Drake_Marcus

Oh ok. I thought you were implying that Filppula didn't have it. My bad.

I agree with you 100%, although I disagree on the part about Filppula having poor work ethic. He does sometimes when he's in a slump (and he certainly did through the first half of the 07-08 playoffs), but overall Filppula's got a fantastic work ethic. He's not a puck hound like Franzen or Zetterberg, but he's all about the forecheck and the skating. And as far as Franzen goes, well he did have that amazing preseason in 07-08 where he was scoring at a retarded pace, but got injured so his year started out cold when he did finally get healthy.

Filppula got 1 minute less PP time and lost 51 seconds of average time on ice. A minute. Drastically is a bit of an exaggeration Oooo Fun! Filppula's 1st playoff year: 18 games played, 5 pts, 12:12 ATOI (third line) Leino's 1st playoff year: 7 games played, 2 pts, 8:43 ATOI (fourth line) Take those 7 games up to 18 without accounting for Filppula's getting 50% more ice time and Leino scores 5.15 points. Also, let's remember the 5 goal, 9 pt performance in his 13 game call up. That projects to 32 goals and 57 points, destroying anything Filppula's ever dreamed of. Oh and 95% of the time he played with Maltby and Draper. This game is fun!

Why does Filppula have to be the next Datsyuk in your mind? Nothing in the past 3 seasons has pointed to this metamorphosis. Scouting reports didn't peg Filppula as an elite offensive talent, he was pegged as a well rounded player who can do every thing well. You can still be a Filppula fan and support him for what he is and not what you hope he might become. He is an excellent, well rounded guy who looks like he could become a good 2nd line centre for this team. Go check out the list of the top scoring forwards in the NHL last season. Look at the names of the guys who score 60+ points. Those guys are mostly lottery pick players, they're highly regarded offensive players. How many people outside of Detroit would call Filppula a highly regarded offensive talent? Not many. Because he isn't. He's a well rounded guy who projects as a 50-55pt player who anchors your 2nd line and plays on the 1st PK. WTF is wrong with that? Not everyone is Datsyuk or a Datsyuk in waiting. The Wings knew Datsyuk was potentially a special offensive talent when they drafted him. They just didn't know if he'd ever get big enough or skate like an NHL player. They didn't have evidence of his skill other than scouting reports-- he didn't tear up an international tournament or even get attention from other scouts. Filppula was well scouted and drafted high. They knew he'd be a well rounded guy with some offensive upside, but nothing indicated he could be a 60+ point guy or he would've gone in the top 15 picks because he was already so strong in every other area. Look, you can believe that Filppula's an elite offensive talent in waiting, but everything we've seen points out to that being a surprise if it happened, and certainly not something predictable. Honestly, I think you're just underestimating the offensive talent it takes to score 60+ points.

Sammy scored 19 this year. Filppula scored 12. Sammy's proven himself to be a better scorer than Filppula. If that weren't true Babcock wouldn't use Sammy on the PP, regardless of his shot. Sammy's shown he can score goals. Filppula had one hot season playing on Datsyuk's wing while Zetterberg was injured. I'd love it if Filppula could score 19 goals again. The problem is that this time he won't have one of the best passers in the NHL dishing it to him. Ignore Leino's superior play in the AHL, he's still outplayed Filppula in the NHL.

The 2nd PP will be very much in flux this season, at least it will be at the start. At this point the only player we know for sure will be a staple of the 2nd PP is Franzen. The other two of the top 6 PP guys from last year are gone (Hossa and Hudler). Filppula will definitely start as the centre, but Williams and Leino will get shots at it if Filppula can't produce. Bert will likely play the 2nd PP, as you've said, although who knows what Babs will do once Bert takes a dumb offensive zone penalty and negates the PP a few times. PK? No way Datsyuk and Zetterberg play together. Babs seems to vastly prefer breaking them up to make it balanced. Datsyuk and Filppula are fantastic on the PK together, so I'd say we'll see them on the 1st PP now. Zetterberg will end up paired with one of Cleary, Helm or Franzen.

O RLY? Who has more goals IN ANY SEASON? Cleary, Samuelsson or Filppula? Shootout goals? Who gets picked for the shootout first-- Cleary or Filppula? (Hint: Filppula's never scored in the shootout and only been picked twice in his career- and that was back in 06-07) And Leino? Finnish Elite League MVP and 2nd in scoring. Lead the AHL in scoring/points through the first round of the playoffs. Scored 5 goals and 9 pts in his first 13 NHL games. Scored at a point per game pace through the preseason. Leino is an offensive talent first and everything else second. Filppula's an everything else talent first and scoring second.

You're most definitely mistaken. The following forwards from the 2008-2009 Detroit Red Wings have better hands than Filppula: 1. Pavel Datsyuk 2. Henrik Zetterberg 3. Marian Hossa 4. Jiri Hudler 5. Johan Franzen 6. Daniel Cleary 7. Ville Leino 8. Mikeal Samuelsson (arguably... his shot is superior, as are his offensive instincts, but his passing is inferior) So, out of a 13 man group of forwards 8 had better hands than Filppula. Filppula's got tons of hockey talent, but he doesn't have amazing hands. He's got above average hands for an NHL player, but nothing close to elite hands.

I say he's a guy with a career potential to be an excellent 2nd line centre who can score 50pts, play on the PK and win tons of faceoffs. Just because I'm not diluted enough to pretend his offensive skill is elite (it's not), apparently I'm "disregarding filppula s anything more than an over-paid grand rapid griffin". Because there's no way I can value a player for who he is and not for a pipe dream that every prospect is a potential Datsyuk and we're all special little snowflakes. There were less than 30 centres in the NHL who scored 60pts last year. Apparently you think Filppula projects as a guy who can be a first line centre (since there are exactly 30 teams and less than 30 centres who can score 60 pts). I guess I'm different from you because I can appreciate players who are valuable without being scoring superstars.

Spezza is the checking line forward? He's absolutely brutal defensively. I'd put Cleary with Perry on that third line. Those two would be pretty effective together on the wings. Based on the last couple of seasons, Smyth isn't an upgrade on Cleary anyway.

Thanks for the link. Glad to see he's getting a chance with Phoenix. Aaron's a great guy, I only wish him the best. I feel really bad that he couldn't stick around with Detroit last year due to cap issues, but at least he won a Cup with us, so it's not like he can call his stint in Detroit a bust.

Ah, well smiles all around then

I can't see a 50% increase in his output in just one year. That's miraculous.

Oh yeah, especially since Lids will likely take 1-2 million less a year and Holmstrom is almost certainly gone or at least playing for peanuts.

Yup. Abs won't be in a position to demand much given how many games he'll be playing in GR.

Lucic and Keith would never, ever get traded at the deadline-- their parent clubs aren't sellers.

No way Helm costs 1.5M. 1M is more realistic for him, but I wouldn't be surprised if Holland got him for 900k.

This. Datsyuk is just too good not to make his winger score more.

Check 'er out: The second one is a bit cartoony for my tastes, but it's all good. I like the first one, though. Here are all the designs submitted: http://www.puckdrawn.com/photos/griffins_concepts/ This one is pretty cool, if only for the novelty factor: http://www.puckdrawn.com/photos/griffins_c...we_concept.html I think this one is pretty slick too- I'd love to pick this one up with an Ericsson customization: http://www.puckdrawn.com/photos/griffins_c...idea_final.html

He was still the best shootout guy on the Flames. Take it for what it's worth, but you can't disregard it just because his team wasn't in many shootouts. I doubt Zetterberg is going to lose the 2nd slot, though. Babcock seems to like Datsyuk, Zetterberg, Hudler on the shootout over the last 2 years. Now that Huds is gone the next best option is Bertuzzi, Cleary, Leino or Franzen. Filppula and Williams haven't had successful shootout careers (Filppula hasn't scored in one yet and Williams hasn't scored more often than 30% of the time).

Filppula over Hank? Hank's no Datsyuk in the shootout, but he's consistently among the top three Red Wings in shootout goals over the last two seasons (along with Hudler and Datsyuk who each claimed the top SO scorer prize once over the last two years). According to NHL.com Filppula's never scored a goal in the shootout. Soft hands just aren't an area where you can rank Filppula among the top players on the team.

And the Joe home opener when they ruined our banner raising ceremony by showing us that the days of tight defensive Wings hockey were apparently over.

While I think you're on the ball here, I don't see why it should be done that way. Same goes for the Sedins (each of them have the first letter of their first name on their jersey). Why can't the jersey just have the same last names but different numbers? Just leave it at that. In Howe's day they didn't even put their name on the back of the jersey, so it's not like you have to have a name to know who you're looking at... but that seems to be the trend in the current NHL.

This year's team is completely different on the back end-- they have, what, 4 new D?

They're definitely one of those teams you don't want to draw in the first round... They have 6 punishing defensemen that can check you through the glass. And as far as goals go, don't forget that they actually scored quite a few goals last year-- somewhere around 250 if I remember correctly. I don't think they're good enough to be 2nd round winners, but they're definitely built like an 1st round upseter.