26 replies to this topic

[Motown4013]

Hey LGW: I was thinking about how I anticipated this year as kind of a year of change with Raffy gone and Ozzie shifting the crown full time to Howard. Some players exceeded my expectations...some disappointed. Just wondered what everyone though? Anyway, I gave players an A+ to F grade, based on WHAT MY EXPECTATIONS WERE on the year for then. What were yours?
Thoughts?

Abdelkader, Justin B. I felt Abby got stronger as the season progressed. He had a few more points this year but he looked stronger on the puck.

Bertuzzi, Todd B- Todd was awesome in the shootout but he is still very proned to taking untimely penalties. He was hot and cold and about what I expected

Brunnstrom, Fabian D I was really excited when we signed Bruno and I kept waiting for him to show me how much potential he has but besides in training camp, I didnt see anything at all. He was a big disappointment for me.

Cleary, Danny C Cleary looked slower and less hungry early in the season, way before his knee injury was an issue. At times I thought he should be the guy sitting. He showed me some of the old Clears in the playoffs but he didnt seem to have the passion.

Commodore, Mike B I actually thought Commie was solid for us and I prefered him over Kindl. I am probably in the minority, but I think we missed his size and physical play.

Conklin, Ty E He was horrid. No need to berate the guy...his play said it all

Conner, Chris B- He was about what I expected except he is faster that I thought. I like his energy and his attitude

Datsyuk, Pavel A- Pavs didnt have a fantastic year but alot of that was his knees and his linemates. I hope next year we get him a Parise to play with! I still this Dats has a lot of magical hockey in him!

Eaves, Patrick ...I cant give a grade when the guy was out all year.

Emmerton, Cory D He didnt take a step and I think Mursak is a better player. I wondered why he was in the line up when there are other players that are better players than him. I dont anticipate seeing him next year.

Ericsson, Jonathan B I welcome the negs on my grade here, but I felt Big E took an important step this year. I remember when he got hurt, people were happy and I thought he would be missed much more that ppl thought. He was great on the PK and I liked his game, especially down the stretch.

Filppula, Valtteri A my 1st A...and it goes to Flip who was great and finally had his breakout year. He peetered down the stretch but he was so good in his own end and such a great skater, he keeps the A.

Franzen, Johan D- Lazy, streaky, disappointing, hard to watch. Franzen may have has lots of goals but he cost us a few as well. He IS the most frustrating person to watch on this team and I would not be sad to part with him in the offseason.

Helm, Darren B+ he works so hard, creates havoc on boths ends of the ice and we missed him a ton when he was injured. He didnt put up as many points but he does everything so well.

Holmstrom, Tomas B- I thought Homer did a good job in the role he played this year. He could have complained that he was stuck on the 4th line, but he worked EVERY SINGLE SHIFT out there and it made me love him even more. I think this is the last of the demolition man, which saddens me!

Howard, Jimmy A- Before that finger injury, Howie was in Vezina contention I think. He was a stud but never really recovered from the finger and groin problems. He came up with some HUGE saves for us, even though he was a bit flat in the playoffs!

Hudler, Jiri B+ What a turnaround season. I was very happy for Happy this year. Lead the team in goals and after a horrific year last year, he righted the ship. I dont know if he will be back, but I am glad Hudler was able to have a good season in Detroit!

Janik, Doug B No panic Janik ws solid when he came up...like he always is. He's a good guy to have in the AHL

Kindl, Jakub D Again, I didnt see Kindl take the next step this year and, in fact, I felt like he may have regressed, being outplayed by Commodore. Not sure what will happen to Kindl but he didnt appear ready to play full time with the big boys this year.

Kronwall, Niklas A- Nik had a good year, ramped it up on the scoreboard too. I think he has finally found his stride and a top 2 man in the NHL.

Lidstrom, Nicklas B Lids is always awesome and he was great again this year. You can tell he has lost a step and that his amazing stride is a bit slower but Id be happy to see him in the Winged whell again next year

MacDonald, Joey A- He was amazing when he had to come in, unprepared for Jimmy. he alos kept the home game streak alive for three games. Joey showed me that he is a legit back up for the Wings!

Miller, Drew B This is a tale of two seasons because Miller was red hot until March and then he lost his game. He was about what I expected although it was nice when the pucks were going in for him

Mursak, Jan C+ Tough for Jan this year with injuries. I felt like he was better than Emmerton but thats about it. He didnt make a leap at all and besides his speed, I didnt see a whole lot in his game to give him and more than a C plus

Nyquist, Gustav A. He needs to get a bit stronger and play a bit more with the big boys and this guy will find his jam. He didnt look at all out of place playing wityh Pavel and I hope he cracks the line up full time next year.

Quincey, Kyle C Too many turnovers, too many penalties. I have seen him play in Colorado and he can be a great D man but he had a terrible time with Detroit. I hope he figures out the system here but his arrival left much to be desired.

Smith, Brendan A This kid is amazing and he will be a great blueliner with detroit for a long time. I like his grit, passion and his big stature. I hope he makes it out of training camp...cant say enough about Smith!

Stuart, Brad C I thought Stewie was average at best...and crappy at worst. I think his heart wasnt in it this year. He took silly penalties and didnt seem to want to work as hard as he has in previous years. I thought he'd be better...but he wasn't

White, Ian B- He was great with Lids and terrible with anyone else. I thought he started off well and peetered out down the stretch. It was so hard to grade him because it was like watching two different guys. I hope he has a rebound year next year.

Zetterberg, Henrik A- He was fantastic down the stretch, amazing in tyhe playoffs but horrible to start. I have no idea what was wrong with Hank early on but he had 8 points half was through November. His crappy start stopped me from giving him an A but he was great in the second part of the year and like always, in the playoffs!

[hooon]

No grade for Eaves who played 10 games, but grades for Brunnstrom (5 games) and Conner (8 games)?

Agree with some of your list though, don't feel like making one just now.

Edited by hooon, 23 April 2012 - 02:12 PM.

[rick zombo]

They're all bums. F.

[Nightfall]

While I agreed with most of your grades....

I stopped reading when you gave our leading goal scorer and +/- leader a D-.

Edited by Nightfall, 23 April 2012 - 02:42 PM.

[HadThomasVokounOnFortSt]

Conklin, Ty E He was horrid. No need to berate the guy...his play said it all

Hmm.. I had no idea you could get an E

[dobbles]

While I agreed with most of your grades....

I stopped reading when you gave our leading goal scorer and +/- leader a D-.

i think he was spot on with that rating. why? because he wasn't rating on ability, he was rating on expectations. and i think franzen definitely underperformed compared to what the organization and the fans thought he would bring. he only had 2 goals in march when the team was struggling and only 1 point in the 5 playoff games. franzen has established himself as a clutch player and he was anything but that this year. to me, that is the definition of not living up to expectations.

[irishock]

Core guys:


Lidstrom B (offense isn't what it used to be, but IQ and defense is always off the charts). He'd be an A if healthy.

Datsyuk A-, needs some better linemates

Zetterberg A, struggled through the early part of the season due to lingering injuries but showed amazing heart throughout the 2nd half of the season, best player this season

Kronwall B, our best Offensive defensemen but needs to be stronger on the defensive end

Howard A, kept us in the playoff race the entire season before the injury slowed him down

[Nightfall]

i think he was spot on with that rating. why? because he wasn't rating on ability, he was rating on expectations. and i think franzen definitely underperformed compared to what the organization and the fans thought he would bring. he only had 2 goals in march when the team was struggling and only 1 point in the 5 playoff games. franzen has established himself as a clutch player and he was anything but that this year. to me, that is the definition of not living up to expectations.

I think the expectations should be reasonable. He was brought in to be a 30 goal guy, which was slightly under where he landed in the end. I agree his playoff performance wasn't good, which is why I think a B would be fair to give him.

Edited by Nightfall, 23 April 2012 - 05:37 PM.

[egroen]

I think the expectations should be reasonable. He was brought in to be a 30 goal guy, which was slightly under where he landed in the end. I agree his playoff performance wasn't good, which is why I think a B would be fair to give him.

No way. Franzen is billed as a two-way workhorse with clutch goal scoring who ramps it up in the playoffs. He had a terrible year and I hope Holland has a long talk with him this summer about not getting too comfortable or he'll find his ass traded to the Islanders.

Despite decent stats in the regular season, he was awful, and even a C is too generous. It's like Lang came out of retirement.

Edited by egroen, 23 April 2012 - 05:59 PM.

[Motown4013]

Hmm.. I had no idea you could get an E

Well if it's A to F.....E is before F last time I checked in on the alphabet. Why can't I give an E?

While I agreed with most of your grades....

I stopped reading when you gave our leading goal scorer and +/- leader a D-.

SHE gave out this grade based on her expectation of what the player would bring this year. He failed.......he is a much better player than he played like so he got a big disappointing D

No grade for Eaves who played 10 games, but grades for Brunnstrom (5 games) and Conner (8 games)?

Agree with some of your list though, don't feel like making one just now.

Good point Hoon. I guess I am more familiar with Eaves game after watching him for the last 3 years and not so much with the other guys but I probably should have given Patty a grade

[SouthernWingsFan]

I'll play, and I'm going by everybody's perceived roles more/less, what we might expect of them, etc. Going by jersey # order.

#2 Brendan Smith - B+ - Showed some rookie nerves/mistakes but I see no reason why he can't be a consistent top-4 d-man after getting more experience. I look forward to seeing him more in the future.

#4 Jakub Kindl - B- - To be honest, I thought he was playing as good as realistically expected of him when the Wings traded for Quincey. Then he just nosedived almost soon thereafter.

#5 Nicklas Lidstrom - A- - Before the ankle injury, was his usual self. Unfortunately the injury had an effect. Still, don't see a reason why his play overall is in fast decline and I hope to see him back for one more season.

#8 Justin Abdelkader - B- - Can't really figure him out. Wishing he could put more offensive numbers up but as long as he's physical, that's what counts first/foremost. Needs to do that more on a consistent basis.

#11 Dan Cleary - C - Injury had an effect on less production this year, but i give him kudos for grinding it out and willingness to play through pain, and I actually thought he was pretty solid in the first round. If he keeps this mentality, I still want him here.

#13 Pavel Datsyuk - A- - Nothing much really needs to be said about him that we already know. A magician with the puck, but he still needs help at times and didn't have it much in the latter part of the season.

#14 Gustav Nyquist - B - Not trying to dog on him whatsoever, but I think people are getting too far ahead of themselves regarding him. I don't think he will stink up the joint, far from it, just neither too high or low on him right now.

#15 Riley Sheahan - N/A - Just 1 game

#17 Patrick Eaves - N/A - Nearly season long injury

#18 Ian White - B - Was mostly hit with this guy, being paired with Lidstrom often, but when it was miss, it was bigtime as he had some major brainfarts to me. Still, glad to have him in the grand scheme of things

#20 Drew Miller - A - Even though he tailed off at the end of the season, given that he isn't here to score, he put up career numbers while still providing energy and speed and forechecking

#22 Mike Commodore - C- - Was just there per se, really didn't do anything special before the trade.

#23 Brad Stuart - B - Made the gaffe from time to time but one of the more physical players on the team and will likely be missed assuming he leaves as expected.

#26 Jiri Hudler - B+ A polarizing figure on here that is often frustrating for many, understandbly so (and he's far from my favorite), say what you want he still had a career year. It's just frustrating because he seemed to be the one to pass up the most opportuntites to put the puck on the net.

#27 Kyle Quincey - C - Was too inconsistent, very frustrating after the trade, especially the final game of the playoffs. Not against re-signing him given that this was a small sample size after the trade deadline and him being before in the past, but he needs to step his game up.

#29 Ty Conklin - C - Fair or not with lack of playing time and as much as I liked him, he struggled. Did much better his second stint when MacDonald went down. Will be interesting how MacDonald progresses from injury to see if that is a factor in any possibility of the Wings re-signing him. Wouldn't be against it if that is the case since I do like him.

#31 Joey MacDonald - A - Stepping in when Howard was injured and Conklin struggled, he took the job and ran with it. See above with the injury. Assuming full health, gotta believe the backup job is finally his 100.

#35 Jimmy Howard - A - Playoff numbers weren't as good as the regular season but other than the overcommit in game 4 (which plenty others did), can't blame him alone whatsoever for the losses. Kicked butt most regular season, hope he can maintain his play.

#37 Doug Janik - A- - Given his role as a call-up, did his job yet again as a valuable emergency stay-at-home guy. Wouldn't be against having him have more playing time if such a situation arises.

#39 Jan Mursak - B- - Didn't impress all that much, but he still has a bright future. Hopefully he can get more time.

#40 Henrik Zetterberg - A- - After a horrid start, finally got it going and still showed why arguably he has been the most consistent/reliable Wing during the playoffs in recent years. Always busts his tail off.

#41 Chris Conner - A - Given his role, provided speed and energy in his brief stint, did pretty much everything you could ask for.

#43 Darren Helm - B+ - Given his speed and tenacity, would've loved for him to put more offensive numbers up but first/foremost is the effort and speed, which you'll always get from him pretty much.

#44 Todd Bertuzzi - B- - A very frustrating player to watch at times. I like him a lot, but when he's cold, he's nowhere to be found and takes the bad penalty every now and then. Still great in one-on-one situations, shootouts, etc.

#48 Cory Emmerton - B - Often ostracized on here, I thought given his first year of full duty, did solid. Wasn't overly physical but rarely screwed up either.

#51 Valtteri Filppula - A- - After a career year, unfortunately dried up in the playoffs. Still, his career year before that gives hope that he is finally a consistent offensive threat.

#52 Jonathan Ericsson - B - A whipping boy on here by many, often overblown. Wish he'd be a bit more physical but I think he's finally found his calling on here in being a great penalty killer/shutdown d-man instead of trying to focus more on offense.

#55 Niklas Kronwall - A - Most physical d-man, and probably the most important for years to come. Quickly becoming a leader on and off the ice.

#63 Joakim Andersson - C- - Not against having him on the roster, but in his limited time here, just never really did anything good or bad to me.

#93 - Johan Franzen - B - As frustrating as he can be to watch sometimes, he still led this team in goals and is arguably the team's best sniper and arguably the team's biggest "X" factor still. Many say he was awful in he playoffs, but he had a goal just a few ticks to late and for the most part I thought he was engaged. I know I'm probably going to get yelled at for that, but I'm sorry, I didn't think he was that bad.

#96 - Tomas Holmstrom - B- - Still can bring it on the power play but is going to struggle for playing time even strength. Got to admire his game even though he doesn't put it in the net as much and bringing effort and hard work every shift. He's my fav. player so obviously I want him back for one last go-round, but I still think he has some good hockey left in him. If it is still in these limited roles, cool, I have no problem with that.

EDIT: Not that it'll matter much, but I forgot Brunnstrom.

#76 - Fabian Brunnstrom - C - Unfortunately didn't do much during his brief stint to start the season. I still think he has the right attitude though wanting to be here and wanting to give it another effort. If that's the case, definitely not against having him on the roster and giving him a shot in training camp.

Edited by SouthernWingsFan, 23 April 2012 - 07:44 PM.

[dobbles]

I think the expectations should be reasonable. He was brought in to be a 30 goal guy, which was slightly under where he landed in the end. I agree his playoff performance wasn't good, which is why I think a B would be fair to give him.

i guess we just differ on what we think franzen should be doing. to me his role is more than just a 30 goal scorer. i would put him at the 40 goal target given his salary, minutes, and linemates. he also needs to be able to generate more of those goals on his own and not just rely on datsyuk making amazing moves and getting him the puck 4 feet from an open net. because of his salary and role on the team, he needs to be an on ice leader. and you can't be that when you float around half your shift and rarely play in your own zone. he often is able to hide in the regular season due to his rep as a playoff performer. as stated in my last post, he was weak down the stretch and invisible in the playoffs this year. thats why he deserves one of the lowest grades on the team.

[HadThomasVokounOnFortSt]

Well if it's A to F.....E is before F last time I checked in on the alphabet. Why can't I give an E?

Last time I checked it went A, B, C, D, F...

[ami]

Perhaps I've been watching different team, but last 10 games Mr. Kronwall has been horrible. C- at best.

[Cali-Wing-Nut]

Anyone that thinks Brad Stuart (I wont grace him with a nickname) deserves anything more than a D is blind or high on drugs.

I may sound like a tin-foiler but I seriously think he was trying to throw games. I also expect a negative 5 or more.

He played like Ericcson did last year only we know how he usually plays. We also know that hes in the pocket of SJ right now and wouldnt surprise me if a juicier contract would be offered if we lost here and there. He skated away from pucks, let forwards skate past him without challenging them and flat out played at 50%.

Unless he has a broken foo,t he was sandbagging and/or throwing games.

STUART- J-

Edited by Cali-Wing-Nut, 24 April 2012 - 01:04 AM.

[Buppy]

i guess we just differ on what we think franzen should be doing. to me his role is more than just a 30 goal scorer. i would put him at the 40 goal target given his salary, minutes, and linemates. he also needs to be able to generate more of those goals on his own and not just rely on datsyuk making amazing moves and getting him the puck 4 feet from an open net. because of his salary and role on the team, he needs to be an on ice leader. and you can't be that when you float around half your shift and rarely play in your own zone. he often is able to hide in the regular season due to his rep as a playoff performer. as stated in my last post, he was weak down the stretch and invisible in the playoffs this year. thats why he deserves one of the lowest grades on the team.

Evidence strongly suggests that Franzen is just a typical 30-ish-goal scorer, with typical 30-goal scorer consistency problems, who can occasionally get hot enough to be dominant, rather than the under-achieving 40+ scorer most here seem to think he is.

As is usually the case with whipping boys, one short stretch of brilliance leads to gross over-expectations, which inevitably leads to disappointment. Take away the Colorado series and I'm willing to bet a whole lot of people would have a much different opinion of him.

[Nightfall]

i guess we just differ on what we think franzen should be doing. to me his role is more than just a 30 goal scorer. i would put him at the 40 goal target given his salary, minutes, and linemates. he also needs to be able to generate more of those goals on his own and not just rely on datsyuk making amazing moves and getting him the puck 4 feet from an open net. because of his salary and role on the team, he needs to be an on ice leader. and you can't be that when you float around half your shift and rarely play in your own zone. he often is able to hide in the regular season due to his rep as a playoff performer. as stated in my last post, he was weak down the stretch and invisible in the playoffs this year. thats why he deserves one of the lowest grades on the team.

Based on his salary, he is performing up to what he is paid. Does he have deficiencies? Every player does. At the same time, if you are expecting the world from this guy at a sub $4 million dollar cap hit, you have been hitting the bong too often. These things you are mentioning I would expect from Dats and Z, at over $6 million each, they should be backchecking and doing all the little things that you talk about. Do I think that Franzen could pick up his game? Absolutely. Do I think he could be more physical? Absolutely. Which is why I say a B is fair.

I guess we can agree to disagree on this one. I am just here to point out that the expectations that people have of him are way overblown, especially for his pay grade.

Edited by Nightfall, 24 April 2012 - 07:08 AM.

[nuts2u]

Based on his salary, he is performing up to what he is paid. Does he have deficiencies? Every player does. At the same time, if you are expecting the world from this guy at a sub $4 million dollar cap hit, you have been hitting the bong too often. These things you are mentioning I would expect from Dats and Z, at over $6 million each, they should be backchecking and working their asses off.

I guess we can agree to disagree on this one.

I don't give a s*** what his CAP HIT is the lazy JACKASS (not mule) is being paid 5.25 MILLION DOLLARS and god damnit that means you need to WORK YOUR ASS OFF to earn it. People dump on Hudler and ***** that he can't score if he isn't playing with Dats or Zetterberg but how many effing goals do you think FRANCINE would score if he didn't have Z and Dats WORKING their asses off to get him the puck while he ***** foots around the ice trying not to muss his hair......

[Z Winged Dangler]

i agree with every assessment aside from Hudler. he constantly dragged down the Z-Flip combo and had a career year riding their coat tails. if he was twice as fast as he currently is, he would be more useful to the Wings and that line in particular and would actually be worth re-signing. aside from Huds, that was a very good read and well assessed. Nyquist is the future...I know one guy who agrees. And Smith will be a beast next year and we will no longer miss Stuart and his giveaways and absolutely horrific display in the playoffs this year. Loved him, but he can have fun in Cali with his family, who was clearly the first thing on his mind but can't blame him. best of luck to him.

[Nightfall]

I don't give a s*** what his CAP HIT is the lazy JACKASS (not mule) is being paid 5.25 MILLION DOLLARS and god damnit that means you need to WORK YOUR ASS OFF to earn it. People dump on Hudler and ***** that he can't score if he isn't playing with Dats or Zetterberg but how many effing goals do you think FRANCINE would score if he didn't have Z and Dats WORKING their asses off to get him the puck while he ***** foots around the ice trying not to muss his hair......

Thats why I am glad that we have Ken Holland, Jim Nil, and Mike Illich in charge of this team. If it was up to the jackass fans on this website to build the team, we would have a team full of enforcers, no skilled players, and we would be going on 20 consecutive seasons of missing the playoffs.