• Recently Browsing   0 members

    No registered users viewing this page.

Sign in to follow this  
rick zombo

Babcock: Improvement to come from within

Rate this topic

Recommended Posts

Frustrating thing about Val is that he can just make some unreal plays in traffic while fending off like 3 defenders. And then he can just all out sloppy as hell. I do believe we have to at least give him this last year and if this becomes another year like this one then you just may have to part ways. As for Nick I agree with the guy above here...Raffi making 6? Nick won't take less...its the sad truth of it all. No way was he going to come back for what Stevie(Jesus in skates) took. Good riddance Jason Williams go score 20 for the Oshawa Generals just get out of here. Huds is a big addition to get back for sure but we need another big D man. This can't be overlooked!

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

ya no surise at all really here, I think we all knew the only way we would be a part in any blockbuser would be if Lids hung em up. I Know Flip will have his year this year as well, but Id like to see him with Bert(if he is here) and Franzen, Zetterberg with Datsyuk and Hudler/Holmer/Clears (but mostly Huds). I also think we have a GREAT year ahead of us :siren: so enjoy your summer kids.

:blink: So you're actually saying that Hudler, a player who couldn't even make his national team for the Olympics, should be on our number 1 line? :hysterical: I cannot wait for the season to start so I can get back on bashing Hudler night in and night out. I can only hope Holland trades him at the draft.

Back to the OP, this, if true, is seriously BAD and disheartening news. This team as it is, even with adding Hudler, still will falter defensively. If Lidstrom comes back and sucks up most of our cap, and then we lose Meech, Lebda, Lilja and gain Kindl? Our defense gets worse. Lidstrom HAS to come back for no more than $4.5M in order for us to be able to better our team. You gotta convince Rafalski to waive his no trade in order to free up space if Lids is gonna get $6M or more. Trade him to LA for Johnson, sign Lids for $4.5M offer Willie Mitchell a contract, then bring up Kindl.

Lids - Mitchell

Kronwall - Stuart

Johnson - Ericsson

Kindl

But sadly our defense in gonna be worse than last season, with Kindl up in Lilja's spot and yet an even less experienced player for our seventh.

But hey, instead of getting a ligit top 6 forward, we're getting Hudler back!

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

blink.gif So you're actually saying that Hudler, a player who couldn't even make his national team for the Olympics, should be on our number 1 line? hysterical.gif I cannot wait for the season to start so I can get back on bashing Hudler night in and night out. I can only hope Holland trades him at the draft.

Back to the OP, this, if true, is seriously BAD and disheartening news. This team as it is, even with adding Hudler, still will falter defensively. If Lidstrom comes back and sucks up most of our cap, and then we lose Meech, Lebda, Lilja and gain Kindl? Our defense gets worse. Lidstrom HAS to come back for no more than $4.5M in order for us to be able to better our team. You gotta convince Rafalski to waive his no trade in order to free up space if Lids is gonna get $6M or more. Trade him to LA for Johnson, sign Lids for $4.5M offer Willie Mitchell a contract, then bring up Kindl.

Lids - Mitchell

Kronwall - Stuart

Johnson - Ericsson

Kindl

But sadly our defense in gonna be worse than last season, with Kindl up in Lilja's spot and yet an even less experienced player for our seventh.

But hey, instead of getting a ligit top 6 forward, we're getting Hudler back!

This sounds good in theory...but explain that if we got Jack Johnson how he is put on the 3rd pairing???? blink.gif

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

This sounds good in theory...but explain that if we got Jack Johnson how he is put on the 3rd pairing???? blink.gif

That would be a nice problem to have eh? I was just giving Mitchell some senority rights and not splitting up Kronner/Stuart. Babs can put them however he wants, but that lineup looks much better defensively than Kindl/Rafalski & Smith being here...

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

That would be a nice problem to have eh? I was just giving Mitchell some senority rights and not splitting up Kronner/Stuart. Babs can put them however he wants, but that lineup looks much better defensively than Kindl/Rafalski & Smith being here...

I am all up for any suggestions with the blue line...that is absolutely positively the area of attention this off season even with Nick coming back. But again I am a blogger on a site we will see what Kenny has for us.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Man, I'm so disappointed that they're not planning to completely blow up the team because we only made it to the 2nd round of the playoffs and lost against the 2nd best team in the league. Obviously we need to change a lot of things if we can't make the SCF 3 years in a row.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

That 4th goal was a real showcase of his talent...

I'm not saying he played poorly at all, but his playoff performance was demonstrative of his offensive inconsistency. He had a strong 1st round, especially games 2 and 3, but what did he do in the San Jose series? 2 points in 5 games, a goal and an assist, and the goal was a result of San Jose putting the puck in their own net! He didn't even take a shot!

Your "8 point/3 game streak" comment hit the nail on the head in my mind. He's been known to be streaky offensively, and despite a strong finish to the regular season, the streaky side was more evident in the playoffs despite a solid effort. Again, I can't stress it enough, I'm not saying he's worthless by any means, but I'm still not at all ready to hype up his offensive potential.

That doesn't mean we should just trade him for the hell of it or anything either, but like some have said, it concerns me that every year we're expecting him to make a big step and every year something inevitably comes up to stifle said "big step." It just seems fairly logical to me that sooner or later you'd stop hoping he'll come up big on offense and work on bringing guys in that specialize in offense. If he's going to stay with the team, let him do what comes more naturally to him. He provides a better service to the team by putting him in a role that is more suited for him. I'm still not convinced that that role is a heavily offensive-oriented one by a long-shot.

It'll be good to have Hudler back though. He's a hack on defense, but he knows how to score. I don't expect him to be the answer to all of our problems and I don't hold him in nearly as high of a regard as some, but it'll certainly be good to have another guy specializing in offense back. He produced as much or more than anyone one the team proportional to ice time, so if he can come in and put up point totals that come even close to his '08/'09 numbers with similar ice time, it'll be a huge plus for this team.

If he plays the entire year in the top 6 with a full time PP spot, which I fully expect to happen, I think he'll get anywhere from 65-75 points next season. Despite the injury, Flip just had a career year despite playing the majority of the season with third line players and another great outing in the playoffs despite a lack-luster second round. 7 points in the first round against a tough opponent yet you still doubt his offensive abilities. It's a spectacular display of ignorance, it really is. Filppula could have 100 points next season and I'd be more surprised to see you admit that you're wrong than to see Filppula get 100 points.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Once all the chips are down and they have a fix on exactly how much salary cap space they have left going into the '10-'11 season I'll pay more attention to this kind of statement.

Did anyone really think the Wings were going to add a 5 million dollar player this offseason? To me this indicates that Lidstrom is staying. If Lidstrom decides to retire you can expect a big move or two.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
Guest Crymson

Good call. Nevermind his 7 points (4 of those being goals) in 9 games in the playoffs and his 8 point/3 game streak in the midst of having 27 points in 33 games all the while have a career season in points per game. Let's ignore the reality and demand a trade for Filppula.

Will you please stop accosting people with facts and instead simply allow them to make mindless allegations backed by neither evidence nor reason?

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
Guest zackmorris

The next couple of years ( I haven't checked beyond that) are pretty bleak for free agents. Out of the couple big name guys we can't afford, there's nothing we need unless we have a sudden hole opening up, which we probably won't this offseason.

There's nothing out there.

http://www.nhlnumbers.com/freeagents.php?team=none&pos=none&summer=2010&status=none&type=capnumber

Lidstrom is staying here, Kovalchuk won't be coming here, Marleau is overpaid, and the rest of the list either isn't worth the cash or we don't need them. EVery year everyone always starts discussing their super underrated gem pick because it's fun but realistically, we don't need a Svatos, Martin or Demitra. What are they going to do that our current guys can't? Seriously? We always project slightly unrealistic numbers and expectations for these guys. They'd come here, be "close but not quite scorers" for us and we'd be disappointed. We sometimes have low standards. Like Frolov. Seriously? C'mon, all he'd do is disappoint the same people who want him, because those people are always the ones who freak out at the littlest things going wrong.

The change will likely come from within because right now, considering our roster, our cap scenario and the talent available...it's the smartest thing to do. Our real focus should be trying to swing a trade for a big name defender, or planning the future around finding one. Stuart is a perfect second pairing defender, but Kronwall has proven I think that he deserves top line time. He'll need a partner, and so will Stu.

And is no one thinking of the fact that we're likely going to have to pay Jimmy pretty soon? He's not going to play for peanuts forever, and odds are he's our goalie for the foreseeable future. When Lids and Raf go, that's about 13 mil free, but Jimmy will likely command 3.5-5 mil (I'd think 4) and our defensive replacements will probably be paid around 6 mil and 3 mil respectively. Or I'd hope for a quality couple of guys worth that much.

Right now we're probably going to look at guys like Kindl, see if he's worth a s***. See if Ericsson can take the next step, and see if Rafalski is going to call it a career soon. Because as much as I think this board comes down on him WAY too hard, he has lost a slight step. We are in serious need of a physical top line defenseman. If we could somehow steal Shea Weber I'd s*** rainbows and smiles.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

i keep saying this and i'll say again, Lidstrom's discount won't be much. i will be stunned if he gets less than $5million. i think he will get $6 million

It's all going to boil down to how badly Lidstrom wants to win another Cup. Demanding a 5-6 million contract won't help his chances. He may be worth it, but the Wings can't really afford it and hope to ice a strong contender next season. I guess we'll see.

If he makes that much next season, we're looking at the same line-up + Hudler(?) + one plugger. That's how I see it anyway.

Edited by Broken 16

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

It's all going to boil down to how badly Lidstrom wants to win another Cup. Demanding a 5-6 million contract won't help his chances. He may be worth it, but the Wings can't really afford it and hope to ice a strong contender next season. I guess we'll see.

If he makes that much next season, we're looking at the same line-up + Hudler(?) + one plugger. That's how I see it anyway.

This. If Lidstrom commands 5-6 million, hes only hurting himself. If he's truly coming back to win another cup, he'll take a significantly reduced salary to allow Kenny to go after another top 6 forward.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Call me crazy, but IMO Hudler and (random fourth line free agent winger) over Williams, Bert and Maltby is an improvement. I'm presuming this offseason Brian Burke is going to want to overpay Bertuzzi like he did in Anaheim.

Kovalchuk would definitely have been a Wings target in the pre-cap era. In a way, I'm kind of glad we don't have the temptation to try to get into a bidding war for him.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

The team won't change much. I can see there being one other addition to the team besides hudler, unless they let bert go too. But imagine it though, Hudler, Eaves and helm on a line. Helm would be the perfect setup for hudler. We all know helm isn't a finisher, but he can feed Jiri all day. Williams definitely won't be back. And if anyone wants to question anything, it should be Babcock not going to the Datsyuk, Z, Flip line in the third period to try to win that game. Its your season on the line, you should throw everything at it right? And putting williams in the game instead of meech. Meech has bombed a couple from that blue line to surprise a goalie the past season, I think he does a better job in that situation than jason does. And why in the hell did he continue to play erricson instead of lebda? John was beat to the puck and out of position at least once on every shift that almost cost them a goal and chances to exit the zone. how is it ok to keep him in? I know he could see it, hes a great coach. Did lebda s*** in his wheaties? Ericson was coughing the puck up in the corners left and right. And taking penalties for being slow and out of position. I can't believe he would accept that but keep him out there just because of his size. I think if the coach can single out players, someone should single out the coach. Im not saying he is terrible, just saying he can be better too if he can say that about the players.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

This is what I hope we are left with. Nick and Homer taking their significant discounts.

AUTO-GENERATED CAPGEEK.COM LINES

FORWARDS

Pavel Datsyuk ($6.700m) / Henrik Zetterberg ($6.083m) / Johan Franzen ($3.955m)

Valtteri Filppula ($3.000m) / Jiri Hudler ($2.875m) / Daniel Cleary ($2.800m)

Kris Draper ($1.583m) / * Tomas Holmstrom ($1.500m) / * Justin Abdelkader ($0.850m)

* Darren Helm ($0.700m) / * Drew Miller ($0.600m) / * Patrick Eaves ($0.600m)

DEFENSEMEN

Brian Rafalski ($6.000m) / * Nicklas Lidstrom ($4.000m)

Brad Stuart ($3.750m) / Niklas Kronwall ($3.000m)

Jonathan Ericsson ($0.900m) / Jakub Kindl ($0.883m)

* Derek Meech ($0.500m)

GOALTENDERS

Chris Osgood ($1.417m) / Jimmy Howard ($0.717m)

CAPGEEK.COM TOTALS

ROSTER: 21; PAYROLL: $52.413m; CAP ROOM: $4.387m BONUSES: $0.000m

Depending on what the cap does we should hopefully have around $4 million to spend on one or two more players to add. I just think it'd be foolish of Nick to come back for 5-6. This team seriously needs a shot in the arm to get back over the hump.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

It's all going to boil down to how badly Lidstrom wants to win another Cup. Demanding a 5-6 million contract won't help his chances. He may be worth it, but the Wings can't really afford it and hope to ice a strong contender next season. I guess we'll see.

If he makes that much next season, we're looking at the same line-up + Hudler(?) + one plugger. That's how I see it anyway.

He took a paycut in '01 to sign Hasek, Hull and Robitaille, didn't he? I wonder why he'd suddenly decide not to take a cut in his final year?

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

If he plays the entire year in the top 6 with a full time PP spot, which I fully expect to happen, I think he'll get anywhere from 65-75 points next season. Despite the injury, Flip just had a career year despite playing the majority of the season with third line players and another great outing in the playoffs despite a lack-luster second round. 7 points in the first round against a tough opponent yet you still doubt his offensive abilities. It's a spectacular display of ignorance, it really is. Filppula could have 100 points next season and I'd be more surprised to see you admit that you're wrong than to see Filppula get 100 points.

I said he had a strong finish to the regular season and a strong first round, but where was he against San Jose? 5 games and really 1 assist to his name if you don't count the fluke goal San Jose scored on themselves that Flip got credit for, which I think is more than fair in trying to objectively analyze his production.

Like I said, he had a strong finish to the season, but before he was injured he wasn't playing so well despite comparable conditions and ample ice time. If you want to pick and choose selected periods of time to suggest that he's going to be so strong offensively, then you need to take into account then the periods of time in which he wasn't so strong offensively. In doing that, one might see that perhaps there's a good deal of evidence to suggest that throughout his entire career thus far, he has been a streaky offensive player.

By continuing to cherry-pick your facts/stats, you only emphasize his streaky nature more as it's far too easy to find long stretches of time where Flip is lacking in production. Again, just look at the Phoenix series compared to San Jose. He went from being a point per game player to arguably being a .2 point per game player from one series to the next, and he scored no goals against San Jose from his own shot! It's pretty lame to give him much credit based on Dan Boyle's second goal on the wrong net of the playoffs...

Until I really see this guy put up points consistently over an entire season, I'm sticking to my 40-50 point prediction. I'm not denying that this past season wasn't his best offensively, but I still wonder how it would've turned out had he played the entire season. We've seen him rack up a lot of points in a 2-3 week span only to be minimally noticeable offensively multiple times before. You may not agree with my analysis on what he's capable of, but you cannot deny that we've yet to see him perform at the level you expect of him for a full season. It hasn't happened yet. That's the bottom line, and there's no logical argument to counter such a blatant fact.

Edited by gcom007

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
Guest Heaten

I said he had a strong finish to the regular season and a strong first round, but where was he against San Jose? 5 games and really 1 assist to his name if you don't count the fluke goal San Jose scored on themselves that Flip got credit for, which I think is more than fair in trying to objectively analyze his production.

Like I said, he had a strong finish to the season, but before he was injured he wasn't playing so well despite comparable conditions and ample ice time. If you want to pick and choose selected periods of time to suggest that he's going to be so strong offensively, then you need to take into account then the periods of time in which he wasn't so strong offensively. In doing that, one might see that perhaps there's a good deal of evidence to suggest that throughout his entire career thus far, he has been a streaky offensive player.

By continuing to cherry-pick your facts/stats, you only emphasize his streaky nature more as it's far too easy to find long stretches of time where Flip is lacking in production. Again, just look at the Phoenix series compared to San Jose. He went from being a point per game player to arguably being a .2 point per game player from one series to the next, and he scored no goals against San Jose from his own shot! It's pretty lame to give him much credit based on Dan Boyle's second goal on the wrong net of the playoffs...

Until I really see this guy put up points consistently over an entire season, I'm sticking to my 40-50 point prediction. I'm not denying that this past season wasn't his best offensively, but I still wonder how it would've turned out had he played the entire season. We've seen him rack up a lot of points in a 2-3 week span only to be minimally noticeable offensively multiple times before. You may not agree with my analysis on what he's capable of, but you cannot deny that we've yet to see him perform at the level you expect of him for a full season. It hasn't happened yet. That's the bottom line, and there's no logical argument to counter such a blatant fact.

Sigh.

For those criticizing Filppula... Filppula was suffering from a rib injury caused during the Coyotes series.

source: http://blog.mlive.co...n_world_ch.html

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

For those criticizing Filppula... Filppula was suffering from a rib injury caused during the Coyotes series.

source: http://blog.mlive.com/snapshots/2010/05/red_wings_weigh_in_on_world_ch.html

Doesn't really change my perspective on the matter. Bummer that he was injured and perhaps an explanation for the drop if it was truly serious, but it doesn't negate the fact that we've yet to see him put up numbers consistently. If he can't do it because he's too fragile to stay healthy, then it doesn't really change the bottom line in terms of scoring. I'll be more than happy, in fact, I'd be utterly thrilled to give Flip his due as an offensive force if that time comes. I don't dislike the guy at all. I just don't really think he's going to be the offensive force people expect him to be. Simple as that. We've yet to see it played out over the course of a full season, and he's yet to come even close to the marks some suggest he's capable of hitting. Even if you apply his point-per-game average this year out over an 82 game season, he's still resting at around the 50 point mark, which is fine, and what I expect of him at the upper end of his ability. But it's nowhere near 70 points.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
Sign in to follow this