toby91_ca

It already had its own thread.

He always does.

Disagree, Zetterberg is the more important player. Without Dats he probably wouldn't be where he is, you are right, but that doesn't mean that Zetterberg isn't the more important player. This is my opinion of course and I am not going to point to this years stats to try to argue it because I really don't think it's fair to look at 10-15 game stretch to try and prove anything, but I'm sure someone else would point to that.

I'm sure someone will think this sounds like a negative, but we was not the best player in the league before his injury last year. You may try to argue from an overall game perspective, which is much more difficult, but from a pure total points perspective, he was not the best, no matter how you present his stats.

Well, the Pens only play 2 games during that period and he's currently 5 pts behind Hank. Crosby has 6 pts in his last 2 games, so it's certainly no stretch to think he may take over the lead during this time, but I think the more realistic scenario is that it will take a little longer. 1 of those games is against the Devils, who really focus on shutting Crosby down.

I was expecting a lot worse based on the title of the thread. I've certainly seen more crazy brawls than that....in fact, I've been involved in more crazy brawls than that. The only thing the separated in from a normal scrum on the ice is that a couple guys ended up in the other team's bench.

Maybe eventually it will be that way at the end of his career, but he's not at that status yet. Lots of great players coming from late in the draft....to name a few: Demitra Robitaille Gilmour Taylor Hull Fleury Bondra

Not having Harvey in your top 7 defensemen = automatic failure. It's also very curious that 6 of the 7 defensemen happen to have played during the past 10 years or so.

If it was the other way around, I'm sure you would have no problem suggesting Hasek has played better. If you disagree, I would tend to think you are lying. Maybe you would think you are telling the truth, but subconsiously, you would be lying.

Don't forget that Hossa is younger than Datsyuk, so we wouldn't be talking about landing a rental player near the end of his career, it would need to be a long term investment by the team.

Agreed for the most part, but I'd definately take Fedorov over Hudler now, problem is that Hudler potentially has many years left while Fedorov does not. Even if their stats are comparable, everyone knows that Fedorov brings much more to the table than offensive stats. Does Hudler? Is Hudler really a role player? If so, what's his role?

Good cover.... I don't think you understand, the Wings are currently working on a time machine and if Fedorov comes back, they are going to go back to 2003 and replay the last 4 years, wiping out hte lockout in the process.

I can almost guarantee you that the formula won't work in the playoffs with the current roster.

I agree that he is not as bad defensively as McCabe and Souray, but he's pretty damn bad and I would probalby move him into the #3 category in your list. Maybe it's just when he makes a mistake, they are incredibly bad mistakes, I don't know, but I just watch the guy and my heads spins at his ineptness in his own end sometimes. Last time I checked, Bettman has absolutely no involvement in the selection process, other than the 2 commissioner picks, if they are still doing that.

True, I forgot about the topic of the thread. This is why you may have guys like McCabe, Gonchar and Souray potentially being allstars.

They wouldn't be stopped, but if a team can focus on them and limit their chances, they give themselves a great chance of winning if there are no other lines to carry the load. Last year Ottawa had more offensive depth than Detroit does so far this year.

Take that back.....you should make it clear that you were just joking He's played 10 years for the Flyers (7 full season and parts of 3 others). But still, I don't think i'ts happening.

I suggest you go watch some Leaf games then....he and the rest of the defensmen are simply terrible. On top of that, they just may be the highest paid group in the league.

I wouldn't be surprised if Crosby takes over the scoring lead next week, but it may take longer. I truly think it is only a matter of time before he takes over the lead and ultimately wins it. I don't even think he was in the picture at this time last year. He took over the lead for the first time and never gave it up in early December. You never know with Crosby....like last year, he's 7 or 8 points behind the leading scorer and 2 games later he's all of a sudden leading.

I don't think anyone truly thinks that Crosby will achieve more than Gretzky did, but in terms of your comparison, you are comparing Crosby at 18 and 19 to Gretzky at 19 and 20. Gretzky did not achieve as much as Crosby at the same age...period. Comparing to Yzerman, he had 176 pts his first 2 years and Crosby had 222. Yzerman's first 2 years were in a league that was MUCH higher scoring (14 out of 21 teams scored more than 300 goals vs. 1 out of 30 last year). Also, you seem to suggest he is on par with what Yzerman did....do you not think Yzerman was a special player? So if Crosby is only able to accomplish as much as Yzerman has over the course of his career do you think there will be many people that would think he's a bust and didn't live up to the hype???

Obviously they will "personally" be better together than apart, but the question is whether the team would be better with them together or apart and the answer to that question really depends on the scoring depth of the team. If you are not getting scoring from your other 3 lines, you will need to separate them to try and get some depth, because if you don't have any, it will not be good....eventually.

Why would anyone be worried about Datysuk and lack of goal scoring. I have never really looked for that from him. He will get some goals, but he's basically a 25-30 goal man, which is good, but he's a star because of his ability to set up others. Since he is still setting up a lot of goals....what's to worry about? So what if his shooting % is down, just means he is shooting more, which probably creates more opportunities (rebounds, etc.) The guy isn't a sniper so don't be worried if he isn't piling up a bunch of goals.

Well, some people, including myself, do not like GDTs, so maybe it warrants a separate discussion. My opinion is that is was a great goal, but don't read to much into it beyond that. I don't think Hudler will ever be a superstar, but he may develop into a more solid player, we'll have to wait and see.

I agree with all of that logic and I used some of it to conclude that I don't think he'll win it and maybe I used the word "idiot" incorrectly, but think about it some more. Your reasons are very good as to why you conclude that you don't think he'll win and won't bet on him winning, what I was saying about being an idiot is that you would dismiss him alltogether and say he doesn't have a chance. I don't think saying he has a chance suggested that you think that chance is anywhere near a "good" chance.

The reason I said extreme long shot is because A) I don't think he is going to play for another 6 years after this year and even if he did, B) his average production per year is bound to decrease over those 6 years.