Red Wings Shuffle Line Combos, Defense Pairs

[96warrior 11]

http://www.mlive.com/redwings/

Red Wings shuffle line combos, defense pairs

by Ansar Khan

Monday December 08, 2008, 12:54 PM

Update from Monday's practice: When players arrived for practice, they were surprised to see significant changes to the line combinations and defense pairings. The most notable switch sees Henrik Zetterberg teaming up with Marian Hossa, who haven't played together except for a couple fo shifts in Saturday's game. Johan Franzen was playing center. Also, Nicklas Lidstrom was paired with Brad Stuart on defense.

Here's how they practiced:

Filppula-Datsyuk-Holmstrom

Cleary-Zetterberg-Hossa

Hudler-Franzen-Samuelsson

Kopecky-Draper-Maltby

On defense:

Lidstrom-Stuart

Kronwall-Rafalski

Lebda-Lilja

Meech-Chelios

[egroen 384]

I have no problem mixing it up a bit and hope it continues. I especially like the defensive pairings to see how that will work.

[PROBIE4PREZ 58]

I dont kno about shuffling the forwards but the defense pairings had to change. Does anyknow how many assists/shots Pav had at this point last year? My only logic of why Babcock split them up is b/c Pav is trying to much to set up Hossa.

[CrossoverThrash 0]

There trying to get Filpula going, i think he should be with hossa though and put zdh or zdf out there.

[esteef 2,679]

I thought the Zetts-Hossa-Kopecky line looked good for the few short minutes they were together against the Hawks. Just sayin'...

esteef

[Yzermania 156]

I think hank and hoss can create some magic but I don't dig the mule being on the third line.

[up2here 41]

I like the defense pairings also,Stuart with Nick makes a lot of sense being that hes physical.

[up2here 41]

I dont kno about shuffling the forwards but the defense pairings had to change. Does anyknow how many assists/shots Pav had at this point last year? My only logic of why Babcock split them up is b/c Pav is trying to much to set up Hossa.

You may be on to something there,my girlfirend even said that Pavel wasnt around the net as much as usual.

[lets go pavel 2]

I'm not a big fan of Flip-Dats-Homer ... there's no natural shooter on the line. I am happy to see some shuffling, but I'm still holding out for ZDH. If we're looking to put a jump in our game, I don't think there's a better combo for it ... maybe something like:

Zetterberg-Datsyuk-Holmstrom

Cleary-Filppula-Hossa

Hudler-Franzen-Samuelsson

Kopecky-Draper-Maltby

or maybe switch Franzen with Cleary or Flip ...

[shoe 165]

I like it

And hopefully the next time they switch the lines up Lidstrom and Kronwall are a pairing

[MaynardJKeenan 1]

I'm not a big fan of Flip-Dats-Homer ... there's no natural shooter on the line. I am happy to see some shuffling, but I'm still holding out for ZDH. If we're looking to put a jump in our game, I don't think there's a better combo for it ... maybe something like:

Zetterberg-Datsyuk-Holmstrom

Cleary-Filppula-Hossa

Hudler-Franzen-Samuelsson

Kopecky-Draper-Maltby

or maybe switch Franzen with Cleary or Flip ...

agree, except Mule needs to be on that 2nd line. Move Flip down one.

[Z and D for the C 712]

I'm not a big fan of Flip-Dats-Homer ... there's no natural shooter on the line. I am happy to see some shuffling, but I'm still holding out for ZDH. If we're looking to put a jump in our game, I don't think there's a better combo for it ... maybe something like:

Zetterberg-Datsyuk-Holmstrom

Cleary-Filppula-Hossa

Hudler-Franzen-Samuelsson

Kopecky-Draper-Maltby

or maybe switch Franzen with Cleary or Flip ...

The Wings don't have a natural shooter except for Hossa (which is why I think we NEED to keep him..). You might be able to make a case for Z.

Anyway, I like the combos (just saying..but I called the Lidstrom/Stuart, Kronner Rafski combos ) and I can't wait for wednesdays game to see them.

[lets go pavel 2]

The Wings don't have a natural shooter except for Hossa (which is why I think we NEED to keep him..). You might be able to make a case for Z.

Anyway, I like the combos (just saying..but I called the Lidstrom/Stuart, Kronner Rafski combos ) and I can't wait for wednesdays game to see them.

I think Z and Franzen are pretty inclined to shoot, and Hudler fits the bill to me too ... even Sammy will pull the trigger. Flip and Pavs both usually look to pass first, and with Homer parked in front of the net I see a lot of passing and mucking and not a lot of shooting ...

[Slave 31]

hank and hossa have looked really good for the few seconds they end up on the same line together i really liked the looks of the 3rd line the last couple games with huds, flip and kopy. the 2nd line had to change thugh it just did not seem to be clicking to me. I would have gone with a

homer/Z/Pavel

Cleary/Franzen/Hossa

huds/flip/kopy

maltby/drapes/sammy

the magic circus line is still imo the best in the game at both ends of the ice.

[Saran 1]

I think a simple switch of Hossa and Zetterberg would be good ...

Zetts - Dats - Homs

Hoss - Frans - Sams

Huds - Filps - Clears

Malts - Drapes - Kops

[under_par_00 45]

Filppula better make the most of this. This is his chance to show his stuff.

I dont think they will be able to get the puck off of Datsyuk and Filppula when they're out there together!

Edited December 8, 2008 by under_par_00

[egroen 384]

I'm all for burying Franzen in the lineup until the playoffs, just to bring down his UFA value

[RusDRW 155]

love these lines. Exactly what I hoped for. Fil will score a lot on tip ins while Hos and Zata are goinjg to have excellent chemistry.

[j.hoop 64]

glad to see they FINALLY have switched things up. too bad that ansar guy didnt say how they looked practicing...or maybe its too hard to tell playing against each other. in my perfect world, ZDH would be back together, i miss that line so much, that line that struck fear into the opposition, that line that would score on a turnover 8 out of 10 times. bring it back!!!! anyways, glad to see they are shuffling, cant wait to see stuart-lidstrom, should be a good balance of power with skill

[DatsyukownzU13 1]

Top line is brutal. Why not try Franzen with Datsyuk? Fil is far from a goal scorer and no one is going to shoot on that line! I figure he's doing that strictly to get Datsyuk to shoot (and in a perfect world score) more.

[GoWings1905 2,694]

I really like the changes to the defensive pairings. Rafalski has been awful even with Lidstrom and Stuart has been really good defensively so far this season. I actually think Lilja and Lebda have played quite well together recently, so keeping them as the third pairing makes sense.

I am not crazy about the changes to the forwards. Cleary, Datsyuk, and Hossa were working awesome together as a line. They dominated almost every shift in the Chicago game. Maybe playing with Datsyuk will spark Filppula offensively, but I hate to see a line get split up that was working so well. Z, Franzen, and Sammy definitely needed a change of direction, but I would have just tried Homer with Mule and Z and moved Sammy down to the third line with Hudler and Filppula. Babcock has said before though that he prefers to keep Homer with Datsyuk if the Euro Twins are separated at even strength.

We'll see how it goes against Calgary. Changes were needed - the team needs to realize that winning is great, but the way they have gone about winning isn't acceptable. Babcock knows this and hopefully the team will respond with a hard-working, 60-minute victory on Wednesday.

[Nick137 0]

It's worth a shot! I'm tired of watching the Wings have to struggle to win games 5-4. I'm happy they're finding a way to win...but that's just too much. They're gonna have to start skating harder and faster every shift though. If they don't they're gonna continue to get called for a lot of penalties!

I wanna see the Wings start doing the little things right. No cute passes in the neutral zone or defensive zone. skate hard every shift. If you're gonna dump the puck in you better make sure you skate your butt off to be the first to retrieve it. I think it's gonna have to start with winning some games 2-1 because the focus for the Wings is going to have to be on the defensive side of the puck. Once they start doing those things consistently well, they will force the other team into mistakes and out of that will come the 4-2, 5-2, 6-2 victories we are used to seeing from the Wings.

[dallas27 7]

Not so much worried about the offensive lines, they are going to score no matter what. But the new defensive pairings look a ton better. Never really understood why Babs had Kronwall and Stuart out there together, both like to pinch in and lay a hit on someone. Now that you split them up and pair them with defenseman that stay home 99% of the time they are going to be way more effective imo.

Wednesday should be interesting.

[GoalieManPat 1,007]

I'm all for burying Franzen in the lineup until the playoffs, just to bring down his UFA value

QFT!!

[j.hoop 64]

Not so much worried about the offensive lines, they are going to score no matter what. But the new defensive pairings look a ton better. Never really understood why Babs had Kronwall and Stuart out there together, both like to pinch in and lay a hit on someone. Now that you split them up and pair them with defenseman that stay home 99% of the time they are going to be way more effective imo.

Wednesday should be interesting.

my thoughts exactly, didnt he shuffle the lines like this in the playoffs?