PavelValerievichDatsyuk

Thanks for the info. Ddin't know that. That counts out my speculation that it could put an assitant's job in jeopardy.

Who's the assistant that runs our PP. Is it Granato or Ferschweiler? If Oates gets the PP going, will there be a pink slip delivered for Christmas?

I agree with Buppy. This thread seems a little too soon. I mean, wasn't he a healthy scratch just a little while ago? 3 goals in 4 games is great to hear, but that means he had 2 goals in his first 14 games. Lets wait a little bit to see if he's really turned a corner. I watched watched Mantha a bit in the Q and at the Memorial Cup - consistent effort was a problem for him. He has the tools It would be great if filled in that hole in his game and found his way in GR. Edit: to clarify in response to some later comments below, I'm a big fan of Mantha's and think he will be a big part of our future. I just think, from what I've seen, that he'll be a little longer to develop a consistent, impact game. I was more trying to temper the notion that he's suddenly the player he was hyped to be after 4 solid games.

Just to add to what BoS and kliq said, there was always going to be a dip after Lidstrom retired, but on top of that, we had a number of other unexpected hits to the D corps. Rafalski retired out of the blue, Stuart asked for a trade for family reasons. That's 3 of our top 4 at the time gone in a couple of years. I think Kenny has done a good job rebuilding with these hits to the roster. And he did prepare for Lidstrom's retirement. People forget that we had Jiri FIscher. Fischer would still be playing (he's 35) and would have been in the top 4 for this adjustment period after Lidstrom. Just imagine the past few years with that 6' 5", first round defensive stalwart in the mix. I don't think Holland can be blamed for not accounting for a heart problem. On top of him, we used other 1st round draft picks for Dmen that just didn't develop to their high potential (Kindl, Smith).

Mraz: "Okay, Jimmy I'll take care of handling the puck. It's your job to face wash Crosby whenever he's around..."

We just don't have much room in the top 6 for wingers. With Larkin, Tatar, Nyquist, and Abdelkader on the team for the foreseeable future, there's the 6 wingers. They're all more deserving of the spot at this point. If Larkin's moved to center (which he most definitely will be once he learns how to take a faceoff) then Z accounts for the other spot. He's going to spend some time in the bottom 6. Pulkkinen will be in the mix as well and, of course Richards is there for this year. I'm a huge supporter of jurco, but who do you want to bump out of the top 9 to put him in a scoring role? Do you want Richards on the 4th line? Helm's been playing great recently. I'm fine with Knocking Helm down, but that's what Blash has done for those half of 3 games and Jurco didn't run away with it. Even with that competition he has spent half of 3 games on Datsyuk's wing. I think this about as good an opportunity that will be open this year with Pulkkinen out and Helm and Richards not exactly piling up points. That breakaway/penalty shot was a missed opportunity to get back on track. The play that he made to recognize the space and get free is encouraging, though. To stay on topic, good for GR and good that Mantha's been playing a part. I was getting down thinking that he wouldn't find his stride.

I had a momentary brain lapse there and forgot Pulkkinen was injured. I don't think we'd scratch him if he was healthy so I don't know what I was thinking. I agree about the TSN line and I like you're lines. The only reason split them up was cause I didn't fully like Pulkkinen on Datsyuk's wing and was trying to find an alternative. I like yours and I think Richards would work better at Center. A sniper on his wing? just messing... Yeah, I heard that comment too. He looks like he has his hands, but something with his skating is off. Maybe it's just building back his conditioning. It makes sense since ankle surgery would make you pretty dormant for a while on top of missing training camp.

Z's leading the team with 24 points in 31 games. That's on pace for 63 points. Pav is struggling. his 8 points in 16 games would make him a 41 point guy for a whole season. I find it hard to believe he won't find his groove. I do think we need switch up that 2nd line. Maybe insert Pulkkinen on the 3rd line to get our shot count up: Tat-Dat-Helm Ny-Shea-Pulk That creates the problem of where to play Richards, but (despite tonights goal) I think he doesn't have a good spot since Datsyuk is back.

Here comes some of the posters we haven't seen for a while. We didn't play a great game, but we had enough to win. Just too many missed opportunities. Pav's post, Helm's shorty, Jurco's reluctant penalty shot, Nyquist at the buzzer. Well, I'll clear the way now for the "we suck" and "Fire Holland" talk.

For me, the best, most revealing Datsyuk interview is still the one he did with Mitch Albom in 2009: http://allallan.blogspot.ca/2009/04/heartfelt-pavel-datsyuk.html Talks about losing his mom early and his path to the NHL.

So he would be honoring himself? That's kind of tacky.

Took a while to get going. I doubt we're in the bottom third for the past 15 games. Anyway, don't get your hopes up for AA or Mantha except if there's injuries.

Sheahan must have some training as a bullfighter: Flash the red, let him charge, and then deftly step out of the way.

One of these things is not like the others...

What is it a 13 game point streak. Consistent effort hasn't really been a problem for a while. Back-to-Back, 3 games in 4 days. Wings played great for the first 2 periods than lost gas in the 3rd. Wait, so our 3-on-3 line was Smith-Tat-Nyquist? To me that is a mistake. They're all prone to giveaways and not the best defensively. You're right that "Smith is a great skater. Nyquist and Tatar are great shooters." but it's just the combo of all 3 that's bad. Especially when Devils were playing such good man-on-man coverage in OT. Good game. Howard deserved the win. Jurco had a few good shifts that I noticed, which is encouraging. We're 3 points behind Montreal for top in the east!

Tatar!!!!! HOWard!!!!!

Warmup can refer to stretching muscles. That's seems to be how you're using the word. So yes, Mrazek may not pull his groin. The other kind of of warmup is getting in tune with the angles of the ice, rhythm of the game, and being mentally present and sharp on your reflexes. Sitting on the bench for 3 hours is not conducive to this. 1st thing probably every coach ever has said when there's a goalie change is "test him early" or "get some shots on him when he's finding his rhythm." I think there's wisdom in these cliches and I've seen it work, though I don't know how you'd find stats to back it up. The best argument against it is Kip's, though. Replacing Howard with Mrazek for shootouts would maybe gains us 2 extra points over the course of the year (assuming we have 4 shootouts during this year). Meanwhile we'd be shaking Howie's confidence and maybe alienating him, which could result in losing possibly many points due to losing half of our great goaltending duo.

As much as I dislike Neal and think he deserved a diving penalty, I don't think any ref should say "f*** you" to a player. Keep it respectful. They're not the ones that are supposed to be emotionally involved in the game.

I've been watching Green closely. I think he's been great. Much better than I expected defensively after many around here played up the idea that he would be a defensive liability. Wouldn't mind him with DK. Q-Green doesn't look good to me on paper, but I could be wrong. I like spreading out DK and Kronwall. DK is usually our 2nd best (or sometimes best guy, IMO) despite his current subpar play.

I agree. I was against Blash's lines as well, but It seems to be working. I was especially against the Rich-Dat-Helm line because I thought it wasted Datsyuk. But if you think about how Datsyuk has been struggling since coming back, you can think of it as our 3rd line filled players that have struggled to get going offensively. If datsyuk starts looking like his usual self then maybe stick a finisher with him, but I like how he fits with Helm and the other 2 lines have been scoring. The best case scenario is if that combo starts scoring without any changes.

I remember the bet. It's feel like it's probably in that Bold predictions thread we had if you want to find it. One of my predictions was that we'd finish above the Habs. I wasn't feeling so good about that after the first dozen games haha. I do still think it's doable. I wouldn't be worried about their team at all if it weren't for price.

Are you happy.

He never left. He's been doing well in Dallas apart from more injuries.

Win it for Greeny!!!! Hasn't been a ton of talk about him, but he's been a huge addition, in my opinion. 5 to less than 4 (Green, Larkin, Dats,Tatar)

Yeah, WiiM has been writing anti-Glendening stuff since he first got on the team, when he scored 12 last year, despite the impact of him against the Lightning... Shea Weber personally knocked our PK down to 13th in the league, but it's been quite good. It's interesting that this article was written before Miller was injured. This next stretch will essentially answer the question in the article at least relating to Miller's importance on the PK. The first game without Miller was a strong argument against this article. We'll see where it goes from here. Also, to make the case they're trying to make they would have to show how Miller and Glen's advance stats stack up against other 4th liners and PKers. Showing how they rank in the league at large ignores their usage. I'm quite happy about how the team's been playing. Keep rolling with what we have, get Pav, Richards, Helm, Jurco, Sheahan going - those are the developments that I feel will make us better.