82 replies to this topic

[Z and D for the C]

THANK YOU BABCOCK. I'd still like to see him center the line as he seems to be 100x better at center than wing, but I wouldn't be surprised if Filppula was the center in theory but Zetterberg just took faceoofs. Filppula is right behind Datsyuk as the best puck carrier through the neutral zone.

[under_par_00]

I like Filppula better at centre and Zetterberg on the wing.

[Howard He Do It?!]

THANK YOU BABCOCK. I'd still like to see him center the line as he seems to be 100x better at center than wing, but I wouldn't be surprised if Filppula was the center in theory but Zetterberg just took faceoofs. Filppula is right behind Datsyuk as the best puck carrier through the neutral zone.

Agreed. Z is more versatile when it comes to playing wing or center. Use Flip as the center and Z on the left wing but use Z for faceoffs.

[interminded]

Well for starters I am agreeing that the Wings can't fall back to Osgood at this point.

Why not ?

Everybody keeps saying that, but given the fact that his last start was mid-January, we'll never know !
And it's not like Jimmy Howard is playing lights out at the moment..

Edited by interminded, 10 March 2010 - 04:35 PM.

[GMRwings1983]

Bertuzzi should be playing with Flip and Hank.

The bottom two lines should look like this:


Cleary - Helm - Draper
Miller - Williams- Eaves

[Hockeytown0001]

Hey, it can't hurt.

[NGKEIB]

While it would be a shame to break up Datsyuk's line as they are on a roll, would another way of getting Z back to his usual self be to reunite the Franzén-Zetterberg-Cleary line that was so good in the playoffs? Bertuzzi did have some success with Datsyuk and Holmström. I guess that would leave Filppula centering Williams and Miller.

[wings7]

Well, a change was definitely in order - And I hope this leads to goals and wins. In terms of the boards I can already see it now; either Filps adds a lot and his praisers praise more or he doesn't and the line struggles and his praisers make more excuses.

Go Wings Go.

[DatsyukianDeke13]

Good to see. Hopefully Babcock doesn't mess with the 1st line. They are scoring every game. I'm not sure about Fil on the wing though..it is probably more of a technicality where as mentioned by a poster before, Zetterberg will take faceoffs and Fil will play the center position.

[LeftWinger]

if we win with lebda in can we stop the ericcson experiment for the rest of the year? he was running around his own zone like a moron last night

agreed! Too bad we had so much hope for him last year! We should've package Him, Hudler's rights & our first and second round pick for Tampa's 2nd overall and got Hedman....

[Marty Barry]

I wish I could redo the trade deadline. Everybody cross your fingers while I rub.

[skyphoenix]

Hopefully Filppula and Zetterberg get a spark going much like the combination of Hossa and Fil last season,

[gcom007]

I give these lines 1 game as usual...at the end of the day, we just don't have the right balance to ice multiple consistent scoring lines.

And I think people are too worked up about Osgood/Howard one way or the other. For all of Osgood's rust and supposedly "bad" play this year, he hasn't been near as bad as last year. I'm not saying that the whole benching thing helps much, but I think you'll see Osgood finish strong. I think the writing is on the wall with this quote...

"I think Ozzie’s had some real good practices in a row and battled hard and I told him his job is when he gets an opportunity to try and run with it. He understands that. I don’t know when that is. I didn’t make any promises.’’

I am not trying to take away anything from Howard's stellar play for most of this season, but he's been cooler for awhile now and while not bad, not real good either since the Olympic break. As much as Howard's proven this year, he's still a rookie. Osgood's a veteran with 3 Cup rings, plus 2 outstanding playoff runs in a row now. When Howard was playing lights out, it was a no-brainer to give him the majority of the starts. Then Osgood and Babcock had some spats which no doubt has something to do with Osgood not getting as many starts, but they seem to be on better terms now.

In all my years of watching Osgood, I've learned never to count him out. He knows this is it, Babcock knows this is it, and no matter how great Howard has played this year, management is going to want Osgood starting in the playoffs if they can at all help it. This has to be all the more true since Howard hasn't been "outstanding" lately. I'm not saying that as a knock on him either; if you're at all thinking of going with a rookie over a veteran Cup winner who was in game 7 of the finals a year ago, he better be playing "outstanding" all year, and even then it's no sure bet that he's going to get the nod.

I'm calling it now, if the Wings make the playoffs, my money is on Osgood starting. Make no mistake, he'll be on a Hasek-sized leash, but he'll start.

And whether it seems unfathomable now or not to some, he may be the Wings only prayer come April...

[lilja4mvp]

I'm calling it now, if the Wings make the playoffs, my money is on Osgood starting

[brett]

hmmm babs finally listened to me when i said that zetterberg needs a playmaker on his line and not another shooter. though for defensive purposes cleary should be on the 3rd line.

lets see if lebda is lucky

[Johnny Diamonds]

Good to see that Babcock is finally targeting the second line. It will be interesting to see when Osgood finally gets a start. I thought the game against Minny would be a good time to start him, but I guess that is not going to happen.


MLive

I'm sure noone is gonna believe this but I do have a witness. I was talking about this exact move the other night with a friend on the phone. Look Filppula is 26 he is either about to breakout into a star or he'll just stay what he is for the rest of his career. But I think he has Datsyuklike star potential written all over him, but only if he is given the opportunity to show what he can do ie more playing time and playing on a line with better players. When Datsyuk was a younger player with the Wings he had an advantage to play on a line with a great player like Brett Hull. Playing Filppula on the line with Zetterberg is exactly what he needs to take his game to another level. Great players make everyone around them better and that is what Z is gonna do for Filppula. Great move by Babs!

[Pucks]

Not going to work. Fil and Z Haven't really work well together in the past IMO. Helm still stuck on the 4th line? He's far better than that. He could really win some puck battles in the corners and create chances if he got moved up. Babcock seems to think he's Maltby?

[Z and D for the C]

Not going to work. Fil and Z Haven't really work well together in the past IMO. Helm still stuck on the 4th line? He's far better than that. He could really win some puck battles in the corners and create chances if he got moved up. Babcock seems to think he's Maltby?

He thinks that the Draper Helm Eaves combo is too valuable to split up.

[CenterIce]

Bertuzzi is USELESS without Datysuk. They played together most of the season, found some success, why not keep them together? Plus the lines would be more balanced. I love Cleary, but he's not a 2nd liner. Flipulla has the potential but he's not their yet. The Wings need a top 6 forward for next season, not another cent on D-men, even if Lidstrom retires.

Datysuk-Homer-Bertuzzi
Zetterberg-Flipulla/Cleary-Franzen

Our best line in the playoffs last year was Franzen/Zetterberg/Cleary. Cleary can and should be on the second line. He can score, pass, defend, and hit, so whatever role he needs to play, he can. Right now, he needs to be mucking in the corners and getting to the front of the net, like Holmstrom.

[Johnny Diamonds]

Zetterberg *backchecking steals the puck, passes it up the ice to Filppula for the breakaway* I can see it now.