Z Winged Dangler

One more thing.  Is Hudler the Flames captain yet?

God that first line is going to be rough to play against.... absolutely no space with Burns and Thornton together on a line. They have been doing better of recent so no better time to remind them to stay down there! Good job HT as always!

 Did I miss something?  I though Brent Burns was a Dman?  Or did he do the reverse Byfuglien and move up to forward?

 I'd like to see a huge win by the Wings to send a message that they are in fact still a beast and 10+ steals by Datsyuk, all on Joe Thornton.

Once Iginla is traded to the Bruins, it will pave way for Hudler to take his rightful place as the Flames captain for Calgary is just that good.

I agree with you that we've been hit hard concerning our Dmen in 1 way, or another, and adding a guy with potential like Dekeyser would benefit the team.

 

Now with that said - I've never seen the guy play, and only have read about him here at LGW, but this notion that he'll step right in, and be a top 4 guy whom is capable of replacing an experienced NHL'er such as White is a long shot at best.

 

Yeah - apparently he's a great player - at the NCAA level...Last time I checked.....NHL>>>AHL>>>NCAA

 

I for one wouldn't be surprised to see him struggle if he made the jump directly into the "bigs".

 I would absolutely expect him to struggle at first.  NHL is the fastest game in the world, the toughest as well.  The things that are said about Dekeyser is that he has all the tools to be a top player, just like Brendan Smith who has had flashes of brilliance this year, but has also struggled at times.  If Dekeyser plays with a more experienced Dman then he should pick it up pretty quick.  The main thing is though, does he want to be a Wing and possibly spend some of this year in GR, or does he want to go to a franchise like Edmonton who with all their "talent" still can't sniff the playoffs?  He knows as much as the rest of us that the Wings ALWAYS have a bright future ahead one way or another, due to great management.

I honestly believe there's quite a few of us here that see him as a top-notch NCAA player with potential to become a top 4 Dman at the NHL level.

 

Right now - if he were to don a Red Wings jersey, and step right into the line up - chances are he'd have some issues handling the bigger/stronger/faster players.

 What I'm wondering is:

Justin Schultz was supposed to start the year with Edmonton.  More offensively gifted, but not defensively.

Seth Jones is expected to jump right onto the team that drafts him this summer while Jacob Trouba was the best Dman in the WJC, and is in college right now and my skip his senior year to come play for the Jets (as per the analysists from TSN Jets last night)

but...

Dan Dekeyser isn't as good as any of the other 3, yet he took the same path as Schultz and finished his senior year at college and played 1 more year than Trouba and Seth Jones is even younger and fresher but can step right into the NHL.

I'll go on the list of guys that believes that Dekeyser can jump into the top 4 here and replace White, whom in all likelyhood will not be a Wing next year and he'll do a good job.  He's highly touted for his skating ability where at a camp, guys thought he was a forward he was such a good skater.  And he's a shutdown defensive guy who can put up points and makes smart pinches.  I'm not seeing a downside to him being in the top 4 and I truly hope he ends up here. 

After losing over the years Konstantinov, Fischer, Rafalski, Schneider, Stuart, Lidstrom and i'm sure I missed a couple, we need a young Dman to step in and anchor the blue line for the next 15.

Semin is a lazier floater than Franzen.  I could not possibly be happier that he re-signed with Carolina.

You can NEVER miss the net across it with a clapper when you're the only man back.  Awful Kronner.

Good effort by Andersson and as a result, Wings PP.  Go figure.  Now let's see Cleary's mad skills.  Darkmanx will unleash tears of joy if he gets another PP goal.

Z Winged Dangler is celebrating for White right now.

no way dude!  Brunner stuck his stick in the way and snagged the goal from Ingrid.  Now if you think i'm gonna change the NHL 13 guy to Ian White, you're sadly mistaken.  Rue Miller is replacing Pavel Datsyuk to skate along side Danny Cleary.

No one take Rue Miller!!! I'm changing it to my avatar pic right meow!

I feel dirty. I hate getzlaf and perry, but that was a weak call especially at the end of the period. Just really bad officating, I really don't blame the Ducks for getting pissed, I know I would.

 

Oh well not going to feel sorry for them, lord knows the Wings have had more then their fair share of bad calls against them.

I've seen maybe 3 games this year that weren't poorly officiated.

Ironhook ready to join GR tomorrow.

God I hope Perry keeps that up against Smith and gets his brain pounded in.  

Before the night is over it feels like Perry is going to try and run over Jimmy.

As long as someone clocks him if he does.....