last penalty of the game and we are down by 1. Of the 5 on the ice: MANtha, Z, Nyquist, Kronwall and I forget the other D, we put MANtha in the box. Why? MANtha had a great game and was one of our best players yesterday. Kronwall is hurt. 1:47 to play. We can go with 4 Dmen for that long. Now there is no way of knowing if we would have scored-I would bet we didn't. But why put one of our few offensive threats in the box? Micky sarcasticly meantioned it on the air. "they put MANtha in the box? Hummmm".

Yeah Mantha going to the box was dumb as... 

[kipwinger 8,524]

On 11/19/2016 at 8:57 PM, kickazz said:

I mean it's basically the same isn't it? 2014 we lost Dats and Hank to injury and we barely scratch into playoffs as 8th seed. Last year we end up in 8th seed with older and non superstar version of Dats and Z. 

This team rode on Dats, Zet and Lidstrom. We don't have those guys anymore. That's what it mostly comes down to. We don't have a superstar on this team. No coach is going to turn us into a top seeded team. Not even Babcock could. 

Of course by no means am I saying Blash = Babcock. All I'm saying is, a superstar would probably make a huge difference for us regardless of the coach. 

Babcock could probably win us a few more games than Blash does. He might get us to game 7 against Tampa Bay instead of game 5 elimination. Maybe he gets us to round 2. But ultimately, we still wouldn't make it far. 

While I agree that having superstar players in their prime is a HUGE factor, I don't think that's why we're as bad as we currently look.  Check out some of the teams out performing us right now.  Columbus, New Jersey, Carolina, Ottawa, NYR.  Not a lot of star power there. Aside from Karlsson I'd say there are no "superstars" in the bunch.  Maybe Lundquist, but Jimmy is playing just as well as he is. 

I think this pretty squarely falls on Blashill's shoulders.  I don't think he optimizes our lineup when healthy (Green AND Sproul on the same PP unit), he doesn't play at all to our team's strengths (we're fast but don't forecheck), and our team is wildly undisciplined (turnovers, icings, bad line changes, etc.). 

Maybe we're not a top seed with a different coach, but we should be better than this with the talent we have.

Edited November 22, 2016 by kipwinger

[kickazz 5,459]

Yeah he is one to be criticized no doubt.

Is Blashill stubborn? I don't get it. Or is he too dumb to see he's not optimizing his players? Or are we all just wrong?

[kipwinger 8,524]

18 minutes ago, kickazz said:

Yeah he is one to be criticized no doubt.

Is Blashill stubborn? I don't get it. Or is he too dumb to see he's not optimizing his players? Or are we all just wrong?

I genuinely don't know what his problem is.  He's done these boneheaded things over and over for a couple of years now and I've never quite understood them but kept giving him the benefit of the doubt.  But at some point results speak for themselves.  If his plan was working we wouldn't look as miserable as we do because, again, while not the MOST skilled team in the league we're not as hapless as we look each night.

For instance, I've been yelling at my TV for several games now because Blash has Sproul and Green on the PP together (along with Vanek now).  It's ridiculous.  All it does is ensure what one of the two defenseman can't use their shot from the most effective area to shoot from.  I thought I was crazy until the commentators said something about it last night.  But even then it was "oh look at all our righties on the same PP unit.  How things have changed durrrr hurrrr". 

Also, I have no idea why in hell we don't use a 2-1-2 forecheck. We're one of the fastest teams in the league and we're soooo conservative.  Using the following forward lines you could forecheck Larkin/Nyquist, Tatar/AA, Neilsen/Abby, and Glen/Helm.  That's a SUPER fast team. 

Nyquist-Larkin-Vanek

Tatar-AA-Mantha

Z-Neilsen-Abby

Glen/Jurco-Helm-Sheahan

 

Edited November 22, 2016 by kipwinger

[krsmith17 7,191]

Yeah, I couldn't believe when I seen the first power-play unit with all 3 of our right-handed PP guys on the same f***ing unit, and none on the other... There have been a lot of questionable coaching / player usage decisions, but this has to be up there on that list... Put 2 on one, 1 on the other, not that difficult...

I'd like to see something like...

Unit 1

                   Larkin

Nyquist     Zetterberg    Mantha

                    Green

Unit 2

         Vanek              Tatar

                    Nielsen

   Sproul              Smith / Kronwall

[wings4thecup06 504]

11 hours ago, kipwinger said:

While I agree that having superstar players in their prime is a HUGE factor, I don't think that's why we're as bad as we currently look.  Check out some of the teams out performing us right now.  Columbus, New Jersey, Carolina, Ottawa, NYR.  Not a lot of star power there. Aside from Karlsson I'd say there are no "superstars" in the bunch.  Maybe Lundquist, but Jimmy is playing just as well as he is. 

I think this pretty squarely falls on Blashill's shoulders.  I don't think he optimizes our lineup when healthy (Green AND Sproul on the same PP unit), he doesn't play at all to our team's strengths (we're fast but don't forecheck), and our team is wildly undisciplined (turnovers, icings, bad line changes, etc.). 

Maybe we're not a top seed with a different coach, but we should be better than this with the talent we have.

Would you consider Hall a superstar? Definitely Karlsson and Lundqvist, and the Rangers have a better core than we do right now. 

 

But I agree. It's a coaching issue. And we've all seen Blashill's inability and lack of desire to play young players over veterans - see last year, Tatar and Nyquist's ice time cut, AA playing 4 mins in the playoffs, Sproul scratched for 7 or so games after being very effective.

I personally wonder if there's pressure over head from management to 'win or else' and thus the safest way to do that is to play veterans who at least are competent at this level. 

Granted I never saw the Wings in the deadwings era, but having watched this team for nearly 20 years now, I can't ever remember a time when we looked this bad.

• Guys don't seem to have energy or desire
• There's literally no forecheck
• We seem to be stuck offensively and play a dump and chase style half the time and rarely come up with the puck 
• The PP usage is baffling but I wonder if Blashill putting Sproul and Green together is just his way of trying to break us out of a funk by putting our best offensive D men on the same unit? 
• Another PP observation is zone entries. They are just lost without Datsyuk bringing the puck in and setting up everytime. 

Even then, the forecheck really does get me. As you're rightly saying, we are quick and have good speed, but no one seems to know how to utilise it. 

And with Howard playing like an all star, I would have assumed we'd be a bit better than this right now

For whatever reason, I get the impression that this team is trying to play a puck possession game, can't because they aren't skilled enough, so they dump and chase, yet don't have the tenacity or physicality to succeed there either.

 

 

 

Edited November 22, 2016 by wings4thecup06

[DatsyukianDekes 2,428]

The team in it's first 8 games, albeit short window looked extremely good. They all hustled, wanted the puck, forechecked like crazy but after those 8 games the team has gone back to it's old ways, playing 20-30 minutes a night. 

Is it our coaching? system? players? I have no idea at this point. It's like guys are trying to play themselves off the team rather than win games. Perhaps playing inferior players has messed the lockerroom up.

[Echolalia 2,961]

17 minutes ago, DatsyukianDekes said:

The team in it's first 8 games, albeit short window looked extremely good. They all hustled, wanted the puck, forechecked like crazy but after those 8 games the team has gone back to it's old ways, playing 20-30 minutes a night. 

Is it our coaching? system? players? I have no idea at this point. It's like guys are trying to play themselves off the team rather than win games. Perhaps playing inferior players has messed the lockerroom up.

I dunno.  They were winning more back then but I personally don't think they looked particularly good during that span.