Niklas Kronwall

[RedWings 79]

I am the only one thinking this is by far our worst defenseman ??

The guy had HUGE turnovers... In the first period, he mishandle the puck, give it to Malkin and then fall on the ice living Malkin all alone !! he's just not gifted, he has terrible hands

+ he sucks also on the blue line on PK, he keeps losing the puck leading to big breakaways

+ his goon reputation (deserved or not) put him in the box a lot... considering how bad our PK is right now, that really hurts

He's playing for us for 4 seasons and not improving despite tons of ice time. What do you think ? Should we trade him ?

[OsGOD 3]

yup you are the only one

[Guest Shoreline]

He's made several notable mistakes in this series. THIS SERIES. Not surprisingly, that's all it takes for someone to be all knee-jerk and throw him under a bus. I swear this forum's official playoff mood is "bi-polar'.

[YoungGuns1340 1]

Actually, Kronwall was terrible defensively all regular season, and he hasn't been much better in the playoffs either. Hes simply right back to where he was during the regular season, except without producing any offense.

For the contract, we shouldn't trade him. Hes still a great deal, but ultimately hes a #2/3 Dman skill wise and a #5-6 brain wise.

And PS, to the OP, in terms of him being our worst defenseman defensively, hes pretty much tied with ROOKIE Ericsson right now for dead last on this team. Lebda has been better than Kronwall defensively since about halfway through the Chicago series.

Edited June 5, 2009 by YoungGuns1340

[Guest Shoreline]

So basically, the last handful of games makes him the worst defenseman of the team. Indeed. Laughable.

[Bad Vlad Forever 1]

yup you are the only one

[55fan 5,133]

He's made several notable mistakes in this series. THIS SERIES. Not surprisingly, that's all it takes for someone to be all knee-jerk and throw him under a bus. I swear this forum's official playoff mood is "bi-polar'.

We have members from northern Canada to Australia. We are, by definition, bi-polar.

Kronwall comes and goes. More than anything, he needs to be consistant. When he is on top of his game, he is killer. When he goofs up, he does it big; and even his small mistakes (like some of his penalties) seem to come at the worst times.

Let's hope the good Nik shows up for the rest of the series.

[Guest Shoreline]

We have members from northern Canada to Australia. We are, by definition, bi-polar.

Kronwall comes and goes. More than anything, he needs to be consistant. When he is on top of his game, he is killer. When he goofs up, he does it big; and even his small mistakes (like some of his penalties) seem to come at the worst times.

Let's hope the good Nik shows up for the rest of the series.

I hope so. Being paired with Stu hasn't exactly helped him either. I've seen handfuls of mistakes from his end too. It really comes down to either you take the good with the bad or you solely focus on one side. In this case, the Wings lost, therefore bad.

[tweekvp 0]

is lazy and he sucks.

Just kidding although I will say he was very disappointing last night. The s***ty ice and superball puck didn't help the wings much though either.

Hopefully he uses the bad game as motivation for game 5. I'ld like to see a big hit on Malkin, get into his head and he can be worthless.

[ben_usmc 253]

all he has to do to get back in our good graces is level either Malkin, or Crosby. Or end Cookes career, I'll take any of those. (very few players deserve their careers taken, Cooke is one)

[datsyukismyfriend 4]

kronwall hasn't turned into the player the wings had hoped. he shows some big upside, but he's proven many times over he's prone to poor decisions. this is the problem i've had with him all along. well, that and his injuries, but he hasn't been so injury prone lately. i don't think kronwall will ever think the game well enough to be a legitimate one or two d-man. he's an occasional big-hitter with good offensive upside. he doesn't have a great shot, and he's guaranteed to make costly mistakes eventually.

[GMRwings1983 8,803]

He needs to stop always going for that stupid move at the blueline, where he tries to fake people out, because the other team is on to him, and it has created several turnovers already against us. He needs to shoot more, be fancy less.

On defense, you never know what you'll get from him this season. Not nearly as consistent as he was last year for us.

[eva unit zero 271]

Kronwall didn't have a good night. Kronwall was arguably, outside of a couple small stretches of poor play, our second best defenseman during the regular season.

He is one of the 15 or 20 best defensemen in the league.

He has had, generally, a good playoffs. So the fact that he has not been as good against the Penguins, or in particular did not look good in Game 4, means he's terrible?

Personally, I think it shows your hockey knowledge (anger? bias? ignorance?) that you would rank Lebda above Kronwall. Kronwall has outplayed Lebda in at least 95% of games they have both played in. Lebda has played well this postseason, but based on his normal level of play I would rather have Derek Meech, Jakub Kindl, or someone else who isn't Lebda manning the blueline. I would have gladly let Lebda go instead of Quincey before this season.

/thread

[thedisappearer 291]

He is one of the 15 or 20 best defensemen in the league.

I like Kronner, but this is a ridiculous statement.

[SouthernWingsFan 854]

I am the only one thinking this is by far our worst defenseman ??

Perhaps. I don't think he is.

The guy had HUGE turnovers... In the first period, he mishandle the puck, give it to Malkin and then fall on the ice living Malkin all alone !! he's just not gifted, he has terrible hands

+ he sucks also on the blue line on PK, he keeps losing the puck leading to big breakaways

+ his goon reputation (deserved or not) put him in the box a lot... considering how bad our PK is right now, that really hurts

Last night he was bad, yes. So were plenty of other people though. Hockey's a team game, you win/lose as a team.

He's playing for us for 4 seasons and not improving despite tons of ice time. What do you think ? Should we trade him ?

Last year's playoffs tell differently. He was quite good then. No, we should not trade him.

[KronwallCRUNCH 5]

He hasn't been very good, but Stuart is pretty much costing us a goal per game lately. He's scoring too, but still terrible.

[datsyukismyfriend 4]

He is one of the 15 or 20 best defensemen in the league.

c'mon eva. he's not as bad as some might think, but this assessment is as off-base as your assessment of fischer; claiming he was a defenseman that would have won multiple norris trophies.

[jollymania 162]

did he not drop havlat? he will be in desperation tomorrow i see him nailing SOMEONE

[eva unit zero 271]

I like Kronner, but this is a ridiculous statement.

Is it?

Chicago has two defensemen arguably better than Kronwall. Nashville has one. St. Louis has none who are on Kronwall's level. Columbus also would rank Kronwall as their top blueliner.

This means that within the league's strongest division, Kronwall would rank anywhere from second (many would put him as Detroit's #2 defenseman, ahead of Rafalski) to sixth. If you assume that Lidstrom is the best defenseman in the world, and that Kronwall would rank top-five in any other division, the average position there would be third. There are six divisions; if he would, on the average, be the third-best defenseman in a division, that would rank him about eighteenth in the league. If you assume his position to be anywhere from 2-6 in his division, then his average position would be fourth and he would rank about 24th in the league if you assume that same position in all divisions. Still does not make "top 15 or 20" a ridiculous statement given the strength of the division he plays in.

[Rikadyn 16]

yup you are the only one

[eva unit zero 271]

c'mon eva. he's not as bad as some might think, but this assessment is as off-base as your assessment of fischer; claiming he was a defenseman that would have won multiple norris trophies.

Fischer, if he had not been forced to retire and were still playing, would be frightening. Chara is nominated for the Norris because he is a good, physical defensive defenseman who also puts up some points. He has a hard but inaccurate shot and is merely a decent playmaker. Chara is also not a great skater.

Fischer was a better playmaker and had a very heavy (107 mph) shot that was more accurate then than Chara's is now. He was faster than Lebda and played a solid defensive game. He was a good playmaker. You don't think he would have improved these facets of his game over the past few years to the point where he might be a top defenseman? He was into what was looking to be a monster season when he had his collapse in 05-06. He was playing very good defense and solid offense, and was looking like he was really having a breakout year.

Let's see... wicked fast, offensively skilled, defensively skilled, big and strong and very physical...you don't see a potential Norris contender in that?

[Red Crazy 201]

I think that Kronwall needs to start being much smarter as a hockey player. He gives up the puck much to easy, he only hits when he wants to, and always seems to take a back breaking penalty. I like Kronner but I am too getting sick of his play overall.

Hey why not Souray for Kronwall and Sammy? I guess we all can dream.

[eva unit zero 271]

I think that Kronwall needs to start being much smarter as a hockey player. He gives up the puck much to easy, he only hits when he wants to, and always seems to take a back breaking penalty. I like Kronner but I am too getting sick of his play overall.

Hey why not Souray for Kronwall and Sammy? I guess we all can dream.

Because Kronwall is better, younger, and cheaper than Souray?

[thedisappearer 291]

Is it?

Chicago has two defensemen arguably better than Kronwall. Nashville has one. St. Louis has none who are on Kronwall's level. Columbus also would rank Kronwall as their top blueliner.

This means that within the league's strongest division, Kronwall would rank anywhere from second (many would put him as Detroit's #2 defenseman, ahead of Rafalski) to sixth. If you assume that Lidstrom is the best defenseman in the world, and that Kronwall would rank top-five in any other division, the average position there would be third. There are six divisions; if he would, on the average, be the third-best defenseman in a division, that would rank him about eighteenth in the league. If you assume his position to be anywhere from 2-6 in his division, then his average position would be fourth and he would rank about 24th in the league if you assume that same position in all divisions. Still does not make "top 15 or 20" a ridiculous statement given the strength of the division he plays in.

Ypu picked a weak defensive division to poach.

He's not even third on our team, and I'd vote him at fourth behind Stuart. But anyway. Top 20... that means on average he's a number one defensman. I don;t think he's a first line d-man, let alone number one... and I love the guy.

But really. Top 20? You think we have three of the top 20 d-men in Detroit, or did Rafs get ignored?

[RedWings 79]

Well, thanks for you comments...

I have no issue on Lebda, cause he always step up in big games. He also do not play against top guys and earns nothing, so i don't have any issue with him.

But Kronner makes more than $3m and has tons of ice time, including in special teams. Problem: He's really not a smart guy. In a s***ty team, Kronwall would have terrible stats, because in Detroit players around are making up from his plays.

No way he's in the league Top 20 he would be a second-tier guy everywhere.

Detroit organization makes players look better.

I have much more hope with Ericsson, cause i saw him doing some smart plays in game 3 that Kronwall will arguably never do in his whole career. If he would play anywhere else than in Detroit, most people on these boards would bash him saying he's a dumb goon !

Edited June 6, 2009 by RedWings