kickazz

I think almost everyone here agrees that Nerve is a phenomenal poster while you... lol let's not get into that. Great thread title btw. Let's reverse the question. What would it take for a Holland hater to stop hatin'

Why are his numbers good? Is it because he's good or is it because we all think he isn't and assume the corsi must be flawed. Of course usage is important. Maybe that's why Glendenings numbers are so s***ty. It's because he's being misused against top lines when he shouldn't be. It's because there's games where he plays 20 minutes as a 4th liner when he shouldn't be.

Fair enough. That's exactly what I mean by "sheltered" minutes btw. Keep him around 16 minutes or so and not overdo it, try to give him good matchups at home and he will thrive.

Guess Pulk won't be there to start the season.

Smith had as good and at times better possession metrics than Nick Lidstorm did. Are you saying Smith = Lidstrom then? I'm all for advanced metrics when looked at in the correct context. Is Smith the next Lidstrom? Should we play him 28 minutes a night amongst the toughest matchups all 82 games and see how he does?

Amazing. Lol he's projected to be a depth player. But noooo we put him on the first line when we have a 1 goal lead to protect with 2 minutes left in the third! And then we all blame Howard for letting in the game tying goal (cough cough it's usually not his fault).

Probably not much because he (Babcock) gave Smith very sheltered minutes. And Blashill does the same. Smith happens to take advantage of those sheltered minutes and does well. That's exactly why you'll never hear an argument for Smith becoming a top 2 defenseman.

Lmao what sport do you watch? Faceoff winners don't keep puck on their stick they dish it to players behind him or next to them and on rare occasions end up getting it themselves through a scramble. Luke Glendening is one of the worst possession players. When he's on ice the opposing team is shooting on our net more often than we are. But you know, lets be ignorant to facts because the guy can apparently win faceoffs lol. Yes, lets pay a guy hundred thousands to millions of dollars because he happens to win the faceoffs 1% more often than Datsyuk did. Never mind the fact that when he's out on ice after he wins the faceoff the opposing team easily gets the puck and gets a chance to score on us. That's the best management I've heard of. You should replace Ken Holland. Wait a minute, Holland already does this. Are you Holland? Nah I'm just pullin yer leg. Well at least Glendog made it to top 10 list on something even if it's a top 10 worst list. - http://kuklaskorner.com/psh/comments/worst-20-players-by-team-adjusted-corsi2

Neilsen was an assistant for the Islanders for a while. And they brought him in because of his veteran experience. I'm not saying he'll get it, I'm just saying it won't be surprising if he does. Just going by what happened in the past. When Daniel Alfredsson came here for the one year they gave him the A when Datsyuk got injured instead of giving it to Franzen (who was here for a long time)

As and Cs for the Wings usually go to the best players. The fact the Abby is the next "A" speaks mountains about this teams skill level compared to a the last 20 years. If tradition holds, Neilsen will get it. They gave it to Alfredsson in 2014 instead of Franzen.

You can't possibly think he's the same player pre and post surgery. Watch some of his highlights from pre surgery in 2014 and then in the 2015 season. His speed probably reduced by 50% it's pretty nasty. I can't remember the last time he actually took a slap shot (which he took plenty of before his surgery). Herniated discs come with life long issues and/or constraints. Surgery only removed bone chips impinging on the nerve.He went from being a 300 shots per season guy to around 220, that's a significant change in style of play and directly correlates to surgery. Overall I'd say it's a combination of aging and trying to play out the contract with conservative measures on ice. Sure, but group 1 still isn't better than group 2 as you indicated.

Your boy Mrazek got manhandled by Paquette a couple years ago and guess who stepped in?

Lemme jinx some more. Chicago Blackhawks will win the Stanley cup 5 more times in the next 50 years.

My point is that although Fedorov was better producer in the 90s, Yzerman was more valuable to the team because when he did well, the team overall did well. When he couldn't produce, we wouldn't make it far. 2 out of the 3 times when he tore it up in the playoffs, we ended up winning the cup. I think he was more valuable when it came down to the final push. That's also why, I believe Stevie is a the captain of all captains. And yes, Fedorov did better in the 97 playoffs.

AA was 41% on faceoffs while Neilsen is 50% Neilsen takes on tougher matchups which AA can't handle. In group 1, Zetterberg's line would be forced to handle the opposing team toughest matchups and once again by December Zetterberg would decline. Also our PK would be s*** with group one. When used, AA should continue on the 3rd line for this year. I don't think he's ready for top 6 quiet yet. His minutes were way too sheltered last year for him to be thrown into top 6.

Since 2011 Neilsen has only missed 7 games ...

Been pondering on Neilsen. I think he will definitely play out his contract and rarely miss games. (knock on wood). The only worry is how much his production will decline. But thinking about it, by the time he gets older, Larkin, Svech, Mantha will be into their primes. So I'm not sure if Neilsen's production will taper off all the much.

No. In the cup victories the Red Wings had, Yzerman was mostly the better player, especially in 98 and 2002 (while he was injured he was still able to produce more than Feds). All of our cup victories, Yzerman was always the guy who stepped up. Sure Fedorov did better on the years we didn't win but it really didn't translate to anything when we got knocked out.

So he has to be protected. How does the protected forwards list look now?

Wow what a story. That sounds exactly like something Fedorov would do. Good times.

Overall Fedorov had better linemates long term but during their primes I'd say Datsyuk had better linemates. Federov had Koslov and Larionov in his peak. Shanny came around a bit later. Datsyuk basically had Zetterberg and Hull from the get go. Had Zetterberg all the way until he turned 30 before Babcock split them up

In simple terms, it means that Tatar likes to shoot a lot and scores more often than Nyquist does. Nyquist is a better set up guy. It also means that Tatar does a better job of keeping the puck on the opposing teams net and a better job of keeping the puck away from our net.

Wait why would it matter if he's due for a $4.5 million contract? That's exactly what Nyquist is making right now. Losing Nyquist just frees up the cap space we would pay Tatar next year lol

Meanwhile in Holland's world.

I don't think it's that close between them to be honest. I think Dats just has the "WoW" factor because of his dangles. Truly Fedorov was the best player in the league for a good 2-3 years. Feds was a 50 goal scorer, had more than 10 game winning goals in so many seasons. He also had 31 short handed goals! (holy crap) And the fact that Bowman was able to put Fedorov on defense (where he did really well) truly shows how good he was as a two way player. Also I think there was a time when Fedorov was one of the best faceoff guys in the league as well. Not to mention Fedorov was the fastest hockey player in the world for a long time. A lot of these factors are something Dats lacked imo. I think if there's any player that I've witnessed as the most complete player, my vote would go to Fedorov. However I'd rank Yzerman before him simply because Stevie was a better playoff performer. Which at the end of the day.. is what matters most.