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Originally Posted by ice4277
I think you've mostly hit the nail on the head. The one thing that has stuck out in my mind, aside from the obvious lack of offensive production from most of the key players, has been the sloppiness in their own end and to some extent in the neutral zone as well. Way too many passes getting intercepted, too many sloppy attempts to clear.
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Yes. This has been a huge problem. A lot has to do with how well Edmonton's been playing, but a lot of it seems to be the result of sloppiness.
That's why I go back and forth on the the Cory Cross isssue. While Cross, in theory, should be able to take care of business in front of his own net (more so than Lebda/Kronwall). Perhaps Cross would fair better. The problem with Cross is two fold. First, he's a bit slow footed, which makes him a penalty waiting to happen. Edmonton can use their speed to get around the big guy on dumps and the like. Second, Cross is a bit of a liability offensively. As you noted, the Wings have had plenty of problems getting the puck out of their own zone and that's with the likes of "offensive" d-men like Lebda and Kronwall on D. Then again, perhaps a simpler approach to clearing the zone (which I assume Cross would adopt) might work better than some of the cutsie passes we've seen.
All that beind said, if the Wings are relying on the addition of Cory Cross to reverse their fortunes, they are in worse shape than I thought.
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Steve Yzerman: 1,755 points in 1,514 regular season games. 185 points in 196 postseason games. A First-Team All-Star, Conn Smythe Trophy winner, Selke Trophy winner, Masterton Trophy winner, member of the Hockey Hall of Fame, Olympic gold medallist, and a three-time Stanley Cup Champion. Longest serving captain of one team in the history of the NHL (19 seasons).
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