Post-Game Talk: Postgame and 3 Stars : 1/29/13 : DAL @ DET

[SoupNazi]

Not sure if serious.

He was quite serious.

 

[Run the Jewels]

I still haven't seen anything out of Emmerton that makes me think he brings any sort of value to the team. I certainly haven't seen these great board battle wins you're talking about. Mostly I see him unsuccessfully try to take the puck from someone, and then fall down. At least if they had a faceoff ace on that line, they'd have some kind of positive there.

Emmerton strikes me as the sort of player that can scratch out a decent NHL career playing for lousy teams as cheap roster fill, but who doesn't have a place on a team that's going to contend. His skating is average, his hands are average, his faceoffs are below-average, he's completely ineffective at hitting and forechecking, he can't fight, and his hockey sense (billed to be his calling card on the way up, making up for the other blahs) is average as well.

As someone who's given Emmerton some positive commentary I'm not saying he's a lock to stay on the roster once we get healthy. His positives are quite modest.

1. I think he's a better center than Abdelkader and that allows Abdelkader to play wing when we get Helm back. So that's a win two ways: Emmerton is a better center and Abby is a more effective player on the wing. Neither of them are key contributors, so it's a very minor upgrade.

2. He hasn't been on the ice for a goal against. His on ice save percentage is a perfect 100% when skating 5v5. If you aren't going to score - and no one in our bottom 6 is - at least give your team a chance by keeping the opposition off the scoreboard. He's done that. Cleary and Miller have 88% save percentages when they're skating 5v5.

3. He doesn't take stupid penalties. Abdelkader has also been good about staying out of the box. Dan Cleary, however, has taken 4.7 PIMs per game on average while drawing 1.9 PIMs per game. Cleary is killing us 5v5 and putting us on the PK.

4. He gets close to a minute short handed per game and has one of the better corsi ratings. He's not a key part of our PK but you can put him out there if one of our key guys goes down and he won't throw up all over himself.

Some guys get a chance when there are injuries and I think Emmerton is quietly making the most of the opportunity. Trust me, I didn't like the guy last year and I'm not saying he's a lock for the team or anything along those lines. My opinion is he's doing all of the little things he needs to do. Obviously those little things don't make a big impression.

 

[sarcastro]

Well it may just be a product of Tootoo, but I was just pointing out how well the 4th line has been playing. I don't expect anything great out of him, but he's playing a lot better than expected. I think he's been solid around the boards at least against Dallas two nights ago.

I think it'd be nice if the 4th line scored a goal. Sometime this year would be nice. They're not giving up goals either, so it's not as bad as it could be.

The bottom line for me on the whole Emmerton thing is that they've got a logjam of NHL-caliber forwards and they're giving Emmerton a lot of rope that he doesn't appear to deserve based on his play, in my opinion.

The biggest problem there is that Abdelkader sucks as a center and the two guys that would be next in line are both wingers. The two guys they have who could potentially bump Emmerton off the roster are Matt Ellis 2.0 and Tinky Winky. Hence, Emmerton remains. For now.

As someone who's given Emmerton some positive commentary I'm not saying he's a lock to stay on the roster once we get healthy. His positives are quite modest.

1. I think he's a better center than Abdelkader and that allows Abdelkader to play wing when we get Helm back. So that's a win two ways: Emmerton is a better center and Abby is a more effective player on the wing. Neither of them are key contributors, so it's a very minor upgrade.

2. He hasn't been on the ice for a goal against. His on ice save percentage is a perfect 100% when skating 5v5. If you aren't going to score - and no one in our bottom 6 is - at least give your team a chance by keeping the opposition off the scoreboard. He's done that. Cleary and Miller have 88% save percentages when they're skating 5v5.

3. He doesn't take stupid penalties. Abdelkader has also been good about staying out of the box. Dan Cleary, however, has taken 4.7 PIMs per game on average while drawing 1.9 PIMs per game. Cleary is killing us 5v5 and putting us on the PK.

4. He gets close to a minute short handed per game and has one of the better corsi ratings. He's not a key part of our PK but you can put him out there if one of our key guys goes down and he won't throw up all over himself.

Some guys get a chance when there are injuries and I think Emmerton is quietly making the most of the opportunity. Trust me, I didn't like the guy last year and I'm not saying he's a lock for the team or anything along those lines. My opinion is he's doing all of the little things he needs to do. Obviously those little things don't make a big impression.

You won't get an argument from me about Cleary being useless - he is. You see a flash here and there of what he used to be but his legs are wrecked and he can't play at anything remotely close to 100% anymore. He's gone without any new injuries for a while now, so I think this is as "healthy" as he's going to get. If they re-sign him, I'll officially join the "Holland Is a Moron" bandwagon.

Miller is money on the PK - at least he has been in previous seasons. He can't play center, but he's useful on the PK. Tootoo seems to be useful as a blunt object, so there's that.

I dunno. See above about my conclusions about Emmerton. We'll see what happens and who ends up getting dumped.

 

[RedWingsNow*]

He was quite serious.

My point is that Tootoo - like Helm, is the kind of player who demands more than 4th line minutes.

Speed. Tenacity. We're paying $2M a year for it. So let's get our money's worth.

 

[Run the Jewels]

As someone who's given Emmerton some positive commentary I'm not saying he's a lock to stay on the roster once we get healthy. His positives are quite modest.

1. I think he's a better center than Abdelkader and that allows Abdelkader to play wing when we get Helm back. So that's a win two ways: Emmerton is a better center and Abby is a more effective player on the wing. Neither of them are key contributors, so it's a very minor upgrade.

2. He hasn't been on the ice for a goal against. His on ice save percentage is a perfect 100% when skating 5v5. If you aren't going to score - and no one in our bottom 6 is - at least give your team a chance by keeping the opposition off the scoreboard. He's done that. Cleary and Miller have 88% save percentages when they're skating 5v5.

3. He doesn't take stupid penalties. Abdelkader has also been good about staying out of the box. Dan Cleary, however, has taken 4.7 PIMs per game on average while drawing 1.9 PIMs per game. Cleary is killing us 5v5 and putting us on the PK.

4. He gets close to a minute short handed per game and has one of the better corsi ratings. He's not a key part of our PK but you can put him out there if one of our key guys goes down and he won't throw up all over himself.

Some guys get a chance when there are injuries and I think Emmerton is quietly making the most of the opportunity. Trust me, I didn't like the guy last year and I'm not saying he's a lock for the team or anything along those lines. My opinion is he's doing all of the little things he needs to do. Obviously those little things don't make a big impression.

Also, to give Emmerton a little more due he's improved his faceoffs. His past three games: 45.4%, 55.6% & 62.5% last night. Yes, he was brutal against Minnesota. Overall he's showing signs that he's making the most of the opportunity and that's also reflected with his improved faceoff numbers.

 

[Run the Jewels]

Emmerton won 80% of his faceoffs tonight.