Our best players do not play like best players

[FedorovMan91 1]

Now, another loss to Avalanche. I am not being paniced or being a bandwagon with the terrible start but here is a thing.

Since the start of the last season, our PK and terrible defenses have been weak issues. I thought it would be fixed as the time passed but it was not. Now, it is the new season but nothing done with that.

Get worse, our best players do not play like best players in other teams' best players do. Everyone says Zetterberg's points went down because he minds to play two way style. That may be true but he does not look as great as in 07-08 season. Besides, Rafalski's defensive weakness look worse than the last season and Franzen is out, Holmstrom is already old. Datsyuk is the only guy who looks to play like the team's best player since the last season.

The numerical value of salary cap usually says how important the player is for the team. Be honest, even though Zetterberg looked to get a discount, I am really disappointed at his play from the last season to present. Rafalski, 6 million D on the chart, plays bad D for so many games..

I am not somewhat bashing the players but as we saw last season, time is moving more quickly than we think.

Sorry if you guys do not understand my English due to a foreigner but I think this issue is the main reason why the Wings play really bad over terrible PK and D.

[Carman 387]

It seems like they can't play a complete game, today they had a decent PK, decent goaltending(one bad goal, but i'll take 2 goals against for Howard), and decent defensive zone play; but couldn't score on the PP. They are what they are, they just don't have the talent they have in the past and they aren't built/used to playing tough gritty games. Datsyuk and Zetterberg aren't playing well, because they are really the only offensive threat the other team has to worry about now and are focusing all their effort on stopping them.

Really hope we can make some decent moves this season to sure up the future without changing the face of the team too much.

[egroen 384]

A decided lack of "clutch" play so far this year.

[brett 1,029]

i cant agree..homer is our leading goal scorer

datsyuks is just a beast

zetterberg is leading the team in points

rafalski is a plus( the only other plus is lids malts and draper) and leading our D in points.

nothing wrong with any of them its just theyre not playing as a team.

the Pk has def picked up from last year.

Edited October 25, 2009 by brett

[dat's sick 1,002]

We had enough chances these last few games to have 3 straight wins right now. Instead we have 3 straight losses. That's the way it goes sometimes, but hopefully the Wings luck will change at some point.

[Carman 387]

i cant agree..homer is our leading goal scorer

datsyuks is just a beast

zetterberg is leading the team in points

rafalski is a plus and leading our D in points.

nothing wrong with any of them its just theyre not playing as a team.

the Pk has def picked up from last year.

Is this post serious? I can't tell.

It's a good thing Homer is the leading scorer?

Is Datsyuk being a beast really the best thing for the team right now? I'd take him just being himself.

Zetterberg leading the team in points? He isn't even in the top 50 for the league haha.

Rafalski isn't in the top 30 for defensemen...

The team is 3-4-2.

The PK is 21st in the league...

They just aren't very good.

[ShanahanMan 473]

Now, another loss to Avalanche. I am not being paniced or being a bandwagon with the terrible start but here is a thing.

Since the start of the last season, our PK and terrible defenses have been weak issues. I thought it would be fixed as the time passed but it was not. Now, it is the new season but nothing done with that.

Get worse, our best players do not play like best players in other teams' best players do. Everyone says Zetterberg's points went down because he minds to play two way style. That may be true but he does not look as great as in 07-08 season. Besides, Rafalski's defensive weakness look worse than the last season and Franzen is out, Holmstrom is already old. Datsyuk is the only guy who looks to play like the team's best player since the last season.

The numerical value of salary cap usually says how important the player is for the team. Be honest, even though Zetterberg looked to get a discount, I am really disappointed at his play from the last season to present. Rafalski, 6 million D on the chart, plays bad D for so many games..

I am not somewhat bashing the players but as we saw last season, time is moving more quickly than we think.

Sorry if you guys do not understand my English due to a foreigner but I think this issue is the main reason why the Wings play really bad over terrible PK and D.

You said it in your title.

Datsyuk - 0 goals

Zetterberg - 1 goal

We're one of the few teams where our star players just aren't producing....

And where is all this "young talent" scoring everyone was going talking about in the off season. If I remember correctly, lots of people on here were going on and on about how Helm was gonna score at least 25, AND Leino and Abs were SHOE INS for 15 at least. Doesn't look like it so far....

Edited October 25, 2009 by ShanahanMan

[jollymania 162]

Datsyuk was all over the ice tonight and zetterberg wasn't far behind, Anderson made some good saves on them

[FedorovMan91 1]

You said it in your title.

And where is all this "young talent" scoring everyone was going talking about in the off season. If I remember correctly, lots of people on here were going on and on about how Helm was gonna score at least 25, AND Leino and Abs were SHOE INS for 15 at least. Doesn't look like it so far....

Everyone was overrating Leino and Helm. Helm is typically a future 3rd or 4th liner and the goal Leino made against the Caps last year just made him a super potential young player.

So many people here are in the concept every player has a red wings uniform can surely score 25 goals if they play with Zetterberg and Datsyuk, who are not performing to the level people expected

[Stiffy 0]

As for the twins, I am convinced any time they are struggling line combos and coaching are the source. These guys are simply too good. They don't sluff off, they don't lay back, they play their asses off every shift. When they aren't effective, something needs to be adjusted to help them. If we keep throwing them out there with something that isn't clicking, it's simply a waste.

They make anyone on their line a scorer and always have. Homer is scoring for one reason (well two, Dats and Hank). Put my second grade teacher out there and she would get some points with those guys. The point is, find someone who helps THEM score.

[ShanahanMan 473]

You wanna know something really crazy, Maltby is the team high +/- (higher than Lidstrom AND Rafalski) with +3!

Edited October 25, 2009 by ShanahanMan

[Detroit # 1 Fan 2,204]

I hope all those Swedish fans and players enjoyed that expirence, but it was absolutely the worse thing for the Wings, espicially the lose. It's only gotten worse, hopefully Mike has something in his bag, because he's gonna need it.

[Guest Four]

Our team looks way too lazy. There is no jump in a majority of the players and its starting to get boring to watch. If they lost, but atleast showed more heart, then it would be fun to watch >.> I dont want two versions of Toronto

[Drake_Marcus 890]

Everyone was overrating Leino and Helm. Helm is typically a future 3rd or 4th liner and the goal Leino made against the Caps last year just made him a super potential young player.

So many people here are in the concept every player has a red wings uniform can surely score 25 goals if they play with Zetterberg and Datsyuk, who are not performing to the level people expected

People aren't overrating Leino. He started the season as a Calder candiadate in most hockey writers' minds and he was a point per game player in the preseason. He started out very strong with 2 goals in his first 3 games, but he's slumped recently along with the rest of the team. If you watch the games he's still one of our best offensive players night in and night out.

Leino has one less assist than Filppula despite playing less than 13 mins a night. Other than that he's got the same offensive output as Val. Leino still has more goals than Dats and Z combined. He's hardly playing poorly in comparison to the rest of the team. People aren't high on Leino because he scored one good goal against the Caps. They're high on him because he had 5 goals and 4 assists in 13 NHL games last season. They're high on him because he lead the Griffs in scoring while only playing a bit more than 60 games. They're high on him because he lead the AHL in playoff scoring through the first two rounds of the playoffs and scored at over 2 points per game in the first round of their playoffs. They're high on him because he was among the best players on the team in the Preseason with a point per game output. They're high on him because he has great hands and impressive vision. They're high on him because they don't struggle to put 2 and 2 together.

Anyone who thought Helm would be an offensive force obviously doesn't understand hockey well anyway, so I don't put much stock in that.

[stuck in socal 56]

Interesting point brought up by the Avs announcers on the free center ice trial. They said how Dastyuk hasn't scored goals in a long time. No goals this year and one in the playoff run. He is having a hard time scoring but he is doing everything else correct.

[Guest Lidstromboli]

leino could probably score more if he didn't skate circles in the corners

[Guest micah]

Our best players are all under-performing.

Listrom, Datsyuk and Zetterberg are supposed to be world-classs. None of them have looked like it yet this year.

People who ***** about Lebda and Meech need to shut up. Lebda and Meech are hole-pluggers, they aren't expected to do anything besides eat up a bit of u]icetime and not give the game away. They mostly succeed. Dats, Zetts and Lids are supposed to dominate the game, that's their job, and that's why they are not paid like Lebda and Meech. Our stars are failing us. They need motivation, but I don't know where it should come from. A new fire-brathing Coach? A new team Captain who busts his ass every night (Cleary?) I dunno. Something has to be done to make our best players play like guys who deserve the fat checks and mad icetime they recieve.

[Echolalia 2,961]

They need to get back to basics. We all see the chances they make out there, the passes, the pressure, the shots, etc, but they're trying too hard and getting too fancy. We weren't good on rebounds or driving the net, and regardless of whether you have Datsyuk, Zetterberg, Malkin, Ovechkin, Hossa, or anyone else, unless you're shooting on Osgood or Howard, you can't score goals when you have no support at the crease.

[hokike 1]

Our best players are all under-performing.

Listrom, Datsyuk and Zetterberg are supposed to be world-classs. None of them have looked like it yet this year.

People who ***** about Lebda and Meech need to shut up. Lebda and Meech are hole-pluggers, they aren't expected to do anything besides eat up a bit of u]icetime and not give the game away. They mostly succeed. Dats, Zetts and Lids are supposed to dominate the game, that's their job, and that's why they are not paid like Lebda and Meech. Our stars are failing us. They need motivation, but I don't know where it should come from. A new fire-brathing Coach? A new team Captain who busts his ass every night (Cleary?) I dunno. Something has to be done to make our best players play like guys who deserve the fat checks and mad icetime they recieve.

correct. First line gets paid to bail out 3rd line( one of their many duties), not vice versa. What Lebda/Maltby bashers basically demand is : 3rd line, bail out first line! you do not? You suck!.

What is curious that bashers do not "throw away" Datsjuk and Babcock but they go at assistant coaches and 3rd liners, although HEAD coach and FIRST line have failed so far....

Edited October 25, 2009 by hokike

[VM1138 1,921]

The thing that worries me most is Datsyuk's sudden inability to score. I don't know what the problem is but it needs to be fixed immediately.

[NGKEIB 32]

Bertuzzi is also having problems... Apart from his 'goal' last night, how many times has he hit the post this season? At least 5, surely.

Lebda was alright tonight - Stewart's goal wasn't his fault, and while he did his usual of skating the puck into the opposition's zone, at least he made sure it got deep. Ericsson hasn't played well, and I think that he would benefit from playing with a better partner, but that throws everything into disarray.

I don't think Holmström is the problem with Zetterberg and Datsyuk, as he's been alright, and certainly looked better up there than Bertuzzi did. I'm sure that Cleary would do a good job, but he played very well with Draper and Bertuzzi, so I would keep him there. Leino, Filppula and Williams once again controlled the puck well, but continue to fail to convert. I have no real problems with the fourth line's play, as they cycled the puck and threw some hits. The bottom two lines need to keep working hard and getting scrappy goals, and the top two need to start doing the same - crash the net etc. - who cares if we have 50 shots on goal in a game? We saw this in the playoffs, if we're kept to the perimeter, we can outshoot our opponents 50-20, but still have fewer goals and fewer good scoring chances.