Red Wings

[froot loops]

No, I'm the one who said the loss of Lidstrom was huge. You said he was easily replaceable, yoy basically rubber stamped the Jeff Moss column on this. This year is a transition year. If I'm Holland I'm busy looking for teams that will give up Datsyuk level for a picka and a prospect.

[CaptainBlue]

No, I'm the one who said the loss of Lidstrom was huge. You said he was easily replaceable, yoy basically rubber stamped the Jeff Moss column on this. This year is a transition year. If I'm Holland I'm busy looking for teams that will give up Datsyuk level for a picka and a prospect.

They seem to be struggling on offense. The defense is about the same as last year.

[froot loops]

I guess I don't know what the call out is by chemiclord is about. Clearly they aren't that good this year and there is a chance they are going to miss the playoffs. That was as true now as it was 2 or weeks ago. But in my view its foolish to start trading guys. You try to get to the postseason and then regroup in the offseason. The rules for the next 7 years are clearly established, they have a lot of maneuverability with cap space. Its not unlike the offseason after the last lockout. The sequence is slightly different but very similar. In that offseason they made a lot of low level deals that paid a lot of dividends.

[lions&tigers&wings...yea]

Babcock is pissing me off by going against everything he has preached: you play good, you get more ice time; you play bad, you get less ice time. Franzen is a floater who should not be rewarded with good line mates and prime ice time when he isn't giving a complete effort and we have players that are doing all that could be asked of them to deserve more ice time. Playing Cleary with Datsyuk is just as bad but his problem is his knees are blown out and even though he tries hard he can't win battles for the puck and the pain must be distracting him because he fumbles and loses at least half of the passes he tries to receive (why Datsyuk is on a scoring drought, his line-mates can't bury the puck).

[froot loops]

Babcock is a good coach who may have reached the expiration date on his effectiveness in Detroit. But on the other hand a few more players might solve that effectiveness. Truthfully, to me he's been a good coach for them, but I've never liked them defensively since he took over. They still won a cup and almost another, but even then, they didn't seem as defensively sound as I thought they should have been.

[jaadam4]

I like Babcock. He's a damn good coach and we're lucky to have him.

[chemiclord]

I guess I don't know what the call out is by chemiclord is about. Clearly they aren't that good this year and there is a chance they are going to miss the playoffs. That was as true now as it was 2 or weeks ago. But in my view its foolish to start trading guys. You try to get to the postseason and then regroup in the offseason. The rules for the next 7 years are clearly established, they have a lot of maneuverability with cap space. Its not unlike the offseason after the last lockout. The sequence is slightly different but very similar. In that offseason they made a lot of low level deals that paid a lot of dividends.

The call out is everytime the Wings win a game or two, you mockingly post "Wings are doomed."

Then after they drop a pair back to back to the Blue Jackets, oddly enough you don't have anything to say. I wonder why that is...

As for Lidstrom... the truth was he was declining. Kronwall had already replaced him on the power play unit and they had been talking about doing the same on the penalty kill. It makes sense... dude was 41 at the time, and they wanted to keep him as fresh as possible. The defense as a whole wasn't particularly great WITH him last year, and they aren't really all that much worse THIS year. His absence has hurt... but more on offense where he ran the point for the Wings, rather than defensively.

[froot loops]

I haven't done that doomed bit since we were talking a few weeks ago. I didn't do it when they got up to second or third in the seeds. I've said my peace on it.

Lidstrom was damn good last year, certainly their best defenseman. You were wrong about the subject. You forget last year the WIngs had a 24 game home winning streak. Lidstrom rebounded strongly from a subpar 2011. They miss him every game this year. They certainly were not a threat to miss the playoffs this, year. That is in the discussion.

But going back to that discussion, you pooh poohed losing him because like Jeff Moss you surmised that he could be replaced. The going rate last summer was nearly a 100 million on the free agent market for a guy who probably wasn't as good defensively as the "declining" Lidstrom.

pANDs

Your argument doesn't make sense, Kronwall replaced him on the power play and later on in the same paragraph, you say they miss Lidstrom on the power play.

[chemiclord]

I do believe I explictly stated many times that losing Lidstrom was GOING to hurt, but that it wasn't going to hurt as much as people like you thought it would, because he was on the decline, and the defense wasn't exactly lights out WITH him. And looking back tells me that is EXACTLY what I said.

But go ahead and keep pretending I said something else if it makes you feel better.

[froot loops]

I don't have to pretend anything. Its what you wrote.

[chemiclord]

Except it wasn't, but other than that, yeah.

[CaptainBlue]

The realignment has been approved for next season: http://prohockeytalk.nbcsports.com/2...r-next-season/

[jaadam4]

Sweet!

[lions&tigers&wings...yea]

Yeah and this is one of the very few times I've enjoyed something Bettman said.

@NHLwiki
#NHL -- Gary bettman says #Redwings and #CBJ are moving East and there will be no changing them back. Period.

[froot loops]

bad news