40#1Fan 0 Report post Posted September 24, 2009 http://www.mlive.com/redwings/index.ssf/20...season_deb.html Brad May to make preseason debut Friday; lineup for Red Wings' preseason game vs. Leafs By Ansar Khan September 24, 2009, 1:00PM DETROIT -- Veteran forward Brad May, who joined the team on a tryout Wednesday, practiced with the regular squad today and will play in Friday's preseason game vs. the Toronto Maple Leafs at Joe Louis Arena (7:30, Fox Sports Net Plus). The club brought in May (6-1, 213) because of his size and toughness. General manager Ken Holland said he would decide after the weekend what the next step will be. But he said May won't be traveling to Sweden with the team for the start of the regular season, as the club has no available salary-cap space. May could end up signing a two-way deal and play for Grand Rapids at the start of the season, being recalled on occasion, much like Aaron Downey last season. May played in 38 games for the Leafs last season, after starting the season Anaheim. Here's the lineup for Friday's game: Forwards Franzen-Datsyuk-Holmstrom Bertuzzi-Filppula-Cleary Draper-Abdelkader-Ritola May-Newbury-Pare Defense Lidstrom-Rafalski Kronwall-Stuart Lebda-Ericsson Goalies Osgood Howard Henrik Zetterberg skated briefly at the start of practice and took the ice afterward but continues to be hampered by a groin strain, which almost assuredly will keep him idled through the weekend. Zetterberg is confident he'll be ready for the start of the season. He might be able to play in the final preseason game Wednesday against Swedish club Farjestads Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Rivalred 630 Report post Posted September 24, 2009 Looks like they have the D pairings all set... The 3rd and 4th lines - need some work. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Number19 159 Report post Posted September 24, 2009 any toughness is welcomed. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Finnish Wing 110 Report post Posted September 24, 2009 Why separate Leino and Flip? Anyways, Brad May would still be a solid 4th liner. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
GMRwings1983 8,794 Report post Posted September 24, 2009 May is 38, but he could still beat up anyone on our team (except a healthy Lilja of course). Interesting to see if he mixes it up Friday, knowing that he's playing for a job. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
esteef 2,679 Report post Posted September 24, 2009 Yay! A potential scrap! esteef Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
GMRwings1983 8,794 Report post Posted September 24, 2009 Yay! A potential scrap! esteef Nah, the minute the gloves come off, Holland will run on the ice and break it up himself, like a school prinicipal. May will have to jump someone instead, which he's quite good at. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
jollymania 162 Report post Posted September 24, 2009 I say him and newbury both scrap considering they want to stick it to Burke Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
esteef 2,679 Report post Posted September 24, 2009 I want a May-Tardiff-AppleFritter 4th line against the Leafs! esteef Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
kidish 0 Report post Posted September 24, 2009 I don't know how May would fit in with Detroit in the regular season, but he'd be an excellent addition to any team. And I would think Detroit might like a player of his ilk out there with them. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
dat's sick 1,002 Report post Posted September 24, 2009 Come on Z.. get healthy.. also, Jonas Gustavsson might play either on Friday or Saturday against the Wings. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
NeverForgetMac25 483 Report post Posted September 24, 2009 Nah, the minute the gloves come off, Holland will run on the ice and break it up himself, like a school prinicipal. May will have to jump someone instead, which he's quite good at. GMR, don't derail the thread with this overly-stated opinion. To the 5-6 of you that constantly bring up the toughness issue when the thread wasn't regarding that: use this as your warning. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Guest micah Report post Posted September 24, 2009 (edited) GMR, don't derail the thread with this overly-stated opinion. To the 5-6 of you that constantly bring up the toughness issue when the thread wasn't regarding that: use this as your warning. Toughness in a thread about Brad May is as relevant as goal scoring is in a thread about Pavel Datsyuk. Brad May's primary role is to provide toughness, how can the two be seperated? Edited September 24, 2009 by micah Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Drake_Marcus 890 Report post Posted September 24, 2009 Why separate Leino and Flip? Anyways, Brad May would still be a solid 4th liner. I figure it has to be because Cleary and Bertuzzi are both coming of groin injuries and haven't played enough in the preseason. Leino's already made the team and he's played lots in the preseason. I too would like to see Leino out there, but the Wings have to play 3 games in three days this weekend so having a guy like Leino rested can't be a bad thing. I still hate the idea of splitting Datsyuk and Zetterberg up. Compare last season to the one before and there's no question that they're better together than apart. I know Babs is trying to balance the team as best he can, but this also forces Filppula onto the 3rd line. While I love how strong that makes the third line I hate that Filppula's going to lose the extra responsibility. I'm sure there will be more than a few games where Z and Dats are together and Val gets to centre the 3rd, but I'd rather the majority of the games were played with Dats and Z together. I'm hoping that at least we'll see the Z-D-H line stay together on the first powerplay so they'll be able to keep that chemistry as strong as possible. Check it out: Team A Zetterberg-Datsyuk-Holmstrom Franzen-Filppula-Leino (here Franzen would play Holmer's role in front of the net since he's big and he's so good in close) Bertuzzi-Williams-Cleary Draper-Helm-Eaves Team B Franzen-Datsyuk-Holmstrom Bertuzzi-Zetterberg-Cleary Leino-Filppula-Williams Draper-Helm-Eaves Is the balance really that much better on Team B? Team B definitely has a better checking line in terms of defensive skill (noting that Williams is terrible defensively, but at least he isn't playing the defensively demanding role of centre on Team B). The s***ty part here is that moving Filppula up to the 2nd line puts the top 3 defensive-offensive combo centres on the top two lines. The Wings simply don't have a fourth centre with offensive up-side but still plays excellent defense. Lots of you will say Helm, but that's simply not true. Helm doesn't have the hands to create significant offense at the NHL level (even Babcock's said that in an interview). Helm will be lucky to produce 15 points (tops) in his rookie year. He doesn't project as more than a 20-25 point guy in today's NHL. All of his points are produced with blazing speed and really hard work, but that's not enough to net you 40+ points without a shot or a decent set of hands. None of that matters, though, because that's not why Helm is such a valued young player-- the Wings love his game without the puck, anything else is a bonus. Anyway, looks like I rambled on for far too long again. Sorry. My point is that Babs should go with Team A and only switch to Team B if Filppula can't cut it offensively. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
redwingfan19 293 Report post Posted September 24, 2009 may>>>>>>maltby Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Drake_Marcus 890 Report post Posted September 24, 2009 I want a May-Tardiff-AppleFritter 4th line against the Leafs! esteef Yeah, I'm really surprised Abdelkader isn't playing tonight... I know he's been over played in the preseason compared to everyone else, but this is exactly the type of game we need him in for. Still, tonight will be an entertaining look at what happens when a physical-first team meets a team that isn't intimidated by physical play. I don't think the Leafs are skilled enough to play the role of the Ducks in this situation (where the Ducks used to be a strong enough balance of tough and skilled to cause us fits). Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Finnish Wing 110 Report post Posted September 24, 2009 (edited) I figure it has to be because Cleary and Bertuzzi are both coming of groin injuries and haven't played enough in the preseason. Leino's already made the team and he's played lots in the preseason. I too would like to see Leino out there, but the Wings have to play 3 games in three days this weekend so having a guy like Leino rested can't be a bad thing. I still hate the idea of splitting Datsyuk and Zetterberg up. Compare last season to the one before and there's no question that they're better together than apart. I know Babs is trying to balance the team as best he can, but this also forces Filppula onto the 3rd line. While I love how strong that makes the third line I hate that Filppula's going to lose the extra responsibility. I'm sure there will be more than a few games where Z and Dats are together and Val gets to centre the 3rd, but I'd rather the majority of the games were played with Dats and Z together. I'm hoping that at least we'll see the Z-D-H line stay together on the first powerplay so they'll be able to keep that chemistry as strong as possible. Check it out: Team A Zetterberg-Datsyuk-Holmstrom Franzen-Filppula-Leino (here Franzen would play Holmer's role in front of the net since he's big and he's so good in close) Bertuzzi-Williams-Cleary Draper-Helm-Eaves Team B Franzen-Datsyuk-Holmstrom Bertuzzi-Zetterberg-Cleary Leino-Filppula-Williams Draper-Helm-Eaves Is the balance really that much better on Team B? Team B definitely has a better checking line in terms of defensive skill (noting that Williams is terrible defensively, but at least he isn't playing the defensively demanding role of centre on Team B). The s***ty part here is that moving Filppula up to the 2nd line puts the top 3 defensive-offensive combo centres on the top two lines. The Wings simply don't have a fourth centre with offensive up-side but still plays excellent defense. Lots of you will say Helm, but that's simply not true. Helm doesn't have the hands to create significant offense at the NHL level (even Babcock's said that in an interview). Helm will be lucky to produce 15 points (tops) in his rookie year. He doesn't project as more than a 20-25 point guy in today's NHL. All of his points are produced with blazing speed and really hard work, but that's not enough to net you 40+ points without a shot or a decent set of hands. None of that matters, though, because that's not why Helm is such a valued young player-- the Wings love his game without the puck, anything else is a bonus. Anyway, looks like I rambled on for far too long again. Sorry. My point is that Babs should go with Team A and only switch to Team B if Filppula can't cut it offensively. I totally agree with these line combos. 4th line is pretty much locked because it would be stupid to drop someone like Williams there. That means all the changes are made between the top three lines and those are so far the only two combos that really make sence. I prefer the A over B because playing Flip in the 3rd seems somehow not right. But then again if it would be Team B how much would the 3rd line play? If Babs decides to play those three lines almost evenly I can still see Flip-Leino reaching big numbers in the 3rd line. edit: By the way, is it 'in' the line or 'on' the line? Edited September 24, 2009 by Finnish Wing Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
aw1340 0 Report post Posted September 24, 2009 Yeah, I'm really surprised Abdelkader isn't playing tonight... I know he's been over played in the preseason compared to everyone else, but this is exactly the type of game we need him in for. Still, tonight will be an entertaining look at what happens when a physical-first team meets a team that isn't intimidated by physical play. I don't think the Leafs are skilled enough to play the role of the Ducks in this situation (where the Ducks used to be a strong enough balance of tough and skilled to cause us fits). The game is tomorrow not tonight. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
skacore 2 Report post Posted September 24, 2009 Fuuuck yeah man... hopefully May outplays Maltby or we have some steady injuries to keep May in the line up for the year May, Abdelkader, Bertuzzi, Ericsson, that's almost a respectable line up! (Y) Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
NeverForgetMac25 483 Report post Posted September 24, 2009 Toughness in a thread about Brad May is as relevant as goal scoring is in a thread about Pavel Datsyuk. Brad May's primary role is to provide toughness, how can the two be seperated? When the members' post had nothing to do with Brad May. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Guest mindfly Report post Posted September 24, 2009 (edited) I'm just waiting for the yearly back-spasm problem for Zetterberg... the guy always get these weird injuries..and have had groin injuries early on both last season and two seasons ago, he needs to prepare better. Edited September 24, 2009 by mindfly Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Guest E_S_A_D Report post Posted September 24, 2009 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
esteef 2,679 Report post Posted September 24, 2009 (edited) ^ Watch out for that visor Brad!! esteef Edited September 24, 2009 by esteef Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Zion 93 Report post Posted September 24, 2009 I don't like Brad May. I am NOT opposed to him trying out with this team. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Silent Hill 3 Report post Posted September 24, 2009 may>>>>>>maltby May ====== tremendous waste of roster space and money. At least Maltby knows how to skate, who to get the puck to, and has a general idea of where the opponents net is located. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
