kickazz

He didn't carry the team to the playoffs. It was a collective effort from the whole team, especially Datsyuk, Zetterberg, Franzen, AND Howard. Franzen with 7 goals in past few weeks, Zetterberg with 2 goals and 9 points in 4 games and Datsyuk somwhere similar with 10 points or so this past week. Without the offense, there is no winning. Without a goalie, there is no winning. Collective effort, all the leaders stepped up. Please stick to the facts kind sir.

He was very much like Steve Yzerman and shows up big time for crucial games (these last few and the st. Louis game with his hatrick). I'm glad they went with him for the C he will have a great 7 years to come and hopefully have his jersey up on those rafters one day. Good job Mr. Hank you're hard work earned you that C on your jersey.

Re-read my post instead of taking things out of context buddy. I actually said Howard play good. My EXACT words. Nice try Here's my post again incase ya forgot ur spectacles the first time. "No one here has said that he played "poor". That said, he didn't play as a clutch goalie in the playoffs either. That's the point. People worship Jimmy as if he's the best thing out there, however his playoff numbers performance haven't been extraordinary. It's been good. But nothing more. Not YET at least. He's not a Hart Trophy winner* Dominik Hasek. But that's not to say that he won't become one either.. The point is, he has a long way to go. Let's give him time instead of jumping to conclusions that he's the best thing ever. You have to take it year by year, he's still a young guy and he's improving each season and gaining more playoff experience as we go." I said he wasn't clutch. I didn't say he was bad. Clutch vs. Bad. Two different adjectives from dictionary.com. Jonathon Quick was clutch in the post season. Howard was good in the post season. That's the difference. Right now Howard is clutch. Besides, you're giving me one playoff seasons numbers. Let's look at last year, 2.64 GAA and .888 SV%? I'm not going to blindly hold that against him because I actually like Howard. At the same time I'm not going to absolutely adore him for having 1 good playoff year either because we have yet to win a cup with him and see consistency in the playoffs. It's too early to judge him and call him elite as some people are.

No one here has said that he played "poor". That said, he didn't play as a clutch goalie in the playoffs either. That's the point. People worship Jimmy as if he's the best thing out there, however his playoff numbers performance haven't been extraordinary. It's been good. But nothing more. Not YET at least. He's not a Hart Trophy winning Dominik Hasek. But that's not to say that he won't become one either.. The point is, he has a long way to go. Let's give him time instead of jumping to conclusions that he's the best thing ever. You have to take it year by year, he's still a young guy and he's improving each season and gaining more playoff experience as we go.

Nonetheless we still had lidstrom, stuart, rafalski. Look my point, is Jimmy was obviously not experienced enough his first few years. This MAY be the year where he shines.

I don't mind it at this point, the current lines have been doing really well. I see why Bab doesn't want to dress Bertz.

Guys chill out with the Jimmy Howard rant. Jimmy is a great season goalie and has been this year. He still has to prove himself as a playoff goalie. I think people who are on his case need to lay off a bit cuz he's actually doing good right now and those of you who are worshipping him need to take a step back and wait until he gives us some playoff depth. We're jumping to conclusions too quickly with him. He's been solid thus far this year, lets hope he can continue this into the postseason. Remember, we haven't gotten past the second round in the playoffs since Jimmy took over from Ozzy in 2010. Let's hope this is the year Jimmy can pull a Jonathon Quick and get us far. Well.... Technically in the 7 seasons in the NHL, Franzen has only had 1 "30 goal" season. He's more of a high 20's scorer. But yes, we see your point.

Idk if I would use "captain" to describe the sarcasm lol... That's a bit too much

Learning to protect the puck better, stick handling through defense, staying strong on the puck. Playing smart with good hockey sense. Keys to becoming better at execution. Abdelkader still needs to gain more of those skills. Remember, Bertuzzi himself admitted that he BECAME better playing with Datsyuk and Zetterberg and working with them during practice. Still have to see Abby do the same.

So we are tied in ROW with Dallas at 20 , the next tie breaker is wins in head to head match up correct? So since they play 3 only three games together this season, you throw away the first game the played, meaning wings have 1 win over them so far. Is that right?

Lol, I was sitting behind the penalty box... Abby didn't say anything when he was in it, he was calm and quiet. Doan had his helmet off and kept yelling at Abby from the box. We couldn't make out exactly what he was saying exactly. In an case, If you watch the recap from NBC's broadcast, Pierre McGuire said that Doan "didn't swear at AbdelKader at all, and told him 'You play on a line with Datsyuk and Zetterberg and only have 11 points, you should be ashamed' " Go look up the broadcast on youtube it's all over the place. Even if the other teammate was chirping at Abby first, that doesn't mean you should think Doan is pathetic. He's sticking up for his teammate and has every right to do so. He's a physical captain and he's a big guy. That's his game. He's one of those respected individuals in the league. You're taking my quote out of context and posting only half of what I said.. The previous lad was giving Abdelkader credit for being on par with Bertz in scoring. I pointed out that Abby isn't a goal scorer, he could have scored 25 goals playing with Datsyuk if he had better execution abilities. I also mentioned that if Abby practice that part of his game this offseason, that would be better. I believe he's doing a good job of being physical. And I further pointed out that Bertuzzi can be physical as well if he's 100% healthy, as well as score goals and have more finesse. In conclusion I would have a 100% healthy bertuzzi on line 1 over an Abderlkader.

True, he doesn't have a ring but Shane Doan was just calling it like he saw it. He didn't cuss out or swear at Abby he simply stated a fact. Abby was chirping away at one of the coyote's player and Shane Doan stood up for his teammate and told Abby he should be ashamed for having only 11 points with Z and D. Doan didn't really instigate anything he just got fed up with Abby running his mouth. And to be honest, Abby did shut up after that. He was sitting quietly in the penalty box lol.

Cleary only played with Datsyuk and Abby for 7 or so games. Not most of the season. Abby has had plenty of opportunities to turn his 11 point season into a 25 point season. Face it, you're giving him way too much credit for scoring. I do agree that Abdelkader is creating space and helping datsyuk out in other aspects of the game such as physical play, but by no means has he done a good job with point production. I give him some legitimate credit that he has deserved, but not more than that. Now, should Bertuzzi replace Abderlkader? Maybe. Supposedly he's been practicing for a month now and bertz can be physical if he wanted to as well. On top of that Bert is a better goal scorer and has more finesse than Abby does. If Bert was truly healthy and has his A game then I would put him up over Abby any day. But if Bert isn't close to being a top liner then I would stick with Abby. But it looks like Bertz expect to be on the 3rd line so that settles that.

Yes, but he's terrible when he actually gets the puck. I was at the game vs. coyotes and Zetterberg set him up atleast 4 times and he completely failed to execute.. Another legitimate forward would have scored atleast once or twice that game. I agree with you that Abdelkader is doing a good job creating space, but this offseason he really needs to work on his puck protection and execution. Datsyuk and Z have set him up enough to make him a legitimate 20 goal scorer yet he sitting at "11 points" as Shane Doan said it..

exactly, they probably won't. but who knows crazier things have happened. abdelkader could very well be the 15 goal scorer in the playoffs XD

Well, there's multiple ways of looking at it. (And we're just talking about this season. I agree with you that they have shown signs of decline last few years. ) 1. Fact that Z and Dats have been playing since before lockout should if anything show that they are hanging in there while the rest of a league had a nice 4 months off. In EV Zug Zet was playing exceptionally well. Overall this year he's doing better than he was last year in terms of production (not so much with goals scoring I know). 2. Ok lets say Z and Dats had the advantage in the beginning of the season and were on fire and the rest of the league sucked. But now the rest of the league has finally caught up and Z and Dats are getting tired.. So technically it should be balanced at this point.. However Zetterberg is officially ranked 6th in assists in the league (an impressive feat for a 32 year old tired man). Meaning that other players simply aren't able to catch up? Or, he's somewhat still maintaining his assist production, albeit not as well as he was in the beginning of the season. And I don't believe Z has "dropped off big time" at all. Him and Datsyuk are still the best players on the team. And last nights game with those three assists were a clear message that he's not "dead" yet. The captain had a big game. Personally I think he's running on fumes, but I give him and Dats credit for doing what they can with a subpar roster and linemates.

Thanks to Dats? Wtf. Datsyuk played decent but Franzen had a good game on his own, if anything a good shot from Brunner (pass from Hank) for the deflection. Datsyuk didnt even play with franzen on a line... Let's give people credit for their own doings... Btw I'm not even a franzen fan but just sayin.. Um no.

Would agree with you overall, but this season Z and D are about a point per game so that would make each around 80 point per season. (for this season)

After watching last nights game, I can safely say that Mr. Zetterberg is out of gas.

My whole point in making this post, ladies? and gentleman, is that Mr. Babcock has not realized that his swapping has done absolutely nothing for him. Had he kept the lines the way they were, we could have ATLEAST had lines with better chemistry after 45 games are done. If Z and Brunner had kept playing, they could have had an amazing chemistry by now. If Dats and Franzen were kept together, they could have had a good chemistry by now. But none of that happened cuz he changes the lines up every damn game. I don't know why he doesn't just realize that swapping is not better than just sticking to it. Tell me what the hell was the point of Zetterberg going to swiss and playing with brunner on EV Zug if babcock was just going to split them up? Nothing. If anything, we have now a Zetterberg whose running on fumes due to an extended season. While most players got a rest during the fall, Z was playing overseas, and now he's pretty much out of gas.

Seriously, the past three years and especially this year the line swapping have been at a maximum. I feel like there's no opportunity for any chemistry being built. Don't get me wrong , I like Babcock, but how are you supposed to let team chemistry build if you just keep swapping guys back and forth ? He started the year with Z, Dats and Brunner, it wasn't doing good for a few games and he completely gave up on it? I mean, at some point you've got to realize that there simply isn't enough offense available right? In any case, does it logically make sense as a coach to swap lines so much? It takes time to built chemistry in a line.. You're at the end of the season and you haven't built any good chemistry at all.. Maybe he shouldn't have swapped around cuz it sure didn't make a difference at this point in the season. What are you thoughts?

Yea but when they get separated they get double teamed lol. It's a catch 22.

Yessir, I agree with you, and the point im tryin to make is. Mr. Babcock,: you shoulda just stuck to Z, Dats, and Brunner and by now it wuda been a good chemistry after 43 games are done. But... they never happened, and abdelkader is still on line 1, with no chemistry >.>

Well yes I agree, but these seems to be some sort of idea that because Datsyuk and Zetterberg are having an "off year" the rest of the players production is suffering because of them. But obviously that's not the case since both men are leading their teams in points and no one else is even close to having as many points as they have.

Nope. It's not the other way around. Just look at the stats. Both Pav and Z are leading in points for their team with 41 and 38 points respectively. Datsyuk is leading in goals with 13. So where does you're logic come in? They're both leading the team. Where's everyone elses production? It's not even close. The next highest point producer after Z and Pav is Kronwall and Franzen at 26. A defenseman and a guy whose missed 7 games? That's terrible. The only other person whose broken 20 is Brunner. Where the hell is Abdelkader? He played on the first line almost every night. Where's his production? If datsyuk has 41 points shouldn't abdelkaders point production somewhat corellate to his? It's not even close.. And what about Cleary? Cleary's played on both first and second lines this season and has played all 43 games and hes sitting at 14 points? and -8? Trust me its not the other way around. Both Datsyuk and Zetterberg are leading their teams in points and the stats show it. The other guys have played just as many games if not more and have nothing to show for. It's simple logic. And on top of that both Z and Pav have been battling injury and fatigue and STILL lead the team in points. None of these other guys have any injury, NOR missed many games, theyre younger and faster and STILL aren't anywhere close in terms of points. Oh and i'm not speaking of 4th line youngsters I'm speaking of young players who have played on the first and second lines. And as I said before Datsyuk and Zetterberg are the few 30+ year old men leading the league in points. 95% of the NHL players who are top 15 in points are in the ages of 23-28. In fact, Zetterberg is the only player in the league besides Thornton whose 30+ and is ranked number 6 in assists, abliet Thornton has played 3 more games than Zet has. You can't expect them to produce like Overtckin with a team that gives them no support offensively. The fact that Zetterberg is tied for rank 6 in assists is impressive especially if this is considered an "off year" for him.