Don't Worry, (Happy will) be Happy

No one can say they’ve been happy with Happy so far, but to say that he’s never going to contribute is premature. We are exactly 1 month into the season, and the entire third line sucked balls so far this season.

I’ll tell you why people are ready to throw him out now, besides the obvious “his play has been awful” – they are still bitter about him leaving for the KHL. Our sense of loyalty and “family” was severely offended when Hudler dared to try and make more money in a different league getting more minutes and more opportunities. Whether he was right or wrong to do so is moot: he made the decision, and people have that in the back of their minds when they view Hudler.

If he’s sucking ass after another 10-20 games, then sit him down and get someone in there who will get the job done. But if the best coach in hockey thinks that Hudler is going to get it going, who are we to argue?

We can’t just bench Hudler? Isn’t that what we just did? Listen, I know Happy was a great youngster before he left and showed great promise. But what has he done since coming back other than decimate everything he touches? Right now, our top two lines are damn near untouchable. The fourth line was firing on all cylinders and outplaying a lot of teams’ #2 lines when it was Eaves-Helm-Miller. Abdelkader stepped in for Huds and immediately the third line starts playing apeshit, Our PP improved, too.

Hudler is a liability right now. Yes, if he is just having adjustment jitters, the only way to work them out is to play him but can we really afford that? Take a look at the Central right now. The way things are going this season, the 2011 Central Division could shape up to be the single greatest division of all time. In a division that is going to be this tough, how exactly does Hudler help Lidstrom win #5? He can’t play on the second line if Franzen or whomever goes down. That has to be Cleary. Hudler can play on the third line in place of Cleary then, but even there I think I would prefer to move Helm up (new Goat line, maybe? Abdelkader-Modano-Helm could be an interesting combo…) and slot Drapes in when he comes back.

I’m not saying Hudler is going to forever suck as if he were a goalie not named Roy in Colorado. All I’m saying is that the first 20 count just as much as the last 20 and if he’s hurting us (and right now, he definitely is), we need to look at other options. We have 14 forwards on the team right now and even the bottom 4 or 5 would be serviceable on 90% of the league’s third line. If we can get a prospect and a fourth rounder for Hudler, get his cap space off the books, and call up someone in case of injury, it wouldn’t be much worse than what we are dealing with now. Hell, I’m sure a quick run down the hallway for Holland could convince Malts to come back if we really needed a player (and Malts would cost a fraction what Hudler is costing us).

And I will fully acknowledge that some of this may be pent up frustration over him leaving the team (if you remember the posts when he came back, I continually said I’d rather he stayed in Russia). However, I really don’t think any bias there changes the fact that Hudler is playing like crap.

“If Jiri Hudler were a Roomba, the only areas of your carpet that would consistently stay clean are the low-traffic areas where there’s not much dirt to begin with. Roomba Hudler would see carpet matted down by foot traffic and would turn around and bump into your coffee table seven more times.”

I’m dying. That’s the best way I’ve ever heard someone describe an inept player.

I loved him before he went to Russia because he always found the quite spots on the ice and could then rip one in with his amazing shot for a 3rd liner. He just isn’t finding the quite spots now which is worrying. I don’t want to sit or trade him yet, but I don’t see how finding the quite spots is going to be much different from KHL to NHL rinks. Yes size is different, but you are focusing on the other team more than how far off the boards you are. I still like Happy, I am just frustrated with him. That’s just my opinion though.

COME ON HAPPY, DO IT FOR OZZY!

when you point out that the team would never be able to replace him with somebody with the same amount of talent.

Players slump, its a long season. Happy just happens to be slumping early, and its somewhat expected after being away from the NHL game for a year. And lets face it, its not like Modano or Cleary were really playing any better or doing anything to help Hudler’s numbers. Any 3 of those guys could’ve had the same fate. I’d argue Modano needed to sit, but seems like Babs won’t go there out of respect (even though he has the built in excuse of “keeping Mo’ fresh for the long haul” if he were to scratch him.

Simply put, yes, Hudler has not been good at all so far. Its almost certain other players will go through a similar stretch this season and it just won’t stick out as much because it wont be the beginning of the year, when we tend to put a little too much weight on early numbers & results.

And when other slumps happen, or the injury bug bites the top 6, trust me, we are all going to be happy (excuse the pun) that Hudler is around.

I’ll re-post this here, because it’s the appropriate thread. Yesterday, I wrote:

I realize that Mike Babcock knew more about hockey by the time he hit puberty than I’ll ever know. But I don’t like Babcock’s decision to not ice his best lineup last night. He said himself that in the Edmonton game Hudler didn’t mesh well on a line with Helm and Eaves – two speedy, high-energy players. Hudler has a goal-scorer’s touch and a way of finding open space in the offensive zone, but it seems to me he’s not fast, high-energy, nor very good defensively.

So what did Babcock do against the Canucks? He sat Eaves and played Hudler with Helm and Miller – two speedy, high-energy players. Helm and Eaves are the Wings’ most-used pair of forwards on the penalty kill. So, Detroit went up against the Canucks’ League-best power-play without one of their top penalty-killers. They might not have given up two power-play goals if they’d had Eaves last night. Then, Babcock used the ice-cold Hudler on the second power play unit in place of Filppula or Bertuzzi.

I understand: A confident and effective Jiří Hudler can mean 20, maybe 30, goals for the Wings this season. And he’s certainly been good on the power play in the past. I just think that 1) This was not the right game to play with. Vancouver may be the best team in the conference, and I thought of it as a measuring-stick game for the Wings. Babcock should have waited for a lesser opponent for Operation Jolt Huds. 2) Hudler may be one of those players that can thrive only on a scoring line. I love Darren Helm, but he’s not the sort of playmaker that Hudler needs get him the puck when he suddenly finds the open spot on the ice in the offensive zone. This wasn’t giving Hudler his best chance to succeed.

I think Babcock should have waited to put in Hudler, or sat Franzen and put Hudler on the 2nd line. Franzen could maybe have used another day to rest the hip injury that he aggravated against Calgary. Hudler has had a lot of success with Filppula as his center before, this would have been a better chance to get him back on his game than playing on the 4th line, and given Franzen a bit of a rest if Franzen wasn’t feeling 100%.

I hope Jiří appreciates the lengths Babcock is willing to go to get him rolling.

I wasn’t offended when Hudler left for Russia. I actually wanted him to go, because, based on his play the previous year, I thought Ville Leino was going to be better (he was) in that spot for the Wings (he wasn’t).

I think Hudler should be benched until the sadly inevitable injury on the top 3 lines (Okay, Franzen. There, I said it.) or someone else slumps and needs to sit. Hudler can work out his issues then. Right now he’s getting his suck all over the lineup.

But how hurt is Franzen, exactly? The Wings have never been a team to rush players back from injury, I doubt anything is seriously wrong with Franzen physically. As a precautionary measure, it would be nice, and even if he is on a cold streak, a benching would do some good. I wish the Wings wouldn’t be so secretive.

As for Hudler, there is a nice warm seat in the press box for him, at least for a few games. He does not deserve to be in the lineup the way he has played recently, especially because eaves and miller have been so great. He will eventually figure it out, but Babs is trusting him too much as of now.