lordstanley

I'm getting that message a lot now, starting about a week ago.

For the 4th time this season, the Wings win and the Leafs lose on the same night.

Can the Wings hang on to the lead for a final 4:10?

Larkin ties it. Need a win tonight.

And now the challenge with no hope. “They just do not understand the rule”.

I finished Posnanski's book last month. Really enjoyed it. I'd say close to half the stories were either unfamiliar to me or else revealed nuggets or twists about incidents I thought I knew about.

Coming off a 4-5-1 month against many tough opponents, the Wings' record or position in the standings heading into November isn't a disaster but they need to play way, way better than they did the first 1/8 of the season, if they're capable. No better time to start that than with tonight's home game against a mediocre opponent.

That ... and talent. Which is why I'm not optimistic a new coach would make much of a difference, although probably worth a try if they don't turn it around in the next couple of weeks. I think the Wings only have 5 above average players on the roster at this point - Larkin, Raymond, Seider, DeBrincat and Kane. Only 5 home grown players of any value at all on the roster - Larkin, Raymond, Seider, Edvinsson and Kasper. Only 2 proven hits by Yzerman - Seider and Raymond, both of whom were top 6 picks overall.

Right. But I don’t think it was physical fatigue that stopped him from running to the bag. I think he was so relieved by seeing the routine ground ball after the intensity of 21 pitches that he had a brain cramp forgetting he had just a bit more work to do.

There is no Lord Stanleyplan.

It actually packed quite a few big moments into a 5-game series

This is the chance. Stanton up with 2 on 1 out.

Dodgers 6 outs away from a Series championship but who will pitch?

Rizzo could get his head blown off if Will Smith connects instead of bunting.

If they lose tonight, the whole top of the 5th will live in infamy. This is an exciting game. 6-5 Yankees back in the lead, but the Dodgers have 2 on 0 out in the 8th.

Yzerman has a few things going for him. a) his name is Steve Yzerman b) the city is obsessed with the Lions’ drive for a Super Bowl which people care about 100x more than the Wings; c) Illitch’s other team took the city on a fun ride; and d) even an Original Six market is a lot more chill than a Canadian market when it comes to hockey. Therefore only diehard hockey fans who are also too young to remember 1995-2008 are keen on putting much pressure on him

I was gone for 10 minutes! So 2 errors, really 3 errors, from what I gather? Slow grounder to 1st would have got the Yankees out of the inning at 5-0 but Cole didn’t cover the bag.

That goal 10 seconds in was predictably deflating, and then a softie by Lyon and another goal and it is 6-2 Winnipeg. 10 games in, what do we think - will the Wings get the 74 pts they did in 2019 before Yzerman was hired after the season?

I’m 10 seconds late getting back to the tv for the start of the 3rd period and it is enough to miss a Jets 4-2 goal. Didn’t even seem like a real play. The Jets player waved at the puck with one hand. https://x.com/ryanhanawwp/status/1851800411956457744?s=61&t=don8lQTnTq5FKXq14p2GMw

Judge swinging better tonight. That home run earlier must have been such a relief. 5- 0 Yankees in the bottom of 4th. Cole has yet to allow a hit.

A couple of goals by the Wings closes it to 3-2 after 2.

Don't worry, the Wings' playoff chances will be 0.2% by Christmas but will call up some dudes from Grand Rapids and pluck a couple off of the waiver wire and go on an improbable run to the 2nd round of the playoffs.

Good question. Yzerman inherited 4 players under 25 with more than 45 points and got rid of three of them via trade or free agency, so that was probably enough. It was already a pretty thorough gutting. By trading AA they got Vrana, a 1st and four 2nds. I guess they needed to show at least one warm body with talent up front. Another question is whether in the summer of 2023 or summer of 2024, you trade some of the younger NHLers or prospects in exchange for proven NHL talent cuts above the Comphers, Sprongs, Chiarots, Holls, etc. of the world. I would have been open to trading anyone in the organization for the right price apart from Seider and Raymond. And yes that includes Larkin, Kaspar, Cossa, Augustine and/or Danielson. You wouldn't have made much of a splash from dealing only the likes of Veleno or Berggren.

Yzerman also inherited an organization that had a prospect pool ranked in the top 10 by multiple sources when he took over. Now, the Wings' turned out not to be a strong prospect pool after all, but almost as much uncertainty and need for hope with the current crop as there was back then. High hopes for Edvinsson and Danielson, decent hope for Kasper, and then a bunch of mid-1st rounders or below which is cool and all but which many teams have.