Buppy

27 points in 31 games is pretty close to 26 in 28. Sure, Happy is a bit better offensively, but I wouldn't call either 'high-end'...though my definition may be a bit less liberal than it should. What Hudler has really shown (at least in '08-'09) that Flip hasn't is an ability to produce with fair consistency in less than ideal circumstances. Which is a good thing because he doesn't have the complete game to earn big minutes and prime linemates when we're healthy. He can still be a huge asset in a diminished role. He really hasn't been this season, but I still have confidence that he can get it going. Flip can be an asset without scoring, just not a $3M one. He needs high quality linemates to really be valuable. He was that before he got hurt, but since he's been back he hasn't. I'm still confident that he can be, but his position and minutes are too important to allow him too much time. At the very least he needs to start skating harder and generating some chances. If he doesn't someone else needs to be given a chance.

Hip check. They're pretty neat. If you watch enough hockey you might even see one or two a season. There's also the option to hit someone with the intent of separating the player from the puck rather than the brain from the spinal cord. There isn't any good reason to allow head hits from any angle. Skating with your head down is still dumb because you're not fully aware of the situation on the ice so you're not able to make the best play. You're still at high-risk of being knocked off the puck, possibly leading to a scoring chance the other way. You don't have to threaten a player's safety to force them to be aware. Some incidental head contact when you hit someone will be unavoidable, and I don't think anyone means to punish that. But allowing players to put a shoulder into a guys chin or temple is irresponsible, no matter how exciting the fans think it is.

To be fair to Flip, he would have had assists on both the recent BS disallowed goals we've had...

I found this combination of comments funny: "...there is not empirical data to back up any suggestion that concussions and resulting lost man-games are on the rise due to illegal hits to the head." "...Forty-four percent of the concussions this season have been the result of legal hits to the head ..." Only 17% were caused by illegal hits. Should just make all head hits legal again, then there won't be any concussions at all from illegal head hits. Brilliant. Another 26% from accidents. If they really want to reduce injuries, concussions specifically, they need to change the culture of the game more than anything. Any hit where the head is targetted needs to be punished severely. Start handing out long suspensions and big fines. Some people will whine about it. Maybe lose some of the more barbaric fans. So what. There'd be an adjustment period and the next generation of players will still hit, and hit effectively. Just not headhunt. Hip checks would make a comeback. Defense would improve as guys stop taking themselves out of the play in order to make a highlight reel. The flow of the game would improve since not every big hit would bring a stop in play for a pointless pushing contest. Without that there isn't much point to doing anything. Rink mods are ok, but only 6 rinks still have seamless glass. Stanchion hits happen maybe once a year. I really don't think rinks are much of a factor. Better diagnostics is good. Not sure how much better a quiet room is going to be though. It seems the diagnosis still relies mostly on how the player says they feel. Many concussions don't leave the player obviously incoherrent; might not even cause a headache right away with all the adrenaline pumping. Fining the coaches/teams isn't bad, but the focus needs to be mostly on the players. Equipment changes could be good if they focus mainly on helmets. Soft cap pads won't do anything. If they do, it will only be because they are made to offer so little protection to the player that any concussion benefit is offset by an increase in shoulder injuries from guys falling or hitting the boards. You want to protect the head then focus on the piece of gear designed to protect the head. Mandatory tightened chin-straps at the least. Catastrophic injuries are very rare even without that; with straps they'd be all but eliminated entirely. I'm not sure there are many concussions that could be prevented by a properly seated helmet, since I don't think hockey helmets are designed for concussion protection. I assume the helmet and padding design could be significantly improved. I'm sure pro helmets are a lot better than the typical off-the-shelf models, but even Football only recently started designing helmets for concussion reduction. One thing that would help but probably won't happen for a long, long time. Full face cages, especially if integrated with the helmet design instead of tacked on, would cut both the number and severity of concussions. Or at least they would if used in conjunction with stiff headshot rules to prevent a rise in players trying harder to hurt a more well-protected player. Mouthguards are already required I think, but they could probably make sure players are using properly fitting guards. I'm not sure how often players get hit in the jaw, but intracranial vibration can cause a lot of damage, and a good mouthguard can lessen that even on other head hits. They would definitely be needed if using face-cages using the jaw for an anchor point.

This argument would carry a lot more weight if we weren't the top scoring team in the league, still 3rd best record overall despite 3 1/2 months mostly lacking in effort. I mean it's hard to criticize guys for 'expecting 3+ goals a night without any effort' when that is what they are getting. 'Dump and don't chase' never works, but unfortunately 'turn on the skill for 10% of the game and coast the rest' works far too well for our own good. Maybe we'd be a better team if we lost more, ironically enough. I don't think lack of creativity or lack of grit is the problem, though more of either would help. Mostly the guys aren't moving well off the puck. You can't be creative when everyone is standing around watching instead of trying to get open. You can't win battles if guys aren't moving in to good support positions. That stuff just isn't happening enough right now. Too much 'let Pav and Helmer (or whoever is hot at the time) do it' mentality. For good or bad, it's worked pretty well so far. It won't work in the playoffs of course, but we just have to hope they turn the switch by then.

Right around the corner from me. Might have to take off work early that day.

Only 8 since he's been back. Not sure why the OP used the last 13. I would have said 1 point in the last 11, it more clearly defines to slump range. He has looked really out of sync since coming back. One or two games should have been enough to get back up to speed, maybe an extra to compensate for all the line juggling. He really hasn't been using his speed since October. He was playing with initiative, even shooting a fair amount, when Datsyuk was out, now he's back to not shooting. I'm sure it doesn't help that no fowards besides Datsyuk and Helm seem able to score right now. Bert-Hank-Cleary looked great last game despite not scoring. Pav is awesome by himself. I say put Hudler with Pav and Homer, try to get Happy re-lit. Then try throwing Helm out there with Flip and Franzen. Mo/Abby/Draper/Miller & Eaves when he gets back still has the makings of a quality 4th line.

That was only the 4th time in 27 games the Wings blew a third period lead (the third being Anaheim). All the losses in OT/SO. Hardly a problem I would say. Besides, regular season performance means very little in the playoffs. We have enough talent/skill to beat anyone. Like always, if we play well, we'll go far and probably win it all. If we play less than our best we won't.

His numbers were decent against Nashville with the two shutouts (but sub-par in the other 4 games). Against Vancouver he had a sub .900 sv% and a gaa over 3. His stats were great against the Sharks and he got lit up in the Finals. I fail to see how being good half the time makes him worth any more than Howie. Time will tell of course, but for now I have to say the Sharks should have waited, and certainly shouldn't have commited to 4 years at that price. The pay scale for goalies was trending down, and there's little reason to think that trend won't continue. At least it's easy to dump an overpaid goalie if needed.

Great playoff? .910 sv%, 2.63 gaa Struggled? .915 sv%, 2.75 gaa Pretty similar stats for such disparate descriptions. Hell, that 'great playoff' isn't too far above Howie's current regular season numbers. Stats are pretty similar the past two seasons too. Howie 68-27-13 (63% win, 69% point), .923 sv%, 2.5 gaa. Niemi 49-22-7 (62.8% win, 67.3% point), .922 sv%, 2.35 gaa. Similar age. Similar size. Sharks are just buying at the wrong time. Or maybe the other way around and the Wings are buying at the right time while Jimmy is down a bit. Sharks are also paying a premium for the Hawks Cup win. Which is funny in a way since the Sharks got Niemi because the Hawks weren't willing/able to do that themselves.

I guess I'm mistaken on the preseason. I swear I remember them together, but oh well. As for the regular season, remember that Ericsson got hurt in the first period of the first game and missed a month. Rafalski then had surgery after the 2nd game and missed a month himself. When Rafi came back they were paired together and they've stayed together pretty consistently since.

Rafi and Ericsson have been paired since the pre-season, injuries and occasionally juggling aside. Like 65% of their ice time has been together.

Shark Mildly NSFW.

Campbell is the bad contract there. With the raise, Chicago is paying around $275k more for Toews, Kane, Hossa, Keith, and Seabrook than we are for Pav, Hank, Mule, Nick, and Rafi. Both have two long-term deals. With the exception of Hossa, those guys are young and still improving. The cap is expected to go up, perhaps by a significant amount, and the $4M bonus overage they're paying this year goes away. Even if they can't get rid of Campbell, they are not really bad off. $10M + whatever cap raise to sign 10-12 players, mostly bottom line players who should cost under $1M. If they could somehow dump Campbell, they'd actually be in pretty good shape.

Big, young, RH, shutdown defenseman. Plays in all situations. Hits. Blocks shots. Has performed well in the playoffs. Should still be improving. I wouldn't call it a bargain, but it's not overpayment either.

Excuse me for interrupting your Hudler handjob. I'll wait until he goes cold again and you go back into hiding before I mention him again.

So anyone else hear Reiger's rumor on 97.1? Hudler, Kindl/Ericsson, & a 1st for Bogosian. I don't beleive it, but it got me wondering. Would anyone (aside from LeftWinger) make that deal? I think I'd want a 3rd at least coming back. But a big, young, talented righty would be a fantastic addition for the future. I think we're plenty deep enough at forward that losing Hudler wouldn't really hurt. And paying a late 20's (or 30) pick for decent upgrade to one of our young d'men is certainly tempting. I might even settle for a 4th.

Sure, if he had become a much better defenseman than he had been for the first 8 years of his career, that contract might not have sucked. But even 'top 5 scoring with above average defense' would really only put him in Rafalski/Gonchar/Streit/Markov territory. I don't think he had any Norris consideration at any time in Chicago. There was a lot of talk about him when he went to San Jose, but even that was only fringe consideration. That (at the time) was the only time in his career he had scored 50+, and his only season top 5 (or even 10) in scoring. But it got him paid like Lidstrom/Pronger. What he's actually done has been worth ~$3.5. That would have meant $7M+ more this year. They could have kept Buffy, Ladd, and Versteeg. Or maybe Niemi.

2nd highest paid defenseman in the game. $7M+ for 8 years. Anything less than perennial Norris candidacy is bad, and Campbell wouldn't be that scoring 50. 70+ maybe, but still would probably need to improve defensively. $6M for Seabrook isn't bad though. Not great, but not bad. At least unlike Campbell he might still get better.

But...he's on a 34 goal pace his last 12 games! That's better than the season stats of anyone on the team except Cleary!

Debateable I think whether it was even a cross-check by Green. Hard to tell from the video but to me it looks like Green just pushed him with the left hand/fist. I know two-hands on the stick these days usually means cross-check (when the refs feel like it) but IMO it was borderline. Certainly nothing dirty about it. Stepan's retalliation was IMO a blatant attempt to injure. Worse I think than most of the headshots getting so much publicity. I would have no mercy.

Couple of guys I used to skate with used to do this all the time, until one of them saw the other coming and tried to strike first. The original guy panicked trying to avoid it, feet came out from under him and he cracked his head open on the ice. Moral of the story: Wear a helmet. And a cup too I guess.

I'd love to grab him, just no good way to make the cap hit work. We could probably make it work if for some reason he hit recall waivers. Can't really see that happening though. Hopefully, his season is ruined and we can him as a cheap FA this summer.

Hudler and Modano would work fine together. Both have enough talent and hockey sense to work well with prety much anyone. The reason it didn't work to start the year had much, much more to do with poor effort and poor decision making than the style of the players. Hudler is back to playing at an NHL pace, and while he still needs to shoot more, at least now his passes are mostly on target. He just needs to keep it up. Barring any trades, our composition of forwards (when all healthy) means someone is going to be playing with less than ideal linemates for their personal production. Of all the candidates, I'd say Huds is the most likely to be successful, and the most likely to turn the third line into a real threat.

Philly's already been in it (and more recently too), why would they be ahead of us?