With Datsyuk coming back soon, convince me he'll be an answer

[14ari13]

As much as they don't want to, we need to spread Zetterberg and Datsyuk on different lines to start. That's the only way we can assure this isn't a one line team offensively. It doesn't matter who they play with, they will drive possession. It'll help others too to play with Datsyuk(Tatar mainly). Having one of them on the ice for 2/3 of the game >> both of them for 1/3 of the game right now.

We do not know if Blashill will play them together. He might play them together for 2-3 games or change it during game 1.
We really do not know if he will play them together.

Both Tampa games, last game against Dallas.. those were solid games. We've had some other decent ones, last 5-6 games have been alright. Can't only look at SOG all the time.

Plus.
I think we would have beaten the Habs if not for the refs. We had the lead and our goalie was outplaying theirs.

The biggest difference is goaltending. I think our goaltending is much better this season than last one.

I think Bowman's all star team of 02 got beaten in 5 games in a row in December.

 

[TheOtherOne]

For the past 4 years we always outshot all opponents and everyone on hfboards said "who gives a ****, shots don't mean anything, we suck".

Now we get outshot and suddenly shots is the ultimate metric of a team's performance.

This one time, I watched a puck trickle towards a goalie in such a way that it would not go into the net once out of a hundred thousand identical plays. At the same time, I watch the shot counter go up by one. From that moment I decided I couldn't care less how many shots the home team's backup goalie says we have.

 

[BinCookin]

We'll have our entire collection of forwards and defensemen (minus Quincey). We're currently getting outshot every. single. game. Why is Datsyuk going to turn the tide that drastically? He's a great player, but our defense is still atrocious. I'm a firm believer that our team was dominant in 07-09 because of Lidstrom, Rafalski, Kronwall, and Stuart.

I agree this team will get better, but I just don't see Datsyuk coming back and fixing the majority if what is hurting this team.

In response to your thread title:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EgSL3hY5iPE

 

[theYman]

Here's another answer to this thread.

 

[Henkka]

For the past 4 years we always outshot all opponents and everyone on hfboards said "who gives a ****, shots don't mean anything, we suck".

Now we get outshot and suddenly shots is the ultimate metric of a team's performance.

This one time, I watched a puck trickle towards a goalie in such a way that it would not go into the net once out of a hundred thousand identical plays. At the same time, I watch the shot counter go up by one. From that moment I decided I couldn't care less how many shots the home team's backup goalie says we have.

Yep. Only data I trust today is my own eye-test scoring attempt data. We have won those attempts on many games and they are close what Fenwick is. But still, better than Fenwick because it takes meaningless shots away from the data.

Datsyuk's effect on the lineup based on my data (Andersson out, Datsyuk in) will be at least ~0.30 in goals for averge per game.

Defensively, (how his return will reduce opposite team goalscoring average), I don't have any formula to count that effect. But you could think former Selke Winner will take another ~0.30 goals from opposite team out.

 

[Luke]

It's hard for the offense to produce when the defense can't get you the puck.

Datsyuk will help with getting the puck out of the zone, but he won't be a cure-all by any means.

I fully expect the team to have a bit of a let down for a couple of games when he comes back, kind of a sigh of relief and everyone lets up a bit because Pavel's back.

The defense is horrid at getting the puck out of the zone, they crumble at any bit of pressure (except last game, they did great, just need to keep that up). Bad choices all over the place, horrible puck management. I watch most of the games through my fingers. Datsyuk will be a big help but he can't be on the ice for 60 minutes so those other problems have to sort themselves out quickly.

 

[Flowah]

It's hard for the offense to produce when the defense can't get you the puck.

Datsyuk will help with getting the puck out of the zone, but he won't be a cure-all by any means.

Frankly we have 3-5 players now who should be able to do it from our own end to the opponents under control. Nyquist, Datsyuk, Larkin, Athanasiou, Zetterberg. Everyone but Z can do it on pure speed. Maybe we need to start doing that? And once there's a controlled entry, set up the play. I'm pretty tired of watching inept passes into skates getting fumbled and turned around.

 

[SpookyTsuki]

I like chances more then shots.

 

[Run the Jewels]

We'll have our entire collection of forwards and defensemen (minus Quincey). We're currently getting outshot every. single. game. Why is Datsyuk going to turn the tide that drastically? He's a great player, but our defense is still atrocious. I'm a firm believer that our team was dominant in 07-09 because of Lidstrom, Rafalski, Kronwall, and Stuart.

I agree this team will get better, but I just don't see Datsyuk coming back and fixing the majority if what is hurting this team.

We're also in the bottom 4 in goals for, so the suggestion that the offensive output would be better under Blashill proved to be laughably inaccurate. Petr Mrazek is our MVP and the only reason we aren't going to draft in the lottery.

 

[Actual Thought*]

We're also in the bottom 4 in goals for, so the suggestion that the offensive output would be better under Blashill proved to be laughably inaccurate. Petr Mrazek is our MVP and the only reason we aren't going to draft in the lottery.

To be fair Howard is the other reason.

 

[SoupNazi]

We're also in the bottom 4 in goals for, so the suggestion that the offensive output would be better under Blashill proved to be laughably inaccurate. Petr Mrazek is our MVP and the only reason we aren't going to draft in the lottery.

Yep, because we've got a huge 16 game sample size to prove our offensive output is going to stay where it's at all year.

 

[14ari13]

I like chances more then shots.

+1

We're also in the bottom 4 in goals for, so the suggestion that the offensive output would be better under Blashill proved to be laughably inaccurate. Petr Mrazek is our MVP and the only reason we aren't going to draft in the lottery.

The season is still very young.

To be fair Howard is the other reason.

No he is not. He has been very good, but not great. Mrazek has been better and I think he will be getting more starts.

 

[Run the Jewels]

To be fair Howard is the other reason.

$5.3 million for a backup goaltender, another doozy from Ken Holland.

 

[DanZ]

No he is not. He has been very good, but not great. Mrazek has been better and I think he will be getting more starts.

Howard has a .932 save %. Mrazek has a .938 save %. They both have the exact same GAA. Both have been great and have been our MVPs so far. This shouldn't be argued.

 

[SpookyTsuki]

$5.3 million for a backup goaltender, another doozy from Ken Holland.

who knew that Mrazek was the next Hasek

 

[DanZ]

$5.3 million for a backup goaltender, another doozy from Ken Holland.

Well Mrazek makes like $700k so $6 million tied up in goaltending is pretty standard.

 

[sean3250]

There are so many damn things to complain about with this team, goaltending is definitely not one of those.

 

[14ari13]

Howard has a .932 save %. Mrazek has a .938 save %. They both have the exact same GAA. Both have been great and have been our MVPs so far. This shouldn't be argued.

Mrazek can move the puck. This is huge for our Dmen. Mrazek gives us abetter chance to win. Therefore I would go 60/40% with Mrazek.

 

[DanZ]

Mrazek can move the puck. This is huge for our Dmen. Mrazek gives us abetter chance to win. Therefore I would go 60/40% with Mrazek.

So Mrazek has been great with basically the same stats as Howard while Howard has only been very good? All because of puckhandling? Any goalie that has a .930 save % has been great, no questions asked. Mrazek's puck handling has benefited us but has also cost us at times (threw a puck straight into a Carolina forward last week to put us behind 1-0)...

 

[sean3250]

So Mrazek has been great with basically the same stats as Howard while Howard has only been very good? All because of puckhandling? Any goalie that has a .930 save % has been great, no questions asked. Mrazek's puck handling has benefited us but has also cost us at times (threw a puck straight into a Carolina forward last week to put us behind 1-0)...

That's literally only happened once so far in his career. Without him, we don't win in OT against Vancouver. The benefits of his puck handling ability greatly outweigh any negatives that may come with it.

 

[hyduK]

Obviously not the answer but we'll be much improved I think.

a) He's our best player, really not even debatable. He was 6th in P/GP last year. That's huge.
b) His returning improves every line, offensively and defensively. Line 1 gets better with him, 2 gets better with Larkin, 3 gets better with Sheahan. 4 is the only line that's not really impacted, but they have been doing their job just fine.
c) PP gets better. Second unit in particular has been lackluster...not sure which one he'll play on but either way they both get better (either he is on the 2nd, or he's on the 1st and a better player moves to the 2nd)

 

[Run the Jewels]

Well Mrazek makes like $700k so $6 million tied up in goaltending is pretty standard.

It's piss poor asset management. Howard has zero trade value and if he's really worth $5.3 million a season then how much is Mrazek worth? Please don't forget Mrazek is much further along than Howard was at this point and he bypassed Howard and was our starter in the playoffs last year. I'm sorry but your logic is flawed.

 

[DanZ]

That's literally only happened once so far in his career. Without him, we don't win in OT against Vancouver. The benefits of his puck handling ability greatly outweigh any negatives that may come with it.

How do you know we don't win in Vancouver? All I'm saying is, don't pretend like Mrazek is Brodeur or prime Turco with his puckhandling yet. He'll probably get there eventually, but that's not the case now.

It's piss poor asset management. Howard has zero trade value and if he's really worth $5.3 million a season then how much is Mrazek worth? Please don't forget Mrazek is much further along than Howard was at this point and he bypassed Howard and was our starter in the playoffs last year. I'm sorry but your logic is flawed.

My logic is not flawed. We have $6 million invested in goaltending which is pretty much in-line with every successful team. It's a non-issue until Mrazek needs a raise.

 

[Pavels Dog]

It's piss poor asset management. Howard has zero trade value and if he's really worth $5.3 million a season then how much is Mrazek worth? Please don't forget Mrazek is much further along than Howard was at this point and he bypassed Howard and was our starter in the playoffs last year. I'm sorry but your logic is flawed.

Mrazek is going to get less because he has less experience. Probably some kind of bridge-deal. If Howard continues to play like this he definitely has trade value. We have a great situation in net, not sure how anyone can twist it into being bad asset management.

 

[Lazlo Hollyfeld]

Not sure if this has been mentioned by he should help greatly with faceoffs. Which is an even bigger deal because of the new faceoff rule this year.

Right now Z is taking the lionshare and he's below 50%. Datsyuk can help share the workload and should help the Wings from getting pinned in their own end so much. Right now the best options are Zetterberg and Glendening.