yave1964 Posted January 12, 2015 Share Posted January 12, 2015 Stealing a page from the friends in here who are fans of the Devils and Penguins who set up a general discussion board within the forum (what a great idea!): Howard is out with a torn groin muscle (ouch!) leaving young Petr Mrazek in net. My personal feeling is he will be fine, he is a young brash kid with extreme confidence. My biggest concern is the lack of scoring lately, Pulkinnen who leads the AHL with 20 goals very well might help. I wish Athanasiou had not been hurt, his playmaking skill is incredible, he will be up for good sooner than later. We still need an offensive d-man, plenty of cap room and prospects and picks to try to pry one loose. I am sure Holland is going to see what the Wings do without Howard before making a move. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SpikeDDS Posted January 13, 2015 Share Posted January 13, 2015 @yave1964I'm concerned that the lack of scoring, if it continues, might make Mrazek's confidence falter some. I LIKE the kid. I like his confidence. You gotta have it to play the style of goalie he plays. But he's gonna make mistakes as he figures out how to reign his challenging style in to fit the NHL, and the Wings are going to have to score more goals to make up for those. Hopefully, Bedard can coach him quickly to minimize those mistakes. But the scoring trend has been slowing, not accelerating. Mrazek's gonna need that support. If he gets it, he'll be fine. If he doesn't...I dunno. If we play such that he's gotta allow less than 2 GAA, we could be in for a rough spell here. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
yave1964 Posted January 13, 2015 Author Share Posted January 13, 2015 @SpikeDDS Agreed, we need more offense. Weiss has slowed, of course he had to, nobody could have kept his torrid pace, Jurco has done nothing. Essentially we have the big four, (Gus, Tats, Hank and Pavel) and a hope and a prayer. Oh Abdelkader is having a fin season but he is a product of playing top six minutes. We NEED bottom six scoring somehow some way. Helm, Sheahan and the new kid Pulkinnen would be a good line, if they get some offense going between them I think we will be fine, actually if they get it going we should be more than fine. I love Dekeyser and I am not ready to give up on Smith but neither offers as much offensively as was hoped. Quincey is actually having a decent season as a defensive d-man and so is Ericsson but neither moves the puck well. Oullet has a great outlet pass but is not yet being trusted to pinch forward with the puck. In short, we are back where we were last year, in need of an offensive blueliner to help remove the pressure off Kronwall, our only offensive d-man. So in short, a right handed shooting offensive d-man is our greatest need. Sound familiar? As much respect as I have for the Wings for rebuilding the forward lines on the fly, as happy as I am that we have added Dekeyser and Oullet to the back end ovr the past couple of years, we still have not fixed our most glaring need. WE NEED A RIGHT HANDED OFFENSIVE D-MAN. For years everyone knows it yes it means other teams know it too and will try to hold us ransom, but some on, pay the price, get it over with and move on. Ryan Sproul in Grand Rapids seems to hae taken a step back defensively, his offense looks solid but I study him when I watch the Griffins and he is tentative in his own end and gets turned around, Babcock would crucify him thus the call up of offensive challenged Oullet who is solid as can be on defense. Still, it is not like we are in 10th place 5 points out or something. The club has played better than expected and quite possible could continue. This week we have Buffalo twice and St Louis on the road, last year in St. Louis Mrazek shut the Blues out. Then a game next week before the break, who knows, by the All Star game we may be in better shape than we thought (that was me whistling last the graveyard, lol). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
yave1964 Posted January 14, 2015 Author Share Posted January 14, 2015 @SpikeDDS Studied Pulkinnen last night, in the first he carried the puck from his own zone al the way into Buffalo territory, showing excellent speed. But then he lifted his stick and fired a hard slapper, right into the goalies breadbasket who covered up forcing a faceoff. through the game he had two similar shots, one blocked, one easily caught. He needs to be more selective with his shots but overall he played a good solid game. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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