Spongewingredpants

Ah '07. Probably could have won the Cup that year if Schneider didn't break his hand.

 

And if Kronwall wasn't out altogether, and Zetterberg didn't have an awful back, and Bertuzzi weren't having back spasms.

 

That team  could have run away with the Cup.

I have no idea what Babs is doing here but why do we have Damien Brunner playing the point when in fact he is not a sniper, probably one of the weakest players on our team when it comes to shooting (besides Helm) and he is not a good defensive forward. Give me Kindl! 

 

He's weak at shooting? What on earth are you on about?

The Jackets acquire Gaborik...

 

The definition of irony would be if they made the playoffs as the 8th seed and the Wings came in 9th place.....

No, the definition of irony would be the now Columbus "Rangers" making the playoffs while Rick Nash & the New York "Blue Jackets" don't.  

Crazy the things that can happen when you pair up a playmaker with a shooter. Huh. 

Fatigue isn't the only issue here.

 

He was an unknown commodity with no NHL experience when the season began.  He scored a few goals early off, had a highlight reel shootout experience, and a few weeks later he's among the lead leaders in goals.  Suddenly, teams stopped treating him like a soft Euro and started taking away his time and space.  He's more tightly covered whilst sneaking into the slot from the soft-side.  Defense are on him much quicker and harder in the corners, and while Brunner can mentally adjust to North American hockey, it will be a slower process to build up the physical strength to be able to fight through the coverage that he is now experiencing.

Secondly, Brunner has really focused hard on playing a more defensively sound game.  He is back-checking much more effectively than when the season began, and he's playing much deeper in our own zone instead of floating at the blueline waiting for a breakout.  He has also been more conscious of opponent's breakout potentials and is adjusting his game in the offensive zone to accommodate this.  His new-found defensive responsibilities are also going to lower his offensive output.

Combined with the brutal North American schedule and travel, its no surprise at all why Brunner has suddenly gone quiet.  He's with good role models though, and I suspect that he will be able to overcome the schedule and the added defensive attention he has over the next few years.  Given his commitment to learning the defensive side of the game, and how far he has come already, I'd say the guy is willing to do whatever it takes to be successful at this level.  Lets hope my assumption is correct.

The only thing more annoying than hearing Holland say "we like our team" is seeing that quote posted in every single thread.

We kicked the tires. I like our team. Our power play is our enforcer.

We like our team.

And stop with the arrogance yzerman was a whiner. When our team loses they don't even care.

 

Why do you do this?

I think it's very foolish to take Brunner out of the top 6. He's very much a top 6 guy and very much on an expiring contract. Hate to be a player pleaser, but the young goal scoring star who needs to be re-signed is not the guy you demote on a contract year. Let him flourish and fall in love with this system in the top 6 with the stars he signed on to play with.

The only guys who should not be up for demotion right now are Z, D, and B. Everyone else is on the chopping block.

People keep saying Brunner needs defence blah blah blah. He was not brought in to be a two way forward like Datsyuk, we have enough of those, he was brought in to be a straight up scorer, and that is what babs expects from him. Sure he could work on his defensive game a bit too, but he is still better defensively than Franzen, and works his tail off night in and night out, and thats all I want is for him to work hard and put some pucks in the net. So far so good.

I've been pretty grounded on the whole Brunner thing since it started. The Swiss league is one of the weaker leagues in Europe, and being the scoring leader doesn't exactly translate to success in the NHL. Z tears ass in his first game there. Consider enthusiasm further tempered by the above article:



In Metropolit's most productive season in the NHL, the only one he managed more than 70 games, he scored 33 points, with 11 goals in 82 games with the Bruins in 2007-2008.

Joe Thornton only has 9 points in 10 games there, in Thornton's most productive season on the NHL, he scored 114 points in 82 games with the Sharks in 2006-07

tomorrow i get to see Zetterberg and Brunner on the same line at home in Zug. I am so stoked

Notable players from an NHL perspective on the roster

Zetterberg
Brunner
Raphael Diaz (hometown boy but plays for the Habs)
Josh Holden (former Canuck)

That's awesome dude.  I wish i was in Switzerland with you watching that.  I have to settle for seeing Andrew Ladd at the pretzelmaker at the mall....brutal!

I wish you a good game. I'll watch it on tv. I'm usually for fribourg but all I can now is GO Zug!!

Z playing in Switzerland! It's like Christmas for all Swiss Redwings'fans! Maybe I'll find some tickets to see him in real rather than in my pc.
Of course, I prefer NHL games but sometimes, a dream come true.