OT: Mrazek
February 8th, 2013 at 11:51 AM ^
He's going to be good. Scale back on the excitement, though. It'll be a few years and it may not even be for the Red Wings as he has a lot to compete with to eventually land that spot (think: Varlamov in Washington).
Also, Kuznetsov was the MVP of the '12 WJC...
February 8th, 2013 at 12:05 PM ^
DC might not be happy with the use of the 'Superman' mark
February 8th, 2013 at 12:05 PM ^
this makes me love him even more. So rad
February 8th, 2013 at 12:23 PM ^
This one was pretty awesome too...
February 8th, 2013 at 2:09 PM ^
I can't find a good picture, but Bryan Hogan had Wolverine from X-Men on his mask.
February 8th, 2013 at 12:26 PM ^
that Babcock gives him the opportunity to prove himself. He has a lot of poise for a rookie...
February 8th, 2013 at 12:32 PM ^
Did the NHL strike get resolved, or something? What are you guys talking about?
February 8th, 2013 at 12:44 PM ^
God would I love to see the Wings get a goalie that could steal a game or two instead of always hoping we can either get average play or score enough to overcome their shortcomings. I'm 53 and I cant even begin to count the number of games (seemingly always in the playoffs) where the wings would outshoot their opponent like 45 to 15 and lose 2-1 cause the other goalie stood on his head and ours let in a couple of softies.
February 8th, 2013 at 1:11 PM ^
I think the issue for years has been the Wings style of play. For years, the offense has been Lidstrom from the point and Homer deflecting shots, gathering rebounds, and passing the puck. They do NOT go aggressively to the net and haven't in years. Many Goals come from crashing the net and getting traffic. The Wings haven't done that a whole lot in the Lidstrom years. Maybe they will more without him and Homer.
February 8th, 2013 at 2:06 PM ^
Every once in a while Franzen decides to not be lazy and goes aggressively to the net. More often than not this results in a goal.
I wish he did it more often...
February 8th, 2013 at 2:41 PM ^
It's great to have someone who stands there and did what homer did. But I'd rather have a team of guys who drive to the net hard and are willing to get the "dirty"goals. I'd rather see 3 dirty goals on 20 shots than one goal or get shut out on 40 shots. Ideally, you would see some of both, a couple skill players and a grinder maybe instead of just a puck deflector. But that's not the way most of the Wings work. And the third and fourth lines, whose job it is to do this, if you want to go by skill vs. grinder type, hadn't done at all this year. Think back to The Grind Line, and they probably got 40 goals a year collectively doing that.
February 8th, 2013 at 2:41 PM ^
It's great to have someone who stands there and did what homer did. But I'd rather have a team of guys who drive to the net hard and are willing to get the "dirty"goals. I'd rather see 3 dirty goals on 20 shots than one goal or get shut out on 40 shots. Ideally, you would see some of both, a couple skill players and a grinder maybe instead of just a puck deflector. But that's not the way most of the Wings work. And the third and fourth lines, whose job it is to do this, if you want to go by skill vs. grinder type, hadn't done at all this year. Think back to The Grind Line, and they probably got 40 goals a year collectively doing that.
February 8th, 2013 at 12:45 PM ^
I for one was super pumped about the Monster, Jonas Gustavsson, but am just as happy after seeing what Mrazek has to offer and what hes done the past few years. I think Howards inconsistency and knack for letting in the weakest of goals is what turns me off about him. Just think its time to switch it up in net a bit, Vancouver tried it and now they're pretty sure they wanna dump Luongo.
February 8th, 2013 at 12:49 PM ^
Fair comparison, but unfortunately the Wings don't have someone that they can turn to like Vancouver did.
February 8th, 2013 at 1:07 PM ^
Also Vancouver changed their plan and are now more likely to trade Schneider
February 8th, 2013 at 1:10 PM ^
Sure, because no one in their right mind (the Islanders don't need another goaltender) would take Luongo on the terms Vancouver is willing to move him on.
February 8th, 2013 at 1:16 PM ^
Didn't see your post until now, but yes, Luongo is definetely giving management something to think about. Although it would be very interesting and awesome to see Luongo back in Florida. I think theyd have a hard time rationalizing trading Schneider, he has proven himself on some major stages.
February 8th, 2013 at 1:12 PM ^
And in fairness to Luongo, he has started to prove management wrong and really make them second guess it. Its going to be hard for them to keep Cory Schneider off the ice though. NOT a bad position to be in. cant wait (Bart Scott voice) to see The Monster healthy.
ALSO, major props on the Clarence Beeks MgoProfile, I would definetaly buy frozen concentrated orange juice from you.
February 8th, 2013 at 2:51 PM ^
He's definitely picked up his play, but he would still make me nervous going forward since his issues always seem to crop up when the games really start to matter.
Thanks. It's awesome when people actually get the reference!
February 8th, 2013 at 12:59 PM ^
It is wonderful that the Wings now have quality depth in goal.
But defense wins hockey games, and they really need to get their defense figured out.
February 8th, 2013 at 1:10 PM ^
is our goalie of the now and future, I think he turns 29 this year. That being said, I watched the game last night and was impressed with Mrazek.
I agree that our defense needs work but we have great young talent with Smith and Lashoff. I think the Wings may be able to strike lightning twice and transition from Z and Datsyuk to Nyquist and Tartar.
I think we can make the playoffs but need to clean up the back end for sure.
February 8th, 2013 at 3:57 PM ^
"and transition from Z and Datsyuk to Nyquist and Tartar."
Tartar sauce or Tatar salad?
February 8th, 2013 at 1:36 PM ^
How do you pronounce that? It's like someone threw a bunch of Scrabble pieces out chose their last name that way.
~Herm
February 8th, 2013 at 2:53 PM ^
HERM'D
February 8th, 2013 at 7:00 PM ^
Waaaaay to early to tell. But he did look damn good last night. Even the 1 goal he did let in kind of seemed like a brain fart on his part, not something with his technical skills.
February 8th, 2013 at 11:36 PM ^
I definitely wouldn't count that as a brain fart. He was in proper position and the puck seemed to squirt out to an open forward on the doorstep on a power play. If anything is was lucky for the Blues forward to have gotten that bounce. The kid played solid all night long. As others have said, it would be amazing to have a Rinne-like goalie steal some games. Howard is pretty solid but this guy could be something special.