Babcock: Improvement to come from within

[Guest zackmorris]

Filppula is probably the most underrated defensive forward on this team and quite possibly the entire league. We as Wings fans watch him over 100 times a year and don't really get what he's doing. He's a defensive forward. Not every defensive forward is Hank or Pav. For the same reasons defensive liabilities like Malkin can rack up a ton of points, that's what makes it harder for guys like Flip to score. You're either crashing the net or skating backwards. One or the other. Just watch Flip-when the other team touched the puck, he's on his horse going backwards to disrupt their rush. When we're shooting it on net, he's letting his linemates play offensively and hovering about 20 feet behind where most offensively minded players would, just as a precaution.

All we notice, is that he's not scoring 70. His defensive game goes overlooked by even fans of his team. The guy is a huge reason why we're the defensive team we are. We could replace him with a 70 point guy who, sorry, skates like Franzen while backchecking and that won't help us much if at all. Could Flip get 70? Really, I think if he played offense like some players in this league do, and had two good linemates, I think he could get 80. But that's why we're Detroit and that's why we win.

I dunno why I even bother, I've typed this a dozen times before. No one listens. They just blindly expect 70 points out of the guy when that's not really what will happen unless he totally changes his style of play. And ask any defensive forward-it gets into your head. When your first gut instinct is to skate backwards and not forwards, that changes everything.

Edited May 11, 2010 by zackmorris

[CopenhagenWing 38]

He took a paycut in '01 to sign Hasek, Hull and Robitaille, didn't he?

Him, Shanahan and Yzerman deferred salary. They all got their money later on.

[gcom007 1,465]

Filppula is probably the most underrated defensive forward on this team and quite possibly the entire league. We as Wings fans watch him over 100 times a year and don't really get what he's doing. He's a defensive forward. Not every defensive forward is Hank or Pav. For the same reasons defensive liabilities like Malkin can rack up a ton of points, that's what makes it harder for guys like Flip to score. You're either crashing the net or skating backwards. One or the other. Just watch Flip-when the other team touched the puck, he's on his horse going backwards to disrupt their rush. When we're shooting it on net, he's letting his linemates play offensively and hovering about 20 feet behind where most offensively minded players would, just as a precaution.

All we notice, is that he's not scoring 70. His defensive game goes overlooked by even fans of his team. The guy is a huge reason why we're the defensive team we are. We could replace him with a 70 point guy who, sorry, skates like Franzen while backchecking and that won't help us much if at all. Could Flip get 70? Really, I think if he played offense like some players in this league do, and had two good linemates, I think he could get 80. But that's why we're Detroit and that's why we win.

I dunno why I even bother, I've typed this a dozen times before. No one listens. They just blindly expect 70 points out of the guy when that's not really what will happen unless he totally changes his style of play. And ask any defensive forward-it gets into your head. When your first gut instinct is to skate backwards and not forwards, that changes everything.

I completely agree. I think he's a fantastic defensive forward. I get harassed because I don't think he's going to score 70 points and I don't think he has strong offensive skills in general. Bear in mind that at least so far as my argument goes, I have no issues with his defensive play and think he's a solid defensive player. I take issue with people who expect him to be a 70-80 point or more type of player. I think it's unrealistic most likely. In the minds of his hardcore fans, that automatically makes me a hater. I find it completely silly.

Of course, I have argued that he's the easiest guy on the team to trade to, but even that is more a compliment as he's the only guy who's a strong enough player to send out for a descent return that we could possibly give up. We tend to have a lot of solid defensive-minded guys up front but especially last year, goals were harder and harder to come by. The idea of sending out the Lebda's for a descent return were just absurd. If we wanted a guy who could score goals and put up points, you've got to give something worthwhile up, and Flip is always going to be the 3rd guy here so long as Dats and Z are around. With the 1-2 Selke-caliber punch of Z and Dats, it's tough to truly own a spot in the top-6 as a center which is really where he ought to be playing.

I think Flip could be a Selke-level top-6 guy on another team where he had more of an opportunity to play his game without so much bouncing around between lines. I honestly think Detroit's push for points in general, but in particular out of Flip has hindered his development in that area. I just think it's silly to keep trying to squeeze points out of a guy who isn't a natural goal-scorer at all and an average play-maker at best when you could develop him to be everything Kris Draper was in his best days and about 5X more.

Again, and I think this is true for more than just me, with Flip the issue isn't overall quality. It's merely the idea that he's going to come in and be a big time point contributor doesn't make sense. When we're talking about addressing scoring needs and Flip continues to come up in the land of "if only," it begs for these arguments to occur.

[Drake_Marcus 890]

This is what I hope we are left with. Nick and Homer taking their significant discounts.

AUTO-GENERATED CAPGEEK.COM LINES

FORWARDS

Pavel Datsyuk ($6.700m) / Henrik Zetterberg ($6.083m) / Johan Franzen ($3.955m)

Valtteri Filppula ($3.000m) / Jiri Hudler ($2.875m) / Daniel Cleary ($2.800m)

Kris Draper ($1.583m) / * Tomas Holmstrom ($1.500m) / * Justin Abdelkader ($0.850m)

* Darren Helm ($0.700m) / * Drew Miller ($0.600m) / * Patrick Eaves ($0.600m)

DEFENSEMEN

Brian Rafalski ($6.000m) / * Nicklas Lidstrom ($4.000m)

Brad Stuart ($3.750m) / Niklas Kronwall ($3.000m)

Jonathan Ericsson ($0.900m) / Jakub Kindl ($0.883m)

* Derek Meech ($0.500m)

GOALTENDERS

Chris Osgood ($1.417m) / Jimmy Howard ($0.717m)

CAPGEEK.COM TOTALS

ROSTER: 21; PAYROLL: $52.413m; CAP ROOM: $4.387m BONUSES: $0.000m

Depending on what the cap does we should hopefully have around $4 million to spend on one or two more players to add. I just think it'd be foolish of Nick to come back for 5-6. This team seriously needs a shot in the arm to get back over the hump.

If the NHLPA triggers the inflator like they're rumoured to be considering we'd have 8 or 9 million in that scenario!

[Zenith 2]

Zetterberg-Hudler-Filppula

Datsyuk-Franzen-_______

___ - ____ - ______

Helm-Abdelkader-Draper

Rafalski - _____

Kronwall - Stuart

Ericsson - ______

Osgood, Howard

We have some spots to fill up. Be honest, I do not want us to get back Holmstrom although he has done so many good things for this team. We can use his cap space to get another good top 6 forward; after 2008, Homer put up relatively consistent points but his play in even strength has not been the level of top 6 forward in any team. If Bertuzzi can sign with the same 1.5 cap, I would want him back although he makes some imcomprehensible plays. And I do not want us to sign both Miller and Eaves. True they are good checkers but we need a third line that can do both check and score some goals.

As some mentioned above, if Lidstrom asks more than 4 or 5 million, I do not want him to be back. We need decent cap space in this offseason to find out any good 3rd liners. If Lidstrom takes too much cap, our 3rd line would be pretty awful and I do not see the Wings' go far next season ether. Like everyone, I want Lebda being gone and Lilja was good blocker but I do not see us sign him.

And I agree with Babcock. The Wings have some serious problems. Our best players like Datsyuk and Zetterberg, especially Zetterberg, cannot put up more than 80 points in last two seasons although he had an injury. It is good to see him do damn good in the playoff but he needs to put up more points in the regular season. Besides, I think Filppula is the main controvesy. I love to see him doing great at both sides of the ice in the playoff but if he truely has potential ability, he has to prove in the regular season. He was cosidered as one of Wings' most bright future but he has not even up 50 points in any season.

At last, the Wings' specials teams have to be more consistent and Kronwall should freaking wake up or do something he did in 08. What happened?

[Z and D for the C 712]

Until I really see this guy put up points consistently over an entire season

Including the playoffs, Filppula had, this season, 44 points in 67 games and 7 1/2 months. That is a 54 point pace over 82 games. A 54 point pace over 7 1/2 months. Is that not consistent?

And is it really that far of a stretch to think that that total could be 65ish points over a full season playing with true top 6 player when his 54 point pace was playing with third liners for almost two thirds of those games?

And I also want to mention that I mis-"spoke" in my first post in this thread. No idea why I said Flip had 7 points in 9 games. I meant to say 9 points in 12 games.

Last summer you said Leino had more of a chance to hit 50 points than Filppula. Filppula finished the season on a 52 point pace and Leino on a whopping 16 point pace. You were wrong then and if you predict Filppula to get any less than 60ish points you'll be wrong yet again.

If the NHLPA triggers the inflator like they're rumoured to be considering we'd have 8 or 9 million in that scenario!

Where have you heard about this?

[Bring Back The Bruise Bros 1,029]

Zetterberg-Hudler-Filppula

Datsyuk-Franzen-_______

___ - ____ - ______

Helm-Abdelkader-Draper

Rafalski - _____

Kronwall - Stuart

Ericsson - ______

Osgood, Howard

We have some spots to fill up. Be honest, I do not want us to get back Holmstrom although he has done so many good things for this team. We can use his cap space to get another good top 6 forward; after 2008, Homer put up relatively consistent points but his play in even strength has not been the level of top 6 forward in any team. If Bertuzzi can sign with the same 1.5 cap, I would want him back although he makes some imcomprehensible plays. And I do not want us to sign both Miller and Eaves. True they are good checkers but we need a third line that can do both check and score some goals.

As some mentioned above, if Lidstrom asks more than 4 or 5 million, I do not want him to be back. We need decent cap space in this offseason to find out any good 3rd liners. If Lidstrom takes too much cap, our 3rd line would be pretty awful and I do not see the Wings' go far next season ether. Like everyone, I want Lebda being gone and Lilja was good blocker but I do not see us sign him.

And I agree with Babcock. The Wings have some serious problems. Our best players like Datsyuk and Zetterberg, especially Zetterberg, cannot put up more than 80 points in last two seasons although he had an injury. It is good to see him do damn good in the playoff but he needs to put up more points in the regular season. Besides, I think Filppula is the main controvesy. I love to see him doing great at both sides of the ice in the playoff but if he truely has potential ability, he has to prove in the regular season. He was cosidered as one of Wings' most bright future but he has not even up 50 points in any season.

At last, the Wings' specials teams have to be more consistent and Kronwall should freaking wake up or do something he did in 08. What happened?

I agree with you.Although Holmstrom has done so much for this organization over the years,it's time to move on.I believe we should let Bertuzzi walk and get a REAL power forward.Bertuzzi was considered a power forward 10 years ago.Miller is decent,but i feel we can do better.Eaves is good on the penalty kill and he provides a little scoring touch.I think Brian Sutherby would be a good 3rd line center.Ryan Johnson is a shot blocking specialist,which in my opinion is what Detroit lacks.I think we can move Helm up to the 3rd line,he's got speed to go with Eaves.Shawn Thornton or Krys Barch would be good,cheap acquisitions to patrol the ice.

As for defense,Nick will be back.Let Lilja,Lebda,and Meech all walk and get a rugged guy to go with Ericsson.Kindl can rotate in the lineup as the year progresses.There will be no MAJOR signings,but we sure have some work to do.Basically,i can only see a couple grinders signed this offseason.A power forward would be nice for the top 6,but who knows.we shall findout.

[ShanahanMan 473]

Does Holland purposely try to make fans as unexcited as possible? It seems like every year now, before any big roster move day, he makes sure to tell everyone, "Don't get enthusiastic, don't get excited, sit back down, we ain't doin s***". I mean, granted he still might do something, but its really hard for fans to stay on the edge of their seat (which is good for team, generating press and interest) when we're repeatedly told nothing is gonna happen. It's just a downer.

[Bring Back The Bruise Bros 1,029]

Does Holland purposely try to make fans as unexcited as possible? It seems like every year now, before any big roster move day, he makes sure to tell everyone, "Don't get enthusiastic, don't get excited, sit back down, we ain't doin s***". I mean, granted he still might do something, but its really hard for fans to stay on the edge of their seat (which is good for team, generating press and interest) when we're repeatedly told nothing is gonna happen. It's just a downer.

true,but i guess its better than having him claim big moves are coming to the team and all he does is re-sign a couple guys.

[Red Storm 38]

I'm not sure I agree that Flip is a tweener. I still think he has great potential and I think it was evident during the playoffs. But even if it were true, what team is going to give up a good scorer for him?

I'm not sure we need look for a scorer necessarily. I'd like a tough guy grinder like a Patrick Kaleta of the Sabres, we need some sandpaper like we had with Dallas Drake . Maybe someone from the Capitals like Brookes Laich . Flip was a real downer in the playoffs . Against Pheonix he's was flying , I thought man this is going to be playoff for him where he hits the star level like Zetterberg did in the Cup run against the Pens. But no, when he came up against the Shark's intensity he totally faded. Disapointing for someone who knows the taste of the Cup run ,I was really hoping that he was going to step up.

[Red Storm 38]

For those criticizing Filppula... Filppula was suffering from a rib injury caused during the Coyotes series.

source: http://blog.mlive.co...n_world_ch.html

But that's the whole thing with the playoffs is playing through your injuries to go all the way.

[Jasper84 333]

Filppula is probably the most underrated defensive forward on this team and quite possibly the entire league. We as Wings fans watch him over 100 times a year and don't really get what he's doing. He's a defensive forward. Not every defensive forward is Hank or Pav. For the same reasons defensive liabilities like Malkin can rack up a ton of points, that's what makes it harder for guys like Flip to score. You're either crashing the net or skating backwards. One or the other. Just watch Flip-when the other team touched the puck, he's on his horse going backwards to disrupt their rush. When we're shooting it on net, he's letting his linemates play offensively and hovering about 20 feet behind where most offensively minded players would, just as a precaution.

All we notice, is that he's not scoring 70. His defensive game goes overlooked by even fans of his team. The guy is a huge reason why we're the defensive team we are. We could replace him with a 70 point guy who, sorry, skates like Franzen while backchecking and that won't help us much if at all. Could Flip get 70? Really, I think if he played offense like some players in this league do, and had two good linemates, I think he could get 80. But that's why we're Detroit and that's why we win.

I dunno why I even bother, I've typed this a dozen times before. No one listens. They just blindly expect 70 points out of the guy when that's not really what will happen unless he totally changes his style of play. And ask any defensive forward-it gets into your head. When your first gut instinct is to skate backwards and not forwards, that changes everything.

I've had this same talk with some buddies of mine last year when they were bitching for him to get traded away for nearly nothing. My argument to them was pretty much the same thing that you just said. Filp is one of those people I would be really disappointed if the Red Wings parted ways with. I'm not saying this because I'm a Filp fan, because honestly I'm not bigger fan of his then the majority of this team. I just think he's very valuable to us.

[Z Winged Dangler 2,082]

Once all the chips are down and they have a fix on exactly how much salary cap space they have left going into the '10-'11 season I'll pay more attention to this kind of statement.

Did anyone really think the Wings were going to add a 5 million dollar player this offseason? To me this indicates that Lidstrom is staying. If Lidstrom decides to retire you can expect a big move or two.

agreed. we can all re-visit this thread july 2nd when we know what lids is doing and how much cap cabbage he's eating up.

[Z Winged Dangler 2,082]

I'm not sure we need look for a scorer necessarily. I'd like a tough guy grinder like a Patrick Kaleta of the Sabres, we need some sandpaper like we had with Dallas Drake . Maybe someone from the Capitals like Brookes Laich . Flip was a real downer in the playoffs . Against Pheonix he's was flying , I thought man this is going to be playoff for him where he hits the star level like Zetterberg did in the Cup run against the Pens. But no, when he came up against the Shark's intensity he totally faded. Disapointing for someone who knows the taste of the Cup run ,I was really hoping that he was going to step up.

flip doesn't do much penalty killing, so everytime he got some momentum going it got killed with a wings penalty...or 8. kinda hard to get in the series when your team is killing penalties for 1/3 of the first 3 games. by the time the wings got going it was too late. can't just rag on flip for that. franzen only had 1 good game in that series...i don't hear anyone calling for him to be traded.

[gcom007 1,465]

Including the playoffs, Filppula had, this season, 44 points in 67 games and 7 1/2 months. That is a 54 point pace over 82 games. A 54 point pace over 7 1/2 months. Is that not consistent?

And is it really that far of a stretch to think that that total could be 65ish points over a full season playing with true top 6 player when his 54 point pace was playing with third liners for almost two thirds of those games?

And I also want to mention that I mis-"spoke" in my first post in this thread. No idea why I said Flip had 7 points in 9 games. I meant to say 9 points in 12 games.

Last summer you said Leino had more of a chance to hit 50 points than Filppula. Filppula finished the season on a 52 point pace and Leino on a whopping 16 point pace. You were wrong then and if you predict Filppula to get any less than 60ish points you'll be wrong yet again.

Where have you heard about this?

We've already been through the Leino thing before and discussed how you took that statement out of context and utterly and completely missed the fact that it was a sarcastic jab at you Flip slappy's made in jest. I mean, I spent the majority of the post saying that people had unrealistic expectations of Leino and that he wasn't likely to perform nearly as well in his true rookie year as he did in his call ups. Of course, according to the masses, I was wrong then, but then the regular season came around and we all know how that went. And then there's you, still holding on to a sarcastic comment as if I meant it! Pull up the post if you must. Please.

As far as Flip, I've said multiple times that he had a solid 1st round and a solid performance down the stretch in the regular season. But again, injured or not, for all intents and purposes he disappeared from the score sheet in the 2nd round. And what about the end of the season? He was basically non-existent the last 9-10 games of the regular season.

Here, I just looked it up: 1 assist for 1 point in his last 9 games of the regular season after putting up 8 points in the previous 3 games. And digging into that more...

In those 3 games he put up 4 of his 11 goals for the season, 4/11=36% of his total goals over 3 games

And in those 3 games he put up 8 of his 34 points on the season, 8/34=24% of his total points over 3 games

Great 3 game effort, followed by a 9 game run with 1 assist to show for it on the score sheet

To me, those look like stats one would expect from a streaky offensive player. So why is it hard for me to imagine that he'd put up 60-70 points if healthy all year? Because for as many 3-4 game hot streaks he's had in his career, he's had 3, 4, 5 game streaks (or even more) of putting next to nothing up. And all of this occurs despite the fact that he gets more ice time than most, as well as power play time and a fair amount of time with top line players.

So again, I say we'll wait and see how it goes over a whole season when he's healthy. Considering his propensity for having a few big games and then disappearing for awhile, I think he's still likely to max out at around 50 points. It takes a lot of consistency to put up 60-70 points and Flip has yet to prove that he's capable of being a consistent scoring threat.

And I really don't know why this bothers you so much. He's a great defensive player and to able to chip in 40-50 points along with the defensive skill set is a pretty damn solid combination. He doesn't need to be Dats or Z to be a solid player. On just about any other team he's going to be a top 6 guy without a second thought. He doesn't shine for his game here so much solely because we have Dats and Z, and because he continues to not live up to the scoring expectations people place upon him, despite the idea that perhaps those expectations are simply unrealistic. On his own, and again, basically on any other team, he's a solid top 6 guy who still won't put up more then 40-50 points, but his two-way play would be highlighted far more than it is here, ultimately casting him in a better light.

flip doesn't do much penalty killing, so everytime he got some momentum going it got killed with a wings penalty...or 8. kinda hard to get in the series when your team is killing penalties for 1/3 of the first 3 games. by the time the wings got going it was too late. can't just rag on flip for that. franzen only had 1 good game in that series...i don't hear anyone calling for him to be traded.

Well, considering in the first couple games Flip took 2-3 rather dumb, deserved penalties himself, I think you can rag on him for that...

[RedLightGoesOn 81]

I don't think we need a top 6 forward. We have a lot on our front end and I agree with Babs that this team can be fearsome if certain players find a way to elevate their game (realistically speaking). He isn't asking a rookie to become the top goalscorer, hes asking players who show a lot of potential to find a way to bring it out. If Lidstrom resigns for 1 more year at a super cheap contract (which I hope so) that can help free up cap space for Hudler and also to bring in a decent player to fill in wherever Kenny sees fit.

Next year Draper's contract will be up, so will Rafalski's. I hope Draper retires and we do not resign Rafalski (if we do it needs to be super cheap, which I am sure Rafalski won't do). Also, we will stop paying Ville Leino's (small) paycheck. I see next year being a year where Kenny makes some moves.

So I say give it 2 years before we could potentially see a team with good depth on paper (not that that means jack s*** in the playoffs).

[Z and D for the C 712]

Try a great 33 game effort with 27 points, followed by the inexplicable 9 game cold streak.

Lets even go back to last playoffs. 60 points in 90 games. 11 months of playing. 55 points over 82 games. Those are his numbers over about 11 months. Yet he doesn't have the consistency to do that over 6 months? When playing with better players to boot?

I'll also ask you this: While he had his 27 points in 33 games (67 point pace, AND THIS IS WHEN HE WAS PLAYING WITH CLEARY MILLER AND BERTUZZI MOSTLY), what was the longest streak of games he went without a point? I'll tell you. 3 games. And that was when he got bumped down to the third line for a week or so. Even with that 9 games cold streak that was too strange to not have an underlying reason, HE STILL HAD 28 POINTS IN 42 GAMES. 55 point pace. That's way better than your baseless "40-50" point potential. When you say he might MAX OUT and under 50 points, you make yourself look like an idiot.

You have something against Filppula, it's really the only explanation for this inept argument you use. You hide it very well, but you just have something against him. Maybe it's subconscious and you don't even realize it, but you do. Fil is a great 2 way forward who has AT LEAST 60 points for a few seasons in him, if not 70 if he gets the line mates he deserves.

And I wouldn't believe the Leino thing was a sarcastic comment if jesus came down and said so. I wouldn't even believe it if Vanessa Lengies offered to sleep with me if I believed it.

[13dangledangle 957]

So you're actually saying that Hudler, a player who couldn't even make his national team for the Olympics, should be on our number 1 line? I cannot wait for the season to start so I can get back on bashing Hudler night in and night out. I can only hope Holland trades him at the draft.

Maybe you could get sammy back instead, he might be the top six your looking for and the fact you bring up the Olympics is silly from a both political and finacial stand points. I would rather have Krejci or Hemsky but its the cap world.

Edited May 12, 2010 by 13dangledangle

[Guest mjtm77]

Why do i hate Cleary so much

[OakWing 2]

I don't think we need a top 6 forward. We have a lot on our front end and I agree with Babs that this team can be fearsome if certain players find a way to elevate their game (realistically speaking). He isn't asking a rookie to become the top goalscorer, hes asking players who show a lot of potential to find a way to bring it out. If Lidstrom resigns for 1 more year at a super cheap contract (which I hope so) that can help free up cap space for Hudler and also to bring in a decent player to fill in wherever Kenny sees fit.

Next year Draper's contract will be up, so will Rafalski's. I hope Draper retires and we do not resign Rafalski (if we do it needs to be super cheap, which I am sure Rafalski won't do). Also, we will stop paying Ville Leino's (small) paycheck. I see next year being a year where Kenny makes some moves.

So I say give it 2 years before we could potentially see a team with good depth on paper (not that that means jack s*** in the playoffs).

Sorry to disappoint you but Rafalski is signed at his ungodly number for 2 more years....

[Shady Ultima 40]

Everyone here seems convinced that both Eaves and Miller are going to stay, but I'm less certain. I think both of these guys bring almost the exact same thing to our lineup, and that we probably wont keep both. I could be wrong, but I think we lose Miller.

They're both RFA. Doesn't that mean we get compensation if we lose one?

And is no one thinking of the fact that we're likely going to have to pay Jimmy pretty soon? He's not going to play for peanuts forever, and odds are he's our goalie for the foreseeable future.

If we could somehow steal Shea Weber I'd s*** rainbows and smiles.

About Jimmy, I think it's more important we look for a replacement to Ozzie. If he doesn't retire this year, I bet next year is his last.

And No to Shea. That's an insult to our organization.

"Hey Shea, thanks for putting one of our guys out for a year. Want to play for us?"

[titanium2 867]

So you're actually saying that Hudler, a player who couldn't even make his national team for the Olympics, should be on our number 1 line? I cannot wait for the season to start so I can get back on bashing Hudler night in and night out. I can only hope Holland trades him at the draft.

Back to the OP, this, if true, is seriously BAD and disheartening news. This team as it is, even with adding Hudler, still will falter defensively. If Lidstrom comes back and sucks up most of our cap, and then we lose Meech, Lebda, Lilja and gain Kindl? Our defense gets worse. Lidstrom HAS to come back for no more than $4.5M in order for us to be able to better our team. You gotta convince Rafalski to waive his no trade in order to free up space if Lids is gonna get $6M or more. Trade him to LA for Johnson, sign Lids for $4.5M offer Willie Mitchell a contract, then bring up Kindl.

Lids - Mitchell

Kronwall - Stuart

Johnson - Ericsson

Kindl

But sadly our defense in gonna be worse than last season, with Kindl up in Lilja's spot and yet an even less experienced player for our seventh.

But hey, instead of getting a ligit top 6 forward, we're getting Hudler back!

I thought you gave up being a fan?

[titanium2 867]

If I had to guess what Babs is jotting right now on his paper napkins I think he definitely wants great depth down the middle:

Datsyuk

Zetterberg

Filppula

Helm

Along with a guy at the net:

Holmstrom-Datsyuk

Bertuzzi-Zetterberg

Cleary-Filppula

Abdelkader-Helm

And another skill guy who is supposed to score and make plays:

Holmstrom-Datsyuk-Franzen

Bertuzzi-Zetterberg-Ritola*

Cleary-Filppula-Hudler

Abdelkader-Helm-Eaves

*Yeah, I know, it sounds ridiculous. How can a rookie just immediately step onto the second line?

First of all, Babs simply doesn't have any skill guys left. Who else can play in that situation? Hudler? Come on, we've seen that movie before and it always ends the same. At this point it seems like he'll revert back to keeping Hudler in the bottom six.

Who else? Miller? He's not a skill guy. At least, not a skill guy to the point where he should play in the top six. Through the frustration of injuries he did an admirable job as a temporary fill in but he also played like a temporary fill in; some production but the Wings definitely could've used more. I can see how some on here thinks he is expendable.

Ritola is known on here as Filppula-lite. He's a smart player with good skating ability; he can hang on to the puck and do good things with it; and lastly, he's very dedicated to the defensive side of the game. He's had countless games in GR where he was simply all over ice working and doing good things. He is definitely skilled enough for a playmaker role on a line with Zetterberg or other shooters who can finish off his passes. Based on what many of us have seen from him so far, he could very well do a lot of things Filppula did that made the Bertuzzi-Zetterberg-Filppula line successful. When it comes to his own finishing ability, however, he's not so good at that yet. Again, Hudler is probably still too slow to maintain a consistent pace that Babs likes. Miller, whenever he gets the puck, usually just dumps it in instead of surveying his options. Ritola is all that's left and he's a decent option at least worth a try.