Here's today's Three Questions, once again with J.J. from Winging It In Motown. Once mine are published over there (and I get a spare nanosecond of time here), I'll go on and link up to it Here are my responses to his three questions. I have to admit, he stumped me on the third one; I might need your help in the comments here.
Don't forget to check out their game day stuff to see how non-confident they are. Honestly, after Tuesday, my confidence level took a beating too, so I guess we can't gloat too much.
1) What is your confidence level in Jimmy Howard this season? Is it too hard to tell how he's playing when you have so many defensive injuries?
I'm more worried about how many games Jimmy Howard is going to have to play than I am about the man himself. Right now, when looking at the whole team, Howard isn't playing up to snuff. He had an absolutely awful game in Columbus last Saturday, but on the whole, he's not getting the help any goaltender needs in front of him. Howard is a good goalie, but he's not a Dominik Hasek type who can consistently keep poorly-playing teams in games where they don't belong.
2) So far, who do you think has been your most consistent player on the ice? This can be either consistently good or just consistently Kyle Quincey.
Henrik Zetterberg has played well in every game so far. He's been good in his own end, good in transition, and good at keeping the puck in the offensive zone to drive shots. If anything, Niklas Kronwall has been more consistently Kyle Quincey than Kyle Quincey has. Q has played his two shakiest games against the Blues so far this season, but he's played well overall. Meanwhile Kronwall has been just short of a disaster defensively. I might like the points he's putting up, but it's weird having more confidence in the defensive ability of Jonathan Ericsson.
3) If there were one player in the league you could acquire (money is no object here) that you think could tighten things up, who would it be and why?
The Wings badly need a #1 defenseman who can move the puck. Without money/trade issues being an object here, pretty much any of the Norris favorites would do. I personally like Zdeno Chara, but if we're talking about keeping them for the long-term, I'd still rescue Shea Weber from Nashville. He may be getting outscored by Pekka Rinne so far this season, but that's because Nashville has a garbage corps of forwards. He's been defensively sound at least.