Drake_Marcus

Who's been consistently mediocre for longer? Bertuzzi or Holmstrom. I'll cut Bertuzzi some slack when he's coming off a hot streak.

That's not fair to crap.

Yeah, but in the grand scheme of how Datsyuk's optimal lines work Holmstrom's role is to be Holmstrom. Bertuzzi's role is to be the shooter/scorer. So far he's only succeeded at shooting, and even there he's shown bad decision making.

Agreed. Just because he's not useful on the 1st right now doesn't mean Bertuzzi is useless. We just need to see someone paired up with Datsyuk who's capable of scoring at the moment.

What he said.

no problem

This.

Homer scared Jake off with his 9 goal start to the season.

Lame. Datsyuk's line is worthless with Bertuzzi out there negating offensive pressure by taking bad shots and holding onto the puck too long. Honestly, I'd love Bertuzzi to get out of his slump but he can't do so at the expense of Datsyuk's production. It's like Babcock says about your best players being your best players.

Abs is a definitely the best alternative right now. He's got a good shot and a nose for the net. He lacks a bit of offensive confidence but that's to be expected from someone in his shoes. Based on his rookie season in the AHL he does has the ability to put points up when he's confident and on his game. I'd love to see what he could do with this opportunity. Abdelkader's played so few pro hockey games (remember that last season was his first pro season) that it's hard to tell whether he's got the chops to be a 2nd liner at this level.

When you pair someone up with Datsyuk their purpose is simple-- shoot the puck at the net, be ready to have a puck put on your stick in any and every situation. If Datsyuk's your centre all you need to do is bury the puck and make smart decisions with it. Bertuzzi's been struggling with both his ability to bury and sound decision making/shot selection. Datsyuk's ability to make brilliant passes is worthless if the guy he's passing it to can't bury the puck. He doesn't need a linemate that can control the puck and get chances as much as he needs a guy who can do something with the chances handed to him. Bert's been working hard out there most of the time and seems snake bitten, but there's no room for 20 games of bad luck when you're on the 1st line.

Huh? Let's look at two lines: Williams-Zetterberg-Cleary Leino-Zetterberg-Cleary Which line had ok chemistry, with Zetterberg playing below expectations? Which line has awesome chemistry with Zetterberg playing like a beast? Is Leino the reason why Z is on fire? No. Is the the chemistry between Leino and Zetterberg a contributing factor in Z's ht streak? Yeah, of course. That line has played waaayyyy better with Leino on it than it did with Williams. Why? Because Williams was shooting first then looking for a chance to shoot again. Leino's been retrieving pucks, battling on the boards and passing back to Zetterberg when the time is right. That's exactly how you need a player on Z's wing to be-- a puck retriever who can shoot if asked to but has the hockey sense to make the right passes. Williams did not fulfill that role. I'm not sure if you've watched any recent games, but Leino's played very well along side Zetterberg. He's getting back on track and starting to look like the kid that scored 5 g and 4 a in his first 13 NHL games. Let's look at Leino, Cleary and Z's stats since that line was assembled: Leino: 1 g 1 a 2 pts +5 Cleary: 2 g 3a 5 pts +8 Zetterberg: 5 g 5 a 10 pts +6 (Those numbers are over 4 games) Now Leino hasn't torn it up, but a goal and an assist in 4 games is good for a rookie who's just getting used to the NHL. You certainly can't complain about those numbers given that he's played about 30 NHL games in his entire life. So far Leino hasn't really consistently met expectations, with 3 goals and 2 assists in 18 games. That puts him on pace for a 13 g 9 a 22 pt rookie season. Hudler's rookie season was 15 g 10 a 25 pts, so that puts Leino roughly on Hudler's rookie pace. Note that Hudler went from 25 pts to 57 pts in his first 3 season in the NHL, so there's a huge leap between rookie production and that of an established NHL'er. You can't expect a kid to walk in and produce right away as a rookie. It's also worth noting that most rookie seasons tend to ramp up as the player becomes accustomed to the game and starts to play "their game".

Filppula's scoring touch is worse than Bertuzzi's, so he doesn't really provide Datsyuk with a better scoring winger. At least Filppula can protect the puck and pass it, though, instead of just holding it too long and taking a bad shot (not that Val doesn't do that from time to time, but he's not as bad for doing that as Bert's been). Holmstrom's hot streak looks to be over, so the top line is basically Datsyuk, a screener/puck-retriever and some baggage. Adding Filppula doesn't give that line any more scoring punch. Filppula performs the same tasks as Datsyuk. That being said-- he did have some success in 07-08 when he played on Datsyuk's wing and played the roll of shooter. His shot isn't great but his strong hockey sense helped make up for that back in 07-08 when he was asked to play that role. I'm confident that he's a step up from Bertuzzi at this point. Filppula definitely isn't a top-six scoring winger, though, so the long term solution is definitely to get Franzen up with Dats. Neither of those players were signed to be the mainstay of the 1st line wing position. They both signed small contracts intended to give the Wings scoring depth. Put it this way-- if they weren't here right now with these injuries Holland would've had to sign someone or trade for someone now. There's no way he'd add more AHL kids to this team. 5 rookies is already a stretch for a Holland team.

Come on boys! Win this one for me.

I know, right? If there were articles for each player who disliked Bowman there'd be 23 a year.

Friday: Montreal @ Washington Boston @ Buffalo Florida @ Detroit NY Islanders @ Minnesota Colorado @ Vancouver Philadelphia @ San Jose Saturday: Calgary @ Los Angeles Washington @ Toronto Detroit @ Montreal Buffalo @ Ottawa Florida @ NY Rangers Tampa Bay @ Carolina Pittsburgh @ Atlanta NY Islanders @ St Louis Columbus @ Nashville New Jersey @ Dallas Philadelphia @ Phoenix Chicago @ Edmonton San Jose @ Anaheim Sunday: Tampa Bay @ Atlanta Chicago @ Vancouver

Given how many goals he scores compared to everyone else it the odds say it's most likely to happen to him. He's just that good.

Scottie tried this once but they bears wouldn't buy into his left wing lock system. They were too selfish. Speaking of that-- do not let vendors sell fish at games... it won't end well.

*waits for Carmen to come in and defend Sidney's honour*

Seriously man, they burn their paws to make them stand on their back feet. It's messed up.

With 8 games in the next 13 days, the Wings are going to face a huge test over the next two weeks. Nov 18th-- Dallas (Home) Nov 19th-- Rest Nov 20th-- Florida (Home) Nov 21st-- Montreal (Away) Nov 22nd-- Rest/Travel Nov 23rd-- Nashville (Away) Nov 24th-- Rest/Travel Nov 25th-- Atlanta (Home) Nov 26th-- Rest Nov 27th-- Calgary (Home) Nov 28th-- St. Louis (Away) Nov 29th-- Rest/Travel Nov 30th-- Dallas (Home) Now it's worth noting that 5 of those 8 games are home game. But it's also worth noting that the Wings have to travel in between both their back to back games. Most of those teams are weak--Dallas, Florida, Nashville, and St. Louis. Only Calgary and Atlanta are dangerous right now. Still, with 8 games in 13 days they'll average less than a day off between games. This will be a big test for this team. On the plus side I can't wait to see all these Wings games without grueling 3 day breaks between them. Edit: Note that the Wings typically travel to away games directly right after the last game ended when there's only a one day break between games, so in that sense my "Rest/Travel" labels aren't strictly correct.

Feds scored 5 goals once, that's kind of like back to back hatties...

Come on boys! Win this one for me!

Agreed. I can't believe they're allowed to torture those bears with hotplates to make them do this.

And he'll completely ignore the fact that he was 50% of those summer events. He could have dealt with each situation differently. He's responsible, as the commissioner, to deal with situations like that. That's what they pay him for. Hell, he's a friggin' lawyer so he can't fain ignorance either. But what else do you expect from a villain?