Which Players Must Lift?

[Aussie_Wing 354]

1. Dan Cleary. Is getting in excess of 17 minutes per game and yet has only the 1 goal to go with his lone assist. I know it’s not all about offence for Dan and he is a vital member of the PK unit however he hasn’t been the same since returning from injury and at a time when we need him the most he’s gone missing. Had a perfect opportunity to score early last night on the back of a perfect feed from Filppula but missed the shot. Had an outstanding regular season and was the team’s best player for certain stretches but that all means nothing right now.

2. Tomas Holmstrom. Has 10 points from 15 games which isn’t bad but he’s playing alongside Zetterberg and Datsyuk who are both on fire. Has only 3 goals despite getting almost 17 minutes per game and getting a huge chunk of time on the PP. Make no mistake, he’s doing alright but he could and should do more.

3. Kris Draper. Yes I am occasionally on his case and we’re all aware that he isn’t going to be putting up many points however isn’t this the time and the place for a veteran guy to stand up? He needs to score a big goal every now and then and lead by example. 3 points and a -5 isn’t exactly what is expected of him. His faceoff percentage is fantastic though.

Who do you feel needs to step up?

[Reds4Life 51]

Cleary, Filppula, Samuelsson, Chelios, McCarty

They have been horrible so far.

[seeinred 1,488]

Ooof, I had no idea Draper was a -5. That's just plain unacceptable for him. As for Cleary, I do agree, but we all know he lost all that weight when his jaw was wired shut. I don't really expect that he'll be back to his regular form until next season.

I'll toss Stuart into the mix. He is a +5 so far, and that's good, but I expected a little more out of him than 1 point in 14 games.

[BlueMonk 102]

Nick Lidstrom. Not as a player, as a captain. The team looked uptight to me yesterday and they need to relax and play their game. Babs can only do so much, they need a positive boost from their leader.

Mikael Samuelsson. It's hard to expect much from your worst player, but even your worst player needs to at least play a sound game. Nothing spectacular except a spectacular effort.

Chris Chelios. Unfortunately, I think this may just be the end of the line for Cheli.

[Aussie_Wing 354]

I'll toss Stuart into the mix. He is a +5 so far, and that's good, but I expected a little more out of him than 1 point in 14 games.

Agreed, just after I posted the thread I thought about him. 1 point in 14 games? Hasn't been a massive point prouducing defenceman during his career but that's pretty underwhelming. Most noted for his hitting but it's been Kronwall and Drake delivering all the hits.

[MississippiWing 14]

Lidstrom. Starts with the team Captain. He needs to play like he's won the Norris Trophy before. Stingy D and not afraid to make a little offense happen

Veterans. We need leadership in the locker room. The guys that have been here before (Osgood, Cheli, Draper, DMac) need to get on everyones ass and get them fired up.

The guys who can be moved in or out depending on how the game goes need to be playing for their spot. You suck and blow an assignment, you are replaced for the next game.

Ozzie needs to step up. He's been good so far, but has faced far less shots than Turco and has let more go in. You can't face 22 shots and let 2 in.

[SouthernWingsFan 854]

I know I'm going to give a boring/default answer, but outside of a select few such as Hudler, all of them need to step up. I don't think they (or don't think they should) have to miss Franzen this badly. They showed they can win without him, and in fairly dominating fashion in game 3, they can certainly do it again.

[VM1138 1,921]

Frankly the likes of Filpulla and Samuellson haven't been very good. McCarty has been good, I feel, abuot what we can expect from him. Chelios has made some mistakes.

I want to ride Cleary a bit about not performing, but he's been so good for us defensively that I can't really complain, though it would be nice for him to score once in a while. But he's definitely giving it his all, unlike some players like Flip and Sammy.

[eva unit zero 271]

I want to see Flip and Cleary scoring, or I want to see Hudler getting more ice time. We need someone out there on the second line who is going to produce offense; that isn't Flip or Cleary right now.

[C-Dub 0]

The whole team has to step it up, minus Osgood. Ozzie has been pretty flawless so far, or at least as good, if not better, than what you can expect out of him.

It is not that two or three players slacking or or two of three players of Dallas suddenly stepping up has cost us two games. Dallas a whole unit has stepped up. Every line is out there playing with tremendous energy, everytime Morrow is on the puck he fights for it like his live depends on it. I missed something like that from our team here of late.

Also, it appears that almost all four of Dallas' lines can get us caught in our own end with 30 second plus cycles that cause us to give up goals or take penalties. For us, it's pretty much Dats and Zetter that do this, and to an extend Hudler's line. The Drake line actually got a few cycles going last game, but heck, nobody on that line could score a goal if it was empty.

[GMRwings1983 8,804]

I think Cleary is having trouble seeing the puck with his new helmet. He just seems confused out there, and I'm beginning to wonder if he's playing with a concussion or not. He looks bewildered out there.

Flip has to step it up, especially physically, since he's playing like a cream puff with how easy it is to knock him off the puck.

Sammy needs to step up, but the only way he could do that is to refrain from shooting. That one is on Babcock, who must put Sammy on the 4th line to give him less chances to shoot.

Chelios needs to be better out there. He hasn't had a good playoff and his positioning hasn't been very good, which is supposed to be his only asset.

Osgood has to outplay Turco. Yesterday he didn't, and gave up a bad goal on the 2nd goal which he misread.

Stuart needs to do something offensively. Chelios has been better offensively than Stuart has. I'm beginning to wonder if we improved at all by trading for him at the deadline.

[Zion 93]

Stuart needs to do something offensively. Chelios has been better offensively than Stuart has. I'm beginning to wonder if we improved at all by trading for him at the deadline.

Would you rather Lilja was playing right now?

Didn't think so.

[GMRwings1983 8,804]

Would you rather Lilja was playing right now?

Didn't think so.

Yeah.

He would have kicked Steve Ott's ass by now.

I'm beginning to wonder if Stuart is actually Canadian. He's too soft.

[VM1138 1,921]

Yeah.

He would have kicked Steve Ott's ass by now.

I'm beginning to wonder if Stuart is actually Canadian. He's too soft.

You're right. He would have kicked Steve Ott's ass.

And we still would've lost 2 games.

Stuart has been a huge improvement. He just needs to settle down.

[rick zombo 3,739]

Osgood has to play the game of his life on Monday. He needs to steal a game, while this team gets back on track.

Pavel and Hank need to play with more urgency than they did on Saturday (they have been better on the road than at home).

And Cleary needs to score.

[irishtemper14+25 11]

yea i agree with whoever said that nick/other role guys might need to have a louder voice right now to help get them out of a rut

[C-Dub 0]

yea i agree with whoever said that nick/other role guys might need to have a louder voice right now to help get them out of a rut

I am never quite sure what you guys mean with this. Yzerman was never the one to yell at people left and right on the bench but we all knew what kind of leader he was. What do you expect the role players to do? They certainly play better than most of the other team and I agree they should lift their game even more but when it comes to "louder voice", what do you mean? I don't think many of us here are in the locker room to really know how loud their voices are.

[MississippiWing 14]

Louder voice doesn't necessarily mean yell at them, but the leadership guys need to be outworking everyone. The vets and ESPECIALLY the Captain need to be practicing and playing like its their last game. They need to beat everyone to the punch. If you have a guy like Cheli that the young guys see going out there and killing themselves to win one they will step up. Yzerman had that untouchable leadership characteristic, he inspired people with the way he played the game. That's why he's the greatest Captain ever. Lidstrom has done a good job but its time to step up.

[CAredwingsfan91 28]

HOLY CRAP i could of sworn i talked about CLEARYS play as of late and EVERYONE on here started actin like cry babys i know the guy had his jaw shut and everything but still last year he played SO HARD and he played with such passion and this year it just seems like he isn't giving it his all.

[Kp-Wings 3]

The team in general needs to play better, but I can narrow it down to 4 players: Filppula, Cleary, Chelios, and Samuelsson. The ladder of this group sucks (that'd be Samuelsson, everyone), so I don't expect anything out of him (and I keep hoping he get's injured, so Hudler get's more ice time). The other three, though, have no excuse for this. Filppula especially. He's getting top line minutes, yet is not producing at all. With no Franzen in the lineup, we are, once again, seeing just how inept that second line really is.

[SouthernWingsFan 854]

The team in general needs to play better, but I can narrow it down to 4 players: Filppula, Cleary, Chelios, and Samuelsson. The ladder of this group sucks (that'd be Samuelsson, everyone), so I don't expect anything out of him (and I keep hoping he get's injured, so Hudler get's more ice time). The other three, though, have no excuse for this. Filppula especially. He's getting top line minutes, yet is not producing at all. With no Franzen in the lineup, we are, once again, seeing just how inept that second line really is.

I'm sorry but wishing injury on somebody is pretty low and sick.

[Kp-Wings 3]

I'm sorry but wishing injury on somebody is pretty low and sick.

It's for the better benefit of the team that he's out of the lineup. You can't please everyone.

[SouthernWingsFan 854]

It's for the better benefit of the team that he's out of the lineup. You can't please everyone.

Perhaps so, but not by intentinoally wishing physical harm of a player.

Again, that's low and sick.

[jim3033 1]

Cleary needs to play better.

[MabusIncarnate 5,359]

Osgood has to play the game of his life on Monday. He needs to steal a game, while this team gets back on track.

Pavel and Hank need to play with more urgency than they did on Saturday (they have been better on the road than at home).

And Cleary needs to score.

Agreed, Ozzie needs to step up and steal us a game. He's been playing great, been playing solid, but if our goaltender can't step up and make some stellar saves, it's going to be hard to win the cup. No discredit to Osgood, like I said he's done his job, but a cup winning team needs those one or two games where the goalie is just unbeatable. Turco was that goalie in game 5, we need Ozzie to be that for us in game 6. Playing just solid right now isn't gonna cut it.