WingzFan

I forgot that Abdelkader and May were carrying this team...

Yes thats it. I'll agree with you just to help your insane dismissive argument. You can't even comprehend that Datsyuk's game suffers when hes playing with the two slowest players on the team?

Roll three lines and give one of those "Inexperienced" players at least an opportunity to play. Experience is great.. all of our experience will be invaluable on the golf course.

Helm is never going to be a great scorer as a matter of fact hes the second coming of Draper. But anyone with "knowledge of hockey" can see that Helm creates a lot of opportunity with his speed and is ridiculously good along the boards. So much so that he can create opportunities for Datsyuk to score more. Currently the options are.. - Datsyuk beats three guys and gets into the zone and sets up Bertuzzi who wont shoot or will shoot and it'll be in the goalies chest. - Bertuzzi brings it into the zone, gets the puck striped or tries to pass it and fails. - Datsyuk dumps it around the boards, Holmstrom and Bertuzzi are too slow and the defending team recovers the puck. Datsyuk needs at least one player with something resembling speed to at least open things up.

We have players in Grand Rapids, we have fourth liners who could make a case for being the fastest player in the league but the only option is Bertuzzi and Holmstrom? Babcock doesn't like change, everyone knows this. So much so that he'll never even put Datsyuk and Zetterberg together until its too late and the game is out of reach. Its a little ridiculous to blame a player when hes not been given any other opportunity. If Datsyuk were brutal with various line combinations sure but hes only been played with Bert and Holmstrom. Hes looked really well on the PP playing with top end talent.

Datsyuk's play over the last three years has been with various wingers. From Zetterberg, Holmstrom, Hossa and even fourth liners. All he needs to produce is speedy wingers. Nothing more, we've seen this in the past. If anyone would put Bertuzzi and Holmstrom in the "Speedy winger" category they're just trolling.

My argument is that one player gets a pass(Zetterberg last season) while the other has apparently just stopped trying if you read the threads.

Thats the point, we're currently a one line team. A one line team that faces other teams second pairing defenseman. Bertuzzi-Datsyuk-Holmstrom faces the other teams shutdown line and first pairing d-men. They're getting shut down completely and Babcock isn't mixing up the lines whatso ever.

90% of Holmstrom's goals are deflections or hit directly off of him. You do realize that when Holmstrom isn't with Datsyuk he plays on the fourth line correct? Hes effective at one thing and if hes not with an all star playmaking center hes no where to be found. 30 goals isn't a terrible season but its commonly said that Zetterberg is a top ten forward in this league. 30 goals isn't top ten material. I don't see any threads complaining about Zetterberg..

Open net? Give me some examples of Datsyuk missing wide open nets and we'll compare that to Hossa, Bertuzzi and Holmstrom doing the same. The excuse last year for Zetterberg was his linemates. Now hes playing with better linemates and is producing. Same excuse cannot be used for Datsyuk?

Hes beating two or three players at a time, passing the puck and setting up his wingers. Hes also playing great defense. By all means he is "Himself". The difference being, hes playing with two slow fore checkers and Bertuzzi has zero vision when it comes to passing the puck. So basically you're asking the guy to play 1 on 3 and score all the goals, while Holmstrom camps out and Bertuzzi turns over the puck the second he gets it. Putting Eaves or Helm on the top line would allow Datsyuk to at least get open.

Zetteberg Leino Cleary 404 viable option for winger not found.. Babcock found one line he likes and put the rest of the trash together for Datsyuk to deal with. Which hes had a history of doing. Everytime a player fits poorly due to chemistry they put him on a line with Datsyuk.

Is it that hard to comprehend? People think this team is struggling because Datsyuk isn't his "Normal self" and think by somehow shooting more hes going to turn into a rocket richard winner. They don't mention Zetterberg not even being on pace for 40 goals or that Datsyuk is playing with two of the worst forwards on the team. Put Thornton, Backstrom or even Spezza on a line with two fourth liners and see how well they produce.