mmamolo

I did a quick search for a thread that covered this topic but I didn't find anything. I thought it would be interesting to see what ppl's thoughts were on what the probable lines will be as players return from injuries and what their ideal liens would be as well. Filppula: Bertuzzi - Datsyuk - Holmstrom Eaves - Filppula - Leino Draper - Helm - Miller May - ABdelkader - Maltby Zetterberg: Eaves - Zetterberg - Leino Bertuzzi - Datsyuk - Holmstrom Draper - Filppula - Miller Abdelkader - Helm - Maltby May Cleary: Eaves - Zetterberg - Cleary Bertuzzi - Datsyuk - Holmstrom Miller - Filppula - Leino Abdelkader - Helm - Draper Maltby, May Williams: Williams/Eaves - Zetterberg - Cleary Bertuzzi - Datsyuk - Holmstrom Williams/Eaves - Filppula - Leino Miller - Helm - Draper Abdelkader, Maltby, May Franzen: Franzen - Zetterberg - Cleary Bertuzzi - Datsyuk - Holmstrom Williams - Filppula - Leino/Miller Eaves - Helm - Draper Leino/Miller, Abdelkader, Maltby, May

I think Miller has come in and done an unbeleiveable job considering what I'd imagine most woudl have expected from him coming off waivers from Tampa. He has 4 goals and 3 assists in 20 games and he plays a hard working game. This guy can kill penalties, is a plus 6 (only 2 behidn the team lead) and continues to improve each game. Patrick Eaves fits the same mold. With such low expectations coming into this season he has done absolutely everything right to earn another contract for next year. This guy busts his ass, forechecks, skates hard, creates chances, kills penalties and is starting to look a little like the rookie Ottawa loved a few years ago. Having 4 goals and 6 assists through 26 games is really unbelieveable for a guy that was dumped by Carolina only to be bought out by Boston. If Eaves ends up with 25-30 points this season, which is about on pace for, then I'd have to say that signing was a huge success. I would hate to see either of these guys not stay in the line up when our injured players return and I would hate it even more to lose them in the off season. The good news is that both players are RFAs at season's end.

Although Leino hasn't met offensive expectations I'd almsot tend to agree that he is underrated. despite being soft on the puck at times and having his rookie struggles he does show glimpses of what he is capable of doing. Right now hsi confidence is down and he's got to work through the slump. It's tough for offensive point producers when they're not scoring. Although Leino isn't undersized I don't thnk it's fair to call him a big body at 6'1 and 190 lbs. There definitely are some players in this league at that size that play a big, strong game but there are a ton at this size that don't as well. That being said, I don't think you can even compare Leino and Kopecky. In 46 career games Leino has scored 8 goals and put up 7 assists for 15 points. Last year he made beans and this year he is making 800k. Kopecky, in 215 NHL games has put up 13 goals and 22 assists for 35 points. Granted he was a 500k player last year but he now makes $1.2M/yr. Kopecky has been in the league for say 3.5 years while Leino really has about half a season under his belt. Kopecky has consistently underachieved and never had the kind of potential upside that Leino still has. In my opinion at least with Leino we've seen glimpses of what he could become and if he can work his way out of this slump, regain soem confience and bulk up in the off season I still believe he can develop into a very solid 2nd line guy while I can't see Kopecky ever becoming more than the 4th liner he currently is. Even if I were to give him the benefit of the doubt Kopecky will never get passed the 3rd line. Therefore, Leino > Kopecky

well, I woudlnt just want all four of my forward lines to be made of the same player, I would want all 6 of my D and both my goaltenders. And the lucky man of the hour is Derek Meech Meech - Meech - Meech Meech - Meech - Meech Meech - Meech - Meech Meech - Meech - Meech Meech - Meech Meech - Meech Meech - Meech Meech Meech

I think he has far exceeded expectations and earned a roster spot. Unfortuantely when everyone comes back that may not be the case. Persaonlly, I would hate to see him go because he has shown what tremendous upside he has. I realyl think if he stuck around here he could develop into a very solid part of this team.

That's not what was being said. It's not that it's unavoidable but the fact is s*** does happen. There is a big difference between smashing your stick and accidentally hitting your goalie and planning out in advance to do so. I do agree that I think it's bulls*** that ppl are penalized far worse when someone gets hurt. I also agree that we see what should be gross infractions go unpenalized simply because there was no fall out. However, it's not so cut and dry. Big injuries cause media attention and public out roar for action to be taken. It becomes a balancing act for the NHL Disciplinary Committee to reprimend the guilty player while appeasing the public. That's why you see somethign like the Bertuzzi/Moore situation scrutinized while other situations are basically never heard fro magain.

Personalyl I'd rather see the cap go up a $1M because I think that will afford us more opportunity to better our team. I'd rather see the Wings in a situation to better our team than the other 29 teams being a tighter cap situation. Because of how the Wigns cap is I think that extra million would go further and help us more than taking away a million would hurt a team like Chicago. But that's just me.

He was definitely talking about McCarty's return. I loved the guy but his return didnt bare much fruit. It was still cool to reunite the grindline though.

MLive Jimmy Howard will start in goal, as Red Wings coach Mike Babcock has opted to go with the hot hand rather than Chris Osgood, who is 17-0-0 lifetime against the Lightning Bertuzzi-Datsyuk-Holmstrom Leino-Zetterberg-Eaves Draper-Abdelkader-Miller May-Newbury-Maltby Babcock said he wasn't sure how he'll sort out his defense pairings as Doug Janik, recalled Tuesday from Grand Rapids (AHL), replaces the injured Jonathan Ericsson.

Friday: Ottawa @ New Jersey Toronto @ Buffalo Carolina @ Florida Tampa Bay @ St Louis Boston @ Chicago Washington @ Vancouver Saturday: NY Rangers @ Philadelphia Detroit @ Dallas Phoenix @ Anaheim Nashville @ Calgary Pittsburgh @ Buffalo Boston @ Toronto Minnesota @ Ottawa Montreal @ NY Islanders Florida @ Carolina New Jersey @ Atlanta Columbus @ Colorado Washington @ Edmonton Sunday: Detroit @ Chicago St Louis @ Vancouver

I believe Howard is the projected started again tonight.

Can anyone shed some light on Ville Leino and his waiver status. I've been reading through the Waiver rules but things are a little unclear. It states that based on the player's age when he signs his first NHL Contract and the number of NHL games he has played his waiver status is then determined. Leino turned 26 on Oct 6. I would imagine he was 24 when he signed his first contract since he spent the entire year last year in GR. Based on the chart I found at NHLsCap it would appear that he has two years of 60 NHLs game before he is subject to waivers. So far he's withing the two years of his first contract and he has played 50 NHL games (regular season and playoffs). So to me it woudl appear as though he is waiver exempt. But I feel like I am missing something. Can anyone clear this up? For me, I think it's an easy decision on who goes down. Anyone who is waiver exempt (Abdelkader) is the first choice. If Leino also falls into that category then he goes down too. He may not like it but if they sat down with him I think he'd be the first to admit things haven't gone the way we'd all hoped. In my mind he should almost go down and gain some confidence back now regardless.

I think the whole indefinitely thing is just because other than the minimum two weeks they really don't have a good gauge on how long he will be out. They've done some tests on the ligaments but further tests are needed and they can't be done until the bruise heals, which will take about a week.

I was a big fan of Halak when he first starting getting soem time in Montreal but the move just wouldnt make sense for us. We've all seen how hesitant Holland has been with callin gplayers up and conserving his cap space. If the Wings are to make a move it'll be for a forward...well also depending on injuries maybe a defenseman. At the end of the day Howard is playing really well for what he was expected to do. I don't see us giving up assets to get Halak and then having three goaltenders. I know some of you would think we might move Howard back to Montreal but there is no way we groom a goaltender for 3-4 years only to get hime 20 odd games and ship him out of town. Just doesn't make sense. I think if the Wings hadn't encountered all of these injuries and they were in better standing then maybe we'd see Larsson get a shot but right now every game counts and we need all the points we can get. It's just not the right time to throw a young goaltender into the mix when he might stumble. Not only would that hurt us in the standings but that would hurt Larsson's development. Once everyone returns from injury if we're able to make up ground quickly we may see Larsson get a game but I still doubt it. Right now there is no need to rush his progress. On an unrelated note does anyone else find it strange hwo many players the Wings have with double letters in their last names in spots you wouldn't normalyl expect them to be? Filppula, Ericsson, Larsson. I kinda like it

That was a really smart post. Obviously goal differential isn't the be all end all, especially in today's NHL where we do see some blowouts, but it is a very telling tale of how well teams do on a regular basis. I tend to agree that between LA, Colorado, and Phoenix that not all of them will still be left standing come the end of the regular season.

Personally, I think Howard has come a long way and looks better and better. I'm having a hard time understanding how ppl think he let in a weak goal last night. The first goal Ericsson was down and out and the second goal was deflected off of a stick. Was it saveable? Sure, sometimes. But it's hard to blame a goaltender for a deflected shot like that. To me, Howard is one of the main reasons the Wings are doing as well as they are with all of the injuries they have. You don't get numbers like he has just because your team defense is good. If you're a goaltender who relies strictly on your defensive core to boost your numbers you end up with a good win-loss record and a good GAA but Howard's Save Percentage is what shows us his improvement. To me, right now, I am more confortable with him in net than I am with Osgood because Osgood hasnt ramped it up yet. To me we have a very solid tandem in net and I'll never understand all of the criticism Wings goalies get.

yeah the way the NHL keeps track of PP stats is strange. It's only one PP opportunity. The reasoning is that rarely do you see teams score twice on a 5 minute powerplay so it, in a way, hurts their PP % by making it count as 1 for 2 with one goal scored on a 5 minute man advantage. However, if you think about it, since teams have PP% under 50% giving a 1 for 2 rating while scoring once on a 5 min man advantage does make more sense. Especially when considering in this scenario they would still get a bonus 1 on the PP when compared to 2 minors. What also doesnt make sense is if you go on the powerplay after being shrot handed then playing 4 on 4, for example a length of 33 second, and don't score that counts as a full 0 for 1. I've been a long proponent of the NHL ranking PP% efficiency based on goals per 2 mins of PP time.

Ya but he doesnt get paid to play it. Besides, it's all relative dude. ALl he is saying is Lebda sucks compared to the average player in the league

According to this article, link, one of the mods may want to consider adjusting the Wings Projected lines. It mentions that Abdelkader will be skating between Miller and Draper while Newbury will be between May and Maltby. I would imagine they are splitting up Datsyuk and Zetterberg. As Eaves got some time with Datsyuk the other day the lines will most likely be: Bertuzzi - Datsyuk - Eaves Leino - Zetterberg - Holmstrom Draper - Abdelkader - Miller May - Newbury - Maltby

I realize they probably want to get some games in with the big club but I would have thought they'd slide Meech up to forward and bring back up either Janik or Kindl. Living in Toronto I got to see my fair share of Newbury and Jeremy Williams. Not that they are terrible but I think with the way Miller, Eaves, Abdelkader and co. have been playing that when every returns from injury that we're goign to have a ton of depth up front. I think we'd be better served to getting more experience and time with the big club with some of our G.R defensemen in case of injuries late in the season or the playoffs. Unless they are totally confident Janik can step in and not miss a beat at any time. On an unrelated note, I really don't know why Janik isn't on the active roster period. I'd rather Janik at 500k and risk losing Lebda on waivers to send him down to G.R

I think that Draper and Babcock weren't happy with the fact that the Wings were, at the time, struggling to put together a full 60 minute effort. I think guys were working hard but not everyone in unison. I really hope that guys like Helm, Eaves, Miller and Abdelkader keep playing as well as they have and create more competition when the injured players come back. I think it would be detrimental for Filppula and Williams to be able to walk back on to the ice and take time away fro mthose guys and be expected to contribute after being off the ice for such a long time. I think the harder both Filppula and Williams have to work to get their ice time back the more beneficial it will be for the team no matter who earns the ice time. Obviously, I think this makes more sense for Williams but still.

Personally, I think Lebda has really played poorly. However, he does catch so much slack on this site it's a little overkill at times. Every now and then he does do somethign somewhat useful but that never gets mentioned here. I remember a time, maybe three years ago when I was more comfortable with him as our 6th D than I was Lilja. Ppl in this thread are right though, he hasn't gotten any better since. I would much rather Janik be our 6th D-man right now

I'd imagine eventually that's the way the line up will look. But Zetterberg and Datsyuk will remain together until they get rolling a little bit. Filppula will end up as the second line centre between Bertuzzi and Leino upon his return. What will be interesting to see if how the lines get shifted about when Williams returns. Draper - Helm - Eaves is staying together. You'd imagine Leino will get bumped down the depth chart but how does everyone fit while Cleary and Franzen remain out?

We pumped the Ducks for seven last time we met so let's hope we can use the Ducks to break out of this scoring slump. My prediction: Wings 19 - Ducks 0 Datsyuk, Zetterbger, Leino, Bertuzzi, Holmstrom, Lidstrom, Rafalski 2 goals each Draper, Helm, Eaves, Ericsson, Stuart 1 goal each Howard with the shutout. Ppl, place your bets. I'll collect 10% of your winnings when my prediction comes through

Sadly it is inevitable that the Wings will get a new arena sooner rather than later. In all hoensty I can't even see the Wings staying at the Joe close to ten years. Obviously building an arena is a long process. I'd imagine it's a minimum at least a two year process from planning and design to construction and that's being super optimistic. Im an engineer and most structure of that size, that need the amount of financial backing to happen usually take 3-4 years from start to finish. That being said, this is the type of economy that promotes growth for financially stable institutions like the Red Wings. I know it seems backwards but as another poster mentioned when ppl are pushing for work their bids will come in lower and you'll get better deals. It's no wonder that within our company, bids are coming in roughyl, on average, 25-30% lower than what would normally be expected because everyone wants the work. As old and run down as the Joe is, I'll hate to see it go.