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You two seem a little confused about what I was saying. Zetterberg PPG Regular season: 0.95 PPG Playoffs: 0.94 Crosby PPG Regular: 1.39 PPG playoffs: 1.32 Malkin PPG regular: 1.21 PPG playoffs: 1.18 Getzlaf PPG regular: 0.94 PPG playoffs: 0.84 Filppula PPG regular: 0.45 PPG playoffs: 0.55 You'll notice that Flip is the only one of those five whose playoff PPG is higher than their regular season PPG. While the other four are certainly much better players, they are also paid much more. Flip also has the best point/cap hit in the playoffs of all those players. You also seem to have a very misguided notion of what a second line center is supposed to be. Last year, there were 57 centers who scored 40 or more points. There were 25 who scored 60 or more. Only 53 forwards who scored 60 or more. 40+ points IS a decent second line NHL center. Malkin is not the standard for a good second line center. 60+ points pretty much means first line talent. On a Cup caliber team, the standards are higher of course, but that is less an indictment of Flip than it is praise of the Wings. He is certainly no worse than the 5th best forward on the team, and I think it's pretty close between him and Cleary for that spot. Flip's detractors seem to think he either needs to be a consistent scorer or relegated to the third line. The truth is if he could consistently produce points the way he does when he's 'on', that would pretty much make him Datsyuk/Zetterberg, and he'd be commanding twice the salary, and thus playing for another team. You can't compare him to Zetterberg and other superstar players. But some people seem to be under the impression that Flip has to be at that level to be considered valuable. Another thing people complain about how long we've been waiting for Flip to break out, as if certain fans' unrealistic expections determine how successful a player is. A couple years ago, people expected a lot from Flip. People also expected him to center a second line with Franzen and Hossa. Considering he spent the majority of the year centering the third line with Hudler and Sammy, with minimal PP time, 40 points in 80 games WAS a lot. Put him in the top 200 in PPG, top 160 in points, among forwards...fringe 2nd line territory. People expected a lot last year. But who expected him to spend a third of the season out with injury and another third playing with the likes of Leino (Detroit version), Williams, Miller, Abby, etc. Despite that, he was still top 170 in points, and top 120 in PPG. Solidly 2nd line production. In one 31 game stretch after he came back from his injury, he scored 27 points. 31 games is pretty long to be considered an aberrant streak. That's a protracted run of top-line caliber production. The only way you can complain about anything prior to this season is if you ignore circumstance or have insanely unrealistic standards. The guy has real talent offensively. Easily a 2nd-liner by league-wide standards. While his point totals are a bit disappointing thus far this season, people really need to stop judging him by an all-star standard. Need to realize that players like him are going to be streaky and inconsistent scorers, thus why he makes $3M instead of $6M. Realize that a few good games, like the 8 points in 3 games he had last year, would bump him right up close to the 60 point pace people think he should be at. I would trade him for a ~35+ goal scorer in a heartbeat, because the team needs someone like that a lot more than we need someone like Flip. But I'm not going to rag on the kid for not being something he's neither expected to be, nor is paid to be.

Five bucks says Datsyuk practices deking and shooting with just his left hand and within the first week of his return he makes a defensman and/or a goalie look absolutely stupid with only one hand.

...Hater...

I understand that Dats is the superstar of the Wings, and he does just about everything for the team! But...... if we are going to sit here and throw the season away because the loss of one player, then we had no chance to begin with. I personally think this injury is good for the Wings! ADVERSITY! Right now we have too many players out there simply skating around and doing nothing, I don't think I have to mention any names. I think this may be a step up or step aside thing now. I expect to see Mule, Z, Flipper to step up huge, my dark horse is Bert and Eaves. I fully expect this team to pick it up after Christmas, no one is going to feel sorry for us. These guys need to hit the ice with a chip on their shoulders and pick it up, that includes both Goalies, these soft ass goals need to stop (yes, pun inteneded). Time to pick up the play and most importantly, PLAY REDWING HOCKEY DAMMIT!!!! LETS GO WINGS!!!!

his last 2 losses weren't his fault

Eaves outplaying huds, flip and bert Eaves to 2nd line yupppp

Re-sign Eaves to a multi-year deal? Yes please.

Is it crazy to think Eaves might get 20 goals if he stays healthy this year? With 8 already playing on the 4th line I think it's possible. Great to see this guy doing so well for us after being written off in Carolina.

gains the zone, goes to the left circle, curls around looking for someone to pass to works a fourth of the time maybe

Nope.

I don't understand why he doesn't, its really starting to piss me off. Raffi is making a ton of mistakes, I would rather Lidstrom be the one to cover them than any other D on the team. Stuart is more of a defensive defensemen and Kronner is more offensive, it only makes sense they player together not to mention the chemistry they used to have was good. It really suprises me a coach like him hasn't already tried to fix the big problem with the team so far and thats the defense, there getting caught 2 on1 all the time, turning the puck over in there own zone WAY too much, not getting the puck up ice like we've seen the last few years. He keeps messing around with the forward lines, it just makes sense if thats not working to try the defensive pairings as thats where alot of the mistakes have been made in the last 5 or so games. One of the biggest things this year that has pissed me off the most though is the D not clearing the front of the net. The last 2 games 4 goals have been resulted in people standing in front of the net left wide open (Kesler to Sedin twice, and 2 deflections from 2 different St Louis players). You can blame the goaltenders only so long, but if the turnovers in there own zone don't exist and the players screening/deflecting shots in front of the net are eliminated the team would have won majority of the games this month imo.

why doesnt babs put the old defensive lines back together? cause theyre obv not working now lids raf kron stu E salei

Right now Eaves does not need to be on that fourth line in my opinion he deserves to be on the second line. All you have to do is look at his stats more importantly his goals. He has more goals then Bertuzzi who is a second liner, he has just as many goals as Filpula the second line center most of the year. Yeah Eaves doesn't have the assist that the other players have but that can be associated with the line he is playing on which isn't meant to be a scoring line. If you put him on a line with other offensive players his points will increase significantly. This guy is a top 6 foward on this team right now and when they are all healthy he should not be put lower then the third line. There is no way in hell that Hudler should be on the third line when Eaves is scoring and playing circles around him. Right now the second line should be Cleary-Filpula-Eaves and when they are healthy the third line should be Cleary-Modano-Eaves. The guy has earned his right to play a bigger roll on the team and if Babcock is looking for a guy to step up he shouldn't be looking at Hudler should be looking at Eaves.

We know Bertuzzi isn't the one taking the toothpaste. His one tooth doesn't need it.

"How will the wings do w/o Dats?" Not bad I'm sure. If the hawks can hold up with out their two best play makers, the wings should do fine as their depth is superior than that of the hawks.

yep! that is why whenever a thread pops up asking our opionion on which Cup was the best, 1997 is ALWAYS us old-timer's answer! I actually had tears in my eyes when Stevie raised that Cup. I was at work and didn't want to leave until the final credits rolled! God Bless Hockeytown, we have certainly been blessed with this team! You kids don't know how good you've had it!

Do you always let your immagination run wild? Where did I actually say that iFlip was the teams best player to this point? All I said was that he's leading the Griffins in goals (fact), we've lost a centre in Datsyuk and he is a centre (fact), compute? All this talk about people expecting him to be as good as Val is all on you.

Who will win? Capitals Over or Under 6.5 goals (not including any shootout)? Im going Over Will there be OT? yes Will there be a shootout? No Which Team Scores First goal? Pens Will Ovechkin Score a goal? Yes Will Crosby Score a goal? Yes Will Backstrom Score a goal? No Will Malkin score a goal? No Which team will have the most shots? Caps Will there be an Empty Net goal? No Over or Under 12.5 PIM? Over Will there be any fighting majors? No Who will have more points - OV or Crosby (or tie)? Ovy Who will be the three stars of the game (any order - 1 pt for each correct)? Ovy, Crosby, Staal Will there be any precipitation during the game? Yes Happy NEW YEAR and Happy Holidays everyone!

Who will win? CAPITALS Over or Under 6.5 goals (not including any shootout)? OVER Will there be OT? NO Will there be a shootout? NO Which Team Scores First goal? CAPITALS Will Ovechkin Score a goal? YES Will Crosby Score a goal? YES Will Backstrom Score a goal? NO Will Malkin score a goal? NO Which team will have the most shots? CAPITALS Will there be an Empty Net goal? YES Over or Under 12.5 PIM? OVER Will there be any fighting majors? NO Who will have more points - OV or Crosby (or tie)? OVECHKIN Who will be the three stars of the game (any order - 1 pt for each correct)? OVECHKIN BACKSTROM CROSBY Will there be any precipitation during the game? YES