mjtm77

Shutout.

Gets lots of help from team full of first round picks...

Anyone who ever thought it was a good idea to keep Franzen over Hossa was and always will be out of their minds. Even at his best, Franzen is a one-dimensional player. Hossa brought you all the offensive upside and more that Franzen at his best brings (let's hope "brings" is still the proper word, but "brought" is probably more appropriate at this point...), and on top of that he's great in the defensive zone and one of the hardest workers on the ice every night, which is a great example for the younger players. It was absolutely insane that Holland prioritized Franzen over Hossa.

Holland should've done all that was necessary to keep both Franzen and Hossa, and don't give me the "not enough cap room" crap, he absolutely could've done more to clear space. But he was afraid to for the same reasons that lead to him prioritizing Franzen in the first place; he's too sentimental (or something...) on guys that have been with the team longer. Sure, it would've hurt our depth a bit, but we ended up losing some of the guys we prioritized over Hossa anyways, and the new depth guys we signed would've been able to be signed even after signing Hossa.

Now more than ever, when you have a chance to lock up a guy like Hossa, a guy who could be a legitimate franchise player on most teams in this league, you do it. And to think, we were trying to sign Parise at what, $9 million last summer when we could've had Hossa for around $5 million. It still just makes me sick and is one of the many reasons I still question Holland's ability to manage this team well in the cap era. 

What were Z and Getzlaf arguing about?

Z pointed out that he has more hair on his chin than Getzlaf has on his whole head.

On Cleary, the fact that he scored on "flukes" wasn't flukey at all.  He was doing exactly what he should be doing: going to the net and being in the right place at the right time.  I'll grant you that his body is breaking down some, however, he is EXACTLY the type of guy I want playing for us right now.  He knows his role, he digs and works harder than anyone else on the ice every single shift, and has been to a few rodeos before... oh, and he's scoring.  Grit, determination, hard work and experience.  That sounds like a playoff warrior to me.  He's playing beyond what his body should allow at this point, showing the kids how it's supposed to be done, and that's beyond admirable.

Well said, aside from his 5 points, there were a fair few other goals we scored this series where Cleary was screening the goalie and didn't get an assist.  And as was pointed out in the game 7 GDT he was talking a lot to the rookies on the bench too.

Sure the guys's body is breaking down, but why is it breaking down?  Because this MAN has put his body on the line time after time after time for this team.  Cleary is going to suffer for the rest of his life for what he has put his body through, a little more gratitude and respect from certain keyboard warriors would not be out of place, instead of the graceless, thankless running out of town that seems de rigeur.

The Blackhawks don't scare me.  I think we could take them under most circumstances, but the deck is severely stacked against us considering how the first round went for both teams.  Chicago had virtually no travel, won in 5 games and is going to be well rested.  Oh yeah, they have home ice and the best record in the league too.  Meanwhile, we've been flying back and forth across the country over and over again in a hard fought, OT filled, 7 game series against the Ducks.  

It would make my season if we knocked out the Hawks, but I have a hard time seeing it happen.

Sammy can hit, too.  He plays a different game than Abdelkader, but maybe mixing up our attack won't be such a bad thing.

I still don't get why Tootoo isn't allowed to play.  Isn't this type of series exactly what we got him for? He must be annoyed.  I don't remember him making stupid mistakes or anything to justify his removal from the lineup.

The part that depresses me is that we struggle so much to find someone for our top line when Justin freaking Abdelkader is suspended.

LOL anyone blaming this game on Howard is a frikin idiot and needs to learn the game of hockey.

I don't know about you guys but that Abby call got me so mad. If that isn't a hockey play I don't know what is anymore.

 

 

No dis, just a question...

 

Is there a smart phone app or some program that formats certain replies like this?  I see people post like this now and then is various forums, and am never quite sure.  It is a very bizarre and unnatural style to capitalize the first letter of every word like that.

 

 

Yeah and it's frickin annoying.  I wasn't doing it deliberately believe me lol.

I just switched to the laptop.  Tried to reply to someone else's and it just deletes the word I just typed every time, so I switched to the laptop lol.

Anyways, I said earlier I didn't think the wings were playing all that well.  They were playing alright, holding in there defensively, but offensively what is with this playing way out on the perimeter?  We've seen them start doing that in the playoffs for several years now.  It's like how far can I get away form the goal with the puck?  My God.  Offensively they seemed very slow with decision making, and then nobody really wanted to shoot the puck.  And when somebody finally shot the puck, it was right at Hiller and there were no rebounds.  Unacceptable.  Where was the hunger from game 2? 

I don't know what it is exactly, if I'm just getting older, or if I'm just so sick of being so frustrated with the NHL over the last few years but I'm really starting to care less and less.  And that sucks becuase I love the game of hockey and I love this team.

But the NHL continues to be stupid.  I have been a fan for 25 years and I just don't understand what is going on sometimes.  I didn't even know that if no ref called a penalty, they could still call a penalty well after the play is over, and after the refs convene to discuss it.  That is something else to me.  I don't ever recall seeing that.  Redmond I thought was going to have an aneurysm and he was probably right to.

I just don't get it, but I am starting to get less and less animated the older I get, or the more years that go by, becuase I'm learning that the NHL is managed by politicians who think they can make things better, and all they do is continue to screw it up.  It's happening in the NFL as well now.  It's all about money, and it's really nothing to do with fans.  It's pretty obvious it's not about the fans when last year I think it was philly and pitt that had the big brawls for 2 games then in game 3 if they looked at each other funny, the refs were calling penalties.  I don't know what fan wasn't on the edge of his seat loving every second of those brawls.  That's part of the game.  WTF is the league brass doing?    People want hits, they want goals, they want fights, and so far we have none of the above.

Thanks NHL.

How did Sammy look?

It's crappy, and its inconsistent. It is pretty clear to me the refs don't call the game as fair and consistently as they should and can. This is not just limited to the Wings; it's a league wide issue. Now look at the NHL's rulings on hits and how god awful and completely full of crap they are. You can't have any type of physical response to any of the cheap or dirty stuff that goes on without risking suspension (depending on your jersey and other irrelevant factors). I really think the officiating + NHL rulings forms a really negative effect on the game in terms of the playing style and culture, and honestly I feel it exposes or creates the illusion of the league's bias towards teams/players. The lack of uniformity is devastating.