lets go pavel

Datsyuk wouldn't have as many points either if he played on the 3rd line with no PP time. Sammy's playing just fine, as is Lilja - and I really never thought I'd say that about either of them, much less both in the same sentence. As someone said earlier, every team is playing against us in Game 7 mode, the intensity that we're seeing game in and game out is impossible for us to match on a nightly basis - we'd be burnt out by January. I think this is why we look so complacent ... it's not that we aren't hungry, we just often can't match the intensity. As long as we start picking it up the last quarter of the season we'll be fine. In the meantime i don't know that we need a lot of roster moves, but I would like to see some lineup changes. Last year it seemed like Babs shuffled lines quite a bit, especially mid-game when things weren't clicking. Haven't seen as much of that this year. I think Z and D together for a few shifts could create a spark, and putting them with Hossa sometime earlier than the last minute might be worth trying too ...

Actually, I heard they settled their differences over an old-fashioned 3-round game of rochambeau. Apparently on the first throw Hull went top shelf with paper, but Dom flopped in the crease and kicked up scissors. Dom 1, Hull 0. On the second throw Dom came way out of his crease to throw scissors again, but mishandled it and Hull slapped up a wicked rock from the faceoff circle. Dom 1, Hull 1. On the final throw Hull went scissors, but tried to get a little too close and Dom came flying out of his crease and slid a rock at Hull. Hull went head over heels, Dom won 2-1, and they lived happily ever after.

Semin? Really? The guy has had a great start to the season, but prior to this year he's been inconsistent, injury prone, and relatively one-dimensional. Not a chance in hell I would trade either of Z or D for him. Ovechkin yes, Crosby yes (and it hurts to say that), I'd have to give Iginla some thought, and that's it ...

If you look at our record against the top 7 teams in each conference we are 5-2-4, with 2 of the wins coming in OT or SO ... not great, not horrible, but I think it's fairly obvious we're not at the top of our game right now. If we're still playing this way and getting those results in April I'll start worrying ...

It is impressive how we've managed a raging 9-page debate over a 4th line roster swap that will likely only last a handful of games ... you would think the Wings had traded McCarty for a daffodil on skates and swapped the red jerseys for pink ones ...

Alright, who put Cheli's head on my body???

Okay, but which of our players does he think WOULD be as good playing for Tampa? I don't think it's a slight against Franzen, just an acknowledgement that playing in Detroit has its advantages, and as Ozzie30 said, a reminder of some of the intangibles that we all hope Franzen will consider during contract talks.

I would feel sick if the hit is answered too ...

shhhhh ... there's no room for reality here!

You're right, we'd be much better off with DMac on the ice so the Canadiens will have someone to skate around ... the 3 minutes of icetime and the intimidation factor (I think i hear their knees knocking now) would be much more beneficial than having a guy with jump, energy, speed, and an agressive forecheck. I like Mac as much as the next guy, but tonight's game isn't one where he's got much to offer ... he'll be back soon enough.

He said "sometimes when you're in the right environment you're a better player than when you're not in the right environment" ... seems like a no-brainer to me.

Franzen scored 38 points in 72 games last year. These are not top 20 numbers. I realize he scored the majority of those in about a third as many games at the end of the season, and if you extrapolate that over a full season he's a beast, but he hasn't done it yet. He's off to a good start this year, and if he continues at this pace all year I think we'll have something to talk about at this time next year. But I believe a top 20 player has to perform at a high level consistently over a longer period of time, maybe even multiple seasons. I also wouldn't put Semin in the top 20, despite his hot start, and if I had to pick between the two I would rate Franzen higher.

Franzen is #4 in ice time among forwards, only about 30 seconds less than Hossa ...

No, not yet ... I don't think we have a large enough sampling size of Franzen playing at what appears to be the top of his game to place him ahead of guys who are arguably less skilled but have been performing at a consistently high level for years. I would have a hard time putting him ahead of, say, Rick Nash or Drury or Gomez or Briere, even though I firmly believe he brings more to the table, has the potential to be better than all of them, and has shown pretty good signs of living up to that potential very soon ... he just hasn't done it yet. Let's get him locked up long-term, then put him in the top 20!

I agree, it does seem like a large majority of the time when the other team dumps the puck in they come up with it, even when our guys get there at the same time or before. All 5 guys on the ice have seemed very content to allow the other team's puck retrieval and perimeter passing, but then they don't shut the middle down either - not a recipe for success.

perhaps a little fruity, but nicely put!

I'm not sure chemistry is the problem when we keep blowing leads because there has to be some chemistry going in order to get the lead in the first place ... we just don't seem very good with a lead, particularly defensively. Maybe the key is to avoid getting leads too early ... we could bench the top 2 lines and double-shift the 3rd and 4th lines for the whole 1st period, then spend the rest of the game catching up

Sammy does have a low shooting %, but most of his points are actually assists this year. He's not my favorite guy out there, but he's a talented and reasonably priced 3rd liner who contributes on both ends of the ice. Kopecky, on the other hand, has yet to contribute much of anything ...

Why Kopecky over Sammy?

It never ceases to amaze me how some people think 3 turds are better than 1. We are not going to get any real talent in return for Maltby, Kopecky, Lebda, or McCarty, no matter how many of them you try to clump together. If I'm Kenny I do nothing ...

No, they don't have room ... they had to move Schneider to sign Selanne, and they're right up against the cap. Maybe Sundin is considering Toronto and wants to know if Burke is heading that way ...

Lebda needs to stop sitting back and playing defense, he needs to join the rush more ... Sammy needs to back up when he shoots, obviously the blue line is far too close because he hits the goalie every time ... Holmstrom needs to quit standing around in front of the other goal and do something ... Lidstrom needs to stop being so selfish wearing a visor to protect his health when there are hockey games to be won ... We'll nver win the cup with Ozzie, we need to trade him for a top=notch goalie like Toskala ... LGW posters need to quit being such biased, player-supporting homers and start more threads bashing all the players who are clearly overpaid, under-skilled, too old, too small, washed up, lazy, soft, slow, visor-impaired, or just not living up to the lofty expectations reasonably placed on fourth liners and bottom pairing defensemen ...

Homer runs hot and cold, 40 is possible but I'd say unlikely. I'm gonna go against the tide and say that goals are what I care most about for Datsyuk. My reasoning is that we know he's going to get the assists and takeaways, and he will absolutely have more assists than goals by probably a 2 - to - 1 margin ... he's a playmaker first. But he also needs to shoot, and if his goal numbers are down it means he's not shooting. Why does this matter? Because if he's not shooting but is always looking for the setup, he's likely not being as aggressive with the puck. An aggressive, threat-to-shoot Datsyuk pulls defenders out of place like noone else and really creates opportunities for the other players on the ice. Defense would have been my choice as well, though I would like to see better offense at even strength.

I heard that too ... also a year and a half ago there was a report that Ovechkin broke Malkin's agent's jaw at a club (i think there was a thread here at the time). Good times! Ovechkin the Jawbreaker

This thread is lazy and it sucks. Seriously people, it's been 4 games. Hossa has looked a bit out of place at times, and yes, at times he's passed the puck when he needed to shoot, but none of it is for lack of effort. He's been playing solid defensively, he's been out on the PK, backchecking and hustling. He hasn't been a liability at all. Some of you are dismissing the lack of chemistry "excuse" because he's had 2 weeks? What is 2 weeks? Homer and Z have been playing with Pavel for years, and when people say it's like they read each others mind, that's why. So many of the plays that ZDH make are about positioning and anticipation ... they don't pass to each other, they pass to where they know the other player is going. This familiarity takes time, it's not something that develops in 2 weeks no matter how good the player is. It wouldn't surprise me if it takes half the season for Hossa and Datsyuk to really start clicking anywhere near the way Hank and Pavel do.