Lonewuhf

This illustrates the fact that we have become too reliant on plugs. I hate to sound like I am part of the negative parade, but Cleary is like Scott Gomez out there. It sucks to bench a guy who is trying hard, but Babcock needs to be realistic.

Out bottom 6 lacks an identity, and this team doesn't have lines. It's a problem. For six spots on the bottom two lines we have:

Cleary, Helm, Abdelkader, Miller, Eaves, Tootoo, Emmerton, Nyquist, Sammy. Most play similar styles. Get rid of Cleary and Emmerton, drop one of Miller or Eaves (I hate to say it, its nothing against them, but they've always been similar on what they bring to the team) and bring in a faceoff specialist.

And Babcock is pretty bad at assembling lines. Datsyuk and Bertuzzi should never be separated, neither should Franzen and Zetterberg. Those lines are tge closest to having a reliable identity.

Flip is a goner, I think. He nets us a decent return. Not ideal, but he's the only roster player we have who anyone might want and who we could find a way to survive without.

 

They won't trade Flip. He's one of the hardest working players on the team. He's also our 3rd best forward.  Trading him, especially for the cap hit he is would be a bad idea. We need more offense, and I doubt we'll get more back from a trade then what we'll lose.

If we've learned anything in life, it's that assigning blame after the fact is always productive.



The fact that there were very few sellers, all of whom were asking exorbitant prices, is, as usual, completely irrelevant.

But the teams that got some of those players are going to go farther in the playoffs than we have...  I'm not sure if you're aware, but you can't win the cup being beaten in the first round.

Negged when a lot of people in here agree with me, gotta love these forums.

I'm getting so damn tired of seeing fights after clean hits.  It seems goons are taking over this game in a bad way...



I think this looks clean to me, the announcers seem like morons...

We still only seem to have 1/2 of our offense giving a damn game in game out.  Out of our top 6, the only ones consistently working every shift of every game is Dats, Z, and Fil.  The rest float around until they can grab an easy goal that got set in their lap.  None of the other 3 in the top 6 creates opportunities, they just benefit from the hard work of the other 3.  It's really frustrating to watch.

The other problem I see in every game is that our powerplay lines are messed up.  STOP PUTTING HOLMSTROM ON THE DAMN ICE FOR POWERPLAYS.  He's not the player he used to be, and another player would be FAR more effective.

With as (sort of--better than Campbell anyway) consistent as Shanny was throughout the year, does everyone think these decisions are all him or is there some pressure coming from elsewhere in the league?  I thought Shanny did a decent job with a tough position throughout the season, but I lost a lot of respect for him on the Weber decision.  I feel like throwing up in my mouth when I say that, because he was always one of my favorite players, but there you have it.  Certain things just should not be a part of the game and I think he dropped the ball.

I actually had this same thought as well.  I honestly believe that he does have pressure coming from the league that will somewhat influence his decision.  Having certain players out for a game or 2 (like Weber for instance) turns the tables greatly in Detroit's favor, and that wouldn't be good for the Preds fans.  At the same time, it's the players who are doing the actions, they are the ones who would be letting the fans down, and just allowing this s*** to happen is going to get someone seriously injured.  I'd hate to see someone's career end because goons can be goony with no fear of retribution from the league (who seems to actually defend these actions by keeping things like the instigator rule in effect...)

Oh... my... god...  This is borderline disrespectful.

How many other teams use a screener on their top 2 lines?  I can't recall very many.  Most people rely on skill to score goals, not blinding the goalie.  It's always seemed cheap to me.  Like others have said also, his reputation seems to have gotten ahead of himself, now he gets good goals called back, and takes penalties pretty much every game. Homer has had an amazing career, but at this point he'd only hurt the top 2 lines.  Those defending him need to look at our PP.  Homer is on the ice with Dats and Z on pretty much every PP and look how that's gone...

The Z, Flip, Hudler line has been the best, BY FAR, for the last couple of months, why they tear apart that chemistry on power plays is beyond me.  And if they do want to do that, Flip, Z and Dats would be infinitely better than Z, dats and Homer.

Hudler is absolutley the weak link. He can pick corners if you put the puck on his tape 20 feet out from the net - but THATS IT. He might be the slowest top-speed scoring winger in the game right now... Incredibly 1 dimensional player that is too small and immobile to be effective on a regular basis. Want skill on that line? Throw Hemsky on it. Want grit? Let Gaustad crash and bang for Z and Filp. Trade Hudler for a washing machine and a carton of chocolate milk.

Cleary has played substantially worse than Hudler.  Seriously, ever time Cleary touches the puck I know the outcome, and it's never good.

No if we got Selanne then it provides us with the ability to finally play Pavs and Hank together every single game. I think the lines would and should be:

Zetterberg- Datsyuk- Bertuzzi (Hank is energized now and Pavel has been good most the season, and Bert has worked real well with Pavs)

Selanne- Filpulla- Franzen (Fil and Selanne would be great together and Franzen would add to the line... this would be the best 2nd line in the NHL)

Cleary- Helm- Hudler

Mursak- Abdelkator- Miller


Lidstrom- White
Kronners- Stu
Ericsson- Commie

- I don't think it would cost as much as ppl think for Selanne because everyone knows he is going to retire after this season and if he goes to the Ducks to ask to be traded to the Wings, I dont think it will cost us too much.
- I think getting Selanne will win us the Cup.

Seriously??? Babs isn't not playing Dats and Z together because he can't. It's because they just don't work together anymore as seen the countless times he's tried it in the past 2 seasons. I wish people here would get the damn "hank and dats together are unstoppable" mentality out of their heads once and for all.

The third period against Edmonton is proof there is NOTHING wrong with Zetterberg.    Put him with Franzen and Bertuzzi and he looks good.  The problem is with Filppula and Hudler or having Filppula and Hudler on the same line.     What good does it do when Filppula or Hudler get 30 or 40 points and they give up 40 or 50 points?   Wings can not have TWO lightweights on a line with Zetterberg.    Neither Filppula nor Hudler are "hard" on the puck.   They get knocked off the puck easily and get knocked down easily.    When was the last time you saw Filppula deliver a big hit????

If I get to choose players to play against the big teams like St. Louis, San Jose and Vancouver...... Filppula and Hudler are not on it.

Putting Datsyuk on a line with the two lightweights will not work either.

Yeah... Fil is easily the second strongest person on the puck behind Dats on this team.  I can't remember the last time he WAS actually knocked off the puck.

All of my friends who are fans of other teams disagree.

It's good that you add such good arguments to the conversation and aren't just arguing for the sake of arguing >.>

LOL.  I have a degree in history as well.  I just don't use it to justify shortsighted points and reinforce it with s***ty logic.  But you do, so that's cool.    But you say you are a historian so…

Problem for you is, he's actually making relevant points, you're just saying "no you're wrong" without any support whatsoever.  He's right, Philly does have the worst fans, it's a fairly widely known fact. Obviously not everyone is a bad fan, but too many are and they give the entire fan base a bad name.

I apparently haven't been paying attention, but what happened to Crosby again?  Is he back to crying about his concussions?