Wing Across The Pond

I give big E a heck of a lot of credit for agreeing to stop playing Center though. Imagine that, playing as a forward your whole life, a scout sees the one game you play defence and decides to try and convince you to play the rest of your career there. Hats off to him for that. For some reason I feel far better with him in there over Kindl. He's gone off the boil.

Perhaps its simply a case of E thinking too much, almost like because it's not his 'natural' position (which it actually has come to be over the years) that he's scared to make even the slightest wrong move and he gets himself into a muddle. Then again, how do you tell a guy who's that worried to do everything right, just to calm down a little. That's what I think anyway. The head can mess with even the best of us.

I think Iginla would be a dude. Can see him being really nice, not shunning fans or other players or reporters and such. That being said, for off-ice niceness, didn't Vinny Lecavalier give like, a years salary to fund a children's hospital? That makes a nice guy in my book.

Also Lids ALWAYS seems nice, without fail, almost to the point where he still can't believe the fame and attention he gets.

Here is what really doesn't make sense. The wings gave up a pick AND Sebadtian Piche. The lightning were giving up Steve downie essentially for those 2 assets. I don't pay much attention to Tampa but he is pretty good right? So what gives?

I don't think he was an essential piece. Plus he wanted a change of scenery. I'm thinking of the potential backlash from some Tampa fans, if they find out that Yzerman basically went out of his way, lost a player for a pick and an average prospect, just to help his old team. I get what you mean though, but I think he got exactly what he wanted out of it, and a little more by being smart and acting as a go-between.

yes i watched hockey  if  you notice quincey is 6'2 200 +pounds , we didnt have alot of big guys in the back end back then , meech was 5'10 thats why i was so against getting rid of  quincey for meech back then  ... meech was -12 both seasons in detroit wouldnt say he was so good

anyways let's just agree to disagree

From the looks of it, you've referenced his height and weight roughly 100 times in this thread. It's irrelevant. Chara is tall, heavy, strong, and a great player. Martin St. Louis is about 4 foot tall, 90 pounds soaking wet, and a great player. You've glossed over the entire counter argument presented to you that Quincey wasn't playing well enough to keep a place over Meech. You've mentioned that he was -12 but have made absolutely no effort to argue why Quincey was so much better. That's like me saying "Coke is great because Pepsi sucks"... when in fact they could both suck, just one a bit more than the other. From a management point of view you don't waive the better player when there is a risk either could be claimed. You attempt to waive the worse player and hope for the best. Hindsight is 20/20. But he's back. So get over it.

The Cameron Frye style will be fine with me

I own this jersey took me a while to find it though. Apparently Gordie sent him a jersey to wear (hence the name and number 9), yet the vast encyclopedia that is the World Wide Web doesn't seem to register it's existence outside the film. Apparently they never wore one with a white collar Which means mine is most likely a personal production. I did get it on ebay after all.

I think it should be red (obviously) but think Toronto should wear blue as well, as someone mentioned. However don't know if I'd like a new jersey or not. I mean we don't really have a diverse history of jerseys to remodel but maybe a new one would be good.

Worth reverting to the old logo though and inverting the colours? Or just pedantic?

Saw this on the NHL website. I have no idea what the point of it was but to show that Joe Thornton had another one of his classless moments.

And then to make things worse, the commentary team makes the claim that Toews instigates. Please, somebody, let me know where this happens? Before, or after, Thornton's crosscheck to the back.

Thornton/Toews

In a lesser way, it reminds me of this also....



I mean, what the heck has this guy got against opposing captains? Captain envy?

WE HAVE A KERFUFFLE!!!  I love that word!

Seconded!

Great video. Wish we had more of that over here

It was game # 5:



Beauty!!!!

Ah man, looking at this again we had a good few guys that could dish out the grit. Draper was mentioned in the video who always had a pop to him, Cheli as well who was always willing to 'bend the rules' at some point or another I mean even Helm had a breakout during that post-season. A lot of bottom 6 players and some defencemen that would get gritty. Somehow I don't see that happening with Eaves, Miller and Abby Play Commodore

Great news that it's finally going to be a rivalry that people will want to watch, and great news that it's at the 'Big House'. Think it fits better than Comerica to watch hockey.

Having said that, although I'm damn happy about it and I'm so glad they've finally put a Canadian team in there, why not choose two new teams seriously? Minnisota hosting Dallas would be great to watch in the snow. Or Phoenix travelling to Winnipeg (although more for nostalgia rather than two good hockey markets).

I do not think so I got a St. Louis Blues hat on clearance for 4$ once I wear it sometimes I like to support hockey even if I have to explain myself when questioned about it.

Lol punctuation does wonders. It's one of the two:

I do not think so. I got a St. Louis Blues hat on clearance for 4$ once

...or...

I do not think. so I got a St. Louis Blues hat on clearance for 4$ once

At least we know it's not authentic; most sanctioned suppliers won't put names of retired players on jerseys.  Still, whoever did this should have said "HELL no" when asked to make it; I don't care who they're a fan of.  This is unnatural at best.
I liken this to seeing Gordie in a Whalers jersey.  

They have a place to get names on jerseys WITHIN the St. Pete. Most likely got it done there I'd imagine since it's just a production line and people wouldn't have had the time to question it. Just take the order and pass it onto the guy with the letters.

That being said I was thinking of getting a Lightning jersey with 'YZERMAN 19' on the back for my girlfriend (she's a Bolts fan), if only to subliminally subvert her to support the Wings. I'll just get her a Vinny one instead. Also, what would you say to this: I'm looking to get a Team USA Jersey with 'HOWARD 35' I know he hasn't played for them yet but want one.

Ha! Was wondering how long it would take to have someone post this.

5 games. Deliberate charge, leaving the feet, plus he picked up a broken stick which is an automatic penalty...  

Great hit though, it makes a change to seeing officials get run against the boards as they try to get out the way

If anyone knows hockey and actually watches Ericsson they would notice that he never is in position. His awareness is terrible.  People can be parked in front of the net and you would think he doesn't know they exist.  The biggest problem is how much he is being paid to do what he does.  He doesn't contribute anything offensively and is mediocre at best defensively.  I wouldn't have a problem if he was getting paid in the 1-2 mil range, but he is getting paid too much money to not contribute offensively.  I think when we get to the trade deadline we should consider packaging him instead of Kindl in a trade.  Kindl is cheaper and has been much more solid.

They would also know, however, that a player's positioning, tactics, and ultimate playing style (as in what they do with the puck/their body, not necessarily the way they carry themselves), has an awful lot to do with doing what their coach tells them or risk getting benched for not listening. E has been pretty solid and has obviously warrented his place in the line-up according to the staff as he's not too big a 'star' to be sitting in the press box. If he was playing that bad, or was constantly out of position, he would be seeing less time. I think he's actually doing what he's told, rather than taking his initiative that may not as of yet have enough experience to be effective. Once he learns solid play by doing as he's told, it'll come more naturally. I'm ok with that.

Don't think anything seriously wrong will come from the injury, as some people have already mentioned it's a fractured jaw which might pose some problems as it's so high up. It wont just be a bone that can be held in place and allowed to fix naturally, it might need a wire or something to stop it slipping under gravity (I mean it must be the very top of the jaw if it's right underneath the ear). But with regards to him falling so dramatically, seeing as it was his ear, it was probably a balance issue that meant he flopped, and most likely passed out. It was shocking to watch and as a fan, I feared something might be wrong, but it probably hit him in a fairly alright place (not that I'd like it! lol) but there's no real shot to any brain area (bit too low), there's quite strong bone protection (jaw), and it was away from his cheeks which can have some serious knock on affects (such as displacing the eye socket which is really horrible). I mean anywhere else could have potentially been much worse, but still wish him a speedy recovery. Shows why he should be in this team every game, just doing everything he can to stop a shot, which like someone already mentioned, this team has been doing a lot of recently.

Also have to say I felt so sorry for Josi. He did look like "oh my God what the heck have I done?!" I mean he's not been long playing out of facemasks surely. Classy move by him to see Patty as he was leaving the ice.

1) Didn't mean to offend with the "played hockey" thing.  I was just making an additional point.

2) Going to have to disagree with you about the boards things.  If there's a loose puck in the boards and a big guy charging, they hesitate.  Most players their size would.  Just a fact of the game.

3) I'm not saying that Miller or Eaves aren't smart players, or that they aren't playing hard.  I'm just saying that there are things we need out of their roles that they can't physically provide.

4) Agree that the whole team needs to start working harder.  Agree that the top six needs to pick it up production-wise.  But I think that a couple of really physical players in the bottom six would help us in a lot of ways.  In addition to crashing the net, defending our own crease, being tougher in the boards, and just having a little more 'edge' as a team in general...as the other poster mentioned, they'd make our bottom six - which isn't at all hard to play against - harder to play against...and a big hit or fight does boost the team.  But really, when I see our team out there most nights, I see a bunch of guys that look intimidated by the bullies on the other side of the rink.  I hate that attitude.  I think it leads to more problems than the eye can see.  And I want to see it addressed, desperately.

...I mean, do you not think that McCarty and Probert gave our entire team a little bit of a different attitude that resulted in better play?

Think now we're finding some common ground, I mean heck yeah I think MaCarty or Probert give you a little more, and with regards to number 3) I agree that they're doing their jobs but not much else. It seems the whole bottom 6 is designed to be a PK unit. Essentially. But to what end is that the coaching/tactics of the team that they have to remain defensive before they play physical?

However having said that I reiterate the fact that changing a few bottom 6 players around wont steady a sinking ship, although it may help keep it afloat for a little while longer.

i love how everyone loves to rag on drew miller, yet the guy is +7 this year! i am not about to say plus/minus is everything. but think about it at the most basic level, if the bottom 6 is such a weakness, then wouldn't they all have bad plus minus ratings because they are giving up too many goals against? yet none of them do. bruunstrom is -2 in 4 games and bertuzzi is -1 in 11 games. thats it for bottom 6 guys. everyone else is even or plus. and heck, bertuzzi was last on the entire team 2 years ago so -1 ain't half bad for him!

i know people love to rip on plus minus, but to me it points to this basic premise: what games out of the 8 losses can be attributed to bottom 6 play? i would argue none of the losses have really been their fault nor have they even been significant factors in most losses. also, if having a more physical bottom 6 is essential, what games were lost because of a lack of physical play? the wings losses are because they are s*** on the PP and have not gotten solid play from their top 6. i really don't think a bottom 6 guy making some big hits is going to get dan cleary's head out of his ass...

i would love to imrpove the bottom 6. i would love to improve lots of parts of this team. but they aren't the problem. i dont even think they have underperformed. i would love to see a guy like brandon prust on this team, but i really don't think it would have improved the wings record at all.

Yeah I know! He's actually been chipping in well offensively, whilst still keeping his defensive strength. A little part of me nagging away in the back of my head is thinking that, for all the praise Kronwall is (rightly) getting for his good play, is his recent offensive surge (and in fact the recent surge of all our defensive players - highest goals scored by defencemen) taking precident over their defensive play?

Incorrect.

Fantastic reasoning. Infallible argument. But believe it or not, in a game without ties, if you don't attack, you wont win. Unless the opposition puts it into their own net. The onus is on the attacking team to actually win a game, not limp through to a loss.