"He'll Play"

[thedisappearer 291]

You'll find not one instance of me blaming refs or breaks or anything else for the Pens losses. Take it up with those other guys.

By the way, ALL fan bases complain about that bumper boards thing. Not just the Pens'.

To me, the Datsyuk thing is just as faulty an excuse.

Your Hart nominee was out for the first four games?

[AtomicPunk 296]

Don't they make a steel-toed skate? Please?

[Louisville 112]

Some of the comments on LGP about Datsyuk have left me in disbelief. They're advocating intentionally shooting pucks at his skates if he does play, chalking the article up to "Detroit mind games," or speculating that he'll be around 50%. This coming from a group of "fans" who attributed Dupuis' stick breaking in Game 2 to the fact that the "home team supplies the sticks" and that, because of this, Detroit tampered with those supplied to Pittsburgh. I can't even fathom how difficult life would be with that level of ineptitude.

That is some funny stuff. I can't fathom it either.

[HanKarin40 7]

Having Pavel back for game 5 would be huge! I sure hope to God it's true this time. I, like many, got really excited to hear he was playing last night only to be disappointed.

[Cern 0]

According to NHL.com he is a go. Praise the hockey gods, and curse them for not bringing him back two games ago.

[truebladearmy 33]

I'd take Pavel Datsyuk over Malkin any day. The funny thing is...Pavel Datsyuk is actually the best player in the world. He Scores almost as many points as Malkin and is ten times better defensively. I'll take Pavel Datsyuk and Henrik Zetterberg over Malkin and Crosby any day. The funny thing is we have Datsyuk, Zetterberg, and Franzen signed for less combined than Malkin and Crosby.

Its not like we need Pav to shut down Malkin on his own. He'll just be able to help Lids and Raf and/or Kronner and Stuart. It's his puck possession that will help the most keeping the puck away from Malkin.

I'm sooooo glad that he'll be back.

Now.....everybody that is going to the game tomorrow.......LET'S ROCK THE HOUSE! We need the crowd to push our boys to victory!

If you cross reference how many points Malkin or Crosby got all season, versus their total ice time, Datsyuk actually scores more points per minute on the ice than either of them. Ie. He scores more often, in less time played. I don't have the stat, but someone posted it here before. In theory, give Datsyuk the kind of time Crosby or Malkin get, and he might well one day take the NHL scoring lead.

It'll be awesome if he's back. Not only is he one of our best scorers, and one of the best defensive forwards in the world, but the ice time he can play will:

1) Give Zetterberg some rest, and a little much needed bench time (The dude has got to be running out of gas somewhat)

2) Alleviate some of the pressure on the D, by handling it up front.

3) Strengthen both our PP and our PK, two areas we are sorely hurting

4) Bring back Hossa's dangler Ie. Maybe Hossa will start contributing.

5) Give us some more strength in the faceoff circle.

6) He's pretty much for sure going to get a few take-aways

7) Maybe he won't be at 100% recovered, but he'll sure as hell be at 100% rest. Something nobody else on the ice will have.

8) Morale. Morale. Morale. Datsyuk doesn't just play for the Wings. The Wings play for Datsyuk :-p

Edited June 6, 2009 by truebladearmy

[chuklz 15]

Obviously his foot is broken. He would have been back if this was just a bruise.

They are probably going to numb the crap out of it and he'll skate. We need him for game 6, the rest should just be show.

[Cern 0]

It'll be awesome if he's back. Not only is he one of our best scorers, and one of the best defensive forwards in the world, but the ice time he can play will:

1) Give Zetterberg some rest, and a little much needed bench time (The dude has got to be running out of gas somewhat)

2) Alleviate some of the pressure on the D, by handling it up front.

3) Strengthen both our PP and our PK, two areas we are sorely hurting

4) Bring back Hossa's dangler Ie. Maybe Hossa will start contributing.

5) Give us some more strength in the faceoff circle.

6) He's pretty much for sure going to get a few take-aways

7) Maybe he won't be at 100% recovered, but he'll sure as hell be at 100% rest. Something nobody else on the ice will have.

8) Morale. Morale. Morale. Datsyuk doesn't just play for the Wings. The Wings play for Datsyuk :-p

He's also inevitably going to put Pittsburgh's D into a bit of a hole. Even if he's not producing the Pens can't afford to ignore him, otherwise he's going to start capitalizing. Ultimately that means those bottom defensive pairings are going to be forced even further against the scoring threats on the 2nd-4th lines.

[Cern 0]

Obviously his foot is broken. He would have been back if this was just a bruise.

They are probably going to numb the crap out of it and he'll skate. We need him for game 6, the rest should just be show.

Bone bruises are painful as hell, it probably felt like it was broken but x-rays already confirmed last round his foot is intact.

[Paolino99 5]

Datsyuk is the best player in the world!!!

And also at 50% he can do very much for win this Cup..

[Paolino99 5]

Datsyuk is the best player in the world!!!

And also at 50% he can do very much for win this Cup..

[ifonlyicouldskate 11]

I would love to see pavel back in the line up. But the wings need to start playing as a team again, with or without Dats. You can not put all your hopes into 1 player.