742 replies to this topic

[haroldsnepsts]

you forgot to add

rafalski

ericsson

also, kindl should be

Why exactly did Ericsson deserve three thumbs down? Not his best game maybe, but it's not like he was playing last season.

Yes he had the high sticking penalty on that d-bag Avery, but the last goal was on Rafalski not picking up his man and being weak around the net, not E. I'd flip Raf's and E's ratings there.

Edited by haroldsnepsts, 08 February 2011 - 01:16 AM.

[Heroes of Hockeytown]

Yes he had the high sticking penalty on that d-bag Avery, but the last goal was on Rafalski not picking up his man and being weak around the net, not E. I'd flip Raf's and E's ratings there.

We are talking about the 2-on-1, right? Rafalski maybe could've gotten away with attacking Avery right at the Wings' blue line but he was put in a tough situation. Ericsson should have been thinking defensively; Avery wouldn't have gotten behind him if he had retreated.

[atodaso]

Why exactly did Ericsson deserve three thumbs down? Not his best game maybe, but it's not like he was playing last season.

Yes he had the high sticking penalty on that d-bag Avery, but the last goal was on Rafalski not picking up his man and being weak around the net, not E. I'd flip Raf's and E's ratings there.

alright, let's make it ericsson and rafalski
it's not like either one of them knows how to play D properly.
you're right about rafalski being weak around the net though. the guy looks totally clueless out there. not to mention the turnovers.

when is stuart coming back? these d-pairings suck big time

[clutchngrab]

I counted 4 or 5 times guys were directing traffic in the defensive zone. Its a horror show out there. You can play that way if you have a mega-stud in goal, but really - who thinks we are long for the playoffs with this defensive corp?

[Nev]

He is a purveyor of unreality. Watching him sort of hang back on the backcheck, then come out of nowhere to steal the puck, like he knew what was happening all along, like it was all planned out ahead of time... just blows my mind.

He can see things before they happen......It is a Jedi trait.

[titanium2]

Mike Babcock, on what the Wings can learn from the Rangers: "They funnel a lot of pucks to the net, they just throw it blindly. I think we can learn a lot from New York and the fact that we had talked to our guys about getting pucks to the paint all the time and the confusion it creates. We should be doing the same thing. We always want to make one more nice play and backcheck instead of just shooting it on net and staying on top of the other team."

http://www.freep.com/article/20110208/SPORTS05/102080440/1053/sports05/Notes-quotes-from-Monday-s-Red-Wings-win

[titanium2]

By the way, awesome job Wings fans last night with the loud cheer when Datsyuk first touched the puck. Just awesome.

[Nightfall]

Howard needs to think the defense for cleaning up a lot of the rebounds he let happen. Some plays he didn't even have the puck and had no idea where it was.

Welcome to the world of goaltending. In every game, there are rebounds where you have no idea where they went, and your defense has to be there for you in critical situations. The one thing I noticed about this game is that the defense did a good job at making the game predictable for Jimmy. Keep the shots to the outside, cover the man on the opposite side, the Wings did a pretty good job all night. The first goal was an uncovered player on the far side. Second goal was a perfect top corner shot. Otherwise, Jimmy did his job by keeping his team in the game and his D did a good job as well.

Good win by the Wings.

[JPT]

Glad the Wings got the win and especially glad Datsyuk is back!

However the Wings did not play all that great tonight. Aside from Kindl turning the puck over like it was his job there was sloppy play all over the ice and Howard was a rebound machine(which has been a problem of his since regularly playing in the NHL). The Rangers are inept enough that the Wings could still come away with a win.

[Holmstrom96]

Ericsson blows donkey. He flat out fricking sucks. He's always giving the puck away. He's huge but never takes advantage of it. He just all around sucks.

[sleepwalker]

when is stuart coming back? these d-pairings suck big time

Word. Its pretty shocking how bad our D has sucked since we lost Stuart.

And what the f*** was up with Kindl last night? Is he like a secret double agent for the Rangers or something? Did he forget which team he played for? Seemed like every time he got the puck he passed it right to a Ranger...

[Drake_Marcus]

alright, let's make it ericsson and rafalski
it's not like either one of them knows how to play D properly.
you're right about rafalski being weak around the net though. the guy looks totally clueless out there. not to mention the turnovers.

when is stuart coming back? these d-pairings suck big time

That's a pretty knee-jerk reaction, don't you think? Ericsson's having an excellent sophmore season. He's been great on the boards and around the net and hasn't been making nearly as many bad pinches (aside from that one last night). All you can ask is for young players to get better each year and E's definitely having a much better season this year then last.

[haroldsnepsts]

That's a pretty knee-jerk reaction, don't you think? Ericsson's having an excellent sophmore season. He's been great on the boards and around the net and hasn't been making nearly as many bad pinches (aside from that one last night). All you can ask is for young players to get better each year and E's definitely having a much better season this year then last.

Exactly. He's mostly looked poised and made the simple plays out there. He's getting bolder pinching in, which overall is a good thing, but there's gonna be some bad decisions as he develops. All in all I've been extremely happy with his play this season, considering after last it looked like he may not be good enough to play in the NHL.

I mainly just wish he'd be more physical out there. I watch a fair amount of Kings games and I wish we had a bottom pairing guy like Matt Greene. He punishes guys along the boards constantly, shoving them into it over and over, but rarely takes a penalty. Ericsson definitely has the size to add that his game. He's gotten better and pins guys, but doesn't crunch them very much.

EDIT: and Hudler's goal was a result of E jumping into the play and making a nice pass. The reality is, nobody is gonna measure up to Lidstrom, but Ericsson can hopefully develop into a solid middle pairing guy.

Edited by haroldsnepsts, 08 February 2011 - 11:19 AM.

[Drake_Marcus]

Ericsson blows donkey. He flat out fricking sucks. He's always giving the puck away. He's huge but never takes advantage of it. He just all around sucks.

Interesting. I've taken the liberty of examining the D's stats to verify this give-away problem.

http://www.nhl.com/i...rtssPlayerStats

Rafalski: 44 GvA & 5 TkA in 41 Gp (more than 1 turn-over per game)
Kronwall: 34 GvA & 15 TkA in 53 Gp (less than 1 GvA every 2 games)
Stuart: 31 GvA & 5 TkA in 41 Gp (about 3 GvA every 4 games)
Salei: 26 GvA & 13 TkA in 52 Gp (1 GvA every 2 games)
Ericsson: 25 GvA & 8 TkA in 45 Gp (about 1 GvA every 2 games)
Lidstrom: 20 GvA & 25 TkA in 53 Gp (about 2 GvA every 5 games)

Even if we adjust for the fact that E plays about 2 mins less per game than the guys above him the GvA stats aren't damning.

What about hitting?

http://www.nhl.com/i...rtssPlayerStats

If you divide the number of hits by the number of games played they look like this:

Stuart: 2.32 Hits/Game
Salei: 1.48 Hits/Game
Ericsson: 1.47 Hits/Game
Kronwall: 1.42 Hits/Game
Rafalski: 0.98 Hits/Game
Kindl: 0.72 Hits/Game
Lidstrom: 0.55 Hits/Game

So Ericsson's virtually tied with Salei for 2nd in hitting amoung the defense.

He's 2nd on the defense in +/- with 8.

Ericsson's Time on Ice:
Even Strength: 16:50 Min/G (tied with Stuart for 2nd amoung the D)
Short Handed: 1:05 Min/G (5th amoung the D)
Power Play: 0:10 Min/G (6th amoung the D)

He's 4th on the defense in pts with 14 in 45 games and is on pace for 5G 18A 23Pts in 74 games (assuming he plays all of the remaining games this season). Over a full 82 game season he'd pro-rate to 26pts which is respectable for a 3rd pairing defenseman who gets 10 seconds of PP time a night.

The most interesting thing I see in those stats is that Kindl is averaging 0:54 of PP time per game but has 0 pp points this season and only 1pt (a goal) in his 25 games this season. In only 0:10 of PP time a game, E's at least got a pp goal to show for it.

Exactly. He's mostly looked poised and made the simple plays out there. He's getting bolder pinching in, which overall is a good thing, but there's gonna be some bad decisions as he develops. All in all I've been extremely happy with his play this season, considering after last it looked like he may not be good enough to play in the NHL.

I mainly just wish he'd be more physical out there. I watch a fair amount of Kings games and I wish we had a bottom pairing guy like Matt Greene. He punishes guys along the boards constantly, shoving them into it over and over, but rarely takes a penalty. Ericsson definitely has the size to add that his game. He's gotten better and pins guys, but doesn't crunch them very much.

Agreed. I think he'll get bolder when it comes to hitting guys along the boards as he gets more comfortable out there. As time's passed he's gotten more physical around the net and on the boards (in terms of pinning guys) so hopefully he'll develop that part of his game too.

[Doc Holliday]

44 giveaways, Rafalski?

Really?

[Konnan511]

Interesting. I've taken the liberty of examining the D's stats to verify this give-a

Nice stats, but a lot of those ar negated if you produce one terrible play a game that either leads to an amazing chance by the opposing team or a goal. last night's case, his unbelievable stupid pinch at the end of the game lead to the goal. There were also numerous times where I caught him sitting on his stick in our own crease instead of clearing people or the puck from it.

And let' not say he is having a good or great sophomore season. He's doing ok considering how terrible he was last year.

[selkie]

Preserving my favorite press quote on the game last night from Michael Rosenberg at the Freep:

http://www.freep.com/article/20110208/COL22/102080442/1053/SPORTS05/Michael-Rosenberg-Red-Wings-Pavel-Datsyuk-rustproof

In the third period, Datsyuk added an assist on a Jiri Hudler goal. The Wings celebrated their victory the way everybody in the NHL likes to celebrate: by hitting Sean Avery in the face. Alas, they did it before the game ended, which led to two high-sticking penalties and some crazy power-play action at the end of the game.

Cracked me right up because the Avery thing is such the truth.

[Hockeymom1960]

Ericsson blows donkey. He flat out fricking sucks. He's always giving the puck away. He's huge but never takes advantage of it. He just all around sucks.

This is what I think of this post

[Vladifan]

Ericsson blows donkey. He flat out fricking sucks. He's always giving the puck away. He's huge but never takes advantage of it. He just all around sucks.

Yeah, his play last night was erratic. But Ericsson is young. Ericsson is learning a new position. Ericsson has shown HUGE potential. And words like "always" and "never" are just SO unrealistic, no matter what you're talking about. I say there's more than hope for him. With the Wings.

[Vladifan]

Interesting. I've taken the liberty of examining the D's stats to verify this give-away problem.

Thank you very much for researching these stats. It's much appreciated.

44 giveaways, Rafalski?

Really?

You're s***ting me...

Edited by Vladifan, 08 February 2011 - 12:32 PM.