Injury Report: DeKeyser out Tuesday with UBI, questionable for Wednesday...

The Zetterberg Era

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I'm fine with playing the Kids but the current Redwings defense will be in trouble without DeKeyser and Green. They're the only top4 vets left on the team.

DeKeyser hasn't played like anything more than a bottom pairing guy for two straight years. Not even a very good bottom pairing d-man since he is allergic to contact. Nothing about DeKeyser's game seems to have gotten markedly better since he broke into the league. Without that development it is tough to talk about him like he is impactful. Heck there is a reason Team USA picked Jensen over him for the World Championships in my opinion.
 

Oddbob

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DeKeyser hasn't played like anything more than a bottom pairing guy for two straight years. Not even a very good bottom pairing d-man since he is allergic to contact. Nothing about DeKeyser's game seems to have gotten markedly better since he broke into the league. Without that development it is tough to talk about him like he is impactful. Heck there is a reason Team USA picked Jensen over him for the World Championships in my opinion.

Exactly! He is a 5 million dollar 6th d-man right now, based on the past 2 years of play. Not only has he not improved, he is actually getting worse, as he can't get the puck out of our zone a lot of the time, even with easy outs, especially on the PK. Also as you mentioned, no physicality to speak of, no offense to speak of, and he is average at best defensively. Honestly the only things he does well are skating and he has a long reach, which has nothing to do with skill, but rather being born tall.
 

Henkka

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Red Wings will lean on Danny DeKeyser in young defense group

Danny DeKeyser felt his ankle injury hindered him even after he returned.

DeKeyser wasn't able to play from Oct. 12-Nov. 17 due to the injury. To make matters worse, he had no points and a minus-10 rating in his first 10 games back from the injury.

"The ankle set me back a little bit," DeKeyser said. "Even after (returning), I didn’t think I was playing some of my best hockey. I thought it would be better but it took more time to get playing where I wanted to be. December wasn’t great a month for me. I started to play better in January – but I want to be ready from game one."

Coach Jeff Blashill felt that DeKeyser had a great second half of the season, so there is a silver lining there. He's become an important part of Detroit's defense, but he doesn't do enough offensively to make him a factor in standard leagues.
Jun 1, 2018 - 9:22 AM
Source: Detroit News

Basic bashing going on here because player had an injury. Shame on you guys.
 
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Henkka

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He’s been bad for awhile now... ankle injury doesn’t excuse that.

I'll expect him to bounceback a little bit, but it's never easier to be a shut-down defenceman on a losing team. You will look bad anyways.

I also can guarantee, that I will be the first to bump this thread up, when this team is good again and DeKeyser as shut-down defencemen doesn't look as bad anymore, because the overall team is better.

But feel free to have your scapegoats, or spacegoats, what they are nowadays. :)
 
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Lazlo Hollyfeld

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He’s been bad for awhile now... ankle injury doesn’t excuse that.

It certainly doesn't help, especially when one of your biggest assets is skating.

And people may think Dekeyser's been playing like a 6th Dman but the reality is he was playing 20 minutes a night. That's a big hole to fill for a kid.

People seem to be evaluating players abilities by comparing the performance of veterans who log big minutes in the NHL to young prospects playing a handful of pre-season games.
 

Hinterland

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I'll expect him to bounceback a little bit, but it's never easier to be a shut-down defenceman on a losing team. You will look bad anyways.

I also can guarantee, that I will be the first to bump this thread up, when this team is good again and DeKeyser as shut-down defencemen doesn't look as bad anymore, because the overall team is better.

But feel free to have your scapegoats, or spacegoats, what they are nowadays. :)

Nothing new here. In NY they were bashing Girardi, in SJ they're bashing Vlasic and Braun, in Edmonton it's Russell. Many users here on hfboards probably don't even watch hockey anymore...they decide whether a player is good or not by looking at advanced stats...without questioning them or knowing what can impact them. Especially shutdown defenders tasked with lots of defensive zone starts and other tough assignments are getting a lot of hate even if they're playing injured or banged up. It's hilarious but not worth arguing. Almost every good team had/has shutdown defenders so reading posts about guys like DeKeyser being a 6th defenders really make my day. Danny D is a decent second pairing guy and everybody claiming anything else just doesn't have a clue how hard it is if you're almost the only defender on the whole roster who's capable of logging some solid top4 minutes.
 

Frk It

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Nothing new here. In NY they were bashing Girardi, in SJ they're bashing Vlasic and Braun, in Edmonton it's Russell. Many users here on hfboards probably don't even watch hockey anymore...they decide whether a player is good or not by looking at advanced stats...without questioning them or knowing what can impact them. Especially shutdown defenders tasked with lots of defensive zone starts and other tough assignments are getting a lot of hate even if they're playing injured or banged up. It's hilarious but not worth arguing. Almost every good team had/has shutdown defenders so reading posts about guys like DeKeyser being a 6th defenders really make my day. Danny D is a decent second pairing guy and everybody claiming anything else just doesn't have a clue how hard it is if you're almost the only defender on the whole roster who's capable of logging some solid top4 minutes.

Those guys all have a physical element to their game that DeKeyser doesn’t.

He gets outmatched physically way too often for a Defensive D. We assumed he would make strides in that regard over time, and for whatever reason it never happened.
 
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Hinterland

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Those guys all have a physical element to their game that DeKeyser doesn’t.

He gets outmatched physically way too often for a Defensive D. We assumed he would make strides in that regard over time, and for whatever reason it never happened.

That's untrue. Vlasic and Russell are as soft as it gets...even softer than DeKeyser. Braun and Girardi might be a little tougher but honestly not that much. None of these guys are known for strength or toughness. First and foremost they're elite shutdown guys and shotblockers with high hockey IQ's and good sticks. Toughness may not count towards Danny's strenghts but still he was tougher than everybody on the redwings defense last season except Kronwall and Ericsson.
 

Frk It

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That's untrue. Vlasic and Russell are as soft as it gets...even softer than DeKeyser. Braun and Girardi might be a little tougher but honestly not that much. None of these guys are known for strength or toughness. First and foremost they're elite shutdown guys and shotblockers with high hockey IQ's and good sticks.

I didn’t see Russell, my bad. He’s pretty washed up at this point, he used to be valuable because he had some offense to his game.

Vlasic is not soft, I’m calling BS on that one. Plus not sure why we are even including Vlasic, he’s on a different level than these other guys.

Braun is what we wanted Dekeyser to be, or he was last year at least.

Girardi is gritty as all hell.
 

Hinterland

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I didn’t see Russell, my bad. He’s pretty washed up at this point, he used to be valuable because he had some offense to his game.

Vlasic is not soft, I’m calling BS on that one. Plus not sure why we are even including Vlasic, he’s on a different level than these other guys.

Braun is what we wanted Dekeyser to be, or he was last year at least.

Girardi is gritty as all hell.

I included Vlasic because he's getting lots of hate. And no, he's soft. If you say that he's tough then you've never seen him play. I haven't seen a hard hit from him...not a single one. He usually doesn't hit at all and likes to avoid board battles. Girardi is big but has about 1,2 smashing hits per season. He never learned how to use his body and now he's getting older it's becoming less and less anyway.
 

Frk It

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I included Vlasic because he's getting lots of hate. And no, he's soft. If you say that he's tough then you've never seen him play. I haven't seen a hard hit from him...not a single one. He usually doesn't hit at all and likes to avoid board battles. Girardi is big but has about 1,2 smashing hits per season. He never learned how to use his body and now he's getting older it's becoming less and less anyway.

Don’t tell me who I have and haven’t watched... thanks.

He’s not a hitter but he’s way better at winning battles than Dekeyser is. You can’t be one of the better 2 way guys in the league while losing battles, and he was that for awhile.
 

The Zetterberg Era

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I'll expect him to bounceback a little bit, but it's never easier to be a shut-down defenceman on a losing team. You will look bad anyways.

I also can guarantee, that I will be the first to bump this thread up, when this team is good again and DeKeyser as shut-down defencemen doesn't look as bad anymore, because the overall team is better.

But feel free to have your scapegoats, or spacegoats, what they are nowadays. :)

Will do, DeKeyser has been horrible for a while, before the ankle injury. Blashill liked him so much he was a part of the group that helped pick Jensen over DeKeyser for the Worlds.

Danny DeKeyser has made no physical improvements to his game. He still gets crushed in the corner and in front of his net. His best defensive skill is scramble defending where I would argue he is probably a top 50 guy leaguewide at handling odd-man rushes. That is his lone strength and one that isn't that great at this level because NHL players convert those even with good defending a lot. His offensive instincts are the same, exactly what they were when he showed up. His physical limitations are the same as they were when he showed up. He isn't getting better so let's stop talking about his progress unless he actually makes some.

Yes it is disappointing that DeKeyser makes a lot of money. It is more disappointing that he is a mediocre to just flat bad hockey player.
 

The Zetterberg Era

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That's untrue. Vlasic and Russell are as soft as it gets...even softer than DeKeyser. Braun and Girardi might be a little tougher but honestly not that much. None of these guys are known for strength or toughness. First and foremost they're elite shutdown guys and shotblockers with high hockey IQ's and good sticks. Toughness may not count towards Danny's strenghts but still he was tougher than everybody on the redwings defense last season except Kronwall and Ericsson.

Vlasic the gold standard of defensive d-man for almost a decade is soft... No he isn't soft and that is a fairly ridiculous take to suggest that a lot of HF Boards doesn't watch a bunch of hockey. I know I watch hockey a ton, I watch the other teams around the league, I watch junior hockey, college hockey, AHL hockey and European hockey. I also know that the person you are arguing with does the same since we both care a great deal about the draft and progression through the levels. You hang around Vlasic's goalie after the whistle he pushes back and has one of the more active (in a Zetterberg kind of way) sticks in the league. All of these are things I cannot remember really seeing DeKeyser do.

DeKeyser is about as tough as a wet paper bag. I want him to get the physicality of what it would take to be the physical #4 D-man on a contender level team. Heck even a softer guy that just makes more appropriate reads and pushes people to the outside. Suter, Vlasic, Lidstrom guys like that did that a lot, but DK isn't even close to those guys and I don't think it is fair to put an undrafted free agent there. He hasn't made progress towards it though, he is virtually the same guy that came out of Western. What bothers me most about DeKeyser is that he doesn't make adjustments. If you're not working daily to get better and improving areas in professional sports than you're really in a tough spot. I don't see DeKeyser doing that as someone that has watched every game he has played in this organization. I see the same guy with the same short comings and frankly he has passed benefit of the doubt time with me as I would guess he has with several others.
 

Hinterland

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Vlasic the gold standard of defensive d-man for almost a decade is soft... No he isn't soft and that is a fairly ridiculous take to suggest that a lot of HF Boards doesn't watch a bunch of hockey. I know I watch hockey a ton, I watch the other teams around the league, I watch junior hockey, college hockey, AHL hockey and European hockey. I also know that the person you are arguing with does the same since we both care a great deal about the draft and progression through the levels. You hang around Vlasic's goalie after the whistle he pushes back and has one of the more active (in a Zetterberg kind of way) sticks in the league. All of these are things I cannot remember really seeing DeKeyser do.

DeKeyser is about as tough as a wet paper bag. I want him to get the physicality of what it would take to be the physical #4 D-man on a contender level team. Heck even a softer guy that just makes more appropriate reads and pushes people to the outside. Suter, Vlasic, Lidstrom guys like that did that a lot, but DK isn't even close to those guys and I don't think it is fair to put an undrafted free agent there. He hasn't made progress towards it though, he is virtually the same guy that came out of Western. What bothers me most about DeKeyser is that he doesn't make adjustments. If you're not working daily to get better and improving areas in professional sports than you're really in a tough spot. I don't see DeKeyser doing that as someone that has watched every game he has played in this organization. I see the same guy with the same short comings and frankly he has passed benefit of the doubt time with me as I would guess he has with several others.

Well, I watched a lot of SJ over the years and pretty much every game since my countryman Meier is a regular there...Vlasic isn't more aggressive than DeKeyser. He's better of course but not in terms of strength or toughness.
I agree that DeKeyser probably doesn't live up to his potential and could do more with his tools and his body...especially offensively and in terms of physicality. I too want defenders who defend their goalie in every situation and DeKeyser probably doesn't do that enough. I don't know the reason why DeKeyser hasn't progressed the way we wanted him to but he also played through many injuries so that probably didn't help. Despite that all he's still a fair 2nd pairing guy and I can't take someone for real who says that he's 6th defender.
 

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