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Originally Posted by RedWings19405
He doesn't score a lot so that hurts him in the conversation with Sutter, Stoll, Bolland, and Staal even though he was never a third liner. However it is hard to say a single night from this past season where I thought Helm wasn't winning his matchup defensively and playing in the other teams zone a lot. He wears people out, like everyone else I hope he can develop into a better scorer. But if not, I think it is time he starts at least taking on the second or even first line from the other team a la Draper when we had him during his prime grinding years.
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Honestly, Helm has the offensive ability that these guys do. Sutter is very comparable to him. They all have better shots than Helm and a more refined offensive game, but their point production is not very different at all.
Staal is a 40 point scorer. Bolland is a upper 30 point guy. Sutter has done it once but is realistically just below 40 points per year right now. Helm is a guy who should always get 35 points if he plays a full season and has the ability to get 40 and even 50 points with the right line mates and some more finish.
Helm just finished his 3rd season and has improved every year. He creates more opportunities for himself and for his line mates just by being such a menace on the puck. He can hold onto the puck for long periods of time. People bash him and say he has stone hands all the time, but he really doesn't. He is very good at drawing a defender and slipping a pass through to the open man. No he doesn't have great 1v1 skills and won't score from the perimeter, but he creates so much more than any third line center. Also, Staal is not a 3rd line center anymore, nor was he the past two seasons.
In my opinion if he isn't right now, Helm is going to be the best third line center in the NHL by the end of next season and if he is healthy for a full 82 and playoffs our team is much better. It's interesting how much better a team gets when their center depth is in the lineup. Chicago 2 years ago was going to miss the playoffs and Bolland returns and pushed them into the playoffs and to game 7 vs the Canucks. This year Helm misses a bunch of time but when he came back for game 1 a lot of people thought that put the Wings over the top. If he is healthy into he playoffs I think we beat the Preds in a series and probably the Coyotes. He is such a game changer for his role it's unbelievable.