Abel to Yzerman
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Rock Bottom?
by IwoCPO on 02/17/08 at 08:47 AM ET
Comments (25)
Jimmy Howard’s starting. Chris Osgood’s irritated. Mike Babcock’s talking about playing Boggle in the basement. Brian Rafalski’s hurt. Cleary can’t eat, talk or play. Kronwall..who the hell knows when he’s coming back? Dominik Hasek sounds like he’s been visiting Ottawa. The Wings have lost five in a row. BJ fans (and aren’t we all?)...sorry, Columbus fans, are mouthing off in the comment section.
The wheels have come off.
Right?
Nope. Because nothing stops a losing streak like Marty Turco.
Goaltending. I guess Uncle Mike figures that if he’s going to send Howard in after the first period (or during) then he may as well start the kid. One less move, one less decision. What the hell. Osgood surely understands.
Woops.
Sipple
“I always play good against Dallas, so, yeah, I would have liked to have played, but maybe he doesn’t know that,” Osgood said.
I don’t know if Uncle Mike knows that Ozzie. But I know what he does know.
“Sometimes you gotta play Scrabble,” Babcock said Saturday of the changes.
The H and W in “Howard” are going to get you more points than the G and all those O’s in “Osgood”. Start Howard. Makes sense.
Theoretically, it should make no difference who Babcock starts because Marty Turco will be at the other end.
Turco, who grew up in Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario, knows about the Red Wings’ fan base. He said his hometown’s favorite teams hailed from Detroit.
“Because we got all of our network TV from Michigan, a lot of the fans in our town were for the Lions, the Tigers and the Red Wings,” Turco said. “Personally, I wasn’t a Red Wings fan.”
He’s lying, of course. But we’ll leave that one alone today. It should be a given that Turco will be fetal and sucking his thumb in the hall behind the Star bench by 1700 hours. But nothing is certain anymore. You know the world is out of whack when we can’t rely on a Wing win against Turco, and there’s no way you should be anticipating that today. You can hope for it. But hopin’ ain’t gettin’ and the Wings seem absolutely lost out there.
And it’s not the February malaise, or an “implosion” in the Wing room. It’s not, as I suspected, a tired team or a lack of leadership from the captain (as I mentioned in chat the other night). It’s nothing as insidious as any of that. This thing, this frigging belly ache of a losing streak, is due to one thing and it’s real simple. I’ll let Dave at Gorilla Crouch point it out for you.
...what ails the Red Wings right now is pretty straight forward: injuries. The salary cap has exposed a team that simply doesn’t have much depth. Every team in the league is looking for secondary scoring and every team would like to have another top 4 defenseman. With that being the case the team that claws its way to a Stanley Cup is going to win the battle of attrition.
You’ve lost two of your top three dmen, arguably your fourth best forward, your starting goaltender. Injuries—and it’s looking like Kronwall’s absence is being felt more than anyone thought it would—have taken their toll and now we know how important it was for the Wings to have started the way they did.
Looks like back on February 11th Ken Holland was lying to Ted Kulfan again. Remember this?
Just talked to Ken Holland and it doesn’t sound there’s anything major concerning Hasek at all.
Yeah, well, umm, Dom on Friday didn’t sound so certain.
“I didn’t feel comfortable, for sure, on the ice,” Hasek said. “Once I feel better, I’ll get back on the ice. Hopefully, I’ll be back on the ice next week, but I’m not sure.”
In other words, he won’t play until he feels 100 percent. Not before. Sounding almost Ottawa-like.
So you’ve lost five in a row. You’re playing the hottest team in the West. Your goalie’s been pulled the last two games and the defense looks slower than six Hatchers. You’re starting a kid even though your starter’s owned Dallas his whole career. You can’t score even strength and your coach is playing Scrabble in the sauna.
But don’t fret. There’s always Turco.
But that’s not going to be enough. I’m thinking we’re looking at 6.
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Comments
Just because I’m too lazy to type again (check out the GDT), let me copy my thoughts from Paul’s PaNiC Thread:
Panic—no, terror for me—as I hear the strains of Bowie & Queen “scream let me out”. As I ranted in the Forum, I occassionally expect the Wings to lose. But this last stretch of games, their play, appears to me, to be mistake-filled and uninspired. Pathetic really.
Panic, terror, stress— wheres the queue for the Chief’s train!!!
Uncle Mike needs to put his pshycho major to work—at top speed. For goodness sake do something!!!
But I will add this, hoping to inspire “Boy Wonder” from the Cars: Shake it up, make a scene Let them know what you really mean
Posted by Jeff OKWingnut from Quest for 12 on 02/17/08 at 09:34 AM ET
No team has any depth, though. The salary cap won’t permit it.
Ottawa lost two of their big line, and looked as though they had forgotten what that little black thing was for, they had so much trouble scoring goals. The big line gets healthy, and they look quick, sharp, and dangerous again.
Vancouver is existing on a steady diet of minor league defensemen due to injuries, and not surprisingly they have struggled.
Pittsburgh has done pretty well without Crosby, but I think that if anyone had actually paid attention to their other players (including Malkin) they would have been less surprised.
Washington is being carried by Ovechkin with a dash of Semin and a splash of Green.
Tampa was much worse as soon as Dan Boyle was hurt by that freaky skate accident.
You can go through every team and pick out key injuries that have had a hand in struggles, or key players who will cause a team to plummet like a peregrine falcon if they happen to get hurt. No team has any reserves, so they have to count on luck and hope like hell that any injuries are minor or happen to less significant players - otherwise they are screwed.
If Anaheim wins again this year, with Niedermayer and Selanne playing relatively large roles, I think that more and more stars will “contemplate retirement” for a few months and then work into shape for the playoffs in just the last couple months of the regular season. It will be the most reliable path to success for themselves and for the team - but let’s see how season ticket sales are if the best players won’t show up until after the new year starts. NHL hockey for NHL prices is one thing - AHL hockey for NHL prices is an entirely different matter.
Posted by Baroque from Michigan on 02/17/08 at 10:53 AM ET
From the Sipple article you cited:
Kronwall said he hopes to play Friday at Calgary.
I think the Franzen, Z and Homer line will do wonders today. I also think that we’ll get healthy, add a depth defenceman and storm into the playoffs as the hottest team in the NHL.
The Wings have simply been reading our posts, decided to scare us with injuries and locker room drama. But they’re just building so that they can shove all that adversity down some poultry throat like so much stuffing.
Posted by Osrt on 02/17/08 at 11:20 AM ET
Chief! I’m over here in the Club Car of the Stress Train. Man, what a mess. Those BJ’s for everyone that you ordered the other night took their toll. Let’s not do that again…reminds of some bad nachos I had once in a bar in Ensenada…they sounded good at the time but later, well, not so good. I gathered up all the leftover BJ fan stuff and tossed it out the window. It’s right there next to the tracks laying beside the Columbus playoff hopes for this year.
So young Jimmy’s in net against the Stars and Turco is thinking today may be his day. Marty is prolly lighting a candle in his locker right now and saying please to the guy upstairs. Should be a fun game. The bar here is stocked and all is in order, except the Scrabble game is missing. I blame the BJ’s…
Posted by Rumbear from Top O da Hasek, when in doubt, pinky out on 02/17/08 at 12:32 PM ET
So, Osrt, you’re a conspiracy theorist, then? 
Or maybe the Red Wings have discovered a new money-making opportunity - kickbacks from pharmeceutical companies for increasing sales of anti-anxiety medications?
(I think Montreal has the heart medications franchise, and Ottawa has the drugs for bipolar disorder…it would explain some things.)
Posted by Baroque from Michigan on 02/17/08 at 12:35 PM ET
Baroque, your thoughts on the lack of depth in this league were insightful and typically articulate…but I hope to never again read the words “with a dash of Semin and a splash of Green.”
Sounds like the secret recipe at McDonalds.
Posted by Gabriel from San Diego, CA on 02/17/08 at 01:28 PM ET
Even with the injuries, there are still good players on the team. When good players don’t play particularly well, especially defensively, coaching is at fault.
Babcock is one of the best in the world. I’m sure they’ll come out of it. But it’s all on Babcock right now.
Posted by Nathan on 02/17/08 at 02:12 PM ET
I am indeed a conspiracy theorist Baroque, but an optimistic one. Like one of those people who holds a “The World is about to End” sign around for a couple of years.
Also, between your too sane reasoning and the Chief’s cheap beer induced hallucinations, I feel a certain responsibility to create a middle ground, a Middle Earth if you will.
In this universe, run by a pot smoking Yoda, all of this garbage helps make Filpulla into one of the most dynamic playmakers in the league, Franzen a 30 goal scorer, Lebda into a Rafalski style/level defenseman (there is no Nick Jr. anywhere) and Hudler into a prime 2nd line shooting specialist (think mini-Shanny).
The magical acid dipped ring I put on occasionally also tells me that Fedorov is coming to Detroit in the Summer, no sooner. There is no need to give up prospects or players when he will sign in the off-season.
All Hail El Pre-dict-or for Life (as voted in by you)
–––––––
Posted by Osrt on 02/17/08 at 02:20 PM ET
oh…and putting Dats between Homer and Mule is even better than my original post/ error. He’s got protection… watch him become a Don
Posted by Osrt on 02/17/08 at 02:23 PM ET
Baroque said: No team has any depth, though. The salary cap won’t permit it.
Which makes it all the more difficult for Holland to make a trade to upgrade either for a top-six forward, a top-four defenseman, or both.
Posted by SYF from Las Vegas, NV on 02/17/08 at 02:25 PM ET
the team that claws its way to a Stanley Cup is going to win the battle of attrition.
That’s pretty much always the case, isn’t it? To win the Cup a whole lotta things have to go your way. Winning the battle of attrition is not the least of these.
I think the Wings’ funk is a mix of things. Certainly a part of it is the injury factor, but injuries alone don’t explain the lack of drive, the lack of intensity, the lack of will we’ve seen lately. We’ve all read lots of reasons for that — no need for me to rehash that old news.
I hope to never again read the words “with a dash of Semin and a splash of Green.
Agreed! On the other hand I did really like the “plummet like a peregrine falcon.” Good on ya, Baroque. Too bad there aren’t peregrine pigeons… it would have been much more alliterative.
Posted by BobTheZee on 02/17/08 at 02:29 PM ET
It’s not pronounced like it’s spelled in English, though. In the Russian spelling there is a “y” sound after the initial “s”, so the pronounciation is “SYEH-min.”
In this universe, run by a pot smoking Yoda, all of this garbage helps make Filpulla into one of the most dynamic playmakers in the league, Franzen a 30 goal scorer, Lebda into a Rafalski style/level defenseman (there is no Nick Jr. anywhere) and Hudler into a prime 2nd line shooting specialist (think mini-Shanny).
Interesting “middle ground” you have conjured, there.
(I could have gone with “plummet like a peregrine preying on a purple pigeon,” but that is altogether too much pee.)
Posted by Baroque from Michigan on 02/17/08 at 02:52 PM ET
It’s called sanity Baroque; one could also call it cognitive lucidity.
p.s. could someone tell Ed Olczyk (sp?) to STFU
Posted by Osrt on 02/17/08 at 04:33 PM ET
Hopefully Osgood gets back on his game soon. In all honesty it makes me sad seeing him not play well.
Either way, Babcock will kick their asses if they don’t step up their play.
You guys are a lot friendlier then the Blues fans, I’ll tell ya’ that much.
Posted by xdarkxlovex from London, Ohio on 02/17/08 at 04:45 PM ET
Am I the only one who wanted to wring Pierre McGuire’s neck by the end of the game? A six-game losing streak does not herald the end of an era.
And he kept harping on the Wings’ troubles getting to the net, as if they’ve never had games in which that wasn’t a problem (i.e. the third Ducks game).
Posted by Matt Saler from Grand Rapids, MI on 02/17/08 at 07:57 PM ET
Olczyk and McGuire and Milbury: it’s tough to decide who to dislike more.
They just use the same lines that they have ready in their heads. “Small,” “Not getting to the net,” or some other iteration of “they’re not tough like Anaheim” motto. They’ve become parodies of themselves.
Anyway, the Wings, I thought, looked much better than games previous. Dats created some great chances and just needed to bury them. Frazen had a few decent shots and we at least had some cycle pressure. Howard looked strong as well––poor guy, we lost at least three games where he has been great but we couldn’t score worth a damn.
Posted by Osrt on 02/17/08 at 08:31 PM ET
I didn’t watch the game (other plans), but called my Mom after to see how Howard looked.
She said my Dad was laughing at her for calling Olczyk (sp) stupid. They both wondered if he and the other announcers were so darn smart, why weren’t they GMs somewhere? Or coaching?
me: He was coaching, in Pittsburgh.
Mom: Was he fired?
me: Think so.
Mom: I see why. The man’s a complete idiot. They kept talking about how the Wings needed a “big guy” - any moron can see they need to get healthy more than anything, and then another defenseman. You don’t even have to be smart to figure that out - it’s like saying that a baseball team needs pitching. EVERYONE needs pitching, ALWAYS. And that other guy is a jerk.
me: Which guy?
Mom: Doesn’t matter. Either. What a bunch of stooges. They lost six games in a row with a lot of injuries. If they started out the season with a six game losing streak, they wouldn’t even remember it anymore. I swear, they have the attention span of a two-year-old child!
(I have a two-year-old nephew who stays with my Mom while my sister is at work, so she knows where from she speaks regarding short attention spans.)
Posted by Baroque from Michigan on 02/17/08 at 10:25 PM ET
Genius runs in the family, eh Baroque. Especially the females.
My nephew, now 3 but was once 2 (about a year ago I think), was incredibly attentive to his surroundings because everything could become a toy. Something to jump off of, climb on, hang from, and run into to scare the shiat out of us.
If only those three shumucks had the imagination and attentiveness of two year olds, I wouldn’t be so annoyed.
Too bad too; I used to like McGuirre (sp) just fine. Oh well, we just have to wait until we start that long winning streak and they sing “Detroit is the team to beat” like the mindless chorus they are.
Posted by srt on 02/18/08 at 12:02 AM ET
One more thing:
From Khan(!)‘s notes
Their last seven-game winless streak came at the end of the 2001-02 season, when they went 0-5-2. ...
I’m telling you people, this is all good news. Now, if AndrewfromA2 could just hurry up with my special delivery…
Posted by srt on 02/18/08 at 12:13 AM ET
This losing streak is a conspiracy, dammit! The Wings are thinking, “hey, if the Lions can sell out all their games while losing all the time, then why are we working our asses off, getting injured and beat down while winning and everybody is bored with Redwing Hockey?”
Posted by cementslinger from a snowbank in Midland on 02/18/08 at 06:53 AM ET
That is a relevant point.
Now all the Wings have to do is take a wide reciever with every first round pick, and there you go.
Although the Pistons are doing pretty well, I guess, and I haven’t heard them getting a lot of attention either.
Posted by Baroque from Michigan on 02/18/08 at 07:41 AM ET
Now, if AndrewfromA2 could just hurry up with my special delivery…
Ah yes SRT, that would be the party-sized pack of Prozac, right? Too bad, I’ve changed my mind and have munched half the pack myself. Still worried about Kronner’s cartilage and Dom’s erm…groin, but at least I’ve stopped caring about trades before the deadline. You can have this leftover dope I found under my mattress when I was looking for my photos of Brian Burke in dominatrix drag and Gary Bettman in a gimp suit. Dammit, of all the times to lose your blackmail material…
Well, the Chief got it right. THAT sucked. The whole team looked snakebit, and the one positive was how Jimmy Howard looked. I’d still rather he finished up the season in GR pronto, but good signs for next year. The one goal he did give up he had no chance on because bonehead Lilja was just standing there looking lost. We need John Hahn and a whole gaggle of PR liars to get on the phone with Glen Sather, convince him that Lilja’s a real deal top-four D, and do a straight swap for Georgeum’s cousin Marek. Otherwise though, if it weren’t for our boy Jimmy, it could just as easily have been a three- or four-goal game. And Olczyk and McGuire are toolsacks—it should be fairly obvious to anyone who isn’t a talking head in a ridiculous toupee that the biggest trade this team needs to make at the deadline is for a good doctor and a physical therapist. When four of your top players are injured and you start losing, it isn’t because of lack of Anaheim-like goons on the roster. Even if said goons happen to be the media’s darlings right now, Captain Lazyass Undecided included.
Dive tonight. I take comfort in the three little S’s coming back—them being on the ice seems to mean that their entire defensive corps plus their goalie stops trying—almost a “Hey, we have more offense now—who needs to keep the puck out of th net?”
You guys are a lot friendlier then the Blues fans, I’ll tell ya’ that much.
Thanks. Welcome welcome, dude. Hang around and shoot the breeze with us until you get sick of the Chief’s stream of ‘BJ’ jokes and decide that actually we’re all a bunch of pureile morons. Which we are. Except for Baroque. Speaking of which, Baroque, can you bring your parents along here? Two more wise heads in addition to yours would go a long way when we’re all panicking.
I don’t like Mondays.
Posted by AndrewFromAnnArbor from standing under the Sword of Damocles blissfully un on 02/18/08 at 09:59 AM ET
McGuire needs to be quiet. If he were Ken Holland, this team would’ve been destroyed 10 years ago because he’d have panicked after the team lost two games straight and he’d have made the infamous Yzerman trade.
McGuire overreacts to every good thing that happens to a team, as well as every bad thing. A few weeks ago on a Wings broadcast he was acting like there’s never been a better team. Now they need to trade half the roster just to make the playoffs (8 point conference lead still?).
This is why he’s in front of a microphone instead of where he really wants to be, behind a bench or in a front office.
Posted by Nathan on 02/18/08 at 12:20 PM ET
Spot on, Nathan! McGuire always professes to know exactly what every GM and coach needs to do… how unfortunate for him that no team shares that view and offers him a job. IMO he’s little more than a sensationalizing bandwagoner.
I thought both team played a game they could have won… not should have, but could have. The hockey gods always seem to have their influence here… if it were Dallas on a 5-game losing streak, they’d have been the ones who lost.
And sometimes it doesn’t matter how Semin is pronounced — just as it didn’t matter how Satan was pronounced when he notched his 666th point. 
Posted by BobTheZee on 02/18/08 at 02:02 PM ET
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Someone needs to tell me why Kopecky is still on the roster. He needs a bit more development in GR. He’s been a waste of a spot all year (except for the shifts where he’s scored a goal).
Also, during this defensively-ignorant stretch, why not see more 2/3rds-of-a-grind-line time?
Today, with Howard in goal, Babs is sending a message: SIMPLIFY! Today, the emaining “healthy” players need to concentrate more on defense and stopping the Stars waives of attacks and wait for mistakes. (in other words, the same game plan other teams have against the Wings) Once the Wings re-gain their confidence, go ahead and take more chances.
Posted by Tuba Guy from Royal Oak, MI on 02/17/08 at 09:00 AM ET