Recalled/Assigned: Tomas Tatar and Petr Mrazek recalled, Tom McCollum to GR

Run the Jewels

Make Detroit Great Again
Jun 22, 2006
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Sure, he has a few contracts coming off the books, but he still doesn't know exactly what he has in Gus or Tatar b/c neither has had a significant look up with the Wings. The bottom 6 that he has put together is on a scorching pace to score 6 points for the season (if you round up), although that should change if he leaves Tatar on the team and/or calls up Gus for 3rd line duty (but you know his track record, so when Helm and Sammy come back, the writing is on the wall for the young guys).

It's good to read Tatar will be playing on the 3rd line. He was supposed to add some scoring capability to our bottom 6. He must be hella talented to be able to do that from Z or Pavs' line. It's clear our bottom 6 has no offensive skill whatsoever. I also have to question what pharmacological hallucinogens people are taking when they expect Darren Helm to magically make our bottom 6 a scoring machine. The guy's basically a 25 point forward. Now sure, that would quadruple the production we're currently getting from 6 skaters but Tatar is a guy who has been a much better scorer in the AHL than Helm so it makes sense to have him in the bottom 6 and on the 2nd PP unit.
 

ricky0034

Registered User
Jun 8, 2010
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It's good to read Tatar will be playing on the 3rd line. He was supposed to add some scoring capability to our bottom 6. He must be hella talented to be able to do that from Z or Pavs' line. It's clear our bottom 6 has no offensive skill whatsoever. I also have to question what pharmacological hallucinogens people are taking when they expect Darren Helm to magically make our bottom 6 a scoring machine. The guy's basically a 25 point forward. Now sure, that would quadruple the production we're currently getting from 6 skaters but Tatar is a guy who has been a much better scorer in the AHL than Helm so it makes sense to have him in the bottom 6 and on the 2nd PP unit.

based on what?

he had 32 two years ago and paced 31 over 82 games last year

I see no reason why he can't pace upper 30s playing with Samuelsson
 
Aug 6, 2012
10,752
5
It's good to read Tatar will be playing on the 3rd line. He was supposed to add some scoring capability to our bottom 6. He must be hella talented to be able to do that from Z or Pavs' line. It's clear our bottom 6 has no offensive skill whatsoever. I also have to question what pharmacological hallucinogens people are taking when they expect Darren Helm to magically make our bottom 6 a scoring machine. The guy's basically a 25 point forward. Now sure, that would quadruple the production we're currently getting from 6 skaters but Tatar is a guy who has been a much better scorer in the AHL than Helm so it makes sense to have him in the bottom 6 and on the 2nd PP unit.

If Helm produces mid 30's in points them that's all we need. Nobody is expecting the bottom-six to become a scoring machine. But we are expecting it to score.
 

pdd

Registered User
Feb 7, 2010
5,572
4
I don't know about that. I have a hard time seeing Holland sitting in his office with his feet propped up on his desk and chomping on a cigar while watching Wings games, repeatedly saying "I love it when a plan comes together" every time he sees Cleary fall on his own to turn the puck over while getting a score alert that Nyquist has scored AGAIN for the Griffs.

LOL. I love it.

It also should be noted for those who have been bashing Cleary based on his few games this year that he was the top scorer on the Cleary/Helm/Miller third line last year, and a slow start in 2010-2011 didn't stop him from having better numbers (points and goals per-game) than Franzen.

If the Franzen/Z/Brunner and Flip/Dats/Bert lines stay together, we're looking at the following options for a healthy bottom-six:

Samuelsson, Helm, Tootoo, Abdelkader, Eaves, Miller, Emmerton, Cleary, Mursak as guys we started the year with. Someone would be going, likely Mursak (has he even played a shift?)

Helm is a capable third-liner offensively. Nothing special. Emmerton, if given a chance, could probably be a better "offense-style" third-liner than Helm, if we wanted to run 1A/1B, 3A/3B with two top scoring lines, a #1 defense/checking line, and an offense-capable checking line. Something like this:

1A: Franzen/Z/Brunner
1B: Flip/Dats/Bert
3A: Eaves/Emmerton/Samuelsson
3B: Abby/Helm/Tootoo
Miller
Cleary

Eaves and Bert could be swapped (get Eaves' shot with Dats' passing), or Miller and Eaves.

1A: Franzen/Z/Brunner
1B: Flip/Dats/Bert
3A: Eaves/Emmerton/Samuelsson
3B: Abby/Helm/Tootoo
Miller
Cleary

If we want to incorporate Tatar and Nyquist then we can look at something like this:

Franzen/Z/Brunner
Flip/Dats/Nyquist
Tatar/Helm/Samuelsson
Bertuzzi/Abby/Tootoo
Emmerton
Eaves

If you want to go back to Abby/Helm/Tootoo, you can also try:
Franzen/Z/Brunner
Nyquist/Dats/Bertuzzi
Tatar/Flip/Samuelsson
Abby/Helm/Tootoo
Emmerton
Eaves

Franzen/Z/Brunner
Flip/Dats/Nyquist
Tatar/Emmerton/Samuelsson
Abby/Helm/Tootoo
Bertuzzi
Eaves
 
Last edited:

Run the Jewels

Make Detroit Great Again
Jun 22, 2006
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based on what?

he had 32 two years ago and paced 31 over 82 games last year

I see no reason why he can't pace upper 30s playing with Samuelsson

Sure, he's capable it just hasn't happened other than one time. I'll be happy if he can become a regular 30-35 point guy. I don't think it's out of the realm of possibility, I was just focusing on what he's done to date.
 

The Zetterberg Era

Ball Hockey Sucks
Nov 8, 2011
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Sure, he's capable it just hasn't happened other than one time. I'll be happy if he can become a regular 30-35 point guy. I don't think it's out of the realm of possibility, I was just focusing on what he's done to date.

It is more about how the whole lineup plays. The best they have looked all season is the game against Minnesota. There is a pace to the game, he allows for easy exits and entries for another line. Miller looks absolutely lost without him. Helm might not be the best hands wise we all know that, but you still have to respect his speed, he still enters the zone easy, he still presents problems for teams exiting the zone. The flow of the game changes dramatically, he turns wire waiver boarderline NHL players like Drew Miller into something useful. Give him a shooter or finisher like Tatar or Sammy and his numbers will jump.

It did happen pro-rated the second time, that is realistically what he is capable of is somewhere in the 30's but his impact on the game is greater. He gets no powerplay time Dave Bolland puts up similar numbers in a third line role, really less at even strength as an example of one of his peers. He is better at checking but not everything is measured in points. Helm makes the games easier and allows better flow for the Wings, that pretty visible whenever he is absent.
 

Run the Jewels

Make Detroit Great Again
Jun 22, 2006
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1,751
In the Garage
It is more about how the whole lineup plays. The best they have looked all season is the game against Minnesota. There is a pace to the game, he allows for easy exits and entries for another line. Miller looks absolutely lost without him. Helm might not be the best hands wise we all know that, but you still have to respect his speed, he still enters the zone easy, he still presents problems for teams exiting the zone. The flow of the game changes dramatically, he turns wire waiver boarderline NHL players like Drew Miller into something useful. Give him a shooter or finisher like Tatar or Sammy and his numbers will jump.

It did happen pro-rated the second time, that is realistically what he is capable of is somewhere in the 30's but his impact on the game is greater. He gets no powerplay time Dave Bolland puts up similar numbers in a third line role, really less at even strength as an example of one of his peers. He is better at checking but not everything is measured in points. Helm makes the games easier and allows better flow for the Wings, that pretty visible whenever he is absent.

Yeah, I'm not disagreeing so much as pointing out how anemic the bottom 6 has been as currently constructed. I'd love to see a bottom six with something like...

Tatar-Helm-Ferraro
Abdelkader-Sheahan-Tootoo

Three of those guys have some legitimate offensive instincts. Miller, Cleary and Emmerton clearly do not.
 

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