Guest blueadams Report post Posted October 14, 2009 1) Leino-Zetterberg-Cleary 2) Filppula-Datsyuk-Holmstrom ...these combinations could be changed up a bit. the main point of emphasis here is that hank and pav need to be split up. this team just isn't deep enough to have them out there together (especially with mule out). split these two up, give them each a net presence (homer/cleary), and give them each a secondary scorer/puck handler (flip/leino). we all know than homer works better with pav than hank, so thats a given. then, for the sake of defense, i've paired flip with homer. but idk, i havent seen enough of leino to determine whethere he or flip works best with hank or pav. 3) Bertuzzi-Abdelkader-Williams ...the third line is what it is i guess. not really that great, not really that awful. if they all keep working hard, they should be fine. if bert gets his arse in front of the net, they could be better than fine. abbys a solid center, we all know that. jwills got a wicked shot, we all know that as well. but if bert doesnt grow up and start doing what we brought him here to do...ugh. 4) Draper-Helm-Eaves ...look, i like maltbys intangibles, but he can't skate. i like the physical presence may brings, but he cant skate. so lets put three guys that can really skate together and play solid defense on a line together. they might not score any goals, but theyre not going to give up many either. we need to be able to roll 4 lines to do what we do...as we have in the past. these guys might even play more than the 3rd line. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Spongewingredpants 75 Report post Posted October 14, 2009 for starters, fix the entire D. Seriously, they let in 18 goals in 5 games. That tells me there is an entire collapse in the complete defense unit, starting with Lids and crew and ending with Osgood. Even if we double our scoring, we will still lose these games...... Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
ben_usmc 253 Report post Posted October 14, 2009 Get the team to play with heart, the problem is you can't just turn heart on and off. We are still probably the most talented team in the league, but as exposed in the finals, talent and heart will trumph over just talent. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
AtomicPunk 296 Report post Posted October 14, 2009 Let's not forget that our team defense was best when we ran the left wing lock system. It is very important for the forwards to be responsible defensively as well. I throw a lot of blame at the defensemen for not covering up like they should but usually there is a man free in the defensive zone and that means some forward is not doing his job as well as he should. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Heroes of Hockeytown 694 Report post Posted October 14, 2009 Get the team to play with heart, the problem is you can't just turn heart on and off. We are still probably the most talented team in the league, but as exposed in the finals, talent and heart will trumph over just talent. I really hate to send this off-topic but probably the worst part about having lost in the Finals, after the actual losing part, was that every Tom, Dick, and Harry got to trot out their obnoxious pet theory as to why it happened, when what happened was blindingly obvious. As for the OP, Mike Babcock has always said it best: your best players have to be your best players. Right now Hank, Pavel, and Nick are not the Wings' best players and that's no good. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
KrazyGangsta 79 Report post Posted October 14, 2009 It looks like our defense has lost their touch. It needs to be re-tooled. People might argue it's goaltending / offense but it's the defense that needs to be fixed. You fix the defense and the offense will automatically fix up. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
C-TownWing 0 Report post Posted October 14, 2009 As for the OP, Mike Babcock has always said it best: your best players have to be your best players. Right now Hank, Pavel, and Nick are not the Wings' best players and that's no good. Winner. Our teams needs our best players to step up and be our best players, and so far they haven't done that. Datsyuk, in particular, appears to be pressing in a big way. I'm not going to overreact to one crap game, especially when it follows two where we held two of the most dynamic teams in the league to a combined 4 goals. Kane, Toews, Ovechkin, Semin, Green had a combined one point, an assist, in those games. The theme of the rest of the week is "teams that were supposed to be bad but are playing well," so it should be interesting. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
stevkrause 1,247 Report post Posted October 14, 2009 as others have suggested, this is all defense and it's as simple as splitting up your talent Lidstrom-Rafalski Kronwall-Ericsson Lebda-Stuart Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Guest micah Report post Posted October 14, 2009 As for the OP, Mike Babcock has always said it best: your best players have to be your best players. Right now Hank, Pavel, and Nick are not the Wings' best players and that's no good. Again, THIS. Great things are not expected of Meech or any 4th liner or GR kid. Great things are expected of great players - Zetts, Pavel, Lids and Ozzie are all supposed to be among the best in the league at what they do. Not one of them has looked like it so far this year. Sure, we have some players that on a 10pt scale are playing like 3s when we all know that they're capable of being 5s. Far more worrisome to me is that our 10s are playing like 5s - and they're the ones who get the most icetime. We would get a greater reward from the guys who are on the ice most stepping it up than we would from 3rd or 4th liners picking up their game. I think it's time to stop treating our superstars like superstars and start treating them like what they'v ebeen, lazy freeloaders who are letting the team and their fans down. If something can be done to motivate our stars (who also wear our C and As) to start playing like the extremely skilled players that they are, I am confident that our schlubs will follow suit. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
TheWestWing 71 Report post Posted October 14, 2009 suicide. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
OsGOD 3 Report post Posted October 14, 2009 scrimage?! *shrugs* its the 5th game... we are cool! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Drake_Marcus 890 Report post Posted October 14, 2009 for starters, fix the entire D. Seriously, they let in 18 goals in 5 games. That tells me there is an entire collapse in the complete defense unit, starting with Lids and crew and ending with Osgood. Even if we double our scoring, we will still lose these games...... This. The entire structure of the team defense needs to be overhauled. It wasn't working well last year and it's certainly not working well this year. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
OsGOD 3 Report post Posted October 14, 2009 I say s***can McCrimmon... the "d" started sucking when he took over Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Guest blueadams Report post Posted October 14, 2009 how about those line combos i proposed though, eh? Leino-Zetterberg-Cleary Filppula-Datsyuk-Holmstrom Bertuzzi-Abdelkader-Williams Draper-Helm-Eaves Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Guest Lidstromboli Report post Posted October 14, 2009 yeah how about them i mean just look at them, guys can you see those lines? those sure are some lines i tell you what. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
PROBIE4PREZ 58 Report post Posted October 14, 2009 Messing with the forward lines is pretty useless when its the opposite end of the rink thats of concern .. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
dat's sick 1,002 Report post Posted October 14, 2009 how about those line combos i proposed though, eh? Leino-Zetterberg-Cleary Filppula-Datsyuk-Holmstrom Bertuzzi-Abdelkader-Williams Draper-Helm-Eaves Great. Split up the two players who look like they have the most chemistry right now (Leino & Flip) and put Datsyuk with two guys that won't be able to score on his passes. I'd be pissed if Babcock gave up on the current lines because of one setback. Hank and Pav are showing signs of starting to connect again, pretty soon they'll be putting up points and winning games for us. The entire team, including defense and goaltending, looked great against the Caps. They know how to play hockey, they just haven't gotten into the groove of putting up 60 minute efforts on a consistant basis. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Nev 1,085 Report post Posted October 14, 2009 This isn't about line combos, its about getting back the fire that fuelled us into the unstoppable machine of 2007-2008. Right now, I think the only thing thing that will fix this is a lackluster regular season and being bounced out of the playoffs early doors. It was successive playoff failures that drove the players to listen to Babcock and buy into his system. And as others have said, a start would be our best players being our best players. Right now our best player is, Filpulla? Datsyuk has just 2 assists in his last 8 regular season games. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Carman 387 Report post Posted October 14, 2009 Fire McCrimmon hire Mike Shanahan. Trade Ericsson for Mike Komisarek. Release Howard. Trade Osgood for Biron. Trade Datsyuk for Lecavalier. Get Hasek to come out of retirement. Hmm, Stanley Cup here we come. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
GMRwings1983 8,804 Report post Posted October 14, 2009 Maltby - Datsyuk - Williams Abdelkalder - Zetterberg - Eaves May - Fillpulla - Draper Cleary - Helm - Holmstrom Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Z and D for the C 712 Report post Posted October 14, 2009 I say s***can McCrimmon... the "d" started sucking when he took over I really think this had a lot of validity. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Z Winged Dangler 2,082 Report post Posted October 14, 2009 i would also sign the petition to s*** can mccrimmon. and who the f*** is the goaltending coach. cover the bottom of the net! stack the pads or something. 2nd period last night everything was along the ice right to the back of the net. maybe a big save every once in a while would change the momentum. the wings need one big win to get on a roll. something like a 6 or 7-0 win over a good team. kings tomorrow and the avs on saturday...both of those teams are playing really good just like the sabres. in years past those are cakewalk games. same with the coyotes next thursday. some of the wings REALLY need to step up! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
cupforwings 138 Report post Posted October 14, 2009 how about those line combos i proposed though, eh? Leino-Zetterberg-Cleary Filppula-Datsyuk-Holmstrom Bertuzzi-Abdelkader-Williams Draper-Helm-Eaves If you must change lines I would say this is pretty good except: Bertuzi HELM Williams May Draper Eaves Messing with the forward lines is pretty useless when its the opposite end of the rink thats of concern .. You are right except we are not scoring any goals either really... I mean two yesterday? Homer needs to be on the first or second line to be effective... Why not change it again... Z and Cleary work good together, and Dats and FLip do as well... Leino has good chemistry with Flip, but with Hank it could be just as good, why not try it... And our third line looked useless yesterday.. Helm was the most impressive bottom 2 line guy, defiantly better than Abby and should be the third line center... And it seems like without Draper and Maltby in the lineup we were missing something.... Draper defiantly needs to be in.. Its just one game and we played better in the third period so I'm not too worried...we looked sluggish, it happens... I expect a bounce back performance against the Kings tomorrow Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
stevkrause 1,247 Report post Posted October 14, 2009 Maltby - Datsyuk - Williams Abdelkalder - Zetterberg - Eaves May - Fillpulla - Draper Cleary - Helm - Holmstrom :rotflmao: :rotflmao: :rotflmao: Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
stevkrause 1,247 Report post Posted October 14, 2009 as others have suggested, this is all defense and it's as simple as splitting up your talent Lidstrom-Rafalski Kronwall-Ericsson Lebda-Stuart and uh... eh hem... I agree the defense has taken a turn since McCrimmon came on board... move MacLean back to D coach and bring Gallant on board as offense coach. done and done. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
