NHL'S Top 10 most likely breakout players

[titanium2 867]

I think he has shown many glimpses of what he can do... much like two other Europeans who once showed flashes of brilliance.

Or this pass. I think I've posted this video like 5 times already. It just screams, "I've been playing on a team with Pavel Datsyuk."

[Drake_Marcus 890]

As I pointed out in another thread, Filppula has received more than a fair shake on the power play and done very little with it.

Even without bringing in another free agent, I would not be surprised if Leino and Cleary end up ahead of Filppula for power play minutes.

My doubts with Filppula come from watching him, not from any sort of a grudge - I like him a lot.

But he is not a goal scorer - and rarely puts the puck where he wants it when carrying it at speed.

And he is not much of a playmaker - just take a look at the playoffs where he led the team in assists: Most of those assists were secondary, passing to Hudler or a defenseman who then set up the goal scorer; or from simply give-and-gos to Franzen and Hossa who then did their thing.

So I have doubts that Filppula will ever amount to what many of you think he can, offensively - but I am certainly rooting for him to prove me wrong.

^This.

I can't believe people here think he'll get 50-65 points next season. Amazing. People obviously don't understand how offensively talented you have to be to get that many points in the NHL. Hudler's got some of the best hands on the team and arguably the best shot. 57 points was a great run for Hudler. Filppula's hands aren't half of what Hudlers are. Sorry guys-- unless he suddenly becomes an offensive force thinking he'll easily break 50 pts is insane.

Filppula's career upper limit looks to be 60 pts.

Filppula isn't Datsyuk junior. Filppula's an excellent defensive forward with great face-off skill, versitility, the ability to hold onto the puck under pressure and above average offensive skill. He's not a superstar waiting to happen guys... he's a great 2nd line centre to have on the bench, but not a budding superstar.

[Drake_Marcus 890]

I think he has shown many glimpses of what he can do... much like two other Europeans who once showed flashes of brilliance.

Datsyuk and Zetterberg showed more offensive brilliance in their first years than Filppula has at any point in the last 3.

There's a huge difference between showing flashes of brilliance and making a handful of great plays. Lebda has shown some flashes of offensive greatness with the odd end to end rush that impresses everyone. Is he an awesome offensive force in the making? No.

[Guest EZBAKETHAGANGSTA]

IIRC he was not moved up to the 2nd line until the Chicago series, when he centered Franzen and Hossa for a couple of games, then he stepped into Datsyuk's spot while he was out of the lineup.

Either way, it was no more than 50/50 top 6 time in the playoffs.

Correct me if im wrong, but I recall Fil assisting on one of Hossa's goals in game 4 rd 2.

[Guest EZBAKETHAGANGSTA]

^This.

I can't believe people here think he'll get 50-65 points next season. Amazing. People obviously don't understand how offensively talented you have to be to get that many points in the NHL. Hudler's got some of the best hands on the team and arguably the best shot. 57 points was a great run for Hudler. Filppula's hands aren't half of what Hudlers are. Sorry guys-- unless he suddenly becomes an offensive force thinking he'll easily break 50 pts is insane.

Filppula's career upper limit looks to be 60 pts.

Filppula isn't Datsyuk junior. Filppula's an excellent defensive forward with great face-off skill, versitility, the ability to hold onto the puck under pressure and above average offensive skill. He's not a superstar waiting to happen guys... he's a great 2nd line centre to have on the bench, but not a budding superstar.

While I agree people tend to overrate Val to no end on this site, 60 pts isn't that unreasanoable, seeing as he is entering his prime. I doubt he'll ever break 70 and expect 45-55, but I would not s*** a brick if he got 60 pts, especailyl since he'll be getting a ton of minutes given our lack of depth

[Z and D for the C 712]

Lebda has shown some flashes of offensive greatness with the odd end to end rush that impresses everyone. Is he an awesome offensive force in the making? No.

LOL Lebda's offensive rushes are trash, I don't ever remember seeing anything he does result in a chance let alone a goal. It doesn't take much offensive panache to skate up the left boards and skate behind the net, the only thing he ever does. Usually the only result is the puck coming back into our zone 5 seconds later.

Will Flip ever be a Datsyuk or Zetterberg, probably not, but I think he'll be good for 70 points eventually.

[Guest Crymson]

I'll be shocked if he breaks 50 points.

You're always so positive! No, wait---you're a defensive pessimist to the core.

[gcom007 1,465]

You're always so positive! No, wait---you're a defensive pessimist to the core.

Ha. Since you know me so well. I like Flip. I'm positive about Flip.

I'm also not into absurd expectations.

[gcom007 1,465]

Or this pass. I think I've posted this video like 5 times already. It just screams, "I've been playing on a team with Pavel Datsyuk."

Edited August 1, 2009 by gcom007

[Detroit # 1 Fan 2,204]

Or this pass. I think I've posted this video like 5 times already. It just screams, "I've been playing on a team with Pavel Datsyuk."

It does, and good for Flip, I hope he comes through. But theres a certain guy who's been learning from another guy on the team. If next season really is Homers last, he can be had for cheap, brings toughness, and is great at tipping and in and around the net, video doesnt lie.

http://www.nhl.tv/team/console.jsp?hlp=8465992&fr=false

(Bring Downs Back!!!!!! )

[Drake_Marcus 890]

LOL Lebda's offensive rushes are trash, I don't ever remember seeing anything he does result in a chance let alone a goal. It doesn't take much offensive panache to skate up the left boards and skate behind the net, the only thing he ever does. Usually the only result is the puck coming back into our zone 5 seconds later.

Will Flip ever be a Datsyuk or Zetterberg, probably not, but I think he'll be good for 70 points eventually.

How long have you been watching the Wings? Lebda has about one end-to-end goal a season.

70 points? Are you aware how hard that is to achieve? Filppula doesn't have the hands to get 70pts. He could play on a line with Zetterberg and Datsyuk and he wouldn't hit that number (see: Holmstrom).

Sorry man. And Filppula- prove me wrong man. Nothing would make me happier than being wrong about Filppula's upper point limit. Preferably have this break-out season sometime while you're still making 3 mil a season.

[Drake_Marcus 890]

Ha. Since you know me so well. I like Flip. I'm positive about Flip.

I'm also not into absurd expectations.

This.

[Z and D for the C 712]

How long have you been watching the Wings? Lebda has about one end-to-end goal a season.

Again, LOL. Looking at his goal highlgihts you have to go back more than 2 years (3/29/2007) for him to score a goal on one of his (in)famous rushes. Even if he does get one a season, they're so useless.

And yeah, we've all heard the hands thing before. And it's been de-bunked. Flip has great hands. Look at the videos. Or should we just trust your word over actual video evidence?

[Drake_Marcus 890]

Again, LOL. Looking at his goal highlgihts you have to go back more than 2 years (3/29/2007) for him to score a goal on one of his (in)famous rushes. Even if he does get one a season, they're so useless.

And yeah, we've all heard the hands thing before. And it's been de-bunked. Flip has great hands. Look at the videos. Or should we just trust your word over actual video evidence?

You seem to have completely missed my point with Lebda.

And as for Filppula's hands-- well guess what? McCarty has a highlight reel Cup winning goal. Does that mean he has great hands? I have video evidence.

Scoring a couple of highlight goals doesn't suddenly make you an offensive dynamo. You seem to be forgetting how many times Filppula holds the puck for to long, makes a s***ty shot, or fails to get his pass in tight. He's got above average hands. He doesn't have "great hands".

If he had great hands he'd have more to show for his 3 seasons in the NHL than a 40 pt maxout when a player who gets 5 minutes less a night, Hudler, has out paced him by at least 25% at every step.

Edit:

I've consistently rated Filppula as a 2nd line centre who plays a strong all-around game. Go find me a scouting report that disagrees with me and sides with your speculation that he has 70pt potential (and thus is capable of being a 1st line centre who scores at a near point per game pace). 39 forwards scored 70 or more points last season. And you think Filppula's offensively talented to be one of those guys? Only 17 centres scored 70 or more points last season. You think Filppula's good enough to be one of the top 20 centres in the league!?! The 30th centre in scoring put 57 pts up, far below your expectations for Filppula this season. Thus we see that you believe Filppula will walk in this season and be good enough to be a #1 centre. Oh, and guess who tied for 30th place in centres? Hudler.

Edited August 1, 2009 by Drake_Marcus

[thedatsyukian 7]

You seem to have completely missed my point with Lebda.

And as for Filppula's hands-- well guess what? McCarty has a highlight reel Cup winning goal. Does that mean he has great hands? I have video evidence.

Scoring a couple of highlight goals doesn't suddenly make you an offensive dynamo. You seem to be forgetting how many times Filppula holds the puck for to long, makes a s***ty shot, or fails to get his pass in tight. He's got above average hands. He doesn't have "great hands".

If he had great hands he'd have more to show for his 3 seasons in the NHL than a 40 pt maxout when a player who gets 5 minutes less a night, Hudler, has out paced him by at least 25% at every step.

Pretty much spot on.

[numberthirtynine 0]

Hands don't determine points, that's just silly. Fil's hands are fine, we're just spoiled. If hands determined points why the f*** does Jussi Jokinen score 50 points a season? Same with Mike Ribeiro. What about Dan Cleary, who has hands like lead bowling balls but scores in the neighborhood of those two guys anyway?

If we were an all out offensive team like most teams in this league, and told Fil to just skate up and score at any cost, don't you think he'd score a little more than 40 points? He's a defensively responsible player and whether or not you agree on how well he does, he's still trying to be one. That takes away points, and so does a lack of real power play time.

We're so f***in unreasonable that sometimes I can't take reading some of the s*** that passes for an opinion here. We want defensively responsible forwards who score a s***load of points, and we want it every damn game or we hate them. Fil's obviously worth something if we have these kind of expectations for him but man, let's give him some decent time on the ice and see what he does.

Edited August 1, 2009 by numberthirtynine

[Drake_Marcus 890]

Hands don't determine points, that's just silly. Fil's hands are fine, we're just spoiled. If hands determined points why the f*** does Jussi Jokinen score 50 points a season? Same with Mike Ribeiro. What about Dan Cleary, who has hands like lead bowling balls but scores in the neighborhood of those two guys anyway?

If we were an all out offensive team like most teams in this league, and told Fil to just skate up and score at any cost, don't you think he'd score a little more than 40 points? He's a defensively responsible player and whether or not you agree on how well he does, he's still trying to be one. That takes away points, and so does a lack of real power play time.

We're so f***in unreasonable that sometimes I can't take reading some of the s*** that passes for an opinion here. We want defensively responsible forwards who score a s***load of points, and we want it every damn game or we hate them. Fil's obviously worth something if we have these kind of expectations for him but man, let's give him some decent time on the ice and see what he does.

Interesting that with 16:06 mins per game Filppula saw the 6th most time on ice among Red Wings forwards last season. Now that he's a member of the top six (ignoring the fact that he already was last season and parts of the season before when Z was injured) we should expect his time on ice to be in the top six.

Yeah, he's been screwed with his ice time. I mean being only the 6th most used forward in your third year? Poor guy.

All his defensive responsibility is weighing him down- he should throw all caution to the wind like the rest of the Red Wings, but alas he's the only guy asked to play a strong two way game and his point totals are suffering for it. No way that has to do with the fact that he's just not an elite offensive player.

EDIT: Sorry to sound like a dick here, but I find it just a little silly that I'm the one being told his expectations are skewed.

Edited August 1, 2009 by Drake_Marcus

[numberthirtynine 0]

Interesting that with 16:06 mins per game Filppula saw the 6th most time on ice among Red Wings forwards last season. Now that he's a member of the top six (ignoring the fact that he already was last season and parts of the season before when Z was injured) we should expect his time on ice to be in the top six.

Yeah, he's been screwed with his ice time. I mean being only the 6th most used forward in your third year? Poor guy.

All his defensive responsibility is weighing him down- he should throw all caution to the wind like the rest of the Red Wings, but alas he's the only guy asked to play a strong two way game and his point totals are suffering for it. No way that has to do with the fact that he's just not an elite offensive player.

EDIT: Sorry to sound like a dick here, but I find it just a little silly that I'm the one being told his expectations are skewed.

I just think you are too damn full of yourself to see your expectations are skewed. Ur a condescending knowitall Drake.

He`s sixth among forwards in ice time and ends up sixth among forwards in points. Well holy f***. And he played about as much on the powerplay as Kopy for f***s sake. That right there will kill point totals to the point where no one should ***** about 40. Also let us not forget he killed penalties more often than Pavel Datstuk and was right up there with Hank and Drapes. Hell, more time than Hank. And look at his linemates. So lets sum this up. He is a young kid who arguably is just coming into his own, trying to play defense while even strenth, never sees the power play, while trying to score at the same time, while spending almsot two of those sixteen minutes on the PK...with no consistent linemates. Im not sure what the hell you were expecting. 40 points is about indicative only of his circumstances and considering, he did pretty well actually. No wonder the guy blew up in the playoffs like he did.

Not all players are Pavel Datsyuk and can score and play defense simultaneously. Well s***, no one else is Pavs. Who else gets Selke nods while also being up for the Hart? Playing too much D even hurt Hank's totals this season. Fact is more often than not it'll hurt a player. Far more players will have lower point totals while being asked to play D than players who won`t. Look no further than our own beloved Steve Yzerman whoj still scored well but we could all see how it lowered his totals.

You`re pissing on him for not being able to score more than 40 points while playing D but are treating him like someone who is only able to score 40 anyway and it`s contradictory. Maybe if he played a Crosby or Ovechkin style of nothing but offense, he`d score 60 and I`m not sure many people would be complaining then. Fil is so quietly valuable to this team and so underappreciated. Just a shame around here when we get bored, we take sides rather than be objective. Which is funny, considering we are all so damn obsessed with not appearing biased that we dont even truly speak our minds.

[Drake_Marcus 890]

I just think you are too damn full of yourself to see your expectations are skewed. Ur a condescending knowitall Drake.

He`s sixth among forwards in ice time and ends up sixth among forwards in points. Well holy f***. And he played about as much on the powerplay as Kopy for f***s sake. That right there will kill point totals to the point where no one should ***** about 40. Also let us not forget he killed penalties more often than Pavel Datstuk and was right up there with Hank and Drapes. Hell, more time than Hank. And look at his linemates. So lets sum this up. He is a young kid who arguably is just coming into his own, trying to play defense while even strenth, never sees the power play, while trying to score at the same time, while spending almsot two of those sixteen minutes on the PK...with no consistent linemates. Im not sure what the hell you were expecting. 40 points is about indicative only of his circumstances and considering, he did pretty well actually. No wonder the guy blew up in the playoffs like he did.

Not all players are Pavel Datsyuk and can score and play defense simultaneously. Well s***, no one else is Pavs. Who else gets Selke nods while also being up for the Hart? Playing too much D even hurt Hank's totals this season. Fact is more often than not it'll hurt a player. Far more players will have lower point totals while being asked to play D than players who won`t. Look no further than our own beloved Steve Yzerman whoj still scored well but we could all see how it lowered his totals.

You`re pissing on him for not being able to score more than 40 points while playing D but are treating him like someone who is only able to score 40 anyway and it`s contradictory. Maybe if he played a Crosby or Ovechkin style of nothing but offense, he`d score 60 and I`m not sure many people would be complaining then. Fil is so quietly valuable to this team and so underappreciated. Just a shame around here when we get bored, we take sides rather than be objective. Which is funny, considering we are all so damn obsessed with not appearing biased that we dont even truly speak our minds.

No he didn't. Sammuelsson was sixth. Cleary was seventh and Filppula was eighth. In the case of ties the player is ranked by number of goals.

Interesting that in your cute little rant you completely missed my posts in this ******* thread.

Filppula isn't Datsyuk junior. Filppula's an excellent defensive forward with great face-off skill, versitility, the ability to hold onto the puck under pressure and above average offensive skill. He's not a superstar waiting to happen guys... he's a great 2nd line centre to have on the bench, but not a budding superstar.

Oh yeah, I'm totally bitching about Filppula not scoring enough. I'm not appreciating him. Or maybe I'm just trying to get people on here to have realistic expectations of Filppula. Then you mossy on in and call me to task for not appreciating Filppula even though I've already spelled out exactly what you think I don't appreciate him for.

[egroen 384]

Many seem to feel Flip will just be handed PP time and his numbers will automatically start matching Hudler's production (or more) "if he only gets the PP time" -- which is completely ignoring that he has gotten plenty of power play time over the past 3 years -- he just has not done much with it! Why would that all of a sudden change?

Even 3 years ago, Filppula was getting 47 seconds a game on the PP where he managed to score all of 0 points all season long.

Just looking back at both players for the past two years, it is easy to see that one is obviously better suited for it than the other:

2008: Filppula 1:49 per game and 8 PPP -- Hudler 2:41 per game and 15 PPP

2009: Filppula :47 per game and 6 PPP -- Hudler 3:01 per game and 28 PPP

To summarize:

Hudler scores a point for every 10:50 minutes of PP time he sees

Filppula scores a point for every 14:45 minutes of PP time he sees

I have a feeling Flip will not see his PP time go up that much, as he just is not that good at it, and that Leino, Cleary or a free agent will be the beneficiary of the increased power play minutes available next year (and Datsyuk, Zetterberg, Franzen and Holmstrom will also see more time).

Edited August 1, 2009 by egroen

[egroen 384]

You`re pissing on him for not being able to score more than 40 points while playing D but are treating him like someone who is only able to score 40 anyway and it`s contradictory. Maybe if he played a Crosby or Ovechkin style of nothing but offense, he`d score 60 and I`m not sure many people would be complaining then. Fil is so quietly valuable to this team and so underappreciated. Just a shame around here when we get bored, we take sides rather than be objective. Which is funny, considering we are all so damn obsessed with not appearing biased that we dont even truly speak our minds.

Filppula is very valuable - and there is definitely a good chance he continues to improve, but it seems many just have unrealistic expactations of him. We see "sparks of brilliance" from him, sure - just like we would see sparks of brilliance from anyone who makes it to the NHL, but we were seeing "sparks of brilliance" out of Zetterberg and Datsyuk every single shift at that age.

Brett Hull announced to the media that Datsyuk would one day be the best player in the league Datsyuk's rookie year.

Lidstrom called Zetterberg the "next Yzerman" before he ever arrived to the NHL.

Edited August 1, 2009 by egroen

[Drake_Marcus 890]

Filppula is very valuable - and there is definitely a good chance he continues to improve, but it seems many just have unrealistic expactations of him. We see "sparks of brilliance" from him, sure - just like we would see sparks of brilliance from anyone who makes it to the NHL, but we were seeing "sparks of brilliance" out of Zetterberg and Datsyuk every single shift at that age.

Brett Hull announced to the media that Datsyuk would one day be the best player in the league Datsyuk's rookie year.

Lidstrom called Zetterberg the "next Yzerman" before he ever arrived to the NHL.

Well said.

[titanium2 867]

I expect Filppula to one day without a doubt be one of the best second line fixtures in the league. I don't know - Is that unrealistic?

[gcom007 1,465]

Interesting that with 16:06 mins per game Filppula saw the 6th most time on ice among Red Wings forwards last season. Now that he's a member of the top six (ignoring the fact that he already was last season and parts of the season before when Z was injured) we should expect his time on ice to be in the top six.

Yeah, he's been screwed with his ice time. I mean being only the 6th most used forward in your third year? Poor guy.

All his defensive responsibility is weighing him down- he should throw all caution to the wind like the rest of the Red Wings, but alas he's the only guy asked to play a strong two way game and his point totals are suffering for it. No way that has to do with the fact that he's just not an elite offensive player.

EDIT: Sorry to sound like a dick here, but I find it just a little silly that I'm the one being told his expectations are skewed.

This is what kills me every day on here. I just look at the screen and shake my head a little...

[gcom007 1,465]

No he didn't. Sammuelsson was sixth. Cleary was seventh and Filppula was eighth. In the case of ties the player is ranked by number of goals.

Interesting that in your cute little rant you completely missed my posts in this ******* thread.

Oh yeah, I'm totally bitching about Filppula not scoring enough. I'm not appreciating him. Or maybe I'm just trying to get people on here to have realistic expectations of Filppula. Then you mossy on in and call me to task for not appreciating Filppula even though I've already spelled out exactly what you think I don't appreciate him for.

DING DING DING DING DING DING DING!!!!!!!!!!

Nah, actually, just kidding. Didn't you get the memo? If you don't think all our guys are Hart-trophy candidates and we are on pace to sweep the Cup every year, then you're just a reckless, idiotic pessimist spewing negativity.