Filppula
JV
- Oct 18, 2006
- 14,488
- 2,042
Thought this was worthy of a thread.
Who do people feel will win?
Jan "silver lining" Mursak in action for Slovenia.
Who do people feel will win?
Jan "silver lining" Mursak in action for Slovenia.
Thought this was worthy of a thread.
Who do people feel will win?
Jan "silver lining" Mursak in action for Slovenia.
Watching him skate 3 on 3 on Olympic ice was awesome.2 goals for Jan. Nice.
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.
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...
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.
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.
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
Nah, Pav cleary dove.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.
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.Nah, Pav cleary dove.