WingedWheel1987
Registered User
I wasn't implying that the Pens core was playing 30 a night. I meant that Datsyuk and Z would have to play 30 minutes a night.
Speech. Less.
Speechless.
I never thought I'd see anyone say Quincey was "one of the best defenseman."
If I had to call out one new guy tonight, it'd be Brunner. He was playing differently today. He tried too many bad passes, tried to get too fancy. He should keep it simple. Get open, take shots.
Yes Brunner forces too much. Maybe that works over in Euroland on the bigger ice surface but not here. Wish he'd be our shooter more not passer. Guy could have 9 or 10 goals by now.
Nobody on the Blues is going to bother covering Cleary or Gator. They will always focus on the only players capable of making something happen or scoring on an empty net. It really isnt that surprising that the PP is completely useless. It should be really easy to neutralize when you are technically on a PP, but in reality it's 4v4 hockey.
Yes Brunner forces too much. Maybe that works over in Euroland on the bigger ice surface but not here. Wish he'd be our shooter more not passer. Guy could have 9 or 10 goals by now.
any opinions?
Yup, someone has to fill in on the top 6, but virtually every other winger on the team would have been better options than Cleary and Abby. I get that someone was going to pull 18 mins or so in those spots, but put Tatar on one of the lines, and anyone else for the other line.
Abby was actually better than I expected he would be on that line, but I still would have preferred him on a bottom 6 line. Cleary was exactly what we've come to expect.
And it really doesn't make sense to not bump Cleary down at a minimum when the team is generating zero offense in the 2nd and 3rd periods... feel free to let a skilled kid like Tatar who can skate and make a play get some mins with Datsyuk. It's not like the Wings offense was rolling and Babs didn't want to rock the boat by shaking up the lines.
The point is Cleary should get NO PP time...but not only is he getting 1st unit PP time, he's getting as much time as our top forwards.
And yeah. We have to put someone out there. Hmm....how about...the guy that scored the first goal? You know, that young offensive player who has 2 points in 5 games to Cleary and Abdelkader's 1 point in 13?
Not to mention. Miller, Emmerton, and Tatar have all looked more offensively threatening than Abdelkader and Cleary for the entirety of the season. Thats just downright pathetic.
Yeah I like the kid too. Has his mistakes but overall pretty solid for his first stint up. And he has nice size as well.
Cleary is still a smart player.
Why would you not play your number one goalie after a two day layoff?
And Quincey is a top 2? In what world?
It means I still see him getting in position to make plays. He just fails to execute on almost all of them. His penchant for crippling penalties is apart of this failure.
I remember thinking at least 4-5 times that Cleary was exactly where he needed to be, and then he would flub a play.
It means I still see him getting in position to make plays. He just fails to execute on almost all of them. His penchant for crippling penalties is apart of this failure.
I remember thinking at least 4-5 times that Cleary was exactly where he needed to be, and then he would flub a play.
I'm torn. Lashoff really isn't a problem for the Wings right now. In fact, he is probably a surprise. That said, I think we're kidding ourselves if we view him as any kind of long-term fixture on our blueline.
His lack of foot speed gets regularly exposed by better forwards around the edge (see Dustin Brown on Sunday).
Pretty easy to do that when the opposing team is focused on Datsyuk and to a lesser extent Flip. He should know where to go. Dudes been playing hockey a long time.
The only thing I didn't get with moving Gator up was leaving Andersson to center the third line - which pretty effectively killed our bottom6 with regards to getting ice time, and which forced us to rely more on our top6.
I don't think it makes a huge deal which guy we plug into those lines, though, as far as how effective they would be. I like Tatar, but I would I want to see him get 18 minutes a night? Not really. Miller, Eaves, etc. ...they're not bad guys, but they're just as poor fits for the top6 as Gator and Cleary.
He reminds me of Lebda in a way. Totally different games, but when given the opportunity, they just found a way to take advantage of it. I wouldn't be surprised at all if Lashoff re-signs for around $600K and just hangs around the bottom half of our D corps for the next few years.
Why would you not play your number one goalie after a two day layoff?
And Quincey is a top 2? In what world?
Quincey is?
Abdelkader- I'm glad he had a chance in the top 6, I feel he may have the potential to be a 2nd/3rd line guy sort of like Cleary use to be, but as of right now he's just a 3rd/4th liner. He was used wrongly today, as he's top 6, he shouldn't play that grinder roll. He needed to be a net front presence guy and also it wasn't a good line, Zetterberg needed another guy to cycle the puck down low. Maybe Abdelkader would succeed more on Datsyuk and Filppula's line.
Brunner- He needs to stop starting in the OT. He is partially responsible for both OT losses. His defensive game is just too weak right now. Maybe next year he'll be better, but as of now no. His little 1 on 1 deke is nice, but he needs a variety of moves because defensemen will catch on to that very quickly.
Cleary- You still suck. You shouldn't be in the line up.
Tatar- He needs to stay up in the 3rd line the rest of the season. He brings energy to the team and I think when Helm comes back, this team will almost look like a playoff type team. He's good for 15 goals, 20 assists next year in a 82 game season on the 3rd line.
Emmerton- If he adds some upper and lower body strength and gets a little quicker (two things hard to do in the same off season), and adjusts his game a bit to more of a checker, I'll be ok with him centering the 4th line.
Howard- Come on Howie, get back to where you were last season, we obviously need it.