Drake_Marcus 890 Report post Posted September 13, 2009 I really hope they go back to Zetterberg and Datsyuk on the same line and promote Filppula to second line center. Much better to have Val and Cleary both taking up top six minutes than Bertuzzi or Holmstrom. Same goes for Leino for that matter. Datsyuk-Zetterberg-Cleary Franzen-Filppula-Leino Bertuzzi-Helm-Williams Eaves-Draper-Holmstrom While I like the idea of replacing Holmstrom with Cleary on the ZDH line, Holmer just can't do much other than stand in front of the net and direct shots at the goalie while he wags his ass at him. In this case Cleary's versatility works against him. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Guest mindfly Report post Posted September 13, 2009 I really hope they go back to Zetterberg and Datsyuk on the same line and promote Filppula to second line center. Much better to have Val and Cleary both taking up top six minutes than Bertuzzi or Holmstrom. Same goes for Leino for that matter. Datsyuk-Zetterberg-Cleary Franzen-Filppula-Leino Bertuzzi-Helm-Williams Eaves-Draper-Holmstrom Babcock already said they plan on them starting on separate lines to start the season... and that sucks.... Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Z and D for the C 712 Report post Posted September 13, 2009 (edited) Nevermind. Edited September 13, 2009 by Z and D for the C Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Aussie_Wing 354 Report post Posted September 13, 2009 (edited) Datsyuk - Zetterberg - Holmstrom Franzen - Filppula - Bertuzzi/Cleary Leino - Helm - Cleary/Betuzzi Eaves - Draper - Williams OR Filppula - Datsyuk - Franzen Cleary - Zetterberg - Holmstrom Leino - Helm - Betuzzi Eaves - Draper - Williams PS. Got a few different wingers/players on RW/LW but whatever... Whichever way you want it, great line-up. Lots of depth, lots of potential lines that we can mix and match. As for the prospect rosters, I'm excited with the idea of Kindl being paired with Lidstrom. Our best prospect who has massive upside but is still very raw paired with the best defenceman in the game. Can only be a good thing and a terrific learning experience for the youngster. Edited September 13, 2009 by Aussie_Wing Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
titanium2 867 Report post Posted September 13, 2009 As for the prospect rosters, I'm excited with the idea of Kindl being paired with Lidstrom. Our best prospect who has massive upside but is still very raw paired with the best defenceman in the game. Can only be a good thing and a terrific learning experience for the youngster. also his favorite player Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
TheOwl 77 Report post Posted September 13, 2009 Flipulla Franzen Zetterberg Datysuk Bertuzzi Homer Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Z and D for the C 712 Report post Posted September 13, 2009 Flipulla Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Drake_Marcus 890 Report post Posted September 13, 2009 As for the prospect rosters, I'm excited with the idea of Kindl being paired with Lidstrom. Our best prospect who has massive upside but is still very raw paired with the best defenceman in the game. Can only be a good thing and a terrific learning experience for the youngster. We'll see about Kindl... this year is the make or break year for him. He needs to stop turning the puck over and start being consistent or he'll start to look more like one of those "never lived up to your potential" guys. Last season started so strong for him, but he crashed and burned after the All-Star break . Then again, I'm an Ericsson guy, so I might just be biased Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Drake_Marcus 890 Report post Posted September 13, 2009 Datsyuk - Zetterberg - Holmstrom Franzen - Filppula - Bertuzzi/Cleary Leino - Helm - Cleary/Betuzzi Eaves - Draper - Williams OR Filppula - Datsyuk - Franzen Cleary - Zetterberg - Holmstrom Leino - Helm - Betuzzi Eaves - Draper - Williams No no no NEVER on the second option I hate seeing Datsyuk and Zetterberg split up. Their chemistry is too valuable to mess with. In the 07-08 playoffs Babs split Z and Dats at times but when the game was on the line and the Wings had to score he could put them back together and there was instant chemistry again. In the 08-09 playoffs when Babs tried putting them together that chemistry just wasn't as sharp or effective. Honestly, I blame that on his splitting them up so often in the regular season. Keep Datsyuk and Zetterberg together all year and make sure they can dominate in the playoffs. Plus, at this point Babs needs to let Filppula earn the second line centre spot. In 07-08 Filppula struggled to play that spot effectively, but he's more mature now and I think he can be an effective 2nd line centre. Let him sink or swim this season. I'm also not a fan of putting Franzen, Cleary or Holmstrom together on a line. Those three are supposed to be doing the same thing out there, especially Cleary and Holmstrom. It's time to play Cleary in front of the net for a full season because it's readily apparent that Holmer isn't going to be his old self for much longer. Cleary needs a chance to establish himself as a premier net front presence, and that means giving him lots of minutes in front of the net. Here's how I'd do it if Holmstrom is back to his old self: Zetterberg-Datsyuk-Holmstrom Franzen-Filppula-Bertuzzi (clearly in this case Franzen won't be the net-front man, he'll be the shooter) Leino-Williams-Cleary (Williams will have to shore up his defense if he's going to pull this off) Eaves-Draper-Helm (Helm isn't offensively gifted so putting him on the third instead of Williams is a stretch) PP1 Zetterberg-Datsyuk-Holmstrom Lidstrom-Rafalski PP2 Franzen-Williams-Leino Kronwall-Ericsson (I hate forwards at the point and Williams is too good on the PP to leave him off, Val would get chances to work in anyway, since there's more than 6 forwards who get PP time over the course of a season) PK1 Datsyuk-Filppula (I love this combo on the PK) Lidstrom-Stuart PK2 Zetterberg-Cleary/Helm Kronwall-Ericsson So what if Holmstrom plays like he did in the 08-09 playoffs? Zetterberg-Datsyuk-Cleary (this will be our top line next year, so why not try it out early) Franzen-Filppula-Bertuzzi (I'd rather Leino, but Bert is too slow and lazy defensively to play on the checking line) Leino-Helm-Williams (let Williams shoot, Leino make plays/shoot and Helm win faceoffs and forecheck like crazy) Eaves-Draper-Holmstrom (a troublesome line since Holmer is so damn slow, but where else can he play?) PP & PK same as the above (yes-- with Holmstrom) So in closing-- no way Williams plays on the 4th so Helm can centre the 3rd. Helm has almost zero offensive upside and Williams is a competent scorer. While I love having a guy like Helm as a checking line centre, Williams is too good offensively to play on the 4th instead of Helm. Helm will eventually be the 3rd line centre, but as it stands now Williams is higher on the depth chart for centres. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Bring Back The Bruise Bros 1,029 Report post Posted September 13, 2009 No no no NEVER on the second option I hate seeing Datsyuk and Zetterberg split up. Their chemistry is too valuable to mess with. In the 07-08 playoffs Babs split Z and Dats at times but when the game was on the line and the Wings had to score he could put them back together and there was instant chemistry again. In the 08-09 playoffs when Babs tried putting them together that chemistry just wasn't as sharp or effective. Honestly, I blame that on his splitting them up so often in the regular season. Keep Datsyuk and Zetterberg together all year and make sure they can dominate in the playoffs. Plus, at this point Babs needs to let Filppula earn the second line centre spot. In 07-08 Filppula struggled to play that spot effectively, but he's more mature now and I think he can be an effective 2nd line centre. Let him sink or swim this season. I'm also not a fan of putting Franzen, Cleary or Holmstrom together on a line. Those three are supposed to be doing the same thing out there, especially Cleary and Holmstrom. It's time to play Cleary in front of the net for a full season because it's readily apparent that Holmer isn't going to be his old self for much longer. Cleary needs a chance to establish himself as a premier net front presence, and that means giving him lots of minutes in front of the net. Here's how I'd do it if Holmstrom is back to his old self: Zetterberg-Datsyuk-Holmstrom Franzen-Filppula-Bertuzzi (clearly in this case Franzen won't be the net-front man, he'll be the shooter) Leino-Williams-Cleary (Williams will have to shore up his defense if he's going to pull this off) Eaves-Draper-Helm (Helm isn't offensively gifted so putting him on the third instead of Williams is a stretch) PP1 Zetterberg-Datsyuk-Holmstrom Lidstrom-Rafalski PP2 Franzen-Williams-Leino Kronwall-Ericsson (I hate forwards at the point and Williams is too good on the PP to leave him off, Val would get chances to work in anyway, since there's more than 6 forwards who get PP time over the course of a season) PK1 Datsyuk-Filppula (I love this combo on the PK) Lidstrom-Stuart PK2 Zetterberg-Cleary/Helm Kronwall-Ericsson So what if Holmstrom plays like he did in the 08-09 playoffs? Zetterberg-Datsyuk-Cleary (this will be our top line next year, so why not try it out early) Franzen-Filppula-Bertuzzi (I'd rather Leino, but Bert is too slow and lazy defensively to play on the checking line) Leino-Helm-Williams (let Williams shoot, Leino make plays/shoot and Helm win faceoffs and forecheck like crazy) Eaves-Draper-Holmstrom (a troublesome line since Holmer is so damn slow, but where else can he play?) PP & PK same as the above (yes-- with Holmstrom) So in closing-- no way Williams plays on the 4th so Helm can centre the 3rd. Helm has almost zero offensive upside and Williams is a competent scorer. While I love having a guy like Helm as a checking line centre, Williams is too good offensively to play on the 4th instead of Helm. Helm will eventually be the 3rd line centre, but as it stands now Williams is higher on the depth chart for centres. im interested to see how Jeremy Williams does,Don Cherry always criticized the Leafs for leaving him in the minors. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
VM1138 1,921 Report post Posted September 14, 2009 Datsyuk - Zetterberg - Holmstrom Franzen - Filppula - Bertuzzi/Cleary Leino - Helm - Cleary/Betuzzi Eaves - Draper - Williams OR Filppula - Datsyuk - Franzen Cleary - Zetterberg - Holmstrom Leino - Helm - Betuzzi Eaves - Draper - Williams PS. Got a few different wingers/players on RW/LW but whatever... Whichever way you want it, great line-up. Lots of depth, lots of potential lines that we can mix and match. As for the prospect rosters, I'm excited with the idea of Kindl being paired with Lidstrom. Our best prospect who has massive upside but is still very raw paired with the best defenceman in the game. Can only be a good thing and a terrific learning experience for the youngster. Filpulla will only be playing center, and he's not a first line player, either. He'll center the second line, unless Zetterberg is split from Datsyuk, in which case he'll be 3rd line until someone gets hurt again. He's better than 3rd line but there's only so much room. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
titanium2 867 Report post Posted September 14, 2009 Filpulla will only be playing center, and he's not a first line player, either. He'll center the second line, unless Zetterberg is split from Datsyuk, in which case he'll be 3rd line until someone gets hurt again. He's better than 3rd line but there's only so much room. He's played wing before. What's so bad about doing that for 5-10 games this year? A set of games where his role is just to shoot the puck might help his offense. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Guest blueadams Report post Posted September 14, 2009 (edited) Franzen-Datsyuk-Holmstrom Bertuzzi-Zetterberg-Cleary Leino-Filppula-Williams Draper-Helm-Eaves Maltby *Abdelkader Lidstrom-Rafalski Kronwall-Stuart Lebda-Ericsson Meech *Kindl Osgood Howard *Larrson * ~ First call up ...I love these lines. On the top two lines you've got A) a great two-way center, B) a great seconday scorer/physical presence, and C) a great net presence. That third line is going to be the most productive third line in all of hockey. I know it sucks to have Flip on the third line, but it gives us so much depth. How will teams be able to deal with three lines that can score like this!? Then the fourth line, with all that speed and defense, is never going to let us down! Edited September 14, 2009 by blueadams Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
RedwingsPwn 0 Report post Posted September 14, 2009 Franzen-Datsyuk-Holmstrom Bertuzzi-Zetterberg-Cleary Leino-Filppula-Williams Draper-Helm-Eaves Maltby *Abdelkader Lidstrom-Rafalski Kronwall-Stuart Lebda-Ericsson Meech *Kindl Osgood Howard *Larrson * ~ First call up I like these but also wouldn't seeing these lines if we wanted Flip was our #2 center. Zetterberg - Datsyuk - Holmstrom Leino - Filipulla - Franzen Cleary - Helm - Bertuzzi Eaves - Draper - Williams Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Buppy 1,720 Report post Posted September 14, 2009 A third line of Leino-Williams-Bertuzzi/Cleary/Homer could also put up a lot of points. And there isn't any rule that says the third line has to be a checking line. Happy-Flip-Sammy wasn't exactly a shut-down combo, nor would Leino-Flip-Willy be one. A 4th line of Helm-Eaves-Draper/Maltby is much better defensively than what we had last year, and the top two lines will be great defensively with pretty much any combinations we use, so having a offense-oriented third line isn't a problem. The 20% drop in Hank's production last year should be all the incentive needed to put he and Pav back together again, but Babs seems to want them separated. If he's going to insist on doing it, I hope he puts Mule with Hank. They seem to work well together. I can't imagine Flip being very successful playing wing, but it might help him learn to shoot more. Might be interesting to see Pav move to a sniper role with Flip as the playmaker. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Holmstrom96 347 Report post Posted September 14, 2009 Franzen-Datsyuk-Holmstrom Bertuzzi-Zetterberg-Cleary Leino-Filppula-Williams Draper-Helm-Eaves I really like those lines. I especially like that Maltby isn't on there. I love the guy, but we have youth that can do better now. He's only good at penalty killing. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
GMRwings1983 8,804 Report post Posted September 14, 2009 I hope Newbury makes the team instead of Williams and Eaves. Dream on, GMR. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
