poel

Which is ridiculous...the Cats had 39,2 Shots per Game in the Playoffs, Blackhawks 36,6. Sharks reached the Final with 26,8. Shooting is just one tactic. There are lots of others. As I said...stats are nice...but if you don't know why numbers look good or bad they're useless or even dangerous if they lead to wrong conclusions. From our wingers, only Pulkkinen's and Mantha's offensive zone faceoff percentage is higher than Tatar's. Plus he played either on in a protected 3rd line role against weak opposition or alongside Pav who's still one of the best 2-way forwards worldwide and also mainly received offensive zone starts. Pretty easy to outshoot your opposition like that...even if you're just floating around or keep turning over pucks. There are probably even more reasons than those I mentioned...but just to show you how misleading stats can be... Blashill doesn't trust Tatar and I totally get why.

https://twitter.com/craigsmorgan/status/745418616728805376 I hope it works and the deal includes Hanzal...

I think with Smith it's just a confident issue. Babcock seemed to like him a lot more than Blashill. I agree that he has all the tools to be a 3rd pairing defenseman in the NHL. At least. I always liked Smith but have to admit that he was brutal last season. Still, I'd just play him. It's hard to sit for that long and then suddenly get to play alongside forwards who keep turning the puck over and some old, slow defense partners. Smith has a good skillset, he's fast and he's relatively tough...which our other defenseman mostly aren't. What he needs is minutes. And maybe the new assistants and a new season with new defensepartners will do wonders for him. We'll see.

Can happen but the accuracy is still a lot higher in terms of hits. Take- and giveaways to me still seem absolutely random. Plus thw numbers are way too low. Season has 82 games and nhl.com wants to tell us that Datsyuk has the most takeaways with just 48. No need to be a genius to tell that that's ridiculous. Just 71 Givaways for Ericsson, too.

Depending on what data...yes. I'm not gonna tell you that Zetterberg is our best shot blocker or Nyquist our best hitter. But if data is misleading or not precise/accurate you rather trust your eyes.

I mentioned this a lot already...stats are precise but not in terms of take- and giveaways. The numbers are way too low and therefore the best players can be the worst and vice versa. Tatar was brutal no matter what you say. Helm was even worse. The fact that his turnover numbers are low tells everything about this stat.

Like Babcock said a while ago...stats are nice to know but at the end of the day you judge by what you see... Tatar was brutal recently...hard not to see that. In his rookie season he was a lot better, played with intensitiy. Last season he scored a few point but at the same time he was lazy and a turnover machine.

I mentioned Hanzal already. I'm not convinced we can sign a better FA-Center than him. Since the stupid new GM kid in Arizona wants to trade Hanzal and they're probably the ones who are the most likely to eat the Datsyuk-cap it would make sense to make a bigger trade that includes Datsyuk and Hanzal.

Can only be Abdelkader. Our best and toughest Winger and a true leader. Great work ethic. Local.

This is ridiculous. From what I've seen apart from maybe Kopitar Toews wins all head to head versus these players. Especially Crosby. When he's on the ice vs Toews, he hardly ever has the puck. Also it's Toews who has the most rings and it's him who has the ability to make players around him better like nobody else. Toews means so much more than just points. I get that the new contract sucks but apart from maybe Tavares who could do more elsewhere he's the best Center in this league. He might never score like Crosby but he'll always shut him down with ease. Maybe I'm missing something but when matched up vs Toews I've never seen anything outta Crosby. Kopitar is too inconsistent and the two others you mentioned are far behind anyways. Datsyuk, when at his best, was one of the most dominant Centers ever but with his health issues he was declining rapidly...

Ahh. They're waiting since years in places like Toronto or Edmonton. Year after year they draft high but they're still the worst teams in the NHL. They got no experienced top players and roster isn't balanced enough. Also you can't just shake off a losing mentality. If the Leafs land Stamkos things could change but if not I'm pretty convinced that they'll remain the clowns of this league. I still think that if, we should trade Datsyuk's contract to the Yotes. They're most likely interested in the contract as they wouldn't have to pay him. And want to move Hanzal. Maloney never would have traded Hanzel but it looks like their new kid Chayka is stupid enough to shop him. Hanzal is a beast and a guy that, if healthy, is one of the best two way centers in the NHL. We're not gonna land Stamkos and Hanzal is better than all FA-Centers. To pay prospects or picks just to move Datsyuk's contract doesn't make sense to me. I'd prefer a real trade where we actually get something back.

Can you even read properly? If we need the cap, it's just for free agency. To sign some high end FA's. This doesn't mean that we need to do it. But trading the contract only makes any sense ahead of free agency. So if, a trade is gonna happen until then. Cause after, it doesn't make any sense whatsoever. Personally I'd like to move the contract if there's a good offer on the table but I never said that we'd need to do it. I said that most likely Holland is desperate to move it. If that's the case it's gonna be a problem.

I don't see your problem. 1.) you surely aren't one of those "more knowledgeable fans". I've read a lot of bs from you and this post isn't better by any means. 2.) I didn't say even once that we need to trade Pavel's contract. I said that I'm pretty sure that Holland will trade the contract because he wants to keep the playoff streak alive and doesn't want to be remembered as the guy who messed it up.

... at least that's what we hope...I wouldn't bet on it. Holland doesn't wanna end our playoff streak just because he messed up by giving Datsyuk a longterm contract.

I hope. But he's not gonna want to miss the playoffs so he's gonna move the contract despite the high cost. Therefore I think that a package would be best for us. Send Datsyuk,Tatar, Nyquist along with a prospect like Bertuzzi or a 2nd to Arizona in exchange for Hanzal. We free up a lot of cap and roster spots for our top prospects and even get the 2nd line Center we need.

Nobody. But you agreed that he used the press conference to send a message to other teams. Which to me is, even if he wanted to, a joke. Since months it's clear that we're gonna try to move Datsyuk's contract and recently other teams gave up a lot to get contracts off their cap. A press conference isn't gonna change anything. The asking price can only be lowered if we hold out...something we cannot do. Regarding Helm we can only hope that somebody wants him. I fear that nobody does and finally we're gonna overpay him. Like always. Loyalty and so on...

And you really think that he impressed other GM's? Listen, they're gonna want a lot knowing that the time ticks against us. We need the cap for Free Agency. No matter what Holland says, time is gonna remain his biggest issue.

Holland will be able to trade the contract...question is when. We need the cap for free agency and teams like NJ or Arizona know that. They can take it but they don't need to. So they'll just wait for Holland to offer too much. But ok. If Holland is optimistic to sign FA's like Okposo, Brouwer, Yandle or even Stamkos, I'd say give Nyquist and Tatar along with that contract. I know that most of you guys still don't agree but they have been a disappointment and they're not realiable. If the deal is with Arizona there might even be a possibility to get a center back. Vermette isn't very good anymore but he scores important goals and is a faceoff beast. The guy I'd target is Hanzal though. If he's healthy he's one of the best centers in this league. He plays with an edge and when he's at his best, his PPG is amazing. Plus he's a faceoff beast as well. As his contracts expires Arizona reportedly is looking to trade him. He'd be looking for much more money and as they need spots for guys like Dauphin, Dvorak or Strome a trade makes sense for them. Hanzal is no playmaker like Datsyuk but he's also a good and skilled two way center and he's big and tough. Perfect 2nd line Center for us.

Ok, Darren. Now you convinced me. Surely you're the best 3rd line Center ever seen. Your 26 points on a 2nd line next to Datsyuk prove that. Nobody else would have been able to score that many points while playing alongside a player as bad as Datsyuk. Also nobody on the redwings team comes even close to you when it comes down to grit or defensive play. You're so good I can't even find words to describe you. Maybe we should just offer you 10 millions and then trade you to NY in exchange for John Tavares. Yeah. He's well known and respected for his physical play. All of our opponents fear his hard checks and fighting skills...and please don't forget all the shots he blocks and his qualities as a shutdown forward. Darren Helm is the perfect checking line player. Honestly, I'd bet that he couldn't even destroy midgets like Hudler or Gaudreau. Not even flies fear Darren Helm.

Why too harsh? Why wouldn't you name those who are responsible for our problems? We were chasing the puck all season long...for good reasons. Sorry if I'm too honest for some here...but there's no point in denying facts. We're turning over too many pucks. And it's getting worse.

This post couldn't be any more wrong. Helm isn't even a suitable 4th liner. He doesn't even possess the basic skills or he's not able to show it at NHL level. He was besides Andersson easily our worst forward the last two seasons. No scoring, only mistakes. Just speed isn't enough. His turnovers hurt us badly...for a long time. Too long. Helm did fine with Datsyuk? Which game you're talking about? Datsyuk's line had no momentum almost no season long and despite Pav's probably still one of the best possession players in the whole NHL. Tatar and Nyquist did play in the top 6 and they were terrible each and every time they got a chance. I'm sure Blashill would have liked to give Larkin more chances as 3rd center but with Nyquist and Tatar being that bad he just wasn't able to. The only thing I blame Blashill for is that he didn't continue to play Mantha. Powerplay was a lot better without him but he just ignored that fact. Also, Datsyuk's line was useless all season long except when Mantha was on Pav's wing. Nyquist and Tatar are not trusted...for good reasons. Just like Helm they're turning over pucks, aren't physical enough and their play against the puck is way below everything I've seen in many years. I had high hopes for both of them but the fact that there's 0,00 improvement tells me that they should have been traded 1 year go. In fact, Tatar was even better than now in his rookie season. He was like a wrecking ball, hitting everyone, playing with lots of intensity and also backchecking very well. This season he was really bad, just floating around making stupid plays. There was that scene where he lost the puck in the offensive zone and then basically standing watched Philly (I think it was) scoring. He didn't even make it to own blue line. Kinda symbolic for his season. He doesn't look like he's overly motivated. Nyquist probably wants to give his best but he just doesn't seem to get it. Ever since he was responsible for that OT playoffout vs Blackhawks he didn't improve his defensive game or awareness the slightest bit. We all know about his playmaking skills and I know that we could use them in our top6 but if you can play a non physical player that makes that many mistakes on any line it's probably the 3rd line. I also blamed Blashill for several things but it's really not his fault that he couldn't play Tatar and Nyquist in the top6 on a regular basis. He tried it several times but it just didn't work out. Ericsson played on the 2nd pair for several games. And to be honest, I didn't see any signs of improvement. He's just terrible. Always was but now he's getting slower and slower and Kronwall is getting older, too it's just terrible. Kronwall was able to help him out for years but it's really not working anymore. Ericsson is a 3rd pairing defender at best. Abdelkader currently is, by far, our best winger. Which, I hope you all agree, isn't necessarily a good thing. If Larkin in his rookie season is our 2nd best winger it doesn't make it any better. That's easy. There are lots of them here but find my favourites above

I don't care how many Nielsen-like players we could land...I want none of them. New York isn't Detroit. No way he would have led us in scoring. I want pure top6 material only. Players like Boedker, Radulov, Okposo. Plus maybe Brouwer as he's a clutch player and very versatile.

Do I? So basically what you're saying is that you're not Darren Helm? Ok. It was another account, but probably still Helm or paid by Helm. Some of you guys are completely ludacris and even start lying to defend Helm. kickazz' comment couldn't be any more wrong as it was exactly the other way around.

Nielsen isn't good enough. We'll need a lot more to be competitive next year. We got enough depth players. The only Islander I want is Okposo. It's not likely to happen but he would make us a lot better.

So...basically what you're trying to say is that I'm spreading lies? I'm only listing facts, Darren. You didn't score despite playing with Pav almost all season long. Pav's line was as bad as it gets because you were on it. You are one of those turnover machines who forced Pav to chase the puck instead of making plays. Also, it's just priceless that you write this as in fact it's you who's spreading lies. Glendening and Miller were outstanding a year ago...it was Datsyuk's line that messed up...certainly with you, Darren, on it. The game I linked in my post is just an example. ...honestly...I don't know what planet you live on...but you really made my day when you posted that Miller and Glendening weren't able to control Johnson when in fact it was Helm and co. Either you're Darren Helm or completely paranoid. Watch the first goal by Tampa. Helm always does stuff like that. I'll never get this out of my head. Our problem is that he's not the only one doing this. That's why I'm so upset. We never got that freaking puck...we're always chasing because we got too many idiots like Helm on this team. It's worse than ever before.