Mabuhay Red Wings

Does Buffalo have any offense?

Still amazed by that Datsyuk clip from 2002. Great times.

I don't know. That's just what another user on here, VM1138?, clarified for me. The NBA does things differently though. They don't re-seed like the NHL. The less similarities, the better, imo. Even though Bettman is teaching the same officiating philosophy.

As long as it doesn't happen to the Wings.

Should have went with this lineup: Tyler Russ-Adam Banks-Charlie Conway Terry Hall-Guy Germaine-Jesse Hall ("The Oreo Line") Connie Moreau-Dwayne Robertson-Luis Mendoza Tammy Duncan-Les Averman-Tommy Duncan Fulton Reed-Dean Portman ("Bash Brothers") Ken Wu-Greg Goldberg Dave Karp-Peter Mark Julie Gafney They simply wouldn't lose.

Pittsburgh lost and so the Wings will get that extra day of rest anyways because that series has a Game 7.

Ruslan Salei on Norris: “The three finalists should be Nick Lidstrom, Nick Lidstrom and Nick Lidstrom.” http://www.kuklaskorner.com/index.php/tmr/comments/red_wings_practice_updates_franzens_still_not_practicing/

Neither had I. I remember watching that rally or celebration or whatever but I didn't remember Pavel speaking at all.

Speaking of which, I found this super awesome video and had no idea where to put it. I'm going to be watching this a lot until the Wings start playing again. Major props to the original uploader. What a great year! My favorite points: 1:37 - Homer wearing #15. Haha. 1:52 - HUGE HIT BY VLADDY! WOO!!! 2:02 - Typical and beautiful blast by Nick! 2:15 - March 26, 1997. Wings & Avs. 3:12 - Mike Keane. 4:06 - Watch out Sergei! 4:43 - Pronger headlocks Drapes and then Kocur gives Pronger an elbow. 5:05 - Dollar hot dogs! 6:05 - Xena exposes a lil nip. Censored of course. 7:52 - Claude Lemieux not happy and Marc Crawford as Captain Obvious. 8:24 - Holy s***, Vernon... 8:43 - Roy sounding like a ******. 10:24 - MAC! 10:43 -

Go Pavel!

Those lines don't have Franzen though. I'm not exactly sure where he would go but I would imagine it would be either with Datsyuk or Filppula.

Ahh the Swedish stereotypes are alive and well.

http://www.mlive.com/redwings/index.ssf/2011/04/red_wings_first-round_sweep_fi.html Positives (per mlive article) -The depth came through in the series against the Coyotes. 16 players have at least one point -The depth also shows through how spread out the TOI is, especially for the dmen -Offense in general isn't an issue -5 on 5 defense is good -Rest for the wounded -Did the article forget any? Potential Negatives (from what I gather around multiple Wings forums) -PK a little bit worrisome -Will everybody continue to play as hard with Z and Mule integrated back into the lineup? -How well can the Wings infamously inconsistent (regular season) defense play against a team like SJ who has significantly more and better offensive weapons?

Zon't pzizck zour pzoison.

Stop being so good against the Wings.

Is this the series that has to go 7 games in order for the Wings to get the most rest as possible? Or can another series go 7 as well and the Wings still get the most rest possible?

Not as much as she probably sucks. In one obvious dirty way and for being with Ray Emery.

I'll be one of the few guys who just has to say... Never pick your poison. Dun dun duuuuuuuuuuhhhh.

I like these lines actually but I don't see Hudler as much of a fixture in the lineup as you do. If the Wings have to play San Jose, a team that can really skate, then I wouldn't be surprised at all if Hudler is the one who gets scratched the whole series in addition to Modano. The Wings must have their best defensive lineup against a team like the Sharks. Therefore, perhaps Miller on that third line in place of Hudler would look better to me because he's also a fixture on the PK. Now, when you scratch Hudler, you have to consider whether or not the PP has a stable 2nd unit. Franzen-Datsyuk-Holmstrom is good. Well, good enough. And then you probably have Filppula-Zetterberg-Cleary. It puts a lot more pressure on Filppula to be more of a PP quarterback from the half boards, something that Hudler is quite better at. It's questionable to say the least when you wonder if the third line has enough offense but in saying that, I would still trust that it can chip in some points while being hard to play against on the defensive end.

Live in the moment, man. Don't ask questions just enjoy the riiiide.

Hudler-Filppula-Franzen We see this idea here on LGW over and over again. I've thought about it myself because it appears to be a fantastic idea. Yet, we haven't seen these three play together all that much. Babs simply hasn't given these three significant time to build chemistry and trust. I don't have any inside information on Babs' rationale but I can kind of see why he doesn't like this idea. For one, he likes to stick to his (or perhaps most coaches) blueprint for scoring lines. Two guys get to play with the puck while the third has to either simply shoot it or retrieve it for the other two guys and then park himself in front of the goalie to provide net presence. With Hudler-Filppula-Franzen, you would think that all you have to do is instruct Filppula and Hudler to make plays with the puck and then count on Franzen to do the dirty work. However, the Wings players have evolved over the years. We no longer live in the time of Before Mule (B.M. - Pre-Spring '08) or in other words the period of time where some thought he would be a successor to Holmstrom and where Franzen grew into a major scoring threat. I can see why Babcock doesn't really want Franzen parked in front of the net anymore. He's more of a threat if he sets himself up in his sweet spots to use that awesome shot of his. Therefore, if Franzen shouldn't be at the net, then what about Hudler or Filppula? The idea is laughable to some. Do you really trust either of those two to be effective in a Holmstrom-like role? They probably can't put up with the physical toll that Homer, Cleary and Bert sacrifice themselves for every game. Plus, Hudler and Franzen still have questionable defensive games. Hudler has only earned enough trust to play around 9 minutes a game and is last on the team with an average of 7:41 in even strength TOI. Franzen has somehow lost some of his ability for good positioning and anticipation but I will admit that the playoff atmosphere has sharpened his focus in that area a little but as the games have went on. In the end, I can kind of see why Babs wouldn't trust a scoring line like that to be responsible for another team's scoring line.

So... Everybody else chokes?

This might be the biggest challenge for the Wings. They get Z back and have to find a way to keep the machine going. We've seen them struggle with this during the regular season but the playoffs is a different environment.