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The ugh in ugly


yave1964

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Good lord.

 

  Just watched for the second time the third period of last nights debacle. Not certain if I am a masochist or what but like looking at a car wreck, I just couldn't turn away.

 

  Through two periods, the Wings led 2-0, in fact the Wings had a power play at the tail end of the second in which Mantha took laser shot after laser shot, only a brilliant save by Markstrom kept the game from being 3-0 at the end of two. With a few seconds to go in the period Bertuzzi took a bad penalty setting the Canucks up for a power play to stat the 3rd.

 

 Look, I know the canucks are improving, Pettersson, Horvat, Boeser, Hughes, all very nice building blocks, they are playing with confidence right now but the Wings were up by two going to the third, at home against a team that nbody will ever confuse with the Lightning. It should have been over.

 

 Instead Horvat had back to back power play goals to start the third before the fans had even settled into their seats. A fluky goal by Virtanen that ricochet off the skate of Hronek followed in short order on a goal that resulted from a bad pass from Larkin and then finally a empty netter by Horvat for the hat trick made the final 5-2.

 

  5 goals. Again. becoming a bit of a theme as we have given up 5 goals in 4 of the past 5 games, as we are in a five game free fall.  The team has lost whatever mojo they had to start the year and have settled in as a team in which no lead is safe.

 

 Good news: Svechnikov was recalled and inserted into the lineup, hopefully for good. Additional good news, Jonathan Ericsson was waived, nobody will claim him and his 4 million dollar salary so he will likely be assigned (banished) to the Griffins. Both good solid signs for the future.

 

 Gotta hope for the future as the present is down right ugly.

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It WAS painful!

 

I think these Canucks might be better than you give them credit for. Their adds have significantly helped them. No, not the Lightning, but not last year's Vancouver by any stretch either. 

 

But either way, this says WAY more about he Wings than it does Vancouver. And this is EXACTLY why Yzerman did NOT make Larkin the captain this year. Imagine him having the weight of a season with games like this on his shoulders!

 

I just posted commentary on another thread regarding the Red Wings' moves from Tuesday. This game explained why this was necessary. If you don't get that this season is lost and our focus should be on getting these kids up here, and letting them make their mistakes so they can learn from them and get beyond them, nothing will...except perhaps a repeat of one of the Montreal games from 2018!

 

And no, I'm not asking for that. GOSH no! But if one happens, it will surprise me 0%.

The good news is that I think Stevie gets that since our product on the ice will soon not be worthy of buying tickets, instead of continuing to fake like we have enough, the "hook" will now be come and see Svech and Zadina score 3 amazing goals in a 7-4 loss. Even as they will make their defensive mistakes.

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  • 3 weeks later...
On 10/23/2019 at 11:54 AM, yave1964 said:

Just watched for the second time the third period of last nights debacle. Not certain if I am a masochist or what but like looking at a car wreck, I just couldn't turn away.

 

The Leafs played this way for most of the past 20 years of my prime hockey viewing life. You can see why I've become the glass-half-empty (and cracked) person that I am today!  🤪

 

;)

 

 

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5 hours ago, Hockey-78 said:

Why haven't Blashill benched Athanasiou already or has he? -21 in the first 17 games - some sort of a record I reckon?

  Blash has been ruining Athanasiou since the kid came into the league, Blash hasn't figured out if he is a winger or a center and is no closer to knowing what the hell to do with him today than he was two years ago. Actually as far as scoring goes, AA has hit at least three posts and been stone cold robed several times, he will break through eventually. Too talented not to.

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2 hours ago, yave1964 said:

  Blash has been ruining Athanasiou since the kid came into the league, Blash hasn't figured out if he is a winger or a center and is no closer to knowing what the hell to do with him today than he was two years ago. Actually as far as scoring goes, AA has hit at least three posts and been stone cold robed several times, he will break through eventually. Too talented not to.

 

While I'm here, although slightly off topic but purely out of curiosity, did Mike Babcock have a defensive system during his time in Detroit, or was his defensive system just: "Play Nicklas Lidstrom"?  I'm trying to figure out whether or not the guy can coach or whether the Leafs really have no good defensive players since defence and special teams really are about the only thing you CAN coach in the NHL. But I digress....   Back to Blashill....  :)

 

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11 hours ago, WordsOfWisdom said:

 

While I'm here, although slightly off topic but purely out of curiosity, did Mike Babcock have a defensive system during his time in Detroit, or was his defensive system just: "Play Nicklas Lidstrom"?  I'm trying to figure out whether or not the guy can coach or whether the Leafs really have no good defensive players since defence and special teams really are about the only thing you CAN coach in the NHL. But I digress....   Back to Blashill....  :)

 

  The Leafs have went all in on a run and gun team, D-men Barrie and Reilly are more offensive players, Ceci and Muzzin aren't shut down guys by trade and the other two spots are filled by kids due to cap restraints. Throw in a bunch of one dimensional scoring forwards who never back check and this is the result. Scotty Bowman in his prime would have difficulties with getting this team to play defense, I actually like the Leaf defense as it is built but only if they add one or possibly two shut down guys at or near the deadline. The top four can all create chaos, but none will ever be confused with Norris caliber play. So when you have your top four guys logging huge minutes and an offense that is not clicking because of injuries it makes it close to impossible to win a lot of 2-1 type of games.

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On 11/11/2019 at 8:08 PM, WordsOfWisdom said:

 

While I'm here, although slightly off topic but purely out of curiosity, did Mike Babcock have a defensive system during his time in Detroit, or was his defensive system just: "Play Nicklas Lidstrom"?  I'm trying to figure out whether or not the guy can coach or whether the Leafs really have no good defensive players since defence and special teams really are about the only thing you CAN coach in the NHL. But I digress....   Back to Blashill....  :)

 

 

In short, yes, it was play Niklas Lidstrom. Babcock openly said that Lidstrom was easily the easiest player he ever coached, because he didn't need any coaching! That, plus Nick's ability to help direct the D made Babs look pretty good on D, eh? But once Nick retired, Babs had more issues, although quite honestly, it seemed to me he had more issues with getting our PP to work right than the D.

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On 11/12/2019 at 8:45 AM, yave1964 said:

  The Leafs have went all in on a run and gun team, D-men Barrie and Reilly are more offensive players, Ceci and Muzzin aren't shut down guys by trade and the other two spots are filled by kids due to cap restraints. Throw in a bunch of one dimensional scoring forwards who never back check and this is the result. Scotty Bowman in his prime would have difficulties with getting this team to play defense, I actually like the Leaf defense as it is built but only if they add one or possibly two shut down guys at or near the deadline. The top four can all create chaos, but none will ever be confused with Norris caliber play. So when you have your top four guys logging huge minutes and an offense that is not clicking because of injuries it makes it close to impossible to win a lot of 2-1 type of games.

I dunno. He buckled down and got Yzerman and co to start playing defense lol.

 

The entire team HATED bowman and walked out of a party he arrived at after he refused to let them run and gun in 94 and 95. Yzerman led a faction trying to talk the team into playing run and gun because of all the offensive tools they had but Bowman would not Buckle. I think it was ray Sheppard's book that goes into detail about it.

40 minutes ago, SpikeDDS said:

 

In short, yes, it was play Niklas Lidstrom. Babcock openly said that Lidstrom was easily the easiest player he ever coached, because he didn't need any coaching! That, plus Nick's ability to help direct the D made Babs look pretty good on D, eh? But once Nick retired, Babs had more issues, although quite honestly, it seemed to me he had more issues with getting our PP to work right than the D.

Lidstrom was amazing. Just short of Ray Bourque amazing, but the Wings did not implode without him right away. The wings also had 2 to 3 Selke caliber forwards back then helping defense out.

 

Lidstrom's last 2 years in the league, they were a 102 to 104 point team.

 

The first year without Lidstrom was another lockout, but the team stayed in a playoff spot with 56 points in 48 games. Over a full season its entirely possible they would have equaled their previous years.

 

The year after that they were missing Datsyuk and Zetterberg for half a year and running a lot of rookies and they still had 93 points. The difference between 93 points and 102 points is 4 wins and a tie.

 

Even Blashill managed to stay afloat with 93 points with the squad aging.

 

The team cascaded downhill catastrophically when Datsyuk left. Not enough credit goes to the Datsyuk Zetterberg combo at Center for how much they aided defense and vice versa. Likewise with Yzerman/Fedorov and Draper being a 3rd line Selke Option earlier.

 

Back then the team was just loaded with Riches it was a team effort of Superstars and it was great to watch.

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@J0e Th0rnton

 

Man the Bowman era was a fun tine. Down the middle was simply unbeatable, Yzerman, Federov, Larionov and Draper are the best quartet at center possibly ever. Lidstrom, Murphy, Konstantinov, old vets such as Macoun and Fetisov and later Cheli. 

 

 The run and gun went away when Yzerman bought in, slow footed forwards such as Shepp and Dino were jettisoned for ones who would play the 200 foot game. Burr and Barr, a couple favorites of mine were casualties replaced by guys like Homer and Lapointe who had non stop motors. I am all tingly now, lol, I may have to pop in a Wings championship DVD later, lol.

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@J0e Th0rnton

 

Oh, proper credit where it’s due, yes.

 

No question, Z and particularly Pav, had something to do with the overall D.

 

But that just adds to the point I was trying to make:

 

Babs did t need to coach the D system as much, because these guys just played it from their own training and skills. Babs relied on them. So did Blashill, while they were still here. It wasn’t so much Babcock creating the D structure it was structure that surrounded and centered around these players.

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1 minute ago, SpikeDDS said:

@J0e Th0rnton

 

Oh, proper credit where it’s due, yes.

 

No question, Z and particularly Pav, had something to do with the overall D.

 

But that just adds to the point I was trying to make:

 

Babs did t need to coach the D system as much, because these guys just played it from their own training and skills. Babs relied on them. So did Blashill, while they were still here. It wasn’t so much Babcock creating the D structure it was structure that surrounded and centered around these players.

Absolutely. To me, more than any goal my number one memory of Zetterberg was him killing a penalty in the 2008 SCF almost single handed it seemed, he would knock Crosby down, stand over top of him to slow his standing up then when Crosby got up as soon as the puck touched his stick he would do it all over again, knocking the puck to the corner and Crosby to the ice. When you have two forwards like Magic and Z who play that way, the entire team buys in.

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5 minutes ago, yave1964 said:

@J0e Th0rnton

 

Man the Bowman era was a fun tine. Down the middle was simply unbeatable, Yzerman, Federov, Larionov and Draper are the best quartet at center possibly ever. Lidstrom, Murphy, Konstantinov, old vets such as Macoun and Fetisov and later Cheli. 

 

 The run and gun went away when Yzerman bought in, slow footed forwards such as Shepp and Dino were jettisoned for ones who would play the 200 foot game. Burr and Barr, a couple favorites of mine were casualties replaced by guys like Homer and Lapointe who had non stop motors. I am all tingly now, lol, I may have to pop in a Wings championship DVD later, lol.

As you say burr, I immediately think of this

 

If Burr did have a close friend on the Red Wings, it was Sergei Fedorov.  The pair were thrown together after Sergei had defected.  Fedorov was staying with a Red Wings official who contacted Burr.

“I get this call and I’m told, Hey Shawn, I have this Russian kid staying at my house and he hasn’t done anything,” Burr told me several years ago.  “So I said, I’m going on my boat, I’ll take him out. Sergei shows up and he has a Speedo on. Here’s me not a body of a Greek God and this kid’s got a body of a Greek God and he has a Speedo on.  I said, Sergei not a chance.  I gave him a pair of watermelon boxers that went down to his knees.” 

They developed a fast friendship and Burr was always amazed that Fedorov seemed immune to becoming fat. 

“There was a time when all he could say was, “milk, steak,” Burr said.  “He would drink milk and eat steak.  That’s all he ever did.  I could never figure it out. Here’s me eating all this lean meat and Sergei would have steak with sour cream on it and a baked potato loaded with butter and sour cream.  He was chiseled out of steel and I was chiseled out of marshmallow.”

That was Shawn Burr, a man that saw the world in his own unique perspective.  I never saw him angry, it just wasn’t in him.

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1 minute ago, J0e Th0rnton said:

As you say burr, I immediately think of this

 

If Burr did have a close friend on the Red Wings, it was Sergei Fedorov.  The pair were thrown together after Sergei had defected.  Fedorov was staying with a Red Wings official who contacted Burr.

“I get this call and I’m told, Hey Shawn, I have this Russian kid staying at my house and he hasn’t done anything,” Burr told me several years ago.  “So I said, I’m going on my boat, I’ll take him out. Sergei shows up and he has a Speedo on. Here’s me not a body of a Greek God and this kid’s got a body of a Greek God and he has a Speedo on.  I said, Sergei not a chance.  I gave him a pair of watermelon boxers that went down to his knees.” 

They developed a fast friendship and Burr was always amazed that Fedorov seemed immune to becoming fat. 

“There was a time when all he could say was, “milk, steak,” Burr said.  “He would drink milk and eat steak.  That’s all he ever did.  I could never figure it out. Here’s me eating all this lean meat and Sergei would have steak with sour cream on it and a baked potato loaded with butter and sour cream.  He was chiseled out of steel and I was chiseled out of marshmallow.”

That was Shawn Burr, a man that saw the world in his own unique perspective.  I never saw him angry, it just wasn’t in him.

  I know Burr HATED Bowman, absolutely blamed him for the SCF loss in 1995 to the Devils and was a casualty of the purge after, being traded to the Lightning I believe and bouncing around the league for a few more years but never hiding his disgust with Bowman.

 

  I collect autographs, I am a 50ish year old fan boy and dont care who knows it. I mentioned Lapointe earlier, he is the only one of the SC wings who didn't respond to a request in writing, I tried three times sending him a card asking to have it signed a few years ago, never heard a word. I had to buy one on line which I dont mind the few bucks for the card, I just like to send a little note telling the player thanks for the memory and asking for an autograph. Lappointe may be the nicest guy in the world, IDK and will never know. 

 

 At the opposite end were Burr and Paul Woods, the long time Winger and radio play by play guy who not only signed but who sent me a long letter back thanking them for remembering them and really making me feel good. RIP to Burr who left us tragically way too soon. As for Woodsie, we are somewhat regularly in touch, infact we became facebook friends which led me to making friends with more of his FB friends who are retired NHLers and it has kind of taken off. If you look at my facebook account I have about fifty family members, a few folks from in here and around 500 current and former NHL players. Like I said unapologetic 50ish year old fan boy. God sometimes I wish that I lived in Canada, lol

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