yave1964 Posted January 4, 2016 Share Posted January 4, 2016 As we get to the halfway point of the season the Wings are sitting square in the middle of six teams in the division within a few points of each other, here is my interpretation or grade card for all the major players on the team: Henrik Zetterberg: B minus. 7 goals 22 assists 29 points in 39 games. Z had a very nice start but has slowed down considerably after October and looks his age. Dylan Larkin: A I don't have enough words to describe what the kid has meant to the team, he leads all of hockey in plus minus. A minor quibble, IMHO he should be moved to first line center and first line power play. Gustav Nyquist: B 12 goals and a solid power play specialist. Tomas Tatar: B minus 12 goals, bust long stretches of disappearing. Justin Abdelkader: A minus 12 goals leaves it all on the ice every shift Pavel Datsyuk C plus 15 points in 24 games, okay stats since returning but has not looked like himself. Brad Richards: C 11 points in 26 games has been a bit snake bit, hits a million posts. Darren Helm: C minus 9 points in 35 games playing middle six minutes, has really had a poor year. Rlley Sheahan: C minus 6 goals but a minus 11 (worst on team) and has not developed this year. Teemu Pulkinner: C minus 6 goals in 24 games before injury but plays zero defense Luke Glendening: B minus good on P/K but not much more. Thomas Jurco: D minus. AHL player, never will be more. Joakim Andersson: D rumored to be on the team. DEFENSE: Nik Kronwall: C Wearing down, still solid on power play. Mike Green: B Health only real concern, great fit on the back end. Jonathan Ericsson: B no real offense but has developed a snarl to his game. Danny Dekeyser: C plus Solid back end player but offense is still a work in progress Brendan Smith: C plus motor and hockey IQ much higher this year, a bit of offense is nice too Alexey Marchenko: C is solid, has not embarrassed himself and has a nice clearing pass. Jakub Kindl: C playing better now that Babs has moved on but still just a 7th d-man. GOALIE Petr Mrazek: A or even A plus. A few bad games but overall without the way he has played the Wings would be battling the Leafs and Sabres for the basement. Simply put he is the teams MVP. Jimmy Howard: C plus has not been bad, but Mrazek has clearly been better. I left injured players such as Drew Miller, Quincey and Franzen out. The Wings are on pace for upper nineties in points, I believe with so many good solid clubs it will take at least that if not 100 points to make the playoffs. They are doing okay but need to get the third period figured out. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SpikeDDS Posted January 6, 2016 Share Posted January 6, 2016 Hey guy. If I hadn't seen you post this, I was gonna make a post asking if anyone knew if something happened to you. Good to see you back. I don't disagree more than one plus or minus away from ANY of your offensive players. You nailed them all, pretty much. Only thing I might switch is Nyke and Tats. Neither have been great, but I'd rank Tats higher than But I hate to say it, because I know he is one of your faves, but Kroner is not a C. He's a C-/D+ in my book. He is merely a shadow of who he was. He needs to find himself again. And maybe I wear similar rose-colored glasses for DeKeyser, but I say he's higher than a C. He's a B player AT LEAST. I agree his offensive contributions are not where I had hoped, but he might just be my favorite shutdown Red Wing defenseman right now. Very reliable. He doesn't cough up pucks as much as Big E does. And I'd tell you we BOTH need to swallow our pride a bit and give Smith higher than a C+ also. B at most, but that seems about right, especially as compared with expectations. He has surpassed mine this year by a good margin. Didn't think I'd be saying it, but he has earned it, IMHO, if I am being objective. No question that Larkin and Mrazek have led this team so far. Larkin is just plain fun to watch. Honestly, Mrazek is too. I LOVE his aggressive style! Time for KH to move some of our lower-tier players and ready some spots for the young 'ns. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OccamsRazor Posted January 8, 2016 Share Posted January 8, 2016 The Lightning will re-sign Stamkos — then trade him Steven Stamkos will sign an eight-year contract extension with the Tampa Bay Lightning matching dollar-for-dollar the $84 million deals signed by Patrick Kane and Jonathan Toews…then immediately be traded to the Detroit Red Wings along with Jonathan Drouin just before the trade deadline. Faced with the prospect of losing him for nothing, Lightning GM Steve Yzerman will orchestrate a "sign-and-trade" deal for Stamkos with the Red Wings that will allow Stamkos to go to the team of his choice and get an eight-year deal, getting around the seven-year deal he would have had to sign with Detroit if he were to become an unrestricted free agent in the summer. The price for Stamkos and Drouin will be steep – sniper Gustav Nyquist, a pair of 24-year-old pending restricted free agents in Riley Sheahan and Alexey Marchenko, along with top prospect Anthony Mantha and the Red Wings first-round pick in 2016 and 2017. Stamkos will immediately go back to his center position, moving the aging Pavel Datsyuk down to a checking role more suited to him on the third line. (Ken Campbell) http://www.wingingitinmotown.com/2016/1/6/10726040/red-wings-rumors-stamkos-and-drouin-to-detroit Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
yave1964 Posted January 8, 2016 Author Share Posted January 8, 2016 OccamsRazor From your lips to Kenny Hollandsears. please. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
yave1964 Posted January 8, 2016 Author Share Posted January 8, 2016 On 1/6/2016 at 9:28 PM, SpikeDDS said: I hate to say it, because I know he is one of your faves, but Kroner is not a C. He's a C-/D+ in my book. He is merely a shadow of who he was. He needs to find himself again. And maybe I wear similar rose-colored glasses for DeKeyser, but I say he's higher than a C. He's a B player AT LEAST. I agree his offensive contributions are not where I had hoped, but he might just be my favorite shutdown Red Wing defenseman right now. Very reliable. He doesn't cough up pucks as much as Big E does. And I'd tell you we BOTH need to swallow our pride a bit and give Smith higher than a C+ also. B at most, but that seems about right, especially as compared with expectations. He has surpassed mine this year by a good margin. Didn't think I'd be saying it, but he has earned it, IMHO, if I am being objective.. Been a strange couple of months but things are finally getting back to normal and I should be posting more, thank you for the concern. The three d-men you mentioned all were difficult for me, Kronner is my favorite Wing so I possibly have Swede colored glasses on but he did hold the unit together with Green and Quincey out and still is doing very well on the power play. I feel confident that i have him rated about right. I probably did blow it with DK. Did you see his goal last night? An absolute thing of beauty. Larkin hit Z in stride and Dekeyser pinched in, Z hit him in stride, Dekeyser made a sick move on Jones and buried it top shelt. A goal scorers goal. My only problem with him is he shows a move like that and then for the next two weeks he lays back and does not enter the zone. Hopefully it builds his confidence because wow what a shot. Brendan Smith has always been a favorite of mine, when the Wings drafter him i went several times to Columbus to watch him playing for Wisconsin against the Bucks. I drooled and locked my chops, loved the kid. He developed slower than hoped both at GR and in Detroit but i love his game now. Maybe a B or B minus for him too, no argument there at all. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SpikeDDS Posted January 13, 2016 Share Posted January 13, 2016 @OccamsRazor When I first read the paragraph, my initial reaction was "too much." However, when you take into consideration the Red Wings' upcoming cap issues and multiple RFAs, this does solve some of those problems, and gets the Wings something for these players rather than getting little-to-nothing, and watching them skate away. The truth is that this Red Wings team cannot stay like it is, and it will be FAR better off with the young talent coming up to get rid of some of the surplus. We are soon going to run out of Jakub Kindls to put on waivers. We've got too much talent, and (here is that DANG Franzen deal coming back to bite us HARD!) not enough cap space. KH has GOT to move people for the good of the franchise, or we will be giving talent away. Giving up some of these players will sting a little, but it's a necessary evil. This is as good a deal as we may find, and it helps both sides with their issues. is Stamkos still looking to get out of TB? Even with his resurgence? What's the deal there? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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