GMRwings1983

The Hudler love here is absolutely insane, even after he's gone. Now people are saying he's better than Bertuzzi. From reading all these posts, I'm starting to think that Hudler could score more points than Gretzky or Lemieux if he got the same amount of minutes.

Toughest 4th line in NHL history.

Well, he did do a bit of enforcing on Steve Moore. Nobody will mess with the Wings knowing that this guy is in the lineup. After all, who wants to get paralyzed?

Williams and Eaves don't play like the typical lower line North Americans. Thus, they're both euros in my book.

Just think of it as a bigger version of Jason Williams. Better to be a has been than a never was.

To me it looked like he never really fit into our style of play that well. He's not a good skater and doesn't play the kind of hockey our other players do. Guys like Helm and Cleary are more physical than their softer counterparts on the rest of the roster, but at least those 2 players both have great speed. Bertuzzi doesn't.

Isn't Rob Blake still on their roster? If so, he'd be the perfect choice, being the senior statesman and a former captain himself.

So am I correct in understanding that the Wings still have rights to Hudler? Meaning that other teams can't get to him first when his KHL days are up?

I always figured you were really a Blackhawks fan.

Well, let's see. He doesnt score anymore, can't hit, can't skate, can't take faceoffs, can't fight, can't play defensive hockey and is always injured. Sure, that sounds like a first line player to me. Thank God Maltby isn't a great net presence, or else he'd be on the top 2 lines also.

Here's to Jody Shelley being named captain.

Maybe you're right. Finger not being in the top 6 shows you just how silly the Leafs management has been over the years. That was a big dud signing last year.

Really? Did my boy Aki Berg come back?

I guess Bertuzzi will be our enforcer then with Lilja hurt. Hopefully, Ericsson will also pitch in from time to time.

Have you ever considered that maybe Datsyuk is better apt to handle big minutes than a guy like Hudler is? Not every forward in the league can play 20 minutes a night, full speed on both sides of the ice, kill penalties and play on the powerplay, and be expected to be a team leader. I don't think Hudler would put up Datsyuk-like numbers if he played the same amount of ice time. It's a bad way to compare stats that way. Hudler has a tendency of disappearing, which is not something that a team wants from a top 6 forward. This guy played his way down to the 4th line during the playoffs. If he was a scoring machine during the entire playoffs, he would have gotten more minutes.

Not a bad option. They're not exactly loaded on defense, plus it's be another original 6 team for him.

Yeah, yeah, we know. Adjusted for inflation, Jiri Hudler is the best player in history. Babcock and Holland are idiots.

Wow, what a disappointment. I always figured he'd look like James Dean.

He should lose his Canadian citizenship for that.

When did Babcock say that he disliked Hudler? People here have too much man love for this squirt, to the point where Babcock is now thought of as a Hudler-hater or something.

He's old, slow and often injured. Also, he's not anywhere near as physical as he once was. Although he's grittier than our other forwards (which isn't saying much), I don't think this would be a good signing. It's just be another way to bring this team closer to the cap. It would still be a better signing than Eaves or Williams, though. It all depends on Bertuzzi's health and willingness to play physical, which could be a catch 22 with his health.

Does this little punk realize that he was playing on a team where he wasn't even close to being the best forward? If he wants more ice time, then go play for a worse team (which I guess is what he's doing now). I don't know how anyone can feel bad for this guy, especially since he did s*** the 2nd half of the playoffs. On a team with that much talent, ice time is going to be limited for many players. If he couldn't live with that, then he's not much of a team guy.

Well he did destroy Steve Ott, remember.

It took about 25 seconds total.

Because they're both Canadian (sort of)