Theophany

In the Sharks series Filppula centered Franzen and Hudler, and you say he was being used primarily as a defensive center?

Well, I guess that means Hudler was being used in a defensive role, right? So the fact that he didn't score any points either doesn't matter because he wasn't out there to score points.

The fact that Franzen played like s***, and then got injured and kept playing like s*** is what kept that line from scoring. But people here don't like to bag on Franzen for some odd reason. Here's a nice juicy fact. FRANZEN SUCKED. FRANZEN WAS THE REASON THE FRANZEN/FILPPULA/HUDLER LINE WASN'T SCORING. Not Flip, and not Huds. They were both effective in all of the games that line played.

Babcock always uses his centers as shutdown guys, especially against the Sharks, who were extremely deep down the middle (Thornton/Pavelski/Couture). That he trusted Filppula to play center on a line with Franzen and Hudler, two huge defensive liabilities, shows how much he trusted Filppula to play a defensive/backchecking role on that line.

And yes, Franzen sucked. But then again, that's nothing new. He has large periods during the regular season where he sucks/is invisible.

Wow. I consider myself a very thoughtful, open-minded, patient and informed fan. I've watched this team closely for 16 years and I try not to say anything that I haven't really considered.

That said, I only pointed out something I started to notice about Babcock this playoff. It's akin to saying I've been noticing Lidstrom make mistakes. Stating Lidstrom makes mistakes doesn't mean I want him gone and same for Babs. Read recent posts of mine, definetly support Babcock.

As for Filppula, I believe I can make an informed opinion as to what he brings to this team in regards to what he needs to bring to this team. I think its consensus that Fil isn't living up to his potential.

Not living up to his potential? He had the GWG (and made the play to take away the puck) in game six. How much more clutch would you like him to be?

He also put up 8 points in 11 games, and he only got points in two games of the Sharks series (1 G, 1 A in game six and 1 A in game seven). Also keep in mind that he was primarily used as a defensive center for most of the series, until Babcock put him on Datsyuk's wing.

How about Cleary? He's only paid slightly less than Filppula, and yet he gets a pass for producing markedly less than Filppula in the playoffs? Not only that, he does markedly less than Filppula on defense.

Oh good, another overreaction thread from someone who doesn't know what the hell they're talking about.

Seriously, bashing Filppula and Babcock?

This guy is not the problem.  The problem is the 35+ year olds that are SLOW, SOFT, and DON'T PRODUCE enough.

Holmstrom
Bertuzzi
Draper
Rafalski
Osgood
Ken Holland

These guys are the problem.  The line-up should look like this going into next season:

Helm-Datsyuk-Cleary
Mursak-Zetterberg-Franzen
Hudler-Filppula-Abdelkader
Eaves-Miller-Ericsson

Emmerton-Tatar

Lidstrom-Stuart
Kronwall-Kindl
Salei-Pyett

Lashoff

Howard
McCollum

But we're going to get more of the same.  Don't get your hopes up for anything special in 2011-2012 playoffs.

So you like winning 30 games a year? Because that's about how many you'd win with that lineup.

YOU HAVE HELM ON THE FIRST LINE WING.

Please for the love of god stay away from anything that's anywhere close to coaching or being a GM. You'd be absolutely terrible at it.

As much as we love him, I think he's over payed. Time to go Nick, and built this franchise with the other Nick.

This is extremely laughable. He's a Norris finalist and you think he's overpaid at $6.2m?

And even more laughable, you think Kronwall is a future #1 dman? He's 30 years old and has never showed more talent than a #2 at best.

Edit: I hope to god that Lids is back for another year. This team will have a hard time continuing on without him.

Yeah, I had to look at dates for sure but once I saw the answers I already knew

Clearly it's Pav now and that's putting him against ANY player in the NHL. FACT.

Right now, yes, because Crosby still has concussion symptoms.

But if/when Crosby gets healthy, Dats is clearly #2.

Yep. There's (bolded) the rational, logical, scientific, statistic based belief system at it's finest. Chance isn't a factor. Nor is momentum and swelling pride in the Wings locker room. Only stats are real. Yep. 1.8% can't be argued with.

Some of us turn our beliefs toward faith, which doesn't always walk hand in hand with rational, logical, stats kind of folks. So, in truth, you are right. Faith usually tends to be "irrational". Good on you for naming that idiocy.

I stated in my post that chance was a factor. Anyone that knows anything about statistics and probability knows that chance is the defining reason that we even have probability in the first place.

I could go into an entire rant about how faith has held science back for thousands of years, but it's not germane to this thread.

The long and short of it is that 1.8% can't be argued with, because it's a fact. Facts are true whether you want to believe them or not, that's why they're called "facts". The beauty of sports is that there is chance and there is momentum involved in them, but there is also damn near 100 years of history involved in hockey, and in all of that time, three teams have come back from being down 0-3 to win the series. That's not to say it can't happen, because it has (1.8% of the time).

Rational people choose to believe in probability and chance rather than choosing blind faith. Even with a dour outlook on the series, most are going to be watching tonight anyway, for that 1.8% chance that it will happen.

Agreed.  I hate the animosity amongst the fan base.  It may be kind of a with-me-or-against-me mentality, but when I see people saying, "They're done." I just don't feel like they're on 'our' side.  We should stand united, through thick and thin, and always back the Red and White.

Then you're an irrational idiot. It's perfectly justifiable to say "they're done" after being down 3-0 in the series. There's a 1.8% chance to come back when down 3-0 in a series, enough that you'd get quite a lot of money if you bet on those odds in Vegas and won.

Edit: it's not giving up, it's a statement of belief. Do I want the Wings to come back? Of course I do. I still watch as much of every game as work will allow me to. Do I think they will? No; I strongly believe in statistics and probability in these cases. Could they pull it off? There's a slim chance that they could, and that's why I still watch.

At the end of the day 4 players have points in these two games. The fact that Filppula, who was our second best forward in the first round and third to only Datsyuk and Zetterberg in all-around play is the one being called out is absolutely unbelievable.

I completely agree. People aren't looking in the right direction when they think Filppula is a problem; he's cimply not. His faceoff win percentage could be higher, but other than that, you can't complain about a guy that in six games has 1 G, 4 A, and is +5 (tied for second on the team in points).

How about the guy that's -3, has no points, 12 PIM, and is playing third line center?

Abdelkader has taken some stupid penalties, but I'm more concerned with our "second line" center or the guy that has supposed to fill that role for five years now and still hasn't. Filppula is useless offensively and the reason Datsyuk and Zetterberg almost have to be split up again.

No worries though. Fil will hit his potential next season according to his fan club and the Cubs will win the World Series.

Uh, Fil is tied with Homer for second most points on the team in the playoffs, bro.

You might want to pick on someone that's actually sucking, like Franzen or Abdelkader (who's -3).

Some people...  

I believe...

...that this team is lazy and unmotivated.

Modano isn't better.  Unfortunately.

A pylon would have been better than Franzen tonight. At least we'd see it and it couldn't give the puck away trying stupid passes in the offensive zone.

Modano would be playing third line minutes as well, allowing Bertuzzi to play second line minutes with Filppula and Hudler, who both looked great tonight despite how unnoticeable Franzen was.

I know it sounds a bit ridiculous, but I would have kept Z out if I was Babcock.  The Wings were undefeated with the line-up they were rolling.  Why change until something goes wrong?

Uh, because the Sharks—as we saw tonight—are not the Winnipeg Jetyotes?

Seriously, this takes the cake for "dumb posts made after a loss."

Make sure you take a fresh box of tissues with you to bed tonite, sweetheart.

I expect Kronwall to get off his lazy ass and move his feet instead of coasting in and getting totally outworked by Pavelski.  Thats what i expect.  Pavelski was willing to bust his ass to make the play; Kronwall wasn't.  That was symptomatic of too much of the game.

I expect them to have learned from last year that you don't win Stanley Cups by letting the wind get taken out of your sails by little men with whistles and diving divas.

Good post. Unfortunately, Ericsson, Kronwall, and Salei preferred to take tickets and act as turnstiles to actually moving their feet and using actual good position.

If that kind of crap keeps up, not even Howard/Datsyuk coming up clutch as hell can win us the series.

Given last game's performance, I might sit Franzen for Modano. He's been bad this year, but he can't be any worse than Mule was.

Wait, Franzen played tonight?