Red Wings Playoff Scouting Report

[kipwinger 8,524]

Just thought I'd pass on some excerpts from ESPN's playoff scouting report for those without an insider membership:

"With the playoffs looming, the banged up Red Wings have slowly seen their lineup return to the one Holland envisioned when he pieced this team together. Babcock is getting glimpses of the team speed and physical play in the offensive zone the Red Wings need in order to be elite -- just not a consistent 60 minutes worth."

Key strength: Detroit's top six are as good as anybody in the league...

"They're so skilled. Dastyuk and Zetterberg can really make it happen from nothing down low," said one Western Conference player. "Then they have Lidstrom and [Niklas] Kronwall back there with their steady D that always do their work. They have a good goalie too. They're just a sound team all over."

Valtteri Filppula has had a strong season, and Gustav Nyquist has the skill to play in Detroit's top six if he's needed in the postseason. Johan Franzen's inconsistent play has been puzzling at times, but he has a track record of producing in the playoffs, where he has 72 points in 83 career postseason games.

Key weakness: There are more weaknesses than usual with this Detroit team. It has a troubling road record and a penalty kill and power play that both struggle to crack the top 20 in the league. But with the Red Wings, it'll come down to health. Detroit is completely average without Lidstrom, who missed time with a deep bone bruise on his foot, and the team won't win a playoff round if Howard can't stay on the ice.

"The biggest thing for them is staying healthy," said former Columbus Blue Jackets coach Scott Arniel. "For them, if Howard can't stay healthy, they're going to be in trouble. He's evolved into a top-flight NHL goaltender. He gives them a chance."

Considering the offensive talent, the lack of success on the power play is another issue.

"At times it gets a little stagnant," said an NHL scout. "It gets predictable where the guys are. As a penalty kill, if nobody is moving, it's easy to cover guys. The Red Wings power play is too stagnant positionally. To have that much skill and not score goals on a consistent basis is beyond me."

Secret strength: The Red Wings don't get enough credit for just how deep they are defensively. Babcock said he's had to go to a rotation on defense now that he's getting all the bodies back, with trade-deadline addition Kyle Quincey sitting Friday against Nashville as a healthy scratch. Depth on defense is a prerequisite to a long playoff run, as teams like Vancouver and Philadelphia have proven the last couple of seasons. Still, it's one thing to have depth, it's another for those players to be effective. There's definitely been a bit of a transition for Quincey from Colorado to Detroit, and a guy like Jakub Kindl is a playoff unknown.

Missing ingredient: Forward depth. When there are injuries to the top six, the third and fourth lines start getting really thin for the Red Wings. That wasn't always the case in Detroit where shifts from the third and fourth lines often changed the course of playoff games.

"If they run into any serious injuries, especially to their top forwards, they have guys on the third line who can move up, but they don't have the depth and someone who can do the same job on the third line as the guy who moved up," said an NHL scout. "Depth is a bit of a problem if they run into health issues or are playing poorly and want to make changes."

[Guest Hatethedrake!]

Just thought I'd pass on some excerpts from ESPN's playoff scouting report for those without an insider membership:

"With the playoffs looming, the banged up Red Wings have slowly seen their lineup return to the one Holland envisioned when he pieced this team together. Babcock is getting glimpses of the team speed and physical play in the offensive zone the Red Wings need in order to be elite -- just not a consistent 60 minutes worth."

Key strength: Detroit's top six are as good as anybody in the league...

"They're so skilled. Dastyuk and Zetterberg can really make it happen from nothing down low," said one Western Conference player. "Then they have Lidstrom and [Niklas] Kronwall back there with their steady D that always do their work. They have a good goalie too. They're just a sound team all over."

Valtteri Filppula has had a strong season, and Gustav Nyquist has the skill to play in Detroit's top six if he's needed in the postseason. Johan Franzen's inconsistent play has been puzzling at times, but he has a track record of producing in the playoffs, where he has 72 points in 83 career postseason games.

Key weakness: There are more weaknesses than usual with this Detroit team. It has a troubling road record and a penalty kill and power play that both struggle to crack the top 20 in the league. But with the Red Wings, it'll come down to health. Detroit is completely average without Lidstrom, who missed time with a deep bone bruise on his foot, and the team won't win a playoff round if Howard can't stay on the ice.

"The biggest thing for them is staying healthy," said former Columbus Blue Jackets coach Scott Arniel. "For them, if Howard can't stay healthy, they're going to be in trouble. He's evolved into a top-flight NHL goaltender. He gives them a chance."

Considering the offensive talent, the lack of success on the power play is another issue.

"At times it gets a little stagnant," said an NHL scout. "It gets predictable where the guys are. As a penalty kill, if nobody is moving, it's easy to cover guys. The Red Wings power play is too stagnant positionally. To have that much skill and not score goals on a consistent basis is beyond me."

Secret strength: The Red Wings don't get enough credit for just how deep they are defensively. Babcock said he's had to go to a rotation on defense now that he's getting all the bodies back, with trade-deadline addition Kyle Quincey sitting Friday against Nashville as a healthy scratch. Depth on defense is a prerequisite to a long playoff run, as teams like Vancouver and Philadelphia have proven the last couple of seasons. Still, it's one thing to have depth, it's another for those players to be effective. There's definitely been a bit of a transition for Quincey from Colorado to Detroit, and a guy like Jakub Kindl is a playoff unknown.

Missing ingredient: Forward depth. When there are injuries to the top six, the third and fourth lines start getting really thin for the Red Wings. That wasn't always the case in Detroit where shifts from the third and fourth lines often changed the course of playoff games.

"If they run into any serious injuries, especially to their top forwards, they have guys on the third line who can move up, but they don't have the depth and someone who can do the same job on the third line as the guy who moved up," said an NHL scout. "Depth is a bit of a problem if they run into health issues or are playing poorly and want to make changes."

Can't say I disagree with much there. I don't know why the PP is so bad. Is it the addition of the new assistant coaches instilling a flawed plan of attack? Or is it the players' failure to execute it properly? Maybe both. Howard does give us a chance but how healthy is that hamstring? We really miss Helm on the PK. It's too bad we didn't have Eaves as well because he is another PK ace. Successful playoff teams always have guys able to step up when needed. We all recall Helm's big goals in 2008 and Abdelkader's in 2009. All teams have question marks heading into the post season. It's the ones who have the fewest are the ones which end up winning. Bottom line is the Wings can beat any team but they can also lose to any team. It's cliche but true.

[kipwinger 8,524]

In general I agree with the assessment as well. However, I do think that the PK and PP are looking better than during the losing streak. The PK had killed 15 of its last 15, and the powerplay is scoring some (as opposed to never during the streak) and more importantly, it's getting shots on net finally. All of which is pretty obviously explained by the return of key guys. At this point, I really think that getting some lines set, and getting linemates on the same page is the biggest concern for this team. Players say all the time that timing is extremely important, and moving Bert, Miller, Abby, Nyquist, etc. up and down the lines can really mess with that (same for defensive pairings). Look how long it took Z, Flip, and Hudler to get on the same page and get ALL members firing. But once it happens you're in pretty good shape.

[Echolalia 2,961]

The power play is bad for the same reason that the Wings have a lot of other problems. There's no desperation or passion. I don't want to blame the coaches, although its an appealing avenue because two of our coaches are brand new and the issues popped up just this year, but the Wings have consistently been poor with winning the small battles, and investing energy to get that tip in the slot, or to come up with the puck in the corner. It certainly doesn't help that the go-to guys for these situations have been nursing injuries, ie Eaves, Cleary, Zetterberg, now Helm. I think Filpulla has been the only player who has really stepped it up and taken on a larger load when it comes to playing with passion and heart. Hopefully the postseason is inspiration enough to get everyone in the right mind.

[GoWings1905 2,694]

Missing ingredient: Darren Helm

[kylee 727]

Agree completely on the power play front. They need to be more desperate and absolutely need to be less predictable.