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Guest blueadams

somehow, we need to get a scoring third line center...

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Guest blueadams

In my opinion, this team had three main problems last season: #1) It didn't have a third line that could produce points. #2) It didn't have a 'real' grind line (e.g. physical). And #3) The defensive pairings.

...I think that the first problem boils down to the fact that we've had 4th line centers on the third line. i love helm, i love abby, and i love miller, but none of those guys have the hands to center a scoring line. either bring in a scoring third line center, or bring in a scoring wing and move flip to the third line (probably easier). free agency, trade, or whatever, i don't know, but it doesn't seem like it'd be impossible. any ideas? maybe ritola's ready? if we don't resign eaves and miller, then we might have enough cap-space to work something out...or we could involve them in a deal?

...I like Helm centering the grind line. he's not big, but he definitely brings a physical presence to the table. and his superb defense will allow us to get away with a bigger stronger wing on the right side. I really like having Abby flank the grind line. that's really where he belongs anyways. think maltby-draper here. then all we've got to do is bring in a nice big strong cheap hard-hitting wing that fights. think may, but bringing a little more skill to the table. i love eaves and i love miller, but these guys don't really bring that much to the table. we need someone more physical here.

Franzen-Zetterberg-Bertuzzi

Hudler-Datsyuk-Holmstrom

???-Filppula-Cleary

Abdelkader-Helm-???

Draper

(Ritola)

Lidstrom-Kronwall

Stuart-Rafalski

Kindl-Ericsson

Lilja/???

(Janik)

...i think that we need to seperate lidstrom and raffy. #1) neither of these guys like going into the boards anymore. teams dump against our first line without hesitation. its embarrasing. split them up with the more physical kronner and stuie. #2) both of these guys are tremendous shooters...and raffy defers to nick too much. he needs to be taking more shots. kindl-ericsson might work, might not. we'll have lilja or someone similar in case it doesn't.

Howard

Osgood

Edited by blueadams

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In my opinion, this team had three main problems last season: #1) It didn't have a third line that could produce points. #2) It didn't have a 'real' grind line (e.g. physical). And #3) The defensive pairings.

...I think that the first problem boils down to the fact that we've had 4th line centers on the third line. i love helm, i love abby, and i love miller, but none of those guys have the hands to center a scoring line. either bring in a scoring third line center, or bring in a scoring wing and move flip to the third line (probably easier). free agency, trade, or whatever, i don't know, but it doesn't seem like it'd be impossible. any ideas? maybe ritola's ready? if we don't resign eaves and miller, then we might have enough cap-space to work something out...or we could involve them in a deal?

...I like Helm centering the grind line. he's not big, but he definitely brings a physical presence to the table. and his superb defense will allow us to get away with a bigger stronger wing on the right side. I really like having Abby flank the grind line. that's really where he belongs anyways. think maltby-draper here. then all we've got to do is bring in a nice big strong cheap hard-hitting wing that fights. think may, but bringing a little more skill to the table. i love eaves and i love miller, but these guys don't really bring that much to the table. we need someone more physical here.

Franzen-Datsyuk-Holmstrom

Hudler-Zetterberg-Bertuzzi

???-Filppula-Cleary

Abdelkader-Helm-???

Draper

(Ritola)

Lidstrom-Kronwall

Stuart-Rafalski

Kindl-Ericsson

Lilja/???

(Janik)

...i think that we need to seperate lidstrom and raffy. #1) neither of these guys like going into the boards anymore. teams dump against our first line without hesitation. its embarrasing. split them up with the more physical kronner and stuie. #2) both of these guys are tremendous shooters...and raffy defers to nick too much. he needs to be taking more shots. kindl-ericsson might work, might not. we'll have lilja or someone similar in case it doesn't.

Howard

Osgood

Line thread...I'll bite

First of all Ill start by saying that I wouldnt call Lids and Raffy embarrassing, they are one of the best defensive pairings of all time. Also I believe your 3rd line scores would most likely be made if we acquire a second line scorer that drops some 2nd line back.

For example purposes:

Franzen-Datsyuk-Holmstrom

Flippula-Zetterberg-Afinogenov

Bertuzzi-Abdelkader-Hudler

Cleary-Helm-Eaves or Ritola like him too

Draper

.......with this you get 2 awesome score lines, a 3rd that should put up some goals for sure, while Bert and Abby dish out some "grit" and line 4 being about speed and hard work all the while netting a few in the process.

Edited by 13dangledangle

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Rather just move Abby to the 3rd line and re-sign Eaves and another 4th line guy. Healthy we have lots of offence.

And it annoys me when people just throw Franzen on Datsyuks line always. Franzen has never played well with Datsyuk, he played the best game of his life with Zetterberg, he was part of the best line in the 09 playoffs with Zetterberg and Cleary. And back in 08 his redonky scoring spree was with Filpulla. Keep him away from Datsyuk, put Franzen with Z.

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We wouldn't be having this talk if Flip would turn it on the way he was supposed to. He showed very brief flashes last season, especially near the end when The Big 3 (Z-flip-Bert) really got rolling. Even then, he hasn't come on the way he was expected to. My eye is on him hard this season, and I'm not sure what I'll think of him if he just has another so-so season...

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Guest EZBAKETHAGANGSTA

Line thread...I'll bite

First of all Ill start by saying that I wouldnt call Lids and Raffy embarrassing, they are one of the best defensive pairings of all time. Also I believe your 3rd line scores would most likely be made if we acquire a second line scorer that drops some 2nd line back.

For example purposes:

Franzen-Datsyuk-Holmstrom

Flippula-Zetterberg-Afinogenov

Bertuzzi-Abdelkader-Hudler

Cleary-Helm-Eaves or Ritola like him too

Draper

.......with this you get 2 awesome score lines, a 3rd that should put up some goals for sure, while Bert and Abby dish out some "grit" and line 4 being about speed and hard work all the while netting a few in the process.

I love how people have Hudler on the 3rd line but Filppula on the 2nd line... lets be real, Babcock may like Filppula better, and he may be a better overall player, but he is far better suited centering the third line than a 2nd line winger, especially if our big accuistion is someone who never shoots like Afinogenov.

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Guest blueadams

look...

its going to be impossible to get a third line center that can score AND play the kind of defense that babcock requires with our limited cap-space. its gotta be flip.

Franzen-Datsyuk-Holmstrom

Hudler-Zetterberg-Bertuzzi

???-Filppula-Cleary

Abdelkader-Helm-???

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We wouldn't be having this talk if Flip would turn it on the way he was supposed to. He showed very brief flashes last season, especially near the end when The Big 3 (Z-flip-Bert) really got rolling. Even then, he hasn't come on the way he was expected to. My eye is on him hard this season, and I'm not sure what I'll think of him if he just has another so-so season...

Guess which Red Wing gets paid the same as Flip, scored fewer points, and played more games last year... He was our problem not a player who had one of the higher PPG ratios on the team last year.

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Guest Crymson

Guess which Red Wing gets paid the same as Flip, scored fewer points, and played more games last year... He was our problem not a player who had one of the higher PPG ratios on the team last year.

Are you referring to the guy who played the entire season with a doubly-torn meniscus?

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He showed very brief flashes last season

I guess it depends on how you define brief. I GUESS you could call the 33 games where he accumulated 28 points brief. Me on the other hand...

And all I'm saying is...I don't think it's a coincidence they chose Flip to be placed under the "Pride. Passion. Commitment" header on the Wing's opening page... http://redwings.nhl.com/ :ph34r:

Edited by Z and D for the C

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Babs is to stubborn to mix and match players. He only does it after a few craptastic games in which he thinks we need more energy. This is the one big gripe I have with Babs coaching, too use to Bowman switching people on the fly.

I completely agree about the defense pairings needing to be mixed up. You can't ask for much more (maybe a full season) then what Flip brings to the 3rd line center role. My lines:

Franzen-Zetterberg-Cleary

Hudler-Datsyuk-Bertuzzi

Abby-Flip-Holmstrom

Draper-Helm-Eaves

Or you can stack more firepower with:

Zetterberg-Datsyuk-Franzen

Hudler-Flip-Bertuzzi

Holmstrom-Abby-Cleary

Draper-Helm-Eaves

No matter what happens I think Babs needs to take a page out of Bowmans book and switch people when necessary during the game.

EDIT: Its almost 3am so my thoughts might be all over the place sorry :P

Edited by dragonballgtz

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In my opinion, this team had three main problems last season: #1) It didn't have a third line that could produce points. #2) It didn't have a 'real' grind line (e.g. physical). And #3) The defensive pairings.

...I think that the first problem boils down to the fact that we've had 4th line centers on the third line. i love helm, i love abby, and i love miller, but none of those guys have the hands to center a scoring line. either bring in a scoring third line center, or bring in a scoring wing and move flip to the third line (probably easier). free agency, trade, or whatever, i don't know, but it doesn't seem like it'd be impossible. any ideas? maybe ritola's ready? if we don't resign eaves and miller, then we might have enough cap-space to work something out...or we could involve them in a deal?

...I like Helm centering the grind line. he's not big, but he definitely brings a physical presence to the table. and his superb defense will allow us to get away with a bigger stronger wing on the right side. I really like having Abby flank the grind line. that's really where he belongs anyways. think maltby-draper here. then all we've got to do is bring in a nice big strong cheap hard-hitting wing that fights. think may, but bringing a little more skill to the table. i love eaves and i love miller, but these guys don't really bring that much to the table. we need someone more physical here.

Franzen-Datsyuk-Holmstrom

Hudler-Zetterberg-Bertuzzi

???-Filppula-Cleary

Abdelkader-Helm-???

Draper

(Ritola)

...

Assuming a cap of $58.8M, once we sign Helm, Abdelkader and Bert, we'd have probably $2.5-3M left for your two wishlist forwards. It's possible, but unlikely, that we could get what you're looking for at that price. Even if we could, we'd still have a suspect 2nd line, 3rd pair on D, and no cap space to address either at the deadline. (And that's assuming no major injury issues, and no problems in goal.)

A lot of people keep talking about having a 3rd scoring line, but it just isn't feasible in the cap era. More to the point, no one else has that either, so we don't need it. People say things like 'depth is what wins in the playoffs'. But that's only true if the rest of the team does it's job. A good 3rd line might put you over the edge, but it's not going to make up for a crappy 2nd line.

We just need occasional scoring from the bottom 6. More importantly, we need timely scoring. Guys who will work their asses off and get that big goal in a tight game. We can get that easy, and still have cap space left for other improvements. Draper-Helm-Eaves put up 30 goals last year. Miller added another 10. Abby has some decent upside. At least one of Flip, Happy, or Cleary will play on the third line (at least with a healthy roster). Ritola may even be able to contribute.

IMO, Cleary and Eaves are perfect 3rd line wingers, and Abby has the tools to become a perfect 3rd line center (but he'll probably need a couple years). All have some decent offensive upside, good speed, good defense, physical play, and for Eaves and Abby (at the moment at least) they're cheap. Helm doesn't have hands, but his speed makes up for it to some degree. He's good enough for the moment, and maybe he'll even surprise us.

Adding someone like Nystrom would be ideal for the 4th line, even as a replacement for Miller. Adding two like him would be better if they came cheap enough. And that would leave a good amount of space for other uses.

FORWARDS

Henrik Zetterberg ($6.083m) / Pavel Datsyuk ($6.700m) / Tomas Holmstrom ($1.875m)

Jiri Hudler ($2.875m) / Valtteri Filppula ($3.000m) / Johan Franzen ($3.955m)

Daniel Cleary ($2.800m) / * Darren Helm ($0.900m) / * Patrick Eaves ($0.750m)

* Eric Nystrom ($0.800m) / * Justin Abdelkader ($0.900m) / Kris Draper ($1.583m)

Mattias Ritola ($0.517m)

DEFENSEMEN

Nicklas Lidstrom ($6.200m) / Brian Rafalski ($6.000m)

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

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

GOALTENDERS

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

CAPGEEK.COM TOTALS

(these totals are compiled using the bonus cushion)

ROSTER: 21; CAP:$58.8m; PAYROLL: $55.605m; CAP ROOM: $3.195m BONUSES: $0.000m

With that cap money we could add a decent defenseman, maybe Shaone Morrison for instance, or even someone like Lilja and another 4th line bruiser. Or save a decent chunk to pick up a $4M player at the deadline. Or trade someone like Flip or Happy and bring in an elite player.

That to me is a much better plan than bringing back Bert and another third-rate scorer a la Willy, which is all we can afford.

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Guest blueadams

If Babcock doesn't like playing Abby at the wing, then we need to trade one of those guys. Neither should be centering our third line. It kills production.

Franzen-Zetterberg-Bertuzzi

Hudler-Datsyuk-Holmstrom

???-Filppula-Cleary

Abdelkader-Helm-???

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In my opinion, this team had three main problems last season: #1) It didn't have a third line that could produce points. #2) It didn't have a 'real' grind line (e.g. physical). And #3) The defensive pairings.

...I think that the first problem boils down to the fact that we've had 4th line centers on the third line. i love helm, i love abby, and i love miller, but none of those guys have the hands to center a scoring line. either bring in a scoring third line center, or bring in a scoring wing and move flip to the third line (probably easier). free agency, trade, or whatever, i don't know, but it doesn't seem like it'd be impossible. any ideas? maybe ritola's ready? if we don't resign eaves and miller, then we might have enough cap-space to work something out...or we could involve them in a deal?

...I like Helm centering the grind line. he's not big, but he definitely brings a physical presence to the table. and his superb defense will allow us to get away with a bigger stronger wing on the right side. I really like having Abby flank the grind line. that's really where he belongs anyways. think maltby-draper here. then all we've got to do is bring in a nice big strong cheap hard-hitting wing that fights. think may, but bringing a little more skill to the table. i love eaves and i love miller, but these guys don't really bring that much to the table. we need someone more physical here.

Franzen-Zetterberg-Bertuzzi

Hudler-Datsyuk-Holmstrom

???-Filppula-Cleary

Abdelkader-Helm-???

Draper

(Ritola)

Lidstrom-Kronwall

Stuart-Rafalski

Kindl-Ericsson

Lilja/???

(Janik)

...i think that we need to seperate lidstrom and raffy. #1) neither of these guys like going into the boards anymore. teams dump against our first line without hesitation. its embarrasing. split them up with the more physical kronner and stuie. #2) both of these guys are tremendous shooters...and raffy defers to nick too much. he needs to be taking more shots. kindl-ericsson might work, might not. we'll have lilja or someone similar in case it doesn't.

Howard

Osgood

i like your idea, as pretty much ALL wings teams that won the cup had 3 and 1. i personally think ritola should be given a shot on your 3rd scoring line. he's a smart player with great hands. eaves can be re-signed and put on the 3rd line or i would go out on a limb and say andersson or callahan can show us what they got. but i see those 2 kickin ass in GR this season. i cant wait to see someone like landon ferraro on a line with helm and abby.

Edited by deeznutz

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Flip - 60+ points this year, 70+ if he plays all year in the top 6...

Feel free to bookmark it and call me out if it doesn't happen - I GENUINELY believe this will be the case and will eat crow if I'm wrong.

thumbup.gif I am with ya. Its more like what HAS to happen but I am with you on this. goal.gif

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Flip - 60+ points this year, 70+ if he plays all year in the top 6...

Feel free to bookmark it and call me out if it doesn't happen - I GENUINELY believe this will be the case and will eat crow if I'm wrong.

Agreed completely. With the way she's shown capable of playing, I wouldn't be surprised to see him get close to 80 if he plays the whole year in the top 6. Especially if he plays on a line with Zetterberg or Datsyuk.

Edited by Z and D for the C

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Agreed completely. With the way she's shown capable of playing, I wouldn't be surprised to see him get close to 80 if he plays the whole year in the top 6. Especially if he plays on a line with Zetterberg or Datsyuk.

I think this could be Filppula's breakout year.If he can stay healthy,70 points seems realistic.

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Flip - 60+ points this year, 70+ if he plays all year in the top 6...

Feel free to bookmark it and call me out if it doesn't happen - I GENUINELY believe this will be the case and will eat crow if I'm wrong.

absolutely possible for flip. he was playing really good...broke his wrist. came back and had a pretty good point pace going. if he plays all season in the top 6, he'll gain confidence and we'll all see lots of improvements. there's only so much you can do in practice, you need to play against OTHER teams top lines regularly.

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