Drake_Marcus

Markov lead the NHL in turnovers last season (with Green coming right behind him for defensive turnovers). He'll have to stop giving the puck away before he gets some serious respect defensively.

I picked that USA sweater because that's the one they wore for the miracle on ice series, so I figured it had enough historic clout to be a good choice. Plus it's a pretty classic looking hockey sweater. Nothing too fancy, just a jersey with some history.

Hmmm... I have some suggestions: Or just go with the classic from 1980:

Agreed. Phaneuf isn't as great as Calgary fans say he is or his rookie season made it look like he was, but he's not chopped liver and he's got tons of raw talent. Once he nails down the "where do be and what to do next" part of being a top tier d-man (the thing Lidstrom does better than anyone in NHL history) he'll be dynamite. Of course the "monster" tag will never be earned, since that tag is something you apply to child molesters, not hockey players who hit hard (someone tell this to Pierre).

100 Holmers, eh? Holmstrom-Holmer-Holmstrom Holmstrom-DemolitionMan-Holmstrom Holmstrom-TomasH-Holmstrom Holmstrom-TommyHolmerson-Holmstrom Holmstrom-Holmstrom Holmstrom-Holmstrom Holmstrom-Holmstrom Holmstrom Holmstrom Coach: Holmstrom Offensive Coach: Holmstrom Defensive Coach: Holmstrom Goalie Coach: Holmstrom Skating(!) Coach: Holmstrom That's 25 of our surplus Swedes. I guess the other 75 could fill out 3 more NHL teams. So there'd be an entire division of angry, netcrashing Swedes that ain't gonna win a skating contest.

He digs for pucks really well, but let's not go off the deep end here.

While the Wings don't need another high priced forward, I agree that Marleau is a bit underrated. He was in the top 3 in game winners last year. If he can have an equally good season this year I'd say he deserves more credit. We'll see if he can prove himself to be a top level player long term.

Bad news. Radulov, Hudler, Zherdev. Young up and coming players with the potential to be star players shouldn't be getting pouched. The KHL had every right to sign Zherdev, but it really sucks for the NHL that this trend continues.

Not likely, but could happen. As it stands Helm is a better checking line centre than Eaves. Babs will likely ice pretty much every combination possible at some point.

4chan /b/tards for the win!!!1!!1

So I'm not the only guy who's yelled "SHOOT! SHOOT!" at the TV when Val's got the puck?

Actually, when Filppula scored 19 goals in 07-08 his big goal scoring streak came on Datsyuk's wing when Zetterberg was injured (I believe the hot streak was about 2 weeks long?). That point was Filppula's hottest offensive streak in the NHL and the entirety of that streak occurred on Datsyuk's wing. Edit: But at times those two have shown very little chemistry, so who knows what would develop. We do know that they are capable of being productive together sometimes.

Preach it brother!

I just knocked on wood too. I can't wait to watch Ericsson's career with the Wings over the next 15 years (I've got him penciled in until age 40 ).

Worth signing to a nice fat contract? Sure, assuming the term isn't insane. Worth 8 million a season? No. No goalie is worth that aside from guys like Hasek, Brodeur and Roy at their peaks. Like others have said, goalies are too much of a fragile investment to take up such a massive chunk of your cap space.

Haha. You're both right.

Ugggg... if we see a lot of Williams on the point I'm going to swallow a f***in' knife. I'm so sick of seeing a forward struggle to hold the line under pressure. Best case he only has to retreat from the zone and everyone regroups, wasting 10-15 seconds of valuable time. Worst case it's an odd man rush with a forward trying to play defense (which killed us on more than one occasion in the playoffs).

No he did. Filppula was 5th in forwards for even strength ice time per game. Sorry man- you have to be playing in the top six for a good chunk of the year for that to happen. The top two lines play at least 3 minutes a night more than the third. That adds up. And again, we're talking only even strength time. And two seasons ago? Yeah, as in the season before last. As in the season the Wings won the cup. That's not ancient history. And I do watch every ******* game. Funny how the statistics back up what I say, almost as if I based it in fact. I already said he's a fantastic two way player. He's great defensively and is very good offensively. But a "great offensive talent"? Sorry man-- he's not even among the top 60 most offensively talented forwards in the league. He wouldn't crack the top 100 in terms of offensive talent. Before people freak out and say I'm a moron for saying that think about this: 30 x 3 = 90. Are there at least three players on every team in the league more offensively talented than Filppula? Yes. Four? Without a doubt if we're talking averages here (as in last year's team in Detroit had: Datsyuk, Zetterberg, Hossa, Franzen and Hudler, all of whom are easily more talented offensively than Filppula, that allows a s***box team to have only three more offensively talented players). Something tells me my bored ass is going to have to ******* write out the 3-4 players on each of the 30 teams to prove it to the Filppula puckbunnies. *sigh* EDIT: f*** it. If some of the people here want to believe Filppula's an elite offensive talent then so be it. I see him peaking as a 50-55pt guy with excellent defensive ability, strong in the circle and a good leader. That's an excellent hockey player in my mind. Some seem to think that's a betrayal of a fan's faith in their favourite players, but I see it as realism since that's what the facts point to. Let's just leave it at that. We'll see how this all ends up in 10 years. If Filppula ends up an elite offensive talent I'll be happy to have been wrong about his peak.

Don't count Cleary out yet. He's hit 20 goals both of the last season. With a good shot at seeing extended time on the top line playing Newfie-Holmstrom, Cleary should hit 25 goals and might even go as high as 30.

And Datsyuk had a very slow first half of the season compared to his second half. That doesn't mean he should've put up 120 points. Inconsistency is the first thing Filppula needs to nail down if he wants to become a legitimate scoring talent. If he can make his best stretches of hockey his "norm" then he'll definitely crack 60pts. But that's real tough to do for any player. Shooting more? Yes please. But his shot is definitely the weakest point of his game. He's a much, much, much better passer than shooter. He just needs to make better "shoot or pass" choices. That will come with experience and self confidence. Both of which will develop over time, not over night.

That was the best 16 games of Filppula's career. If we project one's season based on the best 16 game stretch in their career we'd have to expect Zetterberg to have a 200 point season (which he was on pace for at the beginning of the 07-08 season). Oh, and Franzen has been a point per game player over the last two post seasons, so we can say Franzen should easily post 82 points this season, right? Like he did last season? But hey, let's be super generous. Let's assume Filppula produces at his best rate in his career for an entire season (despite him being notoriously inconsistent, see first half stats last year). That's 57 points. If he can stretch his level of play from the best 16 game stretch of his career out over a full season (and he's yet to play a full 82 game season in the NHL) he will have 57 points. So that's his best case scenario under your assumptions. Hardly the same as "easily posts 60 points this season". And all this assumes Filppula's got the offensive talent to be a 60+ point guy next season (which would make him one of the top 30 centres in the game, as in good enough to be the #1 centre in many cities, since Hudler's 57 pts were good for 30th overall in centres last year, and yeah- Hudler's listed as a centre on NHL.com). Now, on to the myth that Filppula's been forced to suffer linemates that are his offensive inferiors (I can only assume this is a case of Fil fans projecting Hudler's situation onto Val). In 2007-2008 Filppula was the centre on the 2nd line when the year started. When Hank and Pav were together Filppula was the second line centre (and try to remember just how often Hank and Pavel were together). When Hank was injured Val was on Pavel's wing. Why did Babcock play with splitting Hank and Pav up so often? Val wasn't creating sufficient offense on the second line. This year it will be the same question-- can we afford to keep Dats and Z together? I'm hoping Val and Franzen will gel with their other linemate (Leino or Williams) well enough to make it possible to keep Z and Dats together. What about the 2008-2009 season? Filppula spent at least half the year playing in the top six. How do I know? Well aside from watching every single game, I also know that Filppula's even strength and total average ice time is among the top six forward totals on the team. I'm not trying to discredit Filppula or put him down-- he's never claimed to be a first line centre caliber player. I'm trying to help posters here understand the realistic situation here-- Val isn't the next Datsyuk. He's not going to be a top 30 scorer. He is going to be an excellent 2nd line centre who will eventually play 18-20 mins a night every night for years to come. He's a very valuable piece of the team, no question. But people need to stop telling themselves that he's an elite scoring talent because they're setting themselves up for disappointment.

Wow. An extra 90 seconds on the PP and thirty seconds less even strength equates to a 50% increase in his production. That is a bold prediction.

Williams got 19 goals and 47 points last season (which he split between Atlanta and Columbus). You honestly think he'll regress when added to the Wings roster?

Ericsson does pretty well too. He "accidentally" touched HR40's boob during an autograph signing. AND Rabia's a doctor, don't ya know-- she's quite the catch.

I'm an xbox hold out myself. I can't give up the Halo franchise.