Jeremy Laura: Wings vs Canes - Detroit tries run and gun, Carolina controls the play

Vrana's goal was Datsyukian. Real beauty.

vrana leads players traded at the deadline with 6 goals. thats even more amazing considering the team he plays on.

the vrana trade just confirms yzerman is making all the right moves.

vrana doing more then mantha is and on a far lesser team, and then you account for the draft picks..

also, Mantha back to floating. minus 1, 3 shots in 17 minutes in a playoff preview game vs. the pens.

vrana leads players traded at the deadline with 6 goals. thats even more amazing considering the team he plays on.

the vrana trade just confirms yzerman is making all the right moves.

vrana doing more then mantha is and on a far lesser team, and then you account for the draft picks..
- wingz4life

To be fair, a 4 goal game is the primary win for him. He’s posted zero shots the game before and just one before that. He’s outstanding on the rush but he’s really struggling in D zone and trying to cycle. Washington is cramming games in right now, Ovi and Carlson both down. Vrana will have to add a lot to his game under Yzerman, but his speed is elite

To be fair, a 4 goal game is the primary win for him. He’s posted zero shots the game before and just one before that. He’s outstanding on the rush but he’s really struggling in D zone and trying to cycle. Washington is cramming games in right now, Ovi and Carlson both down. Vrana will have to add a lot to his game under Yzerman, but his speed is elite

It's dangerous to read too much into just a handful of games, but so far Vrana has ... basically been essentially what I expected out of him.

Yes I would like to see him be a little bit better at maintaining offensive zone pressure and a little bit less likely to cough up the puck, but we knew from the start that he wasn't quite as good of a play driver or strong on the puck as Mantha was, and that he'd have to make up for it with his shooting efficiency.

That's essentially what's happened so far. He doesn't create as many total chances as Mantha does, but he's a threat from almost anywhere.

Granted, he's obviously not going to keep scoring on 30+ percent of his shots indefinitely. That is going to come down. Way down.

But just for the sake of argument, if we think 14% shooting (about his career average) and somewhere between 2.5 and 3 shots per game (was getting 2 per game in Washington with third-line minutes and relatively little PP time) is a more realistic goal, that's still a 30-35 goal scorer over 82 games. In Mantha's best seasons (2018-19 and 2019-20) he was only at a 30-goal pace himself.

Long story short, I still think Mantha is the very slightly better player but I love what I've seen so far from Vrana, and while his crazy hot shooting won't continue forever I am also optimistic that he'll continue to improve his all-around game as he gets more familiar with the team (and the team around him also continues to improve).

Pretty ho-hum game all around.

is DeKeyeser okay after getting booted in the jewels?

Pretty ho-hum game all around.

is DeKeyeser okay after getting booted in the jewels?
- BINGO!

I have no clue. I joke about it, but Lidstrom had a “rupture” one year from a fairly innocent play. Peanuts become peanut butter, etc... one of the worst of those injuries I’d heard of was in Rugby. It was the cup final (no pun intended) and a player got clocked. He played the rest of the game with the equivalent of a grapefruit from the rupture. Had surgery afterward.

All I can say, ouch.

I have no clue. I joke about it, but Lidstrom had a “rupture” one year from a fairly innocent play. Peanuts become peanut butter, etc... one of the worst of those injuries I’d heard of was in Rugby. It was the cup final (no pun intended) and a player got clocked. He played the rest of the game with the equivalent of a grapefruit from the rupture. Had surgery afterward.

All I can say, ouch.
- Jeremy Laura

That's a tough one for sure. Dude was down for a while.

I have no clue. I joke about it, but Lidstrom had a “rupture” one year from a fairly innocent play. Peanuts become peanut butter, etc... one of the worst of those injuries I’d heard of was in Rugby. It was the cup final (no pun intended) and a player got clocked. He played the rest of the game with the equivalent of a grapefruit from the rupture. Had surgery afterward.

All I can say, ouch.
- Jeremy Laura

Veleno looked ok, going to adapt & grow as expected. Couple of errant passes which lead to sustained pressure in the D-zone, but I LOVED him getting physical when Panik was cross-checked by the 'Canes bench. Disappointing effort, but he 'Canes are rolling, and they ain't a contender for no reason.

True Story: I was playing rugby at the Valentine's Day Massacre tourney in Breckenridge, CO. Guy got tackled and passed the ball before he hit the ground. He rolled, and I jumped over him....rugby boot, meet left peach. That peach went into hiding. Had to go to the hospital to have it pushed back outta hiding to it's otherwise normal location. Back to the after-party (heavily sedated, I might add), where I added further to the sedation level I'd been brought to in the ER earlier....went to the team hotel and basked in the hot-tub under the moon n stars, and further sedated myself for another hour or so. Awoke to the entire left side of my abdomen and upper-left leg being the colour purple. Must not have been too much damage, I have 2 daughters since then, soooooo….But Lordy Gordy that HURT! The doc who came to my aid on the pitch was a female rugger (eventually played for the US Women's national team for a spell, then was the team doc) - Doc Sue, laughed her hind-quarters off at me as I writhed in pain. See, I was notorious for being, shall we say, less that human in both temperament and social graces whilst playing, so I guess she thought it was Karma for all the rugby songs I'd sing at the drink-ups after matches. Meh, life is what it is.

I have no clue. I joke about it, but Lidstrom had a “rupture” one year from a fairly innocent play. Peanuts become peanut butter, etc... one of the worst of those injuries I’d heard of was in Rugby. It was the cup final (no pun intended) and a player got clocked. He played the rest of the game with the equivalent of a grapefruit from the rupture. Had surgery afterward.

All I can say, ouch.
- Jeremy Laura

Another rugby story; Military Nationals at Fort Carson, CO (Colorado Springs), buddy of mine who was an All-American at West Point, got a boot to the head, 3" gash to his skull. Came off the pitch, looked at me (we played All Army together and in Korea) and asked me to stitch him up. All I had on hand was my sewing kit for my uniform, laid down a dozen or so stitches in his head with my sewing kit, taped his head, he kept playing. Adrenalin is a wonderful thing.

Vrana needs to become a more complete player, yes. But I guess one could say that Detroit needs to become a more complete team, also. Being outshot by double and triple and MORE is not a winning formula. The whole team is a defensive liability! When this team becomes better defensively against a heavy fore check team like Carolina, and gets that first pass to a teammate and not the opposition and transitions out of the zone, things will get better. In the 3rd, Danny Deke had at least 3 weak passes that were picked off in the D-zone that became dangerous scoring chances! He has been a turn over machine, and I hope he either recovers from what is ailing him, retires, or is bought out! Hopefully the former, but I have my doubts.

Another rugby story while we are at it, Team Canada vs India and some dude pulls out a razor blade from his taped wrists and slashes my femoral artery. I go to the bench almost out from loss of blood and reach in and pull out the two separated pieces of artery while my buddy went and got some JB Weld from his truck and we glued that sonofafemale dog back together. I went on to score 11x, and the Indian guy that cut me died of dysentery like 4 months later.

Another rugby story while we are at it, Team Canada vs India and some dude pulls out a razor blade from his taped wrists and slashes my femoral artery. I go to the bench almost out from loss of blood and reach in and pull out the two separated pieces of artery while my buddy went and got some JB Weld from his truck and we glued that sonofafemale dog back together. I went on to score 11x, and the Indian guy that cut me died of dysentery like 4 months later.
- ShooterMcGavin

Well aren't you just begging for attention. What a waste, dude. But hey, thanks for adding absolutely NOTHING to society. You're a real gem.

Bugger off.

Vrana needs to become a more complete player, yes. But I guess one could say that Detroit needs to become a more complete team, also. Being outshot by double and triple and MORE is not a winning formula. The whole team is a defensive liability! When this team becomes better defensively against a heavy fore check team like Carolina, and gets that first pass to a teammate and not the opposition and transitions out of the zone, things will get better. In the 3rd, Danny Deke had at least 3 weak passes that were picked off in the D-zone that became dangerous scoring chances! He has been a turn over machine, and I hope he either recovers from what is ailing him, retires, or is bought out! Hopefully the former, but I have my doubts.
- HenryHockey

Think it goes back to the system in place. We've plowed that field over & over, and we all tend to agree that Blash isn't the guy to implement a system that's productive. My concern is that the assistant coaches don't seem to be value added, either. There are some really good days, and some really bad days. As we begin to inculcate new players (Veleno, Vrana, etc...), they need to be coming into the system that'll be used going forward, the system that is supposed to take us to the next level....and that's not Blash's system (at least I don't think it is...). So the inevitable question is who is the next guy and when is he coming aboard?

Detroit's got some really good talent, though. They've punched WAY above their weight class this year, so the proof is in the record & improvement. I said at the beginning of the season I just wanted to see improvement...and I have. So, in the aggregate, I'm happy with how things have gone. we know who the gaps are in the team, and we HOPE they'll be gone next year, or very soon.

Another rugby story; Military Nationals at Fort Carson, CO (Colorado Springs), buddy of mine who was an All-American at West Point, got a boot to the head, 3" gash to his skull. Came off the pitch, looked at me (we played All Army together and in Korea) and asked me to stitch him up. All I had on hand was my sewing kit for my uniform, laid down a dozen or so stitches in his head with my sewing kit, taped his head, he kept playing. Adrenalin is a wonderful thing.
- mcmastermike1968

I read this to my wife. I started watching Rugby more a couple years ago. I’ve watched players re set their own knee, and play an entire half with a broken arm (didn’t know until after the game). Those guys are crazy tough, and well, crazy crazy.

Think it goes back to the system in place. We've plowed that field over & over, and we all tend to agree that Blash isn't the guy to implement a system that's productive. My concern is that the assistant coaches don't seem to be value added, either. There are some really good days, and some really bad days. As we begin to inculcate new players (Veleno, Vrana, etc...), they need to be coming into the system that'll be used going forward, the system that is supposed to take us to the next level....and that's not Blash's system (at least I don't think it is...). So the inevitable question is who is the next guy and when is he coming aboard?

Detroit's got some really good talent, though. They've punched WAY above their weight class this year, so the proof is in the record & improvement. I said at the beginning of the season I just wanted to see improvement...and I have. So, in the aggregate, I'm happy with how things have gone. we know who the gaps are in the team, and we HOPE they'll be gone next year, or very soon.
- mcmastermike1968

I don't know if Blash is THE guy or not. But then did this team get better despite him? I think he gets better as the team gets more talented. Whether it is enough, that needs to be determined. I would not mind him getting another year, maybe 2 and see. He probably would save them money, too. Gallant would be costly as well as any seasoned successful NHL coach. Detroit would rather spend it on player salaries then coaches right now.