Better Together than Apart

[This Is Bida 0]

They wouldn't be stopped, but if a team can focus on them and limit their chances, they give themselves a great chance of winning if there are no other lines to carry the load. Last year Ottawa had more offensive depth than Detroit does so far this year.

i guess my only point is, why mess up something that has worked thus far?

we've won our past 6. albeit against teams who are either not very strong or are VERY strong teams such as San Jose or Anaheim, but are just slumping. none the less, we are winning. I understand your points of us not being very deep. But understand that team chemistry can make up for quit a bit of that. All we can do is hope that Holland & Co. can make an unbelievable trade deadline acquisition that makes our second line much stronger, or that Flip, Huds and Sammy become the scorers that they should be.

Until then as long as we're winning games and Zetterbergs getting the recognition he deserves as top point getter in the league, I have NO problem with the DZH line sticking together. Thus far, its proving to be the right thing.

[toby91_ca 620]

i guess my only point is, why mess up something that has worked thus far?

we've won our past 6. albeit against teams who are either not very strong or are VERY strong teams such as San Jose or Anaheim, but are just slumping. none the less, we are winning. I understand your points of us not being very deep. But understand that team chemistry can make up for quit a bit of that. All we can do is hope that Holland & Co. can make an unbelievable trade deadline acquisition that makes our second line much stronger, or that Flip, Huds and Sammy become the scorers that they should be.

Until then as long as we're winning games and Zetterbergs getting the recognition he deserves as top point getter in the league, I have NO problem with the DZH line sticking together. Thus far, its proving to be the right thing.

I can almost guarantee you that the formula won't work in the playoffs with the current roster.

[lets go pavel 2]

They wouldn't be stopped, but if a team can focus on them and limit their chances, they give themselves a great chance of winning if there are no other lines to carry the load. Last year Ottawa had more offensive depth than Detroit does so far this year.

i think the key here is "so far" ... we have a lot of young guys with question marks on our other lines, and while some of them have started slow they are beginning to show signs of life ... Flip has been warming up, Huddles is getting some chances, Ellis is making the most of his icetime ... by the time the playoffs roll around these guys may be solid contributors, and we may have the depth we need ... then again there's always the chance they won't, but the point is it's too early to tell ... don't get me wrong, i'm still all for picking up a top-6 forward, but i think i'd rather look for someone to complement the other forwards on the roster and keep Hank and Pavel together ...

[Guest GordieSid&Ted]

They wouldn't be stopped, but if a team can focus on them and limit their chances, they give themselves a great chance of winning if there are no other lines to carry the load. Last year Ottawa had more offensive depth than Detroit does so far this year.

Sort of off topic but if anyone looks at the past playoff losses, you can pretty much figure out early on in the playoffs if the Wings can make it to the finals. There's really on a few scenarios.

1. Wings beat team that is less skilled than them but bigger and nastier to play against.

2. Wings lose to team with less skill but are bigger and nastier to play against.

3. Wings lose to team with equal amount of skill (relative) and are also bigger and tougher to play against.

What you don't see on this list is the Wings beating teams that are more skilled or evenly skilled yet smaller than the Wings themselves. And you won't see that. Z and Dats together or apart, doesn't matter. Until this team is bigger and nastier to play against and has the personnel to match pound for pound the physical nature or teams like Anaheim, we will fall short.

The Wings have proven they can beat teams who are bigger that can't match our talent. But without fail, every team that has knocked us out has been bigger and tougher than us. And when you find a team like Anaheim that has loads of skilled players to go with the size, it makes the skill and depth factors even, leaving only who can play the physical game the best.

The Wings need more big bodies and more nasty and until we get it we'll never see another cup hoisted. I'm feeling good so far this year with Drake and Downey. If Downey doesn't play in the playoffs and if Franzen or Drake goes down, fuggetaboutit, we're toast.

[daniel1 32]

If they play together all year, teams will figure out how to stop it long before the playoffs roll around. Break 'em up, or they'll be ineffective when it counts.

Ya teams have really "figured out" how to stop that Spezza/Heatley/Alfredsson line too...

[SouthernWingsFan 854]

They may be better together obviously, but Datsyuk and Zetterberg are just so good in the playmaking sense that the Wings really need them to play apart on even-strength situations until other players can show that they can be an offesive threat in a 2nd line role on a consistent basis (which actually seems somewhat promising these past couple games).

If ZDH are still together and there's no offensive support for them from the 2nd or 3rd line on a consistent basis, other teams can focus on shutting the top line down without much worry of having to get scored upon from other lines. You can't have a one-trick pony in the playoffs if the other parts of your team aren't supporting you.

I'll never complain seeing ZDH together at all, but the Wings need to learn to play and win with them split apart if they want to go far in the playoffs I think.

I don't think you'll ever see them purposefully broken up in special team/power play opportunities though.