Lineups for tonights game

[titanium2 867]

Just noticed Filppula wearing the 'A' tonight.

Really? That's kind of cool. Good for him.

[Vladiator 116]

Not too bad of a showing considering that the Rangers played a majority of their starters while the Wings only had roughly 2 of their starting lines. Was impressed with Cloutier's performance. Hopefully the starting goalies are slated to play a full game barring a meltdown for the rest of the preseason games.

[Drake_Marcus 890]

So I thought I'd have some fun and play with the lines now that we know Babs has his heart set on splitting Dats and Z up (at least at the start of the season). I've included the full line Babs likes where applicable. Note that Helm isn't shown because I'm assuming he's out for the first week or so. Lilja is also excluded due to injury.

Franzen-Datsyuk-Holmstrom

Bertuzzi-Zetterberg-Cleary

Leino-Filppula-Williams

Maltby-Draper-Abdelkader

Eaves

Lidstrom-Rafalski

Kronwall-Ericsson

Stuart-Lebda

Hmmm... I guess that isn't so fun afterall given that I've basically just stuck the lines up that Babs stated he liked. Here's a more creative one:

Franzen-Datsyuk-Holmstrom

Leino-Zetterberg-Bertuzzi

Cleary-Filppula-Abdelkader

Maltby-Draper-Williams

Lidstrom-Ericsson

Rafalski-Kronwall

Stuart-Lebda

PP1:

Zetterberg-Datsyuk-Holmstrom

Lidstrom-Rafalski

PP2:

Franzen-Filppula-Bertuzzi

Kronwall-Williams

PK1:

Datsyuk-Filppula

Lidstrom-Ericsson

PK2:

Zetterberg-Cleary

Kronwall-Stuart

[Detroit # 1 Fan 2,204]

I love Malts to death, but it's becoming more the thought of him and not the player. We didnt sign Eaves to let him sit out, and Abdelkader deserves to play with his play in the postseason and preseason.

[Z and D for the C 712]

I'd put Franzen with Z and Cleary and try Datsyuk with Bertuzzi. For some reason I think Datsyuk and Bert would do well together.

Edited September 22, 2009 by Z and D for the C

[Drake_Marcus 890]

I love Malts to death, but it's becoming more the thought of him and not the player. We didnt sign Eaves to let him sit out, and Abdelkader deserves to play with his play in the postseason and preseason.

Here's the problem with that (putting aside the fact that Abdelkader is 300K more expensive than Eaves):

1. Datsyuk

2. Franzen

3. Holmstrom (clearly I'm listing these in the order of where they play, not who's the best)

4. Zetterberg

5. Cleary

6. Bertuzzi

7. Filppula

8. Leino

9. Williams

10. Helm

11. Draper

12. Eaves

13. Maltby

14. Abdelkader

We can afford to have Maltby as the 13th man, but even if Helm can't play in the first week, we can't afford to keep Abdelkader up on the roster because there's no cap room. The only way we could keep Abs up is to send Eaves down to GR until Helm is healthy.

Once Helm is healthy if you want to keep Abs up Eaves would have to stay in GR. But then do you keep Abdelkader on the 4th line? Holland clearly wants him playing lots of mins to continue his development, so someone like Williams would have to drop down to the 4th line to let Abs play on the 3rd. Even then he wouldn't be racking the mins up, but at least he'd get enough time to make it worth it.

Of course, once Lilja is healthy there's no way Abdelkader could stay on the roster-- he's just to expensive compared to the alternatives.

[Aussie_Wing 354]

So I thought I'd have some fun and play with the lines now that we know Babs has his heart set on splitting Dats and Z up (at least at the start of the season). I've included the full line Babs likes where applicable. Note that Helm isn't shown because I'm assuming he's out for the first week or so. Lilja is also excluded due to injury.

Franzen-Datsyuk-Holmstrom

Bertuzzi-Zetterberg-Cleary

Leino-Filppula-Williams

Maltby-Draper-Abdelkader

Eaves

Lidstrom-Rafalski

Kronwall-Ericsson

Stuart-Lebda

I thought Draper is going to move to wing, or at least he's been playing there during the pre-season. I remember the talk about Helm centering the 4th line and with him out, wouldn't Abdelkader move into that role?

And I'd have Eaves in over Maltby any day of the week.

[Heroes of Hockeytown 694]

I love Malts to death, but it's becoming more the thought of him and not the player. We didnt sign Eaves to let him sit out, and Abdelkader deserves to play with his play in the postseason and preseason.

My guess is when the playoffs roll around Maltby will find himself spending a lot of time in the pressbox. Helm will be here all season and Abdelkader will be the first call up for injury.

Babcock leans towards the vets, but even he benched Chelios in Finals in '08 when it was clear he wasn't up to the task. I love Maltby to death for everything he's given to this team but he's totally useless now, so I hope Mike will do the right thing when the time comes.