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Hockeytown0001

Rafalski to play vs. Phoenix

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DETROIT -- Defenseman Brian Rafalski will return to the lineup tonight for the Detroit Red Wings, who host the Phoenix Coyotes (7:30 p.m., Versus).

Rafalski has sat out the last four weeks, after having arthroscopic surgery on his right knee Oct. 12. He will be paired with Jonathan Ericsson at even strength and his usual power-play partner, Nicklas Lidstrom.

Coach Mike Babcock has juggled his defense pairings, at least for the start of the game, putting Brad Stuart with Lidstrom and pairing Niklas Kronwall with Ruslan Salei. Jakub Kindl is scratched.

Up front, Drew Miller will be a healthy scratch for the second time in three games. He's playing well, but Babcock wants to get Jiri Hudler jump-started.

Here is the lineup for the Red Wings:

Zetterberg-Datsyuk-Holmstrom

Franzen-Filppula-Bertuzzi

Abdelkader-Modano-Cleary

Hudler-Helm-Eaves

Miller (scratched)

Lidstrom-Stuart

Kronwall-Salei

Ericsson-Rafalski

Kindl (scratched)

Howard (starting)

MacDonald

:thumbup::thumbup:

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Guest Heaten

Fixed it for yah ;)

Disagree. Lidstrom and Stuart haven't looked good to me. I think Babcock is trying to stick a square peg in a round hole on that pairing.

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I forgot about Rafalski being out. We've been playing great considering our #2 d-man and a big peice of our PP has been out. Considering that he'd be a #1 on alot of teams, says alot for our ability to compete with key guys out, as if last year didn't prove that anyway. Not sure if it really speaks to our depth though because Janik, Kindl, and E can't come close to bringing the kind of play Rafalski can.

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Miller scratched for Hudler again? haven't we learned that Hudler is useless by now?

And Miller has been, what, the star of the fourth line?

He should have been sat over Eaves in the Vancouver game. No idea why Eaves got rewarded for his great play by getting scratched.

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And Miller has been, what, the star of the fourth line?

He should have been sat over Eaves in the Vancouver game. No idea why Eaves got rewarded for his great play by getting scratched.

This.

I think it should be kind of obvious that playing Hudler on the 4th line is not going to "jump start" him.

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So where is Hudler gonna play? is he going to take bertuzzis spot on the 2line? :blink:

I don't have all the answers, but do you honestly believe Hudler is going to start scoring goals (60-70 expected points) playing on the 4th line?

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I don't have all the answers, but do you honestly believe Hudler is going to start scoring goals (60-70 expected points) playing on the 4th line?

Those are the old expectations. The new expectation is for him to just being to play the game at an NHL level.

This is just one of his final opportunities to prove that he can, or else we'll trade him off for a 4th so we have cap room come the trade deadline.

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Disagree. Lidstrom and Stuart haven't looked good to me. I think Babcock is trying to stick a square peg in a round hole on that pairing.

Right... Lidstrom doesn't always pair well with other veterans, but he easily has the ability to make inexperienced/lesser talented partners look better. He's kinda like the Gretzky of defense in that regard, imo.

Glad to see Raffi back. My heart rate will be better served with him making break out and outlet passes.

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I think Hudler has looked decent, he's just got to start making connections. We all knew it would come to this, we've got too much talent up front. With no one necessarily playing bad, good players will have to sit (i.e. Eaves, Miller, Hudler, and yes, even Modano from time to time).

The best way to do it is to rotate players who sit. Also, Draper will be coming back sometime, too.

Edited by VM1138

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I do not like the pairing of Raf with Big E. That has disaster written all over it.

the giveaway defensive line :) but im glad raf is back

i dont have the answer for huds but i do know he clicks very well with flip if you really wanna get him going something like:

ZDH

franzen flip huds

cleary modano bert

abs helm eaves

or cleary to the 2nd line and have huds with bert

i know thats asking a lot just to get one player going breaking up 2 lines that are already solid

Edited by brett

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I do not like the pairing of Raf with Big E. That has disaster written all over it.

I don't like it either, but I don't think we'll actually see that very much, I think Babs is going to limit Raffi's reg strength ice time since he's just coming back and it's just listed as that for D pairings...

I think we're a lot more likely to see:

Lidstrom-Stuart

Krowall-Salei

Lidstom-Ericsson

Kronwall-Stuart

Salei-Rafalski

Kronwall-Stuart

Ericsson-Salei

Lidstrom-Rafalski

Stuart-Kronwall

Ericsson-Salei

etc, etc, etc...

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