Why we are not really contenders

[SpikeDDS]

 

To see why we are not genuine contenders for the Cup this year, see last night's game, because the reasons that we will not contend as we are were highlighted in this game.

 

We lost 3-1 to the TB Lightning last night. But we didn't lose it like a team that has no business in the playoffs. We lost it like a team who is good enough to get there but has glaring weaknesses.

 

The power play was mute. It is the first game back after a week-long break, so I wasn't expecting brilliance, but what I got instead was a PP which in 4 minutes generated not a single shot on goal. It was basically 4 wasted minutes. We didn't even control the play enough to wear them down. The TB PK played like it was the playoffs. No space. Little time. We actually had some puck retrieval, but only after shots that missed the net or were deflected. Bishop could have read a magazine. Granted, our PP was worse last night than we average, but we WERE playing the TBL, so we should expect more difficulty, just like we will in the playoffs. We are not ready. We need more help.

 

i just saw in the Freep (haven't read it yet, but I will) an article about how Helm is such a valuable teammate because he battles for pucks. Let's be honest: he battles for pucks on the boards and in the corners, yes. But in front of the net, not so much. And therein lies the problem. We have almost no net front presence. There is no dirty goal scorer on this team other than Abby, but he's far from being "great" at it. WE. WILL. NOT. WIN. Until this problem is rectified.

 

Also, the Drew-Miller-less PK was embarrassing last night. TB was 2/3 on the PP, but it could easily have been 3/3. The goals we surrendured were easy goals. Mrazek had no chance on either one. Glendening was out of position on Johnson's goal, and everything broke down. On the stat sheet, DK didn't have a good game, although some of it was because the PK structure broke down and he can only be in one place at one time. Same with Mrazek. The DRASTIC difference in our PK since Miller's injury have been eye-opening. If we are THAT dependent on Drew Miller for PK success, we have a LOT more problems that we thought with the PK. We don't fix them, we can't win. Granted, Kronner was out too, and that also hurt us, but Kronner was out in game 7 last year, and we didn't look this inept. 

 

We looked OK offensively in the 1st period, but after that, except for Nyquist's goal off a rebound from a Tatar shot on a 2-on-1, we didn't generate much. We may generate enough to get us to the dance, but we do not have the offense to make any kind of run. Not as we are.

 

But realistically, I don't think we have enough bottom six talent nor the cap space to rectify it to make a considerable run, even if we did pick up a significant player or two. I think it's going to take more than that to make us contenders again. Last night shows how far away we are.

[yave1964]

On Thursday, February 4, 2016 at 7:36 AM, SpikeDDS said:

 

To see why we are not genuine contenders for the Cup this year, see last night's game, because the reasons that we will not contend as we are were highlighted in this game.

 

We lost 3-1 to the TB Lightning last night. But we didn't lose it like a team that has no business in the playoffs. We lost it like a team who is good enough to get there but has glaring weaknesses.

 

The power play was mute. It is the first game back after a week-long break, so I wasn't expecting brilliance, but what I got instead was a PP which in 4 minutes generated not a single shot on goal. It was basically 4 wasted minutes. We didn't even control the play enough to wear them down. The TB PK played like it was the playoffs. No space. Little time. We actually had some puck retrieval, but only after shots that missed the net or were deflected. Bishop could have read a magazine. Granted, our PP was worse last night than we average, but we WERE playing the TBL, so we should expect more difficulty, just like we will in the playoffs. We are not ready. We need more help.

 

i just saw in the Freep (haven't read it yet, but I will) an article about how Helm is such a valuable teammate because he battles for pucks. Let's be honest: he battles for pucks on the boards and in the corners, yes. But in front of the net, not so much. And therein lies the problem. We have almost no net front presence. There is no dirty goal scorer on this team other than Abby, but he's far from being "great" at it. WE. WILL. NOT. WIN. Until this problem is rectified.

 

Also, the Drew-Miller-less PK was embarrassing last night. TB was 2/3 on the PP, but it could easily have been 3/3. The goals we surrendured were easy goals. Mrazek had no chance on either one. Glendening was out of position on Johnson's goal, and everything broke down. On the stat sheet, DK didn't have a good game, although some of it was because the PK structure broke down and he can only be in one place at one time. Same with Mrazek. The DRASTIC difference in our PK since Miller's injury have been eye-opening. If we are THAT dependent on Drew Miller for PK success, we have a LOT more problems that we thought with the PK. We don't fix them, we can't win. Granted, Kronner was out too, and that also hurt us, but Kronner was out in game 7 last year, and we didn't look this inept.

 

We looked OK offensively in the 1st period, but after that, except for Nyquist's goal off a rebound from a Tatar shot on a 2-on-1, we didn't generate much. We may generate enough to get us to the dance, but we do not have the offense to make any kind of run. Not as we are.

 

But realistically, I don't think we have enough bottom six talent nor the cap space to rectify it to make a considerable run, even if we did pick up a significant player or two. I think it's going to take more than that to make us contenders again. Last night shows how far away we are.

 

[yave1964]

Any team can win if they make the playoffs if the goalie is hot enough. Mrazek is the real deal, as good as I thought he would be in Grand Rapids, perhaps even better which is quite a statement as I had very high hopes for him.

  Howard is just plain awful. I do not know if he is trying to mail it in, to pout his way out of town or what, but his contract makes him untradeable unless the Wings eat a huge part of his salary or take back another bad contract in return.

  The defense is ordinary. That is being polite.

 

  Spike, I was going to write an article, you beat me to it, about why the F$#%%%%% the Wings cannot score. To me it is simple.

  Anyone who watched the first period against both Tampa and Florida saw the Wings shooting the puck in Bishop and Luongo's midsection, lots of shots, no work for the goalies. Bishop faced ten shots in the first and did not have to work. All of them, every single one, hit him in the chest.

  Our goal was Tatar went high and forced Bishop to work, his glove work is his weak area, the puck deflected to Nyquist and he had an easy shot. It was one of the few times all night we made Bishop work. And last night other than Larkin nobody on the team had Luongo even going side to side.

  We MUST make the goalies work, to earn the stop and quit shooting at his chest. That is number one.

 Number two, Zetterberg is a middle six forward at this point, hard for me to say because I love the guy but he has to be moved down a line. And the ridiculous combo of three passers, Richards, Pavel and Helm is awful, all bring the same thing to the table to varying degrees but none are shooters. Split them up, move Pavel tot he top line with Abby and Larkin, move Z to a line with Tatar and Nyquist and Helm and Richards down tot he third line where they belong with Pulkinnen. It should not be that hard.

  We need a pure goal scorer, either Pulkinnen to find his game or call up Mantha or make a trade. This is simply a boring team that relies too heavily on a rookie to make the offense go.

  Minnesota is looking to move one of their wingers, Pomminville or one of the others and need a center in the worst way. We have centers coming out the wazoo and nobody to finish for them. Make a damn phone call.

  I do not think, unless Mrazek channels his inner Dryden in April (and that is providing we make the playoffs, a big if at this point) that we make it out of the first round. It is past time to reshuffle the deck.

 

[yave1964]

1 hour ago, yave1964 said:

 

Oh. I missed this.

 

The Wings have recalled Andreas Athanasiou and have sent Pulkinnen down or at the least he is not in the lineup as of now. Athanasiou will be centering the line with Nyquist and Tatar to take advantage of the speed.

  "I am excited to have AA back." Tatar said. "He brings an element of speed that only Larkin has."

  Nyquist and Tatar on the wings between AA gives him a chance to succeed. Here are the new top three lines, a few raised eyebrows but they kind of make sense.

 

 Zetterberg    Datsyuk.....Abdelkader

Nyquist.....Athanasiou....Tatar

Larkin.....Richards.....Helm

 

  Larkin to the third line? Not sure why that happened.

  I might have moved Larkin to center between Nyquist and Tatar and put AA on a line with Richards and Helm. Center is Larkins natural position, I understand they are shielding the kid somewhat but on the second line with our two best natural goal scorers might make sense.

 

 Z back with Pavel and Abby, I applaud that wholeheartedly. Z has to get it going. After the first ten games back, Pavel has been very solid and getting better nightly. These three are solid together.

[SpikeDDS]

On February 5, 2016 at 6:44 PM, yave1964 said:

Oh. I missed this.

 

The Wings have recalled Andreas Athanasiou and have sent Pulkinnen down or at the least he is not in the lineup as of now. Athanasiou will be centering the line with Nyquist and Tatar to take advantage of the speed.

  "I am excited to have AA back." Tatar said. "He brings an element of speed that only Larkin has."

  Nyquist and Tatar on the wings between AA gives him a chance to succeed. Here are the new top three lines, a few raised eyebrows but they kind of make sense.

 

 Zetterberg    Datsyuk.....Abdelkader

Nyquist.....Athanasiou....Tatar

Larkin.....Richards.....Helm

 

  Larkin to the third line? Not sure why that happened.

  I might have moved Larkin to center between Nyquist and Tatar and put AA on a line with Richards and Helm. Center is Larkins natural position, I understand they are shielding the kid somewhat but on the second line with our two best natural goal scorers might make sense.

 

 Z back with Pavel and Abby, I applaud that wholeheartedly. Z has to get it going. After the first ten games back, Pavel has been very solid and getting better nightly. These three are solid together.

 

And that's really the point: Without a trade, we are done, it's just a matter of time, and probably not too much time.

 

I don't have a problem with your lines, even Larkin on the 3rd line. Because I guarantee you that if they did this, the 3rd line would get just about as much playing time as the 1st line. The vertical tiers blur in that sense for lines 1-3. And  besides that, as it seems to have been all season, the lines are merely suggestions. Starting points. When they don't work, they get shifted around.

 

I was actually afraid, coming into this season that Balshill might be too reticent to switch up the lines. I have been quite impressed that he let go of what seemed to be his historical tendency not long into the season, and he hasn't stopped. I see this as good coaching. It has been necessary, because we don't have enough of a balanced attack, and Blash knows it. So he's trying to find that one change or two which will make us better. Apart from calling up a kid, I don't see a change as suddenly making the offense "click." We've had enough time for players to get to know each other. No major "clicks" except for what happens to other players when you stick them on Larkin's line.

 

I was thrilled--THRILLED--when I saw the news about AA being called up. I think he fits the bill for that the Wings need. The extra speed (and hopefully production) will take some attention away from Larkin. Larkin is spectacular, but no one man can win it for you. We need more going for defenses to worry about that Dylan and maybe Pav. AA can also help on the PK. But most importantly, we've gotta get our PP going better than it is. It is dismal. I am concerned that AA will not have enough confidence to assert himself in the role of goal scorer, though. We really need someone to step up in that particular area. We don't need another playmaker. He can do both, but we NEED him to score goals. I liked the assist on Tats' goal in yesterday's game. Off a shot. That's EXACTLY what we need. More shots, and more goals off of rebounds and in front of nets. But AA needs to score goals if he's gonna make the biggest difference. Improving the PK will help too, but not as much as scoring will.

 

I did not see the Panthers game, and by the time I was able to watch live, after checking the score, I decided I had better things to do. But I have seen the highlights, and looked at all 6 goals for Florida. I'll bet Mrazek might have been able to stop one of them. Maybe. I don't think Howard was dismal, but I have no doubt (and the skaters likely have no doubt either) that Petr back there would give them a better shot. But this game was not lost by Howard. It was lost by team defense, and the lack thereof. I don't see Howard mailing it in. At least I'm not ready to say it yet. But I'm concerned that the team will lose confidence in front of him and play differently with him back there. That is a real concern. Or maybe the concern is that they DON'T. He's not the same as Petr, and you can't play the same defensive game. He's not gonna come out and challenge as much.

 

There is an element of matching your team defensive game to the goalie behind you. Osgood was a great example. The dude could not win away form the Wings. Our defensive structure with Lidstrom was a key element to how he was comfortable back there. He was moved, and he was pedestrian. But it is difficult to switch your defensive game back and forth, and I'm not suggesting that we do that for Howard. Just that I think we are comfortable with how Mrazek does it, and our play allows him to play how he plays when he is at his best. Certainly, we too often rely TOO much on his game saving us.

 

I was concerned about Marchenko's game with TBL. He looked kinda lost that game, and I was thinking, "Oh boy. If his game starts to go, and without Kroner, we might be in trouble." I think his last two have been better. In fact, even in the Florida debacle, he was +1. He's critical. I'm glad to see that the TBL game was either rust or just one off game.

 

In hindsight, I thought AA's addition did provide some much needed energy to the top lines. He was not always on the score sheet, but he was a +2 and I think contributed more than what you can see on the boxscore. Honestly, I like him for the stretch run.

[yave1964]

Yeah I love Athanasiou coming up, Tatar was positively giddy when describing how happy he was going to be on a line with AA and Nyquist. A great combo. AA did have an assist in the game on Tatars goal.

 

  So what do we need? in the day and age of the salary cap when one player is likely all that we can add without sending salary away in return, do we go for:

 

A shutdown defenseman

 

A puck moving defenseman

 

A top six forward

 

A responsible bottom six forward and P/K specialist.

 

 We can probably only add one.

[SpikeDDS]

2 hours ago, yave1964 said:

Yeah I love Athanasiou coming up, Tatar was positively giddy when describing how happy he was going to be on a line with AA and Nyquist. A great combo. AA did have an assist in the game on Tatars goal.

 

  So what do we need? in the day and age of the salary cap when one player is likely all that we can add without sending salary away in return, do we go for:

 

A shutdown defenseman

 

A puck moving defenseman

 

A top six forward

 

A responsible bottom six forward and P/K specialist.

 

 We can probably only add one.

 

A top 6 forward. I guess, like the D does too much, I count on Mrazek being spectacular back there, and our PP are so pathetic that a solid mucking top-six forward is what I would choose. I know convention says a solid blue-liner might be the better choice. I think if Kroner returns to himself, that our D is good enough IF we can balance some of that with better O and PP play. Our biggest deficit is lack of net-front scrappiness and goal-scoring ability. As we've already said, Abby is our best at that, and he is both streaky and not even that great at it. He's what I would call solid, but not shiny at it. Since Homer's decline, we really haven't had that element as a regular part of our game, and unfortunately, that is a HUGE part of playoff hockey. It is no surprise, then, that we haven't see the 3rd round in a long time. IT's not the ONLY factor, but it's the one that has been consistently true since our fall into playoff mediocrity.

[Old School Hockey]

And then what do they do?  They come out and play a few the best, most complete games of the year vs pretty darn good teams.

[yave1964]

1 hour ago, Old School Hockey said:

And then what do they do?  They come out and play a few the best, most complete games of the year vs pretty darn good teams.

Great games, and that is without Green and Kronner on the back end.

 

  Love the forward combos A LOT, just not sure why Athanasiou is only getting 6-8 minutes a night.

[JagerMeister]

15 hours ago, Old School Hockey said:

And then what do they do?  They come out and play a few the best, most complete games of the year vs pretty darn good teams.

So in other words, they are inconsistent as ****

[SpikeDDS]

16 hours ago, JagerMeister said:

So in other words, they are inconsistent as ****

Eeeeeeeeeexactly.

 

Having said that, we have been playing more consistently of late than earlier in the season. But once the space is more limited, and the pressure is on, inconsistency tends to show more, and teams like the Red Wings, who don't have much of a net front game, consistently don't win. Hence the need for additional help if we plan to contend in the near future.

[SpikeDDS]

And for those of you in doubt, I give the example of the Wings-Rangers game. This game was more like a playoff game than any game this season, IMO. No space. No shooting lanes. Both teams playing tight D. Defensively, I thought for the most part we played a very good game. Jimmy Howard is the reason we got a point. Stellar saves. This was the Jimmy Howard of the first half of this season. This loss was NOT his fault. I hope he is able to string a few of these performances together.

 

But the glaring weaknesses were just that in this game: PP 0-4, and 1 shot on goal for all 4 combined! No net front presence. At all. Granted we hit iron quite a bit tonight, but there were missed opportunities, particularly in OT where a simple tap-in from a player hanging by the net would have won this thing. But we don't have one of those.

 

this game serves as a case in point of why we are not contenders. And I foresee this will continue to be a problem, because nobody trades their net front presence guy away (except perhaps for a rental). These players are grown, not usually acquired, but we don't usually draft that kind of player. As things tighten up, notice the growing ineptitude of Tats and Nyke. They shoot the puck, but they have great difficulty scoring in traffic, and playoff hockey is all about playing in traffic.

 

Despite the fact that we played a pretty darn good game, I think this game serves as a warning of more frustration to come. Perhaps it'll get better once Kronner and Big E are back. But I'm not sure that's enough to push us into the contender category.

[yave1964]

5 hours ago, SpikeDDS said:

And for those of you in doubt, I give the example of the Wings-Rangers game. This game was more like a playoff game than any game this season, IMO. No space. No shooting lanes. Both teams playing tight D. Defensively, I thought for the most part we played a very good game. Jimmy Howard is the reason we got a point. Stellar saves. This was the Jimmy Howard of the first half of this season. This loss was NOT his fault. I hope he is able to string a few of these performances together.

 

But the glaring weaknesses were just that in this game: PP 0-4, and 1 shot on goal for all 4 combined! No net front presence. At all. Granted we hit iron quite a bit tonight, but there were missed opportunities, particularly in OT where a simple tap-in from a player hanging by the net would have won this thing. But we don't have one of those.

 

this game serves as a case in point of why we are not contenders. And I foresee this will continue to be a problem, because nobody trades their net front presence guy away (except perhaps for a rental). These players are grown, not usually acquired, but we don't usually draft that kind of player. As things tighten up, notice the growing ineptitude of Tats and Nyke. They shoot the puck, but they have great difficulty scoring in traffic, and playoff hockey is all about playing in traffic.

 

Despite the fact that we played a pretty darn good game, I think this game serves as a warning of more frustration to come. Perhaps it'll get better once Kronner and Big E are back. But I'm not sure that's enough to push us into the contender category.

I agree that the Wings have problems in many areas, we have no weaknesses but conversely our strengths are not really that strong. If Mrazek is not on we lose, simple as that (excepting the wildy entertaining 6-5 game against Boston last week).

  Getting Kronwall back to move the puck will help. Getting Ericsson back to defend will help. Any way you look at it we are down our two top defenseman and no team can handle that for long. We need the top defensive pair back. We are playing two rookies right now and that cannot be sustained.

  Offensively, I really have no problems with what we have been doing, even being shut out last night, there is a reason he is called the King back there for New York and even without McDonough that is one tough defense, probably the best in Hockey. reuniting the big three has sparked them and the rest are still a work in progress but scoring has been up.

  Somehow Larkin has been lost in the shuffle. Helm and Richards are simply not adequate for him as linemates, he is just miles better than either.

  Personally, I think it is time to move him to center and put him between Nyquist and Tatar with Pulkinnen playing with Richards and Helm, bumping AA down to the 4th line with Glendening. AA is only getting 7 minutes a night anyway which is a waste of his talent, we might as well use him on the energy line.

  A lost 4 game road trip, I was starting to believe after the way we played lately but this week was simply awful. Home for Columbus and then shutting it down until we play outdoors against Colorado this weekend. The time off may do the boys some good.Hopefully the geezers get some rest and our top pair makes it back.

[SpikeDDS]

2 hours ago, yave1964 said:

I agree that the Wings have problems in many areas, we have no weaknesses but conversely our strengths are not really that strong. If Mrazek is not on we lose, simple as that (excepting the wildy entertaining 6-5 game against Boston last week).

  Getting Kronwall back to move the puck will help. Getting Ericsson back to defend will help. Any way you look at it we are down our two top defenseman and no team can handle that for long. We need the top defensive pair back. We are playing two rookies right now and that cannot be sustained.

  Offensively, I really have no problems with what we have been doing, even being shut out last night, there is a reason he is called the King back there for New York and even without McDonough that is one tough defense, probably the best in Hockey. reuniting the big three has sparked them and the rest are still a work in progress but scoring has been up.

  Somehow Larkin has been lost in the shuffle. Helm and Richards are simply not adequate for him as linemates, he is just miles better than either.

  Personally, I think it is time to move him to center and put him between Nyquist and Tatar with Pulkinnen playing with Richards and Helm, bumping AA down to the 4th line with Glendening. AA is only getting 7 minutes a night anyway which is a waste of his talent, we might as well use him on the energy line.

  A lost 4 game road trip, I was starting to believe after the way we played lately but this week was simply awful. Home for Columbus and then shutting it down until we play outdoors against Colorado this weekend. The time off may do the boys some good.Hopefully the geezers get some rest and our top pair makes it back.

I have to disagree with your statement in bold above. Our PP is definitely a weakness. Might as well decline penalties and continue to skate even strength. We score more goals that way. Can we decline penalties in hockey? <sarcasm>

 

I thought Larkin was centering between Tats and Nyke last night. Wasn't he for most of the game?

 

It is exactly this kind of inconsistency that says we aren't contenders, BTW. The ONLY shot is that the whole team play lights-out all the time. Mrazek may go on a run, and that will allow us to win a round or even two. But we do not have what it takes to play a sustainable playoff Stanley Cup run. Not as we are. The games we won last week were not playoff-like. This one was very playoff-like, and granted we only lost by one goal and even with that both Z and Pav clanked iron on pretty good opportunities, but we had to play our best to stay with the Rags. They just did what they normally do--block shots, get in shooting lanes, eliminate time and space, and rely on the King for the rest. We, OTOH, have to play our best game in order to hang with them. When we do, the games will be entertaining, just like last night's game was. I thoroughly enjoyed it. But in the end, the better team won, and in a 7 game series with a team like that, Mrazek might be good enough to win a series, but we can't count on sustaining that kind of defense for the whole playoffs. And if the PP remains like it is--and there is no reason to think that it won't at this point--each 2-minute man advantage is almost a wasted 2 minutes against playoff defenses like the Rags'.

 

I'm sorry, but we simply don't have what it takes to seriously contend for the Cup short of semi-miraculous play from Mrazek. We aren't a bad team, as you said, and I agree. We just are not a contending playoff team as we stand. We are good enough to make the playoffs, just like we have done for the past several seasons. But our lack of net front play, lack of ability to score when time and space are limited (playoff hockey), and lack of a decent PP will not let us contend, despite Mrazek paying like he can.

 

Nice to see Jimmy Howard try to steal one. We will need that for the stretch run.

[yave1964]

Larkin only played 11 minutes. Among the Wing forwards, he ranked 8th. Datsyuk, Z and Abby literally played double the minutes as Larkin, all 3 had 23 plus minutes of ice time.

  Larkin, IMHO needs 16-18 minutes of ice time a night. And while there has been a slight uptick of his PP time he was still 6th among all of our forwards in that category.

 Let me make this clear, I think the world of Glendening, a solid defensive forward but it is inexcusable for him to have 18 minutes of ice time and Richards 16 and a half while Tats, Nyk and Larkin have 11. If they are gonna be together (which I love) then play them the proper amount of time. Nyk and Tats were our leading goal scorers last season and Larkin a solid young phenom, playing their line so little is poor management IMHO and has been ongoing. Helm (15) Glendening (18) and Richards (16 1/2) should be playing 10-11 minutes a night and let the young offensive line create offense and take pressure off the big line. Right now if the big line does not score, we lose. Simple as that.

  Another thing is Dekeyser. I know that Kronner and big E are out so we need defense, but he led the team with a monstrous 25 minutes of ice time and almost all of it was 5 on 5. He has proven to have much improved vision this year, he sees the ice and moves the puck, give the man some PP time.

 

So for me, our power play would be:

Datsyuk, Abby, Z, Green and Nyquist

 

Second unit:

Richards, Tatar, Larkin, pulkinnen and Dekeyser.

 

What I meant about the above when I said we have no weakness was not a compliment, what I meant is we are so ordinary everywhere. We are okay on the PP and the P/K, we are okay on defense,, okay at forward, okay on lines 1-4. Nowhere is there a strength as well. That is what makes us pretenders.

[JagerMeister]

Here are the Detroit Red Wings Team Stats.

 

PP% 20th in the league

PK% 14th in the league

Shots For Per Game 20th in the league

Shots Against Per Game 17th in the league

Faceoff% 16th in the league

Overtime losses is third in the league...

 

So all in all, Yave's assessment is accurate. They're either slightly below average, slightly above average...or just average.

But damn, you guys must be horrendous at overtime, blow a lot of leads?

Seems like you guys are headed to the road of mediocrity. As a Canucks viewer, I know the feeling when qualifying for the playoffs just for you to know that they likely won't make it out of the first or second round. The playoffs end up losing its significance...

[WingNut722]

1 hour ago, JagerMeister said:

Here are the Detroit Red Wings Team Stats.

 

PP% 20th in the league

PK% 14th in the league

Shots For Per Game 20th in the league

Shots Against Per Game 17th in the league

Faceoff% 16th in the league

Overtime losses is third in the league...

 

So all in all, Yave's assessment is accurate. They're either slightly below average, slightly above average...or just average.

But damn, you guys must be horrendous at overtime, blow a lot of leads?

Seems like you guys are headed to the road of mediocrity. As a Canucks viewer, I know the feeling when qualifying for the playoffs just for you to know that they likely won't make it out of the first or second round. The playoffs end up losing its significance...

 

In other discussions I've had, folks ask "Will they make the playoffs and keep the streak alive?"  The answer is sure, they'll make the Playoff and keep the streak alive.  But it's a steak for the streak's sake.  You can't even call it an accomplishment anymore, worthy of congratulations.  When you make the Playoff's for a quarter century, the bar is inevitably raised, so just limping in and losing in the first round is almost considered a failure.
 

I gotta say though, that Howard sold the overtime point for yesterday's game.  That goal should have absolutely counted and the Wings now owe everyone in the Situation Room a beer.  I admit I'm biased to my team when questionable calls are reviewed and discussed, but in this case, there was absolutely no reason why that goal should not have counted.  Howard clearly reached his stick out to trip Lindberg, but only ended up getting kicked in the face.  Not to be bested though, Howard decided to take his mind off the play and try to "sell" a penalty call, which allowed Kevin Hayes to slip the shot in.  

 

I will admit (and everyone else should too) that Jimmy Hoard played an outstanding game.  OUTSTANDING!  But at the same time, he's got one hell of a hole he needs to dig himself out of, and shenanigans like that aren't helping.  

[SpikeDDS]

1 hour ago, JagerMeister said:

Here are the Detroit Red Wings Team Stats.

 

PP% 20th in the league and falling...quickly i.e. getting worse

PK% 14th in the league and rising i.e. getting better

Shots For Per Game 20th in the league rising slightly (getting better)

Shots Against Per Game 17th in the league about right

Faceoff% 16th in the league level, but maybe getting a little better, we were horrid at the beginning of the year

Overtime losses is third in the league...has been dropping steadily--or rising, depending on which way you are looking at it--we are horrible at shootouts as we have been for a couple of seasons, good enough for a point, but not good enough to win it, and with our speed, that is puzzling

 

So all in all, Yave's assessment is accurate. They're either slightly below average, slightly above average...or just average.

But damn, you guys must be horrendous at overtime, blow a lot of leads?

Seems like you guys are headed to the road of mediocrity. As a Canucks viewer, I know the feeling when qualifying for the playoffs just for you to know that they likely won't make it out of the first or second round. The playoffs end up losing its significance...

We are not headed to mediocrity. We have been there for a while now and just have not wanted to admit that that's really where we are. We talk about the streak, and the streak is...well, nice...but the streak doesn't say you are good. It says you are consistently at least mediocre. That is an apt description.

[SpikeDDS]

1 hour ago, WingNut722 said:

 

In other discussions I've had, folks ask "Will they make the playoffs and keep the streak alive?"  The answer is sure, they'll make the Playoff and keep the streak alive.  But it's a steak for the streak's sake.  You can't even call it an accomplishment anymore, worthy of congratulations.  When you make the Playoff's for a quarter century, the bar is inevitably raised, so just limping in and losing in the first round is almost considered a failure.
 

I gotta say though, that Howard sold the overtime point for yesterday's game.  That goal should have absolutely counted and the Wings now owe everyone in the Situation Room a beer.  I admit I'm biased to my team when questionable calls are reviewed and discussed, but in this case, there was absolutely no reason why that goal should not have counted.  Howard clearly reached his stick out to trip Lindberg, but only ended up getting kicked in the face.  Not to be bested though, Howard decided to take his mind off the play and try to "sell" a penalty call, which allowed Kevin Hayes to slip the shot in.  

 

I will admit (and everyone else should too) that Jimmy Hoard played an outstanding game.  OUTSTANDING!  But at the same time, he's got one hell of a hole he needs to dig himself out of, and shenanigans like that aren't helping.  

Not so sure he sold it so much. He sold it some, but all goalies do that. The skate did hit him in the face, and he couldn't recover and get in good position. He wasn't "flopping" to sell it anyway, like many of them do. But I won't disagree that the no-goal call was questionable. I'm not quite as convinced that by the letter of the law it wasn't the right call, because he was hit in the paint in the face with the skate and it did prevent him from positioning for the save. But it WAS his fault that the skate hit him, so it should have negated all of that, but I'm not sure if the letter of the law allows that exception. I would THINK it does, and it SHOULD.

 

So justice was done, cuz the Rags deserved the victory and the 2 points. I think Howard certainly deserved 1, but that's my heart and bias saying that. My mind agrees with you.

[SpikeDDS]

3 minutes ago, yave1964 said:

Larkin only played 11 minutes. Among the Wing forwards, he ranked 8th. Datsyuk, Z and Abby literally played double the minutes as Larkin, all 3 had 23 plus minutes of ice time.

  Larkin, IMHO needs 16-18 minutes of ice time a night. And while there has been a slight uptick of his PP time he was still 6th among all of our forwards in that category.

 Let me make this clear, I think the world of Glendening, a solid defensive forward but it is inexcusable for him to have 18 minutes of ice time and Richards 16 and a half while Tats, Nyk and Larkin have 11. If they are gonna be together (which I love) then play them the proper amount of time. Nyk and Tats were our leading goal scorers last season and Larkin a solid young phenom, playing their line so little is poor management IMHO and has been ongoing. Helm (15) Glendening (18) and Richards (16 1/2) should be playing 10-11 minutes a night and let the young offensive line create offense and take pressure off the big line. Right now if the big line does not score, we lose. Simple as that.

  Another thing is Dekeyser. I know that Kronner and big E are out so we need defense, but he led the team with a monstrous 25 minutes of ice time and almost all of it was 5 on 5. He has proven to have much improved vision this year, he sees the ice and moves the puck, give the man some PP time.

 

So for me, our power play would be:

Datsyuk, Abby, Z, Green and Nyquist

 

Second unit:

Richards, Tatar, Larkin, pulkinnen and Dekeyser.

 

What I meant about the above when I said we have no weakness was not a compliment, what I meant is we are so ordinary everywhere. We are okay on the PP and the P/K, we are okay on defense,, okay at forward, okay on lines 1-4. Nowhere is there a strength as well. That is what makes us pretenders.

I have to agree with you on your ice time analysis. And since I am a DK fan, of course I agree about putting him on the PP.

 

It has already been shown that we cannot win depending on Pav and Z to score alone. Larkin is our best scoring threat otherwise. He can't generate nor score from the bench. You would THINK that he could wake up Tats and Nyke, but is it possible that Tats and particularly Nyke just aren't what we were hoping they were? I was hoping they, and particularly Tats could mature into a player who could score in traffic, but this is becoming a broken record. When the space is not given, these guys go away.

 

I don't think our PP is even ordinary, not in a playoff hockey environment. I think it is lacking. Last night was case in point. We only got one shot on goal in 8 minutes of PP time. <crickets chirping> It's not just that we aren't scoring. We aren't even generating shots on net, or even chances! They are all from the perimeter through traffic. King Henrik could have almost taken a nap! I was hoping Green would be the answer, but I have been disappointed. He has not made much difference on the PP. Our puck movement on the PP has become predictable and ordinary. Pav is the only one who shakes things up a little. Maybe Larkin at times. He had a shift last night and made a nice pass attempt that was just deflected. Good thinking though.