poel

Go after a rookie? Pretty weak. Koivu could have solved that problem himself if he wanted to... Stewart won the fight but Crouse held his own. You gotta respect him for fighting Stewart. Not many rookies would have done it.

No goalie saves that one other than by being lucky. That was an unexpected deflection by Ericsson. How is he supposed to anticipate that one?

Wtf? Did I miss something? That was deflected by Ericsson...wasn't it? Mrazek had zero support on all goals. At times it even seems he has to play against both teams...

Glad the coaches paid attention. Sproul also scratched...well deserved. Jurco should be in though.

Still behind Montreal though. And even though it was a soft call, it was a stupid play by Abdelkader. It's typical for him. I like the guy but he needs to smarten up.

As much as I like Abdelkader...but he has to stop taking stupid penalties. It's one thing to take penalties but he certainly has a flair for taking dumb ones...

Can we stop trading chances? This doesn't look good...

I think Mrazek kinda lost his way after that injury last season. Somebody (Hornqvist?) bumped him quite badly and a few days after he was "sick" and then missed quite a few games due to an UBI. I always had the impression that he was probably dealing with concussion like symptoms. Mrazek hasn't been himself ever since. Maybe that's just me but to me he hasn't looked as sharp as now in months. And yeah...not easy to be Detroit's goalie. Howard also had to learn how to deal with it after we lost key players.

My other one is Vasilevskiy and at the moment, his numbers are even worse than Mrazek's. Tough time for my team Maybe if they stick Sproul to the bench we can get Mrazek going. Would help the Wings and my team as well...

Detroit is no good place for a goalie. That's true. But Mrazek has been struggling for quite a while now. Ever since that injury he sustained last season he's been pretty shaky and it only got worse after the Howard injury. That said, he's been a lot better recently and his numbers don't reflect it.

Thx. I'm indeed watching. And I'm slightly pissed. Not only because we're tied when we should be in front. I got Mrazek in my fantasy team and I'm falling in the standings, mainly because of him. If, for once, he plays well, our D screws it. I'm never gonna get anywhere like that. From 1st to 6th within 4 weeks

Bad post. 1st one is a double deflection on the PP. No goalie would have anticipated that one. 2nd one is on Sproul losing his man. Mrazek makes the initial save but the Hawks still score on the rebound because of Sproul. 3rd one also on Sproul who was, once again, daydreaming.

This is the 2nd time in this game. Can Blash please stop playing this guy. If for once Mrazek is on top of his game we still get scored on because Sproul appears to be sleeping all game long. Really annoying.

http://www.gdp.ch/sport/hockey/il-talismano-emmerton-un-po-asso-e-un-po-jolly-id92835.html Cory Emmerton played quite a few games for the Redwings and did well. While he may not be a scorer, he's still one of the best Canadians playing outside the NHL and that's what earned him a roster spot on Team Canada at the Spengler Cup both this and last year. I don't expect you to be able to read an Italian article but it quotes Emmerton saying that he decided to play for Ambri despite several competing offers out of Sweden and the KHL and despite being in talks with NHL teams. Me made the decision because of the high quality of life in Switzerland and the fans. Ambri has a very old and special arena where it is exceptionally cold and where the fans are very close. He didn't talk about money but that sure has been a factor, too as Swedish teams aren't even close from competing with salaries paid in Switzerland. In the KHL, a few teams got lots of money and then you have teams like Zagreb who aren't even fluid enough to buy hockey sticks. This is getting ridiculous. You clearly know very little about European hockey so it makes no sense to discuss it with you.

Well, he's Blashills superior. If he hadn't changed his mind he'd be able to stop Blashill from using Zetterberg in a defensive role...one way or another.

While I like Blashill, I think there is a fundamental problem. Out of our four current centermen, Zetterberg is the one taking the highest percentage of defensive zone faceoffs. Then Larkin, then Sheahan and Nielsen. If you ask me, it should be the other way around. In this game, Larkin took 1 OZF, 7 NZO and 7 DFO. No wonder do we have trouble scoring. If you play Larkin as 3C, you have to give him offensive wingers and give them every chance to provide some depth scoring. Nielsen put up a few points as well but Hank is still 1C, especially when it comes down to playmaking skills. He shouldn't be the one shouldering all the defensive work anyway. Surely not with Tatar and Mantha on his wing. That's why I posted earlier that the lines don't make sense. If you ask me, 3rd line at this point has to be Tatar, Nyquist and Larkin. We need to get Tatar and Nyquist going. If they can't put it together against opponents 3rd defense pairings, then we might as well give others a chance. In the offseason there was a lot of talk about switching Zetterberg to the wing to be able to play him in a more offensive role and giving him a lighter workload. That appears to have vanished pretty quickly. While I always said that Zetterberg is way too good of a Center not to play him there, I'm still surprised how quickly Blash and Holland changed their mind. He's gonna decline rapidly if they continue to use him like that.

I'd actually prefer to see Athanasiou with Nielsen. We need to get Larkin, Nyquist and Tatar going so I'd put those three together. Put Glendening on 4th line with Miller and scratch either Sheahan or Ott. Not sure about Jurco and Vanek but I'd probably try Vanek with Zetterberg. Either way, the current lines make no sense.

I never said that we'd produce all that much talent. It's getting better but that's still something the Swedes do way better. Unlike in Sweden, Swiss players tend to stay in Switzerland though. Swedish league is quite weak due to the clubs lacking money. That's why most of the best Swedes who don't make the NHL move on to play in Switzerland or Russia. Topscorers from all European leagues regularly move on to play in Switzerland and usually don't return until they're past their prime. So even though it's a fair point to say that we're not producing talent, you can still send me your list of NLA topscorers leaving the NLA in their prime for other European teams. Thx in advance. Lol. After this post it becomes clear you're not even following the WJC. Just trying to get outta here, huh? Switzerland lost to the US (thanks to the refs but that's another story)

Linus Klasen is one of best Swedish players outside the NHL. Another one of these, Linus Omark, used to play for Zug before getting another shot in the NHL. Better get your facts straight. I'm still waiting for your list of great players who other European clubs got outta the NLA or even against competing offers outta the NLA. You can also send me a message if, all of a sudden, you care about the topic

Lol. Yet another unqualified post. Money reigns the world. Most players will go wherever they earn the most. Salaries are way lower in every other European League except the KHL. Swiss teams pay a lot and Switzerland is a better place to live than to travel from one shabby hotel to the other and work your ass off for a ridiculous salary in the AHL or to live in a cold and lonely place somewhere in Scandinavia or Eastern Europe. Why do you think everytime there's a lockout in the NHL, all players head to Switzerland? Why do you think Mark Arcobello didn't want to play in the AHL, why do you think Linus Klasen came over from Sweden, why Robert Nilsson or Perttu Lindgren from Russia? If there's a good player on the market somewhere in Europe, he'll head to Switzerland. It is how it is. Name me one good player a Swedish club got out of the NLA. You won't be able to come up with many names. Americans often tend to think that the Swedish league would be Europe's best because that's where the NHL gets the most Europeans from. It's misleading though. Swedish clubs are known for excellent youth development. That's why van Pottelberghe went over to play there as a young kid. Makes little sense to play pro hockey over there though if you have a choice.

Which league is better? ChL quarterfinals featured the ZSC Lions, SC Bern and Fribourg Gottéron. At the Spengler Cup, Swiss teams regularly beat teams from all over Europe, including the KHL. While I understand that those competitions may not have top priority for both Swiss and other clubs, Swiss clubs continuously get the best players out of all leagues except the NHL and KHL. The Swiss NLA is the league with the highest average attendance in Europe and our clubs pay the highest salaries besides NHL and KHL. One could argue that the Finnish Liiga might be better than the NLA because of the speed of Finnish hockey. But all other leagues, including the AHL, are definitely quite a bit behind the NLA. But okay. Ever since your comment about a certain "crap goalie" I know a lot about your knowledge of European hockey

Oh. Sorry. My detector appears to be broken

Again. How many 19yo goalies are starters for a club like Davos playing in one of the most competitive leagues? Time will tell but so far so good. I also read an article after the draft that this pick was basically all Hakan Andersson. Of course he needed Holland's approval but it definitely wasn't Holland's idea. I guess it was also important to add another goaltender to the prospect pool. Goalies are always wild cards. Not sure how they feel about Paterson.

While I understand that Americans don't care much about European countries, I can confirm that the Russians played a country called Denmark. Van Pottelberghe is Swiss and played vs the US boys The guy you're confusing him with is Lasse Petersen. On a sidenote, I have no clue why the Danes started him. They also have Kasper Krog who played extremely well but when he came in in the 2nd it was already too late.

Great. But why would you blame van Pottelberghe for a Russian goal? You're absolutely right. I mentioned it already...consistency used to be his biggest problem. I mentioned it here after the draft. I was excited the redwings drafted a Swiss player but at the same time was the first one to be sceptical. He just never seemed to get it together as a kid. But then again, that's not unusal for a young goalie. I guess it was Hakan Andersson's input that lead to Holland drafting van Pottelberghe who played junior hockey in Sweden. Andersson is usually a pretty reliable source and van Pottelberghe always had the tools. He was great over the last few weeks. Short sample size, but still impressive. As I said...turning pro probably helped him after early struggles. In Davos he gets to work with a pretty good staff.