gehringer_2

Pistons are pretty much in a straight-jacket. They have no assets to trade. They can try to take on some bad contracts but that won't get them that far. There really isn't much they can do besides do their damnedest to turn Ivey and Duren into better players and keep pushing Cade to work on his 3pt shooting. Other than that it's wait through at least 2 more drafts to get a couple of real NBA players - and that only happens if they dump Weaver.

> whether or not he (and debrincat) sacrifice too much defense is another question. Indeed. They've taken a step back defensively since the Kane signing. That doesn't mean Lalonde won't eventually figure it out, but the adjustment has not been smooth. > petry is cooked. holl and maata are regular healthy scratches. in hindsight, yzerman spent too much money on old defense this offseason. Yup. But I'm not sure urgency is the most fair knock for a rookie Dman. They are mostly and rightly trying to play carefully worried about making mistakes in the much faster and more dangerous game. I don't think I'd be looking for 'urgency' until he had a good chunk of a season under his belt - which - to your point - is why he needs to be playing. We have to recalibrate the comparisons to Seider. Finding a second guy at his level back to back was too much to expect, that doesn't mean Simon can't still be a step up from a Petry who just can't defend any reasonable amount of space anymore.

I'm with Edman - I think the Arbitration thing is being over analyzed. Avila wouldn't let anyone go to arbitration - the team lost like crazy so what good that that do anyone? They settled with 4 out of 5, that's pretty good evidence they were reasonable enough. No team needs to be at the outlier end of a normal process like Avila was.

I don't know WTH that is supposed to mean. What more can he possible want? Language that holds him harmless no matter what he does or something? If so, I guess it will be on the the NFL for Jim because he will never get that.

Silly. The argument for Buffalo not having a roof was $$$. The rest was the lipstick on the pig.

Correct. Since the arbiter has to pick one number or the other you win in arbitration by being one step more reasonable than the other side. OTOH, there are a lot of other factors and history contributing to what the last number on the table in the negotiations was.

The only question for JJ to answer it whether he can be consistent with the + accuracy he shows sometimes. He has the rest of the package - strong arm, strong arm on the move, mobility, and demonstrated talent at extending plays.

True. Consider if a corner gives a receiver a 7 yrd cushion, it takes a very large difference in 40 time for that receiver to beat the corner to a spot on a 40 yrd straight line sprint. Ability to change direction is just as important, as in practice that is how most receivers get open most of the time. And likewise for defenders trying to stay with them but even worse because they have to react and then follow. And all that gets trickier to hang numbers on. It's great if a defender has the speed to run down a ball carrier from behind, but once you get to that you've usually already given up a big play! Now it *usually* holds that if a guy can do one thing fast he can do other things fast, but it's not necessarily going to be a one-to-one correlation.

Ivey missed 3 of his 4 FTs? And they lost by 2...../ sigh /

as close as you can get.

I wonder if maybe with Avila there was some 'familiarity breeds contempt" going on? It used to be his bailiwick so no-one could tell him anything about doing it better.

Carmelo will be lucky if anyone in Denver remembers him at all by the time Jokic hangs them up.

Other than the 1 for 7 they have stayed on a pace to make it, but can they avoid another one of those? I suppose if Lyon can keep standing on his head for every 4 out of 5 games they have a shot, even with that Yzerman has to do something to address the D; unless he is planning on pulling the plug for a deadline fire sale one more time.

This. We have no reason to know that the numbers that each side took to arbitration were the same as the last numbers on the table in the negotiation - in fact likely not. The proof one way or the other is whether they go to arb in the end or not.

MI theater is a small non-profit org. They don't have the resources to get into a pissing match with the NFL even if they knew they were right. A one time event isn't a big enough motivation to argue.

All I can say is that if Edvinsson isn't good enough break into this defense group, he must be pretty much a bust.

I think Walman made a bad decision to stay home in front instead of trying to get that loose puck off to his right. Could have given the Wings possession in the series just before the goal.

I know Ras is playing center but I'd like to see him, Larkin and Raymond play together.

Wings dodge a bullet.

Seider knocks down McDavid, not for the 1st time tonight, goes over to tell him ...what? "Come back I'll do it again?"? Kid is totally fearless.

LOL. Walman goes back out after shaking off the hurt - Wings score. Appropriate!

Wings have also spent the game trying to be too perfect - have passed on too many shots looking for the perfect pass.

Now Walman goes off. Wings have no chance against the McDavid line without Seider and Walman and the goal follows almost immediately. Wings aren't going anywhere with only 2 decent defensemen.

Are we getting anything out of Perron lately?

bad stick luck for the Wings. Seider has been on McDavid all game but had to go off to get a stick and it left McDavid unshadowed for just long enough. Petry can't handle him.