this team sucks & Guru's "It's not the defense"

[RedWingsForPresident]

I agree this team is playing mediocre right now, but they've lost 4OT games in their last 10. They win all 4 they lead the Eastern Conference and no one's complaining

 

[odin1981]

1) 4 on 4 is manufactured to create goals.
2) Teams push to score to avoid the shootout.

It's nothing like honest hockey. That's why they still give a point. It only exists to eliminate ties quickly since fans seem to hate ties.

Regardless, the Wings goal differential still blows.

Honestly benchy no one is even trying to contend that point at all. I agree and accept that contention without question in regards to goal differential.

 

[ArGarBarGar]

those are all well and good points but we were still the 2nd best team on the ice which always means the loser

i am not looking for feel good aspects of certain games just the cut and dry, which is, did we win the game, yes or no....

What I am looking for is how good the team looked and how many points we got out of it.

We are playing poorly but managing to scrounge up points. No reason to nitpick at whether we are .500 or not based on wins or losses when there are bigger things to worry about.

 

[TheOtherOne]

I agree this team is playing mediocre right now, but they've lost 4OT games in their last 10. They win all 4 they lead the Eastern Conference and no one's complaining

Has that EVER been the case?

 

[hockeybrianboy]

Hrm

Somehow the team is still on pace for over 100 points (last year they would've finished with 58, two higher than they actually did). And losing in regular season OT isn't that big of a deal (4 on 4 doesn't exist in the playoffs. Nor does shootouts).

That's not what's concerning. What's more concerning is
1. Detroit has given up FIVE goals within the last 70 seconds of a period the last 3 games (and another at 3:00). That is a MAJOR sign of an undisciplined team losing focus at the most vital moments.
2. They are giving up the 9th most shots in the league (I didn't have time to find when the last time that was, it was that long ago). Lashoff, Smith, Kindl and Quincey are turning the puck over nearly every time they touch it, or getting blown by or taking penalties.
3. It's becoming more apparent management didn't do a sufficient job preparing for Lids and Rafalski's retirement (which everyone knew would happen someday back when they won the cup). Ericsson is what they've managed to build the last five years? (Dekeyser fell into our lap, can't imagine how bad it'd be without him). Granted Ericsson has actually played ok this year, but you need more insurance than that.
4. Detroit's playing more 4th line quality forwards/prospects than ever before (most games they're really playing two whole lines of them). You need to be able to control the puck and get those less talented/developed players the puck on favorable terms. They haven't, and not surprisingly NINE forwards are a minus.

 

[hockeybrianboy]

I would also say that Detroit has so many good prospects they have so much talent but it's spread out over too many players (you can only play 12 forwards a game and Detroit has like 20). They need to start packaging all this POTENTIAL for some young proven NHL players. You can only do so much with 20ish B- players; you need to start turning them into 5/10 or so B+/A- players.

 

[TouringReg]

Somehow the team is still on pace for over 100 points (last year they would've finished with 58, two higher than they actually did). And losing in regular season OT isn't that big of a deal (4 on 4 doesn't exist in the playoffs. Nor does shootouts).

That's not what's concerning. What's more concerning is
1. Detroit has given up FIVE goals within the last 70 seconds of a period the last 3 games (and another at 3:00). That is a MAJOR sign of an undisciplined team losing focus at the most vital moments.
2. They are giving up the 9th most shots in the league (I didn't have time to find when the last time that was, it was that long ago). Lashoff, Smith, Kindl and Quincey are turning the puck over nearly every time they touch it, or getting blown by or taking penalties.
3. It's becoming more apparent management didn't do a sufficient job preparing for Lids and Rafalski's retirement (which everyone knew would happen someday back when they won the cup). Ericsson is what they've managed to build the last five years? (Dekeyser fell into our lap, can't imagine how bad it'd be without him). Granted Ericsson has actually played ok this year, but you need more insurance than that.
4. Detroit's playing more 4th line quality forwards/prospects than ever before (most games they're really playing two whole lines of them). You need to be able to control the puck and get those less talented/developed players the puck on favorable terms. They haven't, and not surprisingly NINE forwards are a minus.

To your first two points, I don't have any stats to confirm this, but it seems like the last few years we've been getting outshot way more often and giving up way more late period goals (which always seem to be killers).
I think the D will end up being ok with what we have for prospects in Grand Rapids. The real problem right now in my opinion is a complete lack of production from everyone other than Hank and Pavel. Last year we were most dangerous when that Nyquist/Andersson/Brunner line skated all over the Ducks and Hawks and chipped in a couple big goals.
No matter how Bert's stats look, it's tough to see him playing on the first line and first PP in 2013. Hopefully the PP improves with Cleary sitting and not being on the 2nd unit.

 

[drw02]

I would also say that Detroit has so many good prospects they have so much talent but it's spread out over too many players (you can only play 12 forwards a game and Detroit has like 20). They need to start packaging all this POTENTIAL for some young proven NHL players. You can only do so much with 20ish B- players; you need to start turning them into 5/10 or so B+/A- players.

I'm sure the Wings would love to but unfortunately other teams aren't interested in giving up their A- prospects for a quantity of lesser prospects.

 

[hockeybrianboy]

To your first two points, I don't have any stats to confirm this, but it seems like the last few years we've been getting outshot way more often and giving up way more late period goals (which always seem to be killers).
I think the D will end up being ok with what we have for prospects in Grand Rapids. The real problem right now in my opinion is a complete lack of production from everyone other than Hank and Pavel. Last year we were most dangerous when that Nyquist/Andersson/Brunner line skated all over the Ducks and Hawks and chipped in a couple big goals.
No matter how Bert's stats look, it's tough to see him playing on the first line and first PP in 2013. Hopefully the PP improves with Cleary sitting and not being on the 2nd unit.

The Wings definitely are trending down in shots against. They were top 3 like every year until about 2010. It's been falling since then.

I saw Eaves and Quincey on the same PP unit against TB the other night and wanted to cry.

 

[hockeybrianboy]

I'm sure the Wings would love to but unfortunately other teams aren't interested in giving up their A- prospects for a quantity of lesser prospects.

I was hoping they could find maybe a 28-30 year old solid NHL player maybe on a team that's looking to off load cost and load up on prospects. Course that would depend on the Wings getting rid of some of their horrid money sinks.

 

[jaster]

Some SA/G context:

08/09 - 27.7 - 2nd
09/10 - 29.4 - 9th
10/11 - 30.7 - 16th
11/12 - 27.0 - 3rd
12/13 - 27.5 - 7th

Other than the exception in 10/11, the Wings have been bouncing around the top-10 the past several years, so I wouldn't say they are trending down over that time period. And this year's sample size is still small, but it's obviously not a good number:

13/14 - 30.9 - 22nd

They definitely need to get better there. And I'll go back to what I've said recently.... the biggest culprit is puck possession, or lack thereof, partly because of a lack of quality puck movement from the D, but more so from the lack of actual puck possession from the forwards. It's hard to play keep-a-way with the puck when you're dressing 6 4th-liners every night.

 

[Henkka]

Some SA/G context:

08/09 - 27.7 - 2nd
09/10 - 29.4 - 9th
10/11 - 30.7 - 16th
11/12 - 27.0 - 3rd
12/13 - 27.5 - 7th

Other than the exception in 10/11, the Wings have been bouncing around the top-10 the past several years, so I wouldn't say they are trending down over that time period. And this year's sample size is still small, but it's obviously not a good number:

13/14 - 30.9 - 22nd

They definitely need to get better there. And I'll go back to what I've said recently.... the biggest culprit is puck possession, or lack thereof, partly because of a lack of quality puck movement from the D, but more so from the lack of actual puck possession from the forwards. It's hard to play keep-a-way with the puck when you're dressing 6 4th-liners every night.

Yeah, I could agree with this. In a weird way, it's the lack of offensive power that pushes your SA/G higher. You are forced to play more on your own zone. I have seen some other nice examples of this.