Abdelkader

[Guest Shoreline]

My guess is he's the next Abdelkader. Hopefully he doesn't prove me wrong.

[ilmickeyli 40]

My guess is he's the next Abdelkader. Hopefully he doesn't prove me wrong.

[Wings_Dynasty 267]

Being McCarty would require fights (that you usually win) and balls and occasionally goal scoring.

Edited December 21, 2009 by Wings_Dynasty

[deetroit dario 27]

thinking back to his playoff appearances (and goals) last year, i can agree that he's mac-esque in that his goals were timely, clutch tallies.

also, i remember earlier this year when he was sent down in favor of brad may...after he came back, didn't he seem a little scrappier to you guys? as if he was playing a bit rougher to say "hey...i can give you what brad may gives you too!!".

okay, so he's not there yet...but i can definitely see him being that kind of role player in the years to come, and possibly even the best of all who play that role.

yeah...he's gonna be a pretty damn good aby. shades of d-mac, shades of may, but thoroughly aby...including a much greater scoring potential!

Edited December 21, 2009 by deetroit dario

[skacore 2]

everyone used to love comparing everyone to Dallas Drake when they were no where close to it.... now someone comes along who would be a legitimate replacement for him and no one even brings it up

[eva unit zero 271]

everyone used to love comparing everyone to Dallas Drake when they were no where close to it.... now someone comes along who would be a legitimate replacement for him and no one even brings it up

I compared Abby to Drake when he was drafted. People didn't realize I meant the in-his-prime Drake who was a top defensive forward and a solid point producer. Maybe because they thought Drake was always a 3rd line grinder due to lack of memory.

[eva unit zero 271]

I don't know about "much" better. I'd be shocked if he got 50+ points in a season. There hasn't been much to suggest he'll be a huge scorer.

Edit: Obviously outside of some decent AHL scoring. But as we've all seen, scoring in the AHL doesn't necessarily mean that much.

Abby will be a better scorer than Mac ever was, and he'll do it for longer. He's also a much better defensive player and more versatile. Very poor comparison.

[Guest Lidstromboli]

yeah you show em eva

[Third Man In 2,091]

I hope he's not the next McCarty.

He has the skill and potential to be much more than Mac was.

EDIT: Mac was a 10-15 goal, 30 point player average over his career and a 15-20 goal, 40-point player at his best. Abby should be much better than that.

40 pts is about what Flip and Cleary are averaging with the Wings. Do you think that Abby has that much or more offensive potential?

As Shoreline suggests, he's his own player. He'll hopefully develop into a scrappy and consistently good defencive player on the 3rd or 4th line that can chip in offensively from time to time. He fought some in the AHL, but he shouldn't be expected to be an enforcer. That being said, when a Toews offers you a fight, Abby's gotta take that opportunity.

Edit: grammar

Edited December 21, 2009 by Third Man In

[Miller Brew 0]

I don't know about the D-mac and Abby comparison.. but one thing is for certain, I wouldn't want to play against him. The kid is a f'ing spark plug that hits everything. I know people keep their head up (lesson learned to Kane) when Abs is out there.

I'm glad he's a Red Wing!

[GMRwings1983 8,803]

No.

McCarty was an enforcer, although most people think of him as a light heavy. In any case, he often hung in there with the top fighters in the league. I don't see Abdelkalder as being anything more than an occasional fighter. Not even a middleweight type. He wears a visor for crying out loud.

Skill wise, he can play both center and wing and has better hands than McCarty (hopefully). I see him being better in that department.

Basically, I don't think he and Mac have anything in common, except playing for the same franchise and the fact that they play 100% on every shift. However, their skills and abilities are completely different.

[Guest Crymson]

Okay if this was true it would be amazing and I doubt Abs will ever be the fighter Mac was but he will definitly be able to match him in the goal scoring department.

While watching the game today the commentator made a comment that Babcock was telling Abdelkader to fight more, this combined with May giving him some lessons had me thinking.

Does anyone think Abdelakder has what it takes to maybe be a solid fighter and point produer in the future or is he not that good with the fists?

I suspect Abdelkader will be the next Abdelkader. Let's stop comparing people to Wings of the past. Every player offers his own unique skillset, unless he's Tomas Kopecky.

[jollymania 162]

everyone used to love comparing everyone to Dallas Drake when they were no where close to it.... now someone comes along who would be a legitimate replacement for him and no one even brings it up

true, he's mcuh closer to drake, though I hope he can fight like drake

[Detroit # 1 Fan 2,204]

I suspect Abdelkader will be the next Abdelkader. Let's stop comparing people to Wings of the past. Every player offers his own unique skillset, unless he's Tomas Kopecky.

[newfy 695]

I suspect Abdelkader will be the next Abdelkader. Let's stop comparing people to Wings of the past. Every player offers his own unique skillset, unless he's Tomas Kopecky.

Obviously everyone offers their own unique skill set but to not compare people to other wings or other players is silly. Players all have roles and style of play and players can share this, kind of like how I thought Ab coould be a Mccarty type but now that I hear it I think the Drake comparison is alot closer to what I was looking for. With a bit more scoring then Drake.

[Marty Barry 230]

I'll take a combination of some timely scoring a la Mac, and timely game changing hits a la Vladdy. Of course it would be to a lesser degree.

[MSMarine 0]

It's really only been mentioned once in the thread (the timely goal scoring of Mac), but I think that Abs has a bit of the "it" factor with him...something you really can't teach or predict. The guy just comes up huge in big games.

I mean, damn...the National Championship winning goal with less than 20 seconds to play...two much needed insurance goals in the Stanley Cup Finals...all at the tender age of 22 or whatever the hell he is.

The guy is going to be a major part of this franchise for a very long time, and is going to be spectacular in the playoffs throughout is career is my only real prediction on his behalf. He also does seem to have a good nose for the net, he has just seemed to barely miss out on a least 5-8 other great chances this season. With a little more seasoning in the NHL I think you'll see him get better and better at finishing, and along with his future increases in TOI I wouldn't be shocked for him to be a 25/60 point player one day.

Wouldn't be shocked, at all. The guy is going to be somebody pretty special within the next 3-5 years.

[MSMarine 0]

It's not the best measurement by any means, but just too show a gross representation of how good Abs is at producing scoring chances and shots on goal, I picked a few guys and looked at their shots on goals and chances relative to their Time on Ice-

Bertuzzi 16:36 TOI a game, 109 SOG....TOI 597:52, Average Min played per SOG- 5.48

Cleary 18:22 TOI a game, 69 SOG.....TOI 551:15 Average Min played per SOG- 7.98

Helm 14:34 TOI a game, 62 SOG......TOI 432.39 Average Min played per SOG- 6.97

Maltby 9:59 TOI a game, 26 SOG......TOI 279.53 Average Min played per SOG- 11.45

Abdelkader 10:45 TOI a game, 56 SOG TOI 354.57 Average Min played per SOG- 6.33

Obviously, the lower the number the better. What this shows is that Abdelkader is significantly better at putting the puck on goal than Cleary and Maltby, moderately better at doing so than his peer Helm, and not far behind Bertuzzi despite not having the benefit of playing with a creator like Dats and the Power play ice time Todd gets.

These numbers aren't meant to suggest he is better than any of these players, only to indicate that he seems to have a nose for putting shots on goal. I think you will see him get better at finishing his chances as he gets more and more involved with the team and starts sharing the ice with some of the better players on a more consistent basis. And hell, scoring is only part of his game.