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Forums :: Blog World :: Bob Duff: Filppula Likes Fit In Detroit
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Bob Duff
Location: Windsor, ON
Joined: 11.10.2014

Aug 24 @ 9:05 PM ET
Bob Duff: Filppula Likes Fit In Detroit Center Valtteri Filppula looks forward to his second stint with the Detroit Red Wings.
Jeremy Laura
Detroit Red Wings
Location: MI
Joined: 01.26.2016

Aug 25 @ 11:19 AM ET
I’d love to see Zadina in a 2nd line role. My only concern is the ability of Fil and Zadina to skate with Athanasiou. If they can keep up, could be a lot of fun to watch
gergeswillems
Detroit Red Wings
Location: Malkin wants to be The Man, ON
Joined: 02.01.2016

Aug 25 @ 11:59 AM ET
I’d love to see Zadina in a 2nd line role. My only concern is the ability of Fil and Zadina to skate with Athanasiou. If they can keep up, could be a lot of fun to watch
- Jlaura76

If Zadina isn't ready for a top 6 role yet then he's better off starting the year in Grand Rapids. I don't want him playing with useless slugs like Helm, Abdelkader, Nielsen, Glendening, etc. At least with Yzerman here the young guys have a fair shot at cracking the NHL roster. With Holland they had no chance.

What worries me is the excuse making, finger pointing, clueless head coach is going to want to save his own a$$ and go with a heavy vet lineup most nights. Blashill knows he's a lame duck head coach and he's going to blame as many young players as he can like he did with Cholowski. When the $hit hits the fan we know Blashill will look for scapegoats and it won't be any of the entitled vets.

Yzerman needs to dump his a$$ ASAP when this happens. Bylsma can coach the rest of the season if need be. I'm sick of the Babs wannabe Blashill. I know Stevie is waiting for HIS guy to become available but these young players like Zadina need a competent head coach who's going to get the most out of them. Not throw them under the bus to the media after each loss to cover his own coward a$$.

I guarantee Blashill will never get another NHL head coaching job. He's a minor league coach masquerading as an NHL head coach. The sooner he's gone the better off the Red Wings will be. He can take his line blending, excuse making, finger pointing, goofy faces somewhere else!
Jeremy Laura
Detroit Red Wings
Location: MI
Joined: 01.26.2016

Aug 25 @ 2:08 PM ET
If Zadina isn't ready for a top 6 role yet then he's better off starting the year in Grand Rapids. I don't want him playing with useless slugs like Helm, Abdelkader, Nielsen, Glendening, etc. At least with Yzerman here the young guys have a fair shot at cracking the NHL roster. With Holland they had no chance.

What worries me is the excuse making, finger pointing, clueless head coach is going to want to save his own a$$ and go with a heavy vet lineup most nights. Blashill knows he's a lame duck head coach and he's going to blame as many young players as he can like he did with Cholowski. When the $hit hits the fan we know Blashill will look for scapegoats and it won't be any of the entitled vets.

Yzerman needs to dump his a$$ ASAP when this happens. Bylsma can coach the rest of the season if need be. I'm sick of the Babs wannabe Blashill. I know Stevie is waiting for HIS guy to become available but these young players like Zadina need a competent head coach who's going to get the most out of them. Not throw them under the bus to the media after each loss to cover his own coward a$$.

I guarantee Blashill will never get another NHL head coaching job. He's a minor league coach masquerading as an NHL head coach. The sooner he's gone the better off the Red Wings will be. He can take his line blending, excuse making, finger pointing, goofy faces somewhere else!

- gergeswillems



I think you’re right in that Zadina will either have top 6 mins here or else GR. he’s a very different player than what we’ve drafted in the last decade or more. He needs the right center and high minutes.

I think, like with Dubas in TOR, Yzerman is working on removing the comfortable vet options. Abby was relegated a bit more last year (I think Z and Pav used to insist he get higher mins) but our top line is set with Larkin, Bert and Mantha (if he’s not traded). AA has been given 2nd line mins. Youth are on the way. Let the bad D contracts run out now
gergeswillems
Detroit Red Wings
Location: Malkin wants to be The Man, ON
Joined: 02.01.2016

Aug 25 @ 3:11 PM ET
I think you’re right in that Zadina will either have top 6 mins here or else GR. he’s a very different player than what we’ve drafted in the last decade or more. He needs the right center and high minutes.

I think, like with Dubas in TOR, Yzerman is working on removing the comfortable vet options. Abby was relegated a bit more last year (I think Z and Pav used to insist he get higher mins) but our top line is set with Larkin, Bert and Mantha (if he’s not traded). AA has been given 2nd line mins. Youth are on the way. Let the bad D contracts run out now

- Jlaura76

I hope Zadina has a good camp and gets a top 6 role. I can be as patient as it takes but watching good young players improve makes it much easier to stomach. I'm looking forward to seeing what Hronek can do this season as well. I'm interested to see where Rasmussen is at. He looked overwhelmed at times last season. He might be better served starting the season in Grand Rapids as well.
Njuice
Toronto Maple Leafs
Location: ON
Joined: 06.21.2013

Aug 25 @ 3:23 PM ET
filpulla is still playing? damn.

he was a very good player. very underrated. slightly above average at everything without any significant weakness. that gets poop done
gergeswillems
Detroit Red Wings
Location: Malkin wants to be The Man, ON
Joined: 02.01.2016

Aug 25 @ 4:16 PM ET
filpulla is still playing? damn.

he was a very good player. very underrated. slightly above average at everything without any significant weakness. that gets poop done

- Njuice

Filppula is a spot filler until Veleno is ready. He's not really a second line center at this point in his career but he'll be a good mentor for the young guys. Especially Zadina.
Jeremy Laura
Detroit Red Wings
Location: MI
Joined: 01.26.2016

Aug 25 @ 6:38 PM ET
I hope Zadina has a good camp and gets a top 6 role. I can be as patient as it takes but watching good young players improve makes it much easier to stomach. I'm looking forward to seeing what Hronek can do this season as well. I'm interested to see where Rasmussen is at. He looked overwhelmed at times last season. He might be better served starting the season in Grand Rapids as well.
- gergeswillems


Absolutely. We used to go to Traverse every year until a few years ago. I’ve never seen it this wide open for competition. I thought Veleno almost made the team last year. He looked amazing in camp. Nothing would be better than having to send a veteran down because they get outplayed. Probably never happen, but would be fun. I miss going out there, but thankfully they stream a bit of it.
Vladdie_Kon1
Detroit Red Wings
Location: Grand Rapids, MI
Joined: 04.21.2007

Aug 26 @ 3:37 PM ET
Veleno is the prospect I'm really hoping can turn into an elite center for Detroit. I was ecstatic when he fell into our lap at the draft. Filpula was a very useful and defensively good center when younger for the Wings (underrated for sure). He was a very good depth player for Detroit when they were an elite team. But the fact he's 35 and on the 2nd line in Detroit shows how much lack of depth this team has up the middle.

Still think bypassing Cozens for Seider at the draft this year may be questionable. But time will tell. Hope Stevie made the right call on that. I'm sure Buffalo was ecstatic to take Cozens at #7.
Sven22
Detroit Red Wings
Location: Grand Rapids, MI
Joined: 12.24.2007

Sep 3 @ 11:11 AM ET
Veleno is the prospect I'm really hoping can turn into an elite center for Detroit. I was ecstatic when he fell into our lap at the draft. Filpula was a very useful and defensively good center when younger for the Wings (underrated for sure). He was a very good depth player for Detroit when they were an elite team. But the fact he's 35 and on the 2nd line in Detroit shows how much lack of depth this team has up the middle.

Still think bypassing Cozens for Seider at the draft this year may be questionable. But time will tell. Hope Stevie made the right call on that. I'm sure Buffalo was ecstatic to take Cozens at #7.

- Vladdie_Kon1


I was curious about projecting Veleno / Zadina and did a quick-and-dirty comparison of their junior numbers versus a few guys a little further along in the development process -- Mantha and AA.

Obviously there's a lot more that goes into determining whether or not a player will succeed in the NHL, but I found the basic data interesting.

JOE VELENO
Age 16: 13-30-43 in 62
Age 17: 13-27-40 in 45
Age 18: 22-57-79 in 64
Age 19: 42-62-104 in 59

FILIP ZADINA:
Age 18: 44-38-82 in 57

ANDREAS ATHANASIOU
Age 16: 11-11-22 in 57
Age 17: 22-15-37 in 63
Age 18: 29-38-67 in 66
Age 19: 49-46-95 in 66

ANTHONY MANTHA
Age 16: 0-0-0 in 2
Age 17: 22-29-51 in 63
Age 18: 50-39-89 in 67
Age 19: 57-63-120 in 57

Zadina only played one season in the CHL, at age 18, but his ppg in that season was higher than what the other three achieved in their age-18 seasons. Caveats about sample sizes apply, and his edge over Mantha is not especially large.

The other three are more directly comparable statistically, and in terms of point production in juniors the pretty clear order is Mantha > Veleno > Athanasiou. Veleno gets a little bonus credit since he was about 4 months younger than Mantha and 6 months younger than AA during their most directly comparable seasons.

AA does have more impressive goal totals than Veleno, but Veleno is a much better distributor, scores more total points, and by all accounts appears to have a more "complete" two-way game.

Again, not saying these numbers necessarily mean Veleno will or won't develop into an all-star, or will or won't be better than, say, Anthony Mantha. I'm cautiously optimistic and think he'll probably be a good NHLer, but "elite" might be a stretch -- again, just based on the numbers, without any deeper analysis of his game. Hoping he proves me wrong.