212 replies to this topic

[Finnish Wing]

Perhaps, but where could you see it on that post?

I think there are a fair percentage of posts that overhype him just as much as the posts/posters that underhype him or think he's the devil. Both are equally irritating.

But he will be part of this team next year. I think everyone should wish good things for him just because when Hudler does well the team does well.

[The Secret]

I'm not suggesting this, just curious: There was some talk when Hudler left that Kenny would trade him if he ever returned. Anyone think that is still a possibility?

I for one would be happy to see this happen if the return was worth it.

[chuklz]

Don't get me wrong, I liked Hud's time here and is glad he is coming back (provided he signs a contract).

But, what is the difference between him leaving and Fedorov leaving? They both left for greener pastures and Huds is welcomed back and Feds is villified.

Hope he comes back to the form he had last season!!

Fedorov didnt come back.

[GMRwings1983]

I somewhat agreed with mindfly at first. But then I took a look at our roster. Who are those soft euros bringing nothing to this team? Homstrom? nof****** way he is soft. He is fearless. Datsyk? He is exactly what we also need - top end Euro talent. Ericsson? He can fight. He is just not that good at playing hockey? Kronwall? Do you remember those hits? I guarantee he will bring few more this time too. Zetter? Can you name me more clutch player? Filppula? He is very good hockey player, no doubt about that. Perhaps not your classic top end talent but I wouldn't trade him for, say, Moreau (who is pretty gritty). Lilja? Yes.

Then you have good old Canadian boys in Eaves, Miller, Williams, Draper, Bertuzzi. They are not gritty at all. They often backs off from tough contacts along the boards. These are players who are making this team look bad against big bad boys from, say, Anaheim. But I'm OK with that (well, except for Williams) as long as they outplay Anaheim in hockey.

Just drop Lilja and add Carkner in the midseason. Trade someone for, say, Walker or Clarkson or Carcillo or... the list goes on. And we are fine. We are two players away from a good solid hard-checking "Canadian style" team.

Dropping Lilja makes us less Canadian. As far as I'm concerned, he's attained citizenship in that country.

We need to beef up our bottom 6 forwards. Our guys play hard, but they have to be the smallest bottom 6 forwards in the NHL. I want some 6'4 or 6'5 checkers out there who can hurt people with hits.

What does Hudler give us that we don't already have? If he was as good as people here think he is, the Wings would have given a better effort to keep him.

[HelmerFan]

Dropping Lilja makes us less Canadian. As far as I'm concerned, he's attained citizenship in that country.

We need to beef up our bottom 6 forwards. Our guys play hard, but they have to be the smallest bottom 6 forwards in the NHL. I want some 6'4 or 6'5 checkers out there who can hurt people with hits.

What does Hudler give us that we don't already have? If he was as good as people here think he is, the Wings would have given a better effort to keep him.

While you're at it have them use swords instead of sticks, and then they can just stab people on the ice and win by default.

[Finnish Wing]

Dropping Lilja makes us less Canadian. As far as I'm concerned, he's attained citizenship in that country.

We need to beef up our bottom 6 forwards. Our guys play hard, but they have to be the smallest bottom 6 forwards in the NHL. I want some 6'4 or 6'5 checkers out there who can hurt people with hits.

What does Hudler give us that we don't already have? If he was as good as people here think he is, the Wings would have given a better effort to keep him.

Toughness doesn't matter. There is only offense and defense. Toughness can be part of both but it doesn't have to. It's like giving style points. I don't care if the goal is scored by dangling the defender or crashing the net.

The fact is that this year we've lacked offense not defense. We were 7th in goals against but only 14th in goals scored. Hudler gives us more offense than guys like Armstrong or Clarkson.

edit: Obviously there are these people that would rather have a fight and a loss than no fight and a win.

While you're at it have them use swords instead of sticks, and then they can just stab people on the ice and win by default.

Good one.

Edited by Finnish Wing, 02 May 2010 - 10:57 AM.

[GMRwings1983]

While you're at it have them use swords instead of sticks, and then they can just stab people on the ice and win by default.

Are you one of those LGW posters who thinks that hitting and fighting equates with dirty? You took what I said and inflated it to some ridiculous level of nonsense.

I was talking about big guys who can check. Guys like Helm and Draper will throw hits, but they're not liable to hurt or wear down the opposition as much as a bigger checker could.

Go watch the KHL if you don't agree with what I said.

Toughness doesn't matter. There is only offense and defense. Toughness can be part of both but it doesn't have to. It's like giving style points. I don't care if the goal is scored by dangling the defender or crashing the net.

The fact is that this year we've lacked offense not defense. We were 7th in goals against but only 14th in goals scored. Hudler gives us more offense than guys like Armstrong or Clarkson.

edit: Obviously there are these people that would rather have a fight and a loss than no fight and a win.
Good one.

We lacked offense because of injuries. That's the only reason.

Don't know why you complimented the other poster for his foolish post that had nothing to do with anything I said. I was referring to clean hits from bigger forwards.

Bad one.

Edited by GMRwings1983, 02 May 2010 - 11:06 AM.

[newfy]

Hudler is likely to end up as a top-six forward at even strength next year. That's in addition to his ice time on the PP.

In Hudler's last season with the Wings, the top six forwards in ES ice time averaged 13:56 at ES. That's 3:19 more than Hudler was getting, a 31.2% increase in ice time. If Hudler gets "average" top-six ice time, the same kind of PP minutes and PK minutes, and produces the same per-minute numbers he produced in 2008-09, he would finish with 28 goals and 38 assists for 66 points.

Tell me again how I have nothing that backs that prediction up? Hudler may not have been playing in the NHL, but even if he is the same player he was the day the season ended in 2009 and has not improved overall since then, he'll probably post better numbers than he did over the course of that year.

He won't get any PK minutes because he is way too soft, weak and slow. Honestly saying Hudler will have the same Points per time on ice then he did when he left is stupid. He played on what would basically be a decent second line on some teams in the NHL in his time here against third lines. He won't be a 30 goal scorer, we didn't even have a 30 goal scorer this year did we?

Remember how Hudler has like 60 points last season he was here but ended up playing on the 4th line for playoffs? There was a reason for that. Thats why I would like to see him traded, he handcuffed the team last offseason and if you are a top 6 player you should be a top 6 player all year and not just the regular season.

Toughness doesn't matter. There is only offense and defense. Toughness can be part of both but it doesn't have to. It's like giving style points. I don't care if the goal is scored by dangling the defender or crashing the net.

The fact is that this year we've lacked offense not defense. We were 7th in goals against but only 14th in goals scored. Hudler gives us more offense than guys like Armstrong or Clarkson.

edit: Obviously there are these people that would rather have a fight and a loss than no fight and a win.
Good one.

The difference between North American and European hockey ladies and gentleman. Oh but guess where the majority of NHL players are from... North America so yeah a team with equal skill will come down to toughness. The tougher team will win whenever skill doesn't work.

[titanium2]

Hudler on the PK? Since when?

[newfy]

Hudler on the PK? Since when?

Never. Thats just someone with a boner for Huds trying to talk him up a bit. It will never happen

[titanium2]

It's just Eva and his schtick. Don't waste your time.

[Reds4Life]

Hudler is decent player, but almost 3 million is way too much for him. He would have to prove himself against tougher opposition to earn it.
Cleary has a very bad contract (from Wings POV) too.

[GMRwings1983]

I remember Hudler was having a good playoff last year until he got leveled by Brown against Anaheim.

He didn't seem to compete as hard after that, and we needed him to with other guys being hurt and Hossa playing like s***.

I still say the jury is out on his toughness and willingness to play gritty when time and space are taken away. As others have said, this isn't the KHL and there isn't as much room in the NHL to make fancy plays.

I don't mind us going after him, but in no way should it be our biggest need in the offseason.

[newfy]

Hudler is decent player, but almost 3 million is way too much for him. He would have to prove himself against tougher opposition to earn it.
Cleary has a very bad contract (from Wings POV) too.

Cleary's looked bad this year but thats because he played hurt. He's proven he can score 20, play on the 1st or 4th line because he can hit, grind, make plays, or score goals. He can play PP or PK effectively and is usually a beast in the playoffs.

Hudler has proven that he can play the PP well and that 5 on 5 he can play against third liners. To go along with the fact that he gets put to the 4th line in the playoffs after putting up almost 60 points in the regular season really says something about him. Oh yeah and he's weak in the corners and can't play physical.

[EuroTwin]

I believe this requires me to say

f*** yeah, Rex!

[tinistien]

hopefully this will be a good thing

[Dimaline312000]

Sorry I know a lot of you like Hudler but couldn't that money go to somehting better??

[Finnish Wing]

The difference between North American and European hockey ladies and gentleman. Oh but guess where the majority of NHL players are from... North America so yeah a team with equal skill will come down to toughness. The tougher team will win whenever skill doesn't work.

Are you really that stupid? Didn't you even read past that first sentence? I clearly said that there is only offense and defense. Toughness can be a part of them both but in the end the result is only thing that matters. Toughness can help to get better results. Colby Armstong may be tougher than Jiri Hudler but Hudler is still better. I said that I don't care how the results come, but obviously you're one of these people who rather lose the game and see one fight than win the game without fighting. I'm sorry, but I don't award style points. I only care about the results, and the fact is that Hudler scored 57 points. That's what matters.

And you think I don't know that when there are two "equally" skilled teams, the tougher one usually wins? Guess what. When there are two "equally" tough teams, THE SKILLED ONE usually wins. I don't care how it happens. Skilled team will also win whenever toughness doesn't work.

European hockey? Europe includes many countries and you can't say that there's only "European hockey". Hockey in Finland vs. hockey in Czech Republic is totally different. And btw, there are more people in North America too. Guess what. There are more NHL players per capita from Finland than from North America.

So learn to read the whole post before replying. Also, learn to think before posting. I know you like fighting and stuff, but it doesn't matter s*** if the result is worse.

[uk_redwing]

But my point is, in spite of Eva's math, there's more variables at play here. Giving Hudler more ice time does not automatically equal more points. Even if he's the same player he was, the team is different.

Eva's math is flawless. Eva's math logic says based on the 08-09 season stats (4GP, 1 Goal, 1 Assist), Aaron Downey playing on first line minutes with NO PP time would result in an 150+ point season. If he was put on the powerplay, scoring records would no doubt be smashed.

[newfy]

Are you really that stupid? Didn't you even read past that first sentence? I clearly said that there is only offense and defense. Toughness can be a part of them both but in the end the result is only thing that matters. Toughness can help to get better results. Colby Armstong may be tougher than Jiri Hudler but Hudler is still better. I said that I don't care how the results come, but obviously you're one of these people who rather lose the game and see one fight than win the game without fighting. I'm sorry, but I don't award style points. I only care about the results, and the fact is that Hudler scored 57 points. That's what matters.

And you think I don't know that when there are two "equally" skilled teams, the tougher one usually wins? Guess what. When there are two "equally" tough teams, THE SKILLED ONE usually wins. I don't care how it happens. Skilled team will also win whenever toughness doesn't work.

European hockey? Europe includes many countries and you can't say that there's only "European hockey". Hockey in Finland vs. hockey in Czech Republic is totally different. And btw, there are more people in North America too. Guess what. There are more NHL players per capita from Finland than from North America.

So learn to read the whole post before replying. Also, learn to think before posting. I know you like fighting and stuff, but it doesn't matter s*** if the result is worse.

Yeah I would much rather lose a game and see a fight then win? You are dense man. Toughness usually results in more goals. Hard play down low and around the net will get us more of those playoff type goals that we could really use right now. I'm not saying that Armstrong would be or is a better player, I'm saying Armstrong would be better fit for the 3rd line.

Hudler isn't a third line player and since we don't have two second lines like we used to. Theres a reason Huds played the 4th line in playoffs, Babcock knows he's too small and soft to be effective in the playoffs.

You don't seem to realize that Detroit is already skilled and having toughness would make the bottom lines better. Adrew Ladd would also be better in that spot then Hudler, even if Huds gets more points, Ladd would still be better for this team. A 10 point difference is worth a guy who can hit and fight.

If we got Armstrong we could trade Huds for 2 second round picks and get Armstrong, so yes Armstrong would be a better option.

oh and for the record there are 2 distinct types of hockey.... North American and European, its just the way it is so live with it. Just like Finlland is different from the czechs, western canada hockey is different then french style of hockey.