Wings, baby, Wings

[conundrumed]

7 hours ago, jjgallow said:

 

 

Imho they are short one great goalie to put them over the edge.

 

Even if Husso rebounds,  he will need some relief.

 

Other than that, yeah it's go time.

Husso is mainly responsible for Detroit's steps last year. The problem was Ned being a terrible backup. About 60% through the season Newsy Lalonde was already saying that he was playing Husso way too much but didn't have any options. So they claimed Hellberg who was no better than Ned. Hence Reimer and Lyon added. Cossa had a good 2nd half in the E so he can keep developing. Then it's Lethemon who was MSU's goalie and he looks good. Him and Cossa for the A.

But Husso's really good. Overworked and the D was pretty bad. Was actually the 1st time he's taken a heavy work load, so nice to know that he can. Just needs a better balance of starts, not 15 in a row.

[jjgallow]

17 minutes ago, conundrumed said:

Husso is mainly responsible for Detroit's steps last year. The problem was Ned being a terrible backup. About 60% through the season Newsy Lalonde was already saying that he was playing Husso way too much but didn't have any options. So they claimed Hellberg who was no better than Ned. Hence Reimer and Lyon added. Cossa had a good 2nd half in the E so he can keep developing. Then it's Lethemon who was MSU's goalie and he looks good. Him and Cossa for the A.

But Husso's really good. Overworked and the D was pretty bad. Was actually the 1st time he's taken a heavy work load, so nice to know that he can. Just needs a better balance of starts, not 15 in a row.

 

Yup, agreed.

[conundrumed]

Ummm, excuse me? Completely unsure how I'd feel about this. I know he's a great player...but I don't want Berggren pushed down the lineup while he's developing into one of their best IQ players.Screwed in the draft for superstars, but this would be a bit early maybe. All depends on price. A year at $5, sure. But he can command more.

From a Chicago sports reporter with a pretty good rep.

 

[conundrumed]

Kane-Larkin-DeBrincat...I'm kinda swooning. Especially how much Hawks fans would hate him.lol

A world of depth and a D with all of the pieces that somehow need to fit together.

And Hughes is saying he took a loss on Petry because Petry's wanted destination was Detroit. Maybe Petry will come alive playing for dear old dad?

MTL still holding DeSmith though not wanting to. Hughes told him he's trading him. That likely affects a Vladar move.

[conundrumed]

The camp lines are ever evolving and Lalonde said he'll be mashing it up for games. The best look so far has been:

Perron-Larkin-DeBrincat

Fabbri-Compher-Raymond

Rasmussen-Ladd-Kostin

Berggren-Veleno-Sprong

Fischer

Colour me homer, but that looks great. A bit of everything on each line.

Fabbri's health always a concern, but Berggren is an awesome backup plan. Raymond always looks dynamic with a playmaking winger. By all accounts him and Fabbri look great moving the puck up the ice together.

Can't wait until Tuesday's 1st preseason vs Pitts.

[travel_dude]

5 hours ago, conundrumed said:

The camp lines are ever evolving and Lalonde said he'll be mashing it up for games. The best look so far has been:

Perron-Larkin-DeBrincat

Fabbri-Compher-Raymond

Rasmussen-Ladd-Kostin

Berggren-Veleno-Sprong

Fischer

Colour me homer, but that looks great. A bit of everything on each line.

Fabbri's health always a concern, but Berggren is an awesome backup plan. Raymond always looks dynamic with a playmaking winger. By all accounts him and Fabbri look great moving the puck up the ice together.

Can't wait until Tuesday's 1st preseason vs Pitts.

 

Looks like a deep forward corp.  I like that 2nd line makeup, and waiting to see how JT plays on a new team.  Took a ton of faceoffs last season, but part of that may be he was bumped up due to injuries and staffing changes.  Could be a steal.

[conundrumed]

On 9/24/2023 at 11:27 AM, travel_dude said:

 

Looks like a deep forward corp.  I like that 2nd line makeup, and waiting to see how JT plays on a new team.  Took a ton of faceoffs last season, but part of that may be he was bumped up due to injuries and staffing changes.  Could be a steal.

Lalonde was discussing that he has so many options he'll be putting everyone all over the place for preseason.

Interested in D pairs after Walman-Seider.

Chiarot (yuck), Petry, Gostisbehere, Holl, Maatta.

If Edvinsson were to make the jump it's likely Maatta that would be waived(not my call).

But Ed's fresh back from surgery so pretty unlikely to start.

Quite the kettle of fish this year. Lyon/Reimer both would have to clear waivers. See how that goes.

[conundrumed]

I have to admit, I wasn't huge on Danielson. He's kicking me in the teeth. It's the poise that's getting to me. He's played with great confidence at things that he knows that he's good at. Starting with playing responsibly conservative, almost to a fault. He's completely selfless in the O-zone, dishing to a guy he thinks has a better look when I think he should shoot. 2 years ago when Raymond made the team, I'd say Danielson would have too.

Right now, I hope that he gets a 9 game look. But Detroit has so much depth, I'm not sure if he can steal ice from Veleno.

He's definitely not playing his way off of the roster. Hopefully Lalonde will give him looks in the top 6 in the preseason to see if he can handle that kind of stress with/vs solid NHLers.

He does not look far off of an NHL player so far.

[conundrumed]

@Heartbreaker....Detroit now up 4-2 on Washington after a Caps goal by...should I say it should I say it? Yes, one Matthew Phillips.

[conundrumed]

5-2 Detroit. Phillips with 1g, 1a. Damn he's tiny but didn't get caught by the Detroit Giants. Almost a spectacle with Seider, Wallinder, Soderblom, Newpower and Gettinger in the lineup. Wallinder's 6'4" makes him the small guy.

They keep talking that Berggren's spot on the roster isn't guaranteed. That's a little unsettling.

Who knew Detroit has Michael Hutchinson on a pto? lol

Getting him in game shape for Tampa...

Husso looks great in his first appearance, I'm a big fan.

Fabbri leaves with an UBI...talk about a player that bleeds high-end talent whose whole career has been relentless injury derailment...it's hard to watch. The high-end talent is undeniable, wouldn't wish that career on anyone.

Just give the guy one complete season hockey gods, damn.

Should have had a long and illustrious career with St. Loo. He's an easy Jordan Kyrou with better passing ability.

[travel_dude]

10 hours ago, conundrumed said:

5-2 Detroit. Phillips with 1g, 1a. Damn he's tiny but didn't get caught by the Detroit Giants. Almost a spectacle with Seider, Wallinder, Soderblom, Newpower and Gettinger in the lineup. Wallinder's 6'4" makes him the small guy.

They keep talking that Berggren's spot on the roster isn't guaranteed. That's a little unsettling.

Who knew Detroit has Michael Hutchinson on a pto? lol

Getting him in game shape for Tampa...

Husso looks great in his first appearance, I'm a big fan.

Fabbri leaves with an UBI...talk about a player that bleeds high-end talent whose whole career has been relentless injury derailment...it's hard to watch. The high-end talent is undeniable, wouldn't wish that career on anyone.

Just give the guy one complete season hockey gods, damn.

Should have had a long and illustrious career with St. Loo. He's an easy Jordan Kyrou with better passing ability.

 

Want to trade some DET fans for Flames fans?

[conundrumed]

13 hours ago, travel_dude said:

 

Want to trade some DET fans for Flames fans?

If Calgary had the Wings, Lions and Pistons for the past 10 years, their expectation level would be zero too.lol

Let alone the economic collapse.

Recovery on most fronts has everyone supercharged though.

A nice line yesterday with Rasmussen-Compher-Perron, they looked fantastic. Tuomisto finally showed the slapper everyone's been talking up.

Bedard had some great moments, but damn that team is not going to be good no how.

Detroit ran about 1/2 a roster and the other half a mix of top prospects. Pretty much looked like a practice.

Chicago ran a roster, that's about the nicest way I can put it.

Shots favoured the D only 34-29. Lalonde is quite literally running these games like practices, particularly when they go up a couple of goals.

6-1 actually flatters the Hawks.

Detroit's going to have a handful of cuts that would probably make the Hawks roster. Grand Rapids should be fire this year. Injuries were a huge deal last year, they won't have near the same impact this year. Just not Husso, he needs to stay healthy for the best chance.

Ottawa and Buffalo getting all of the press is perfect! It'll be interesting to see how these 3 teams make out this year. A study in roster builds.

It's really too bad Danielson's only option is jr. He's more than ready for the A.

[travel_dude]

5 hours ago, conundrumed said:

If Calgary had the Wings, Lions and Pistons for the past 10 years, their expectation level would be zero too.lol

Let alone the economic collapse.

Recovery on most fronts has everyone supercharged though.

A nice line yesterday with Rasmussen-Compher-Perron, they looked fantastic. Tuomisto finally showed the slapper everyone's been talking up.

Bedard had some great moments, but damn that team is not going to be good no how.

Detroit ran about 1/2 a roster and the other half a mix of top prospects. Pretty much looked like a practice.

Chicago ran a roster, that's about the nicest way I can put it.

Shots favoured the D only 34-29. Lalonde is quite literally running these games like practices, particularly when they go up a couple of goals.

6-1 actually flatters the Hawks.

Detroit's going to have a handful of cuts that would probably make the Hawks roster. Grand Rapids should be fire this year. Injuries were a huge deal last year, they won't have near the same impact this year. Just not Husso, he needs to stay healthy for the best chance.

Ottawa and Buffalo getting all of the press is perfect! It'll be interesting to see how these 3 teams make out this year. A study in roster builds.

It's really too bad Danielson's only option is jr. He's more than ready for the A.

 

I'm interested to see how CHI can play this year.  Expectations through the roof already and the kid hasn't played a game.  Which is fine, he will be good.  But, no different than a rookie McDavid on a bad team.  Their D is bad, except for Jones.  Lining up for the next 1st overall are they?

[conundrumed]

7 minutes ago, travel_dude said:

Lining up for the next 1st overall are they?

Not a bad plan. Celebrini and Eiserman are going to be spectacular. Eiserman has 10g through 6 games so far. Caulfield has the record with 72 in a season. I'm pretty sure that record is going to fall.

Eiserman belongs with Yzerman.lol

[sak22]

On 10/2/2023 at 10:11 AM, conundrumed said:

Not a bad plan. Celebrini and Eiserman are going to be spectacular. Eiserman has 10g through 6 games so far. Caulfield has the record with 72 in a season. I'm pretty sure that record is going to fall.

Eiserman belongs with Yzerman.lol

 

 

[conundrumed]

izeerman is a legend! lol

[conundrumed]

The Bedard show with a 4-2 win. 1g,2a. The line is Hall-Bedard-T.Johnson.

Lots of PPs included such luminaries as Perry and Foligno. The Hawks look like a world of pain this season.

Outshot the D 34-17.

Still not sure why Michael Hutchinson's Travelling Yard Sale is with Detroit. NHL preseason NHLer guidelines I guess.

Berggren-Veleno-Kostin looked great together, particulary on the cycle. 4th line?

Rasmussen-Ladd-Perron looked not even close to Compher centering. Ladd needs a bounce back after starting later last season due to injury. Outside of those 2 lines it was all prospects and Doucet and Albert Johanson were the best.

It's hard to watch feeds that aren't Mickey and Ken.lol

 

[conundrumed]

Yet another great experience in Detroit for the Leafs game. The Wings slept through the first half so it was fun to see Lalonde comment post-game that they were playing way too slow to start. NHLers honestly do not give af in the preseason.lol

But how else do you get great seats for $60?lol

Not really anything against Kubalik, but holy crap does Sprong ever do it better. Not sure why I was so "whatever" about him. He's a better Vrana. Damn can he shoot.

Veleno is either the best or worst player on the ice, nothing in between. So it's, "holy crap what a shift by Veleno", or, "wtf is Veleno doing"? Hope it becomes 80-20 rather than 50-50.

Detroit should have a lot of depth scoring this year. Interested to see what the actual opening night roster will be.

I completely wouldn't mind Danielson getting a few games in, but there's so much depth that I'm not sure how. Would have to move Copp or Compher to wing for him. What a smart player though, has not looked out of his element add all. Just lots of good, smart plays and a stellar PKer. He's already their best PKer I think. Had him out for 5-on-3s. Honestly wouldn't mind a 3rd line look of Berggren-Danielson-Compher. Put all of the high IQ guys together.

Won't happen, but damn they have a lot of moving parts to put wherever, whenever. Interesting strategy. Lalonde has a lot to juggle. Likely DeBrincat-Larkin-Raymond. But the whole bottom 9 looks more about hot hands and who you're playing. D is the same.

That's a lot of change, but Lalonde's being provided with player options for now.

I just hope for once hockey gods, let Fabbri have a full season to show everyone that he's an exceptional player.

Is Fabbri any good? How many NHLers are around with THAT injury history?

He's that good. Easy top 6 for the Wings, really easy. When healthy.

[conundrumed]

Monkey off the back with a 5-2 win at Ottawa.

PP rocking at 9 for 17, yikes.

Big game vs the Flames tomorrow. Stay out of the box!!

[conundrumed]

A rundown on reality stats:

Flames @ Detroit

GF/G: 2.8(t-20th) @ 4.8(1st)

GA/G: 3.2(t-17th) @ 2.6(t-9th)

PP%:   16.7(t-18th @ 50(1st)

PK%:   94.1(5th) @ 85.7(10th)

FO%:   55.3(3rd) @ 51.1(12th)

Combined winning% of competition so far: 41.7 @ 57.1

Keys for the Flame imo:

- reduce turnovers

- get Reimer moving and he'll be a fish out of water

- DON'T get into run 'n gun

- DON'T give them many PP opportunities

- Markstrom has to be lights out

I DO NOT like the Flames chances. Lalonde had the Wings ready right out of the gate. Huska is still trying to figure things out. Play a boring game. DO NOT try to sit on ANY lead, they will score in bunches. Don't get confident dominating the 1st, the Sens outshot them about 18-3 in the 1st. The Wings took over from there.

Most of all, those ugly D-zone turnovers WILL end up in your net, quickly. They thrive on it.

Do not let them play their chaos game. All 4 lines can play it.

On top of their b2b, they have a "meet the players" event starting at about 2pm as they enter the arena, so a bit of a circus for the kids and maybe a tired team.

I'll be in the Budweiser Biergarten for the tailgate.lol Fundraiser for United Way Maui. Beer for a good cause!!

 

[conundrumed]

After watching the TBay @ TML game last night I feel much better about the Wings. Tbay will get Vasilevsky back soon to help, but damn that's some fugly hockey going on. Not unlike the Oilers, these 2 look like outscoring their structural issues are going to be key.

The Wings can play flat (FLA game) and I worry about their D play. But after watching this gong show, I feel like the Wings should be beating both of these teams.

The tough sked continues tonight as they visit the Rangers, who are playing really well. Should be another huge test and entertaining game.

Ran 11F, 7D against the Bruins, hope they don't do that again. Petry barely played, and Larkin left the game for a while knocking it down to 10F. Copp, Compher, Veleno and Rasmussen are providing great depth and PK. DeBrincat looks meh but Raymond looks great.

Larkin has been unreal. He does absolutely everything from battles to finesse to PP and PK. Just an all around threat most shifts. Absolute General out there, so awesome to see for a guy whose whole career has languished on a bottom team. Zero question who the captain is. Even I didn't think he was this good!

Any Lindholm comparisons are dead. Larkin puts the team on his back most nights.

[conundrumed]

Could not understand why Detroit was keeping Alex Lyon on the team but not playing him. As it turns out, Ville Husso did not travel to Sweden with the team as he awaits the birth of his first child. Lyon has backed up Reimer on occasion on the road.

I was also wondering what is wrong with Husso this year, he's not the same.

So 1, I love that by the wings if that is indeed the reason. 2, Husso looks a fair bit like Markstrom last year, in and out of focus. Exact same situation.

But treated entirely differently, it would appear.

[travel_dude]

4 hours ago, conundrumed said:

Could not understand why Detroit was keeping Alex Lyon on the team but not playing him. As it turns out, Ville Husso did not travel to Sweden with the team as he awaits the birth of his first child. Lyon has backed up Reimer on occasion on the road.

I was also wondering what is wrong with Husso this year, he's not the same.

So 1, I love that by the wings if that is indeed the reason. 2, Husso looks a fair bit like Markstrom last year, in and out of focus. Exact same situation.

But treated entirely differently, it would appear.

 

If the pending birth has any impact, it would line up with two other goalies that faced the same decline in "focus" or general play.

Talbot in EDM - as much the play in front of him, but he looked worse

Markstrom in CGY - seemed to impact him a lot.

 

I would say that they gave Talbot some time, but as usual dumped on him.

Fans probably dumped on Markstrom more than the team did.

Then again, both goalies declined, but how much was coaching and how much team in front?

[conundrumed]

Damn, deserved a better fate than 1 point in 2 games. Let's go home.

Kudos to TSN for only showing Leafs games and making everything they do about the Leafs.🤮

I now have a strict ban on Leafs games this season, only vs Wings or Flames or it's an unrelenting no. My Leafs buddies love me.lol

I've hit the wall on being inundated.

Where's that ban hammer with the Leafs logo...it's getting framed!!!

[conundrumed]

Lyon looking good in his 3rd game, up 3-1 on Minny with 5mins left. 33 shots against so far.

It's gotta be time to lose Reimer...

Team's having a good season even with a handful of letdowns. 4th in the conference after this win, 2nd in GF, 3rd in differential.

Still room to clean up defensively, Husso hopefully playing better now that the new child has been borne.

The off season adds have all generally added stability in a lot of areas.