Drake_Marcus

If Helm could score 80 points on a line with Dats and Z then literally anyone in the NHL could. Helm's hand are below average as far as NHL players go. His 'scoring upside' is tiny. If you project his career we'd be looking at somewhere around 25-35 points as his peak output. He's basically Draper with a little less scoring upside (believe it or not Draper was an ok goal scorer in his prime). I know people like to say it's the other way around, but those people are forgetting Draper's pre-lockout goal totals.

The new set-up they have for the "scores" page is annoying. I used to be able to get to the game summaries in one click, but now I have to click on the boxscore, wait for that garbage to load then click on the dropdown menu to get the game summary page. I miss the old system.

Ok. Well then it's just Jake that's crazy.

Christ. And I suppose if he puts Meech on the top pairing he could blossom into the next Nick Lidstrom? Do you honestly understand how talented a 30g 80pt NHLer has to be? How amazing their offensive ability, instincts, hands, vision, etc has to be? Helm has 0 goals and 1 assist in 23 regular season NHL games. He has 6 goals and 3 assists for 9 points in 41 playoff games. Combining those stats we get: 6 goals and 4 assists in 64 NHL games. That averages out to an 8 goal and 5 assist season over 82 games. So that's 13 points in 82 games. An ok rookie total for a grinder, but not the forecast for an elite offensive contributor. By comparison in Leino's first 13 games he scored 5 goals and 4 assists for a 32g / 25a / 57pt rookie season when averaged over 82 games. That's the kind of start you expect from an offensively gifted individual. Oh, and earlier I responded to someone who stated Helm was 25 and I accidentally repeated that age. He's actually 22.

You're confusing an exceptional shift by a good player for a good shift by an exceptional player. If your logic held serve Alexi Yashin would've been a hall of famer. They were gushing over Helm's play as an energy guy who hits lots and plays solid defense. Helm is less likely to be a 30+ point player than Meech is to be a first pairing defenseman. Meech has great offensive tools when he uses them, but he just isn't a premier defenseman and there's a better chance that I'll start laying golden eggs than there is of Meech being an elite defenseman or Helm being a top six player. Seriously. Believing Helm has the hands to become a serious offensive contributor is delusional. He's 25 and he's played a TON of hockey. He was an ok scorer in junior but since the competition level has gone up (AHL, NHL) his lack of offensive ability's become apparent. The Wings aren't asking him to be Datsyuk. They aren't even asking him to be Filppula Jr. Helm's been cast in a certain role and he's excelled in that role. Misconstruing a 5 point playoff run as a glimpse of his offensive brilliance requires the assumption that a 5 point playoff run is offensively brilliant.

Delmore has tons of offensive talent, but his defensive ability makes Lebda look like Lidstrom.

Samuelsson forgot that only Lilja can tell people whether or not somewhere is SPARTA!

I know, eh? I just go with combos that we've seen work in the past and hope for the best. Not sure why Mike's obsessed with splitting Dats and Z up, but he's the NHL coach with a cup ring and I'm the armchair coach, so what do I know? I just miss that D and Z magic...

I like the lines, but putting out top three forwards all on the top line isn't really Mike's style. Switch Franzen for Bert and Bert for Cleary and we're golden

Sweet. We need his energy, defensive presence, hustle, hitting and hey, he could PK a bit too. All essential elements for ending a slump.

If people keep arguing with him about it he'll keep posting about it. Just let him do his nintey-sux thing and move on. He doesn't like Homer, fine, but he needs two to argue about it.

It's amazing that after going home empty handed last year with D and Z split Babs is still clinging to the split euro twin fantasy. Just stick with what worked in 08 please.

If Helm's got soft hands I'm a first round draft pick. Edit: In other words-- don't try to plug a grinder/energy/defensive guy into a scorer's role.

Because he s*** the bed for more than a year. His last year in GR was terrible. During 07-08 he was easily the worst call-up and got sent down early. In the 08-09 training camp he was horrible. In the 08-09 preseason he was horrible. Holland gave him every chance to earn a spot over Meech but he just couldn't do it. His only selling point at that time was his good play as a call-up in the 06-07 postseason. Even then Holland couldn't find a way to use that to sell him to another club for even a late pick. So he had to waive the kid and give him a shot elsewhere. Quincey played his way out of Detroit. It's as simple as that.

Well he has been on the ice for every single even strength goal against the Wings this season.

Oh, and for the record-- Lebda was on the ice for every single even strength goal against scored so far this season. Yes-- all 5 goals scored in ES on the Wings were with Lebda out there.

Team defense Hustle Energy/Motivation Penalty Kill Chemistry Adaptability! (remember when the Wings could play whatever type of game was needed that night?) EDIT: the spellcheck in firefox changed adaptability to acceptability

If Helm's our second line centre we're f***ed. He's not a top six kid. Sorry. And last but not least-- Abby won't replace Bert in the line-up. Bert was brought in for a reason and he certainly hasn't been that terrible so far. Abby will by in GR on the 1st line getting 20 mins a night and developing like he should be. No point in keeping him here to play 5 mins a night.

That's a strange stat to put any faith in. Two losses mean nothing. 33 losses and I'm worried...

Uggg... Lebda. FML. Lebda's been non-stop brutal since the preseason. This team desperately needs some defensive structure. Look how well Andy Murray had the Blues playing... they suffocated us out there. I'm starting to wonder just how critical the change from the 07-08 coaching group has been.

This is just one game guys. Howard looked fine for a while too. Those two soft goals are something we've seen Ozzy let in too and he turned out alright. Let's not overreact. I would, however, like to see more Larsson. You can bet that as soon as one goalie gets hurt Larsson will get a long, long look. It seems that Babs thinks Larsson is good enough, based on comments he made in camp.

Brutal. Pull Howard and put Larsson in.

Does Lebda get an assist on that Blues goal?

Looks great Matt. Can we have Leino next?

I'm fine with him growing into being a Chara or Pronger style d-man. Those two guys seem to be who the national media compare him to, at least.