Zetts

Over the next few days we will find out about all the injuries. But guess what? EVERYONE HAS GUYS PLAYING HURT! It is the freaking playoffs. very few if any teams are going to go through the playoffs without having half their team banged up. Happens every year.

 

As for Cleary, no one has ever doubted his heart or his guts. he has tons of both. But he is also half the player he used to be. It happens. he is 33/34 now and a UFA. No I do not want him back. We have young guys in the minors that need to play. yes they could flop. But untill they play every day, we don't know. What can Cleary give us that Sheahan can't? Nothing. Yes Sheahan is young and inexperienced, but how does he get experience? oh ya-he plays!

You think that Sheahan could come in, play an offensive role, and be second on the team in playoff scoring?

If Cleary's gone, we're losing a lot more than you seem to think.

There is no way we can afford (talent-wise) to buy him out.  I mean, we clearly need more scoring.  If we bought him out, we'd struggle to find pieces that could allow us just to break even with this year offensively.  And don't pretend like Tatar would come close.

Trading him, as others have mentioned, might be feasible if we get back decent offense in return.  I'd still be against it, but it's an option.  But buying him out?  It's embarrassing that there are so many people that actually voted for that.

Many people around here will never acknowledge this, but I'll just throw it out there:

Losing Jiri Hudler hurt.  Obviously he didn't have a lot of the intangibles (and wanted too much money).  But we lost a 50 point scorer.  It does hurt, regardless of his other shortcomings.  Notice how we needed more scoring this year?

And now some people want to lose a 30 goal scorer as well by buying him out?  I get being pissed off with some things, but sometimes you have to acknowledge that you can't get a perfect player and that 30 goal players are valuable.

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

 

The offending foot is obstructed and you know it. I showed the RIGHT foot leaving the ice has he was jumping off his LEFT foot into Lydman.  PS thats one foot, not 2 feet that you are pointing two. Also, thats about 2-3 frames before the hit was initiated, go forward to when the hit starts and Abs is jumping.

Huh?  It's not jumping if one foot is on the ice.

By the way, Lydman is not currently at the Ducks' practice.

Obviously a huge blow to us.  I personally think that Colaiacovo is underrated around here though.  He has actually played pretty well when he has been in the lineup.  The complaint with him has largely just been his injury issues.

I occasionally criticize people for phrasing speculation as fact. I phrased speculation as speculation. It's funny how you can't read properly.

I disagree.  I'll show you why.

The presence of the word "possible" in one's verbiage is a slam-dunk indicator that that person is speculating, so don't give yourself any medals for identifying my speculation as speculation.

There were two parts to your post:

1.

The simple fact is that he's completely out of game shape.

Note the word "fact".

2.

More, it's entirely possible---perhaps even likely---that he's being kept out of the lineup as a safety precaution leading up to a buyout.

Now, I'll admit, you use the word "possible".  However, you claim that:

If I were to say outright that it was likely, then I agree that strong evidence would be in order.

So would the following quote from you, just two or three pages back qualify as saying that it's likely? 

I'm almost certain that Samuelsson is being kept healthy for a buyout. I doubt you'll see him.

I believe that "almost certain" is actually even stronger than "likely".  That's why I asked for factual evidence.  Hopefully that clears up what I was trying to say.  And demonstrates how you're doing exactly what you tend to blast people around here for doing. 

He scored zero goals in the 2009 finals.

 

The simple fact is that he's completely out of game shape. More, it's entirely possible---perhaps even likely---that he's being kept out of the lineup as a safety precaution leading up to a buyout.

It's funny how much you criticize other people for speculation and then do the same thing yourself.

To say pretty much exactly what you would say to such a post:

-How do you know he's out of game shape?  In particular, his broken hand and pectoral injury should have little impact on his ability to get in cardio work.

-Your claim that he's being kept out as a precaution is complete speculation.  Is there any factual basis for claiming that this is likely?  I've seen you claim this several times, not just in this post.

I'm right here bud, come at me!

Everybody doubted that this would happen. Now all of a sudden the Wild's roster looks a LOT better than the Wings roster. I have to say, I told you so.

Going to be interesting to see how this year shakes down and how the Wings find answers for their many questions.

Looks like we're getting some perspective on this one, hey?

Obviously the Wings could still miss the playoffs.  But centcougar's post is just too funny right now. 

Edit: Sorry, I know it's probably not necessary to bump this.  But at the very least it should prove to people that landing the big UFA's isn't everything.  So many people thought that Minny was in such great shape.

As per Mlive:

DETROIT -- Detroit Red Wings forward Todd Bertuzzi said today that he will return to the lineup for Thursday's game against Nashville at Joe Louis Arena.

Bertuzzi skated with the bottom six forwards today and said he expects to play on the third or fourth line when he returns.

And, in case anyone missed this bit:

Forward Mikael Samuelsson (strained pectoral muscle) has been cleared to play but Babcock is not ready to insert him into the lineup.

Samuelsson could be back in the lineup any time as well.

 

Because I'm a Wings fan?

 

You're a parent. I dunno if you really are or not. (I'm not.) But, you're a parent. And you've got a kid. And this kid, well, he f***s up. A lot. And he's in deep. And some days, you catch yourself wishing he was never born.

 

But, at the end of the day, he's your kid. And you stand by him.

 

Doesn't mean you have to like his s***, though.

I'm not a parent either, but I just...does that actually happen?!  I can't imagine thinking that...

 

Correct, but the originally linked article didn't say ANOTHER injury and still doesn't.  You can also notice that it's crystal clear as people in this thread and in the comments section below the originally linked article are calling for Tatar to be brought up.  But thanks.

 

esteef

That's fine, I wasn't trying to call you out or question your reading comprehension.  I think it was just clearer to me beacuse the first thing I read was the bit on the front page (quoted in my last post) that, in reference to Miller's injury, does explicitly state "another injury".  Just trying to clarify.

One bad game in 20. Let it go.

I'm not worried about a bad game.  Nor do I deny that he's the reason we're competing the playoffs.  Completely giving up in the way and in the circumstances that he did (the circumstances of the play, the point in the game and the point in the season) is inexcusable.

Screwing up is human.  Not giving a crap is pathetic.  Especially when you were just signed to a contract worth how many million?

If you're not sure what I'm talking about, check out 2:45 of this video.

Note the COMPLETE lack of effort.

Further, and I don't know how I missed this before, you're the one that started this thread titled "Howard = Average" and when I criticize him for one ridiculous play, you're saying that I should let it go?!

In their last game against Columbus, San Jose benched Joe Thornton for the entire third period because he was playing like garbage.  Joe Thornton.  I can't even imagine what it would be like to see our team bench anything for playing like s***.  And obviously I don't mean Eaves, Kindl, Smith, Tootoo etc. etc. etc.  Pretty easy to scapegoat those guys and bench them, takes a little more guts to do it with your high end talent. 

Of course, for that to even be considered in the first place, Babcock would have to acknowledge that there's a problem.  Exhibit A:

"The Mule's been scoring goals," Babcock said. "I think Mule's been good. We played him at center, we played him at wing, changed lines. I thought him and (Valtteri Filppula) in Chicago, with (Daniel Cleary), were our best line."

I absolutely guarantee that we would regret trading Smith or even sitting him for extended periods of time.  As I've said before, this is exactly what people were saying when Fischer came into the league.  My lord people here hated him for quite some time.

Yes, Smith hasn't been as good as we expected in his first season, but he'll get a lot better.  To do that, not only does he have to stay here, but he has to get icetime.  Some guys just take a couple of years to really get going.

Obviously, especially with our suckage, peoples' patience is particularly short.  But we can't be stupid about this - he will be a key part of our future.  There's a reason that he's been highly touted.

 

HOLY s*** YOU DO NOT GET IT!!!!

 

They scored one goal. ONE GOAL. That's not enough. YOU....NEED....TO....SCORE...MORE...OR....YOU...WONT...WIN.

 

Whatf****** team in this league scores one goal and expects to win? No team.

 

It doesn'tf****** matter how Jimmy plays if the team in front of him only scores once.

They did score more.  They scored 2.