IMO, 5 Things the Wings need to work on for next game

[spyder 0]

1. Turnovers - There have been a lot of turnovers lately between the goal line and the hash marks, miscommunication beetwen the goaltender and the defense is causing the defense to fumble the puck and make bad passes.

2. Defensive zone coverage - A lot of opposition players are getting left open on the far side of the net, left open for an easy pass that'll smoke the goaltender every time. The guys out on the point aren't getting pressured enough by the forwards, they are getting way too many shots through to the goaltender which are then getting tipped by the guys in front, the goaltender can't do much to stop those. Tie up the guys in front, clear the rebounds, and get our takeaway master out in that pointman's face.

3. Backchecking - Wings are giving up way to many 3 on 2's and 2 on 1's, getting caught on bad line changes or bad passes. They've got to get back in the play faster and make better line changes.

4. Clearing the puck - Too many failed clearing attempts by the Wings while trying to shoot it around the boards ending up being intercepted by the defensemen creating turnovers.

5. Goaltending - While a lot of the goals can be attributed to a lack of defense or bad breaks, both goalies have been letting in a few soft goals per game. Both goalies need to be a little quicker side to side and work on rebound control.

Quick notes: More pressure in the offensive zone to keep the play down in their end. More intensity and energy, the other teams are getting hungry and desperate just to get in the playoffs, the wings are going to have to step it up to match it, they look like they're in slow-mo right now. Beat the other guy to the puck, win the small battles. Get back in the groove of dominating the games and shutting down the other team.

Larry Murphy watch out, I'm coming for your job.

Edited March 10, 2009 by spyder

[ComradeWasabi 109]

Quick notes: More pressure in the offensive zone to keep the play down in their end. More intensity and energy, the other teams are getting hungry and desperate just to get in the playoffs, the wings are going to have to step it up to match it, they look like they're in slow-mo right now. Beat the other guy to the puck, win the small battles. Get back in the groove of dominating the games and shutting down the other team.

Larry Murphy watch out, I'm coming for your job.

The scary thing is that paragraph there could easily have come out of Murph's mouth. I hope you skate better than him at least.

[dat's sick 1,002]

You should become a coach. Imagine how good the Wings would be if Babcock only understood that they need to work on DEFENSE and GOALTENDING and OFFENSE.

*massive rolleyes*

[RedWingedKitten 9]

I agree with everything here. You didn't leave anything out. Now we need to get Babcock to read this.

[Dano33 41]

It's kinda difficult to work on not turning the puck over if you ask me, they are just being lazy. And backchecking is not the reason we are giving up odd-man rushes, this goes back to turnovers.

I understand where you are coming from, but it goes a bit deeper than this.

Edited March 10, 2009 by Dano33

[Echolalia 2,961]

You should become a coach. Imagine how good the Wings would be if Babcock only understood that they need to work on DEFENSE and GOALTENDING and OFFENSE.

*massive rolleyes*

We don't need this.

Anyway I can't say that I disagree with you on any of your posts, although I've noticed that how they have been playing as of late looks like a lot of problems can be solved by simple communication skills. Players left uncovered, bad turnovers, breakout passes/clears while under pressure, all of these can be remedied to a great extend if the players talked to each other and let them know who is open and where to throw the puck if they don't have the time to look themselves. I remember last year it was quite common to see a player point to an opponent implying for someone to cover him, especially on defense. You could also see goalies warn defensmen when they had company following behind them. I haven't seen as much of that this year, and its a really simple solution to a number of problems. Who knows whether they actually communicate or not; I can't hear them, but it sure doesn't look like it from on my couch. I also remember someone talking about Hasek saying something along the lines of "you knew he was playing his best hockey if he was talking a lot, because it was a sign he was into the game". I think this can apply to a lot of goaltenders, and even players, but if Osgood is being quiet in net, it might take his mind off of his problems and put him more into the game if he yelled to Raffi and Lids and whoever that Zetterberg is wide open in front of the crease for a good breakout pass, or don't pass up front because Nash is waiting (not blaming him for Raffi's horrible pass btw).

Just my two cents, but with the bad economy and inflation its probably 8 or 9 cents by now.

[esteef 2,679]

6. Replace Downey's point production on the 4th line.

esteef

[Z and D for the C 712]

1-5. Get motivated. That's the only thing they need. (Maybe goaltending is a valid point..)

[Wingsallwin 0]

1. Turnovers - There have been a lot of turnovers lately between the goal line and the hash marks, miscommunication beetwen the goaltender and the defense is causing the defense to fuble the puck and make bad passes.

2. Defensive zone coverage - A lot of opposition players are getting left open on the far side of the net, left open for an easy pass that'll smoke the goaltender every time. The guys out on the point aren't getting pressured enough by the forwards, they are getting way too many shots through to the goaltender which are then getting tipped by the guys in front, the goaltender can't do much to stop those. Tie up the guys in front, clear the rebounds, and get our takeaway master out in that pointman's face.

3. Backchecking - Wings are giving up way to many 3 on 2's and 2 on 1's, getting caught on bad line changes or bad passes. They've got to get back in the play faster and make better line changes.

4. Clearing the puck - Too many failed clearing attempts by the Wings while trying to shoot it around the boards ending up being intercepted by the defensemen creating turnovers.

5. Goaltending - While a lot of the goals can be attributed to a lack of defense or bad breaks, both goalies have been letting in a few soft goals per game. Both goalies need to be a little quicker side to side and work on rebound control.

Quick notes: More pressure in the offensive zone to keep the play down in their end. More intensity and energy, the other teams are getting hungry and desperate just to get in the playoffs, the wings are going to have to step it up to match it, they look like they're in slow-mo right now. Beat the other guy to the puck, win the small battles. Get back in the groove of dominating the games and shutting down the other team.

Larry Murphy watch out, I'm coming for your job.

I think the goaltending is the weakest part in this team right now. I know we make a lot turnovers on our defensive zone to blue line but when there is a mistake, goalies should be ready cover but our goalies have never been, especially Osgood.

For number 4, I agree but I may put stealing the puck and keeping the puck. When I watched the Wings games lately, the pattern has been same. When we cannot control the puck, we do not touch the puck for such a long time and converted to the goal sometimes. I do not know why but the Wings' forecheking has been invisible and also as you mentioned, the speed of going to the net to play back-check has not been seen for a while.

This team's defense is sometimes also struggling and the opponent is playing dump and rush stragedy. Last year, we defended all those kind of play but this season, our defenses look to allow more than it has to be. Then, 2 on 1 occurs and it makes a hard time on goalies.

I do not know what exactly I mentioned but more of those categories,

The Wings are playing with no heart, in a short word, sometimes being LAZY.

Edited March 10, 2009 by Wingsallwin

[steveyzerman 0]

Last year, we won because of our defense. We were a shut down team. That was my argument. That was everyone's argument. The conversations were always about Crosby & Malkin vs. Datsyuk & Zetterberg. & all of us Wings fans knew that no matter how good Crosby & Malking played, no matter if Datsyuk or Zetterberg were having an off game, all of knew that we had our defense & no one could get through us.

This year, I'm not feeling that way. I'm hoping there's the proverbial "switch" we can hit & if anyone can actually have one of those, I think it's us. For me, the rest of the season is a waiting game to see if & when that happens.

[Elshupacabra 0]

...everything.

[digitaljohn88 4]

TURNOVERS.

We're not going to win anything in the playoffs if the turnover stat is 14-2 (IIRC) in the opposing team's favor.

[SouthernWingsFan 854]

1. Defense

2. Defense

3. Defense

4. Defense

5. Defense

That being said, even though it is disturbing to see so many goals given up in a game twice in a week, I still consider games like this few and far between in an 80+ game season. Sure, they happen, pretty much to every team where they are just terrible defensively, but they are limited to just a small handful for many teams I think.

It's concerning of course but nothing to get too vented about as this team is still making the playoffs despite these bad games and there's still time to sort this stuff out for playoffs and playoff games are typically lower scoring anyways by default.

[Carman 387]

Obviously we need to work on faceoffs and shots.

[Ms_Hockey 0]

I actually agree 100% with everything the OP posted.

[eva unit zero 271]

1) Turnovers. Absolutely, working on turnovers is the top priority. Especially things such as common turnovers like the defenseman passing up the middle of the zone; this is probably the biggest single reason for Detroit's poor defensive performance this season and for the poor results on the penalty kill.

2) Odd-man rushes. These usually result from turnovers, so cutting down on those should make a big hit already. But if the turnover occurred with more players back, the chances of a goal are reduced; in other words the Wings are perhaps a little too eager to head up ice and should wait just a moment to ensure that the odd-man rush does not occur as the puck begins to be passed up ice.

3) Goaltending. Both goaltenders have been playing below what they are normally capable of; part of this is the fact that they have been seeing a high percentage of quality chances coming at them. Perhaps alternating starts and having both goaltenders spend extra time working with Jim Bedard will straighten things out.

4) Faceoffs. More often than not recently, the Wings have lost more than half of the faceoffs during a game. This is despite the fact that the Wings are, statistically, the top faceoff team in the NHL and have eight forwards who have played at least 15 games and taken at least 15 faceoffs who have won more than 50% of the faceoffs they have taken. I can't say if the Wings have been lazy or what but the Wings need to improve their performance on faceoffs; a puck possession team can't succeed without winning better than 50% of the draws.

5) Lineup. The Wings are a team that works on a system, so setting players into a role on a line based on that system and their skills is the best course of action. The basic roles being used are "Playmaker", "Finisher", and "Screen/Cleanup" so here's some potential lines, arranged as Playmaker-Finisher-Screen/Cleanup

Datsyuk/Samuelsson/Holmstrom

Hudler/Zetterberg/Franzen

Filppula/Cleary/Kopecky

Meech/Draper/Maltby

Once the full regular lineup is available, the lineup will look even better, but using the (Playmaker-Finisher-Screen/Cleanup) template to arrange lines helps a great deal because it helps prevent lines from being made too one-dimensional; it generally wouldn't place a playmaker alongside another playmaker unless one of them can serve another role.

Edited March 10, 2009 by eva unit zero

[uk_redwing 495]

6. Replace Downey's point production on the 4th line.

If the Wings dont win the Cup, it will because of this.

[YoungGuns1340 1]

I hate to rain on the party here, but you don't think the Wings know they need to work on those things? And you don't think they have been? They have the statistics and the tape. They see the game from ice-level and from the cameras. They pay people entire salaries to break down their performances and analyze the hell out of what they did wrong and right.

One phrase can summarize this entire topic: Easier said than done.

[puckbags 863]

Mickey Redmond put it pretty simply the other night after the game.....We need to start trying to win games 1-0 again. This team can score goals..we all know that...the cast of characters isn't any different really from last seasons cup team...they need to dumb the game up a bit and stifle teams to 20 shots and 1-2 goals a game !!

[Superman54 91]

Kronwall would do it right if he didn't cut his damn hair. The man is Samson, and as soon as it was cut he lost everything......everything.

[Wing Across The Pond 196]

5) Lineup. The Wings are a team that works on a system, so setting players into a role on a line based on that system and their skills is the best course of action. The basic roles being used are "Playmaker", "Finisher", and "Screen/Cleanup" so here's some potential lines, arranged as Playmaker-Finisher-Screen/Cleanup

Datsyuk/Samuelsson/Holmstrom

Hudler/Zetterberg/Franzen

Filppula/Cleary/Kopecky

Meech/Draper/Maltby

with this... you're assuming that we're gonna dump someone in the crease on every line.... how predictable our play would become!! the reason they dont do this is to change it up a bit so opposition defence dont know how to defend immediately. Plus someone like Sammy on the first line wouldnt work fitness wise. He cant deal 20-25 mins a game.

[HOCKEY MATTERS 167]

.....and what's up with Draper getting booted out of the faceoff circle? It's happening a lot. He needs to get it together there, too.

[Guest mindfly]

Get the 1year entry level contract done after this season kenny

Edited March 10, 2009 by mindfly

[LIDDYGIBBY5 1]

Things need to be shaken up if you ask me. Sitting Ozzie is the kind of thing that the whole team needs. Now you can't bench everyone, but the entire team needs to be called out publicly. Bench Lidstrom and Zetterberg, not because it is their fault, but to show the team that play needs to be better. Make an example out of the leaders on the team. I know that this sounds kind of like a cliche, but do you have a better idea? The only other idea I have is public flogging! I think that the NHLPA would probably win that grievance.

[Hockeytown0001 7,652]

How about trying to allow less than 5 goals?