Well…as I do every year before the first Wings game, now is the time to take a look at the Wings prospects for the year…what the pundits are saying and my own impressions from what I’ve read over the past month or so. Today, there was a long interview with Hank Z in the Free Press that struck me for it’s wistfulness…and Hank’s realization the the game has changed since he entered the league in 2002….he talked about Stevie Y and Nicky and it sure sounded like he was trying to put a good face on the teams prospects for this year but it was clear that this year will be a struggle to stay even where they were last year…and barely making the playoffs can’t be the goal for the year. But, what do you do to change that when the talent just isn’t there? As always, I am holding out hope that a miracle will happen and the youngsters will step up and gel into a team that can go farther than the first round of the playoffs….still looking forward to the season but with more reality intruding than I can remember….but, I will get out the gear and watch every game I can…Let’s Go Red Wings!
Tag Archives: NHL
Stopping NHL concussions…
Well….after two of our stars on the Wings have been put out of commission by hits to the head this season, I think there needs to be a re-think of the penalties that are levied when these things happen…and a flash came to me this morning how to stop these dangerous hits right in their tracks…it’s pretty simple really…the person causing the injury should be suspended until the injured player comes back…in the case of Frantzen’s injury where the dirty hit to the head has put him out possibly for the rest of the season…the idiot who hit him would be suspended without pay for the rest of the season and if he can’t come back, that’s it for the guy who hit him….and the same thing would be effective for the idiot who punched Hank a few games back and put him out for two games now and possibly many more. I think people would stop these intentional dirty plays if the cost was high enough….there is no place for this kind of crap with the bigger, faster players that are in the NHL now who can end a career with just one hit….
Thankfully, I was wrong…
Well….while I was over at J and K’s last night, we were talking about the prospect of even having an NHL season this year and I felt that there was not going to be one…thankfully, I was wrong. Woke up this morning to the news that the NHL and the players have reached an agreement and there will be a season starting in two weeks! It has been one of the things that has been a big hole in my life since the fall, not being able to watch the Wings on a cold wintry night with a cocktail and texting…so, let’s play!
Haven’t done a sports one in a while…
Well…I’m sitting here with an eagle eye on the roast that I’m cooking for the big meal of the day (don’t want it to get over 130 degrees) and thought that I’d say something about sports…wait, better go check to see if I’m missing anything from the BPL…okay, just re-runs so I’ll continue here. First, I am getting used to there not being any NHL this year and I think that may be a problem for the league if they continue this disastrous lock out much further….and, I blame the whole thing on the owners and their greed; thinking only of squeezing more and more money out of the players with no thought to the thousands of people who are the support network for the league and whose livelihood depends on the games being played. Shame on these rich assholes…just more of the same form these folks…the same types who have said they will hurt their employees just to avoid Obamacare…what a bunch of idiots. Hmmmm….oh, the Lions…I think we have another Barry Sanders thing going on with Megatron…the best player in the league being wasted on a team that looks like it has quit…losing 7 in a row? Fire the coach and GM and let’s get rebuilding again so maybe they will be good for the first time in my long lifetime….Hmmm…okay, Man U. What the heck is wrong with these guys? I know they are top of the chart over in the BPL but tying Sunderland? With Rooney, VanPersie, and Chicharito on the team? Another case of a team underperforming for the talent they have…it seems like that is a pattern for the teams I follow….maybe I should stop and they’ll get better? We’ll see tomorrow when Man U plays….
The first Red Wings update…
Well…I completely forgot that today was the first day of free agency for the NHL and I thought I’d do what is probably going to be a running set up updates as the signings happen…there were a couple of developments today…not the big blockbuster that would come from signing Suter or Parise, but a couple of players that might help did sign. We’re familiar with Sammy (Mikel Samuelsson) who played for us on the last Stanley Cup team….and Jordin Tootoo from Nashville….Tootoo could add a little grit and meanness to the team but I am concerned sometimes when an abrasive player is added to our finesse team…but, the league is heading in that direction so maybe we have to keep up. One signing that I’m not so sure of is is the Swedish goalie that played for Toronto last year…and they gave this guy 1.5 million for 2 years…why not give one of the prospects in GR a chance? That’s what they are there for, after all.
Oh, the goaltender we signed is named Gustavsson….still not sure that was a good idea…especially with a 2.98 GAA and a.900 save pct from last year…
I just don’t know…
Well…I have been railing on against the idiocy of the right all week and it has taken a lot out of me…and has taken me dangerously close to the feeling that events in the US have gotten out of hand…that we are sliding back to the bad old days where we citizens don’t mean much when compared to the clout that business and the moneyed interests have. But, I’m not going to turn this one into another screed against this rising tide…we all need to take a break sometimes and this is going to be mine…and talk about some other things that may be uplifting or might not….maybe getting away from the charged rhetoric will help me cleanse my head today, I’ve had the feeling that this might be necessary for a while now; that my heart was just not in it and I was lacking in lucidity…just going through the motions. So, today, I’m just going to ramble a bit and just talk…hoping that something will make me feel better about the world and myself. Who knows?
Hmmm…it is kind of heartening to see the people in some of the Arab countries get to the point where they have said enough, enough of the cronyism and theft by the elites that leave the people with no voice and no institutions that can help them express their desire for freedom…but I do have the fear that the well organized religious zealots will co-opt the popular uprisings and make it worse for them in the short term. We can hope that that won’t happen but unfortunately history is not on the side of the people…I just hope the US comes down on the side of freedom no matter what pain it causes us….
Oh, Sarah Palin…..nope, not going to write anything here….just a reminder that the ban on Sarah takes effect in three days…
Sports….I don’t really think that sports matters in the overall scheme of things…but I do want to say I am so happy that Nick Lidstrom was chosen for one of the captains in the NHL all star game this weekend…a better sports figure has never been seen here in Michigan….well…maybe Al Kaline or Alan Trammel…I feel good that we had these men to watch over the years….and it is so nice to see the unassuming kids we have coming up through the system for the Red Wings….probably one of the reasons I like hockey so much…very few self absorbed idiots…I forgot to talk about the new racing season that is starting tomorrow with the 24 Hours of Daytona…always the kick off of the year and I am looking forward to it..I think…not so much the Nascar season…I am tired of Jimmie Johnson and the lack of innovation that the series shows….way too many rules that make the racing bland and repetitive and it is only getting worse…guys, this is the reason people have stopped coming to the tracks and watching, not the points system…and, while we’re at it…lets get rid of the “Chase” and go back to talking about everyone that is on the track not just the top 12…
Okay…that’s enough isn’t it? I’ll try to get another one out later but I’m not sure if it will be a good idea or not…I’m sitting here listening to Pandora and just want to get out the last book from the bag o books I got from T and escape for a while….