[Signing] Flames sign Jiri Hudler - 4 Years, $16 Million

[nickerjones]

Originally Posted by Psytic

I went to Detroit's board and they were all slapping high fives that Hudler is gone, that's not a good sign lol.

its bc with their defensive depth now , Hudler was going to be their#5 D-man too... Apparently he isn't that great of a defensive player.

[midniteowl]

The Jiri Hudler I remembered was the games we played Detroit. He seems like always score the winning goal on the Flames. That one time, the Flames were leading by one goal, 30 sec left in the game, Hudler come flying down the wing, go wide on the defense, cut to the goal and scored! Then he would do almost the same thing in overtime and scored again to win the game. I used to hate him, cos of that. Now, I'm glad he is on the Flames' side.

[Tilley]

Watched a couple of Detroit games on GameCenter, including the playoff games vs Nashville. Hudler, on a line with Zetterberg and Filppula was anchored in front of the net on almost every shift. Zetterberg would consistently create space and get a shot on net and Hudler would be there to deflect or bang home the rebound.

Hudler brings a much needed skill to Calgary. It seemed like Moss was the only forward who would consistently crash the net last year. Hudler has the hands that Moss doesn't and will be a vital part of the power play next year.

[Oil Stain]

Hudler had a career year in shooting percentage last season.

He shot .190 compared to his .137 career. The guy was getting top six minutes at ES and on the PP in Detroit.

I would expect his production to drop off in Calgary because of this.

I guess this could be offset somewhat if Jiri receives first line minutes in Calgary.

[JiriHrdina]

Sure but the vast majority of his goals were es, more quality pp time will help

[Tinordi]

Regardless, when a guy has an outlying shooting percentage they tend to regress to the mean. Hudler may get more shot opportunities in Calgary which would offset the regression but all in all you can pretty much expect he will produce less than last year all other things considered. (not least to which less talented linemates)

[EddyBeers]

Originally Posted by Oil Stain

Hudler had a career year in shooting percentage last season.

He shot .190 compared to his .137 career. The guy was getting top six minutes at ES and on the PP in Detroit.

I would expect his production to drop off in Calgary because of this.

I guess this could be offset somewhat if Jiri receives first line minutes in Calgary.

Hudler was 6th in TOI on the PP, well behind the top 4, comparable to 5th and 7th on the team. It looks like he performed mop up duty on the PP. It looks like the 2nd unit probably alternated between him and Bert. I would imagine on the Flames he will get consistent top 6 PP time, probably will be 4th on the Flames in PP TOI.

[Roof-Daddy]

All this talk about Wings fans laughing at us for signing Hudler to that deal, here is a take from what appears to be a very knowledgeable Wings fan from another board:

Red Wing fan here. Really jealous of you guys. Hudler was underutilized and under appreciated his whole time here, and I always thought Hudler was a key barometer for the direction our team was headed.(it seemed like a bad sign to me that somebody as talented as he is wasn't be used just because his physical tools didn't allow him to play the coaches system)

I don't think Hudler was properly developed, and think he should've been in the group of secondary/younger franchise players under Datsyuk and Zetterberg, along with Kronwall and Filppula(though now that Filppula is apparently being turned into a winger, I'm not sure what his value is)

Hudler has terrible acceleration, and Babcock condemned him for it. He's slow to get to the point on defensive zone faceoffs, isn't going to stop anyone if he's flat footed in the neutral zone, and can't skate the puck out of danger/the defensive zone. He does have good quickness/change of direction on the boards in the cycle though, where range/stride length don't matter.

He's a willing forechecker, but some games he's always just a step late and behind contact, causing leaks, but other games he does a surprising job staying on checks. Hit or miss.

Everything aside from that is a pro. He is one of the smartest players in the league. His vision, creativity and passing skills are elite. He sees the ice 5on5 in every situation. He'll pull up on a 2 on 1, if the 4 on 3 is going to generate a better chance. He's never above making the simple play if it's the right one, but has the ability to find a crack against the grain and cross up a defense with one pass. You should have fun waiting to see what he does when he gets the puck inside the blue line. I became a fan early on, as I was astounded by how often good things happened when the puck left his stick, he's very consistent at making the first pass that starts generating offense.

He's not a sniper by any means, but forced into the role, he developed a good knack for finishing plays, placing a puck around a moving goalie, or getting a stick on net front pucks.

He worked through a lot of adversity in Detroit, nobody on the team had a shorter leash, if he passed up a shot, or gave up a scoring chance defensively, that's all it took for his role to be reduced. Despite that he always had the guts to play his game, and was consistently working his way out of the depths of the gameplan.

Last year was the first time I ever saw a red wings team give up. Hudler was one of the few engaged players in the playoffs, and showed good leadership skills during that series/disaster.

It remains to be seen, how much Hudler was being held back simply by his lack of athleticism, and how much of it was lack of faith from the coach. It is possible that the new NHL is too fast for Hudler to fully utilize his tool set, but I think with the right gameplan, you guys have a shot at putting his skills to better use than the Wings did, and getting more than your money's worth. I am hoping the Flames run the second line through Hudler, and feed him the puck on the sideboards, where he can start the offense.

That's my biased take, I'll be watching both teams over the next few years to see how it turns out.

Seems like unbiased take from a fairly knowledgeable fan who's seen a lot of Hudler over the years.

The bolded part is what really caught my eye, and that part is probably what drew Feaster /Weisbrod to him in the first place. Hockey sense is priority #1 in Flames country these days.

I remember reading a quote in here somewhere from Jim Nill as well, where he said Hudler's hockey smarts was second to none.

[Oil Stain]

Originally Posted by JiriHrdina

Sure but the vast majority of his goals were es, more quality pp time will help

It may. Is Hudler a historically good scorer on the PP? I don't know.

I do know his ES scoring will likely plummet. He was 12th in the NHL last for ES on-ice shooting percentage.

The leader was Stamkos, and I think everyone would agree he is unlikely to repeat his 60 goal performance. Eberle was second. Another guy due for a drop off.

I would bet on Hudler not being able to repeat last year's totals, but I guess we will see.
http://www.behindthenet.ca/nhl_stati...0+31+32+33+34#

[HighLifeMan]

I am not sure how they can be happy with Hudler going for 4m a season, when they signed a 35 year old Mikael Samuelsson to a 3M per season contract. Samuelsson's career high in points in Detroit is 45 points over the span of four seasons.

Sounds like sour grapes to me.

[Phanuthier]

Originally Posted by Roof-Daddy

Seems like unbiased take from a fairly knowledgeable fan who's seen a lot of Hudler over the years..

You can't just throw away all the negative stuff, find the most positive post and say it is "unbias" - I think all the negative stuff is fair game and is pretty characteristic of what I think, but the quote you find above is moreso the lines of what I think as well.

FWIW : I think Hudler is a great signing.

[Hells Bells]

Originally Posted by Roof-Daddy

All this talk about Wings fans laughing at us for signing Hudler to that deal, here is a take from what appears to be a very knowledgeable Wings fan from another board:




Seems like unbiased take from a fairly knowledgeable fan who's seen a lot of Hudler over the years.

The bolded part is what really caught my eye, and that part is probably what drew Feaster /Weisbrod to him in the first place. Hockey sense is priority #1 in Flames country these days.

I remember reading a quote in here somewhere from Jim Nill as well, where he said Hudler's hockey smarts was second to none.

But.. but.. but his shooting percentage was high and he wore a Red Wings jersey which gives you better accuracy on your shot.

[Phanuthier]

Originally Posted by Hells Bells

But.. but.. but his shooting percentage was high and he wore a Red Wings jersey which gives you better accuracy on your shot.

I can't remember which game it was (I think I've seen him do this a few times), but it was pre-season... 2 minutes left in warm up, Hudler grabbed a bunch of and went into the corner and started firing pucks on net from 1 ft inside the goal line. 4/5 went in.

Guy's gone skill for sure

[Roof-Daddy]

Originally Posted by Phanuthier

You can't just throw away all the negative stuff, find the most positive post and say it is "unbias" - I think all the negative stuff is fair game and is pretty characteristic of what I think, but the quote you find above is moreso the lines of what I think as well.

FWIW : I think Hudler is a great signing.

That's the thing Phanuthier, the first section of that post was negative.

This guy didn't spin everything in a positive light only, he also mentioned the negatives as well.

[Phanuthier]

I didn't think so. If anyone thinks Hudler was a great skater, they know nothing of his game. What he's being paid for is what he does between the blue line and the goal line... similar role to Huselius circa 2007-2010.

[Resolute 14]

Originally Posted by Oil Stain

I would bet on Hudler not being able to repeat last year's totals, but I guess we will see.
http://www.behindthenet.ca/nhl_stati...0+31+32+33+34#

I would tend to agree on Hudler not matching his shooting percentage from last year. But with consistent top six time and increased powerplay time, a lower shooting percentage does not necessarily mean he will score fewer goals or points. But it does argue that he needs to be shooting the puck when he can rather than trying to force passes to his linemates like Tanguay often does.

[Roof-Daddy]

Another thing that got me thinking, is the posters who like to bring up Hudler's shoting percentage, and how it is likely to regress to the mean.....I agree.

Glencross is another guy who likely won't pot as many goals next year (actually he might, with a full season) because his shooting percentage was much higher than his career average.

However, the flip side of that is we have a couple players who had shooting percentages well below their career averages as well. Chances are just as good that they see increased production while progressing to the mean.

Stempniak and Comeau are two of the top of my head.

[Captain_Obvious]

Originally Posted by Phanuthier

I didn't think so. If anyone thinks Hudler was a great skater, they know nothing of his game. What he's being paid for is what he does between the blue line and the goal line... similar role to Huselius circa 2007-2010.

Am I missing something?

One of the first things pointed out by the above Red Wings fan was his deficiency in skating.

[Roof-Daddy]

Originally Posted by Phanuthier

I didn't think so. If anyone thinks Hudler was a great skater, they know nothing of his game. What he's being paid for is what he does between the blue line and the goal line... similar role to Huselius circa 2007-2010.

Directed at me?

...because that poster I quoted said Hudler had terrible acceleration.

[JiriHrdina]

If we are basing projections on shooting percentage whatever decline Hudler has should be made up by with increased goal totals from Comeau