GDT: GDT: Game 17 | Columbus Blue Jackets @ Detroit Red Wings| 7:30 PM EST | FS-D

[InjuredChoker]

Cleary top 3 in ice time for forwards yet again.

I always forget Dan Cleary is a top 3 forward

Brutal.

 

[InjuredChoker]

Maybe Howard shouldn't have played. He's not helping his paycheck with this kind pf performance.

Z was bad tonight. Really invisible and when he wasn't.. it was not in a good way.

Flip doing he's best Stuart impression.

Lashoff needs to be in minors. Or give really sheltered minutes.

 

[Cursed Lemon]

You guys are blaming Howard too much for that goal. I really don't think anybody expected Prospal to pull a spin move, Jimmy had the straight-on shot covered.

Blame Lashoff and White for letting Prospal split the two of them without a care in the world.

 

[JPE123]

Howard has really been mediocre
Lashoff doesn't look ready for NHL yet
If Babs doesn't like Kindl then trade him
Fils has got to get on track
Z had a tough night but it happens
This team is not a playoff team right now
Only injuries that are hurting us are Franzen and Helm, the rest are just substituting mediocrity for mediocrity

Still do not understand Babcock's line pairings. Don't understand why you wouldn't pair Tatar with Pavel. I'd even give Tootoo more quality minutes, he's working his butt off. Team is not great but I honestly believe Babcock is making it worse. Really disappointing

 

[crashman]

Howard has really been mediocre
Lashoff doesn't look ready for NHL yet
If Babs doesn't like Kindl then trade him
Fils has got to get on track
Z had a tough night but it happens
This team is not a playoff team right now
Only injuries that are hurting us are Franzen and Helm, the rest are just substituting mediocrity for mediocrity

Still do not understand Babcock's line pairings. Don't understand why you wouldn't pair Tatar with Pavel. I'd even give Tootoo more quality minutes, he's working his butt off. Team is not great but I honestly believe Babcock is making it worse. Really disappointing

I think Bert and Sammy could help too. I mean, beats the hell out of Abdelkader and Cleary, no?

 

[JPE123]

I think Bert and Sammy could help too. I mean, beats the hell out of Abdelkader and Cleary, no?

Bert is more reliable I would agree. I'm not sure on Sammy, I have never had a good impression of him but that could be me.

Helm changes the team a lot and changes the other teams tempo, he's disruptive. Although I get down on Mule sometimes for a seeming lack of hustle he can put the puck in the net.

 

[Vladdy84]

When Bert is healthy, he plays well with Pavel.

Any word when he's expected back? Last I heard he was walking around with a cane.

Mule-Z-Brunner
Bert-Pavel-Tatar
Flip-Helm-Gator
Toots-Emmerton-Sammy/Miller/Eaves/

 

[icKx]

Since his two-goal night against Minny Bert (predictably) did nothing. He's better than Cleary but who isn't?

 

[JPE123]

When Bert is healthy, he plays well with Pavel.

Any word when he's expected back? Last I heard he was walking around with a cane.

Mule-Z-Brunner
Bert-Pavel-Tatar
Flip-Helm-Gator
Toots-Emmerton-Sammy/Miller/Eaves/

I like your pairings Vladdy. That's exactly what I'd like to see

 

[JPE123]

Regarding 3rd and 4th line players, I was impressed with Gator's scrums in the middle last night. I think he should focus on that niche and try to be a producer that way. I have a hard time getting down on Gator because he really works hard, good speed but I think he is lacking good hockey sense.

Drew Miller has been non existent this year. Emmerton has stepped up but Drew doesn't even get a mention. I always thought he was one of our best grinders. Whole team except Pav, Z and Brunner seems to be in a funk

 

[BF3]

-Howard is a below average goaltender so far this season. If Howard is a top-10 goaltender, we don't blow all these leads. He has let in some real softies.
-Flip continues to suck.
-Kronwall is not a 1. He is a 2/3 at the moment.
-Lashoff is a 6/7 playing top 4 minutes.
-Cleary playing top 3 minutes is insane.
-Brunner needs to have better puck security. His defensive lapses are nearly outshining his offensive prowess.
-Injuries are killing us. We miss Helm badly.
-Babcock is not maximizing the talent he has and deserves a lot of blame.
-Anyone not named Datsyuk and Zetterberg should be on the trading block. Holland needs to show that he can still make moves beyond signing aging veterans. If Nyquist does not have a permanent spot on the Wings roster by the deadline, he needs to be dealt. If Tatar is sent down, Holland should resign.

 

[SoupGuru]

The Wings seem to have good games and bad games. There are no average games. It has been that way for a couple of seasons now and I wish it would stop. We used to be a machine. We worked hard consistently. Sure we took a game off now and then but our effort was pretty fricking good, on average.

It used to be that our work ethic made us a phenomenal team. We'd work as hard in first 5 minutes as the last 5 minutes of each game.

Now we think we've won the game in the first minute so we take the rest of the game off. What changed?

 

[Z40]

I was glad that big Tootoo defended little Ericsson

Ericsson looked disappointed. He dropped the gloves and was ready to go before Tootoo jumped in. He was probably thinking, "Toots, why you have to hog all the fights?" I want to see at least one Ericsson fight this season. The guy can go.

 

[Vladdy84]

Ericsson looked disappointed. He dropped the gloves and was ready to go before Tootoo jumped in. He was probably thinking, "Toots, why you have to hog all the fights?" I want to see at least one Ericsson fight this season. The guy can go.

I'd rather Big E not fight since he's by faaaar out most important D-man. I wouldn't mind if he fought a "star" player like Perry, Backes or Iginla though.

 

[JPE123]

I'd rather Big E not fight since he's by faaaar out most important D-man. I wouldn't mind if he fought a "star" player like Perry, Backes or Iginla though.

The way things are going for us, he would probably break a knuckle or something

 

[crashman]

Ericsson looked disappointed. He dropped the gloves and was ready to go before Tootoo jumped in. He was probably thinking, "Toots, why you have to hog all the fights?" I want to see at least one Ericsson fight this season. The guy can go.

He's slow, but he has some serious reach and leverage.

 

[Run the Jewels]

Some thoughts....

1. If I was Babcock I'd give Gustavsson the next start. If you recall Howard's one good performance this year came against Edmonton after Mrazek had a great start. Howard needs some competition as he has been incredibly mediocre for the majority of this season. Him falliing down on the pass to Prospal for the game winner probably sums up his season thus far.

2. Haterz gonna hate but Lashoff had an assist and was a +2 until Howard got deked out of his jock by Vinny freaking Prospal. Oh and he had 3 shots on goal. Check that out, a d-man who can get shots through and on net. And he's getting power play ice time as well. He had more shifts than anyone not named Kronwall or Ericsson. If it's between Lashoff and Kindl then Jakub will never see the ice again as Lashoff doesn't take penalties, he plays tough minutes, he can play in all three phases of the game, and he's contributing offense.

3. I like what I saw from Tatar, his speed can give opponents trouble. I think like Hudler he's a guy who will be most effective on the third line and some will whine about him not getting top 6 minutes. I'd prefer he lock down a 3rd line spot and get PP time and stick for the remainder of the season.

4. I can see why Babs uses Cleary and Abby on a scoring line. Most of our forwards do "fly by" trips to the front of the net but very few can park themselves there. Abby can and did in this game. If he keeps that up he will be rewarded. I'd like to see Sheahan get a call up because he has the size and skill to be effective in the part of the ice where the cookies are plentiful.

5. Our defense limited C-Bus to 24 shots on goal. That's a solid effort and I think going forwad Babcock should roll with this defensive unit so long as they can keep teams to 2 dozen shots on goal or thereabouts. Our defense is terrible at generating offense so there's no need to play a bunch of "offensive" defensemen. The defensive d-men are largely good at their job and guys like Lashoff should only get better with time.

Make no mistake, this was a bad loss. Our two goals came from guys going to the net. As the game went on we didn't have anyone other than Abby in a net front position. Howard deserved his poor SV% tonight. I'd keep the defensive pairings the same for now, call up Sheahan and give him Cleary's spot in the top 6 and roll with Gustavsson and see if he can be better than Howard.

 

[CloneHakanPlease*]

This team is now 15-20-7 in their last 42 games (including last season and the playoffs). But no, you guys are right, we are contenders.

 

[JPE123]

This team is now 15-20-7 in their last 42 games (including last season and the playoffs). But no, you guys are right, we are contenders.

I think a lot of people are forgetting how bad we were down the stretch last year. If the regular season was 2 weeks longer we most likely would have missed playoffs last year. A lot of changes are due to make this team a contender

 

[Laser Rayzor]

This team is now 15-20-7 in their last 42 games (including last season and the playoffs). But no, you guys are right, we are contenders

Who other than J-man thinks we are contenders??

You keep pointing this out like the consensus on the RW board is that the team is a contender but from what I've seen the consensus is the exact opposite. Most people on here realize the team is a mediocre bubble team with no guarantee of making the play-offs (and actual chances of making them are fading fast)

 

[CloneHakanPlease*]

Who other than J-man thinks we are contenders??

You keep pointing this out like the consensus on the RW board is that the team is a contender but from what I've seen the consensus is the exact opposite. Most people on here realize the team is a mediocre bubble team with no guarantee of making the play-offs (and actual chances of making them are fading fast)

You must have much larger ignore list than me. Go to any Holland thread and you'll see many people defending him like Htt3 and Soup Nazi. At least they were up until a week ago. I may be misplacing some of LGW's delusional sentiments with them on this board.

 

[Laser Rayzor]

You must have much larger ignore list than me. Go to any Holland thread and you'll see many people defending him like Htt3 and Soup Nazi. At least they were up until a week ago. I may be misplacing some of LGW's delusional sentiments with them on this board.

Defending Holland =/= Thinking the team is a contender

Outside a select few (HTT3 & Jman who I ignore) people are pretty realistic about the Wings current state. As far as I can tell the >95% of the people on here know that this team has almost zero shot at a cup this year.

 

[CloneHakanPlease*]

Defending Holland =/= Thinking the team is a contender

Outside a select few (HTT3 & Jman who I ignore) people are pretty realistic about the Wings current state. As far as I can tell the >95% of the people on here know that this team has almost zero shot at a cup this year.

The ones I was mentioning were defending Holland saying he still assembled a championship contender team. Why are you arguing over semantics?

 

[lkleung007]

Some thoughts....

1. If I was Babcock I'd give Gustavsson the next start. If you recall Howard's one good performance this year came against Edmonton after Mrazek had a great start. Howard needs some competition as he has been incredibly mediocre for the majority of this season. Him falliing down on the pass to Prospal for the game winner probably sums up his season thus far.

2. Haterz gonna hate but Lashoff had an assist and was a +2 until Howard got deked out of his jock by Vinny freaking Prospal. Oh and he had 3 shots on goal. Check that out, a d-man who can get shots through and on net. And he's getting power play ice time as well. He had more shifts than anyone not named Kronwall or Ericsson. If it's between Lashoff and Kindl then Jakub will never see the ice again as Lashoff doesn't take penalties, he plays tough minutes, he can play in all three phases of the game, and he's contributing offense.

3. I like what I saw from Tatar, his speed can give opponents trouble. I think like Hudler he's a guy who will be most effective on the third line and some will whine about him not getting top 6 minutes. I'd prefer he lock down a 3rd line spot and get PP time and stick for the remainder of the season.

4. I can see why Babs uses Cleary and Abby on a scoring line. Most of our forwards do "fly by" trips to the front of the net but very few can park themselves there. Abby can and did in this game. If he keeps that up he will be rewarded. I'd like to see Sheahan get a call up because he has the size and skill to be effective in the part of the ice where the cookies are plentiful.

5. Our defense limited C-Bus to 24 shots on goal. That's a solid effort and I think going forwad Babcock should roll with this defensive unit so long as they can keep teams to 2 dozen shots on goal or thereabouts. Our defense is terrible at generating offense so there's no need to play a bunch of "offensive" defensemen. The defensive d-men are largely good at their job and guys like Lashoff should only get better with time.

Make no mistake, this was a bad loss. Our two goals came from guys going to the net. As the game went on we didn't have anyone other than Abby in a net front position. Howard deserved his poor SV% tonight. I'd keep the defensive pairings the same for now, call up Sheahan and give him Cleary's spot in the top 6 and roll with Gustavsson and see if he can be better than Howard.

You make some really good points...many of us thought that Babcock would have started Gustavsson against the Blue Jackets but it did not happen...I really would like to see what Gustavsson can do with a start and not just in relief of Howard. Unless Gustavsson has a 50 save shutout, I don't see Babcock rolling with him...Babcock seems very stuck in his ways and player preferences.

 

[14ari13]

Some thoughts....

1. If I was Babcock I'd give Gustavsson the next start. If you recall Howard's one good performance this year came against Edmonton after Mrazek had a great start. Howard needs some competition as he has been incredibly mediocre for the majority of this season. Him falliing down on the pass to Prospal for the game winner probably sums up his season thus far.

2. Haterz gonna hate but Lashoff had an assist and was a +2 until Howard got deked out of his jock by Vinny freaking Prospal. Oh and he had 3 shots on goal. Check that out, a d-man who can get shots through and on net. And he's getting power play ice time as well. He had more shifts than anyone not named Kronwall or Ericsson. If it's between Lashoff and Kindl then Jakub will never see the ice again as Lashoff doesn't take penalties, he plays tough minutes, he can play in all three phases of the game, and he's contributing offense.

3. I like what I saw from Tatar, his speed can give opponents trouble. I think like Hudler he's a guy who will be most effective on the third line and some will whine about him not getting top 6 minutes. I'd prefer he lock down a 3rd line spot and get PP time and stick for the remainder of the season.

4. I can see why Babs uses Cleary and Abby on a scoring line. Most of our forwards do "fly by" trips to the front of the net but very few can park themselves there. Abby can and did in this game. If he keeps that up he will be rewarded. I'd like to see Sheahan get a call up because he has the size and skill to be effective in the part of the ice where the cookies are plentiful.

5. Our defense limited C-Bus to 24 shots on goal. That's a solid effort and I think going forwad Babcock should roll with this defensive unit so long as they can keep teams to 2 dozen shots on goal or thereabouts. Our defense is terrible at generating offense so there's no need to play a bunch of "offensive" defensemen. The defensive d-men are largely good at their job and guys like Lashoff should only get better with time.

Make no mistake, this was a bad loss. Our two goals came from guys going to the net. As the game went on we didn't have anyone other than Abby in a net front position. Howard deserved his poor SV% tonight. I'd keep the defensive pairings the same for now, call up Sheahan and give him Cleary's spot in the top 6 and roll with Gustavsson and see if he can be better than Howard.

We need steadier goaltending to assess this team. So far goaltending has been a big problem.