Playing Time for Next Year

[stud_defenseman 1]

With bringing in Hossa all of a sudden Detroit has added another player, who alongside Datsyuk and Zetterberg will eat up 21 minutes a night. There are also guys like Filppula and Hudler who will also likely be picking up more minutes as they continue to improve. Where are all these extra minutes going to come from?!? A guy like Maltby who has seen his play decline in the last few years and averaged 12 minutes of ice time last year is definetly going to see a big decrease. With all the penalty killers we have, and our new offensive additions Draper will also likely be seeing a decrease in ice time.

With how talented our top players are I can see the wings becoming essentially a 3 line team (which is not necessarily a bad thing).

I know it is ridiculous to try to predict what our lineup will be, but this is just an estimate.

I am working on the assumption that Z and Dats will be split up and Flip will be used as a 3rd line center.

Holmstrom - Datsyuk - Hossa

Franzen - Zetterberg - Cleary

Sammy - Filppula - Hudler

Helm - Draper - Maltby

The top line should average 19 min per night (Holmstrom will have less than Hossa and Dats).

The second line should average around 18 (Franzen and Cleary would have less than Z).

The third line should get around 16.

That leaves the 4th line with only 7 or 8 minutes of ice time per night if you factor in the extra time that overtime offers.

This simply is not going to work.

It's kind of sad that after winning a stanley cup, players who proved themselves will end up getting the shaft, but that's business I guess.

Who will end up losing out?

[Heaton 1]

You need to break it down on a player by player basis.

Zetterberg, Datsyuk and Hossa will all get around 20 minutes each.

Franzen, Holmstrom, Cleary and Filppula will all get around 15-17 minutes each.

Samuelsson, Hudler and Draper will probably get around 12-14 minutes each because they don't play on the PP and aren't 1st unit PP guys or don't play on the PP with reduced PP time in Draper.

Helm, Maltby, Downey, McCarty ect... who is ever left will get 6-10 minutes each.

[NeverForgetMac25 483]

You need to break it down on a player by player basis.

Zetterberg, Datsyuk and Hossa will all get around 20 minutes each.

Franzen, Holmstrom, Cleary and Filppula will all get around 15-17 minutes each.

Samuelsson, Hudler and Draper will probably get around 12-14 minutes each because they don't play on the PP and aren't 1st unit PP guys or don't play on the PP with reduced PP time in Draper.

Helm, Maltby, Downey, McCarty ect... who is ever left will get 6-10 minutes each.

I would assume you meant "PK", due to age and Hossa taking some of his time?

[Heaton 1]

I would assume you meant "PK", due to age and Hossa taking some of his time?

Yeah, PK.

[NeverForgetMac25 483]

Actually Heaton, I meant to also ask why you see Sammy's PP ice time going down as well? I still think Babs will want Sammy on the second PP pairing with Kronwall. So, IMO the addition of Hossa doesn't really affect Sammy's PP time because I assume Mikael will be on the blue line.

To top it off, would the first and second PP units look like this anyway:

1st: Hossa-Dats-Holmstrom, Lids-Raf

2nd: Franzen-Z-Hudler, Kronwall-Sammy

Or if Babs wanted to keep the first unit from last year intact:

1st: Z-D-H, L-R

2nd: Franzen-Hudler-Hossa, Kronwall-Sammy

Either scenario, I don't see it affecting Hudler's 2nd unit PP time. Thoughts?

[stud_defenseman 1]

I could see Homer losing some icetime with Franzen and Cleary showing they are capable of jumping into his role.

[Heaton 1]

Actually Heaton, I meant to also ask why you see Sammy's PP ice time going down as well?

I don't, I said they're not 1st unit guys so they aren't going to be getting 3-4 minutes of PP IT like the big guys do. Sammy's ES IT will probalby go down to around 10-11 minutes with 1-3 PP mins a game.

[toby91_ca 620]

With bringing in Hossa all of a sudden Detroit has added another player, who alongside Datsyuk and Zetterberg will eat up 21 minutes a night. There are also guys like Filppula and Hudler who will also likely be picking up more minutes as they continue to improve. Where are all these extra minutes going to come from?!? A guy like Maltby who has seen his play decline in the last few years and averaged 12 minutes of ice time last year is definetly going to see a big decrease. With all the penalty killers we have, and our new offensive additions Draper will also likely be seeing a decrease in ice time.

With how talented our top players are I can see the wings becoming essentially a 3 line team (which is not necessarily a bad thing).

I know it is ridiculous to try to predict what our lineup will be, but this is just an estimate.

I am working on the assumption that Z and Dats will be split up and Flip will be used as a 3rd line center.

Holmstrom - Datsyuk - Hossa

Franzen - Zetterberg - Cleary

Sammy - Filppula - Hudler

Helm - Draper - Maltby

The top line should average 19 min per night (Holmstrom will have less than Hossa and Dats).

The second line should average around 18 (Franzen and Cleary would have less than Z).

The third line should get around 16.

That leaves the 4th line with only 7 or 8 minutes of ice time per night if you factor in the extra time that overtime offers.

This simply is not going to work.

It's kind of sad that after winning a stanley cup, players who proved themselves will end up getting the shaft, but that's business I guess.

Who will end up losing out?

16 minutes is a lot of time for a 3rd line, I doubt they'd get that much.

[octopusonice 0]

In a way, it's good that there is less time to go around for everyone. I think the team with its outstanding depth will be well rested come playoff time.

[HOCKEY MATTERS 167]

In a way, it's good that there is less time to go around for everyone. I think the team with its outstanding depth will be well rested come playoff time.

Astute observation, imho. Just hope the boys see that far into the season and don't get their asses chapped about the drop in minutes now.

I love this site. We will get everything figured out 16 different ways with rock solid (?) logic and who really knows how it's all going to pan out.

[MississippiWing 14]

I don't care how much time any player gets. What concerns me is who makes the most of their time regardless of how much or little they get. I will take a guy that gets 6 minutes of ice time and gets a hat trick over a guy playing 18 minutes and getting 1 goal. I think Drapes and guys like that won't mind. I think they have been around enough they know the business. I'm pretty sure Maltby and Draper know that they are nearing time to hang up the skates.

[sergei_is_still_a_wing 1]

I could see Homer losing some icetime with Franzen and Cleary showing they are capable of jumping into his role.

I disagree. Homer and Dats/Zetts have far more chemistry IMO than Franzen does. I guess that comes with time tho.

And cleary has a lot of work to do to catch homer in ice time. Franzen is on his heels but not quite there yet.

[rick zombo 3,739]

There will be plenty of man games missed due to injury. Having this kind of depth up front is pure gold. Plus it's a Babcock wet dream - so much competion for ice-time means he gets the most out of his guys or they don't play.

edit to add:

Remember last training camp when Babcock had Franzen skating with Homer and Datsyuk? I wonder if he'll try this again.

Franzen - Datsyuk - Homer

Flipper - Zetterberg - Hossa

Edited July 31, 2008 by rick zombo

[Guest Dump-N-Thump]

Who cares.. were going to be amazing next year

[Peleshob 0]

There will be plenty of man games missed due to injury. Having this kind of depth up front is pure gold. Plus it's a Babcock wet dream - so much competion for ice-time means he gets the most out of his guys or they don't play.

edit to add:

Remember last training camp when Babcock had Franzen skating with Homer and Datsyuk? I wonder if he'll try this again.

Franzen - Datsyuk - Homer

Flipper - Zetterberg - Hossa

This could definitely work. I think one paper, though, this would work just as well, if not better.

Homer-Datsyuk-Hossa

Franzen-Zetterberg-Filppula

I think both lines have a man to stand in front the net and two skilled forwards. Plus... I see Datsyuk setting up Hossa all day for fun. Make no mistake... I doubt they can go wrong with any combo of those 6 men.

Edited July 31, 2008 by Peleshob

[Phazon 24]

It's kind of sad that after winning a stanley cup, players who proved themselves will end up getting the shaft, but that's business I guess.

This happens in every team. There is a reason why some are 1st liners and others 4th liners. It's been like this forever.

[Booster313 138]

I think you'll see a first PP unit of ZDHossa Lids and Raf

[stud_defenseman 1]

I disagree. Homer and Dats/Zetts have far more chemistry IMO than Franzen does. I guess that comes with time tho.

And cleary has a lot of work to do to catch homer in ice time. Franzen is on his heels but not quite there yet.

According to espn, during the regular season Franzen actually averaged 17.44 min per game while homer had 17.33. During the playoffs this ballooned to 18.49 for Franzen compared to 17.10 for Homer.

I just think FRanzen has a lot more to his game than Holmstrom does, he is the better skater, shooter, and has better moves. Homer just has etched a groove out in front of the net, but Franzen has even begun taking that from him. Hence part of the reason that Holmstrom makes so little money. He is a fairly 1-dimensional player, but is very fortunate that he has developed such good chemistry with Dats and Z, on another team I don't think he would be much more than a 3rd liner.

[stud_defenseman 1]

This could definitely work. I think one paper, though, this would work just as well, if not better.

Homer-Datsyuk-Hossa

Franzen-Zetterberg-Filppula

I think I like this one slightly better too. Z and Franzen were together for soooo many goals during the playoffs, and while many of them were shorties, I think they have developed some pretty good chemistry. I think Dats and Hossa will just be deadly as well. You can put maltby and mcarty as their line mates and they will still be scoring every night. The only thing I dread is bringing in an elite winger like Hossa and having him being centred by an average center. Babs is not dumb enough to do that though.

[lets go pavel 2]

Why are we all assuming that Hank and Pavel are going to be split up? Clearly they are dynamite together, I don't think we're playing Flip 3 mil per to play on the 3rd line, and Hossa gives us just the weapon to enable us to keep Hank and Pavs together ... for the top 2 lines I predict:

Homer - Z - Dats

Franzen - Flip - Hossa

[norrisnick 1]

Why are we all assuming that Hank and Pavel are going to be split up? Clearly they are dynamite together, I don't think we're playing Flip 3 mil per to play on the 3rd line, and Hossa gives us just the weapon to enable us to keep Hank and Pavs together ... for the top 2 lines I predict:

Homer - Z - Dats

Franzen - Flip - Hossa

Because Babcock has split them up to start every single season thus far. And rather than Hossa being just the weapon to keep them together he's just the type of winger (along with Franzen's emergence) to keep them apart.

Kenny didn't sign Marian Hossa and Marian Hossa didn't turn down $70M to play on a line with a center that just set a career high of 17 assists.

Pavel and Z will be split up with one centering Homer and Hossa and the other Franzen and one of Cleary, Sammy, Hudler, Filppula (with my money being on Fil centering the 3rd with the leftovers of that group).

[betterREDthandead 58]

Because Babcock has split them up to start every single season thus far. And rather than Hossa being just the weapon to keep them together he's just the type of winger (along with Franzen's emergence) to keep them apart.

Kenny didn't sign Marian Hossa and Marian Hossa didn't turn down $70M to play on a line with a center that just set a career high of 17 assists.

Pavel and Z will be split up with one centering Homer and Hossa and the other Franzen and one of Cleary, Sammy, Hudler, Filppula (with my money being on Fil centering the 3rd with the leftovers of that group).

It's not gonna stay that way though. You're right, Babcock really does want to split them up. He keeps on trying. And they always find their way back to the same line.

[stud_defenseman 1]

Because Babcock has split them up to start every single season thus far. And rather than Hossa being just the weapon to keep them together he's just the type of winger (along with Franzen's emergence) to keep them apart.

Kenny didn't sign Marian Hossa and Marian Hossa didn't turn down $70M to play on a line with a center that just set a career high of 17 assists.

Pavel and Z will be split up with one centering Homer and Hossa and the other Franzen and one of Cleary, Sammy, Hudler, Filppula (with my money being on Fil centering the 3rd with the leftovers of that group).

That was pretty much exactly what I was thinking. While it may seem strange to pay flip 3 mill to center the third line, having him there would make us ridiculously deep down the middle and would give us a pretty good third line.

Considering Babcock's intense man-love for Sammy you could even see him on the second line with Z and Franzen (which actually isn't that bad), and a third line consisting of Hudler - Filppula - Cleary. They will be on the scoresheet on a fairly consistent basis. That would give us 3 good scoring lines.

I am getting sick of trying to forecast lineups, because as we all know they will change 100,000,000 throughout the season.

[daniel1 32]

That was pretty much exactly what I was thinking. While it may seem strange to pay flip 3 mill to center the third line, having him there would make us ridiculously deep down the middle and would give us a pretty good third line.

Considering Babcock's intense man-love for Sammy you could even see him on the second line with Z and Franzen (which actually isn't that bad), and a third line consisting of Hudler - Filppula - Cleary. They will be on the scoresheet on a fairly consistent basis. That would give us 3 good scoring lines.

I am getting sick of trying to forecast lineups, because as we all know they will change 100,000,000 throughout the season.

I would be sick of it if I was forecasting for the Islanders, Leafs or Preds cause the players on their rosters just plain suck. I like forecasting the Wings roster cause there are so many deadly combinations when we have the amount of talent on the roster that we do. I always make a little "nostrodamus" spreadsheet at the start of each year where I try to predict EVERY Wings players stats at the end of the year and then just before playoffs start I go back and get a chuckle out of how wrong or right I was with certain players.

[stud_defenseman 1]

I would be sick of it if I was forecasting for the Islanders, Leafs or Preds cause the players on their rosters just plain suck. I like forecasting the Wings roster cause there are so many deadly combinations when we have the amount of talent on the roster that we do. I always make a little "nostrodamus" spreadsheet at the start of each year where I try to predict EVERY Wings players stats at the end of the year and then just before playoffs start I go back and get a chuckle out of how wrong or right I was with certain players.

Yea, it's gonna be pretty sad during our home opener when we play the leafs...

Potential Starting Lineup for Detroit.

Datsyuk - Zetterberg - Hossa

Lidstrom - Rafalski

total points last season = 380

Toronto (If Sundin doesn't return)

Blake - Steen - Antropov

Kaberle - Kubina

total points last season = 243

I am definetely going to make my own stat predictions this year as well