First of all RELAX, it's not that serious man lol. Secondly, yes YOU were/are (not sure yet) one of the biggest AA haters. You were pushing so hard for him to get traded. I just find it funny ppl are pretending like AA was universally loved on here and wasn't almost ran out of town by the media (mainly HSJ) and KH. If you like him now cool. But I have yet to hear you criticize Abdelkader, Nielsen, Helm,Kronwall ,Ericsson (all who make more money than him btw) with the same verocity as you've done with AA.
Because AA is a guy who can actually do something about it.
Abby, Nielsen, Helm, Kronner, and Ericsson are all old, injured or just plain suck. What on Earth do you gain by complaining about guys who everyone knows suck? Also, none of them were benched by the team for ****ing off in games. None of them were audibly ripped by the coaching staff, the radio announcers (Ken Kal and Paul Woods), the idiots on 97.1, etc. Athanasiou was taking lazy to the Nth degree in his bad games. Normally the FSD guys or anyone with a vested interest in the team are going to prop up anyone. Watch any Tigers live this year when the Tigers lose 9-3... they'll talk about some great cut the 7th batter took.
Fine, though. Want to hear me complain about all of them?
Abby's contract sucks worse than anything. It's garbage and so is he. You agree with me, so why the hell do we discuss it? He's immovable garbage.
Nielsen is paid too much and does too little. He's not terrible, but he certainly shouldn't be getting 5.5M to be a third line center. If they could trade him, it would make sense, but his salary vs production makes him immovable. He's not completely worthless, but for the money, it's a terrible deal. He's part of the worst, most expensive 3rd line in hockey.
Helm is paid about a million too much. He was a much better player before injuries got to him and robbed him of what kind of made him a special player, or the best 3C in hockey according to Babcock. Still though, he would get a breakaway almost every other game it seemed. He would never convert because of stone hands though. Also, he can't stay healthy and that was kinda known in 2016, so another point on this being a really bad deal.
Ericsson is whatever. He probably should be retiring very soon because his hand, hip, and knee are ****ed. He's a pilon and the Wings would be better off without him. But he is one of the few D that they had that gave them size and remotely competent play every now and again. He has never been as bad as people want to make him out to be (worst D in the league level), but he's certainly never been very good either. 6x4.25 was a reasonable salary for a guy who was adequately playing a top 4 role. Once injuries started piling up he was unable to do that, and he and his contract look really bad now.
Kronwall is about 85 years old and should certainly be done after this year. He's slow due to his age and he isn't physical anymore. His PMD ability is down as well. But it's really really hard to criticize him overall because he was just signed through an advanced age. Father Time caught up with Kronwall and bashed his legs and back with a lead pipe.
And nobody is acting like AA was universally loved. The general opinion I see is that when AA was playing lazy, uninspired hockey, people hated him. When he was holding out and using the KHL for leverage, people were ready to be done with his nonsense. Once he matured a little bit and started looking like he gave a damn, people backed off.
Bottom line is, it is really easy to attack a player who is so obviously skilled and looks like he doesn't give a **** compared to a guy who's either too old or too hurt or put in a role that he isn't suited for.
