(Ex) Wings at the Olympics

[Filppula]

Thought this was worthy of a thread.

Who do people feel will win?

Jan "silver lining" Mursak in action for Slovenia.

Click to read more...

 

[Beltv]

With USA losing to Slovenia and OAR losing to the Czech....I'll take my chances with South Korea. No, realistically I think Sweden, Finland have the best chance.

 

[raymond23]

Chad Billins is playing for USA. He was a really good player for the Griffins a bit ago.

Ferris State alum.

 

[lilidk]

i fill bad for Pavel , what a garbage . Come beck home , i wont see you next year here

 

[Redder Winger]

Thought this was worthy of a thread.

Who do people feel will win?

Jan "silver lining" Mursak in action for Slovenia.

I'm still pissed that size queen Babcock refused to give Mursak opportunity in Detroit. He could have been the winger version of Val Filppula. Really good player who pushed the possession game and helps your team get the puck and keep the puck.

Best player on the ice today.

Still an elite skater.

 

[Flowah]

2 goals for Jan. Nice.

 

[Redder Winger]

2 goals for Jan. Nice.

Watching him skate 3 on 3 on Olympic ice was awesome.

 

[ShelbyZ]

IMO, Mursaks injuries ruined his NHL opportunity far more than how Babcock utilized him. He missed more man games at the NHL level than he ended up actually playing...

Guy was never really noteworthy in GR, but showed enough to get a #13/14 spot once his waiver exemption ran out. His opportunities were going to come when the team started to see injuries. Missing the first half of 11/12, especially after the Wings lost Eaves for the year hurt his chances, and then missing the first 1/3rd of the lockout shortened 12/13 while guys like Helm, Samuelsson and Bertuzzi spent most of that time on IR didn't help either. IIRC, he also got hurt during one of his NHL call ups in 10/11. All of this allowed guys like Nyquist, Emmerton and Andersson to eclipse Mursak on the forward depth chart, and probably cause the other 29 NHL GMs to say "Nah" when Mursak was available for free on waivers and then as a 25YO Group VI UFA.

 

[Redder Winger]

IMO, Mursaks injuries ruined his NHL opportunity far more than how Babcock utilized him. He missed more man games at the NHL level than he ended up actually playing...

Guy was never really noteworthy in GR, but showed enough to get a #13/14 spot once his waiver exemption ran out. His opportunities were going to come when the team started to see injuries. Missing the first half of 11/12, especially after the Wings lost Eaves for the year hurt his chances, and then missing the first 1/3rd of the lockout shortened 12/13 while guys like Helm, Samuelsson and Bertuzzi spent most of that time on IR didn't help either. IIRC, he also got hurt during one of his NHL call ups in 10/11. All of this allowed guys like Nyquist, Emmerton and Andersson to eclipse Mursak on the forward depth chart, and probably cause the other 29 NHL GMs to say "Nah" when Mursak was available for free on waivers and then as a 25YO Group VI UFA.

I disagree on the following two points.
In Mursak's last season in GR, he was their best player and IMO the MVP of the calder cup team. Tatar won it, but it should have been Mursak or Mrazek.
That year in 46 games with GR he went 15-18-33 and was +27
I watched a lot of GR hockey that year, courtesy of Drum (RIP). And Mursak was a mini-Datsyuk/Fedorov in GR. Not because of his moves and production (though it was good), but because he owned the ice with his two-way play.

Secondly, Mursak played more than 10 minutes in a game seven times in 46 games with a career average of 7;44.
Opportunity?
No.
That's what a coach gives a guy who he doesn't want, but his GM stuck him with.

So there's not much data on what Mursak did.
His point production was pretty pitful. .68 points/60.
His CF was very good. 55.79,
His relative CF was good. 2.82 percent.
He also put 7.5 shots on goal per 60 - a good number. That's in the Mantha/Larkin range.

I agree that injuries (was it Backes who crushed him on the boards?) crushed him. Kind of the way that injury crushed Pulkkinen when he had a good start to his season in his last full year here. Maybe Mursak might have gotten an opportunity if injuries forced Babcock's hands.

But Babcock was having none of it anyway.
He was in "heavy players get their cheese" mode.

 

[ShelbyZ]

I disagree on the following two points.
In Mursak's last season in GR, he was their best player and IMO the MVP of the calder cup team. Tatar won it, but it should have been Mursak or Mrazek.
That year in 46 games with GR he went 15-18-33 and was +27
I watched a lot of GR hockey that year, courtesy of Drum (RIP). And Mursak was a mini-Datsyuk/Fedorov in GR. Not because of his moves and production (though it was good), but because he owned the ice with his two-way play.

Secondly, Mursak played more than 10 minutes in a game seven times in 46 games with a career average of 7;44.
Opportunity?
No.
That's what a coach gives a guy who he doesn't want, but his GM stuck him with.

So there's not much data on what Mursak did.
His point production was pretty pitful. .68 points/60.
His CF was very good. 55.79,
His relative CF was good. 2.82 percent.
He also put 7.5 shots on goal per 60 - a good number. That's in the Mantha/Larkin range.

I agree that injuries (was it Backes who crushed him on the boards?) crushed him. Kind of the way that injury crushed Pulkkinen when he had a good start to his season in his last full year here. Maybe Mursak might have gotten an opportunity if injuries forced Babcock's hands.

But Babcock was having none of it anyway.
He was in "heavy players get their cheese" mode.

I should've elaborated. I meant his first 3 seasons in GR before he was given a regular spot in the NHL.

It was Backes that hit him that first game in 2013. I remember watching Mursak when he came back off IR for his last game and it just seemed like he had a hard time handling the physical aspects of the NHL game. Then the next day he hit waivers.

Similar to your Pulkkinen example, we can probably say the same thing for Sproul. Might have made a better case for himself getting the 15-18 minutes a night Russo was getting after Smith got trade and Sproul went down for the rest of the year... Although he did get 11 minutes with the Rangers last night and ended up -1...

 

[Redder Winger]

I should've elaborated. I meant his first 3 seasons in GR before he was given a regular spot in the NHL.

It was Backes that hit him that first game in 2013. I remember watching Mursak when he came back off IR for his last game and it just seemed like he had a hard time handling the physical aspects of the NHL game. Then the next day he hit waivers.

Similar to your Pulkkinen example, we can probably say the same thing for Sproul. Might have made a better case for himself getting the 15-18 minutes a night Russo was getting after Smith got trade and Sproul went down for the rest of the year... Although he did get 11 minutes with the Rangers last night and ended up -1...

His first year was rough. But he was productive in years 2 and 3, given the kind of teams we had in GR.
79 games 24-18-42 +12
54 games 13-22-35 +17

 

[Filppula]

I firmly believe Mursak could have established himself (and was on his way to doing so) as a solid NHL'er, but that severe ankle injury in pre-season was a real dagger for him. That was the chain reaction of negative things. A real shame, he's got real talent.

 

[Filppula]

2 assists for Mursak in this one. 3 goals in the tournament also. Looks awesome out there.

 

[Dueling Banjos]

Yep, still bummed Mursak didn't make it in the NHL.

Injuries, injuries...he's playing injured now as well, wrist.

 

[THW]

Jan married a girl who lived down the road from me. He still comes around for visits and looks like he is in great shape, always doing something(soccer, hiking, biking...) I wish he could have stuck around. I bet he would still take a fairly reasonable contract, to play closer to his wife's family.

 

[Redder Winger]

Jan married a girl who lived down the road from me. He still comes around for visits and looks like he is in great shape, always doing something(soccer, hiking, biking...) I wish he could have stuck around. I bet he would still take a fairly reasonable contract, to play closer to his wife's family.

He could be contributing middle sixer on a lot of NHL teams, including Detroit.

 

[Redder Winger]

I firmly believe Mursak could have established himself (and was on his way to doing so) as a solid NHL'er, but that severe ankle injury in pre-season was a real dagger for him. That was the chain reaction of negative things. A real shame, he's got real talent.

I don't think he was ever going to get a shot with Babcock, who was always a little too concerned with how small our forward group was, between Datsyuk, Zetterberg, Hudler, Flip, and with Nyquist and Tatar on the way.

Not to mention the fact that Babcock was fairly enamored with Joakim Andersson and we also had prospects like Jurco and Sheahan joining the fray.

 

[Filppula]

Can we have Datsyuk back?

 

[Henkka]

So it's Red Wings mighty draft picks Brooks Macek vs. Pavel Datsyuk in the finals.

Both were 6th round picks, #171 overall.

 

[lilidk]

Germany already beat Sweden and Canada and if they beat Russia i am not going to surprise , very strong physically team , can skate. Bring this team hear and sure they will compete for Stanly Cup. They have 22 years undrafted Dominic Kahun , very slick

 

[HIFE]

Germany already beat Sweden and Canada and if they beat Russia i am not going to surprise , very strong physically team , can skate. Bring this team hear and sure they will compete for Stanly Cup. They have 22 years undrafted Dominic Kahun , very slick

I just hope it's a competitive game. I missed most of USA/Czech but the others have been severely lopsided. Interesting about Germany... Russia is yet to be tested and Koshechkin looks bewildered at times. If they can get to him or draw a few penalties, frustrate Russia, may be they have a chance.

 

[Fil Larkmanthanasiou]

Russia won in OT. Pav Drew a penalty entering the German zone and they socred on the ensuing PP. Pav hit the crossbar seconds before the winning goal.

 

[AHall88]

Russia won in OT. Pav Drew a penalty entering the German zone and they socred on the ensuing PP. Pav hit the crossbar seconds before the winning goal.

Nah, Pav cleary dove.

 

[Fil Larkmanthanasiou]

Nah, Pav cleary dove.

It was a cheap call for OT in the gold medal game but he was accidentally clipped (barely) in the face with a high stick, Pav continued on as if nothing happened. It didn't affect him in the least as he completed a pass right after it happened. I think even he was surprised with the call.

 

[lilidk]

i like to see Marco Sturm as Red wings coach next year