Finnish Wing

People are going to grumble about this because of the situation, I think. If we were adding a 26-year-old RFA with 30-35 point potential and he DIDN'T have a history with the team, people would likely be more receptive to the idea.

It would be poetic justice if that entire team ended up like Steve Moore.

What a joke of a league. It's really no wonder every hockey player wants to play in the NHL.

I love how everyone assumes Hudler and Kindl are the asking price for any team's star offensive player. Selanne won't be a Red Wing, and please, no more lines threads...

7th rounder for Nitty.

7th rounder for Nitty.

So teams who basically just lose 15-0 playing lazy and sucking deserve the same amount of points than teams who battle hard and get to the OT. Baseball, as a game is entirely different, than hockey. I mean the whole scoring thing and how the game works. Soccer is much more like hockey, and in soccer you get more points for tie than loss. But they're Europeans, so they probably don't know anything though...

I don't think Liv will be coming anytime soon.

He was certainly nice to the Islanders tonight by not scoring on any of his golden chances against them.

Boylen: Valtteri Filppula steps up on offense for Red Wings
“The next guy they have there who’s going to be like that is (Valtteri) Filppula. He’s getting there; he’s like a young Pav. I don’t think he has the same offensive flair, but he’s young and he’s learning from the right guy.” – NHL scout, 2009.
Valtteri Filppula, now in his sixth full NHL season, has long been regarded as a mini Pavel Datsyuk in the making. Though the young Finn didn’t have the high-end offensive chops possessed by his Russian teammate in the past, the comparison held due to his responsible two-way play.
But something has changed.
Filppula, 27, is suddenly scoring and already only five points off his career-high mark of 40, set in 2008-09. So what does Datsyuk, always the joker, think about his young comrade finally excelling in the scoring department?
“I tell him be quiet, I need the glory. Be quiet.”
Filppula’s ascension as a scorer is the best development the aging Wings could have hoped for this season. For years Detroit has been able to remain a consistent powerhouse because of its ability to regenerate with its young players and to have new stars rise to the fore as the older ones are phased out. The Wings are once again close to a point where rejuvenation is needed and the question has been asked multiple times: Who is capable of stepping into the shoes of Datsyuk and Henrik Zetterberg?
To be sure, the Wings have a collection of intriguing talents. Darren Helm and Justin Abdelkader have been depth-line staples for a couple of seasons now, while 23-year-old Cory Emmerton is off to a good start.
But while those players have clearly been brought up in a Red Wings system that is all about two-way, responsible team play, they are lacking in the scoring department. The offense has to come from somewhere and Filppula is looking like a good bet.
“He has more confidence and he plays well,” Datsyuk said. “Every season he plays well, but sometimes he doesn’t score and without points people don’t realize how good he is. Now he has goals, points, more confidence and everybody can see him.”
Of course, as always, Detroit has more talent waiting in the wings. Gustav Nyquist (drafted 121st overall in ’08) and Tomas Tatar (60th in ’09) are 1-2 in scoring for the American League’s Grand Rapids Griffins, while Riley Sheahan (21st in ’10) is still with Notre Dame and Calle Jarnkrok (51st in ’10) is taking a familiar route developing in Sweden. But with the organization still loaded on the pro roster, and its past penchant to bring along players gradually, who knows when these players will be “Wings-ready” and put in a position to be major contributors on the club.
Playing on a line with Zetterberg and Jiri Hudler, Filppula has been the leading point-getter among the trio (14 goals, 35 points) – and with 14 points in his past 15 games, he’s still trending up.
Whether or not he turns into the second coming of Datsyuk is another story. Surely it’s not fair to hold a player up against a generational talent, but Filppula’s potential to be a leader is there. For a Red Wings team that’s getting closer and closer to needing a new face to step up, Filppula’s season so far is everything they could have hoped for.
In the meantime, Datsyuk’s influence on Filppula can only be a good thing for the Wings. The two are friends off the ice and Filppula helped out at Datsyuk’s kids camp in Russia in the summer of 2010. Even though Filppula didn’t make it out to the camp last summer, No. 13 says the invitation is still open. Though he gives him a hard time about being absent from the last one.
“I still give it to him every day,” Datsyuk said. “I say, ‘Tickets and room I already pay for this. Give me back.’ ”
His newfound production is surely payback enough.
http://www.thehockeynews.com/articles/44061-Boylen-Valtteri-Filppula-steps-up-on-offense-for-Red-Wings.html

You know what, good on him. I don't really like Marchand, but 5 games was far too much, in my opinion. Was it dirty? Yeah, but after looking at the video a few times, a major and a game misconduct was enough.
At the end of that article, the word "soft"..starts so many conversations on LGW
Guys got annoyed with him because he finished every check, hacked and whacked, and he had a smart mouth, but he never threw any cheapshots.

Don't care what Salo was TRYING to do. The fact is that kinda play by Marchand can end careers near the boards.

Don't care what Salo was TRYING to do. The fact is that kinda play by Marchand can end careers near the boards.

I may be one of the few but I think going for someones knees is worse than a headshot personally. Youre brought up to not do that.
This is what you get if you make a habit of targetting knees, s*** can end a career
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ao1cMIGBf4s

If fighters have zero effect on a team's ability to win a Cup, why do they still exist in the league? Why do players like that try to be extra physical and intimidate if (according to people on this board) it has absolutely no effect on good players (like the Wings roster)? Why are these type of players still signed and iced to this day if they are useless towards winning?
Maybe you guys are on to something and the rest of the hockey world is just too dumb to figure it out.
esteef

Actually I think the wings have proven him right to an extent. Whenever the wings have been their toughest and grittiest is when they win cups. 08 was the toughest team post lockout for the wings, what happened to that 2006 team that was probably the softest, but had an amazing regular season?

Maybe the best post in the thread. Not a hard thing to accomplish, but still.
Another funny thing is how people have used the Wings bad luck with injuries the last few years as proof we need an enforcer. Well, what about this year? Why are we so healthy without an enforcer? Everyone should be taking runs constantly at this soft and defenseless team.

People are so funny. Toughness is relative, and the Wings have been one of the softest teams in the league for all of our recent Cups. The way some people talk about the Cup years now, you'd think we led the league in majors, as opposed to being last or close like we really were. I'm sure if we win the Cup this year, in a few years we'll see folks reminiscing about the toughness of Bert, E, and Abby.
So we haven't won a Cup without an enforcer. How many times have we (or any other team) actually had a season without one?
How about this. In 98, we beat Washington in the Finals. Washington was last in the league in majors, we were next to last. In 02, we beat Carolina. We were last, Carolina was next to last. In 08 we were last, Pittsburgh was 10th. (I don't have the stats for 97, but I'm pretty sure we were near the bottom.)
There is no correlation at all between toughness or fighting and playoff success. Some tough teams win, some soft teams win.

That doesn't mean there has to be a correlation.

That doesn't mean there has to be a correlation.

I wish Cleary had some hands because it could've been 1+3 for Flip last night.
Ummmm someone gave me a minus for this post?

IMO, any kind of "dance" or strange celebration outside of a fist pump or raising your arms up then hugging you teammates should be penalized in ALL sports. Score a goal, Homerun, Touchdown and dance around like a damn fool like you are bigger than the game then it's a penalty. I know they don't have penalties in baseball, but enough of the chest bumps and crazy handshakes. Enough of the endzone charades and dances and enough of the "salutes" and "discount double play's." Score, pump your fists, hug teammates, get congratulated and move on. Nothing ruins a great touchdown/goal/homerun more than the kind of stuff that goes on after. (not so much happens in hockey, but the other sports got to do something about it.)
at the negs. Thanks! I think I may just do a dance!

No credit to Yeo? Seems like it's really true that there is no actual coaching culture in the NHL and everything is just measuring player's point totals and seeing which team has the best star players.
Coaching has a pretty big part in the game of hockey as well, you know.

No credit to Yeo? Seems like it's really true that there is no actual coaching culture in the NHL and everything is just measuring player's point totals and seeing which team has the best star players.
Coaching has a pretty big part in the game of hockey as well, you know.