eva unit zero

To this point in his career he is a career backup. I was very clear in specifying that.

Just imagine an Ericsson/Fischer pairing...that would be monstrous.

And he has still been a backup his entire career...which makes him a career backup. He's young enough that he can change that, but he has yet to win a starting job and has failed to win it every time he has been presented with the opportunity. He will almost certainly be presented the opportunity again this summer...so we'll see how he handles it next season, whether he can play the way he has this year or whether he fails like he has in the past.

It says Ian White was was largely unknown when he made the Leafs roster...I'm not even a Leafs fan and I knew who he was in 2006.

Osgood was considered one of the league's top goaltenders when he started getting playoff experience, and even then it took a while for the coach to finally bend to using him. Osgood has handled the pressure of being a starting goaltender many times and done well in the postseason many times, including last season. Conklin is a career backup who has had some good stretches, but his only playoff experience was a miserable failure where he pretty much cost the team the game in the Cup finals. Conklin has never been able to hold down a starting position; any time it looks like he might be able to take over the starting job his level of play has dropped considerably. Do you think he'll be able to handle the pressure of starting in the playoffs?

Ozzie's first playoff experience came when Bob Essensa choked it up in 1994. Despite the fact that Osgood himself played well except for one memorable mistake, that series was why the Wings traded Steve Chiasson for Mike Vernon. Osgood, as a backup, played well enough to finish in the top ten in Vezina voting in 1994-95. Osgood finished second in 1995-96 behind Jim Carey, due to Carey's large number of shutouts. Osgood was the playoff starter that season for most of the games, with Vernon getting a decent chunk. Vernon was the playoff starter in 97, and was traded the following summer. Ozzie was starter in 98 and won the Cup. And for those who say he's a career backup, or has only ever been a mediocre starter, Osgood was named to play in the All-Star game in 1996, 1997, 1998, and 2008. Hardly mediocre if he's been named an All-Star that often.

Yeah, because he told Ericsson to pass the puck into the back of Kopecky's skate?

Let's see Hudler make 30 goals by the end of the season and Lidstrom clear 60 points as part of that. Sound good?

As someone who has refereed quite a few games...this is absolutely a charge. Oshie starts skating full speed towards Nash from the blue line. Now whether he is skating after the puck initially or not doesn't matter because of the fact that he hit Nash full on well after the puck left the area without any indication he was thinking of turning to follow the puck. So definitely a it's a charge.

Zetterberg/Datsyuk/Holmstrom Franzen/Hudler/Hossa Cleary/Filppula/Samuelsson Kopecky/Draper/Helm

Anyone who's voting for Green right now is doing so because they want to give the Norris to someone new. Green is not a legit contender in real life. Chara and Lidstrom are the primary contenders, and Boyle and Weber are probably the guys who we should feel sorry for because one of them should be a Norris finalist instead of Green.

Hudler would be on the second (or third) line...he's the second best passer on the team, ahead of Zetterberg, Lidstrom, and Rafalski even.

If Lidstrom manages to reach 60 points...he probably also manages +35. If he ends the season 60+ points and +35 or better...that's hard to say no to.

If Minnesota passes Edmonton (which is a very realistic possibility) Backstrom should win the Hart. For reference, as I make this post Minnesota has 78 points in 74 games to Edmonton's 81 in 75.

Or maybe he ranks where he does in +/- because he gets so much ice time? Your post suggests that he gets as much ice time as he does because of his +/-...how do you know it doesn't work the other way?

Our next Franzen?? Filppula is nothing like Franzen...I hope you mean that comment in the context of a player who suddenly becomes a reliable scorer. If you want another Franzen-type player, Kopecky is the most likely to turn into that. Filppula is more like Zetterberg than anyone else of our top six, and Hudler is very similar to Datsyuk.

Didn't say it was gonna happen...just that the value wasn't crazy.

These two posts show that my trade idea was a good middle of the road deal. Some posters claim Vancouver wouldn't trade Kesler for that little...others say it's too much for Kesler.

Try doing Push-up & Side plank if you are familiar with that combination.

I'd like to see Hudler and Flip switch places on those forward lines, among a couple other switches to start. Datsyuk/Zetterberg/Holmstrom Elite scoring line, also elite defensively. Franzen/Hudler/Hossa Elite scoring line, quite capable defensively. Cleary/Filppula/Samuelsson Very good defensive line, more than capable offensively if they should get the opportunity. Kopecky/Draper/Helm Very defensively capable checking line that will usually win the faceoff regardless of who is at the dot. Quite physical on both wings.

Because he's a greedy Euro, right?

Who hits more than Kopecky on the Wings? Go ahead. Answer...oh, you can't because there isn't an answer? So does that mean Kopecky hits, or that no Red Wing forward hits? Go ahead, try and figure it out.

Well, let's take a quick look at those numbers again: ESTOI: Franzen: 914:43 Hudler: 779:38 PPTOI: Franzen: 175:49 Hudler: 221:50 ES Scoring: Franzen: 19g-16a-35pt Hudler: 16g-12a-28pt PP Scoring: Franzen: 11g-8a-19pt Hudler: 6g-20a-26pt SH Scoring: Franzen: 1g-0a-1pt Hudler: 0g-0a-0pt So, those are the raw numbers. To clarify the scoring difference between the two, we're going to project the ES scoring to 1000:00, and the PP scoring to 250:00, both of which are very close to Pavel Datsyuk's ice time numbers. ES Scoring: Franzen: 21g-17a-38pt Hudler: 21g-15a-36pt PP Scoring: Franzen: 16g-11a-27pt Hudler: 7g-23a-30pt SH Scoring: Franzen: 1g-0a-1pt Hudler: 0g-0a-0pt Total Scoring: Franzen: 38g-28a-66pt Hudler: 28g-38a-66pt So projected to even ice time, the two come out even. This is after Hudler has gone through a major slump and Franzen has been hot on the scoresheet for a couple weeks. Hudler also doesn't have the luxury of playing with top players like Franzen does. So tell me then, who's better?

I'd agree with most of those ratings, or rank them within a couple slots. Rinne and S.Mason I would put at almost a tie based on what I have seen of them, although I know Mason has not looked as superhuman recently so that might cause some slippage. Backstrom should be no lower than third...of course he's far and away my Hart vote if Minnesota manages to make the postseason.

As far as Kopecky is concerned, his presence has mostly to do with the fact that he has shown good scoring ability when playing with capable linemates, and in the past has shown EXCELLENT chemistry with Hudler, as well as the fact that he is the only reasonable substitute for Franzen capable of playing a similar style; and if placed in the same role with a playmaker like Hudler and a scorer like Hossa, who knows what he could produce. After thinking about Hudler and Kopecky's past together though, I realized Kopecky played the wing and Hudler played the center, so I have made that edit to my original post. Kesler was placed on the fourth line because a Kesler/Draper/Helm fourth line would be much better than what we have now as far as a shutdown defensive line, which is the primary purpose of such. If you prefer, swap Kesler and Cleary and run Cleary/Draper/Helm on the fourth line while Kesler centers Leino and Filppula. I think Cleary is better off in a scoring role and Kesler is better off in a defensive role personally, but to each his own. The comment about improving the defense can be viewed this way: Based on their performances this season defensively: Kesler>Franzen Helm>Maltby Leino=Samuelsson Ericsson>Stuart Kindl>Lebda Hard to argue with that kind of comparison. Again; Kindl improving the team defensively is an improvement over LEBDA. If you don't want Kindl, I'll drive down to Fraser because I am an improvement defensively over Lebda too.