As KK member rwbill pointed out earlier today,
And they are 5-12-3 since adding the Priority Waste Management logo on 29 Feb, losing a 10 pt lead on both the NYI and the Pens.
Imagine if the Wings played .500 hockey over the last 20 games. They would have an additional 7 points heading into the last three games. They would be very comfortable in the second spot of the wild card race instead of hoping other teams lose while the Wings try to win their last three games.
That my friends is why the Detroit Red Wings have a 37.1% chance of making the playoffs.
It is the roster that Steve assembled. Move forward and hopefully not more Vets on the roster next season.
Buyout someone and trade another we all hope.
My finger is pointed firmly at Lalonde. Regrettably theyve probably played well enough for him to stay.
from Bob Duff of Detroit Hockey Now,
The Red Wings are sitting with 85 points. Thats the same total as the Washington Capitals and Philadelphia Flyers. Its one behind the Pittsburgh Penguins, holding down the second wild card placing with 86 points. Pittsburghs 6-5 overtime victory over Detroit on Thursday is currently the difference maker in this race....
Detroit, Pittsburgh and Washington each have three games to play. Philadelphia is down to two games on the clubs remaining ledger.
Another factor thats problematic for the Red Wings is that they lose the first tiebreaker to every one of these teams. Thats regulation wins and Detroit has 27 of them. Philadelphia and Washington each have 29, while Pittsburgh owns 31.
What this means is that the Red Wings will need to be a point clear of any challenger in order to claim the posteason position.
Lets look to the final week of the regular season as the Red Wings continue their chase for a playoff spot.
more
This is why I continue to be frustrated by Lalonde. They have absolutely plummeted, all while Lalonde talks about how they played better than the scoresheet shows, how they are pleased to have gotten a point, how the guys shows a lot of heart, how their backs are up against the wall and they tried.
He's the most optimistic person in the game of hockey, and I fear how it carries into the room. He also seems very genuine so I have a hard time believing he's doing anything other than patting the guys on the back for trying hard when they lose. We're talking about grown-ass men. Not 8 year olds who should be getting participation trophies.
They had the Wild Card position firmly locked down but they choked. Hard. Without looking at the numbers, I don't know if the Flyers choked harder, but between the Wings and the Flyers...talk about two teams who let it completely slip away.
I wouldn't be surprised if Torts is gone from Philly after this season. I have no doubt Lalonde will still be in Detroit, whether or not he should be.
I know causality blah blah blah , but if illitchs grubbing for dollars ends with the wings missing millions of playoff revenue, it is kind of a karmic FU.
Who says money has anything to do with this? If that's the case, why did sy pay for meddling free agents instead of bringing up ahl players?
priority paid to be on the jerseys
Okay, this is a stretch.
Chris Ilitch has always run teams like a business as opposed to an owner doing everything he can to win a championship. I've run the examples enough you can do a search and find the many, many posts detailing it thoroughly.
or to put this a way someone can understand:
The Wings still have the 8th lowest payroll AFTER "paying for meddling free agents."
They aren't going to be at max payroll when they have big contracts coming up next over the summer.
The only way they could have spent more was on one year deals. Surely we didn't need more defensive bodies or goaltenders so that leaves forwards. I don't think there was a difference maker available that would have chosen the Wings.
Yzerman choose (he wouldn't be working for Illitch if he didn't have that power) to save the cap in case he wanted to make an in season move. It actually paid off as he was able to land Kane.
I'm pretty sure you'll see the team near cap next year.
From Duff's article:
The Red Wings were 5-2 winners the last time they were the visitors in Toronto on Jan. 14. Former Leafs goalie James Reimer got the win that night. Might Lalonde look to him to again come through?
My thought is it doesn't matter who he starts tomorrow, but if necessary, I would have that goalie on a very short leash, and if he looks as shaky as Lyon did in the first period vs Pittsburgh, I would pull him at the end of the first and go with the other netminder. They cannot afford an off night by their goalie tomorrow.
I miss the days when a Red Wings headline with the numbers 13 and 40 was filled with good news.
Create an Account
In order to leave a comment, please create an account.