stevkrause

This is all opinion and conjecture... we still can't say Leino has "found his niche" until he's had a solid, FULL season... there are TONS of NHL players that hit hot streaks during a playoff run, who went on to have otherwise mediocre at best careers overall and I still think that will be the story on Leino when all is said and done... back to Lebda, he peaked here when he had Chelios playing GREAT hockey alongside him and even as Chelios aged, his positioning was 2nd to none... Lebda will never be anything more than a speedster with lead hands, a relatively weak shot and sub-par outlet passing abilities... he will be lucky to latch on to another NHL team and crack the top 6 and I will boldly predict he will NEVER be above a 5/6 d-man in the league - If I'm wrong, I will eat crow... Until the story has played out, all we can go off of, is what has already happened and the FACTS are: Lebda's last 2 years in Detroit - VERY POOR Leino's career in Detroit - Invisible and poor

I like that site too for that, but it doesn't give detailed info like +/- by line combo, etc...

How did you come across these stats, did you just compile them all yourself? Pretty cool stuff! If anything, I don't find it quite as alarming about E's ability to become a top 4 guy (as he was still a rookie) as much as it makes me want to NEVER see him paired with Stuart... with that said, your chart just further proves another point I've been saying all along, we need to change the D pairing to better utilize each players strengths and better cover their weaknesses: Lidstrom-Kronwall Stuart-Rafalski Ericsson-Lilja Each pairing has a physical element, a guy that can QB the play and a guy more likely to join the rush, paired with a more stay at home type player...

I hope this is a joke... They've needed to cut down on the width of trappers, blockers and leg pads for awhile...

♫What the world needs now... is love, sweet love♫ back to the topic at hand, I'd have absolutely no problem with Konopka here, but there are others I would much rather see here and he's probably 5th or lower on my "wish-list" of 4th-line-bargain-price-sandpaper-guy I'd still go: 1. Asham 2. Nystrom 3. Moreau (granted he's bought out) 4. Artyukin 5. Konopka

Just to play Devil's advocate - being on a bad team does not always equate to poor numbers - sometimes it's the exact opposite, as you see more quality minutes... couple that with the fact that Fla is in the weakest division in the NHL and the weaker of the 2 conferences and majority of his games are not against the same caliber of teams that we face... ALSO, Horton averages 20:53 of ice time a game, whereas Franzen only averages 18:42 I think Horton is a great player and would benefit any team he played for and I think a change of scenery to a good hockey market would definitely spark him as well, however... lets keep things in perspective...

If this was his 2nd year in the league, we did not have all the injuries AND he was not coupled with a HORRENDOUS Brett Lebda as much as he was... then it'd be something to worry about... As I pointed out at the end of the season: After the Olympics when paired with a REAL NHL defense partner: 16GP 1G 1A 2PTS +1 Playoffs: 12 GP 0G 2A 2PTS +1

I never compared him to Datsyuk, I merely used that as an example - AGE≠POTENTIAL Also, with the way players train today and advances in modern medicine, players in ALL sports are able to play better, longer - early 30's of the modern era is equal to mid twenties of 15 years ago... Once again, I never said he was going to come in here and set the world ablaze, but there's nothing to dislike about this signing - it is a zero risk move and we DON'T know what he CAN be...

As the poll says, I was just wondering how everyone would feel if the Wings cut ties with McCrimmon and brought Chelios back as an Assistant Coach, handling the defense.

I usually agree with you on a lot of your posts, but this is way off... some guys are late bloomers and Datsyuk really didn't reach his full potential until he was 29... plus, since he hasn't been playing in NA, it's hard to quantify what he will be in this style... I doubt he'll make the team out of camp and I'm sure he'll be in GR in a scoring role, whereas, if he impresses, could be used as a call up for a scoring role with the Wings... it's a 1 year deal and he is waiver eligible since this is his first contract, so there's really zero risk and who knows, maybe we catch lightning in a bottle... but to say a guys potential is tapped at 28 is a VERY blanket statement and not true... Agreed... lets just take it for what it is - a cheap, depth signing that improves GR and MAYBE we catch lightning in a bottle... it's a good signing as there is zero risk

With Blake retiring... this might not be that out of the question...

this free's us up to trade Osgood to Tampa Bay and sign Conklin back as our backup!

my exact though! haha thank you!

and it's also not spreading out your big bodies enough... it's really all a matter of opinion, but to say he CAN'T play on the 3rd line is where my problem is... I think Bert would be just as effective with Cleary and Abdelkader and maybe even moreso, because he wouldn't always be looking to pass like he does when he's with Dats or Z and maybe it would get a little bit of that grit back out of him... I have no problem using him on the PP as well and maybe even rotate he and Holmstrom between the 3rd and 2nd lines and have them share the minutes... but the point is, Fil and Hudler should be given every chance to succeed at this point in their careers and until they play themselves out of that right, that means giving them the most minutes, with the best players possible game in and game out...

The more I think about the possibility of signing Eric Nystrom and re-upping Lilja, the more I love this roster and the more I do NOT want to see Maltby brought back - we're already tapped out on roster spots and pretty close to the cap under this scenario... so unless they sign him with the knowledge that they are going to waive him and send him to GR (which I can't see him being ok with, because then if any team claims them, he has to go play there, or retire, whereas, if he chooses to sign somewhere else, at least he'll be able to choose the team somewhat *cough* TB *cough*) - it makes absolutely NO sense... Tell me this doesn't look like a damn solid and complete roster? **NOTE - Lines are arbitrary for formatting purposes** Valtteri Filppula ($3.000m) / Henrik Zetterberg ($6.083m) / Johan Franzen ($3.955m) Jiri Hudler ($2.875m) / Pavel Datsyuk ($6.700m) / Tomas Holmstrom ($1.875m) Todd Bertuzzi ($1.938m) / Justin Abdelkader ($0.920m) / Daniel Cleary ($2.800m) Eric Nystrom ($0.800m) / Darren Helm ($0.640m) / Patrick Eaves ($0.550m) Kris Draper ($1.583m) / Mattias Ritola ($0.517m) Nicklas Lidstrom ($6.200m) / Niklas Kronwall ($3.000m) Brad Stuart ($3.750m) / Brian Rafalski ($6.000m) Jonathan Ericsson ($0.900m) / Andreas Lilja ($1.000m) Jakub Kindl ($0.883m) Jimmy Howard ($0.717m) / Chris Osgood ($1.417m) ROSTER: 23; CAP:$58.8m; PAYROLL: $58.102m; CAP ROOM: $0.698m BONUSES: $0.000m

Yes. he can... Put him on a line with Cleary and Abdelkader and they would compliment each other quite well as Abs and Cleary would EASILY make up for what Bertuzzi lacks in defense (even though he improved drastically even there last year) and maybe the hitting of Cleary and Abs will rub off on him... couple that with the crash the net style and any of of them can work down low or jam down front... Furthermore, if anything... you further proved why it makes more sense to put Bertuzzi on the 3rd line... why would you waste the potential and ability of Hudler or Fil on the 3rd line (when they also both make more than Bert money wise) when neither of their styles fit as well on that line as him???

"and here is how you get away with an elbow..." haha

There seems to be a lot of confusion as to what exactly a 1 way or 2 way contract means on this board... I blame the NHL series by EA for the way it mis-represents it -

To be honest, I would prefer him to get some coaching experience under his belt first at the AHL level at minimum and eventually work his way up in 5 years from now, however, if anyone can make the leap right into the NHL... it's probably Chelios, he has a tremendous amount of hockey smarts, just flat out KNOWS the game and was pretty much a player/coach his last couple years in the league anyway... I would actually prefer some seasoning as I said, but wouldn't hate it.

You were actually right about one player and CenterIce pointed it out - Kunitz, but Kunitz only played 21 games with Ana that year and Byslma only played 11...

fair enough... that's a big difference than coaching 5+ guys you played with... McCrimmon played with Lidstrom...

iFlip? a new Apple product? Someone with great photoshop skills should create a picture of Illari with a mac logo on his chest and the iPod text underneath saying iFlip, haha

If he cleared waivers... there's no way he'd take a 2 year deal at this stage in his career and due to his age, there'd be no point to even offer his one - 1 way and 2 way deals have nothing to do with waiver eligibility, they have to do with how much the player is ACTUALLY paid, depending on where they play, the caphit still is affected by days with the big club...

Agreed, Eaves flat out earned a full time spot on this team, especially since we'll keep him for dirt cheap with the qualifier and he still hasn't even come CLOSE to seeing his max potential...

I love Malts and it'd be different if we were a young team and needed some veteran leadership, but we don't... it's time to cut ties with Malts...