Val Filppula

[StevieY'sguy 1]

Ah yes, the one goal=great playoff performer argument. Fredrik Olausson was awesome in the playoffs, too.

Look Flipper will never be an all-star, or in the running for the Hart trophy or anything like that but he is an important piece of the puzzle.. plays defense, is improving offensively, and has a reasonable contract...just because he missed a scoring oppurtunity today doesn't mean he should be bad mouthed..if you want to complain about the lack of scoring maybe you should bring up Pav and Hank...who both have less goals than Mikael Samuelsson (another nice piece of the puzzle that so many people on here were so overjoyed to see leave town..good call guys )

As far as your ridiculous, uninformed criticism of Flip in the playoffs lets play a little Jeopardy!:

Informed Wings Fan: Alex I'd like playoff point totals for $200

Alex Trebek: Evgeni Malkin, Sidney Crosby, Henrik Zetterberg, Johan Franzen, Alex Ovechkin, and Ryan Getzlaf

(beep beep beep) Alex Trebek: Informed Wings Fan?

Informed Wings Fan: Who are the only NHL players to finish with more points than Valtteri Filppula in the 2009 NHL playoffs?

Alex Trebek: That is correct!

[Jesusberg 1,256]

I don't hate Filppula at all, but I think if he could be packaged in the off-season for a pure sniper, we should explore it. We have a lot of puck distributors on the team, but not really anyone who wants to shoot relentlessly. The team needs that.

[RedWingAbner 13]

Sorry guys, eating dinner and couldn't respond to each thing as it came up.

Do I hate Filppula? No. Does he need to make an "amazing" play to impress me? No. Can I honestly say I expected more from him? Yep.

His salary is too high for what he does, even if he does have a few moments here and there.

You know how much Alex Burrows makes? $2M. Ryan Kesler? $1.75M....they go on and on, I just happened to pull up Vancouver's salary chart.

But hey, I guess not blindly loving Filppula and suggesting moving him may make sense might make me a douchebag here. Ehh. In my opinion, he's shown some flashes that have quite a few of you intoxicated on him, and thus, he can't be touched.

I'm sure he's a good guy, and I want to emphatically state that I think he is a serviceable NHL player with upside. He's just not worth what he's paid and moving him intrigues me.

[RedWingAbner 13]

Look Flipper will never be an all-star, or in the running for the Hart trophy or anything like that but he is an important piece of the puzzle.. plays defense, is improving offensively, and has a reasonable contract...just because he missed a scoring oppurtunity today doesn't mean he should be bad mouthed..if you want to complain about the lack of scoring maybe you should bring up Pav and Hank...who both have less goals than Mikael Samuelsson (another nice piece of the puzzle that so many people on here were so overjoyed to see leave town..good call guys )

As far as your ridiculous, uninformed criticism of Flip in the playoffs lets play a little Jeopardy!:

Informed Wings Fan: Alex I'd like playoff point totals for $200

Alex Trebek: Evgeni Malkin, Sidney Crosby, Henrik Zetterberg, Johan Franzen, Alex Ovechkin, and Ryan Getzlaf

(beep beep beep) Alex Trebek: Informed Wings Fan?

Informed Wings Fan: Who are the only NHL players to finish with more points than Valtteri Filppula in the 2009 NHL playoffs?

Alex Trebek: That is correct!

What are the few players who played in nearly as many games as "Flipper"?

Great, great. He played 4x as many games as most players. Jesus, Ovechkin and Getzlaf each only made it to Round 2. Welcome to the site, informed Wings fan. (Not a jab).

[RedWingAbner 13]

pretty much, it seems that this year has brought a out a lot more dbag red wings fans

Yep. Glad you're here.

[chrisdetroit 189]

Is a solid 2-way guy who puts up 35 points a year worth $3 mill?

Oh for f***'s sake. You are seriously going to quote his point total wothout any consideration to the number of games he missed?

A liitle biased against Fil there are you?

[chrisdetroit 189]

Hmm...

I'm not high on his offensive skills by any means, but he's a real good, maybe even great defensive player. Generally speaking, I really like those guys, but I think we've got enough forwards that can play defense well and not near enough guys who can score goals. When you add in his cap hit which I've felt was too high from the second I heard the contract announced, I veer to the side that says "make the move" IF it would strengthen this team.

Realistically, we could use more goals. If we could move him for a guy that had more pure offensive skills at the sake of the defense, I'd be fine with that. After all, our best defensive stretch was when he was injured. It's not that he doesn't help, it's just that he's fairly redundant in that role on this team. He's certainly not one to just throw away, but if the opportunity came up to add some goals, I think he's the easiest guy of value that you can trade.

And personally, I think he'd have a lot more success on another team (especially one weaker on 2-way forwards) where he could play a bigger role. He'll always be the guy behind Zetterberg and Datsyuk here and on top of that, the whole redundancy thing doesn't help him stick out much either.

I still think they should've traded him and kept Hossa. That's a move I was behind then and would be behind now. More than ever after this dry, dry season...

I guess we should have listened to you. LOL

You are implying that if we had moved Fil, we could have kept Hossa. Sorry, doesn't add up. Fil is a $3mil cap hit and Hossa is $5mil. Where's the other $2mil?

I don't know how you can rag on the guy after he just missed 20 some games with a broken wrist. Give the guy a break.

[Buppy 1,720]

...I still think they should've traded him and kept Hossa. That's a move I was behind then and would be behind now. More than ever after this dry, dry season...

No offense, but who wouldn't make that move? Where would you get the rest of the salary needed for Hossa though? Holland said he was willing to move players to keep Hossa, and I'm sure Flip (and Cleary) would have been one. But we would have had to move more than just 1 player.

I'm a huge Flip fan, and think he would be a consistent 60+ point guy if he was on the second line with good linemates (like Franzen and someone like Cleary or Williams). I think that would also give Pav and Hank the opportunity to rekindle the magic they had together a couple years ago.

But I would give him up if we could get a high end goal scorer in return. Not sure what else we could package with him to do that though. A second tier sniper I would think about, but we should have the cap space to add that this summer anyway. So unless it was someone who could make a real difference this year, I wouldn't do it.

However, if Babs wants to insist on splitting Pav and Hank (thus sticking Flip on the third line) then I would move him for just about anything. I'd rather see Helm and Abdelkader centering our 3rd and 4th lines in the future, or some other cheap, decent FA. As good as he is, Flip just doesn't have the right skillset to carry a line offensively, and he makes too much for what he would bring to a third line.

[Guest DatsyukianDeke13]

Everyone should also keep in mind he also suggested trading Flip for Jack Johnson in the original post....does anything else need to be said? A simple statistical comparison would do.

[chrisdetroit 189]

What are the few players who played in nearly as many games as "Flipper"?

Great, great. He played 4x as many games as most players. Jesus, Ovechkin and Getzlaf each only made it to Round 2. Welcome to the site, informed Wings fan. (Not a jab).

Yea but he had 1 point more than your boy Hossa who cost us $7.45mil

[Z and D for the C 712]

However, if Babs wants to insist on splitting Pav and Hank (thus sticking Flip on the third line) then I would move him for just about anything. I'd rather see Helm and Abdelkader centering our 3rd and 4th lines in the future, or some other cheap, decent FA. As good as he is, Flip just doesn't have the right skillset to carry a line offensively, and he makes too much for what he would bring to a third line.

I would agree with completely. He's a waste on a third line and you're right, he isn't good enough to carry other players. But I'm sure he won't be on the third line forever and like I said in either this thread or the GDT, I'll be surprised if he's on the third line again. He's proven more than worthy of a second line spot.

[Guest DatsyukianDeke13]

Yea but he had 1 point more than your boy Hossa who cost us $7.45mil

BOOM! That just happened.

[Hockeytown0001 7,652]

Right now, I can honestly say I'd part with Fil for a scoring winger.

[Z and D for the C 712]

What are the few players who played in nearly as many games as "Flipper"?

Great, great. He played 4x as many games as most players. Jesus, Ovechkin and Getzlaf each only made it to Round 2. Welcome to the site, informed Wings fan. (Not a jab).

Okay chief, his points per game of all forwards was ranked 39th. Given that there are 90 players that play on the top line, that's like, FIRST LINE potential!

[RedWingAbner 13]

Oh for f***'s sake. You are seriously going to quote his point total wothout any consideration to the number of games he missed?

A liitle biased against Fil there are you?

Nope. I was going off his totals from previous seasons (avg) that didn't incorporate his numbers this year.

Also, though you seem to think so, I didn't suggest that Hossa was a better alternative. Someone else did.

Boom, that just happened.

[RedWingAbner 13]

Okay chief, his points per game of all forwards was ranked 39th. Given that there are 90 players that play on the top line, that's like, FIRST LINE potential!

I didn't realize that all 30 teams made the playoffs....unless you mean regular season numbers. I'm sure he COULD be a first liner on the Thrashers, Predators, or Hurricanes. That doesn't mean he sucks like those teams, it's just that they would like to have a guy like him. Let's see what they would give up.

[VM1138 1,921]

Right now this team is replete with playmakers. We need some bonafide scorers. And as Franzen's injury illustrates, having more than one (well, Homer kind of counts) is absolutely necessary.

Do I hate Flip? No.

But we have to give up value to get value. I would be open to trading Flip only if a possibility to fill a team need appeared.

Flip could still develop, but we've been waiting for him to develop and he seems to have flat lined. "On pace for" doesn't mean anything, especially when an injury occurs.

Could Flip be valuable for us in future years? Yes, I think so. But is he worth keeping at the expense of something the team needs right now and next year (i.e. a 2nd line scorer?). I'm not sure, but it'd depend on the player in question.

[Guest DatsyukianDeke13]

Who were our bonafide scorers in 2008 (besides Franzen)? The fact of the matter is that the whole team needs to elevate their play.

[Z and D for the C 712]

I didn't realize that all 30 teams made the playoffs....unless you mean regular season numbers. I'm sure he COULD be a first liner on the Thrashers, Predators, or Hurricanes. That doesn't mean he sucks like those teams, it's just that they would like to have a guy like him. Let's see what they would give up.

Okay, good point. There are 16 teams who made the playoffs, so only 48 players playing on a first line, but 39 is still less than 48. It's retarded to think Flip is not a second line player. If you don't, you're a fool. End.

And there is nothing more biased than taking an average of a player's first 3 years and calling him an x point player.

If not for his injury, he would have undoubtedly gotten 50 points. If not more.

Edited February 1, 2010 by Z and D for the C

[Guest DatsyukianDeke13]

Nope. I was going off his totals from previous seasons (avg) that didn't incorporate his numbers this year.

Also, though you seem to think so, I didn't suggest that Hossa was a better alternative. Someone else did.

Boom, that just happened.

did you just quote me in contradicting another poster?

[VM1138 1,921]

Who were our bonafide scorers in 2008 (besides Franzen)? The fact of the matter is that the whole team needs to elevate their play.

In 2008 a lot of people were scoring. But as we saw last year, they all decided to stop scoring. And, throughout this year it seems the star players only score when it's easy. I don't see too many goals being created out of thin air or fought for relentlessly.

But even if your point stood, do you really think it's better to have more puck distributors than scorers? Even if in 2008 we only had one scorer, isn't it better to have more than one in case of injury? I like Flip but I've always said if the right trade came around it should be considered. Like others have noted, he's an odd fit here. He's too good for the 3rd but not quite good enough for the 2nd on his own without great linemates. He is like a mini-Zetterberg out there, and if he were to develop a scoring touch I'd say keep him. It's not that I WANT Flip gone, but if the team can be helped, his skill is something we have in abundance.

Maybe another way of putting it is this: If the team HAD to give up one player, I'd say Flip, but I wouldn't go out of my way to get rid of him.

[Z and D for the C 712]

Filppula has done well enough to be 2nd in PPG (of forwards) since his return with the likes of Bertuzzi, Cleary, Miller, Williams. Hardly anyone I'd consider great.

Edited February 1, 2010 by Z and D for the C

[Guest DatsyukianDeke13]

In 2008 a lot of people were scoring. But as we saw last year, they all decided to stop scoring. And, throughout this year it seems the star players only score when it's easy. I don't see too many goals being created out of thin air or fought for relentlessly.

But even if your point stood, do you really think it's better to have more puck distributors than scorers? Even if in 2008 we only had one scorer, isn't it better to have more than one in case of injury? I like Flip but I've always said if the right trade came around it should be considered. Like others have noted, he's an odd fit here. He's too good for the 3rd but not quite good enough for the 2nd on his own without great linemates. He is like a mini-Zetterberg out there, and if he were to develop a scoring touch I'd say keep him. It's not that I WANT Flip gone, but if the team can be helped, his skill is something we have in abundance.

Maybe another way of putting it is this: If the team HAD to give up one player, I'd say Flip, but I wouldn't go out of my way to get rid of him.

Do I think it's better to have more puck distributors than scorers? Absolutely. Why? Because all of OUR puck distributors are capable of scoring. Datsyuk, Zetterberg, and Filppula (when he actually shoots the puck). We have guys who can score, they just aren't doing it and if they were, then the majority of threads on this forum would not exists. I do know that Babcock thinks he is consistently one of the best every night and Datsyuk and Zetterberg have praised his skill set and said he is the best set up man on the team. But what would they know? They are only on the team.

[Konnan511 1,736]

BOOM! That just happened.

haha that was funny.

[RedWingAbner 13]

did you just quote me in contradicting another poster?

Yes, because you were saying it in reference to a post he made refuting a point I never made.