EuroWing

Am I the only one who doesn't like the NBC broadcast mostly for Emerich?  I can't stand the way he talks and the odd phrases he uses.

Doc might DRIVE! to your house & waffle board you in the face if he saw this.

(So am I the only one who listens to Doc broadcasting & thinks about him talking like that in everyday life?)

after giving him so much time and so many chances to see what kind of player he could develop into, I just hope the Wings don't end up losing him for nothing.

Jesus....didn't the Norris trophy used to have nominees that were actually incredible defensive players?

 

This list seems so ridiculous compared to what we saw even just a few years ago.

Exactly.  I hope a guy like Brent Seabrook wins the Norris one day, cause he's one of the best "overall defensemen" in the league and doesn't get the credit cause he doesn't rack up points on D, cause HE'S PLAYING DEFENSE! 

Not a horrendous game, but the Ducks played better and deserved the win in the end.  Liked the Nyquist line as the game progressed.  Datsyuk wasn't as dominant as usual but I liked Zetterberg and Franzen's game. Ducks really forechecked our D hard and it was tough to get out of the zone.  Hopefully the Wings will have a little more intensity for game 2.  

Winnable series for sure.

Carman, you know better. Defenseman prime is 26 to 34. Kindl and Quincy sucked up until this year. There is a much steeper learning curve for an NHL d. Give Smith time, and he is going to be great. That Anaheim game where he put Ryan on his ass gave me a lot of hope for #2. He just needs seasoning and good coaching. And we have a good coach.

Quincey had 38 points in his first full season.

I'm not giving up on Smith, but it's not like he's shown to be a great defensive guy at any level. He's always been a phyisical/point producer that took a ton of chances. Hopefully he can be Wisniewski-type soon, but right now a Wisniewski-type guy that doesn't produce is a terrible defenseman and that's why he is fighting to have a 6th spot on a bubble playoff team. I'm just not sold that he has the defensive mind to be a reliable #2, and don't want people to be disappointed if he ends up being a good depth man.

I don't think size is the issue up front, I think that (to borrow from another thread) the top 6 lack "offensive creativity". I understand what Babcock's tried to do with Abdelkader (puck recovery... ala Saad in Chicago), but it just doesn't seem to be working out. I think we kind of have to wait and see what happens here, but Tatar should at least be on that 3rd line LW when next year starts. Depending on what happens will Filppula and Brunner, we'll have to see.

It's not just size, it's size and skill combined.  Abby's got all the size you'd ever need but he doesn't know how to finish.  Holmer could finish, Ryan Smyth can finish...Abby can't.  He's got no knack for scoring at this level.  What we need is a couple bigger bodies who know how to finish on a play.  Guys like Horton, Stafford, Clarkson, Paajarvi, come to mind.  They've got the size and skill to score down low, which is something we're sorely missing.  Ideally I'd like a sniper too, and I think it would help with a lot of things, but until we get a legit net front presence on each of the top two lines I think we'll be kept entirely to the perimeter and therefore easily kept off the scoreboard in tight games. 

Yeah, there are really so many things wrong with puttin him there... Guy could be great on the PP.

 

Also, if someone is having trouble scoring it might not be the best decision to put him in a position where (as a forward) you get to be afraid causing a shorthander every time your moves don't work out...

Brunner should be on the left wing on the PP.  Just like Stamkos and Ovechkin.  Brunner is a goal scorer who isn't being used properly.  I'll bring us back once again to his last goal assisted by Nyquist.  That's his strength.  They need to play to it.  Run plays in practice that get him to that point to hammer it home.

Seems like overpayment. I like Howie and all but he's still prone to a lot of stinkers. Would rather some of that money go to upgrading the D.

I have to disagree.  Every goalie lets in ones he'd rather have back, but he's not like Marc Andre Fleury, who makes a game stealing save, followed up by a backbreaking softie. 

If you count goalies who have played over 20 games this season, Howard is at or near the top 10 in save percentage.   Plus he's been a workhorse for the Wings.  

There's a handful of guys out there who are generally better, but Howard is good enough to get the Wings to the Cup.  

We lost him, Stuart and Lidstrom in only a few years.  Since you can't replace those players, it's only natural we'd miss them.  

The reason we suck at puck possession now is because those guys aren't here to start the rush.  The powerplay is also important, but secondary to playing the system overall.  

You can't play this system with such a crappy defensive core with untalented players.  

It's absolutely true that we are not one or two solid moves from being a legit contender, but I tend to agree that that fact alone doesn't mean we shouldn't be moving towards something. By that I mean, if we're not a contender, and we're not going to land rentals on a bargain that would make us a 2nd round team, we better be trading guys like Flip for whatever we can get. If you want to do a song and dance about building your team through the draft and developing prospects, when you know that it's highly likely you're going to lose the guy for nothing, trade him now. We're not making a run this year, and the way Flip's playing lately, it wouldn't be the most horrid loss anyways. (And to be fair, this could still happen in the next 20 hours or so, I realize that, but it's looking unlikely.) 

This is what kills me lately about Holland and the whole situation. What he says and what he does regarding this team just seem beyond all sense and reason. You know he and everyone involved with this team knows they don't have the team to make a run unless a lot of flukey things happen and Howard turns it on and plays out of his mind. If other teams get battered and Howard gets hot, we've seen time and again that a seemingly weaker team can ride that wave a long ways in the playoffs. But you can't bet on that. So yeah, we're probably a playoff team, but we can't reasonably say we're contenders. If you're serious when you say we can't afford to leverage our future for the present, you need to move Flip by the trade deadline for whatever you can get and anyone else that a team might want that we can afford to lose. Some have suggested White. Maybe. We surely can afford to trade him for a later-round pick in 2014 if someone actually wants him, because lately he's watched games from the press box and he's not likely to be brought back.

I'm fine that Holland didn't land Jagr. If cheaper, it would've been nice as it gives us more of a shot if Howard were to heat up in the playoffs, but he wasn't worth the price. I shrugged and thought nothing of it when Iginla was traded to the Pens. I had no real opinion about Bouwmeester; I saw upsides and downsides. All in all, I'm not thinking that it was a bad move to skip out on the bigger names available right now. But in doing that, you have to be honest about what it means to this team's immediate future, because your overachieving team didn't improve at all while all the legit contenders just got even better. If you're serious about how you believe you have to build a team in the cap era, you unload Flip at the very least right now. I keep running it through my head in different ways and trying to see both sides of it, but I see no other options. If you have the team we have now, and you basically are giving up on improving it at the deadline, you have to do what you can to move assets so you might be able to improve it in the future.

That is, unless you truly don't know what you want to do with this team, which I fear more and more to be the case as time goes on.

I'm not worried. It's not a lack of effort, he just needs to learn the game. His talent is there, he is a great skater, and the shot is top notch. He's also better than I thought he would be passing the puck.

He just over thinks the game too much, and he makes some really bad decisions defensively. He is really raw when it comes to that part of the game, but he has never stopped skating or anything like that. So I definitely think his game will develop with time. Once he starts to understand the game he'll create more offensive opportunities for himself by creating turnovers.

His hot start had a lot to do with everyone around him playing well, once Zetterberg fell off he's game went right with him. And Brunner's not at the level yet where he can create his own scoring chances.

The good news is he won't get a big deal, that kinda scared me in the beginning of the year when he was close to the goal scoring lead. Now hopefully we sign him to a couple year deal, and have a steal of a player once his game develops.

Edited the thread title to be less obnoxious.

I understand not liking Crosby, but celebrating that he got hit in the face with the puck is lame.

I think the lesson to learn from the New York Rangers is to not underestimate the value of good, hard-working role players.  Last year they were the Eastern Conference's top team, but after a big trade with Columbus, they might not make the playoffs at all.  A great "team" isn't the collection of talent, it's the sum of its parts.

Darren Dreger tweeted just now Bos, Pit, Chi and LA

 

teams on Iginla's list.

Iginla on Crosbys or Malkins Wing will be a deadly combination. Although a class act guy, I am glad the Wings aren't on his list because it wouldn't make sense from a Detroit Red Wings point of view, this team can not afford to give up any assets.

Honestly if they do make a move It better be a big one with someone who has years on their contract.  Because unless something dramatic happens with this team over the remainder of the season, they are not one playoff rental away from a deep Cup run.  That should've happened the last two seasons.

 If Holland is going to give up assets it should be for a guy who'll be here for a while and help the rebuild.