Valtteri Filppula Appreciation Thread

[Guest mindfly]

You know, I was actually thinking about that myself, what was Kronner last season, 0/15?

Those passes were just unreal, it all clicked for him tonight.

0/16 even! it was a bit crazy

Edited May 24, 2009 by mindfly

[b.shanafan14 733]

Filppula is great, just needs consistent top two line minutes. He'll get them next season.

[titanium2 867]

Fil's backhand pass to Hossa to start the give and go that resulted in Fil's goal was beautiful. B-E-A-utiful.

[PenaltyShot 96 521]

It seemed like Fil was everywhere tonight! He took the responsibility of 'filling in' for Datsyuk seriously. Three cheers, Fil!

[RockyMountainWingGal 108]

Some of us never doubted him. Lest we forget, Flip set a career high in Assists and Points this season.

I've also been calling for him to centre Hossa since we signed him, but I was made fun of for that too...

Now, if he could just learn to shoot the damn puck when he has the chance instead of always looking to pass to the "big" players, he'd be great.

Remember when Datsyuk started out, it was his job to merely pass to Hull, and it worked. Flip will start being a primary goal scorer in time. I for one enjoy his beautiful passes. He has been on of the Wings most consistent and best players this POs imo.

Plus, for the ladies out there, he's nice to look at.

[Rivalred 630]

Kid definitely flipped a switch since entering the post-season.

[HanKarin40 7]

Fil has been fanfrickintastic in these playoffs! I'm loving the hustle and the effort he's putting forth each game! Like it's been said before in this thread, he seems to be everywhere! He's really coming into his own. I told my husband at the start of the playoffs, he's playing like Pavel on crack! Keep it up Fil!

[Dabura 12,232]

It seemed like Fil was everywhere tonight! He took the responsibility of 'filling in' for Datsyuk seriously.

Oh no you didn't.

[Dabura 12,232]

Hope this hasn't already been posted:

http://www.nhl.tv/team/console.jsp?id=42560

Interviewer sounds like PC from the Mac commercials.

[sixer 37]

Great game Flip! Sorry that thug gave you a cheap elbow to the head and only got 2 mins. He should have got 5 & a game in my opinion.

[under_par_00 45]

I always knew Filppula had it in him.

And I do recall me posting a while back that I thought a Franzen - Filppula - Hossa line would be dynamite.

[Motown4013 350]

Flip is one of my favorate players and I am sooooooooooo glad he is finally shining! Way to go Val

[Michgal89 0]

Great passes, great puck possession...thanks a million!

[Stiffy 0]

Flip has always had a playoff attitude I think. He just keeps coming. Lots of energy with skllls and smarts to match. Tough little guy too.

However, he did something else today that he did a few weeks ago. To get biblical, Hossa is like Lazurus and Flip like, well you know who, the big guy in that he has brought Hossa back from the dead - twice now. Does Babcock need it spelled out? I can't wait for a healthy Dats and new line mates for him too.

[Guest Four]

http://www.letsgowings.com/forums/index.ph...c=55712&hl=

Mine came a month after yours

http://www.letsgowings.com/forums/index.ph...amp;hl=filppula

[adtthosa 5]

I was one of the ones who was less than impressed with his play in the regular season, but I can't argue with these results. He has been STELLAR in these playoffs.

[Z and D for the C 712]

Mine came a month after yours

http://www.letsgowings.com/forums/index.ph...amp;hl=filppula

I was looking for the genuis who said that Flip's hands were only slightly better than drapers. I found him in neither thread.

[Guest Four]

I was looking for the genuis who said that Flip's hands were only slightly better than drapers. I found him in neither thread.

The only one I recall is someone saying Helm's hands were better than Drapers.. Maybe it was the same person? xD

[titanium2 867]

Great Article! http://www.nhl.com/ice/news.htm?id=423738

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Filppula another Finn-ished product for Wings

By Larry Wigge - NHL.com Columnist

CHICAGO -- He's no Pavel Datsyuk. But then how many of those are there?

As Detroit Red Wings center Henrik Zetterberg did a dash through the dressing room comparable to that of Olympic 100, 200-meter champion Usain Bolt Sunday, I managed to ask him how Valtteri Filppula compares to Datsyuk.

"Different name, but really, really good," Zetterberg explained just before he disappeared behind a curtain, "and getting more confident in his ability all the time."

With Datsyuk out of the lineup for the second-straight game, Filppula ran his playoff points streak to five games with 1 goal and 2 assists to spark the Red Wings to a 6-1 in over the Blackhawks in Game 4 of the Western Conference Finals, giving the Wings a commanding 3-1 lead in the series.

The three points for Valtteri gave him 1 goal and 12 assists in 15 playoff games this season -- or two more points than he had in 22 games in last year's playoffs.

Filppula helped take the Chicago crowd out of the game early, when he and Marian Hossa broke out 2 on 1 and gave the Red Wings a 1-0 lead on a shorthanded goal 8:41 into the game. Just 1:13 into the second period, Valtteri rammed home a Hossa rebound for a 3-0 lead. And he set up Hossa for his second goal of the game just 12 seconds after the Blackhawks got their only goal early in the second period, a killer that made it 4-1.

Best game, Val? And have you put any pressure on yourself trying to fill in for Datsyuk between Tomas Holmstrom and Marian Hossa?

"I don't get too caught up in stuff like that," he said. "What is

amazing is getting a chance in practice to fill in with all the great

talents the Red Wings have assembled. It's really something to see how you stack up against some of the most talented players in the world on a daily basis.

"In this situation, playing for Pav, I look at it as a challenge. I look at is as a chance to see how much I'm improving."

It wasn't long ago that I asked Red Wings coach Mike Babcock how he thought Filppula was coming along to which he said, "Once Phil learns that he needs to shoot more to make himself a more complete player, I think he’ll become a real threat. You know something, his skills remind me a little of Hank when he first came into the NHL."

After overhearing Babcock make that remark and figuring out that “Phil†was Filppula and “Hank†was Zetterberg, you get the idea that the coach likes his 25-year-old center from Vantaa, Finland, plenty.

At one point early last season, after Filppula, a third-round pick, 95th overall, in the 2002 Entry Draft, had no goals in his first 10 games, he then exploded for six goals in five games in a stretch when he had counted nine goals in 10 games.

"The kid has size, speed ... and great skill," Nicklas Lidstrom explained after Filppula went from the third line to the No. 1 line with Holmstrom and Hossa in Game 3.

Funny how the Red Wings find these nearly “Finn-ished†products with such great talent, isn’t it?

The story on this forward is typical. Filppula followed his older

brother Lars, who currently plays in the Finnish Elite League, to the rink. He lived to play hockey. He had posters of Teemu Selanne and Saku Koivu in his room back home.

"My parents were the driving force," Valtteri said. "My brother and I got our athletic ability from my dad, who played Finnish baseball. And my mom ... she’s a teacher ... and she made sure both of us learned more than just one language, so we could succeed in the world. That has become very, very important to me."

Raimeri Filppula, Val’s father, currently works as an electrical

engineer. His mom, Liisa, still is a kindergarten teacher.

Filppula wasn’t one of those too-small prospects the Red Wings dug up late in the 1998 and 1999 drafts, when they selected Datsyuk 171st in 1998 and Zetterberg 210th the following year. He's 6-foot, 193 pounds. But there still were some anxious moments for him.

"I had a pretty good year scoring in my final year in the Finnish Elite League (10 goals and 30 points, plus another 11 points in 12 playoff games for Jokerit Helsinki in 2004-05), but when I got to North America ... it was like the walls were closing in on me ... no room to move on the smaller ice surface over here," Filppula added. "I didn’t know if I’d make it here."

Make it he did, scoring 20 goals and 50 points in 74 games at AHL Grand Rapids in the 2005-06 season. He had 10 goals and 17 points in this first full season with the Red Wings the next year and followed that with 19 goals and 17 assists last season and 12 goals and 28 assists this season in Detroit.

And when Babcock tapped Filppula on the shoulder to move from his normal line with Jiri Hudler and Mikael Samuelsson to play with Hossa and Holmstrom, he cited Valtteri's speed and playmaking ability as what he wanted from him in this situation.

[Grim 5]

Line him up with Hossa for the rest of the playoffs!!