eva unit zero

The Wings' top 12 forwards in overall ESTOI, as arranged by ESTOI/G, are as follows: 1: Henrik Zetterberg 2: Johan Franzen 3: Pavel Datsyuk 4: Valtteri Filppula 5: Marian Hossa 6: Mikael Samuelsson 7: Daniel Cleary 8: Tomas Holmstrom 9: Jiri Hudler 10: Kris Draper 11: Tomas Kopecky 12: Kirk Maltby Claiming Flip's scoring woes to come due to his sitting outside the top six forwards is simply misinformation. If you consider top-six forwards to be those who get the most even-strength ice time, Flip is in. If you include special teams, the list changes to the following: 1: Henrik Zetterberg 2: Pavel Datsyuk 3: Johan Franzen 4: Marian Hossa 5: Daniel Cleary 6: Valtteri Filppula 7: Mikael Samuelsson 8: Tomas Holmstrom 9: Jiri Hudler 10: Kris Draper 11: Tomas Kopecky 12: Kirk Maltby The argument that Filppula is not used as one of the Wings' top six forwards fails if ice time is your qualifier. He certainly hasn't performed as one of the six best forwards on the team, but that is a separate issue that hopefully will be addressed by the coach either through player improvement or changes made in who gets how much time.

Also of note: Shanahan fought Foote Larionov fought Forsberg McCarty fought Lemieux Forsberg aggravated an injury in the fight with Larionov and did not return to the game; Stephane Yelle would center his line between Valeri Kamensky and Claude Lemieux for the remainder of the game. The Kamensky/Yelle/Lemieux line were out once more against the line of Shanahan/Larionov/McCarty in overtime. The game ended with Lemieux getting caught deep in the Wings' zone, Larionov stripping Foote of the puck and walking through the defense, passing it to Shanahan, who then fed an open McCarty, who dumped it past Roy into an open net. Pretty much the only people not involved in the final play who were involved in the fight were Vernon and Forsberg; due mainly because the play didn't start at the Detroit net, and because Forsberg had left the game injured. Kamensky finished the game with 3 goals on 5 shots; his Colorado teammates had 2 goals on 14 shots, Martin Lapointe scored two goals on 3 shots; McCarty had the game-winning OT goal on a game-high 8 shots.

Filppula plays a ton at even strength with the same guys he would be playing with on the PP. He doesn't really produce offensively at even strength as much as the guys who are currently being used on the power play; he certainly hasn't produced enough to justify removing one of them for him. Holmstrom/Datsyuk/Hossa on the first unit and Franzen/Zetterberg/Hudler on the second unit. Who exactly is Filppula going to produce more offense than on the power play? Maybe put Flip on the second unit wing, and move Hudler to the point; but that takes away the left hand/right hand shot setup that Babcock likes to use and that put Samuelsson on the point in the first place.

Ozzie should start the WC. He's the greatest Wings goaltender since Sawchuk, playing against one of the Wings' biggest traditional rivals in a game celebrating their rivalry.

Hossa might be a valid excuse; except that Flip plays more than Hossa does.

Let's compare the four players you brought up, goals, assists, and ES/PP/PK time. OVERALL: Samuelsson: 24GP, 5g-16a-21pt, 376:18 TOI Hudler: 24GP, 9g-11a-20pt, 310:35 TOI Filppula: 24GP, 2g-6a-8pt, 382:14 TOI Cleary: 16GP, 2g-6a-8pt, 256:10 TOI EVEN STRENGTH Samuelsson: 3g-6a-9pt, 315:39 TOI Hudler: 5g-3a-8pt, 249:01 TOI Filppula: 2g-6a-8pt, 328:53 TOI Cleary: 2g-5a-7pt, 196:06 TOI Average ESTOI: 272:54 POWER PLAY: Samuelsson: 2g-10a-12pt, 59:55 TOI Hudler: 4g-8a-12pt, 61:33 TOI Filppula: 0g-0a-0pt, 7:07 TOI Cleary: 0g-1a-1pt, 24:47 TOI Average PPTOI: 38:37 PENALTY KILL: Samuelsson: 0g-0a-0pt, 0:44 TOI Hudler: 0g-0a-0pt, 0:01 TOI Filppula: 0g-0a-0pt, 46:14 TOI Cleary: 0g-0a-0pt, 35:17 TOI Average PKTOI: 20:34 I don't even need to point out with any significant math that Filppula is playing considerably more than Hudler, yet Hudler is scoring more. So let's take half of the difference between Hudler and Filppula's ice time on the PP and trade that from Hudler to Filppula for ES time. Hudler loses 30 minutes playing with Zetterberg in favor of 30 minutes playing with guys like Draper and Maltby, which based on simple match would result in a loss of 5 points. Filppula loses 30 minutes playing with Datsyuk and Zetterberg to play in Hudler's spot with Zetterberg. Filppula has yet to score a point on the PP, so we'll use his overall rate and say he would score one point, which means that his point total would remain unchanged. Cleary and Filppula have been far less effective with the man advantage than Hudler and Samuelsson because they are different styles of players; Hudler is the most offensively capable of the four, and Samuelsson currently plays a different role on the PP than the other three (a role Hudler is also capable of playing) while Flip and Cleary are more defensively capable players and so see more time on shutdown lines and on the PK. Being concerned about Flip's scoring right now is silly; however with the contract he has he needs to prove he is going to be able to be a two-way contributor or he will be trade bait. Cleary is a good, skilled versatile winger whose fate may ultimately rest with the outcome of the Zetterberg/Hudler/Hossa/Franzen series of negotiations in the next few weeks as he makes too much to be just a checking line winger, but he's cheap, good, and versatile as a top-sixer. And he has a good attitude where he'll play whatever role he's needed in.

Avery is such a tool. He should be sent to the KHL and left there.

If I could trade Franzen for Ryan, I would do it ten of ten times. Franzen is a very slightly better player who as of next summer will make considerably more than Ryan makes now. Franzen is at his peak....Ryan will get much better than he is now. If I were Pittsburgh's GM and had the Crosby pick in 2005, you know what I would have done with it? I would have offered it for the 2nd overall pick, Getzlaf, Perry, and Smid. I would have drafted either Ryan or Kopitar; it was clear to me then that those two were the obvious #2 and #3 and events since then have simply confirmed that opinion. I probably take Ryan because he's a natural winger and Getzlaf is already coming back in the trade, and the team already has drafted Malkin. Just thinking about the roster that could have potentially been crafted by trading the Crosby pick is drool-worthy from the team-building aspect.

I am torn about this idea. I really don't think the 'C' should be on a player's jersey unless he's the official captain of a team. But at the same time, if giving more than three players the chance at being the 'official' leader of the team is an effective motivator, why not? So here's what I suggest: Either have no C and rotate three A's, or have a C and rotate two A's (similar to the Dats/Draper/Zetterberg rotation in the past couple years)

http://hockeydb.com/ihdb/draft/nhl2005e.html Looking at the scoring since drafting, plus the fact that this is Ryan's first opportunity to really play more than a game or two...I'd say his numbers so far say 'real deal'... Speaking of real deal, nice chance just now by Bobby Ryan.

You forgot to mention that Sanderson is also the guy who tried to chase down both of Ozzie's goals, the one he scored in juniors and in the NHL.

That goal was very close to illegal, but it was legal. Here's why. Hull was legally in the crease; when Hull rotates and puts his left foot in the crease, he has possession of the puck. That is the minimum requirement for legal entry of the crease at the time. Had Hull stuck his foot in before gaining possession, the goal would have been illegal. It was the difference between a puck that is covered by a defenseman in the crease and outside the crease.

Giguere's equipment is larger in every location. Leg pad width is probably the closest to Esposito's, followed by trapper size, but everything Giguere has is larger by a small amount at the very least. The blocker, pants, and chest protector are the most noticeably larger.

The problem is that Tony Esposito wore his trapper on the wrong hand when he was learning...

You seriously think Filppula has lived up to expectations as much as Hudler has, and that Franzen has lived up to expectations more? Maybe you should check those GPG and PPG numbers one more time.

During the period last season when Lilja and Lebda were serving as the #1 and #2 defensemen and playing the kind of ice time Quincey is getting now, they weren't ever playing nearly as well as Quincey is playing. In fact, they were playing so poorly that they ended up dropping behind Meech and Ericsson during that period because those two could actually handle the ice time without looking like trash. Either Lebda or Lilja is the defenseman who should have been traded or waived.

Hudler has not been streaky this season; he has consistently been scoring points. Hudler has scored 18 points in 21 games this season. He opened the season going four games without a point, and did not score a point in the losses against Montreal or Vancouver, which is only the second instance of consecutive games without a point for Hudler. He has scored 18 points the last seventeen games. Pavel Datsyuk, by comparison, has 17 points in the same 17 games. Outside of the season-opening slump, Hudler has not gone more than two games without scoring a point; By comparison, Hudler has multiple 3+ game point streaks. You can call that streaky if you want...I would call it consistent.

You do realize that the hardest thing to do in sports is to hit a baseball? As far as strategy, there is plenty. You may not understand it or recognize it, but that doesn't mean it's not there.

Define "competitive level" for us.

It could really have gone either way. Had both players stayed up they'd have probably called nothing. That said, it certainly qualified was interference and was a valid penalty to call by the rules, so I'm not going to sit here and complain about the call.

Osgood made more amazing saves than the Wings had shots in the last two minutes. If you want to point at someone for not winning the game, point at the offense for not scoring a goal when they needed to. Or point at the defense for breaking down immediately after scoring the go-ahead goal, and Franzen in particular for screening Osgood on Sedin's tying goal. Franzen then followed it up by taking a really s***ty penalty in overtime. Osgood was by far Detroit's top player tonight; you can hate on him if you want, but he was still the best Red Wing.

You do realize Osgood is the primary reason Detroit didn't lose in regulation, right?

Nice screen by Franzen. Only problem was the end of the rink.

Nah, that would then require them to start thinking about important times to taunt, and then we'd have to mop all the drool up.

I would call that a good offensive takeaway, not a bad turnover. That's a textbook example of the kind of takeaway Datsyuk is praised for on these boards.