Should Babcock stick with the Hossa/Flip combo?

[Heroes of Hockeytown 694]

LW: Holmstrom, C: Hudler, RW: Samuelsson

Mike really, truly does not like Hudler at center. Seeing as the center is the defensive anchor in the Wings' system, Mike presumably doesn't trust Jiri's defensive awareness (and probably skating, although he's not so bad at it now as he once was), so Helm would probably center a line like that.

[Z and D for the C 712]

Cleary Z Franzen

Leino Flip Hossa

Sammy Dats Homer

Helm Draper Huds

It's worth a shot anyway.

[seeinred 1,488]

Finnish lover

You may be right, but the little time that line saw together in the regular season, they were deadly.

[RedLightGoesOn 81]

OK. Let me just say what I always have been saying.

Filp and Hossa are a MUST. Throw Franzen in their line too.

ZDH IS WHAT WON US THE CUP LAST YEAR AND WHY NOT GO WITH IT AGAIN? Those two lines plus rolling others for 4 lines will not only flex scoring lines, but get our depth out there.

Remember the magic of mixing lines against the Ducks in Game 4 and Game 4 against the Hawks? We have the lethal combination here. Babs just needs to get it going.

[Heroes of Hockeytown 694]

Babcock went back to ZDH and FFH for Games 5 and 6 against the Ducks and they didn't score, so he split them back up again. It's worth another go, the Hawks are not the Ducks after all, but Babcock didn't go away from those lines for no reason.

[Dano33 41]

Holmstrom - Hudler - Sammy would be an absolutely brutal line. None of them are creators in the offensive zone, they all rely on others to get them the puck. They sure can finish, but without the first pass the opportunities won't be there. Also, none of them are particularly good defensively.

[Heroes of Hockeytown 694]

Holmstrom - Hudler - Sammy would be an absolutely brutal line. None of them are creators in the offensive zone, they all rely on others to get them the puck. They sure can finish, but without the first pass the opportunities won't be there. Also, none of them are particularly good defensively.

Seriously? Hudler is a great passer. He's small and only a so-so skater, but he can dish like nobody's business.

[Dano33 41]

Seriously? Hudler is a great passer. He's small and only a so-so skater, but he can dish like nobody's business.

He is far from a great passer, and with these guys on his line he will look like a bad passer. He can make his own space, when he plays his best he is on a line with someone who attracts more attention than him. Having two players who have difficulties handling the puck and aren't good skaters on his line, Hudler will get all of the attention from defenders and he will disappear.

Edited May 25, 2009 by Dano33

[Thunderpriest 8]

I have been saying for a very long time that Filppula should be centering Hossa.

Datsyuk should be centering Z & Homer.

These combinations are a must to get clicking for the Finals, assuming that we make it.

Dats & Z have chemistry like nobody's business.....but it does take a game or two together before they begin to gel.

The lines as I would set them:

Zetterberg, Datsyuk, Homer

Franzen, Filppula, Hossa

(...and, since Draper & Kopecky are out....)

Hudler, Helm, Cleary

Maltby, Abdelkader, Samuelsson

[jvxp 0]

Should Babcock stick with the Hossa/Flip combo?, sure looking good together...

YES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[YoungGuns1340 1]

He is far from a great passer, and with these guys on his line he will look like a bad passer. He can make his own space, when he plays his best he is on a line with someone who attracts more attention than him. Having two players who have difficulties handling the puck and aren't good skaters on his line, Hudler will get all of the attention from defenders and he will disappear.

Hudler is the 2nd best passer on this team. The best on some nights.

But thats neither here nor there. Hudler will never be utilized well on this team, because Babs hates him. Simple fact.

And yes, to the OP, Hossa and Flip should stay together. They're much better together than apart.

[Yzerman19 334]

I think that the most important thing is that Pavel must be back on track, getting more confidence....

Babcock has been using him with hanks few times during critical moments. I'm not surprise that this could happen:

Pavel--Zata--Mule

Homer--Flip--Hossa

Cleary--Huds--Samy

Maltby--Draper/helm--Helm/abdelkader/leino

Hossa will play beyond our expectations if we meet Pens in finals

[thedisappearer 291]

Cleary Z Franzen

Leino Flip Hossa

Sammy Dats Homer

Helm Draper Huds

It's worth a shot anyway.

Huds on the fourth line? No. Dats on the third? Are you mental?

[Dano33 41]

Hudler is the 2nd best passer on this team. The best on some nights.

But thats neither here nor there. Hudler will never be utilized well on this team, because Babs hates him. Simple fact.

And yes, to the OP, Hossa and Flip should stay together. They're much better together than apart.

2nd best? Datsyuk, Zetterberg, Lidstrom, Rafalski, Filppula, and Kronwall are all better in my mind. Hudler is a compliment to others, not a leader.

[titanium2 867]

I don't see how Babs shouldn't keep them together. (Yet, he probably won't).

Hoss mentioned that he was just trying to keep things simple and just go to the net, put the puck on net, yadda yadda. Since I wasn't specifically watching for this, was he not going to net before? If so... Why?

Also, from an offensive point of view:

-Z wants possession of the puck until he can dish it off to start a give and go.

-Pav wants possession of the puck until he can set up a one-timer, which isn't the greatest idea since we've heard Babs say over and over that goals aren't one and done in the playoffs; they're a lot more dirty than that.

-Fil seems a lot more willing to give up the puck earlier and in areas that Hossa likes.

Again, from an offensive point of view, I don't see how Babs shouldn't keep them together. But from a defensive point of view, Fil has the speed and smarts to be responsible and to really give that 3rd line an awesome two-way threat. It's the only reason I can think of as to why Babs wants Fil on the 3rd line. Helm isn't quite as good as Fil in that regard. At least not yet.

[drfnr14 0]

please, please keep them together!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! PLEASE BABS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Aussie_Wing 354]

Zetteberg - Datsyuk - Franzen (Hank and Franzen have shown chemistry)

Hossa - Filppula - Holmstrom (Hossa + Flip = great, and Homer works well on the line crashing the net)

Cleary - Helm - Samuelsson

Leino - Hudler - Maltby

If Datsyuk is still out...

Hudler - Zetteberg - Franzen

Hossa - Filppula - Holmstrom

Cleary - Helm - Samuelsson

Leino - Abdelkader - Maltby

[NGKEIB 32]

Zetteberg - Datsyuk - Franzen (Hank and Franzen have shown chemistry)

Hossa - Filppula - Holmstrom (Hossa + Flip = great, and Homer works well on the line crashing the net)

Cleary - Helm - Samuelsson

Leino - Hudler - Maltby

The way I see it, Babcock wants to roll 4 lines in each game. And the only way he will do that is if each line is solid defensively, so lets say that each line has to have 2 good defensive forwards on it. That his why I don't think that we will see Zetterberg-Datsyuk-Franzén, as that puts 3 of our best 2-way players on one line. Similarly, Leino-Hudler-Maltby wouldn't be a good line, since Maltby is the only one who is sound defensively, and Jiri isn't that great a centre. I don't think that he sees it as advantageous (from a defensive, shut-down point of view) to have Zetterberg and Datsyuk on the same line, unless we should happen to play Pittsburgh and they happen to play Crosby and Malkin on same line.

If Datsyuk isn't in (and we know that Draper and Kopecky won't be) I would use:

Franzén-Zetterberg-Hudler

Hossa-Filppula-Holmström

Cleary-Helm-Samuelsson

Leino-Abdelkader-Maltby

If he was in, he could always go in for Hudler, and Hudler take Leino's spot, but I still think that Babcock won't do that since he wants to spread his defensive players out. While I would love to see Filppula and Hossa together, I think the only way it happens would be:

Franzén-Zetterberg

Hossa-Filppula-Holmström

Cleary-Datsyuk-Samuelsson (in theory this good work with an excellent playmaker, a gritty hardworking guy, and a 'sniper', but they haven't really played together, and I don't think that Datsyuk deserves to be on the 3rd line. You could always switch Samuelsson and Hudler - Sammy has scored on that line.)

Hudler-Abdelkader-Maltby

I'm not suggesting any of these line changes, I just think that if we're getting scoring, Babcock will be more concerned about being able to roll 4 defensively sound lines. If we get completely shut down, we'll see new stuff like against Anaheim, but I think that it is more likely that he'll go back to how it was before.

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