DickieDunn

I'm pretty sure each team will need to expose a goalie with a certain number of NHL games played so they'll probably keep Howard until after the draft

First and second year guts would be safe. Larkin, AA and Mantha arent getting stolen. Not that it would matter, there aren't 7 forwards that I'd want protected outside if those guys

Larkin-Hank-Abdelkader Tatar-Datsyuk-Mantha Nyquist-AA-Jurco Helm-Glendening-Sheahan Play the kids and win or lose with them

Tangradi isn't an NHL player 75% system failure, 25% players not executing

SSDD Zettererg is half the player he was a few years ago. He's still good, but he and Datsyuk can't carry at team anymore, the established younger guys never will be able to, and the guys who might are still too young to do it. Even if they make the palyoffs I don't see them doing anything. That's why they needed to trade Richards, trade Helm if he wants more than what's reasonable to pay him, and look to the future instead of standing pat.

He hasn't been good because of that knee injury he tried to play through most of the season. This isn't going to help.

Neither are really good, Marchenko makes far less, cap space is at a premium, Marchenko still has upside therefore trade Smith. Kronwall was apparently hurting all year, which would explain the drop in his play. Once he gets his legs back under him I expect a turn around.

Coaches can only do so much. They're not on the bench with mind control devices. Some players just are stupid

He has 1 point, is -8 over his last 11 games, and has looked slower than early on. He's either hit the wall hard or has a sore groin or something. Let him sit a game or two and get his legs under him again for the stretch run.

Then the coach tells the media you've been playing great 5 minutes before scratching you Zetterberg misplayed it, AA gets blamed

Because they're focusing on getting younger guys playing time by not playing them. Duh.

He's just happy to be away from Richards

So a mod can say there are 3 threads with complaints about Richards, we don't need another one? Better to sit for two games and be rested than be worn down for all the games

Sproul was a dumpster fire in his own zone for most of his pro career, that's what held him back more than anything

Amen He looks slower than he did earlier. I don't think he's 100%

Babcock still thought he was the smartest guy in the room far too much. They needed a change. Blashill needs to do his own thing and not be Babcock Jr.

Take out the trash, fire Blash!

Blashcock's coaching has been subpar all year. He needs to stop trying to be a Babcock clone and do it his way. Richards should have been traded. The defense is a mess. The systems are either not working or aren't being bought into. Nyquist and Tatar have teaken steps back, Sheahan has stagnated, Abdelkader is proving why his contract is one of the worst in the league, the guys on the PP have zero chemistry and there's no excuse for that as long as most of these guys have played together. Green has been yet another free agent bust. The team is too small and weak up front, which is why Holland panicked and caved into Abdelkader wanting 7 years at that cap hit. Helm has been overused most of the year, and AA is being underused. If he can be effective with 7 minutes, what can he do with 14 or 15? Time to find out. Time to put Jurco and Pulk with guys who can score and let them go. Time to start benching Tatar and Nyquist if they're not going to pull their heads out of their asses. The team has been slipping and 4 points isn't nearly as big a gap as some people think. It wouldn't shock me at all if they missed the playoffs, and that's 100% on the two guys who make the decisions. Holland failed to get what they needed, and Blashill seems to be clueless at how to get the best out of anyone.

Zetterberg Datsyuk Abdelkader Nyquist Larkin Jurco Tatar AA Pulkkinen Helm Glendening Sheahan. Get the kids some ice time

He was drafted because of his shot hoping he could develop other areas of the game. He hasn't come far enough. Against AHL competition, he can do enough to get open and hit open spots in the net. Against NHL competition he can't get open, struggles to get his shot off, and because NHL goalies are superior, has less to shoot at. How long are you supposed to wait for a players to develop? Generally by the time a guy is 24 he's not going to get much faster. which is his biggest issue. His best hope is he gets smarter about getting open and can be a 3rd line PP specialist, which is all I've ever said he'd be, not some 30+ goal a year guy like some people said.

Instead of cluttering up another tread that's not about him: I don't see as many Griffins games as I want. My brother sees more, and I trust his opinion on players, because like me, he doesn't get caught up in hype and "he's a Red Wings prospect so he's going to be good." From what I have seen, and what he's seen, Jensen lacks strength, and offensive ability, isn't good positionally, and gets by in the AHL on superior speed. Against NHL players, his speed is negated quite a bit because A) NHL players are faster and B) NHL players are smarter and the game as a whole is faster. Preseason points are as important as preseason wins. In other words, almost meaningless. You have to look at who the player was up against most of the time, and IIRC Jensen was used mostly against other AHL players trying to make their NHL teams as opposed to the established NHL players. If his 8 points or whatever it was really meant that he could contribute offensively, he'd have more than 11 points in GR. Of the 4 defensemen who are ahead of him on the Griffins in scoring, he's played in more games than 2 of them, and is significant;y behind all of them. (and yes, 6 points 2/3 of the way through the season is a good bit). The real nail in his coffin for me is the fact that the Wings aren't giving him a look. If they saw anything in him, I think they'd have given him a shot by now. The fact that the guys who see him every day aren't promoting him is telling. So my question for those of you who think he's being screwed over by not getting a chance and that he could be anything more than a 6/7 guy with some luck, what do you see other than his speed?

What else do Pulk and Frk do well at an NHL level then?

But they can all do more than just shoot, which is where Pulk and Frk are at

What guys who can only do one thing well and are sub par everywhere else would you call a good player?

I didn't say either were average AHL players. I said they can score against AHL competition but not NHL players because of those reasons. I said that all last year when people were frothing at the mouth over Pulkkinen's shot and insisting he's going to be a 30 goal scorer, and now the same applies to Frk. One trick ponies don't work at the top level. Most players not taken in the top 5 or 10 need multiple years in the AHL to develop. That's not "rotting," that's leaving them to work on their game in the minors when the team doesn't feel they're ready for the NHL and aren't better suited for the role they need to play than the guys in the NHL already. From comments from coaches early in the season, I'd assume Jurco had issues with not wanting to do the little things that make a player successful in the NHL, and that's why he wasn't playing. Now he's doing them, he's getting more ice time.