Thursday practice notes

[Drake_Marcus 890]

Ugggg these defensive pairings are brutal:

Lidstrom-Rafalski

Kronwall-Stuart (a common pairing to see on the ice when a goal is scored on the Wings)

Ericsson-Lebda (Lebda is roaming while Big Rig provides the D? I'd rather let Ericsson roam and Lebda paint Easter eggs)

Meech-Chelios

Here's how I'd do it in the playoffs:

Datsyuk-Zetterberg-Holmstrom

Hudler-Franzen-Hossa <-- Hudler will perform better here than on the third, and Filppula will likely play better on the 3rd

Samuelsson-Filppula-Kopecky <-- Filppula makes the 3rd line much more dangerous, Helm isn't good enough offensively

Helm-Draper-Cleary <-- Can you say speed, grit and energy? Oh and they're great defensively.

Leino (depressing that he'd be a scratch but Babs loves Helm too much to put Leino in first )

Lidstrom-Kronwall <--These two have played great together this year

Rafalski-Ericsson <--Rafalski plays better 5-on-5 when he's not dicking around and counting on Lidstrom to save his ass

Lilja-Stuart <--Fact: Ericsson's played better than Stuart this year. Lilja's been awesome this year

Lebda-Chelios <--Speedy but useless- meet useful but slow

Osgood

Conklin

These lines are more representative of how the individual players played this year, while the current lines are clearly Babcock's attempt to try and force last year's team into reemerging.

[Drake_Marcus 890]

I'd like to see Hudler and Flip switch places on those forward lines, among a couple other switches to start.

Datsyuk/Zetterberg/Holmstrom

Elite scoring line, also elite defensively.

Franzen/Hudler/Hossa

Elite scoring line, quite capable defensively.

Cleary/Filppula/Samuelsson

Very good defensive line, more than capable offensively if they should get the opportunity.

Kopecky/Draper/Helm

Very defensively capable checking line that will usually win the faceoff regardless of who is at the dot. Quite physical on both wings.

Smart guy. Switch Cleary and Kopecky and we're thinking alike Now what are your Defensive pairings?