gcom007

 

Pierre goes, "Role players on Detroit have some fresh legs, Nyquist, Brunner, Andersson, Miller... they got rest while the power plays were rolling in the 2nd.

 

Edzo answer: "Blackhawks role players too, Stalberg, Shaw, etc..." then I think Pierre is like "Well they were the ones penalty killing during that time"

 

So basically Edzo made no logical sense.

 

 

My TV was muted from the 2nd period on... 

it obviously is going over peoples heads, the point is the we like our team quote that got copiously over used, so it was posted facetiously and I said also facetiously that it may insult people if you mock them for giving up on our team so quick... thats the just of what just happened, any questions? if you go through the babcock thread you will see I have given babs plenty of praise
 
he also said teams wanted him to trade prospects he was not willing to trade, get your facts straight

 
Perhaps your delivery is simply rough, as ultimately, none of your points really support the idea that Holland had a big role in our current success, yet you felt compelled to bring him into it. Considering Holland didn't really buy into this team either, it's tough to both criticize anyone for "thinking they're smarter than the best GM in the game" when in many ways, the "best GM in the game" felt the same as many fans about this team's chances to even make the playoffs.
 
And I don't buy for a second that he wouldn't have shipped off prospects for rentals if the 1st round pick wasn't a part of the deal. The 1st round pick came up as deal-breaker far more than dealing prospects, from his mouth and according to plenty of respectable sources. But again, I'm not disagreeing that he played it smart either. I wouldn't have liked it, but I think even Nyquist would be gone if he could've landed Bouwmeester or Jagr without giving up his 1st round pick, and I think he'd say the same.
 
But in any event, we're up 3-1 against the Blackhawks, and I don't feel like arguing much anymore. At worst, I say we agree to disagree if need be and go on with being pumped for what this team's doing right now. I think we can both agree that that's an infinitely more exciting situation than anything that went down last off-season or during most of this regular season.

lets not forget all the ton of injuries we had to deal with all year  we finally got healthy towards the end of the season even though were now missing 2 key players in helm and dekeyser ... i never believed we were as bad as we were during the season i always thought wed bounce back among the top of the league in the nhl

 

im honestly not surprised at what were doing i predicted to all my friends we;d beat the ducks and hawks and i i was laughed at  ... we got 4 lines we can play we playing great on the back end as a unit .. no norris winner but collectively overall im impressed and howard has been great

 

 

We haven't won the series yet. It was obvious in game 1 that we were going to be in this series, but Chicago's no joke. We could've just as easily lost this game too; it wasn't a blowout. I'm not trying to be negative, I'm just saying, let's stay grounded here. Chicago's very, very, very capable of coming back, and just like the Wings, especially after a 1 goal game, we ought to respect that.

 

I'm glad you believed the whole time, but my point had more to do with the idea that Holland should get some credit for this. All of the new guys he brought in, that he figured would be playing right now, are hanging out in the press box. And I'm not exactly sold on our D, to say the least. We had plenty of breakdowns, but luckily, Howard's been absolutely outstanding in this series. If Howard was playing like he was in the first round, which wasn't bad but it certainly wasn't great much of the time, this would be a different series right now. 

 

no but he refused to sell the farm for rentals... one of those players being Nyquist who is a huge boost to our 3rd line

 

 

No, he refused to give up his 1st round draft pick. Not saying it was a bad call, but get your facts straight.

 

don't insult all the people who were calling for hollands head for not selling the farm, they had little faith, and really thought they were smarter than the most succesful hockey gm in the last 20 years...

 

 

You're really going to try to give Holland credit for this? Give me a break. He didn't think they had what was necessary to even make the playoffs either. It's not as if he didn't do anything because he believed in this team, he just didn't get anything done. Oh, the guys he did sign in the off-season, they're not exactly doing much right now.

 

And that is also just plain insulting to Babcock. What he's done with what he was given is the story here. 

I don't know about you guys but that no goal looked like a goal to me lol. w/e I'll take it, Homer got boned from so many of those calls and Datsyuk sealed it anyway.

 

 

Oh, I definitely think it was a goal, but I definitely think it was close and after them blowing the Franzen play before that lead to a goal, I think it was a kneejerk makeup call. I'll take it, because the goal before shouldn't have happened.

Now do we believe?

 

 

Despite how the 1st game ended, I started believing when we came back and tied that game early on right away. We didn't have the gas to finish, but we tied it early and kept it tight until we had nothing left. I had a real good feeling heading into game 2 after seeing that team in the 1st game. And I had a real good feeling this morning and all day. I couldn't wait for the game, and if I think we're going to lose, I'm not excited like that. There will be no shame if we end up losing this series as Chicago is a great team, but there's no reason we can't win this series, now more than ever.

So, Howard was absolutely huge tonight. A lot of guys had big moments, but Howard was HUGE. We were in this game because of Howard through the 1st and he locked down the win. Phenomenally great game from him.

It's really amazing that Datsyuk got that shot off as well as he did. That was not exactly a great pass. Brilliant, brilliant timing. I will never tire of watching Datsyuk work his magic.

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. 

Oh, hi Filppula with GWG and major assist now that he plays with competent linemate.

 

 

 

"It is an impressively arrogant move to conclude that just because you don’t like something, it is empirically not good. I don’t like Chinese food, but I don’t write articles trying to prove it doesn’t exist." -Tina Fey

Is it just me, or has Zetterberg been invisible out there?

It must've been a real bummer to have made that user name after Manny started a playoff series. And then, you know, 2008...

Some of you guys are acting like children. Bench Eaves? He made one bad play... but he has been one of our best players this series... always providing energy, getting shots to the net. It was not Smith's fault that he got a bad pass at the blue line like that. IMO the only one to blame is Babcock. He should not have had the 4th line out there on the powerplay. IMO Nyquist has looked FANTASTIC tonight and there was no reason the 2nd pp unit could not go back out once pavs and hank came off. Having the 4th line out there is what led to the turnover, and t he resulting powerplay goal. Therefore, Babcock deserves blame.
 
Besides that, the Wings played a great period. Dominated play, got good shots to the net, had scoring chances. They hit two posts. The nice thing about the Ducks scoring when they did is it allows the Wings 15 min to regroup and come out strong like in the 2nd. Have some faith.

Agree, definitely didn't like the play and he's not perfect, but he's been solid most of the time.

Do you not watch the games? Cleary falls down and turns the puck over whenever someone breaths on him. Add in the turnovers due to his brick hands and its just a recipe for disaster. 11 points while playing with the teams top player and getting top 6 minutes is not secondary scoring. Its 3rd/4th line grinder production.

 

 

 

If Kenny wanted them in the lineup they would be in the lineup. Babs controls the lineup but Kenny controls the pool of players that lineup is picked from. 

 

 

I have heard it said that Danny plays the name on his knees many times, the last couple years, but didn't pay a ton of attention. I wasn't as focused on the team last year either. But this year, you know, I started watching more closely again and I've literally been blown away by the absurdity of how true these statements are. Cleary just looks terrible out there. If he's skating, he's skating slow. When he gets the puck, he's usually on his knees in a matter of seconds. It's just uncanny.

I'm not really upset we didn't pick up any of the guys available given the costs and where this team is ultimately at in the big picture of things, but I'm definitely upset we didn't move Flip for something. The only way I saw keeping Flip was if we added the top-6 forward and top-pairing defenseman. At that point, you've got a bit more of a shot to make a racket in the playoffs. But we didn't land those guys, and we're all the further behind, and anyone who thinks buyouts are going to be the answer to our Top-6 forward and Top-pairing defenseman needs are utterly and completely delusional. This team will still likely make the playoffs, but we're not going anywhere. How Holland justified not getting a return for Flip given all he says about building through the draft is just so far beyond me, and why I ultimately question whether Holland has a clue as to what he's really aiming to do with this team at this point. When he spends the majority of his time talking about doing what's best for the future and he fails to make this move, it's just hard to have faith in him. If he ends up signing Flip to a $5 million deal this summer, I'll be done expecting him to ever do this job well again for this team.

 

Holland will always get credit for what he did accomplish early on in his tenure as GM, but it by no means minimizes the fact that the very best thing one can objectively say about the tail end of his run is that he has been average. He hasn't been as horrible as some try to suggest, but he absolutely has not been great or anything close to it.