Rafalski, Draper, Kopecky won't play Sunday

[Jersey Wing 1,521]

It's a tough call, imo.

Leino can draw penalties with his puck skills. He's good at having the puck follow him around in the O zone.

Abs on the other hand plays tougher on the puck. He's more tenacious in the defensive zone. But he takes dumb penalties and the Wings can't do that against the Ducks power play.

That was my thinking by suggesting Leino play. We don't need the second coming of Gerard Gallant, a guy who would take horrible penalties at the worst possible times. A young and highly motivated Abdelkader bless his Spartan heart might get to running around a touch. The margin for error in a game 5 tied at 2-2 is razor thin to begin with...

[adtthosa 5]

At this point, I just want Rafalski back to take ice time away from Chelios. The Ducks are too big and strong for Cheli, he just can't contain them. I really hope Raffi comes back soon. We have been fortunate that Cheli's blunders haven't really cost us that much (aside from the breakaway in game 3).

I am excited to see Abdelkader back in the lineup. I wonder if any of the play by play guys will actually pronounce his name right? Him for Kopecky is a wash at worst, and a bit of an upgrade at best, so nothing to lose there.

Edited May 8, 2009 by adtthosa

[Drake_Marcus 890]

DAMN YOUUUU

who will play of the black aces? Abdelkader? Leino?

The quote is from

http://www.detnews.com/article/20090508/SP...0457/1128/rss16

Piss.

At least we'll get to see Leino or Abdelkader play Sunday...

[titanium2 867]

That was my thinking by suggesting Leino play. We don't need the second coming of Gerard Gallant, a guy who would take horrible penalties at the worst possible times. A young and highly motivated Abdelkader bless his Spartan heart might get to running around a touch. The margin for error in a game 5 tied at 2-2 is razor thin to begin with...

Maybe another force that goes against Leino's favor is that he's up for contract renewal. They really want to keep him and if he does too well, then that wouldn't help during the negotiation process would it? But I don't know, maybe not. Kenny said he's all about winning now and worrying about next year later.

Maybe Abs will take one or two bad penalties just to get it out of his system and then just play through his mistakes. He's a good kid. He doesn't want to detract from the team in any way. Sunday is his playoff baptism. I hope it's not too costly.

[skacore 2]

Abdelkader!!! SIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIICK

[Broken 16 381]

So basically the same line-up we saw yesterday minus Kopy plus Abdblahblah. I can think of worse scenarios.

[Frozen-Man 144]

I suspect Helm will center both the 3rd and 4th lines. There's no way Babs messes with the first two.

I figure that he will have Hudler center the 3rd line and Helm the 4th.

[Drake_Marcus 890]

It might be possible to add Meech in instead of Chelios depending on how Cheli is feeling in practice after the sudden switch from rest to NHL playoffs. But a line of Lebda-Meech would just get railroaded by the Ducks.

So... the lines:

Zetterberg - Datsyuk - Holmstrom (switching with Cleary depending on the situation)

Franzen - Filppula - Hossa

Cleary - Hudler - Samuelsson

Maltby - Helm - Leino

Lidstrom - Ericsson

Kronwall - Stuart

Lebda - Chelios

Edit: Jersey Wing makes a great point- Abs would probably be too much of a run around guy...

Edited May 8, 2009 by Drake_Marcus

[jvxp 0]

Insert Leino into the 3rd line, scratch Chelios and put Kindl into Cheli's spot for the 6-7 mins a night that he plays to see if he can instill some trust in the coach.

What's that you say, you're worried about a rookie defenseman in the playoffs? Really, how much worse could Kindl f*** up than Chelios already has. Aside from 2 drawn penalties the other night, Cheli has committed an error (giveaways, taking penalties, out of position, incapable of skating with the other team's forwards) almost every time he's been on the ice.

True! :thumbup: :thumbup:

[titanium2 867]

It might be possible to add Meech in instead of Chelios depending on how Cheli is feeling in practice after the sudden switch from rest to NHL playoffs. But a line of Lebda-Meech would just get railroaded by the Ducks.

So... the lines:

Zetterberg - Datsyuk - Holmstrom (switching with Cleary depending on the situation)

Franzen - Filppula - Hossa

Cleary - Hudler - Samuelsson

Maltby - Helm - Abdelkader (I'd prefer to use Leino, but Abs fits better with Malts and Helm and adds hitting and energy)

Lidstrom - Ericsson

Kronwall - Stuart

Lebda - Chelios

Now that I think about it, Cleary played center for a couple of shifts. If you don't think that the center position is more than faceoffs then I'm just not too sure about Hudler down the middle.

The defense will probably turn out like...

Lidstrom-Ericsson

Kronwall-Stuart

Lebda-Rotation of Ericsson/Stuart/Ericsson/Stuart/Chelios

[Detroit # 1 Fan 2,204]

Against Anaheim a run around guy is great, espicially paired with Helm. I dont know how people could see Abs not having a positive effect against Anaheim, he plays just like them.

[Guest MrSandMan]

I'd pick Leino, Babcock. He'll score a hat trick or two

[uk_redwing 495]

Someone please put in the title "Abdelkader to replace Kopecky" so people will stop posting "I think Babs will pick Leino"

[Guest MrSandMan]

Abby has been pretty good on face off too, right?

[HockeyCrazy3033 168]

I've given up hope on seeing Drapes or Raffy in the line up anytime soon.

[Guest MrSandMan]

Someone please put in the title "Abdelkader to replace Kopecky" so people will stop posting "I think Babs will pick Leino"

Nooooo, people are saying they would rather Babcock pick Leino over Abby..........

Or should we start a new thread discussing "Babcock should play Leino instead of Abby" ?

[Doc Holiday 0]

RED WINGS + FIGHTING= SERIOUS INJURIES

AND YOU HAD THE GALL TO CALL THAT "ENTERTAINMENT!"

[KrazyGangsta 79]

I'd say bring Adkel because his more physical but I think we're owning the Ducks thus far ... I think Leino would be more important in this series then Adkel due to secondary scoring. I say Leino even tho I think Adkel is more energetic.

[Drake_Marcus 890]

Someone please put in the title "Abdelkader to replace Kopecky" so people will stop posting "I think Babs will pick Leino"

Most of us know that Babs already told reporters that Abdelkader would be replacing Kopecky, we're just saying we'd pick Leino instead because of Abs tendency to take bad penalties. Given how close the series is and how unbelievably rotten out PK is it's probably not a great idea to take dumb penalties.

[Frozen-Man 144]

Edit: Jersey Wing makes a great point- Abs would probably be too much of a run around guy...

Coach Mike Babcock said Justin Abdelkader will replace Kopecky."Because he'll run over people," Babcock said of Abdelkader. "We expect him to play hard like (Darren) Helm. He's on the forecheck and he's a physical guy. He scored 23 goals for them (Grand Rapids) this season and was one of their best players in the playoffs."

[skacore 2]

Against Anaheim a run around guy is great, espicially paired with Helm. I dont know how people could see Abs not having a positive effect against Anaheim, he plays just like them.

exactly he will drive them ******* nuts just like Helm seems to at times... give Abdelkader the green light to drop em with guys like Perry, Getzlaf, Ryan just like Ericsson has and let the Ducks figure out what they're next move is

[jollymania 162]

who cares if abs is runnign aroudn he will be playing on the 4th line, its good if he is running around

[Guest MrSandMan]

Abby takes dumb penalties, on the positive note is he'll hurt Getzlaf more than he's already hurting.

[Echolalia 2,961]

I think I'd rather see Leino than Abdelkader. Our fourth line has been the most consistent at dominating the Ducks this series, and if Babs puts a scorer on Helm's line, I think good things will happen. Helm pretty much beats the puck into the corner after dumping it in, has little trouble forcing the turnover, and if he has Leino in the slot to feed it, with Maltby crashing the net, all of a sudden the Wings have a dangerous fourth line.

[jollymania 162]

i think it woudl be a great idea to throw abs out there real quick at the end of a ffh line shift and try to get perry, getzlaf or ryan to go