Detroit Red Wings & the NHL

[WingsFan]

Pittsburgh has been dominant in both games. 10 shots on goal for Washington after 2 last night? Cindy has been invisible, but better than Ovechkin who cost the Capitals the losing goal after Malkin lifted his stick and took the puck away.


Matt Murray got to love this guy! He's from Thunder Bay but, just like my Dad his Dad was born in Scotland and he pays tribute with the Flag on his mask along with the Netherlands flag to honor his Mother.

[WingsFan]

[Prime2]

Good eye Packy, my brother and I were trying to figure out what he had on his helmet during the game.

Soon to be Vezina winner Holtby has something on his helmet too?

21-year old Matt Murray, AKA the new Penguins' goalie, say goodbye to Fleury and his 10M contract, even if the Pens fail to advance. LOL

Crosby has to get going, misses a wide-open net in game 2. That's his wheelhouse right there.

[froot loops]

Malkin is the big game player for them. If they need some heroics in this series Evgeni will provide them.

[Prime2]

Pittsburgh has been dominant in both games. 10 shots on goal for Washington after 2 last night? Cindy has been invisible, but better than Ovechkin who cost the Capitals the losing goal after Malkin lifted his stick and took the puck away.

Pens took the regualr season series 3-2, Over that span, Ovechkin did NOT score a single point, Crosby scored 4.

In fact, over the last 7 games Ovarian has scored a single point, 1 assist, same for Backstrom.

Crosby's line has shutdown the Caps best players.

Holtby has kept Washington in the series so far.

[Hannibal]

It's bad, real bad ... I posted this up there ^ in the Red Wings thread in the Lions forum





Plus the Detroit news had this





Hannibal what are your thoughts on this?

Bring on Yzerman.

The Wings, if I'm not mistaken, can dump some guys in trades and maintain a small piece of their salary cap hit. This would help them find a landing spot for some of their guys who could be good contributors somewhere but are overpriced. I'm not totally up to speed on the rules, but I think that you can do this. If I'm Ken Holland, I start looking for buyers. Starting with guys like Zetterberg, Kronwall, and Ericsson.

[Mike]

The problem is that isn't how Holland operates, which is exactly why he needs to go.

[Hannibal]

Poor Bruce Boudreaux. One of the few non-densive, not boring-as-shit coaches left in the league, but unfortunately, boring-as-shit hockey wins nowadays. Anaheim can't clamp down and win those 2-1 contests.

On a related note, the offensive skill in the league has to be at about a 40 year low. Only one player over 90 points this year and zero guys with 51+ goals. Regular season scoring was a post-lockout low this year and the playoffs right now aren't trending much better. Has anyone noticed the precipitous decline in the number of guys who can fire good one-timer slapshots? All over the league you see guys stop the puck before they shoot, giving the goaltender time to get over and stop it. Either that, or they miss the net by 5 feet (e.g. Nyquist). It reminds me of watching college hockey. The only guy who can shoot a one-timer on the net with accuracy is Ovechkin. Odd man rushes almost never result in a goal. Pittsburgh blew a 3-on-1 last night badly. Didn't even get a shot on goal out of it. Goaltenders rarely have to make great side-to-side saves.

The refs have also pretty much reverted to pre-lockout officiating. Lots of guys getting away with clutching, tripping, and other types of interference in these playoffs.

The problem is that isn't how Holland operates, which is exactly why he needs to go.

If he doesn't fully embrace rebuilding then he does, indeed, need to go.

[WingsFan]

Tampa scores 30 seconds left and Bishop pulled, 4-4 going to OT in Brooklyn

[Prime2]

Wayne Gretzky discusses the decline of offense in the NHL.

Kris Letang sits out game #4 for his clean hit on Johansson, Justin Schultz gets the nod, Pens already missing Ollie Maatta who was knocked out on the ice by the illegal hit from Brooks Orpik. BO serving a 3-game suspension for his crimes.

Caps threw everything they had at Pittsburgh and still lost game #3 LOL.

Pens are 2-6-1 without KL in the lineup, expect Washington to knot the series at 2-2 tonight.

Don't think it matters much. San Jose, St. Louis or Dallas will roll the Eastern Conference Champ in the SCF.

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/04/07/sports/hockey/wayne-gretzky-laments-decline-of-scoring-and-creativity-in-nhl.html

[WingsFan]

The NHL is going to cut more of the goaltender equipment again next year. This is what I blame the most, players don't even want to shoot ulness there is a deflection or major screening knowing it has to be a perfect shot within an inch to score. Goaltenders only need to be in position and they know it, how many times do I have hear "great save" when the goalie hardly moved.

[froot loops]

There are a myriad of factors. Cutting down goalie equipment will help, but goalies are still much better. Blame PatRoy, before him it wasn't common to see big goalies.

Blame video.

Blame the 80s it was really the only era in hockey where the goals were out of control like that. It's never going back.

[WingsFan]

Washington are toast, they are so pathetic

[Mike]

They really are.

[jaadam4]

The Detroit News had an article today discussing the different trajectories regarding the Wings and Pistons today. It was pretty accurate talking about how the Wings need to do something to shake things up. Some of Hollands quotes are like "yeah.. no shit"

From Holland: “In my opinion, this is probably the first summer since Nicklas Lidstrom retired, and now Pavel, that I’ve got to look at trying to do more than adding to what we’ve got. Maybe we’ve got to shake up the pot a little bit.”


**he's correct in this thought process in his first few quotes but where has this been the last few years regarding the last comment?**

“I’m not into a rebuild,” Holland said. “We’re gonna try to win, try to make the team a little bit different, a little bigger, give more responsibilities to some of our younger players and explore free agency. But those (free agents) for the most part are support pieces, not guys that carry franchises. I’m gonna be more aggressive going to the draft this year and exploring trades.