Player Discussion: Danny DeKeyser

[obey86]

It's about time we start talking about just how bad this guy is. And just think, only 5 more years at $5M/year after this season!

Can the people who think he's good please tell me what exactly he is good at. Because I see a player who is poor defensively, poor offensively, a poor passer, and not physical. Even his skating, which is supposed to be his strength, isn't as good as it was a few years ago IMO...he just looks slower to me for some reason.

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[WingedWheel1987]

He has three points through 21 games while averaging 22:15 per game.

He is abysmal.

Jonathan Ericsson has more points than him.

Although to be fair, the forwards on this team blow too.

 

[Mister Ed]

A #3 defenseman who is playing as a #1/#2 and people want to know why he's struggling?

 

[Wood Stick]

A #3 defenseman who is playing as a #1/#2 and people want to know why he's struggling?

He did the same last year and had much more success. DeKeyser's in a slump in both ends. He got his money as he was really good defensively. He's getting hurt there though. He'll get out of it IMO.

 

[obey86]

He has three points through 21 games while averaging 22:15 per game.

He is abysmal.

Jonathan Ericsson has more points than him.

Although to be fair, the forwards on this team blow too.

A lot of players on this team blow....but not everyone has a 6 year/$30 million contract they just signed.

Defensive defensemen who don't help the offense just aren't worth $5 million/year. Especially when their defensive play isn't really all that good either.

I think Ericsson has been better both offensively and defensively this season. And people will use the "Well, DeKeyser plays harder competition!!" which is true...but at the same time DeKeyser is also paired with a very good offensive partner and still can't get anything going.

 

[The Zetterberg Era]

DeKeyser has been very poor this year. DK, Smith and Marchenko are playing like hot garbage for a lot of this season. It is a real problem. Most alarming is how poor DK has been in his own end. I don't expect much offensively and that was always going to make his contract problematic. However, DK has just not been there defensively in the way he normally is in my opinion. I hope he can find a way to pickup his play.

DK's play lags significantly behind Green and Ericsson this year in my opinion.

 

[TheMule93]

Ericsson 2.0

 

[BinCookin]

A lot of players on this team blow....but not everyone has a 6 year/$30 million contract they just signed.

Defensive defensemen who don't help the offense just aren't worth $5 million/year. Especially when their defensive play isn't really all that good either.

I think Ericsson has been better both offensively and defensively this season. And people will use the "Well, DeKeyser plays harder competition!!" which is true...but at the same time DeKeyser is also paired with a very good offensive partner and still can't get anything going.

According to my Gorilla Math System of counting positive and negative plays each game.. This is how I rate our D men:

Name (Net good/bad plays per game: meaning good minus bad)

1) XO (+1.83)
2) Kronwall (+1.67)
3) Ericsson (+1.62)
4) Green (+1.52)
5) Sproul (+1.50)
6) Dekeyser (+0.81)
7) Marchenko (-0.26)
8) Smith (-1.32)

BUT quality of competition needs to be taken into account.
Some points that are becoming statistically obvious:
1) Smith makes more mistakes than good plays. And he is making more mistakes than any other D man by a fair margin.
2) Our 3rd line D men have actually been playing well. So for as much as we say our D are the worst in the league, what we really mean is our top 4 D are the worst maybe.

Taking into account Quality of Competition. I would Rank our D men like this:

1) Green (Overall play is Good (not great) as a top pairing D man). He had a good stretch of amazing play, and has been rather pedestrian lately, but overall his scores are totally good when averaged over the season.

2) Ericsson (He has been playin very well on the 2nd pairing/3rd pairing this year, his scores have actually been better as he was on the 2nd pairing. As much as he was a whipping boy last year, he is making very good defensive and offensive plays this year. I have been very happy with his play Especially given our rock bottom expectations)

3) Kronwall (Most of his stats come from the 3rd pairing, and these should be taken with a grain of salt, as he SHOULD outplay everyone here. So overall I would call his play OK this year. He should get more time in the upcoming games, and we will see how he scores vs better offensive players.

4) Dekeyser. Overall his scores have not been very impressive ranking 6/8 D men. BUT he has been on the top pairing, and has not been getting killed up there. He is making more positive plays per game than mistakes. That being said, he is clearly playing pretty routine. He is not an offensive D man, so expecting points from him due to salary is a mistake. He is a perfectly acceptable #3/4 D man, who is playing OK as a #2.

5) Sproul. Sproul has been playing very well offensively for us, and has been limiting his mistakes. Baring the goal last night vs NJ he has not been directly responsible for goals against. This "competent" defensive play has allowed him to score well, because he is making more offensive plays. Sproul would rank higher, except his QoC is low.

6) XO. Why would i rank him #1 in my scoring system but #6 overall. Sample size (6GP) and Quality of competition is low. But that being said. He played very solid in the 6 games I saw him play. Relatively uninteresting, but also very few mistakes. His positive scores come from good defensive plays mostly. And to be honest, probably could be in the lineup over Marchenko? Maybe.

7) Marchenko is another quiet D man on my scoring system. Plays mostly routine plays safely with few mistakes. But he is making mistakes. Also he spent a decent amount of time on the 2nd pairing. So his Quality of Competition is higher. This is likely why he is ranked #7 for me, but really one could argue he is close in score to sproul and XO since he has been facing tougher competition while beingg mostly "neutral" (+/- close to zero)

8) Smith. Look I like Smith's Heart. And I like his skating. But this guy is taking risks. Real risks. The kind that would make us lose our minds if it was Sproul out there (due to reputation). He causes the most 2on1's against our team by being out of position. He passes the most turnovers of any of our D men. He is uncontrolled at times out there. I cannot explain why he does these things, but its easy for me to spot and score him negative points for his mistakes. Infact, I have been trying to be more strict on my scoring of Smith. As in, strict on myself, to try to reduce bias. I am giving him free passes on some minor mistakes when i count them for others, and he is still coming out on the negative side of the ledger. Smith needs to be benched more often to instill in him that mistakes are not tolerated. But Babcock did that.... He probably needs to be traded, or at minimum not resigned.
I fully believe we have a better chance to win with Smith OUT of the lineup. His "positive" plays do NOT make up for his mistakes. (he doesnt have as many positive plays as you would think)

 

[Pavels Dog]

Playing over his head on a struggling team = bad result.

Also most players have off years or rough periods of play now and then. Dekeyser is at least closer to the level his play should be than guys like Mrazek/Tatar are.

 

[Frk It]

He's going to have a hard time earning his contract. But so will Helm and Abdelkader.

 

[Frk It]

It's about time we start talking about just how bad this guy is. And just think, only 5 more years at $5M/year after this season!

Can the people who think he's good please tell me what exactly he is good at. Because I see a player who is poor defensively, poor offensively, a poor passer, and not physical. Even his skating, which is supposed to be his strength, isn't as good as it was a few years ago IMO...he just looks slower to me for some reason.

He's a pretty good skater. He's very good at defending odd man rushes. He's mediocre pretty much in all other areas.

 

[Wood Stick]

He's a pretty good skater. He's very good at defending odd man rushes. He's mediocre pretty much in all other areas.

He has a fantastic stick defensively. It's been 20 games. Let's not forget his play last year. Prior to Blash coming he was a 30 point defenseman or so with a good defensive game. That's a number 3 D who gets 5M per.

 

[Frk It]

He has a fantastic stick defensively. It's been 20 games. Let's not forget his play last year. Prior to Blash coming he was a 30 point defenseman or so with a good defensive game. That's a number 3 D who gets 5M per.

He was a 30 pt defenseman when he got PP time with Babcock before we signed Green. Blashill hasn't played him there at all, and I don't think whoever our next coach is will/should either.

He's been a better ES producer in the past. He needs to do better there regardless. He has 14 assists in his last 99 games. For how many minutes he plays that is pretty abysmal.

 

[Go Wings]

I think we should put together a package with him for Trouba. Trade him now while other teams still think he has value

 

[Wood Stick]

He was a 30 pt defenseman when he got PP time with Babcock before we signed Green. Blashill hasn't played him there at all, and I don't think whoever our next coach is will/should either.

He's been a better ES producer in the past. He needs to do better there regardless. He has 14 assists in his last 99 games. For how many minutes he plays that is pretty abysmal.

He had 6 PP points in his 31 point season. Still good for 25 points at even strength during his rookie season. After that, Blash came in and made the offense worse.

 

[MTU hockey]

He has a fantastic stick defensively. It's been 20 games. Let's not forget his play last year. Prior to Blash coming he was a 30 point defenseman or so with a good defensive game. That's a number 3 D who gets 5M per.

He was only a 30 point guy cause he was given PP time. And he doesn't deserve PP time so it's unlikely his point totals will get near that ever again

 

[SoupGuru]

I don't see it. DeKeyser's play has been pretty good. He skates well, has really good positioning, reads plays well, he's gotten more physical, closes people off the puck along the boards, gets the puck back and makes smart decisions to get it to his teammates.

Does he makes mistakes, absolutely. Not very many, but he does make them.

His offence has taken a step back, and that's too bad. He seemed to have decent instincts. I think he's deferring to his partner more than he should.

 

[silkyjohnson50]

When I see him out for OT I cringe.

 

[14ari13]

I don't see it. DeKeyser's play has been pretty good. He skates well, has really good positioning, reads plays well, he's gotten more physical, closes people off the puck along the boards, gets the puck back and makes smart decisions to get it to his teammates.

Does he makes mistakes, absolutely. Not very many, but he does make them.

His offence has taken a step back, and that's too bad. He seemed to have decent instincts. I think he's deferring to his partner more than he should.

Watching Lidstrøm for so many year will do that. People expect way too much. Lidstrom almost never made a mistake.

Dekeyser is fine.

Why we struggle is because we have none elite player in their prime, then everybody looks a bit worse.

 

[14ari13]

What we really need is smith and Ericsson cross checking people around the net. I see too much of free pass there.

 

[Number1RedWingsFan52]

He has three points through 21 games while averaging 22:15 per game.

He is abysmal.

Jonathan Ericsson has more points than him.

Although to be fair, the forwards on this team blow too.

Heck even Sproul has more points then DDK, He's just pure crap right now.

 

[Number1RedWingsFan52]

I think we should put together a package with him for Trouba. Trade him now while other teams still think he has value

I think Holland was willing to package DDK for Trouba, But it sounded like Chevy didn't want him and who could blame him there's much better LHD that Chevy could get for Trouba over DeKeyser.

 

[lidstromiscool]

It’s almost like using point totals to judge defensemen isn’t always accurate. DK has been fine, he’s a borderline top pairing dman. Not his fault he’s over played, and Detroit would be so screwed without him (even though we’re pretty screwed with him)

 

[Lazlo Hollyfeld]

He was only a 30 point guy cause he was given PP time. And he doesn't deserve PP time so it's unlikely his point totals will get near that ever again

As was mentioned, only 6 of his 31 points came on the PP that year.

He's having to play over his head is the biggest problem. And the Wings as a team are awful offensively. Hard to pick up assists when no one is scoring goals.

 

[Wood Stick]

It’s almost like using point totals to judge defensemen isn’t always accurate. DK has been fine, he’s a borderline top pairing dman. Not his fault he’s over played, and Detroit would be so screwed without him (even though we’re pretty screwed with him)

We're not using that. He's been poor defensively. I probably defend DeKeyser just as much as anyone on here. I think he becomes a top tier 2.