let them trap

[shoe 165]

The last few nights the wings have run into 2 teams that have played this trap style game and they lost both of them. Having 5 guys clogging the blue line isn't exactly fun to watch or play against. However the more they play against it the better they will be at breaking through it. Trap hockey gets popular in the playoffs so practice makes perfect. May the best team win when it matters most.

[lets go pavel 2]

The last few nights the wings have run into 2 teams that have played this trap style game and they lost both of them. Having 5 guys clogging the blue line isn't exactly fun to watch or play against. However the more they play against it the better they will be at breaking through it. Trap hockey gets popular in the playoffs so practice makes perfect. May the best team win when it matters most.

Best way to beat the trap is to get the lead ... why didn't we try that?

[chrisdetroit 189]

The last few nights the wings have run into 2 teams that have played this trap style game and they lost both of them. Having 5 guys clogging the blue line isn't exactly fun to watch or play against. However the more they play against it the better they will be at breaking through it. Trap hockey gets popular in the playoffs so practice makes perfect. May the best team win when it matters most.

It only works well if the trapping team has a big lead as in these 2 games.

[KrazyGangsta 79]

The last few nights the wings have run into 2 teams that have played this trap style game and they lost both of them. Having 5 guys clogging the blue line isn't exactly fun to watch or play against. However the more they play against it the better they will be at breaking through it. Trap hockey gets popular in the playoffs so practice makes perfect. May the best team win when it matters most.

I agree very well said practice makes perfect

[Reds4Life 51]

Wings lost because their defence sucks at the moment and only very few players show any effort whatsoever.

Stop with these BS excuses, Wings are playing pretty bad hockey now, fortunately playoffs are far away.

Edited November 30, 2008 by Reds4Life

[Drake_Marcus 890]

Best way to beat the trap is to get the lead ... why didn't we try that?

They didn't think of it?

[Guest DetroitBoy313]

You know I probably don't post as often on this board as some of you but,I am a HUGE Wings fan.I try to watch almost every game but like last night I couldn't because I was at a wedding.Soo I told myself I wasn't going to check the score on my phone and I would wait until I got home to check because it probably would've ruined my night.Soo HOPING that when I get home I was going to see that our boys pulled off a victory but I was slapped with a 4-1 loss.They cannot beat the best teams right now,and with the line up they have that should be NO excuses whatsoever.They just won the cup but they are not showing the league that they are ready to defend it.

[GoWings1905 2,694]

I have noticed teams playing the trap against the Red Wings more especially in the past week. Vancouver used it effectively, Montreal played it perfect (they hardly had a forecheck the entire game), and Boston had the luxury of sitting back on a huge lead.

TBH, it is boring to watch, but it's a brilliant strategy against a team like the Red Wings. The Red Wings are so good at controlling the puck and using their skill in the neutral zone. Trapping forces the Red Wings to dump the puck into the zone and chase. The Red Wings are capable of doing that, but I haven't seen a consistent effort in most games where the Wings are willing to win battles for the puck. If the Red Wings aren't willing to dump the puck in and go get after it hard, then why wouldn't opponents sit four or five guys back and clog up the neutral zone? That's why players like Cleary and Holmstrom are needed and so important to the Red Wings success. Filppula used to be scrappy, but hasn't done much of anything this season. Kopecky could do it too. It just requires more effort than solely relying on skill to win hockey games.

[GMRwings1983 8,804]

Teams who play skilled hockey but aren't willing to do the dirty work are the easiest teams to trap. Unfortunately for the Wings, all their checkers right now are not playing the way they've done in the past.

These guys are just going to have to battle harder and be a lot hungrier. That's why it's so hard to repeat as champs, because it's difficult for younger players to recreate that same passion and hunger that they had before they won the Cup.

The fact is that more teams will try to trap us, and the boys are just going to have to respond by adjusting their style instead of being stubborn and trying to make pretty plays all the time.

[datsyukismyfriend 4]

it's not the trap that's killing the wings, it's the heavy forechecks. teams that forecheck hard give the wings fits. if we don't have time in our back end or the neutral zone, our d make all kinds of mistakes and giveaways usually setting up prime scoring chances for the opposition. our d need to learn to get rid of the ******* puck and get it out of our zone instead of trying to dazzle and wow us with how fancy they are.

the wings are trying to survive on skill right now (with the exception of a few players) instead of working hard and earning victories. great defensive teams work hard, 60 minutes, night in night out. lousy defensive teams play lazy and careless in their own zone for long stretches of time.

i've yet to see a sixty minute effort from this team this season. i'm not sure if they think the cup's coming on a silver platter or what. whatever babs is doing so far this season, he clearly hasn't motivated this team yet. it's frustrating because we all know the wings have the talent to absolutely dominate, nobody's on the same page yet (don't know how that's possible seeing as we won the cup last summer, doing which requires everybody working together).

[j.hoop 64]

it's not the trap that's killing the wings, it's the heavy forechecks. teams that forecheck hard give the wings fits. if we don't have time in our back end or the neutral zone, our d make all kinds of mistakes and giveaways usually setting up prime scoring chances for the opposition. our d need to learn to get rid of the ******* puck and get it out of our zone instead of trying to dazzle and wow us with how fancy they are.

the wings are trying to survive on skill right now (with the exception of a few players) instead of working hard and earning victories. great defensive teams work hard, 60 minutes, night in night out. lousy defensive teams play lazy and careless in their own zone for long stretches of time.

i've yet to see a sixty minute effort from this team this season. i'm not sure if they think the cup's coming on a silver platter or what. whatever babs is doing so far this season, he clearly hasn't motivated this team yet. it's frustrating because we all know the wings have the talent to absolutely dominate, nobody's on the same page yet (don't know how that's possible seeing as we won the cup last summer, doing which requires everybody working together).

its also our lack of desire to forecheck. definitely have the ability, they just dont do it.

[evil204 4]

That's the type of defense the Wings always have trouble with, and it's really the only way to beat them. I still don't get why nobody besides Nashville used it against us in the playoffs. But the problem is that we never change our strategy...Babcock won't adapt. We keep trying to stickhandle through the trap and we just give the puck away. Sure, most nights, we'll score more than 1 goal on 30 shots, and our goalie will actually make some saves, but I still want to see them adjust their offensive strategy instead of trying the same thing over and over again. I thought that, against Montreal and Boston, our work ethic wasn't the problem. It was just that both of those teams played exactly the way you have to play to beat the Wings, and we just played the same style we always play, hoping that it would eventually work.

[SDavis35 140]

I think the only way to beat the trap is to be aggressive. I was thinking up maybe a strategy to beat it, and the only thing we can do is to have guys sitting at the blue line waiting for the dump-in then fight our way into position. It takes a tough team, not finesse. I think our players can do both, but we actually have to do it.

[Rivalred 630]

The Wings pressed really hard in the 1st 10 minutes of the 1st period. Boston jumped on the Wings 2-3 mistakes in the game (which were huge!) and they capitalized. Wings played well for the 1st 7 minutes of the 2nd period and played pretty well through the 3rd.

The Wings had many chances last night, Manny played well in net and hitting the post a few times with a wide open net did not help either.

[TheUkrainian 49]

Speaking of checking and hits; did anyone see Datsuk get taken down then get right back up and go after guys?

I thought it was cool haha

[ben_usmc 253]

Wings lost because their defence sucks at the moment and only very few players show any effort whatsoever.

Stop with these BS excuses, Wings are playing pretty bad hockey now, fortunately playoffs are far away.

Don't forget the goalies have played like s***

[j.hoop 64]

Speaking of checking and hits; did anyone see Datsuk get taken down then get right back up and go after guys?

I thought it was cool haha

ha that was awesome. i love dats, someone in another thread said he looks lost or isnt competing. yeah right!!

[ben_usmc 253]

Speaking of checking and hits; did anyone see Datsuk get taken down then get right back up and go after guys?

I thought it was cool haha

it's sad that Dats has become our best checker and playing the most aggresive, maybe he is trying to show how it's supposed to be done. A few things I must say is I've always that Dats was better and never understood why everyone thinks Z is as good; but after watching the last few games Z NEVER gives up, EVER. My roomate is an Av's fan and he even gets pissed off about how many cheap shots happen to Z. He is like they need someone to stand up for him, he is to nice, he's not like Dats who will get you back. On top of that I didn't care whether we kept Hudler or not, but we def. need to sign him.

[j.hoop 64]

it's sad that Dats has become our best checker and playing the most aggresive, maybe he is trying to show how it's supposed to be done. A few things I must say is I've always that Dats was better and never understood why everyone thinks Z is as good; but after watching the last few games Z NEVER gives up, EVER. My roomate is an Av's fan and he even gets pissed off about how many cheap shots happen to Z. He is like they need someone to stand up for him, he is to nice, he's not like Dats who will get you back. On top of that I didn't care whether we kept Hudler or not, but we def. need to sign him.

think he could ever be captain? thatd be awesome, but i think his quiet leadership and limited english skill denies him the chance.

[chrisdetroit 189]

Wings lost because their defence sucks at the moment and only very few players show any effort whatsoever. Stop with these BS excuses, Wings are playing pretty bad hockey now, fortunately playoffs are far away.

Wrong. Their defense is not the best in the league but it doesn't suck. Their GAA is 23 at 3.01. Sure that's not great but I wouldn't say that it sucks.

And to say that very few players are showing any effort. While that's just ignorant.

And how can they be #2 in the West if they are playing bad hockey.

[ben_usmc 253]

think he could ever be captain? thatd be awesome, but i think his quiet leadership and limited english skill denies him the chance.

He easily could, but Z is going to be captain. You couldn't ask for a better A though, he is how shanny was when Stevie was captian

Wrong. Their defense is not the best in the league but it doesn't suck. Their GAA is 23 at 3.01. Sure that's not great but I wouldn't say that it sucks.

And to say that very few players are showing any effort. While that's just ignorant.

And how can they be #2 in the West if they are playing bad hockey.

2 words Power Play

[YoungGuns1340 1]

Wrong. Their defense is not the best in the league but it doesn't suck. Their GAA is 23 at 3.01. Sure that's not great but I wouldn't say that it sucks.

And to say that very few players are showing any effort. While that's just ignorant.

And how can they be #2 in the West if they are playing bad hockey.

They're sitting out of the top 50% in the league, and have a goals against average over 3 goals per game and you don't think that sucks? You're telling me the Wings need to score 4 goals per game in order to pull off a victory, but their defense doesn't suck? Spare me the bulls***. Maybe if we had as little talent as Atlanta and Columbus have on the back-end, 23rd wouldn't be so bad, but on paper we have the best defense in the league. And they shouldn't even be 11th, let alone 23rd.

[YoungGuns1340 1]

He easily could, but Z is going to be captain. You couldn't ask for a better A though, he is how shanny was when Stevie was captian

2 words Power Play

The powerplay, which ironically is McLellan's legacy.

[Reds4Life 51]

Wrong. Their defense is not the best in the league but it doesn't suck. Their GAA is 23 at 3.01. Sure that's not great but I wouldn't say that it sucks.

And to say that very few players are showing any effort. While that's just ignorant.

And how can they be #2 in the West if they are playing bad hockey.

Defence that consists of Nicklas Lidstrom, Brian Rafalski, Niklas Kronwall, Brad Stuart ( combined, these 4 make more than 20 million a year btw), Andreas Lilja and Brett Lebda just cannot allow that many goals. Apart from few bright spots here and there, they suck at this very moment as a group. LA Kings allowed LESS goals than the Red Wings, that should tell you something. Expectations are different for high paid (super)stars than for bunch of kids.

Ozzie is not even average goalie at the moment. He's been great at times, but he also allowed way too many soft goals, but I would not be worried about him, he will be ready come playoff time

As for effort, they are being outworked too often given the fact Babcock is the coach and their skill level, it seems like they do not have the motivation they need.