kipwinger

Isles sign Boychuk to 7 years, 6 million per. Pretty steep.

Active or Latent?

None of that changes the fact that Datsyuk's production is likely not being noticeably affected by Helm's lack of offense skill. As a matter of fact, it supports my argument. Regardless of the fact that the 2008 and 2009 teams were better (and they totally were), Dats still had a 35-40 point guy on his line to do the heavy lifting. Just like he does now. It didn't seem to drag him down then, and it doesn't seem to drag him down this season either. Very few centers have two superstar wingers flanking them. And if they did, the team probably wouldn't be very good anyway.

Coburn > Gudas

I think he resembles the American Pie dude. It looks like he's about to finish that interview and go f*** a pie.

Datsyuk's two best offensive seasons (2008, 2009) came with Holmstrom on his line. In those two season Holmstrom scored 40 pts. (20G, 20A) one year, and 37 pts. (14G, 23A) the next. Given how that line is scoring with Helm, I'd imagine Helm will finish the season somewhere in the 35-40 point ballpark (he's got 29 already). If anything, the fact that Tatar isn't as good as Zetterberg or Hossa is a bigger impact on Pav's numbers. Not the fact that Helm isn't Holmstrom.

Athanasiou has played fewer games than Mantha. He missed 20 some games with a broken jaw. But I'd agree that it's tough to tell what either of them would be doing right now if they hadn't dealt with significant injuries this year.

Question for everyone, in your opinion has Athanasiou passed Mantha on the prospect depth chart? He was nearly as good in Juniors, he's been considerably better in the AHL, and while not as big as Mantha he's still got excellent size, speed, and skill for the NHL game. Thoughts?

At his current rate of production it'll take a little under 4 games for him to register a single point, let alone score a goal. I think the nets are safe, regardless of his linemates.

When David clarson was scoring goals in new jersey he was doing so disproportionate to his skill level. Nevertheless, new jersey would have been stupid to move him to the fourth line. Same with Glendening if he were producing like that here.

What's your point? We both agree he shouldn't be put with datsyuk. Which was what we were discussing.

Why? This is a gender friendly forum. If it were a half naked chick I doubt you'd be complaining.

Wasn't the point of contention that people were quick to jump on the "Franzen is done forever" bandwagon as a result of their disdain for Franzen, and not because there was any reason to believe his career was actually threatened? That's what it seemed like (five pages ago, or whatever). If so, I think there's probably a lot of evidence to support this. For instance, this thread was started on January 8th. Most of the posts immediately following the creation of the thread didn't even address Franzen or his injury, and instead focused on Pulkkinen. By January 9th people were already speculating that Franzen was done forever, despite the fact that the nature of his injury hadn't even been disclosed. It seems naive to suggest that "wishful thinking" didn't play a role in how people responded to Franzen's injury. Which seemed to be Number9's point (if I'm reading it correctly). Sidebar: The irony is that we now know that folks were wrong to be so excited about Pulkkinen stepping in for the Mule. Franzen was having a good year (22 pts. in 30+ games), and Pulkkinen has struggled to find his consistency and seems unable to stand up to the physicality of the NHL game (both frequently used to criticize Franzen). We're actually a better team with Franzen, regardless of what the haters say.

Put him with Datsyuk and his nickname would be Silky. On account of his hands.

I'm for whatever configuration of players helps us win. If Luke can do that better on the first than the fourth, I'm fine with it. I'm skeptical he could keep it up. But if he did, I'd stick with what works. Seems like all too often we want the team to win, but specifically with the guys we like contributing in the ways we want. But that's wrong headed. If we were a better team with Luke on the first and Tatar on the fourth, then that's what we ought to do.

Shhhhhhh...Abby and Helm suck and are fourth liners at best. Don't diverge from the narrative. I read that Winging It in Motown blog too. But it's bulls***. It's not like Pulkkinen was playing with scrubs. Babs gave him several games with Zetterberg and he didn't produce jack squat. The answer to all our offensively under performance issues can't be "put him with Datsyuk". He's played with good players and hasn't produced that well. That's not a good reason to give him more ice time with better players. And that's not a good strategy to begin with. This is the part of the season when we're trying to win games and establish home ice for the playoffs, not worry about the development of rookies. Edit: Oh yeah, that blog was especially retarded because it implicitly compared Pulkkinen to Brett Hull (again). A comparison that is made all too often, and only sounds dumber the more it's repeated.

But he is practicing right? So whether or not some people's careers are ended because of concussions doesn't really matter in this case. All indications, barring some set back, seem to point toward him making a recovery. At least I hope so. It's pretty clear he wants to keep playing.

No official update. But considering he was skating yesterday, and a couple of weeks ago Holland said “I know he’s working with Dr. (Jeff) Kutcher (a specialist at Michigan who treats sports concussions). I get a report occasionally from (trainer) Piet Van Zant when Piet talks to Dr. Kutcher. But (Franzen) is not here. He’s not on the bike. I don’t know how far he is away.” I think it's probably safe to say he's improving. http://prohockeytalk.nbcsports.com/2015/02/16/holland-franzen-concussion-not-close-to-returning/

One goal in two games. I'm not going to scoff at it too much.

He has 30 pts. in 44 playoff games over the last 5 years. Which is even better than his regular season ppg numbers.

Until recently they hadn't lost two in a row in regulation. So the high win percentage in regulation stands to reason. I don't think anyone would argue that the Red Wings are a bad team. However, IMO there are a few weak points to our game that I'd like to see us tighten up before the playoffs roll around. Most recently, we've been starting games late and generally look aloof during the first period. Our 5-on-5 scoring is only average and we seem overly reliant on special teams play for offense. I'm still not sold on our transition game, and turnovers seem to still be a problem at times. I'm hoping that between now and the playoffs we can figure out the best line and defense pairs to ice, and that the additions of Cole and Zidlicky will allow us to get people slotted for maximum efficiency. Barring any serious injuries I don't see why we wouldn't be able to improve in some of these areas.

In a week where Luke Glendening found himself on the top line, I don't think any defensive configurations should come as a surprise. Anybody who thinks "that will never happen", clearly hasn't watched Mike Babcock coach. If he has even the inkling that Marchenko will make the top four better, he'll be up there in a heartbeat.

Did Ericsson look bad against Calgary and Boston? I heard Weiss did.

Yikes, I leave for the weekend and Luke Glendening is on the first line when I return. What the hell is going on?

Lol. You get incredibly lighthearted when your arguments start to fall flat. A far cry from the guy who so vigorously blamed me for the downfall of the NHL awards process. Wait, did you blame me? Or just make a vague statement and not so subtly point it at me? Either way, I didn't make any of the arguments you claim I did. I'm not responsible for NHL awards. And I'm smart enough to know what plausible deniability is. If you're going to make up a bunch of things (most improved award), in the future could you spare me the "who me" routine when you get called out on it? Or maybe next time you disagree with me about who should be the NHL Coach of the Year, you should just act decent about it instead of pulling that "this is the kind of thinking" crap. Then we wouldn't be in this position.