I feel like those complaining about other people getting worked up are, ironically, the most worked up of them all.
Highly doubt that lol. Look, speaking for myself, people can get worked up all they want, its not my stress levels rising. I just dont get it, seems silly to me. If anything I get a kick out of seeing the reactions. Kind of like watching Red Wedding video's on youtube.
The key word missing from the thread title is "players." The Red Wings players are gearing up for a playoff push.
Because that's what you do. Most pro athletes hate losing more than they enjoy winning.
Do people really think any of the players on that team want to miss the playoffs? Even when you're getting blown out in a game, you buckle down and try to convince yourself just to worry about getting the next goal.
I'd be a helluva lot more worried if there was a quote from Zetterberg saying "well making the playoffs is virtually impossible so these next games are glorified scrimmages to us."
Exactly. You cant expect players not to play at 100% when they still mathematically have a chance, its this type of motivation and determination along with natural skill-set that got them here. If they did give up, whats from stopping them from giving up when they do have a chance X amount of years down the road. Is it fair as fans to ask the players "When we want you to tank because we feel you have no shot , you shouldn't really care, but when we think you have a chance, you're a bum if you dont put in 110%!".
Now management is a different story, this is the point where they should be trading some vets and playing kids. Also, when a good player goes on IR (think JVR in the year TO got AM), if he misses the season, oh well.