As for the bold, most teams like Abby alot more than wings fans do. They see him as a legit physical force that will fight the odd time and actually score some goals. Wings fans still think of him as a fourth liner even though hes clearly proven himself a top 6 power forward at this point
Teams? Sure. Thats why Clowe, Clarkson, Callahan, Abby, Penner, ad nauseum get the deals they do. The fans? Not at all. The majority of *insert NHL team name here* fans think of Abdelkader as a scrub, not as an incarnation of The Good Clarkson/Clowe. And thats my point. It gives insight into how Abby is viewed from a fan's perspective. No one, outside of a sect of Wings fans, is getting excited about Abdelkader's production. Because its not a story line when its a gift-given role and he's making it work three seasons after the layout.
Like, just pull up that trash-talking gif of Doan in the playoffs ragging on Abdelkader for not being able to put up more than...what was it? Like 15 points? With Datsyuk and Zetterberg? That basically exemplifies why Abdelkader is looked at the way he is. He got the opportunity...and
then he got the success. Not the other way around. I hope I don't come across as having any political bias when I say this, but its like a multi-millionaire saying he did things "the hard way" when he inherited 6-7 million dollars upon reaching adulthood. Thats Abby. He was gifted an ideal role and not only did he not immediately take off, it took him like 100 games - 1.5 years - to learn how to make the best of his perfect situation.
I actually really like the Abdelkader we have now. There is no way he belongs on the 4th line. But I'm not going to be some Abdelkader lackey like I was with Franzen or Holmstrom, or even Samuelsson (ok, it was just for a season or two). Abdelkader didn't earn the incessant presence he had with our best players. He just didn't. He, fortunately for us, over a period of years, learned how to maximize his own usage, but it sure as hell wasn't a pretty or efficient process.
And THAT is why, in my humble opinion, Abdelkader isn't revered like a McCarty or Holmstrom or Lapointe type. He didn't bootstrap himself. He didn't find himself cemented to the top line because he was making do; he found himself on the top line because there were no other options.