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Jonathan Ericsson Watch Thread

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Giveaway machine and uses none of his 6'5" 220 lb. frame that he has. I am not getting scientific with it but I believe he isn't coming back next year and hasn't played in anyway to deserve a new contract. Fights on occasion and isn't bad which proves his strength he can have, but just simply doesn't use. I am not scapegoating, harold, I have just had it with him really.

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I am not one for hyperbolic statements but he just sucks really. It's tough because we saw his potential in '09 and man, I was excited. He has regressed big time since and is just not worth much out there. I'm seeing it for what it is and not what it could be.

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I am not one for hyperbolic statements but he just sucks really. It's tough because we saw his potential in '09 and man, I was excited. He has regressed big time since and is just not worth much out there. I'm seeing it for what it is and not what it could be.

If were talking about last season, I agree. He was awful. He took a major step backward last season, and now some steps forward, but is not where I had hoped.

He kills penalties, plays a lot of minutes with mostly solid defense. It's just then he makes this incredibly stupid decision, like the backhand pass, that overshadows his good play. And as I mentioned, he seems to do it more as the game wears on. So I worry about his focus and hockey IQ.

Right now I think he's an acceptable bottom pairing guy. He doesn't look much different than Salei out there, who is a 13 year veteran and an okay bottom pairing d-man. Actually Ericsson reminds me of Lilja when he first got to Detroit. Decent on the PK, but not physical enough, and can ruin a solid performance with an unbelievably stupid play.

Much like Lilja, I don't know what Babs needs to get it through his skull, but Ericsson plays better when he plays simple. Lidstrom didn't win 6 Norris trophies by being flashy. He just makes the right, simple play almost every time. I'd love for Ericsson to use his size and start punishing guys, but even if he can just consistently play a simple game, he can be a solid 4-6 Dman.

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Guest Crymson

He has been awful.

If this is how he plays in a contract year, there isn't much hope. It's a shame, because he was very solid for a stretch early on.

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If were talking about last season, I agree. He was awful. He took a major step backward last season, and now some steps forward, but is not where I had hoped.

He kills penalties, plays a lot of minutes with mostly solid defense. It's just then he makes this incredibly stupid decision, like the backhand pass, that overshadows his good play. And as I mentioned, he seems to do it more as the game wears on. So I worry about his focus and hockey IQ.

Right now I think he's an acceptable bottom pairing guy. He doesn't look much different than Salei out there, who is a 13 year veteran and an okay bottom pairing d-man. Actually Ericsson reminds me of Lilja when he first got to Detroit. Decent on the PK, but not physical enough, and can ruin a solid performance with an unbelievably stupid play.

Much like Lilja, I don't know what Babs needs to get it through his skull, but Ericsson plays better when he plays simple. Lidstrom didn't win 6 Norris trophies by being flashy. He just makes the right, simple play almost every time. I'd love for Ericsson to use his size and start punishing guys, but even if he can just consistently play a simple game, he can be a solid 4-6 Dman.

I have to agree with you on all these points. I think his biggest issue is focus. His hockey IQ isn't bad offensively but he doesn't always see the play develop in his own end and it bites him in the ass. Sometimes it's obvious he's a converted forward.

People here always rag on the 3rd pairing defensemen because hey-- they're like sooooo bad compared to Lidstrom. But Lidstrom makes six times more money than them for a reason!

E's been a solid 3rd pairing guy who's been playing outside his comfort zone since Rafalski's been injured. Instead of playing bottom pairing minutes E's been playing top 4 mins (last night he was 3rd amoung defensemen in mins played) and his discomfort doing so really shows.

Ericsson started the season really strong and managed to contribute offensively. As I've always said-- he starts to doubt himself and lose confidence when he isn't putting points up. We're seeing this all over again. One place he was very effective in Grand Rapids is the PP. Hell, he was strong on the PP in the 09 playoffs too. Give Ericsson some power play time instead of Kindl and let Kindl get some NHL PK experience. It definitely wouldn't hurt Kindl's development to let him play some time on the PK. It's not like he's producing on the PP right now.

The fact remains that Ericsson's logging a ton of even strength time on ice. He's averaging 17:08 mins/game of even strength ice time. That's third on the team behind Stewart (17:13) and Kronwall (17:20). Last year E was 6th in even strength time on ice among the defense (14:37 min/game). Overall he's playing 2 mins more per game on average. He's also second among the defense for +/- with a +10 so he can't be doing that terrible compared to last year. And he still has fewer give aways than Rafalski and Kronwall. :lol:

People need to accept that our 3rd pairing isn't going to be a pair of all-star defensemen. You get what you pay for.

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I honestly dont think he has been that bad, hes been much better this year than last ye, if he was more physical and used his size he wouldnt be all that bad. I dont know how all this hate is on Ericsson when we have kindl, kindl is worse than ******* lebda for gods sake. Now last year i think E was awful but hes been better, or im jusst paying attention to how s***ty kindl is and therefor dont notice his s***tiness?

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I honestly dont think he has been that bad, hes been much better this year than last ye, if he was more physical and used his size he wouldnt be all that bad. I dont know how all this hate is on Ericsson when we have kindl, kindl is worse than ******* lebda for gods sake. Now last year i think E was awful but hes been better, or im jusst paying attention to how s***ty kindl is and therefor dont notice his s***tiness?

It's maybe a little bit of that. :P

But like I said, Hudler's been playing well, so the whipping boy has shifted to Howard and Ericsson. Once it gets rolling, it snowballs.

E will make one awful turnover and that's how people remember him playing all game.

And I think Kindl's getting too much love because of all the Ericsson hate, but I still wouldn't call him worse than Lebda, especially considering his inexperience. Keep in mind Lebda's the dude who coudln't hold the bottom pairing spot in friggin Toronto!

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Guest Heaten

I'm not understanding all the Ericsson hate. Ericsson has been Red Wings 3rd or 4th best defenseman this year. Salei, Kindl and even Kronwall have been bad.... hell even Ralfi has been bad.

Ericsson is a guy that I want on the ice to defend against a 4-on-6 during the dying minute of a 2-1 game if Lidstrom or Stuart are in the box.

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I really don't get the pissing and moaning about Ericsson, The guy never played defense until he was 17 yrs old. Fischer and Kronwall both had tons of s*** plays their first few years. Rafalski is the guy I wish would get his head out of his ass and whenever I think about what he is getting paid I GET ILL. Another f***in year at 6 MILLION is unbelievable. Where the hell was Kenny's head when he came up with that nightmare.

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They all have bad games and here I am busting Ericsson's chops again but....

He was garbage again last night. No look passes in your own zone in front of the goalie and tripping and knocking the goalie down?

When Salei comes back and barring Raf's health, there is no reason why he shouldn't be sat for a little. Plain and simple. Please attempt to defend him now because I am quite interested to see this.

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They all have bad games and here I am busting Ericsson's chops again but....

He was garbage again last night. No look passes in your own zone in front of the goalie and tripping and knocking the goalie down?

When Salei comes back and barring Raf's health, there is no reason why he shouldn't be sat for a little. Plain and simple. Please attempt to defend him now because I am quite interested to see this.

I missed the game last night so I can't comment on how he played last night, but he was that bad again eh? I think it's time for him to sit in the press box for a few games and hope that might help him out in the long run

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They all have bad games and here I am busting Ericsson's chops again but....

He was garbage again last night. No look passes in your own zone in front of the goalie and tripping and knocking the goalie down?

When Salei comes back and barring Raf's health, there is no reason why he shouldn't be sat for a little. Plain and simple. Please attempt to defend him now because I am quite interested to see this.

His one giveaway last night looked so ridiculously ugly that Kenny might want to consider charging an entrance fee for anybody watching on TV. Mistakes like those make it really difficult to acknowledge any good things he does out there. So we gotta be careful when judging him.

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Guest stinky fish taco

he's terrible. i can't believe there are people actually suggesting he gets a multi-year deal at 1.5-2mil /yr from the wings next year. what? why? god, why?

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"We have a kid named Ericsson, and I can't believe we don't dress him. I think he's going to be a stud in the league." — Red Wings head coach Mike Babcock (May 2008, USA Today) ... "I think he has a chance to have a real impact in the league. He's a bona fide NHL defenseman ... He's going to be here for 15 years."

—Mike Babcock

:ph34r:

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Kindl had just as many terrible giveaways in our zone as Ericsson, if not more.

esteef

Doesn't make it anymore acceptable for an experienced guy who should be on his way to peaking not descending in his career to keep it up. It's everyone's tired excuse to compare the 2. Truth hurts a lot of people apparently.

Hank

And nah, he didn't have more. Kindl had 2. Ericsson had 5 and 3 very noticeable TOs. They both aren't very good but give me Kindl with the puck skill and seems to be more physical. Just stating Ericsson needs a sit for a little, might make him hungrier.

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Guest Crymson

Kindl had just as many terrible giveaways in our zone as Ericsson, if not more.

esteef

Disagree. Ericsson has big giveaways, yes, but he also has a huge number of small giveaways. He tends to make boneheaded plays on a regular basis.

Did anyone notice that he knocked MacDonald down at one point, forcing the latter to shuffle across the crease on his hands and knees to make a save?

What's so frustrating to me is that Ericsson has proven he can play well. There was a stretch of 30 or so games earlier in the season in which he did very well. Over the last 30 games or so, he has reverted to bonehead status, and it has just gotten worse and worse.

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Agreed. But Ericsson is the chosen one. oh well.

As I said in another thread, I'm just happy Lebda's gone.

violin.gif Chosen one is quite extreme. What has he done lately that you defend him so much?

Ericsson earlier this year does not make up for the player we see lately. He has 2 completely different seasons and I don't see him turning it around anytime soon.

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violin.gif Chosen one is quite extreme. What has he done lately that you defend him so much?

Ericsson earlier this year does not make up for the player we see lately. He has 2 completely different seasons and I don't see him turning it around anytime soon.

If you read my actual comments, you'll see that I don't say he's a great player or anything. It's not that he's done anything great that I feel the need to defend him. I actually have pointed out several things that frustrate me about his play. It's just that he hasn't done anything nearly as awful as people here make it out to be.

He's become the whipping boy here. It happens every season, sometimes more justified than others. But a player gets chosen, then it becomes the LGW sport to trash him well beyond how they're actually playing. It's not a coincidence that when Hudler started playing well, Ericsson started getting trashed.

You'd think Ericsson was the worst D-man in the league by the way he's talked about. He's a converted forward taken absolute dead last in the draft in his second full season in the NHL. To me, he's doing okay and is an average bottom pairing guy.

Edited by haroldsnepsts

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You'd think Ericsson was the worst D-man in the league by the way he's talked about. To me, he's an average bottom pairing guy.

I did read your comments. "Whipping boy" or not, he is a replaceable bottom pairing guy and hopefully it happens.

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I did read your comments. "Whipping boy" or not, he is a replaceable bottom pairing guy and hopefully it happens.

Agreed. Ericsson is terrible im not quite sure how anyone can be happy with his play. At least once a game he tries to make a move in the defensive zone to get away from someone and gets caught everytime by an opposing player. Come playoff time if hes playing its going to be really ugly as the pressure on him is going to cause him to turn it over every time he touches it. I hope for the Wings sake they do not re-sign him for anything.

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