kickazz

I thought he had a strong start to the season and was earning the dollar but the injury hit him and it felt more like the injury prone Helm of old. I want the Ericsson, Howard, Nielsen contracts gone. But realistically I don't see Nielsen nor Ericsson's going away. I think Howard and Helm's contract have a better chance of being moved and I would pull the trigger. Along with Glendening and Sheahan. Assuming we are truly rebuilding; (I know Holland doesn't call it a "full" rebuild), but even with a partial one, I think if Helm, Glendening, Sheahan, Howard have interest around the league I would move them. Having said all that if there was an opportunity to drop 2 out of the 3 centers (Sheahan, Glendening and Helm), I would keep Helm because he's better than the other two.

So what does everyone think of this signing one year later? His injury bug came back this year which reduced him to 50 games played.

Yzerman was a top 5 point league scorer for like 4-5 different seasons. Has Toews EVER been a top scorer in the league? In fact, Anze Kopitar consistently scores more points than Toews (except this past season) and has won the Selke, two Stanley cups. Yet for some reason he isn't on your list with Toews, Ovie, Crosby. Your own post shows just how overrated Toews is when players comparable to him (Bergeron, Kopitar) aren't even named! I'll take it another step. Bergeron has MORE Selkes than Toews, scores at about the same rate (slightly lower), best face off guy in the league, won the stanley cup. Yet... he's not listed amongst this supposed Crosby, Ovie, Toews level..? Btw both Bergeron and Kopitar have been "beasts" in the Stanley cup finals scoring, Kopitar finished a post season with 26 points, Bergeron with 20 points in the 2011 cup run. Toews is not at Ovie or Crosby's level. Toews is at the level of Bergeron and Kopitar. And that's as far as that goes. Bergeron is better defensively than Toews and Kopitar is better offensively than Toews. But overall, the three of them are in the same category. I would even say that prime Datsyuk and Zetterberg are better than all three Bergeron, Toews, Kopitar and slightly under Crosby and Ovie. My point is I don't even think those 3 (Bergeron, Toews, Kopitar) are a tier below Crosby or Ovie I think they're about a tier and a half below. And my final point is. You talk about how being a two way player prevents putting up high numbers. I say bulls***. Sergie Fedorov is a living example of a guy who won Selke, Hart, Pearson and was a top league scorer all within the same season in 1994. Another more recent example is Pavel Datsyuk in 2008 who scored 97 points (4th highest in the league) and won a Selke the same year. Datsyuk did it but Toews never could finish top 5 in scoring. The fact of the matter is, a 2 way player CAN be a top league scorer and there are plenty of players who have done it. Just not Jonathan Toews because Jonathan Toews was never good enough to do it. Believe me even I didn't realize half the crap I'm saying until I actually looked the stats up. Because that's how the TSN and rest of Canadian sports media brain washes you. When you actually go look it up, you realize Toews has never even finished top 10 in scoring let alone top 5 or top 3 or 4 like other 2-way players have in this sport have over the years. Fedorov 1994 - won Selke and finished 2nd highest in scoring after Gretzky Fedorov 1996 - won Selke and finished top 10 in scoring Yzerman in 2000 - won Selke and finished top 10 in scoring Datsyuk 2008 - won Selke and finished 4th in league scoring Zetterberg 2008 - didn't win Selke but finished 3rd, finished 6th in league scoring So what's Toews' excuse?

Bulls***. We all know the MVP was Betty White. THEN comes Steve Yzerman.

I share your concerns.

The first thing I do if he tries to come back is ask. "That was quick.. was your daughter really that annoying??"

I think Crosby needs to win a 3rd cup (maybe not now, I'm still rooting for the Preds) for the hockey world to hit a reset button on overrating some of these players. It's not just Toews but also Duncan Keith and to a lesser degree Patrick Kane being on the top 100 players list that boggled my mind this year. No doubt Kane is a great player but it's wayyyy to early to establish him in the top 100 list when you have guys like Malkin who are more deserving. But Keith over Housley? Come on...

I'm going to say it. Pittsburgh vs. Blackhawks finals would be badass to watch.

The silver lining for me in this is that Crosby and Malkin are once again establishing themselves as the REAL top players on a top team in this league. Instead of the overrated Jonathan Toews. If Crosby wins his 3rd, maybe even a 4th. Canada can finally shut up about Toews and overrating him and go back to drooling over Crosby; who actually does deserve that attention since he's a million times better player than Toews. And so is Malkin. And like 15 other players in the league.

You sure you weren't busy Hodoring?

15 years ago today. The rivalry officially ended with a bang.

I like Steph Curry and the Warriors more anyway. So I'm not sure why I'm defending Laybron. Yeah he's a cry baby!! Booo. Lamebron sucks.

I don't think you understand what the sport of Basketball is. You can't jog or run with a leg cramp or a rolled ankle. But you can for sure skate on ice with a leg cramp and rolled ankle. Hell you can even skate with ruptured tendons in your foot (Datsyuk) or a fractured ankle (I've did this back in High School) if you wanted to. But you for sure can't run on a basketball court with those.

He should.. Abdelkader is a better hockey player than Sheahan and brings more to the team overall. And his cap hit isn't really that bad. If anything I would be looking for Holland to ask Nielsen to waive his NMC so he can be exposed. Nielsen was a signing to preserve the streak. With the streak out of the way there's no real need for him. He could be replaced with one of our young centers. They may not bad as good as him at certain "Centering" aspects yet but who cares, they'll learn. Nielsen at this point is someone we absolutely do not need unless we were a playoff team. We're not.

Don't be a hater

Sad!

To be fair, he went off because you said "Lidstrom, not debatable" But it obviously is pretty debatable (hence the last two pages).

BTW if Datsyuk still does those summer camps he should be in Michigan for a few weeks.

Take him back for nothing more than $2 million one year contract. If that. He underperformed in the KHL and that league is not as good comparatively. Also there is absolutely no "hint" in his words that he has an "itch" to return to the NHL as the author is claiming. All he said that if there was a chance to consider any deals it would only be to Detroit but he is happy with being in SKA. It's likely a political statement by Datsyuk to show that he's still loyal to Detroit. Not sure if it changes managements mind about what he did (trust me they probably aren't happy he didn't honor that contract) but good try I guess. That's not to say if he wanted to come back we wouldn't take him. We would obviously take all the help we can get for this team. He would be useful for PP, maybe some offensive zone faceoffs but with his bad health they won't/shouldn't offer him much money.

The one thing I don't think Lidstrom had the ability to do what Konstantinov could - was taking away the puck from opposition and giving himself a breakaway and finishing it off with a nifty goal.

I'm not so sure. He didn't put up overall points like Lidstrom did but you have to admit he had some darn good creativity in his offensive plays.

I agree with your overall line of thinking. Yzerman was the Detroit Red Wings. I think Lidstrom tends to get a bit overrated around here (especially with his Captaincy which we discussed months ago). I mean I love Lidstrom and do think he was an MVP in the 25 year range but if we're looking at the 35 year range or if we're looking at 95-03 it's hands down Steve Yzerman. The problem is this range of 25 years includes the years 2006 - 2017 or which Yzerman had no part at all. But if we're looking at the specific cup wins in 97, 98 and 02 I would say Yzerman was the MVP for at least 2 of those 3. I know Lidstrom won the Conn Smyth in 02 but it could easily have gone to Yzerman. I mean, the guy scored a team leading 23 points in 23 playoffs games in 02 and he did it with one bad knee. He scored 4 points in the 5 game series on the finals against Carolina and had 2 points in the Stanley cup winning game itself. As a 37 year old! Holy crap. As I write that out I actually wonder why Yzerman didn't win a second Conn Smyth trophy in 2002. I feel as though the blue line goal against Vancouver secured it for Lidstrom much like "The Conn Smyth shift" probably secured it for Z.

I felt like he was a more complete defenseman than Lidstrom was. His backhand flick of a shot was absolutely incredible and his offensive rushes always made your jaw drop. Lidstrom was cerebral and a genius at what he did but Konstantinov was skill + cerebral mixed together. It really does suck because we'll never know what could have been. And like I alluded to earlier, we didn't start seeing Lidstrom in his peak until later in the 90s and early 2000s. Assuming Vladdy was just getting into his prime before the accident, it would have been incredible to see his peak.