eva unit zero

Over those two seasons, Z, Dats, and Franzen scored 72 ES points in the playoffs. Huds, Flip, and Sammy posted 54. Holmstrom, Cleary, and Hossa were the next three in total points over that two year span, and their total-point numbers add up to 52; H-F-S total points adds to 76. Those three weren't a luxury. They were a necessity.

Hmm... if the Wings could pull off a deal of Miller, Emmerton/Mursak, Ericsson, and maybe a 3rd/4th for Weiss and Samuelsson... Current lineup (assuming Brunnstrom is waived when Mursak returns): Z/Dats/Cleary Huds/Mule/Flip Abs/Helm/Bert Homer/Emmerton/Eaves Mursak/Miller Lidstrom/White Kronwall/Stuart Kindl/Ericsson Commodore Post-trade lineup? Z/Dats/Cleary Mule/Weiss/Bert Huds/Flip/Sammy Abs/Helm/Eaves Homer/Mursak Lidstrom/White Kronwall/Stuart Kindl/Commodore Smith (or Janik)

Sammy could score 30 for Florida, also. As usual, he is being underestimated. How much you want to bet Skille shifts to the third line, and Samuelsson plays on the second line with Kopecky?

Go to NHL.com and click on "stats" and select "individuals". Sort to forwards only. Then select page six. Look at the bottom. That is the minimum offensive production for a top-six scoring forward in that season. Hudler has cleared that mark in each of his past three seasons (10-11, 08-09, 07-08) and was only seven points shy in his rookie year (06-07) despite the fact that he played a mere 10:02 per game that year and he has not played more than 11:24 at ES or 13:39 total per game in ANY season. Not a top-six forward my ass. He just as well as Bertuzzi per minute overall last year. Almost as well if you adjust ES and PP individually. And Bertuzzi played top-two lines all year, while Hudler played mostly on the bottom two. Bert is more physical, but no better defensively. He outperformed Holmstrom offensively, and I don't think anyone here would say Holmstrom does anything else better than Hudler except perhaps stand in front of the net. He was on the first line most of the year.That leaves the EuroTwins, Franzen, Flip, and Cleary. So unless you're saying the Wings are thin at forward, it's pretty clear Hudler is a top-six forward.

He's a top-six forward. If he keeps up his play from last year's second half over the full season this year, he could be considered a first-line forward.

And in turn, the Wings replacing Brunnstrom with Samuelsson?

How about because he's one of Detroit's most offensively capable players?

Of the 15 players who have played 1499 games, nine were Wings at some point. Three (Delvecchio, Yzerman, Lidstrom) spent their entire career as Wings. None of the other 12 stayed with a single team; only Howe and Bourque add to the list of players ahead of Lidstrom in games played for a single team.

That's the thing; Stuart WASN'T reliable last year. He was notoriously unreliable. Doesn't miss games? Stuart has played fewer than 70 games twice in three full seasons with Detroit. As for letting him go, if Lidstrom retires and Stuart can be kept at a reasonable price, there's no reason not to. If they have the available cap space to do so, and he plays his standard defensive game, he's definitely a better option than Mike Commodore.

I would have rather had Pitkanen, Carle, Coburn, Meszaros, Jackman, and probably others. Stuart had what might have been the worst defensive season of his career, and his offense didn't really see much benefit from it. He needs to bounce back in a big way if he wants a raise.

If Stuart has a season like he did last year, I would hope to see him replaced. He's on the team at nearly $4m for his defensive skill, and last year he was trying to be Mike Green. At least Ericsson is improving, even if he's overpaid. Anyone up for adding Ryan Suter and Braydon Coburn in the offseason? Or maybe if Philly is trying to keep Coburn, trade a mid-rounder for Meszaros?

Neither Andersson nor Bowman had any influence in the drafting of Fedorov, Lidstrom, or Konstantinov. Bowman was hired after all three were established players in the league, and Andersson was hired in 1990; while the trio was drafted in 1989. Andersson's job is to scout talent and to recommend which European players to draft first. Given that Holland as a GM prefers to keep home-grown talent, and the team has a large number of European players, this will of course place a large fingerprint from Andersson as well. Zetterberg, Datsyuk, Franzen, Filppula, Hudler, Holmstrom, Kronwall, and Ericsson were all Andersson players. But none of them are drafted or stay with the team unless Holland makes the call.

Holland brought in Brett Hull, not Bowman. Holland brought in Marian Hossa. Brian Rafalski, Brad Stuart. Derian Hatcher was considered a top defenseman when Holland signed him; calling that signing a mistake because he was injured is like saying the Wings shouldn't have drafted Jiri Fischer because of his then unknown heart condition.

I think they've had their moments, but I think Bert is better used in a scoring role, and a Cleary/Helm/Eaves line brings out the skills of all three players; skills which overlap and make it a great third line. Helm is a great skater and defensive player. Abdelkader is a hard hitter. Bertuzzi is a decent scorer. It's a decent line, but when you can take Bertuzzi - whose skills are best utilized in offensive situations - and swap him with Cleary, who is very effective as a checker and can create offense from that role, it's a swap you make. Hudler has been a top six forward (based on offensive output) since his second year in the league. He may not be the ideal center for some systems, but he is a hell of a lot closer to second line center than he is to third line winger. Where did I say that I wanted those lines? I said that those were the ideal lines if you put a top line of Zetterberg/Datsyuk/Filppula together. Who else is going to center the second line, Franzen? He's no better defensively than Hudler, and he's a much lazier player. Do you want a lazy center or a hard working one? Maybe Helm can center the line. That way, we will only have two offensively talented players on the second line. As I said; in the scenario I brought up, Hudler is the best option.

Enough with Nyquist already. Why don't we bring up Nyquist, Tatar, Jarnkrok, Pulkkinen, and Jurco and waive Franzen, Filppula, Hudler, Bertuzzi, and Holmstrom! Also, bring up Smith and Pyett and get rid of Commodore and Stuart. Finally, dump Conklin for Pearce. We need youth on the team! The secret to winning is not skill or experience, but low average age! The Wings have had it wrong for the last twenty years, that's why they've only won four Cups despite not missing the playoffs! Seriously. Hudler between Franzen and Cleary (or Franzen and Bertuzzi, for that matter) would be a killer line. I doubt Babs would ever use it unless two of Z/Dats/Flip were out; and even then I would bet he puts Franzen in the middle despite the fact I think it would work better with Hudler centering.

Seriously? You're talking about JULY 2012 in OCTOBER 2011? Anyway... Best case: Lidstrom/Suter/Kronwall/Carle Ruutu plays top line ice time and doesn't score any more than what Hudler put up in 2008-09. Last year's first half was an aberration for Hudler, and he was back on track in the second half. He's performing even better now; stronger, faster, more confident. And getting more ice time, also. Ruutu's a 60-point player with first line ice time and top-six linemates. Hudler's a 60-point player with third line ice time and third line linemates. Why are you suggesting this again? Because he had a bad month and a half last year playing with a washed up puck hog who was the exact kind of center he should not play with? Yep, sounds logical.

He'd score 35 points, and then we'd trade him to Atlanta Winnipeg, where he would officially be a defenseman, but play rover and put up huge numbers?

Ericsson was a center and was asked to fill in on defense in that game. Andersson recommended after the game that Ericsson make the switch full-time.

If he's on pace for 80 points? Absolutely. Only nine forwards hit that mark last season. Unless offense is WAY up this year, 40 points in the first half gets you on the All-Star team as a no-brainer.

+1000

Ericsson won't end up in that spot next season unless he shows this season he deserves it. Kindl looks like more of a top-four defenseman than Ericsson has shown he can be. But if neither Kindl nor Ericsson grab that spot and take it by force, we'll see a new face on the blueline in the top four - unless we see all of Lidstrom, Kronwall, and Stuart sign new deals. Carle would be a nice replacement for Stuart. Coburn is also available. Although I think if Stuart is getting money hungry, I might look into trading him for Meszaros because Philly will (will they?) want to try and keep Carle and Coburn; Meszaros would be a solid replacement for Stuart that would cost less than the other two likely will.

As of right now, if you average together all of the votes in this poll based on the minimum number of each poll option, Filppula's "breakout season" is 53 points and he is expected to score 47 this year. So the answer is no, LGW does not expect Filppula to have a breakout season according to this poll.

He won't be in Detroit's top four unless Lidstrom retires and the Wings lose at least one of Kronwall or Stuart to free agency, and no new top-four defensemen are signed. Also, he's not a defensive d-man. That I think is where you are making your mistake. If he were a 3rd pairing defensive d-man putting up 15 points, that would be great. But he's not. He's mediocre defensively. And STOP with the shot. Anything you can't do in a game is something that doesn't count. Like Tomas Jurco's puck-on-the-stick video. Neat trick. But it would get the play blown dead for high sticking because the blade goes above his shoulders. Ericsson can't use his shot in game situations because his windup is too slow. You might say "Well, then nobody can do it!" But that's not true. Sergei Fedorov and Jiri Fischer were able to release 100mph shots in-game as Wings. Ericsson's fate is probably to be traded, because he's good enough to play in the NHL but not good enough to play in Detroit's top four. Those facts aren't likely to change in the next three years, and Holland isn't the type to try to bury a guy in the minors for cap space.

Maybe the draft pick would be last overall, and would become a forward converted to a defenseman. Then it's WORSE than nothing.

You mean the year Mason was 21st in save percentage while facing only 27 shots per game? The year Rick Nash scored 40 goals? Mason was not the one carrying the team. He simply got the hype because he had some strong games behind a defense full of good solid stay at home guys like Mike Commodore. It was Nash's team.