1194 replies to this topic

[HankthaTank]

puck daddy

This just in: Nicklas Lidstrom(notes) is still an extremely effective player. AT AGE 41!!!!! Can you believe it? Why hasn't anyone mentioned this before?

I do hope this was severe sarcasm....

[WI_WingNut19]

I lost the little bit of respect I had left for Thornton when he pulled that crap. Did you see him talking crap after the game? Shut up, go back to the locker room and figure out how to get your team back on track, "captain".

Another graduate of Peter Forsberg Diving School...

I think Crosby was also a graduate in 2008.

[wingslogo19]

Does Hudler sit again?

[Yzerman19]

Does Hudler sit again?

Dunno, but I seriously hope that mule will. He has been useless throughout the whole series so far.
I feel the kids (miller-eaves-abby and helm) deserve a spot on the team way more than hudler. he is too sloppy I think. He needs to think more about the situation he is into lol.

[HankthaTank]

Does Hudler sit again?

Sorry for 2 posts of the same thing, just covering all bases. Seems like Hudler won't play in this series again:

The Wings may play Game 6 without forward Johan Franzen, who reinjured his ankle during Sunday’s game and didn’t play at all in the third period. The Wings expect to have a better handle on Franzen’s health Tuesday morning. Mike Modano is on standby if Franzen can’t play.
“I'm not going to worry about that much,” Babcock said. “We'll see what happens. If he's not ready to go, we'll put Modano in.”

[wingslogo19]

Sorry for 2 posts of the same thing, just covering all bases. Seems like Hudler won't play in this series again:

Thanks Hank

[brett]

The Wings continue to down-play, if not completely dismiss Pavel Datsyuk's wrist injury.
"I don't know how bad he's injured," Babcock said. "He's just not taking faceoffs."
He didn't take faceoffs in Game 5 nor did he attempt to shoot the puck very much.
"What wrist? I'm OK," Datsyuk said.
When asked why he wasn't taking faceoffs, he said, "I'm not good at faceoffs."


From The Detroit News: http://detnews.com/a...6#ixzz1LtWV1Eq3

datsyuk is a funny guy!

Yes hudler will sit again. if mule doesnt play modano will be in.

[Heroes of Hockeytown]

It was near the end when the Sharks had their goalie pulled. They made an attempt to clear the puck, but it was kept in at the point, and Hank dove and forced the puck out of the zone with his stick. Had he missed, The sharks player would have had all the time in the world to set up a play or a shot from the point. Potential game saver that dive was. Vintage clutch defense by Hank.

He had a typical understated Zetterberg kind of game. His diving clear actually went for icing, no problem, he just casually won the next faceoff (and the last one with seconds to go for good measure too). He won 2 of 3 faceoffs on the late Sharks PK. In fact he Mike's go-to faceoff guy all night long with Pavel unable to take any, and rose to challenge, winning 16 of 25. An assist, +2, led all Wings forwards in ice time. Dude had himself the gritty, gutsy game we all expect him to deliver come playoff time.

[LeftWinger]

This just in, so far our MVP front runners are Howard, Datsyuk & Helm...

[Crymson]

The only thing more annoying than bandwagon fans are the fans that go out of their way to call them out and whine about them.

I imagine you feel that way because you've been called out for bandwagon behavior before.

Does Hudler sit again?

Hudler has been a general disappointment all season long. He's practically useless in this series. The Sharks are big, but most of the smaller-sized players on the Wings have the speed and/or the strength to hang in there anyway. Hudler has neither. He's incapable of surviving a cycle in the offensive zone, and he has botched up coverage too many times. He's invisible when he isn't screwing up.

Edited by Crymson, 09 May 2011 - 08:32 PM.

[evilzyme]

I imagine you feel that way because you've been called out for bandwagon behavior before.



Hudler has been a general disappointment all season long. He's practically useless in this series. The Sharks are big, but most of the smaller-sized players on the Wings have the speed and/or the strength to hang in there anyway. Hudler has neither. He's incapable of surviving a cycle in the offensive zone, and he has botched up coverage too many times. He's invisible when he isn't screwing up.

So thats why Dan Boyle pushed for the game tying goal game 3.

[Kira]

funny...the book I was reading last night was about the 1980 US Olympic Hockey team and the "Miracle on Ice".

Irony????

[eva unit zero]

So thats why Dan Boyle pushed for the game tying goal game 3.

Hudler's mistake was the 3-2 goal in Game 4, scored by Boyle. It was, however, nearly identical to the tying goal in game 3 which was failed coverage by Helm. If I recall, I was the only person on the board to call Helm out for that failure, yet when Huds missed it in an IDENTICAL SITUATION, the boards exploded with vitriol and haven't stopped. Simple proves that it's not about the mistake. It's about having an excuse to be mad at him. How many members here were giving Huds credit when he was playing great down the stretch? Not many. Just about everyone chimed in on his slow start. Franzen was hot to start the year, and everyone loved that. Only the rare complaint came in about him at the end of the year, when he was scoring less than a 45 year-old female librarian with a mustache.

Everyone complains that Hudler doesn't work hard and isn't physical. He works a lot harder than Franzen, and plays a fairly physical style for a guy his size. Give Jiri a chance on a scoring line, instead of simply giving Franzen the "entitlement" of it, and see what happens. It's like Fedorov in 1994. He was the best player in the league, but that Hart trophy never happens if Yzerman stays healthy.

[eva unit zero]

Hudler has been a general disappointment all season long. He's practically useless in this series. The Sharks are big, but most of the smaller-sized players on the Wings have the speed and/or the strength to hang in there anyway. Hudler has neither. He's incapable of surviving a cycle in the offensive zone, and he has botched up coverage too many times. He's invisible when he isn't screwing up.

Dec 27th to Apr 10th: 9g-22a-31pt in 43gp
Feb 7th to Feb 28th: 4g-10a-14pt in 11 gp

That is disappointing performance?

Granted, he started the season off with 6 points in 30 games...but you said all season long. He's been one of the team's top players for months. Franzen was failing to finish chances Hudler was creating, and Filppula was constantly mishandling the puck. That line was broken up, with Abby replacing Franzen. So now Hudler is the playmaker and the finisher, as Filppula's success in round one simply didn't translate over to round two. I wonder, in fact. The arguments made for Hudler's benching are his mistake on the Boyle goal, and his lack of points in the series. What about Helm? What about Filppula? Helm made the identical mistake. Filppula has no points. Yet they haven't been pulled from the lineup. With Z, Dats, Miller, Eaves, Draper, Helm, Cleary, and Abby in the lineup...what exactly is Flip really providing if he's not scoring points? Faceoffs, you say? He's the fifth best faceoff man on the team.

Or why not scratch Abdelkader? He's made key errors, scored no points, taken tons of penalties (14 PIM in 5 games, all minors), and although his physical presence is nice it doesn't really provide a useful advantage against the Sharks. His defensive ability is outmatched by Z, Dats, Helm, Flip, Eaves, Draper, Miller, and Cleary.

We know those two won't be scratched, because Flip is part of the 'core' and Abby is a big hitter. But what makes Miller so untouchable? He's not a key part of the PK, he's not particularly skilled offensively, he's a decent grinder but he's not really that physical. The argument for Miller over Hudler is what... Hudler still hasn't scored in the series? Probably.

[CopenhagenWing]

EUZ, I understand you love Hudler, but sometimes you've got to call a spade a spade.

At 2.9 per, Hudler has been a disappointment this season. Yes, he had a nice stretch of games but a lot of other players experienced similar hot streaks, even HoS.

The reason why Hudler sits before every other player you've mentioned is because the coaching staff feels they are able to contribute in a way Hudler isn't, specifically on the defensive side. I know you're going to claim that Hudler is an above average defensive forward, but the Wings coach and most other will disagree.