Is there a prime Tomas Holmstrom in the league now

[FrozenKing18]

Wayne Simmonds

 

[Primary Assist]

JVR is 1/10 Holmstrom

Holmstrom never had a more productive season than JvR did last year, but as of right now Van Riemsdyk has a long way to go before he can match Holmstrom's level of 3 zone hockey

 

[Classicnamesup]

His ability to tip pucks was legitimately incredible and his back must have taken an incredible amount of abuse from them cross checks

 

[detredWINgs]

I was just thinking about this the other day. Sadly, there isn't a guy who has dedicated himself to this pure role. There are guys who are better all-around crease players, but they don't have the net front presence down to a science like Holmstrom did. Holmstrom was a masterful deflector but, more importantly, he would take whatever abuse was dealt him. And that allowed him to develop a mastery of retrieving pucks from goal mouths and just staking out above the paint in general for extended periods of time. He contributed directly to what is probably a couple hundred goals over the course of his career that he went uncredited for.

 

[Nayrb]

In de crease, out of de crease, in de crease, out of de crease, in de crease...

Yes. Wish they still did these

 

[Tatar Shots]

Holmstrom never had a more productive season than JvR did last year, but as of right now Van Riemsdyk has a long way to go before he can match Holmstrom's level of 3 zone hockey

Judging from your post I can tell you have never seen Holmstrom play. His play in his own zone and neutral zone were not anything special. The reason Van Riemsdyk is nothing like Holmstrom is because of their play in the offensive zone. Holmstrom was exceptional at screening the goalie and deflecting in shots and was also the toughest player in front of the net that I have ever seen. He wasn't a fast skater nor did he have the hands that JVR has but what he did do great, he did to a level that JVR will never be remotely near.

 

[nik jr]

he was one of my favorite players ever, and was obviously great around the net, but he was also one of the worst ES players in the NHL for the latter part of his career.

when separated from great possession players like lidstrom, datsyuk and zetterberg, he could be a liability.

he had very good chemistry with all 3 players, though.

In his first years I remember him setting up teammates from behnd goal after winning his share of boardbattles. His hockeysense was underrated.

definitely

i think holmstrom probably had better vision and playmaking ability than franzen or abdelkader or cleary or others who have filled a similar role. he especially made a lot of great passes in close quarters.

i would also say homer was better on the boards than them, at least when he was in his prime. he was very tough and regularly played through nasty injuries from all the abuse he took. he was also not a big player, even though he was often described as big. he was average sized.



oftentimes his puckhandling looked like crap, but occasionally, it was great.




but i've also seen him nearly fall on a partial breakaway.

Not now, but Axel Holmström is coming soon

he was really impressive in the bits i saw from WJC.

Not when he broke out in 2008. The vast majority of his goals came from right in front of the net, either by deflecting the puck or by out-muscling a guy down-low and jamming it in. He basically took over Holmstrom's role going into the playoffs that year.

before that, franzen was a low scoring depth player. holmstrom got injured, so franzen took his spot with datsyuk and zetterberg and started scoring a lot.

when homer returned to the 1st line, franzen kept scoring, but mostly with his wrist shot, especially high.

 

[Ugene Magic]

Homer got plenty of goals disallowed

Kunitz at times would be the same way not that I consider him a Holmstrom clone.

Hornqvist is probably the best we'll see these days.

 

[StLHokie]

Backes has been very good in front of the net this year, especially on the PP

 

[CanadienShark]

Patrick Hornqvist is pretty similar.

Was just about to say Hornqvist.

 

[AFTeRMaTH*]

Simmonds

 

[minitrucker83]

Not that he's close to Homer's abilities, but the wings sure are grooming Abdelkader for that role. It seems as though this year he has found his niche on the team and doing OK at it. Ive been pleasantly surprised with him.

Also, someone mentioned Pat Maroon may have the potential. I'll agree with that, that kid is a beast down low/around the boards. Just maybe?

 

[Kale Hulls]

Wayne Simmonds.

 

[Phenomenon13]

Burrows?

 

[Legionnaire]

Was there such a thing as prime Holmstrom? The guy was pretty much the same player throughout his entire career. That is a compliment and not a dig.

 

[TheAngryHank]

Not that he's close to Homer abilities, but the wings sure are grooming Abdelkader for that role. It seems as though this year he has found his niche on the team and doing OK at it. Ive been pleasantly surprised with him.

Also, someone mentioned Pat Maroon may have the potential. I'll agree with that, that kid is a beast down low/around the boards. Just maybe?

I noticed that this season also. Good for him.

 

[thelos]

gotta be Simmonds

 

[DanZ]

Not that he's close to Homer's abilities, but the wings sure are grooming Abdelkader for that role. It seems as though this year he has found his niche on the team and doing OK at it. Ive been pleasantly surprised with him.

Also, someone mentioned Pat Maroon may have the potential. I'll agree with that, that kid is a beast down low/around the boards. Just maybe?

Abdelkader's role is essentially the same as Holstrom's was, although Abby is a better skater but not as good in front of the net. He's done a good job so far this year in my opinion.

 

[tfong]

Does anyone else even wear shinpads on the back of their legs even? That's howmuch damage he took standing in front of goalies remember.

 

[Terry Yake]

Does anyone else even wear shinpads on the back of their legs even? That's howmuch damage he took standing in front of goalies remember.

his equipment was quite unique. no protection on the sides and front but notice the pad on his lower back because of all those repeated crosschecks he took from camping out in front of the net

 

[Cashville]

Came to post Hornqvist; easily the closest you get to Tomas now

 

[Brent Burns]

Real answer: no

 

[Renbarg]

Anders lee on the islanders is very similar. Needs to work on skating. But he's an ox on skates who is basically either in front of the net or in the corners.

 

[Badger Mayhew*]

Jvr ainec

 

[Kronwalled55]

Almost all of Abdelkader's goals are scored within mere feet of the crease. It's no coincidence that Detroit is running him with Datsyuk and Zetterberg which is who Holmstrom would play with from time to time at even strength as well as the power play.