toby91_ca

So, after another loss yesterday, I checked the standings...not that I don't tend to check every now and then anyway. Bad news - Wings have now dropped into 8th place in the conference Good news - they are 4pts clear of 9th place...which is a relatively healthy margin (they are the same margin out of 5th place of course). Seems both conferences (playoff teams) have started to separate themselves a bit from non-playoff teams...surprising as it was pretty bunched up not that long ago. A bit closer in the East, but still drops off quickly after 10th or 11th....after 9th in the West it drops off. Bad news - currently the only team (out of 16 playoff teams based on today's standings) with a "-" goal differential Good news - every single non-playoff team is a "-" so it's not like you would point to a team that is ready to surpass them. Bad news - Larkin has 1pt in his last 11 games. This isn't surprising at all to me, he's a rookie and is expected to go through this type of thing...he was overly hyped earlier in the year in my opinion, so no, I don't think he's as good as some think (see "elite" discussions), but this spell hasn't changed my mind, he's still going to be a very good player. So, the reason this is bad news is that if the trend continues, the Wings will be in danger in my opinion, even though 4 point cushion looks good...they can't drop off too much.

Gretzky was hit from behind into the boards by Gary Suter, during the Canada Cup, just prior to the 91-92 season (right around turning 31). He injured his back and missed half the year....was never the same player again. He put up decent numbers, but was clearly not the same. So, he probably declined faster than normal as injury and age combined to speed up decline. However, that's the thing, injuries are typically more likely as you age as well.

Bill...just by comparison, Gretzky had 749 goals by the time he was 31.

Crosby actually did come close to outscoring the next best by a pretty high percentage for a short time....but I agree....forget era, Gretzky did it pretty much every year.

Sorry, but I agree, using the high scoring 80s era as an argument as to why Gretzky isn't as good as people think is a dumb argument. Perhaps his point totals wouldn't be as high, but he's at like 1,000pts more than #2 on the list, he was outscoring #2 by 90pts a year in some seasons.

Yeah, McDavid now only 8 pts behind Larkin. Larkin is good, but assuming McDavid lives up to the hype (so far so good), he's just on a different level.

I totally forgot about this and missed the game, but read something funny in an article recapping the game. They mentioned Stevie's goal and then they said the best #19 (Sakic) to play scored after the 3rd best (Yzerman)....they mentioned Toews is the 2nd best. Of course, there was a note that was put in there to say that was just to anger Wings fans. Thought is was funny with all the overrated discussion regarding Toews.

Someone referenced what teams have consistent scorers past the top 3 anyway. This got me thinking...I didn't check on that, but I thought DET didn't even have a top 3 that consistently scored, so I did check where they stood and the results were worse than I thought, below shows average PPG from top 3 scorers: 1 - DAL - 1.02 2 - WSH - 1.01 3 - CHI - 1.01 4 - PIT - 0.97 5 - EDM - 0.95 6 - SJS - 0.92 7 - BOS - 0.88 8 - OTT - 0.87 9 - PHI - 0.83 10 - CAL - 0.80 11 - NYI - 0.79 12 - LAK - 0.79 13 - STL - 0.78 14 - VAN - 0.78 15 - WIN - 0.77 16 - MON - 0.76 17 - NYR - 0.75 18 - FLA - 0.75 19 - TBL - 0.74 20 - NJD - 0.74 21 - ANA - 0.73 22 - COL - 0.72 23 - ARI - 0.71 24 - BUF - 0.70 25 - DET - 0.70 26 - NSH - 0.68 27 - MIN - 0.68 28 - CBJ - 0.67 29 - TOR - 0.67 30 - CAR - 0.62 (ouch) Now, I just did this quickly, didn't try to make sure I absolutely got the top 3 from every team (i.e. I didn't get looking for someone that had 4pts in 5 games or anything like that. What is important to note though is that there didn't appear to be any one player pulling the top 3 average up either. Perhaps Kane in Chicago, but their number 2 was still close to 1.00 and number 3 was close to 0.75. They also have more beyond the top 3 as well, which several of the top team would. What I found amazing is Edmonton. They sit at #5 here and actually have several others beyond top 3, yet they continue to suck...last place overall...AGAIN

Kliq...I wasn't being sarcastic, the fact that he has received so much consideration for the Hart in the past is one of the reasons I see him as overrated. Just to clarify though...no one has ever been nominated for the Hart or any other NHL award....voters vote for whoever they want.

The 1997 team was 6th in goals for and 2nd in goals against.

Unfortunately, they don't have anyone that consistently puts up points. No one on the team is even close to 1 ppg...Datsyuk is closest at 0.76, Zetterberg at 0.67 and Larkin at 0.66. No high end scorers, but maybe enough modest scorers? No so sure. Scoring is definitely a problem for the team, but they have still be relatively successful so far.

I went to my first game in Buffalo yesterday. Not sure why I haven't before (I live in west end Greater Toronto Area), so it's actually pretty close for me and I've flown out of that airport to Orlando the few times we've gone to Disney. It's not closer than going to Toronto of course, but it's much cheaper. The only headache can be the boarder line up, but it was okay. Anyway, the funny thing is, the game was PIT vs BUF and they sang the Canadian anthem. I didn't think about this until about halfway through when I realized there wasn't a Canadian team playing. I'm guessing they do this because there are so many people that come from Ontario for their games (I'm guessing about 1/2 the crowd). I've been to several games in other US cities and they'd only play the Canadian anthem if a Canadian team was playing (same for games in Canada, only US anthem if a US team is playing). Has anyone seen this anywhere else? Detroit is a convenient trip as well for people in South Western Ontario, but there wouldn't be the same volume of Ontarians at Wings' games as there are in Buffalo I'd guess. EDIT: I forgot the main reason for my post....thought this was weird....a few rows in front of me (very close to the glass as my seats were pretty good) someone had a sign that read: "If Crosby scores, Datsyuk gets a puppy" - I mean, even if it was PIT vs DET, the sign still wouldn't have made sense to me.

Ha, I actually caught that as I spelled it...but just left it. Funny thing, I keep hearing an add on the radio, not sure what company, but one of the lines says "we all know there is no "u" in color, but...." I've been thinking, it's always been colour to me growing up....did it change?

Kliq, Toews has been in the Hart conversation, top 10 in 4 of the past 5 years.....which leads me to think of him as overrated of course. He's finished in 10th, 9th, 6th, and 4th....no votes in any other years. Datsyuk has had a 3rd place finish once and has also had 9th, 10th, 14th, 20th and 21st.

Barrie....we probably are neighbors, I live in Burlington as well.

Hmmm...maybe that is the reason for the sign, but if so, still a weird sign to have at a PIT vs BUF game. Unless the kid's name is Datsyuk (which is possible I suppose, but unlikely).

DatsyukianDekes....FYI, I agree, 57 points isn't great for someone that been touted as one of the best, but that's part of my point, he's been touted as one of the best without the offensive numbers to back it up. It's not like we are talking about a 100pt guy that's now projecting to score 57. We're talking about a 65-75pt guy that's down. Also, just for the record, there is no Red Wing that is on pace to get to 57 points this year. Interestingly enough, Datsyuk has a ppg mark that would surpass that, but he's missed too many games.

I was looking at overall career as of now and I agree that PPG should decrease as you age, but I figured it was close to a fair comparison as you can get since Datsyuk would have benefited more from higher scoring years from a league perspective combined with Toews theoretically not getting benefit from his prime years yet. As I said before though...I do think Toews gets far more credit than he should, but only because he seems to be rated so high by many. The only hesitation I have is that the players seem to give him quite a bit of respect as well (e.g. Crosby having to call him before accepting Team Canada Captaincy). To me, he's more like a Bergeron type player (which is a very good player of course, but not the best in the world).

Using purely offensive stats, in their careers (hard to compare due to stage) Datsyuk is about 10% better in regular season (Toews the better goal scorer) and Toews is about 15-20% better in the playoffs. Hard to just use stats though as both are worth much more beyond stats. I have a feeling we'd be overinflating Datsyuk's worth beyond stats and downplaying Toews...simply human nature. I have always thought Toews has been overrated though....not because he's not good, but because some would call him the best player in the world, even though he trails Crosby in scoring by 30-40pts. Are his intangibles really worth that much?

I only saw from about 12 min to go in the 2nd, so missed the first 5 goals. Saw replays on Kessel's first goal though. Crosby had the puck and 4 Wings converged on him...including Datsyuk and Zetterberg...poor D coverage for sure, they were definitely off last night. Perhaps you don't have that happen if it isn't Crosby with the puck, so I'm assuming it's a one-off for now, rather than worry that they are scrambling too much.

Some people are speculating that even if he wins an arbitration, he'll likely miss close to the 20 games anyway (or at least 13-15). This is probably true, but my guess is that the appeal is more about money, while he can't get the games back, he can get money back.

Wonder if Malkin will be back tonight....obviously big difference if he is

To be fair, picking Datsyuk over Larkin for a game 7 doesn't mean Datsyuk is the better player, it means he has way more experience and the experience cannot be understated when it comes to playoffs. Ignoring that though, it's a close call, but Datsyuk is probably still the better player (unlikely to continue into next year though). It is a bit sad that the team doesn't currently have any top end scorers....on the other hand, they are still getting results.

I'm not sure why Calgary would be urgently looking for a replacement, they are really outside the playoff hunt.

The thing that I was mostly interested in regarding the outdoor games is the alumni games that are played and once a team plays in one, seeing a subsequent alumni game for the same team isn't all that interesting.