Stalberg NHL Second Star of the Week

[LordKOTL]

...and yet in his rookie year I cringed every time he came on the ice. Skates of lighting, hands of stone, and hockey sense of Karpotsev.



In all fairness, he's improved massively, but it didn't really help last year Q giving him every chance to fail on the top lines when it was obvious he wasn't ready for that role yet.

 

[PatrickShart]

12g as a rookie is "hands of stone"? No hockey sense?



Do you have hockey sense?

 

[MassHavoc]

I know it doesn't matter and you'll statatistic it away somehow, but 9 of his 26 goals have been against columbus. And 8 of his 28 points this season have been in 4 games against columbus. So 28.5% almost 30% of his output this year has been in 8.6% of the games against the worst team in the league. So basically, 8 points in 4 games. And 20 points in 42 games vs. the rest of the league. I guess that's still .47 points a game, I'm sure you'll compare that to all sorts of people and it will look fine. And then we'll go back to the money which to me means absolutely zero. Not really arguing here, just throw shit out.

 

[xatruio]

a professional hockey team is full of professional hockey players



dont be jelly he plays for the NHL while you waste away GMing from your armchair



and don't take away from him and his joy; he gets the job done against a bad team full of the best hockey players in the world, whether theyre a bad team relative to the league or not; bad teams are because of bad management and coaching, not that theyre just lucky ass holes who don't have talent and bought their way into the draft and an NHL lineup



if anything, him actually stepping up and getting the job done against such a lowly team is proof of him being a good, solid pro and finding his game. Gets his confidence going too so he isnt too much of a headcase on himself.



haters gonna hate--too true.

 

[PatrickShart]

Sure...I'll statistic it away.



Or throw out that he just sucks, has no hands or has no hockey sense...because thats a solid argument.



But everyone on this team sucks anyway, which makes for the easiest discussion.

 

[MassHavoc]

a professional hockey team is full of professional hockey players



dont be jelly he plays for the NHL while you waste away GMing from your armchair



and don't take away from him and his joy; he gets the job done against a bad team full of the best hockey players in the world, whether theyre a bad team relative to the league or not; bad teams are because of bad management and coaching, not that theyre just lucky ass holes who don't have talent and bought their way into the draft and an NHL lineup



if anything, him actually stepping up and getting the job done against such a lowly team is proof of him being a good, solid pro and finding his game. Gets his confidence going too so he isnt too much of a headcase on himself.



haters gonna hate--too true.

This is so full of WTF I don't even know where to start?

 

[xatruio]

peanut butter

 

[MassHavoc]

 

[Ton]

He has 8 points in 4 games against Columbus... so what. Toews only has 4 points against the worst team in the league, he must suck. And Kane? He only has 2 points against the worst team in the league. He must really suck.



Kane has 14 points against Eastern Conference teams... that's 36% of his points against teams that don't even matter or effect us in the standings.



FYI, that last part, while facts are involved.. is meant to be in purple.

 

[MassHavoc]

I hope it was all purple because it didn't address anything I mentioned.

 

[Ton]

I hope it was all purple because it didn't address anything I mentioned.

Yeah... it's all purple... hahaha

 

[the canadian dream]

Stalberg sucked in his first full year, I agree with Lord. Wasn't about the points at all. He was horrible along the boards his defensive awareness was none and although a fast skater he skated in straight lines. Wasn't very creative on his skates or durable. All of that has improved thus why his scoring has improved also. His hockey sense has improved dramaticaly since last year along with some technical aspects. He is still not perfect in all areas but it's been an incredible improvement. And don't think for a second playing more with Toews hasn't helped that.

 

[LordKOTL]

Stalberg sucked in his first full year, I agree with Lord. Wasn't about the points at all. He was horrible along the boards his defensive awareness was none and although a fast skater he skated in straight lines. Wasn't very creative on his skates or durable. All of that has improved thus why his scoring has improved also. His hockey sense has improved dramaticaly since last year along with some technical aspects. He is still not perfect in all areas but it's been an incredible improvement. And don't think for a second playing more with Toews hasn't helped that.

Pretty much agreed. last year Bickell outplayed Stalberg in all respects and Stalberg I wanted pressboxed for the year. The roles have pretty much reversed.

 

[Ton]

Stalberg sucked in his first full year, I agree with Lord. Wasn't about the points at all. He was horrible along the boards his defensive awareness was none and although a fast skater he skated in straight lines. Wasn't very creative on his skates or durable. All of that has improved thus why his scoring has improved also. His hockey sense has improved dramaticaly since last year along with some technical aspects. He is still not perfect in all areas but it's been an incredible improvement. And don't think for a second playing more with Toews hasn't helped that.

+1 for that, can't disagree with anything you said. However, since last year Stalberg has improved in those areas immensely. He still hasn't reached the prime of his career and he's only 26... IMO he's having a breakout year and by the time he's 28 I bet he will be a consistent 60 pt guy for 5 years or so.

 

[CLWolf81]

Stalberg sucked in his first full year, I agree with Lord. Wasn't about the points at all. He was horrible along the boards his defensive awareness was none and although a fast skater he skated in straight lines. Wasn't very creative on his skates or durable. All of that has improved thus why his scoring has improved also. His hockey sense has improved dramaticaly since last year along with some technical aspects. He is still not perfect in all areas but it's been an incredible improvement. And don't think for a second playing more with Toews hasn't helped that.

Thing is, I hope he isn't one of those guys that needs to be hand held, which with Toews, he's proving that to me. You can pair up anyone with Toews and their play gets almost better.... the one exception being Brunette, of course. Q is going to mix lines up as we all know, so they might not be together for awhile after this. Of course, we'll see.



In order to win me over, he needs to prove he can pair up with more than just Toews and he hasn't proven that to me yet. He's reminding me of Joffrey Lupul, who didn't really impress anyone until he got the opportunity to play with Phil Kessel.



Just one year and everyone is oogling over him. I welcome the fact that he's doing wonderful and I really hope he continues on this hot streak he's on, but I know what he's capable of, and I won't be surprised if it happens.

 

[MassHavoc]

+1 for that, can't disagree with anything you said. However, since last year Stalberg has improved in those areas immensely. He still hasn't reached the prime of his career and he's only 26... IMO he's having a breakout year and by the time he's 28 I bet he will be a consistent 60 pt guy for 5 years or so.

I would definately say he's inproved, but immensely? How do we measure that exactly? I'm not making my typical dick comment, I just honestly can't say that I've seen immense improvement. I still see the hands of stone, lack of awareness, poor board work, as much as I see improvement. I would imagine the main difference this year is he's getting more time with Kane and Toews?

 

[LordKOTL]

I would definately say he's inproved, but immensely? How do we measure that exactly? I'm not making my typical dick comment, I just honestly can't say that I've seen immense improvement. I still see the hands of stone, lack of awareness, poor board work, as much as I see improvement. I would imagine the main difference this year is he's getting more time with Kane and Toews?

The proof is in the pudding. Last year when he was with Toews and Kane he was missing the net consistanly and had no clue what to do with the puck once he entered the zone. Now, he's fixed those parts of his game (at least for now).



I'm not a Stalberg nutswinger in any sense of the word but I call it like I see it--right now he's adding value unlike some guys--that deserves praise.

 

[MassHavoc]

There are definately players that he is playing better than right now, but to me that doesn't mean that he's playing great. And if I started critizing other players, I'd be called out for being a curmudgeon or something and a bitter person who just likes to complain.