YoungGuns1340

Has it? Thats your own interpretation. You could just as easily look at that as the exception to the rule, especially since that goal had no Datsyuk-Hossa connections.

Crosby and Malkin arent comparable players to Datsyuk?

One nice play doesn't take away all the disorientation that has plagued them on the PP otherwise. Theyve looked better so far, but particularly the interaction between Hossa and Datsyuk so far has been nothing to write home about. It'll get there though.

Theres nothing off about Datsyuk. Hes been dominating. But theres only so much he can do by himself. Hossa and Datsyuk need to eat, sleep and s*** together for the next week. Otherwise, they just arent connecting. Zetterberg has looked better this game, but hes still not all there in my eyes. His shots, his moves, his strength - it all just seems a little bit off.

Wow. If Hossa had been Hank right there....its in the net.

Its nice to have goaltenders that come up with those huge stops.

Nice Samuelsson.

Man I cant believe Datsyuk didnt get a point out of that. If he doesnt dance that puck around the Dman, that play cant ever hapen.

Man talk about crappy goal judgement.

Wow. Nick.

Zetterberg is coming to life.

Cleary is pure energy.

Man, people need to start taking the acoustics of an arena into account when talking about fan bases. If I didnt know anything about hockey, I'd think the Canes fans were much bigger hockey fans than the Sens fans, just by the difference in the way their arenas sounds on TV.

Well that didn't take long for you to put words in my mouth. I never said Hossa was a bust - if thats your projection on to me then maybe those are words of self-reassurance you're speaking. Otherwise, I'm not at all concerned about Hossa's performance in the long run. As for whether or not he has performed well, he most certainly hasn't performed at the pace you would expect from a from a 100 point man, in form or not. That argument in it of itself is a cop out, as nearly every NHL player is jumping into the game without an established rhythm. Plenty of players enter the season off injury or having played few games prior to the start of the season and are in just as good of form as ever (i.e. Holmstrom). Hossa hasn't looked bad per se, but the expectations of a decent 2nd liner and what some call a "Top 10 forward" are patently different. Again, to clarify a point which is so apparently murky as to warrant the assumption that hes been called a "bust", I have every reason to believe that Hossa will reach the level of play expected of him. However, in every game so far - including those pre-season games - and both prior to and post-injury, he has yet to show anything more than a few spurts of elite offense. At this point, he has looked to me like a glorified version of Filppula, which is to say that Hossa has looked great when using his speed and (in my opinion) had his best offensive shift come in the form of penalty killing. And once again, I am not saying he is a bust, but when we are calling out the play of guys like Andreas Lilja and Mikael Samuelsson who have played remarkably consistently for whats expected of them, then Hossa most certainly deserves his fair share of flack (which I have also acknowledged in Zetterberg's direction elsewhere on this forum).

I really hope Hossa doesn't feel that his place on this team is not to step on other guys toes. From the way hes played so far, it almost seems like hes coming to this team with a stance that hes merely going to be subsumed under the broad umbrella of talent we have, and doesn't really need to take the bull by the horns. IMO, his best moments have come when he finds himself alone on the offense. Otherwise, it seems like when hes in play with Datsyuk, he waits for the cues of Datsyuk and Homer. There was one point against the Sens where the puck was sitting maybe 2 feet out of the blue and the puck sat alone for a good 5 seconds. Hossa was maybe 5 feet from it, completely undetected, and hesitated for a few seconds as if waiting for one of his teammates to do something with it. By the time he made a move toward the puck, it was picked of by one of the Sens Dmen. I realize that hes going to take some time to fit in, but the last time we had as big an offensive star join this team, it was Robert Lang. And in Langs first game with the Wings, he recorded 3 assists and was a huge factor in our PP. And before the anti-panic committee comes out, I could care less if Hossa has recorded 1 assist or already has 5 goals. It has much less to do with his statistics than it does with his performance. I realize its going to take him some time to mesh with his teammates, but I guess I always assume that the best players in the league can look like stars no matter who they're playing with. So far, Hossa has looked average.

Haha, I was just gonna post that. But then I thought, well its just as likely that Eastern Conference players would know Conklin's tendencies, so its not necessarily a good thing.

I'd fashion a guess that Lilja is the ONLY one who hasn't looked worse than usual. Kronwall, Stuart, Lidstrom, and Rafalski have not looked like their usual selves yet. If anyone has the right to play mediocre hockey, then its our bottom pairing Dmen. And it was Lebdas boneheaded giveaway in the offensive zone that caused Folignos goal, so his head should be on a stick before Liljas. If we want to make a thread about a Dman who hasnt proved his worth so far, look at Rafalski, whos defensive play hasnt been much stronger than that of Liljas.

Exactly. Filppula has good offensive qualities, but not those that are crucial to centering a top offensive line. Filppula has a great shot and is a good puck carrier with his speed, but his offensive awareness and distribution are lacking.

The PP is a different beast than 5 on 5, though. Again, this is a hypothetical matter as it is, and it doesnt really have anything to do with ZDH being split up so much as it does with Filppula being capable of playing with Hossa.

Again, I dont see Filppula as being "deficient offensively." I just don't see him as a playmaking center, which is what an elite scorer needs.

And thats the reason why I dont think Babs would ever go back to the ZDH line 5 on 5. The PP is a different story. We've seen Cleary, Hudler, and Franzen as the 2nd unit last year. So going with Franzen as the center for the 2nd PP unit, and Hossa and Hudler on the wings, thats entirely feasible.

And by that same token, Datsyuk and Zetterberg dont play together on the 4 on 4. Its been Hossa and Datsyuk and Zetterberg and Franzen. So why didnt he go with Franzen and Zetterberg? ...and Im asking this question seriously cause I cant see a replay. Was Franzen just coming off a shift? Also, Hossa and Datsyuk had been a regular PK unit so far in the game, so why did he NOT go with Hossa and Datsyuk when he knew the PP was coming up after the respective penalties no longer cancelled one another out?

Hes never played with an elite scorer on a consistent basis. But thats not to say that he hasnt had his chance with elite scorers. It speaks more to the fact that he hasnt been able to prove that he can keep it that way. I think Flip can still be a 20-25 goal scorer, but I just dont see him as a top 2 center. His goals are almost always the result of his own efforts, which alone is a great type of player to have.

I think its more of an indication that you dont have anything left to argue with. Yet the sequence of changes and time of the game would indicate otherwise, as typically the perfect time to make a change is late in a game when youre in need of a goal. You are the boss. You can feel free to ban "irrational" posting whenever you feel.

At the same time, theres a difference between being a skilled offensive player and an intelligent offensive player. Filppula doesnt have the presence of mind to be the puck carrier and distributor to an elite winger. Hes got skill, no doubt, but hes lost on a top offensive line. Thats why his offensive play is more or less conducive to a fast paced "checking" (Im using that term liberally) line as opposed to the PP. Filppula is like the antithesis of Robert Lang.