Abel to Yzerman
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Who You Blaming? Put The Pipe Down.
by IwoCPO on 12/01/08 at 05:40 PM ET
Comments (16)
First, this simple sentence rendered me fetal this afternoon.
But the Sharks, Habs, Ducks, Bruins, Pens…all of the teams we would consider to be competitive…we haven’t won a SINGLE GAME against what I would consider to be a top tier team. That’s more than a hangover. That suggests a failure at the front office.
That’s Gabe. And guess what? That’s not a case of him massaging statistics for his own sick pleasure. No. While I wouldn’t put it past him, those are just some cold, hard facts there brother.
And guess what? That is more than just a hangover. It is a failure, but that’s where I draw the line.
It’s not a failure of the front office. How can Tick Tock be held responsible for that? All he did was bring us the best offensive player available and the very best backup goalie out there, both for cheap. All he did was improve this team.
If 15 wins on December 1st is a “failure”..(and how sick and ridiculous is that?)...it falls on the players. I don’t buy into blaming our Uncle for this either. Nope. As I’ve said from the beginning, the day this team commits to a total concept of team defense, the PK, shot blocking, mucking….that’s the day this “hangover” will end. Babcock can talk until he’s out of words altogether, but it’s going to take the team itself realizing what needs to be done to right this mother.
I’m trying to think who should be responsible if it’s a player thing, if it’s an effort thing, if it’s a re-commitment to the system thing…hmmm. Babcock? Holland? Gibby, Rozema and the Skelarski sisters?
Or should we, just maybe, consider that wearing the “C” means finding a way to get your teammates to play the way they’re supposed to, in order to win the tough games against the tougher teams?
If, on December 1st, we’re so eager to throw Mike Babcock under the bus, as some below would suggest…my suggestion would be—taking for granted that we should be stressing at all before Christmas, for the sake of the adorable one—that we take a look at who is supposed to be leading this team on the ice and in the room.
That’s all I’m sayin’.
Live Blog at 1900.
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Comments
Holy smokes. I think we all need to take a deep breath, step back from the ledge, and chill.
Of course you’re right Incognetis.
And I can only speak for myself, it will never happen.
Posted by IwoCPO from Sunny San Diego, bitches on 12/01/08 at 06:17 PM ET
Actually Chief, I wasn’t thinking of Kenny. My concern is that the loss of Bowman and McLellan hurt worse than expected.
I think it’s time to make an example of the new video coach.
Posted by Gabriel from San Diego, CA on 12/01/08 at 06:33 PM ET
The one thing I keep coming back to is a phrase that the Wings often use (even Hoss has taken to it): “When we’re down, there’s no panic on the bench.”
Well, I still don’t think it’s time for a full freak-out (I’ll save that for April, thanksverymuch), but at the very least I hope these guys are starting to get pretty $*(#$ alarmed. At the very least, a few more weeks of this and they can kiss playoff home ice goodbye. And yeah, while I’ve often wished that Nick were a little more fiery, there is no want of leadership in that room ... Cheli (whose been traveling with the team), Draper, Malts, etc. certainly aren’t shrinking violets. Yet all I hear in their post-game interviews is “Yeah, we have to do a better job of d-coverage/stopping shots/getting the puck out of the neutral zone/creating traffic/avoiding bad turnovers. But being at home/having a week of practice/focusing on improving will be great, and things will get better soon.”
And while I agree the blame shouldn’t fall on Babcock, I’m at least mildly relieved that someone in the room is admitting that they’re playing like crap. And at least I have an excuse to start drinking again.
By the way, hi guys. My name is Annie, and I am a Wings fan. 
Posted by Annie on 12/01/08 at 06:40 PM ET
I’m still not ready to throw anybody under the bus for the team not performing up to my ridiculously high standards. That being said, I’m bottling it all up and if we look like this in march, let’s just say you’ll all learn my last name via the newswire when the story of a Kansas man in a belltower hits the front pages.
Posted by J.J. from Kansas on 12/01/08 at 06:42 PM ET
Holy smokes. I think we all need to take a deep breath, step back from the ledge, and chill.
I keep hearing Van Halen, in some iteration, singing “Jump”. Gotta go with Chief here…..step away from the bong, put the screw cap back on your wine and take a nap.
I keep saying I miss The Hasek, i.e. the train car, but maybe my Freudian slip is showing…
Posted by Rumbear from Top O da Hasek, sippin rum & catchin some rays on 12/01/08 at 06:44 PM ET
We’re Wings fans, of course we overreact, that’s our specialty. Just asking for a complete 60 minute effort (funny, I remember us saying that a lot last year too).
Posted by hockeychic from Denver, CO on 12/01/08 at 06:50 PM ET
We’re Wings fans, of course we overreact, that’s our specialty.
We’ve refined it to a form of art.
Posted by Jennemy of the Skate from putting the b*tches in the box on 12/01/08 at 06:53 PM ET
I read a comment in one of the diggers articles that applies here. “There’s nothing wrong with this team that hard work won’t fix.”
Sums it up pretty nicely I think. Now where did I put that Valium?
Dan
Posted by ITDeuce from The Land of Ice and Snow on 12/01/08 at 06:55 PM ET
We know what effort it takes to win in April, May and June.
Don’t ask us to put that effort into the regular season.
Posted by w2j2 on 12/01/08 at 07:07 PM ET
Chief, I have been thinking the same thing. Lidstrom needs to step up to the plate and get his teammates on track. I was looking at some alarming stats today…Brett Lebda is -6 and Kris Draper is -9. Now, neither one of them have ever had negative numbers, but I think it says something when the center of your shutdown line and one of your less able D-men have stats in the basement. It shows a weakness that normally hard work will overcome.
Posted by John in Pittsburgh (Wings fan for life!) from Pittsburgh, PA on 12/01/08 at 11:51 PM ET
Or should we, just maybe, consider that wearing the “C” means finding a way to get your teammates to play the way they’re supposed to, in order to win the tough games against the tougher teams?
LEAVE NICKLAS LIDSTROM ALONE RIGHT NOW!! I MEAN IT!
Posted by lilja4ever on 12/02/08 at 05:16 AM ET
Funny how they go out and dominate the Ducks, look like the Red Wings we are used to, and suddenly both this post and Gabe’s prior comments don’t mean much any more.
Posted by Nathan on 12/02/08 at 09:08 AM ET
Chief, I have been thinking the same thing. Lidstrom needs to step up to the plate and get his teammates on track. I was looking at some alarming stats today…Brett Lebda is -6 and Kris Draper is -9. Now, neither one of them have ever had negative numbers, but I think it says something when the center of your shutdown line and one of your less able D-men have stats in the basement. It shows a weakness that normally hard work will overcome.
John (if that’s your real name), Draper was a -2 last year, and will probably be a minus player the rest of his career. He plays 12 minutes a game strictly in a shutdown role. He’s almost always playing against forwards with more offensive ability in one arm than he has in his entire body. Draper as a minus player really isn’t that alarming, at this stage in his career. That said, if he finishes the season at -10 or below, that’s a problem, but I’d expect his +/- to waffle right around the 0 mark all season.
The Wings, with similar talent, went through worse stretches than this under Yzerman. I’m not saying Nick is equal to Stevie, because he’s not, and never will be, but this has nothing to do with the captain of the team.
And besides, they jail-sexed the Ducks last night, so all is right in the hockey world, at least till Thursday night.
Posted by Nathan on 12/02/08 at 09:54 AM ET
It is tough to expect Lidstrom to step up and straighten the players perspective, when he has been
part of the problem this year. If he was playing his regular game…he could do it, but you can hardly expect him to do it when he has been letting the team down also.
Posted by HockeyTownTodd on 12/02/08 at 01:23 PM ET
http://blog.mlive.com/snapshots/2008/12/seeing_something_behind_lidstr.html
There is no doubt Lidstrom has had an adjustment period due to the visor and other new pieces of equipment he’s using, but I think he’s coming out of that adjustment period.
As for the points, they will come. Lidstrom started with the same pace in ‘06-‘07. Think his overall performance was pretty good that season, if I recall.
This is on the players effort as a whole. It has nothing to do with leadership at the front office level, coaching level, or even the captain’s level. Every last player just has to start playing 60 (or 65) minute games instead of 30 minute games. There are only so many ways you can make that point as a coach or captain—at some point, the players just have to do it.
And, they did it last night. So let’s cross our fingers that they keep it up against the Canucks… then, all of a sudden, they’ll be cultivating good habits instead of continue with the bad ones from the first quarter.
Posted by Nathan on 12/02/08 at 02:31 PM ET
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Holy smokes. I think we all need to take a deep breath, step back from the ledge, and chill.
Seriously, this team’s going to be fine, despite some alarming developments.
If we’re having the same discussions in February or March (and we were all freaking out last Feb), then it might be time to assign some blame. In this case, how do you assign blame on the #2 team in the West (with only the certain-to-tank-it-at-some-point Sharks ahead of us)?
Posted by Incognetis from Delaware... Hi... I'm in... Delaware on 12/01/08 at 06:16 PM ET