Game 1 Forward Lineup

[rick zombo 3,739]

I can't stand to let the English language take cheap shots like this. I'm not a good fighter, but I'm dropping the gloves with you two in defense of my English language.

[Superman54 91]

I would go with:

Zetterberg/Datsyuk/Hudler/Filppula-Zetterberg/Datsyuk/Hudler/Filppula-Franzen

Zetterberg/Datsyuk/Hudler/Filppula-Zetterberg/Datsyuk/Hudler/Filppula-Holmstrom

Cleary-Draper-McCarty

Abdelkader-Drake-Downey

I'd rather have Drake on the third line than McCarty, except that if we make that move we end up without a fourth line center, and Drake's faceoff skills are pretty good.

When everybody's healthy:

Zetterberg/Datsyuk/Hudler/Filppula-Zetterberg/Datsyuk/Hudler/Filppula-Franzen

Zetterberg/Datsyuk/Hudler/Filppula-Zetterberg/Datsyuk/Hudler/Filppula-Holmstrom

Cleary-Draper-Samuelsson

Maltby-Drake-McCarty/Downey

Putting Cleary on line 3 does make sense because that spreads the talent around, and Huds may have just found his confidence back again

[Frozen-Man 144]

Now that McCarty got an assist, I predict he will be an unstoppable offensive force. I'd say McCarty should center the first line, and we don't really even need to bother thinking about the rest.

HaHaHaHaHaHaHaHa!!!!!

:rotflmao:

[esteef 2,679]

Good point, and I agree. But Downey's a good team guy and for the most part has proven he can play an effective role on this team.

This is my rational for who plays:

MaCarty = X factor like someone stated. Too much potential to pass up.

Hartigan = semi-hot lately. might chip in a goal.

Downey = At least for game 1. Nashville's PP was terrible in the regular season. So a bad penalty shouldn't be a concern.

Drake = Obvious choice.

I'd love to see Abdelkader or Helm play, because I like the idea of a young guy emptying the tank all over Nashville's defence. But I can't see either of them starting the series.

But who knows.

I concur with this. Make a statement in Game 1, you will not pound our players all series! Downey, Drake, MAC and Hot Hartigan. Besides we still have ADK and Helm in the holster should we need them. I like our chances...

Cheers!

esteef

[GMRwings1983 8,804]

Downey doesn't have the playoff experience that is necicary for this. We don't want him getting a bad call at the wrong time

Right, because non-enforcers don't ever take stupid penalties.

[Greatness=PavelDatsyuk 65]

id play downey in Nashville, were they can play their lines after us, so Detroit will be able t obalance the lines more

[Greatness=PavelDatsyuk 65]

Think "Dan Cleary vs. Chris Pronger".

Ok, your Dan Cleary and im Chris Pronger

[YoungGuns1340 1]

I'd really like to see Abdelkader involved. One thing you can't take away from the guy is his mental toughness. Thats huge. The guy has come up big in big games before. Yes this is the NHL, but when you play great under pressure, you play great under pressure.

[Wings_Dynasty 267]

Lines at practice:

Datsyuk-Zetterberg-Holmstrom

Filppula-Franzen-Cleary (Helm skated with this line)

Abdelkader-Draper-Hudler

Drake-Hartigan-Downey (McCarty skated with this line)

On defense:

Lidstrom-Rafalski

Kronwall-Stuart

Lilja-Chelios

Lebda-Meech (extras)

[Greatness=PavelDatsyuk 65]

Lines at practice:

Datsyuk-Zetterberg-Holmstrom

Filppula-Franzen-Cleary (Helm skated with this line)

Abdelkader-Draper-Hudler

Drake-Hartigan-Downey (McCarty skated with this line)

On defense:

Lidstrom-Rafalski

Kronwall-Stuart

Lilja-Chelios

Lebda-Meech (extras)

not to bad, swap McCarty for Downey, and i think they are good

[Superman54 91]

Id swap Hartigan for McCarty

Downey - Drake - McCarty

[Copenhagen848 58]

not to bad, swap McCarty for Downey, and i think they are good

I agree.

I also LOVE not seeing Sammy's name in the lineup.

[WhiteLightning91 105]

Ansar Kahn and Bruce MacLeod must've been watching different practices. They are both reporting different lines.

Kahn

Datsyuk-Zetterberg-Holmstrom

Filppula-Franzen-Cleary (Helm skated with this line)

Abdelkader-Draper-Hudler

Drake-Hartigan-Downey (McCarty skated with this line)

MacLeod

Datsyuk-Zetterberg-Holmstrom

Cleary-Flippula-Franzen

Hudler-Draper-Abdelkader

McCarty-Hartigan-Downey

I'm hoping that Kahn is correct because I like seeing a bigger body like Franzen playing in the middle on the 2nd line.

Edited April 8, 2008 by WhiteLightning91

[Greatness=PavelDatsyuk 65]

I also LOVE not seeing Sammy's name in the lineup.

When Sammy is back, move Abdelkader to 4th and take out Hartigan

[redwings56 1]

Downey is useless on the ice. He is only there for fighting. Most times if the opposition can get a top 2 line out against Downey it results in a penalty or a goal. I am not a Downey supporter for the playoffs, since there is hardly any fighting, and how much did the wings/preds actually fight during the season series? Hardly.

Fil - Pavs - Hudler

Franzen - Z - Homer

Cleary - Draper - Abdeldakar

Drake - Hartigan - McCarty

[Yzerfan1999 81]

Zetterberg-Datsyuk-Franzen

Cleary-Filppula-Holmstrom

Drake-Draper-McCarty

Abdelkader-Hartigan-Hudler

Lidstrom-Rafalski

Kronwall-Stuart

Chelios-Lilja

Osgood

Hasek

Nice to have Downey's toughness, but I am sorry - he can barely keep up in the regular season, I don't think he will be able to play much in the playoffs.

[Kp-Wings 3]

Right, because non-enforcers don't ever take stupid penalties.

Exactly what I was thinking. How many bad penalties has Hartigan taken so far this year?

Downey needs to play. Even in limited minutes, he can still be used effectivily.

[Turkey 0]

I missed the chance to see Abdelkader in action. How has he looked?

[Opie 308]

Exactly what I was thinking. How many bad penalties has Hartigan taken so far this year?

Downey needs to play. Even in limited minutes, he can still be used effectivily.

Care to explain how?

He does one thing and one thing only, fight.

If this was the regular season than sure he has a spot and has earned a spot, postseason he just doesn't possess the skill set, and if he does than the wings have big problems (injuries).

Now if someone starts some crap, then sure the next game let him have a game and do what he does.

[stormboy 47]

i feel pretty good about our depth. as long as we don't lose top guys...if our middle d or anyone on the bottom two lines goes out, we've got plenty of guys to step in. that's nice. obviously sparty won't replace datsyuk if he goes out, but we've got some (relatively) interchangeable parts on the energy/grind lines.

also, does anyone think that hudler will get scratched at all? i don't think babs is super in love with him. if huddles is going to play on the fourth line anyway with guys who may or may not really be scorers, do you think he'll sit out in favor of a mac or a downey, or for malts or sammy when they come back? then, say if one of the more skilled players like flipper or even datsyuk gets injured, rex comes back in to play on the more "skill" lines? i know hudler got scratched a lot last year. he's played a bigger role this regular season but hasn't lived up to the expectations of many, myself included. (though he has lived down to the expectations of others.)

otherwise, i agree with those that have said downey doesn't serve a huge purpose here. in the playoffs it's hard to justify an entire roster spot for someone who ONLY fights. not to rag on aaron or anything, but i haven't really seen him do much all year (with his 3:00 of icetime a game) to impress me OTHER than fight, which certainly has value in itself--but is it enough to sit sparty or helm or someone who at least has the possibility of chipping in on offense?

also, i mostly don't expect everyone to make it out of the playoffs healthy. so i imagine you'll end up seeing a fair number of the helm-darth kader-hartigan types throughout the playoffs as some of our guys go down. i'm not trying to be pessimistic, and i'd love to see everyone stay healthy, but with how things have been going lately, and, though i hate to say it, with the age of some of our players, i could see it happening. the whole maltby-draper-mac-drake contingent i could see bearing much of the brunt of the physical play, and i could see any one of them going down for a significant amount of time.

edit: added stuff.

Edited April 8, 2008 by stormboy

[Lou_Siffer 1]

Care to explain how?

He does one thing and one thing only, fight.

If this was the regular season than sure he has a spot and has earned a spot, postseason he just doesn't possess the skill set, and if he does than the wings have big problems (injuries).

Now if someone starts some crap, then sure the next game let him have a game and do what he does.

Downey also hits...dont forget that. Are you discounting the importance of that in the playoffs? Just how many goals do you expect out of the 4th line, seriously? They are there for energy and to do some damage physically when they do get ice time. Odds are significantly higher that Downey would do something to ignite the team than someone like Hartigan in limited action.

[skacore 2]

I'm not 100% for Downey playing in the playoffs or anything, I want the best team on the ice - whether it's Downey, Drake, McCarty, Hartigan, Helm, Abdelkader, whatever is working. But Downey doesn't just fight, I'm not much of a stats guy so I wouldn't know for sure but I'd be suprised if Downey didn't have the best hit to minute ratio on the entire team. He can also create havoc infront of the net, which is crucicle for the playoffs.

[Mors 201]

Care to explain how?

He does one thing and one thing only, fight.

If this was the regular season than sure he has a spot and has earned a spot, postseason he just doesn't possess the skill set, and if he does than the wings have big problems (injuries).

Now if someone starts some crap, then sure the next game let him have a game and do what he does.

I believe Downey was 4th in hits on the team in past 3 months, despite only playing an average of 4:35 per game, as mentioned on MLive...Downey has proven he can be useful without making stupid mistakes. I don't hear anyone mentioning Drake's awesome -12, simply because he's semi-useful on the PK. You can't totally discount Downey as "just a fighter".

[WhiteLightning91 105]

Downey is useless on the ice. He is only there for fighting. Most times if the opposition can get a top 2 line out against Downey it results in a penalty or a goal. I am not a Downey supporter for the playoffs, since there is hardly any fighting, and how much did the wings/preds actually fight during the season series? Hardly.

Fil - Pavs - Hudler

Franzen - Z - Homer

Cleary - Draper - Abdeldakar

Drake - Hartigan - McCarty

See now, you should probably know what you're talking about when you post something on the boards. Hate to break it to ya but Downey is an even +/-. So, most times if the opposition can get a top 2 line out against Downey it doesn't result in a goal.

Now let's rephrase you're post so that it is correct:

Hartigan is useless on the ice. He is only there cuz he caught Babcock sucking pole with Samuelsson. Most times if the opposition can get a top 2 line out against Hartigan it results in a penalty, a sweet turnover at the blueline, or a goal.

There's more to Downey than just his fisticuffs. Now we all realize Downey is no Parros, but knowing that he is on the bench is nothing but a positive for our star players. Can you say the same for Hartigan?

Some of the misinformed garbage that gets posted on these boards amazes me.

Edited April 9, 2008 by WhiteLightning91

[GMRwings1983 8,804]

The way some of you talk about our 4th line, I'm beginning to think that Larionov or Robitaille are losing their roster spot to Downey. I've been worried all year about our 2nd line scoring, and right now I'm worried about Homer picking up his scoring being away so long from the 1st line.

Instead, some of you are here debating that Downey can't score on the 4th line. Seriously, do you expect teams to get lots of offensive production from their 4th line? Do you think Nashville's 4th line is that much better than ours? Downey has a role on this team that is unique, since no one else seems willing to fill it, if necessary. You know Tootoo and Hordichuk are going to be out there trying to bully us around in a 7 game series. That's what the playoffs are all about.

I'm sure you all remember what kind of crap Nashville tried to pull on San Jose's skilled players last year in the playoffs with cheap hits. Downey is absolutelly necessary to be there when that goes down.