Some Thoughts

[Frk It]

3 weeks shy of 24 I think

Is your avy in regards to our entire team getting repeatedly crunched last night? lol

 

[Squirrel in the Hole]

These 1st games are a descent measuring stick, at least to who shows up prepared as a team.

The difference is between a Ken Hitchcock prepared team vs a Mike Babcock prepared team

 

[garry1221]

Didn't read through the whole thread, so my apologies if this has already been said.

I think we need to split Dats and Z. It was clear that together, they were too easy to shut down. Give 'em their own lines and we already look more dangerous. Our D needs a lot of work. And last: if lines ain't working SHAKE THINGS UP!!!!

I'm not the type to say 'blow it up' after one game. But once helm gets back, I'd like to see a shake up.

Franzen - Datsyuk
Zetterbeg - Brunner
Helm - Tootoo
Gator - Cleary

Then slot Flip, Miller, Sammy, Eaves, Bert, Mursak in where needed.

As for our D. Harder still to mix and match. I'm sure this has beeen repeated. Kronwall - White, Ericsson - Smith, Quincey/Kindl/Colaiacovo.

Bottom line, Babcock can't be afraid to juggle lines. Hell, I remember when Scotty was behind the bench, he'd juggle the lines just to keep the other coach guessing.

 

[pdd]

Pretty sure Fisch was older. He did some back and forth between GR and Detroit.

Fischer made the team at 19. He played 52 and 55 games. in his first two seasons. He never played for Grand Rapids, but did play 7 and 18 games for the Cincinnati Mighty Ducks in those same two seasons. 2001-02 was his first full season (>60GP) and his first without spending time in the minors.

Hell, I remember when Scotty was behind the bench, he'd juggle the lines just to keep the other coach guessing.

He juggled them to keep his own players and assistant coaches guessing.

 

[Squirrel in the Hole]

I'm not sure whether Hossa would have helped us win.
But the dude was hungry.

Is that the same Hossa that was damn near invisable in his one playoff run with us?

 

[HTT3*]

Fischer made the team at 19. He played 52 and 55 games. in his first two seasons. He never played for Grand Rapids, but did play 7 and 18 games for the Cincinnati Mighty Ducks in those same two seasons. 2001-02 was his first full season (>60GP) and his first without spending time in the minors.

I remember when Fischer was the official whipping boy.

 

[CloneHakanPlease*]

Is that the same Hossa that was damn near invisable in his one playoff run with us?

Yeah playing with a torn rotator cuff and mildly sprained wrist does that to you. Ask Pavel about that year if you dont think injuries can affect a performance.

 

[The Zetterberg Era]

Yeah playing with a torn rotator cuff and mildly sprained wrist does that to you. Ask Pavel about that year if you dont think injuries can affect a performance.

His rather large track record would suggest he isn't nearly the performer in the playoffs he is in the regular season. Not just one season or injury related, his strange year would be the performance with the Pens. Now he is still a very good player in the playoffs, but he doesn't hit another gear and is somewhat disappointing compared to how he normally performs.

 

[HIFE]

...Bottom line, Babcock can't be afraid to juggle lines. Hell, I remember when Scotty was behind the bench, he'd juggle the lines just to keep the other coach guessing.

I was thinking tonight: Could Babcock shuffling lines throughout a season and through years create a lack of cohesion? Watching several games this weekend it seems like most teams have the exact same lines as last year and even before that. It could get stale or could form a bond within that line. Why not copy the lines from last year? Do any other coaches mix up their lines as much as Babs?

His rather large track record would suggest he isn't nearly the performer in the playoffs he is in the regular season. Not just one season or injury related, his strange year would be the performance with the Pens. Now he is still a very good player in the playoffs, but he doesn't hit another gear and is somewhat disappointing compared to how he normally performs.

I didn't pay as much attention when he was with the Pens and a few years younger, but watching the 1st 2 Hawks games this year he looks great and has 4 goals, 1 assist.

 

[icKx]

Is that the same Hossa that was damn near invisable in his one playoff run with us?

Baloney. Hoss was the best player on the ice in a number of games. He didn't get all the goals, but that's hockey.

 

[mindfly]

Too many soft players overall. Look at the blues roster, their height/weight and where the players are from...

 

[Rzombo4 prez]

Holy **** what an overreaction after one game. Take it easy it was only one game.

Let's see how the first ten or so games go before blow the whole team, no?

It was abysmal performance, we got dominated, crushed. Basically everyone looked bad/medicore. Either like they were still on offseason mode or 'Europe hockey' mode.

Guys need to adjust, Babs needs to adjust.

It will be kind of interesting to see how Babs and Holland are going to handle this.

The overreaction is pretty sad (or pathetic depending on how you look at it). The team has issues, everyone knows that. I think we need more than a one-week camp and one game to diagnose all of the team's problems and to figure out where exactly we stand.

 

[JBauerly97]

The overreaction is pretty sad (or pathetic depending on how you look at it). The team has issues, everyone knows that. I think we need more than a one-week camp and one game to diagnose all of the team's problems and to figure out where exactly we stand.

I agree and especially the one game being against the Blues. Everybody knew they were going to come out blazing to put last year's playoff collapse behind them. What better way than to beat the crap out of the Red Wings in your own building. Hopefully, it was just a case of them playing really, really well and the Wings playing really, really poorly.

Tonight should be a decent measuring stick to see how this team fares against CBJ.

 

[LastWordArmy]

This team needs to be rebuilt, and that process will take at least 2-3 years. Datzyuk is 35, so he will be too old by the time the Wings have rebuilt the team back into a contender. That means that in the best interests of BOTH the Wings and Datsyuk, the Wings should trade Datsyuk now for picks or some good young talent in order to expedite the rebuilding process.

This Wings team is not a contender. It's already too late for the combination of Datsyuk and Zetterburg to compete for another cup. The sooner the Wings recognize this and get on with rebuilding the team, the better.

They will not trade Pavel. That is not how Red Wings roll.

 

[LastWordArmy]

Baloney. Hoss was the best player on the ice in a number of games. He didn't get all the goals, but that's hockey.

Yes, Hossa is a phenomenal hockey player at both ends of the ice. I would love to have his contract on the Wings right now, over lets say... Franzen.

 

[sepster]

I don't really see this as an over-reaction. The Wings have been on a rather sharp decline over the past 2, 2 and a half seasons. They are small, slow, soft and get manhandled by any top-end, physical team. None of the personnel moves made over the past few years have even attempted to do anything other than plug holes.

All of the excuses bandied about by people after the Nashville series, i.e. the Wings just didn't play their game, Nashville was hot, blah, blah, blah is just denial that the Wings are too slow, too small and too soft to hang with a decent team in a playoff series. The season opener looked just like their games against Nashville and for all of the same reasons.

 

[sarcastro]

Too many soft players overall. Look at the blues roster, their height/weight and where the players are from...

Cool. The Wings ought to go deal for Dustin Penner - since he's tall, heavy, and Canadian, he must be a real tough, rough customer...

 

[ProPAIN]

Too many soft players overall. Look at the blues roster, their height/weight and where the players are from...

There is no reason for you to be a Wings fan (I mean bandwagoner). You hate most of the players (if not all), the playing style/mentality, management/coaching, development of prospects. Everything.

Why don't you do us all a favor and wander off to the Flyers, Ducks or even Blues (since you love them so much) board and stay there. Permanently. You rarely (actually, never) contribute anything here and your criticisms are baseless and childish.

Everyone has an opinion, but yours stem from unrealistic expectations.

 

[ProPAIN]

Too many soft players overall. Look at the blues roster, their height/weight and where the players are from...

Oh and the Blues roster that you admire so much: Russell, Schwartz, McDonald, Sobotka, Perron, Oshie and Tarasenko are either soft, small or Euros (or all three).

You don't win Cups because you have a certain nationality in your team. That's just plain dumb (not surprising coming from you though).

You don't know the first thing about building a successful team. The grass is greener on the other side. Always. You deal with what you have (no this roster is not the worst in the league). Players just have to pull their weight. If things click, this can be a very good team. Contender? I don't know. I wouldn't have pegged the Kings as contenders going into the playoff. Maybe at the start of the season, but nothing (except for Quick's form) in the regular season screamed Cup contender. But the offense showed up, Quick showed up and the defense somewhat showed up (they did just enough). Same with NJ.

 

[mindfly]

There is no reason for you to be a Wings fan (I mean bandwagoner). You hate most of the players (if not all), the playing style/mentality, management/coaching, development of prospects. Everything.

Why don't you do us all a favor and wander off to the Flyers, Ducks or even Blues (since you love them so much) board and stay there. Permanently. You rarely (actually, never) contribute anything here and your criticisms are baseless and childish.

Everyone has an opinion, but yours stem from unrealistic expectations.

The wings haven't always been soft... When I first heard of them they had Probert, Kocur etc...lateron the grind line, shanahan etc.. it's just after the 04/05 lockout they've been soft and mostly boring to watch (exception 2008/2009 because of hossa and the mad skills the team had)

 

[ProPAIN]

The wings haven't always been soft... When I first heard of them they had Probert, Kocur etc...lateron the grind line, shanahan etc.. it's just after the 04/05 lockout they've been soft and mostly boring to watch (exception 2008/2009 because of hossa and the mad skills the team had)

You watched the Wings before 1994? I seriously doubt that.

And now that they are so "boring" and "soft", why do you still watch them? Chicago has Hossa now, go root for them. They have "mad skills"! They've won their first two games, that means they'll win the Cup right?

First you liked the grindline, Shanahan, Kocur, Probert. Then you like the mad skills. Which one is it?

They were really boring when winning the Cup in 08 right? Bunch of soft Euros. Pfff. With a Euro captain to top it off!

 

[Oobz]

If the wings get whipped by columbus tonight then I would really start to panic. I think we will be lucky to finish 3rd place in our division.

 

[mindfly]

You watched the Wings before 1994? I seriously doubt that.

And now that they are so "boring" and "soft", why do you still watch them? Chicago has Hossa now, go root for them. They have "mad skills"! They've won their first two games, that means they'll win the Cup right?

First you liked the grindline, Shanahan, Kocur, Probert. Then you like the mad skills. Which one is it?

They were really boring when winning the Cup in 08 right? Bunch of soft Euros. Pfff. With a Euro captain to top it off!

Well, being swedish and european, we don't abandon the ship just because it's going under. We choose a club and stand by it. I can't switch clubs now after so many years.

Since detroit isn't going to have tough players anymore I want them to have mad skilled team, kept hossa over franzen, overpaid for parise, get nyquist, tatar etc in there instead of dead weight veterans

There's so much you can do, but KH doesn't want to do it. I can't just convince him to change the team, he's got all the power.

To summarize: Either you're crazy skilled or a very tough hockey club. You can't be like detroit with mediocre skills, no toughness, aged core, dead-weight veterans.

 

[RedWingsNow*]

I remember when Fischer was the official whipping boy.

Of Scotty Bowman, no less.


I also remember when Jiri Fischer played his ass off as a 21 year old in the 2001-02 Stanley Cup playoffs.

 

[TatarTangle]

I don't think I've ever been excited to watch a Detroit - Columbus hockey game but I'm kind of pumped to see what they can do against the Blue Jackets.

Say what you want about Hossa but he never takes a shift off and is effective. Can the same be said for Franzen? Franzen being able to 'turn it on' in the playoffs won't matter if they don't even get in