b.shanafan14

Games like last game for Franzen show very clearly why many of us dislike the guy. All of a sudden he decided to play (most likely because of his past success/"fun" against Colorado) and he looks brilliant. Backchecking, forechecking, looks like one of the faster guys on the ice, creating his own chances, going to the net, using his shot, not giving up on plays, etc. THAT is the Franzen we saw in the playoffs in 2008 and 2009, the guy we signed to the big money, lifetime contract. Unfortunately, that is a stark contrast to the guy we see on the ice 2/3 to 3/4 of the time. Its less about the cap-hit (which looks good for NOW), or even the overall production, and much more about a guy who has worlds of potential which he squanders with lack of consistent effort. That guy, the 2/3 to 3/4 Franzen doesn't seem to give even half the effort we saw from him on Tuesday. Effort is the only thing separating Franzen from Hossa, in my opinion; Hossa is worlds better than Franzen because of it. Franzen playing like he did the other night doesn't need to score, or produce at all in the stats column to win my approval.

I have to admit, the thought has crossed my mind, especially as of late. By no means am I glad players were injured or think we wouldn't be better with some of them back, but it has definitely been eye-opening. Tatar and Andersson are further developed than I thought coming into the season, and Lashoff in particular has been a revelation on the back end. Kindl has even started to come around as of late, showing some brilliance on the rush and settling things down on the defensive side, too. If our back-end was completely healthy all season, chances are Kindl would have seen little ice-time, continuing to go game on, game off as he has the last few years. Hell, it could even be argued that with a healthy Filppula, Bertuzzi, Samuelsson, etc. all season Brunner may not have gotten prolonged opportunity or consist enough ice-time to get comfortable like he has. Overall, getting Bertuzzi, Filppula, and Helm back at 100% improves the team, but I'm not complaining about what I've seen from the replacements or the way the team is starting to mesh (minus the CDA line that won't die).

Cool. One sec..... *pukes violently* ... that's better...

http://www.mlive.com/redwings/index.ssf/2013/03/red_wings_ian_white_hasnt_aske.html Wings said he still figures into their plans, and he hasn't asked for a trade, but I gotta think his value these days is more if he is moved. Kindl has come around in the last few games and played great, Smith is back healthy, Kronner and Ericsson aren't going anywhere, Lashoff makes this team much better, and Quincey has steadied himself, sitting +11. Huskins is a good 7th d-man, and we still have Colaiacovo on IR to look forward to. Fact is, this team has been better since White has been sitting, and if he isn't playing Top-4 minutes we are better to trade him as a rental and get some help scoring or some picks in return. Might as well thank the guy for a few decent years by being honest with him and moving him somewhere he'll actually play.

What is the fascination with Bouwmeester? He is Calgary's whipping boy, we have plenty here already, let them have him. Do we feel some great obligation to relieve the Flames of their dog? I don't get it... Our defense is finally coming around, settling in, and even Kindl has looked great over the last bit. White is riding pine, do we really need White 2.0 with a worse cap-hit screwing up what we have going?

Honestly, Kindl has been great the last several games. He is making great plays at the opposition blue line on the rush, has been solid defensively, and even throwing the body around. He has also gotten better at getting pucks to the net. Hopefully he has turned a corner in his career and is gaining confidence, much like Ericsson has this season. Over the last two or three games I would put him among our top 2 or 3 guys.

We are 4-4-3 in our last 11 games. Take away the 8-goal trouncing we gave Luongo and the Nucks, and we're averaging just barely over 2 goals per game. If it wasn't for Howard coming around and heating up over the last stretch, we would be much, much worse off. That line isn't producing, and we need it to. Period.

The baffling thing is that Babcock traditionally doesn't put up with lines that look great on paper if they don't produce right away or hit a rut. In the past, he's been known to break up Datsyuk and Zetterberg by the second period of their first game back together if the team isn't lighting it up. Same thing with lines that look stacked and work well in training camp/pre-season; if they don't fly out of the gate, they are retired never to be tried again. So why, oh why, have we endured so much of Cleary-Datsyuk-Abdelkader when its proven to be completely ineffective? Abdelkader actually has much less production on the 2nd line than he has had on the 3rd or 4th, and its rendered Datsyuk null and void.

Wow, was that ever harder than it had to be... Whew...

Ugh... Poor Howard... Everyone standing around and another soft clearing attempt...

Another great shift from Brunner, digging in the corners. Love this kid...

Man, Brunner keeps serving them up.

Howard in a zone

Ugh... Pass pass pass pass pass

Howard!!

Too Giggy wit it

Holding.... Hmm.... Ok?

This, but it's games like this (skating, competing, creating not floating) that earn him the hate when he plays like he does the other 2/3 of the time. Hopefully he wakes up, but we've seen this before.

Tatar with Datsyuk and Cleary?? Imagine that...

Great play by Brunner to get it to Franzen and great finish! About time!

Kills me to even think it, but that first period is as invisible as I've ever seen Datsyuk. I can imagine these linemates are wearing on him. Wouldn't blame him for bolting for Russia given who he has had to play with (4th liner and 13th forward).

Brunner has looked like a man possessed these last few games. Even Franzen was flying in that first period! That line is gonna break out tonight.

By no means am I or anyone else calling for him to be more of a playmaker. He will always be a shoot-first guy, but when he was overseas he had much more to his game than just shooting and it's encouraging to see that starting to emerge here, along with his commitment to tightening up defensively. Being able to create along with Zetterberg is a huge bonus. We have enough one-dimensional players in Franzen and Samuelsson.

He has looked amazing the last two games. I think he is getting comfortable enough to start being more of a playmaker and it really showed against the Blackhawks yesterday. He made several great passes which led to great scoring chances for Zetterberg and Franzen, unfortunately unable to convert. He still isn't afraid to go to the net and jam for pucks, either. Offensive talents aside, I've been very impressed with his compete level on the backcheck and in the defensive zone the last stretch of games. The kid just keeps improving, I love it.

Folks have been throwing out those theories, but I seriously doubt it. As others have said, I doubt we would intentionally cut our own throat for the sake of boosting these two scrubs miniscule trade value. If anything, they have proven more useless than previously thought.The question still remains: What the Hell is Babcock thinking? How bad is bad enough to change? How long is long enough to consider the experiment a failure? For a guy who usually gives up on even good lines too quickly when they don't work immediately, his bullheaded adherence to the Datsyuk-Cleary-Abdelkader line is an absurd mystery.