Ericsson on waivers, per Freidman

Lil Sebastian Cossa

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Jul 6, 2012
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sad how much praise he got for having an average career, were Kronwall did have a great career and people could barely be bothered to notice.

He had like five guys sayng he was a good defenseman for us. Or that he would have been great if he could have played as what he was instead of a couple rungs up the ladder.
Yeah, we're heaping praise on him. :help:

Kronner had a great career, but Kronner was always going to be compared to Lidstrom and Rafalski as that's the role he was filling. And with Kronner, we really had about 3 years where he probably could have called it quits at any point. Last year was a rejuvenation because he knew it was over, but two years ago, he was struggling. And he had the unenviable task of being the face of the Detroit Red Wings in the interim between Zetterberg slowing way down and calling it quits and Larkin really taking a gigantic step forward.

Everyone supported Kronner as well.
 
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Retire91

Stevey Y you our Guy
May 31, 2010
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Sorry but if you take a 3rd 4th pairing defenseman and shoe horn him into a second pairing role with a second pairing contract with term and that player exponentially degrades due to injuries almost immediately after the contract, he is not going to be a popular player. You can sing all the praises you want, I'll sing that he is finally gone.
 

lhsgolf19

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Oct 4, 2016
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giphy.gif

Screw Kenny for signing that bum, you should have taken him off our hands lol
 

Pavels Dog

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Feb 18, 2013
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A few people wish a guy a good retirement and praise him for forging an NHL career after being picked in the 9th round, in response we get pages of people ****ting on him and *****ing about how he's overpaid. Stay classy HFboards.
Just imagine all the amazing players we could have signed if we didn't have those 4 million on the books. I compiled a list:
 

Roomba With a Bauer

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Sep 11, 2007
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A few people wish a guy a good retirement and praise him for forging an NHL career after being picked in the 9th round, in response we get pages of people ****ting on him and *****ing about how he's overpaid. Stay classy HFboards.

I think the complaints are more symptomatic of a fanbase that is fed up with a team sliding into irrelevancy for 10 years with no attempt at rebuilding. Ericsson's contract and place on the roster is just an easy target for that ire.

Ericsson worked hard, never really took a game off, but a lot of the Holland/Wing slappies are on here making it out like he was a solid second-pair guy in his prime. He absolutely was not. I don't blame the guy for taking that contract and roster spot and trying to do his best in the position. But let's not kid ourself that he was an bona-fide second pair defenseman. He was at best a 6-7 guy who lucked into a team that has been unable to stock more than three real NHL d-men on the roster at any one time for more than a decade.

I'll sum it up this way: Ken Holland has paid Jonathan Ericsson more than a million dollars per goal since he came up to the NHL.
 

Lil Sebastian Cossa

Opinions are share are my own personal opinions.
Jul 6, 2012
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I think the complaints are more symptomatic of a fanbase that is fed up with a team sliding into irrelevancy for 10 years with no attempt at rebuilding. Ericsson's contract and place on the roster is just an easy target for that ire.

Ericsson worked hard, never really took a game off, but a lot of the Holland/Wing slappies are on here making it out like he was a solid second-pair guy in his prime. He absolutely was not. I don't blame the guy for taking that contract and roster spot and trying to do his best in the position. But let's not kid ourself that he was an bona-fide second pair defenseman. He was at best a 6-7 guy who lucked into a team that has been unable to stock more than three real NHL d-men on the roster at any one time for more than a decade.

I'll sum it up this way: Ken Holland has paid Jonathan Ericsson more than a million dollars per goal since he came up to the NHL.

Ok? How is that stat relevant? Ericsson wasn't an offensive defenseman.

Jonathan Ericsson Stats | Hockey-Reference.com

And if you look at it... Check 10-11 to 13-14. 18:50 ATOI, 17:05 ATOI, 21:19 ATOI, 21:15 ATOI. He was not a negative in any of those years. If he was some black hole like you want to paint him as being, he'd be super overmatched and his stats would look like a Rasmus Ristolainen nightmare. Hell, 12-13 the lockout year, 13 points in 45 games is actually pretty decent for a stay at home defensive D.

When Ericsson WOULD have been a solid second-pair guy in his prime, he got hotrodded up to the top pair to play with Kronner. We never got to see Jonathan Ericsson at the optimal level for his skill because by the time they moved him down the lineup he was starting to break down in a big way. In his prime he was utilized on the top pairing (in a bad bit of strategy)

Seriously, Ericsson was bad by the end of his career. But going back and acting like he was always some schlub that was lucky to grace the NHL ice is just disrespectful and simply not true. Yeah, 6x4.25 was too much for him. That was a bad deal. But in that case, the Wings were trying to do something like Nashville with Josi or Edmonton with Klefbom or New Jersey with Larsson. You overpay a guy at inception of contract with the hope/thought that he grows into more and it'll become a bargain.

Ericsson signed that 6x4.25 contract coming off of his 12-13 season and partway through his 13-14 season (11/2013). In those seasons he did the following

45 games, 13 points, 21:19 ATOI
48 games, 11 points, 21:15 ATOI.

He was also playing a workable top pairing with Kronner. Then he started tailing off as injuries started to pile up after that. Was it a bad bet on Ericsson? Hindsight says that it was. But at the time, even if I didn't like the contract, necessarily, I could see what they were doing.

But no, let's just keep ****ing on a guy's epitaph of his career because he got paid too much money for too long.
 

Lil Sebastian Cossa

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Jul 6, 2012
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ThankGord

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Right and what anyone in this topic is looking back on isn't these lsat like 3 years. We're looking back at when Ericsson did provide us something.

For sure, he was able to fill a support role on a more talented team when he wasn't injured. I won't ever blame him personally for taking a big contract, that's on Holland for overpaying role players.
 

Winger98

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Feb 27, 2002
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For sure, he was able to fill a support role on a more talented team when he wasn't injured. I won't ever blame him personally for taking a big contract, that's on Holland for overpaying role players.

Or on Holland for not bringing in the talent to properly slot Ericsson. Holland brings in a better guy to pair with Kronwall, and E looks a lot better on that second pair.


Don't really want that guy, either... .
 
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Hen Kolland

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Feb 22, 2018
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Blaming Ericsson for being paid too much on a deal that was offered to him. Blaming Ericsson for being played too high up the roster due to lack of depth or coaching aptitude to place him lower in the lineup. Essentially blaming Ericsson for getting older and regressing with time. Sounds as if there are some people who were expecting him to counteroffer himself a massive pay reduction, volunteer to play on the bottom pairing or be a healthy scratch, and stop the forces of time and space around him.

We all know what Ericsson was over the course of his career to varying degrees. He was best suited to be a #4 to #7 stay at home defenseman for a majority of his career, and all he did was accept the money offered to him, accept the role he was assigned, and play hockey to the best of his ability until it was time. He had a career that any individual would consider a massive success for themselves personally.

There's no justifiable reason to throw your angst at Ericsson for putting together a respectable career over 12 years when all he did was take care of himself and his family, and filled whatever role he was asked and did so in as professional of a manner as it gets.
 

Hugh Mongusbig

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Lazlo Hollyfeld

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Props for carving out a career after being drafted so late but let's not pretend he hasn't been one of the worst defenseman in the NHL the past few years.

Frozen Tools Forensics: The Ten Worst Defensemen according to GAR | DobberHockey – Fantasy NHL Projections and Analysis
You can maybe make a case Ericsson was one of the worst in the league, but cherry-picking GAR isn't a credible way to do it.

For starters there's the question of whether WAR (and therefore GAR) are even useful in a game like hockey as opposed to baseball. Also, in the comments section of the page you linked to someone correctly points out that games played and TOI greatly affects the stat, to which the author posts "I only used GAR to make a little bit of a point, but totally agree. I think OZ% start is a huge factor as well. There are not many players in the NHL with 40% OZ starts that show well."

Ericsson played only 52 games last season for 762 minutes of Even strength TOI, compared to someone like Bouwmeester's 1423 minutes. So to include those two players on the same list is questionable. And Ericsson's O-zone starts were 42%.
 

JoesuffP

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Feb 3, 2016
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I’m just happy theirs some fresh eyes on this team finally. Yzerman and his team are good talent evaluators and not scared to make tough decisions. I have a feeling this rebuild hasn’t even begun yet sorry folks. I do not see the pieces Yet to do anything substantial in the future
 
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ThankGord

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You can maybe make a case Ericsson was one of the worst in the league, but cherry-picking GAR isn't a credible way to do it.

For starters there's the question of whether WAR (and therefore GAR) are even useful in a game like hockey as opposed to baseball. Also, in the comments section of the page you linked to someone correctly points out that games played and TOI greatly affects the stat, to which the author posts "I only used GAR to make a little bit of a point, but totally agree. I think OZ% start is a huge factor as well. There are not many players in the NHL with 40% OZ starts that show well."

Ericsson played only 52 games last season for 762 minutes of Even strength TOI, compared to someone like Bouwmeester's 1423 minutes. So to include those two players on the same list is questionable. And Ericsson's O-zone starts were 42%.

Ok, fair, how would you do it?
 

TheRatPoisoner

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Feb 23, 2015
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Completely gobsmacked when he was waived. (Obviously, not shocked in the least that he cleared though). Figured for sure that he finish off the season with the Wings. There's no way Kenny would have done this.
 

NickH8

Registered User
Jul 3, 2015
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Good chance Ericsson will be in the Griffins lineup tonight in GR vs Milwaukee. He will be wearing #4 (the number he wore the last 2 Griffins seasons he played).
Wow, so he's not done.
Basically this is Yzerman saying he has to earn his spot back from Biega. Something Holland never would have done.
 

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