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And I will finish you with this - http://espn.go.com/core/espn/magazine/archives/news/story?page=magazine-19980615-article26 Yzerman had the ability to play a two way game since juniors. He focused more on it in 1993 when Bowman came in. Not in 1996 as you originally stated. Yzerman always had it in him and didn't apply it because they needed his offense in the 80s. Kane is NOT known for any sort of inherent defensive ability and likely never will be. So to make a comparison to Kane and Yzerman is a joke. If anything comparing Toews to Yzerman might make a little more sense. Except Yzerman was a much better offensive player and probably about the same as Toews in his defensive abilities. "I've always thought of Stevie as a good defensive player," says Pang, who played midget hockey with Yzerman. "People forget that he played his junior hockey at Peterborough, where you have to play both ends of the rink. And they forget that when he arrived in Detroit, the team wasn't very good, and they needed his offensive skills." Yzerman's career took a U-turn in 1993 with the arrival of Bowman. "Scotty wanted the team to think defense first," Yzerman says. "He wanted me to model my game after Jacques Lemaire, who played for him in Montreal."

I don't know or care much about Frk. Taking 3 years to adapt to the AHL doesn't inspire much optimism. But Pulkkinen's offensive awareness and passing are good. He'll go to the net, follow up plays, anticipates well. He's engaged all over the ice. Decent along the boards, especially for a little guy. His speed, quickness, and puck-handling are ok. Basically everything to be a decent secondary scorer. Needs to get a bit stronger and more importantly he needs more experience in how to deal with NHL competition. I'm sure you'll disagree, but it's all beside the point anyway. The entire reason for the existence of the AHL, or at least for the affiliation between the NHL and the AHL is to develop prospects. Take kids whose skills aren't yet ready for the NHL, and get them ready. If a kid has good NHL-level skills from the start, they aren't even going to be in the AHL in the first place. And development doesn't stop when you get to the NHL either. Pretty much every player will still improve from where they start. Pulkkinen wouldn't have produced in the AHL the way he did if all he could do was shoot. Wouldn't have made an AHL team at all. Wouldn't have been drafted. Wouldn't be on an NHL roster now. Wouldn't have produced what he has so far, which is similar to what Tatar and Nyquist did in the early stages of their careers. But even if you don't agree about what kind of skills he has right now, the important thing isn't what he is right now. It's how he develops from now.

Again, gross oversimplification. Like saying Larkin and AA can't do anything but skate fast.

Agreed. Very good assessment. If you asked me 5 years ago I would have picked Toews. But it's pretty obvious that Kane's offensive ability has vastly surpassed Toews. These last two years, Kane has been incredible. I'm not a fan of him as a person but all things being equal if I had to build a team around Toews of Kane I'd pick Kane. Decent defensive centers aren't too hard to come by (Toews, Bergeron, Kopitar, Pav, Z, Backes, Kesler, O' Rielly) in this era but creative consistent scoring wingers are in my opinion (only Benn, Kane and Ovie is all I can think of really). I think leadership is a bit overrated. If I had to pick between Ovie and Shane Doan I'd pick Ovie every time even though Shane Doan is probably the best leader and captain in the entire league. So while Toews is a great captain and Kane is a s***ty person, I'd still pick Kane if a game 7 is on the line.

What are you talking about? Mrazek is 2-3 in his last 5 games. That's not even a winning percentage. He's allowed 5 goals in 3 of his last 6 games. That's atrocious. 18 games left and we're in wild card spot. I don't care who the starter is. Play the goalie that's hot.

Howard has always been a streaky goalie. He has single handedly put DRW in positions to win and also has been their downfall. Mrazek, at least until lately, was either A) better or B) more consistent in his goalie-ing. I don't know, maybe Mrazek still not 100%? I think it's pretty clear he's still the number one guy at this point. Kind of an annoying problem really. Don't know for sure who you're gonna get. I agree though that as long as Jimmy's hot to put him in there. That's when he flourishs. Like Goldberg in Mighty Ducks 2. Gotta ride it out.

March 2016 featuring #40 Henrik Zetterberg 2560x1440 | 1920x1200 | 1920x1080 | 1680x1050 | 1600x900 | 1440x900 | 1366x768 Enjoy!

Best joke I've heard all day. And here we thought you had trouble reading/interpreting forum posts. Kane over Toews. All day any day. Who would you pick Bill berzzzzzzench?

Ansar Khan ‏@AnsarKhanMLive 2m2 minutes ago #RedWings defense pairs: DeKeyser-Quincey Kronwall-Ericsson Smith-Green Marchenko Looks like Smith be back in for Marchenko. Not official.

Fair is fair Howard got benched because of a bad stretch and Mrazek played well now it's vice versa and therefore Howard's part to take the net. The funny thing is, the excuses used for Mrazek weren't used when Howard had his early struggles.

i wouldnt mind seeing what jensen could bring

Yzerman was a complete player as well. Feds was just better defensively and a flashy guy. Fedorov was like the Datsyuk. Yzerman was like the Zetterberg. Kane and Yzerman are nothing alike. Kane is just pure offense. Yzerman was a Selke winner and one of the best faceoff guys in the league. Not to mention he killed A LOT of penalties.

I really like Toews and think he's a very good player. But Kane is on another level. Toews is one of then 10 best centers in the league. Kane is one of the three best wingers. Despite the fact that its harder to be a good center than a good winger, if forced to choose I take Kane every time.

The comparison is apt. Crosby scored 102 points as a rookie. Toews scored 54 as a rookie. Neither were stalwart defenders. Not too different than McDavid and Larkin's scoring rate and defensive ability this season. And no, I wouldn't take Larkin over Mcdavid. But that wasn't an option. We have Larkin and I'm extremely happy with him. I'm not pining for Mcdavid one iota.

It's pretty obvious I was talking about going forward. Toews blows, deal with it. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Petr didn't have a very strong game last night. IMO...I thought Seabrooks goal and Kane's goal were stoppable. For the life of me, i don't understand why Petr played last night. There were reports that he's had/has a sore groin. If that's the case, why wouldn't you play Jimmy who has been really, really good as of late?? Give Petr time to heal properly. I don't get it.

Jurco has looked good while playing on that top line with Z & D, AA looks great on any line but I would just love to see him with Goose. Nyquist is one of the few players on our team that can make plays at the speed AA and himself are going. Jurco is liked by a lot of people as if he ever gets going he'll be a beast, best case of this happening is with Datsyuk-again just my opinion of what Id like to see

Kane is better offensively, Toews is the more complete player.

Go Griffs!

The better Howard finishes, the easier he'll be to move this summer. Even those who don't like him should be cheering for him right now.

Pretty sure I can list the threads from 1996 "Official Fire Scotty Bowman thread!" Everyone know he only won cups in Pittsburgh and Montreal because he was surrounded with elite talent, elite talent the DeadWings don't have. Where are the Mario's, Jagr's, Francis's, Coffey's, LaFleur's and Robinsons on this team? He's an over-rated, over-paid bum. "Why Ken Holland should be GM" Bowman and Devallano are incapable of building a winning team, all the talent on this team (apart from Yzerman, who fell into their lap and I could have drafted) was drafted and developed by Holland "We need to trade Yzerwoman and rebuild" We'll never win with such a small, soft leader, all the talent on this team and all he does is choke every postseason" "Wings are too soft" Way too many soft euros on this team, you think guys like Lidstrom and Fedorov give a damn about the playoffs? You think they're prepared to do what it takes to win the Stanley Cup?

Larkin is not McDavid but I'm more than glad with Larkin. Already contributor and will/should get only better. I just hope that he will have right players to play with, someone like Lucic/Backes/Simmonds or even Wilson on his line will make him better and will create space for him.

I'm glad to have been a member of this board for 13 of those almost-20 years. I have such great memories of times spent and discussions had on these forums, and have been lucky enough to have made several life long friendships with other members. Thanks to Matt for creating the forums and putting in so much hard work to keep it running. Thanks to my fellow Mods for all their hard work (especially since life has tended to drag me away from here recently). And finally, thanks to all the members of the forums! You the real MVP(s)! Happy (almost) 20th, LGW! Just think, one more year and this site can buy us all a beer!

Thanks, guys! I apologize for not seeing this sooner. I've been out of pocket for the last couple of weeks due to the loss of a family member and just got back tonight -- and I have to say seeing this thread brought a smile to my face. Technically the actual 'birth' of the site is September 15th, 1996 -- right around training camp for the 1996-97 season and at that stage it didn't even have a message board. It was started on GeoCities and consisted of the cheesiest of tiled ice backgrounds, a picture of Steve Yzerman saluting the crowd from the bench after scoring his 500th career goal on Patrick Roy and a bit of text about what I was planning on doing with the site. I really wish I had some of the stuff from those first years. After a couple seasons on GeoCities the site moved to be one of a few fan sites on PuckPlace.com, then to a server that was hosted by the previous owners of HockeysFuture.com and then eventually to where it is now (and where it has remained for the bulk of those past 20 years.) I started this place as a bored 17-year old living in the sticks in SE Michigan and it has followed me to college, marriage, a career and two beautiful daughters of 9 and 10 (!). It's been crazy. Life has gotten in the way often and I haven't been able to dedicate as much time as I'd like to the site (and I'm always saying I'm going to get refocused) -- so I really, really appreciate the comments here and the help the moderation team has provided over the years. It's invaluable. Thank you!

20 Years, thats absolutely ridiculous in an awesome way. I pulled up the website as far back as I could go, which is in year 2000 and including some screen shots here. Matt has done a tremendous job and this site has come a long way. I wish I could have pulled up something from it's first year, but this will have to do.