Wasted goalie effort

[SpikeDDS]

Petr Mrazek looked like his old self 2 games in a row, and he must get the credit for stealing a point. But even with a full 2-minute 4-on-3 PP in OT, not only did we not score, but we didn't even challenge Nillson much. And remember, this is against the WORST PK in the league. And then Buffalo showed us how it is done, albeit with some help from the officials missing an obvious hook that would have negated the winning goal.

 

I will grant that the Red Wings have been a better team since some of their players have returned from injury. Helm returned last night, and I thought he was the best Red Wing skater on the ice. For having missed 28 games, he looked very fresh, and was a force and a threat on both ends of the ice, even getting rewarded with a goal. Having all of our speedy players playing does make trouble for the opposing team.

 

But even giving Blashill the benefit of the doubt with the injuries, our PP continues to be our downfall. I don't understand why there is a delay in making a coaching change. Yes, we scored another road PP goal. That's 2 games in a row. But the 4-on-3 against the worst PK unit in the league serves only to confirm that our PP, even with its improvement over where it was in the 0-for-53 streak, is dismal. There is NO WAY we make the playoffs with this PP.

 

Since that is fact, and we KNOW we have a losing hand as it is, we have two choices: fold--meaning give up and try to maximize our assets at the trade deadline and try to get the best draft picks we can--or pick new cards, meaning a new coach to try to improve the hand enough to make a real stab at the playoffs. The thing is that Holland doesn't seem to have made the decision to do the former, but instead he seems to want to continue to play our ugly hand and hope it is enough. It is not.

 

I really don't understand why we are not doing SOMETHING. Doing nothing is a guarantee of failure. And the longer we wait, the worse the options get. Why the wait?

[yave1964]

It was great seeing Helm back in the lineup, on a line with Abdelkader seemed to work very well for both of them I have often wondered why the two of them haven't been used more together, opposite types of players but I have felt for some time that they would be very complimentary to each other.

 

  I agree it is time to do something but the problem is that a week or so ago it looked like time to sell but now....well.... 7 of a possible 8 points two games to go before the All Star break. Holland was quoted coming off the road trip basically challenging the team to get 10 of the possible 12 points before the break, I took it from then that anything short of that meant that moves would be coming sooner than later, but if they managed 10 of 12 he would let it ride and wait for the bodies to get healthy.

  The problem is that the bodies, healthy or unhealthy especially on defense are not that good. But at the current pace, who knows, we might close the Joe with yet another playoff appearance, but then what? As a number three in a weak division we might luck into Ottawa or Toronto or Boston and actually win a series and then get crushed in the second round, that is best case scenario. I can see if we are hot not blowing it up but I doubt we are buyers.

[SpikeDDS]

@yave1964

 

Didn't see that quote from from Holland, but I'm glad there is some kind of objective standard being put down from on high. When is the last time--other than actually making the playoffs--that something.like that has been laid out? Eons ago. But necessary.

 

The same needs to be done for the PP. How many more games can our PP go at less than 15% before we find someone else to redraw the plans? Obviously they can't/won't make a statement like that public, but it needs to be done privately. Heck, it should have been done long ago.