Wow. Check out this article entitled, "George Malik is a Whiner" by the Toronto Maple Leafs blog, Pension Plan Puppets. Apparently, they have some issues with one of the most consistent Red Wings bloggers out there...
George Malik knows so much about which teams won't make the playoffs based on poor play in October because he's a Red Wings fan and watched them only qualify for the playoffs twice between 1967 and 1983. When the Leafs are that bad feel free to come back and make fun of us Malik.
Of course, it's always nice to point on the PAST struggling of the Red Wings when your team hasn't made the play-offs in four straight years, eh?
Look I'm all for dissenting opinions here but when you're the lone voice saying Gustavsson isn't good and he stops the Red Wings 35 times on 36 attempts (7 on the penalty kill, 3 by Datsyuk, 7 by Zetterberg) you look like a @#$%-ing clown.
So I read the article by Malik and looked for the words "Gustavsson isn't good"...guess what? I never found it. Malik suggested that the "legend of the Monster" may have been played up a bit. Take that personal, did we?
On behalf of Toronto fans we apologize for being excited to watch our best player. We'll work harder to ensure that no one is excited about Phil Kessel so that no one cheers so that the Red Wings can pretend they're at home playing in front of a half empty stadium.
Average attendance for Toronto Maple Leafs: 19, 266
Average attendance for Detroit Red Wings: 19,243
**granted, Detroit is at 95.9% capacity and Toronto is 102.5%. But, "half empty" you say?
Malik quote: Gustavsson himself made a telling comment about the Wings' contentment with playing perimeter hockey:PPP's response: This is classic annoying fan of a team with recent success syndrome. Malik is implying that the Red Wings lost because they played poorly and that Toronto is a bad team.
Toronto's not a bad team. The Leafs will probably finish behind Detroit in the points race when the dust settles on this season, but the Leafs will finish this season 1-0-0 against the Red Wings. They finished last year 1-0-0 against the Red Wings and they finished the year before that 1-0-0 against the Red Wings. I'm ok with that.
i read and enjoy both PPP and snapshots. i think what is going on here is both of them, like most team-dedicated hockey blogs, are founts of homerism. the difference is that malik openly acknowledges it, but it would be easy to get confused because he is really a great compiler of relevant news. what i'm saying is i don't read snapshots for malik's analysis of what he tracks down; i prefer the chief's flair for wings-centric anaylsis. PPP on the other hand has several contributors and is a more comprehensive place, and they are serious about being leafs fans. whoever wrote this PPP post had a viable target in malik but still had to construct straw men out of what was actually said to create some easy targets. and hey, i'm pretty sure we would have made a few cracks about the leafs and their point total had things gone the other way. there is a time and place for everything, but as for this game i preferred the wrap ups from the triple deke and down goes brown. sometimes it is best just to chuckle and move on.
ReplyDeletekudos for backin up malik though drew, that poor guy gets disrespected all over the place and he really does do some valuable stuff. everyone keep up the good work.
Wow, what a overrecation. PPP is a solid blog usually, but that is the definition of taking things out of context.
ReplyDeleteBTW, I think you could make the argument that Gustavsson is one of the most talented goaltenders in the league. (Not best, not yet at least...) He simply is phenominally fast and his positioning couldn't be more rock solid. I really wonder if the Wings looked at him at all.
Chris, I agree with you on the fact that 'The Monster' is swiftly emerging as one of the best goalies in the league. He's athletic, fast, has good positioning.. that's all true.. But have you seen his rebound control? Or the way he lets out those big juicy rebounds?? Perfect example was againt Tampa. The Leafs played Tampa on Nov. 3 . Gustavsson vs Niittymaki. Both goaltenders were excellent. The game was 1-1 and it went to OT. The Lightning eventually won on a goal by Ryan Malone..
ReplyDeleteThe regulation goal that was scored on the leafs was Gustavsson's fault, first and foremost. He made an incredibly bad pass into the neutral zone, where Ohlund (a tampa defense), picked it off, and fired a shot in. Gustavsson made the save but kicked the rebound right to Vincent Lecavalier who put it in the net.
''Gustavsson, brilliant to that point, played a puck that might have been icing behind his goal and fired it into the neutral zone, where Ohlund picked it off. The Swedish defenceman charged in and fired a slapshot that was kicked out by Gustavsson right to Lecavalier, who fired the rebound into the empty net at 18:34 of the middle period for his second of the season.''
-- Recap of the goal.. from the NHL site.
http://mapleleafs.nhl.tv/team/console.jsp?catid=802&id=50469 -- Whole game recap video
That said, Detroit has 3 young goalies in training (not including Howard) who have all proved to be solid netminders. Fact of the matter is Detroit doesn't need another young goalie, and Kenny and Babs have faith in Ozzie and Howard so that's the way it's going to be.