GDT: Game 14 | Anaheim Ducks @ Detroit Red Wings | 7:30 PM EST | FS-D

[SlavaKozlov]

Speaking of benching Nyquist in the 3rd, so was Filppula, Brunner only had 4 shifts too, and Abdelkader also played less. It isn't that he took Nyquist off of Filppula's line, it was that he took Filppula's line out of the game.

 

[theYman]

solution is simple...

switch 1st line with 3rd line and profit...

Tatar - Anderson - Eaves as 1st will be everywhere on the ice with 18min a night

on the other hand EVERY one team in NHL would like to have Zetterberg with his fellas on 3rd line so they will own everyone

wait sorry...i forgot...Cleary is there...nevermind

Yup Cleary's an

for every line.

 

[Bench]

Fair.

Unfair to say that Quincey's play has deserved all those +'s.

Which, naturally, calls into the question the validity of the stat.

But that doesn't suggest I'm endorsing Kronwall as some paragon of defense. Yeesh. The dude needs a real partner, for starters. Lashoff is a -5 himself, so there you go.

 

[RedWingsNow*]

If thats the case, he should do the same to Kronwall.

Quincey is 22nd in the league in +/- and Kronwall is in 2nd last.

Tonight they had almost the exact same amount of icetime and Quincey finishes +1 to Kronwall's -3.

I don't think Quincey is a better player than Kronwall. Maybe its luck, maybe its his opposition or just the forwards on the ice with him performing better, but somehow he has been far more effective than Kronwall this season at even strength.

But coach needs defense involved in the offense.

And he's giving that role to Kronwall, the team's Alternate Captain.

It's a good thing Kronwall isn't 6'2. If he was, coach would chain him to the goalpost and let Quincey be the offensive defenseman.

There's a reason why Quincey has 0 points.

 

[SoupGuru]

Okay Mr. Smarmy. Who said anomaly?

I said you need to judge it fairly. Quincey is +7. That's great. But he's not better than Kronwall despite his -9. The stats say there's a 16 point spread between them. Do you think that the spread is that great between them?

I think Kronwall is playing top minutes with an AHL defender against the other team's top units every single shift. And the plus/minus reflects it's not working, but let's not get carried away.

Sorry, buddy. I see you were talking more about Quincey's plusses rather than Kronwall's minuses.

I think Quincey's is a bit of an anomaly but he's really put together a string of decent games.

 

[detredWINgs]

Kronwall now -9 through 14 games. Terrible

Kronwall is a bigger version of Brian Rafalski. Without Scott Stevens or Scott Neidermayer, Rafalski was not even in the NHL. With Stevens, Neidermayer, Lidstrom, and Stuart, Rafalski was a top-pairing All Star.

Kronwall can be decent defensively when he doesn't have to worry about offense.

Or he can be great offensively if he doesn't have to worry about defense.

Asking him to do both is a ****ing nightmare.

 

[FlashyG]

There was an EN goal with all the top players on the ice. Let's not get too caught up in tonight's +/- without judging it fairly.

Here's some food for thought. Mark Fistric lead the Stars in +/- a few years ago. +27! Yeah. Some fans thought he was due for a big break out season. Other people figured out +/- is a load of crap that tends to favor those that play against sheltered competition. He followed that season up with a -10. Then a -3. Then he was traded for a bag of pucks.

Like I said, I don't think Quincey is better than Kronwall and I'm not advocating making a long term plan of making QUincey a first pairing defenceman. But if he's providing some sort of voodoo like luck to his forwards without being part of the scoring play, why not ride the hot hand until Kronwall finds his defensive game.

At worst Quincey's numbers fall back to earth and we go back to Kronwall sucking on the first pairing.

 

[RedWingsNow*]

Okay Mr. Smarmy. Who said anomaly?

I said you need to judge it fairly. Quincey is +7. That's great. But he's not better than Kronwall despite his -9. The stats say there's a 16 point spread between them. Do you think that the spread is that great between them?

I think Kronwall is playing top minutes with an AHL defender against the other team's top units every single shift. And the plus/minus reflects it's not working, but let's not get carried away.

I don't see why Lashoff is in the lineup. Is Huskins hurt?

 

[detredWINgs]

Whats funny is, Nashville kind of has the inverse problem going on over there.

Weber is playing solid defense, but has just 2 points on 0 goals over 14 games.

 

[FlashyG]

But coach needs defense involved in the offense.

And he's giving that role to Kronwall, the team's Alternate Captain.

It's a good thing Kronwall isn't 6'2. If he was, coach would chain him to the goalpost and let Quincey be the offensive defenseman.

There's a reason why Quincey has 0 points.

Well its not like Kronwall is providing any offence at even strength either.

7 of his 10 pts have come on the PP, and nobody is arguing he should lose that spot.

 

[Bench]

Whats funny is, Nashville kind of has the inverse problem going on over there.

Weber is playing solid defense, but has just 2 points on 0 goals over 14 games.

He's missing Suter big time. And vice versa.

 

[Bench]

Sorry, buddy.

Accepted. Now let's go get ice cream.

 

[detredWINgs]

I don't see why Lashoff is in the lineup. Is Huskins hurt?

I don't understand this either. There have been a few times where Kronwall is caught holding the bag because Lashoff isn't even in the play. I forget which goal it was tonight, but Lashoff clearly missed his assignment, and Kronwall had to scramble to save the play, and the puck ends up in the back of the net.

Lashoff is fine down low when its clear who his man is, but he is terrible positionally elsewhere.

 

[A1Portable]

After tonight's 3rd period fiasco, are the Wings finally ready to face reality and admit that this team simply isn't talented enough to contend for the championship?

Earth to Ken Holland: it's time to start rebuilding NOW!

 

[The Zetterberg Era]

whats wrong with Detroits media?

playing home and give first 2 stars to Anaheim?

Hockey market, I am glad they do it.

Our best five players tonight for me where Tatar, Emmerton, Kindl, Andersson and Eaves. Could do without mentioning the rest, those were the only five guys that played pretty well. Was glad to see Emmerton get rewarded he is probably our most improved guy this year.

 

[Mort Divine]

Does Cleary have nudes of Babcock or something? There is absolutely NO reason he should be on the first line...or the team even. It boggles my mind that he is seeing more ******* ice time than Tatar who was mostly outstanding tonight. How does someone with 3 points over 5 games get less ice time than someone with ONE in 14 games? HOW? Cleary is a ******* black hole sucking up any offensive chances we might get...Tatar has been dynamic.

Flip - Z - Brunner
Franzen - Dats - Nyquist
Tatar - Helm - Tootoo
Gator - Sheahan - Ferraro

Run with this line up and I assure you this teams offensive woes will vanish, until Helm is healthy though you've got to try Sheahan at 3rd line center and keep up Emmerton (who has proven himself worthy of his roster spot this season - crazy since he was mostly awful last year)

Our defense will still be garbage, but at least we'll be able to consistently score.

I change my mind about the previous wanting Lashoff paired with Kronwall - Lashoff is clearly not good enough a defender to let Kronwall be himself. Then again Kronwall is just not good enough for the top pairing himself...BUT if you give him someone who can actually play defense then he can focus on just scoring and MAYBE just MAYBE stop making these stupid mistakes he's been doing all season.

AND if for some ****ing reason Nyquist is sent back to the Griffins just so that some old fart can take his place after coming back from injury I swear I will find Holland's car and key it into oblivion.

GODDAMNIT

I chose the worst season to come back as a serious hockey fan...

but I intend to stick to it... Just sucks seeing a team I can tell has what it takes to make at least a puddle splash instead having some ******* ride down the road after a rain storm and soaking them with road water from a dip in the surface

 

[Brick Top]

Just finished watching the game- you know it's going to be tough when you're rolling out Z-Abby-Andersson-Emmerton as your 4 C's. The Ducks would have been kicking themselves to not get 2 points tonight with no Datsyuk.

Loved seeing Tatar out there- speed, some tenacity, and I love his enthusiasm that he plays with out there. And the patience he showed on his goal- most guys would have immediately fired the puck into the crowd and hoped for some luck, but he had the stones to skate around the pack for a better window. Don't care how many guys come back healthy, he needs to stay up with the Wings.

Nyquist didn't do much, but his line was awful. Flip is bringing zero to the table this season. Hope Gus can get some more games in and find a groove.

Kronwall- yikes. Postgame, Darren Eliot said that his pass into Flip's skates wasn't Kronner's fault and that it was on Kindl for not being in the right spot, but that was a terrible pass. Just another subpar game for him. I'm sure Lashoff isn't an asset as a partner, but with Kronwall wearing the A and being the alleged rock of the D-unit, he's supposed to make other guys better.

 

[FlashyG]

After tonight's 3rd period fiasco, are the Wings finally ready to face reality and admit that this team simply insn' talented enough to contend for the championship?

Earth to Ken Holland: it's time to start rebuilding NOW!

The Wings were missing more than 1/3 of their line-up including their entire top line, most of their 3rd line, a top 4 defenceman and a bunch of depth players.

No team will be able to contend missing this many players. The rebuilding process has been underway for a while now, which is why our most effective players tonight were 2 call-ups from the AHL.

Hopefully Tatar at least has earned a regular roster spot when everyone gets healthy.

 

[19 for president]

That 3rd period was horrific but this team wouldn't be awful if healthy, and they found Kronner a defensive dman partner. The problem is that in a shortened season the Wings can afford to lose 5 or 6 games while players get healthy... Tatar was definitely the positive from tonight. The guy is ready both skill wise and physically. Nyquist could do to add like 10lbs of muscle because he is really weak right now. He could still play this season but I feel that he and Brunner playing in our top 6 would make it really weak physically.

Brunner-Zetterberg-Franzen
Flip-Dats-Bert
Tatar-Helm-Sammy
Tootoo-Emmerton-Abs

Is a pretty solid offensive lineup. Sadly only about a quarter of it is healthy, and if Dats isn't back soon I give it a week before Z is nursing a bad back for the rest of the season because of the physical play that will get keyed on him.

Defensive D- Kronner
Smith- Ericsson
Quincey- White

Wouldn't be a horrid D either. Right now this D is really struggling because Kronner has been awful 5 on 5 and he isn't a rock D that can carry a rookie playing 20 min a night. I don't mind Lashoff as a bottom pair dman but he isn't good enough to play with an offensive minded D. Kronner hasn't gone for a big hit all season and if he isn't playing that part of his game, he isn't playing well.

 

[WingedWheel1987]

No consistency

Very disappointing game.

Some bad luck, but some major problems on defense.

My 6-9th seed prediction has not changed.

 

[SlavaKozlov]

Not according to SlavaKozlov.

It is unacceptable to criticize a player who looks to small and isn't playing well? I like his skill and would like to see him succeed, but Babcock played him on the powerplay and he looked good playing with his GRG mates in those situations, but his line was a disaster 5-on-5, and Babcock benched Nyquist/Filppula/Abdelkader in the 3rd because they weren't doing much. He played Nyquist 11 minutes after 2, and pulled the plug for the 3rd because it didn't accomplish much.

No reason to break up the Tatar/Andersson/Eaves line that was working, and Cleary/Nyquist are different players. Nyquist/Z/Brunner might seem like a good idea on paper because of their skill, but that line would be matched up against Getzlaf/Perry and Anaheim's top D pair. Maybe Babcock could have tried it to see if it would work, or maybe he didn't like the idea of playing two smaller rookie players against some big guys on Anaheim. I am not saying Cleary is perfect, but that he is trying to replace the size lost from Franzen. I thought it would be interesting to come back to HF for tonight after not posting a while, and it was fun to see how other Wings fans are thinking, but you are just criticizing my opinions on Nyquist without responding in detail on why you disagree...

 

[Sadekuuro]

I love that even after a game featuring that many horrific defensive breakdowns where nobody on the ice looked like they knew what they were doing, half the posts are still about Dan Cleary He has sucked, that's well established. We don't need a hundred posts a day beating that same drum (especially after weeks of same).

 

[Kronwalled55]

Ian White's broken stick changed the entire game. We hung in there against a 9-2 Anaheim team with this... "interesting" team.

Just about everything has been mentioned so far, but the goaltending management has been bad too. Mrazek gets 1 start, plays great... rides pine. It's the same story every. single. game. for Howard. He'll keep you in the 1st, but anything after that is a crap shoot. Not saying tonight is his fault by any means, but he has given up 4 or more goals in 4 in his last 6 starts...

 

[icKx]

He's missing Suter big time. And vice versa.

He's missing Suter a bit but he's also shooting 0% thus far. Given his cannon that's just **** luck.

 

[CloneHakanPlease*]

It is unacceptable to criticize a player who looks to small and isn't playing well? I like his skill and would like to see him succeed, but Babcock played him on the powerplay and he looked good playing with his GRG mates in those situations, but his line was a disaster 5-on-5, and Babcock benched Nyquist/Filppula/Abdelkader in the 3rd because they weren't doing much. He played Nyquist 11 minutes after 2, and pulled the plug for the 3rd because it didn't accomplish much.

No reason to break up the Tatar/Andersson/Eaves line that was working, and Cleary/Nyquist are different players. Nyquist/Z/Brunner might seem like a good idea on paper because of their skill, but that line would be matched up against Getzlaf/Perry and Anaheim's top D pair. Maybe Babcock could have tried it to see if it would work, or maybe he didn't like the idea of playing two smaller rookie players against some big guys on Anaheim. I am not saying Cleary is perfect, but that he is trying to replace the size lost from Franzen. I thought it would be interesting to come back to HF for tonight after not posting a while, and it was fun to see how other Wings fans are thinking, but you are just criticizing my opinions on Nyquist without responding in detail on why you disagree...

I think Nyquist looking weak and dazed has a lot to do with the last minute call up and literally being an hour removed from a three hour drive.

He didn't look good, but I don't think he was that bad. More noticeable than Filppula imo.

With that being said though, if you want the Wings to make the playoffs we have to have Datsyuk healthy. He is clearly the life blood of this team and one of the few forwards capable of creating his own offense. Really want to see Tatar, Tootoo, and even Emmerton get more time up front.