khele2k2

The Wings signed three guys to the minor leagues in their mid-to-late twenties, all of whom are essentially brawlers. The Wings were noticeably smaller than the Pens this year and lost A LOT of battles in the corners. I'd never presume Babcock made a wrong move based on my own level of knowledge, but it seemed a player like they could've used Downey or Mac to stir the soup a bit. Another question I can't help but ponder is the effectiveness of their fourth line as a shut-down defensive core. Maltby was -13 this past regular season and Draper was -9. That said, they rarely score, so that plays a part. Still, while Hank's line shut down Crosby's, we had no answer for Malkin's line, despite Pav and Hossa being great defenders. Meanwhile Anaheim had Niedermayer's (Rob) line which shut down Pav's and was a big reason that series went seven. I think with the extra cap we have with Hudler gone, getting a big, mean shut-down guy to play with Draper and Maltby would really help. No one really comes to mind unfortunately. Any enforcer + defensive whizzes out there on the cheap?

This makes sense because there's no doubt Holmer and Lilja's futures are up in the air, due to injury. I like Filppula as a second-liner, though I find it almost impossible to believe Leino will be a top 6 guy unless he explodes out of the gate. Also, I like Meech better than Abdelkader because of his Dandenault/Samuelsson-like ability to play both ways. Also, if they lost Hudler, I'd like to see them either keep that space open in case Howard doesn't pan out or get one of the many grind-line type of defensive forwards that are surfacing around the league. Both Anaheim and Pittsburgh had a line like this. Shut-down forwards.

I think the biggest questions are our former first line and our backup goalie. Part of the reason Osgood has been so great in the playoffs is from his added rest thanks to playing half the regular season rather than most of it. Will Howard pan out? If not, Osgood may have problems in next year's playoffs. Next year the top line will undoubtedly be Franzen, Zetterberg and Cleary. So what about Holmer and Pav? Do you put Hudler on that line? He's become a better scorer and might fit, but he's not much of a corners guy. This is assuming arbitration favors us (based on the economy). Here's my projected lineup: Franzen Zetterberg Cleary Holmstrom Datsyuk Hudler Helm Filppula Leino Maltby Draper Meech Lidstrom Rafalski Kronwall Stuart Ericsson Lilja/Lebda Osgood Howard I think you have to at least try to give Howard similar playing time to what Conklin received. If he blows it, then you move on.