32 replies to this topic

[WorkingOvertime]

There was at least once tonight when I saw Cleary had been moved up to Z's line and Franzen was back with Datsyuk.  I didn't get to watch the game, but clipped through to watch a few minutes around each goal to see how they worked out.  Was there a legit reason for that switch, or was it because of a long shift or injury?

For the entire game, the lines were Brunner- Z- Cleary and Abby- Dats- Mule. They didn't start well, but the lines did look good in the third.

 

Holland screwed the whole thing up, he should of rented Semin for a season at 6 million instead of wasting cap space. Wings can't score. Flipulla and Helm will help the situation, but still need a another top 6 forward. Let Gustav be that guy, and get rid of Cleary, Abs, Sammy and Bertuzzi. Bunch of injured, unreliable, or lazy bums. Those three of the four should be gone next season, keep one of Sammy or Bert, haven't seen enough of them to make a decision.

IMO the last two games against Columbus were lost because the Wings couldn't match the intensity of CBJ. With lines that soft, it is difficult to be effective when you cannot win on skill alone.

 

The top-6 needs some type of grit to be effective in the corners, on D, and in front of the net. To give you an idea of the above lineup, Abby has more hits than Tatar, Andersson, Dats, Z, Brunner and Flip combined. Mule would be the only player in that top-6 to average at least one hit per game.

[Johnz96]

Why not?

 

Let's face it. Brunner was expected to be good with good linemates, such as Z and Dats. Everyone, including myself, thought that Z and Brunner would be a good match, since they've done so well in the Swiss league during the lockout.

 

Now, we've seen that:

 

a) Brunner can score

b) Brunner + Z can work in the NHL well, but sometimes they don't. They're still very good, but not great.

c) Brunner + Dats usually don't work too well (except in the PP probably).

 

I didn't think Brunner would be any good in a 3rd line. But I think this is the time to try it. Let Brunner play with Tatar & Tootoo! Give them some ice time, and let's see how they do! Tatar and Tootoo have both been working very hard all the time, and I think that they could probably be a good fit for Brunner's sniper abilities. Brunner needs guys who work hard along his side. Tootoo and Tatar do. And of course, the two can score as well!

 

That, of course, is not to say that Brunner isn't good enough for a 1st or 2nd line! I'm just trying to figure out the best lines overall, looking at the first 26 games this season, hoping for the best for the Red Wings.

Brunner hasn't had enough non PP time with Datsyuk to determine that they don't work well together.

Abdelkader + Cleary + Datsyuk don't work well together

Edited by Johnz96, 11 March 2013 - 07:37 AM.

[Carman]

Babcock just needs to shuffle the lines until Filpulla, Bertuzzi, Samuelsson, and Helm get back, those are 4 of our top 9 that are out.

 

Whether or not you think Bert and Samuelsson suck, they are proven secondary scorers and among the leagues better depth players. Samuelsson has been producing very well these past few years, a lot better than people here seem to realize.

[beachwing]

According to most here, once Dats got someone with skill an soft hands to handle his passes (Mule) we would be golden and the scoreboard would light up.

[MabusIncarnate]

Zett Mule Brunner

Tatar Dats Tootoo

 

Score goals, win games, crush faces. That's how hockey is meant to be played.

 

Cleary can't manage to score with one of the most elite players in the world on his line, time to Ryan Whitney his ass and make him a healthy scratch every other game for a couple weeks and let him try to snap out of it. Play him one game, no points, scratch him next game. Lather, rinse, repeat.

[Z Winged Dangler]

Why is our top scorer being put on the 3rd line? I would rather move Z to center the 3rd line than move Brunner. Brunner is at least productive, Z is clearly struggling to do just about everything right now. 

 

I think that Tatar should be moved up though. I think that the top 2 lines should look something like:

 

Brunner-Z-Franzen

Tatar-Dats-who cares right now but I guess Abs

 

Just put Cleary out of the top 6.

 Cleary is the problem on every line he ends up on.  Flip should be back against Calgary Wednesday I believe Mick was saying last game and he should bump Cleary down.  When Cleary is on your line, your scoring goes down.  He's got squat for hockey sense.  Abby needs to go back to 4th line centre.  Keep Tatar-Eaves-Andersson together cause they've been our best line the past 10 games.  Just get Cleary and Abs back to the 4th line cause the experiment is failing.  Move Tootoo up to be the retriever.  Have the lines of:

 

Tootoo-Z-Brunner

Flip-Dats-Franzen

Tatar-Andersson-Eaves

Cleary-Abdelkader-Miller

 

Cleary and Abs can continue to shut guys down and Dats can score more than a point per game again.  Done.

[wingslogo19]

Cleary shouldn't be on the top 2 lines.

[GoalieManPat]

Hah, why not!?

 

Abdelkader has shown some remarkable aggressivness. He could be as good as Tootoo and Tatar are. Just let Brunner play with guys who are hot. Especially then he wil score.

 

Remarkable aggressiveness is fine and dandy. The problem is thats all Abdelkader brings to the table. He brings nothing in the offensive game which is a problem when your getting top 6 spots. Hes a 4th line player at best. Even more the guys on the 4th line are out producing him and showing just as much aggressiveness. 

[number9]

I think it's very foolish to take Brunner out of the top 6. He's very much a top 6 guy and very much on an expiring contract. Hate to be a player pleaser, but the young goal scoring star who needs to be re-signed is not the guy you demote on a contract year. Let him flourish and fall in love with this system in the top 6 with the stars he signed on to play with.

The only guys who should not be up for demotion right now are Z, D, and B. Everyone else is on the chopping block.

[Richdg]

We can shuffle the lines untill we are blue in the face. But that doesn't change the fact we need more talent. We only have 3 scorers: Datsyuk, Z and Brunner. That is it. No one else on this roster can score much. Tatar is on pace for just under 20 goals over 80 games. Sammy has only had 2 seasons in his entire career with more than 20 goals. he isn't much of a scorer. yes 2 years ago he had 30. But that was his career high water mark. Bert hasn't scored more than 18 in 5 years. Guys, come on we just don't have it. We can hope for better, dream of better, but this group just isn't capable of it. Now we have exhausted datsyuk and Zetterberg, it could get much worse.

Only the plus side, the D is playing better, so we don't have to score as much......we hope..........

[Z Winged Dangler]

I think it's very foolish to take Brunner out of the top 6. He's very much a top 6 guy and very much on an expiring contract. Hate to be a player pleaser, but the young goal scoring star who needs to be re-signed is not the guy you demote on a contract year. Let him flourish and fall in love with this system in the top 6 with the stars he signed on to play with.

The only guys who should not be up for demotion right now are Z, D, and B. Everyone else is on the chopping block.

 
Agreed here.  Keep Brunner in the top 6 cause he's a goal scorer.  Do not touch the 3rd line.  They've been the most consistent line we have.  The only thing that needs to happen is to get Cleary and Abby out of the top 6.  Flip should be back against the Flames and when Helm gets back, we can have a 4th line of Abby-Helm-Miller leaving the 3rd line once again as is.  The wheel is round.

[Danielsm]

I want to see Tatar moved up, but that means one of our top six will have to go down. We may have an option to legitimately trade Flip or Franzen.

Edited by Danielsm, 12 March 2013 - 09:30 AM.

[Euro_Twins]

We can shuffle the lines untill we are blue in the face. But that doesn't change the fact we need more talent. We only have 3 scorers: Datsyuk, Z and Brunner. That is it. No one else on this roster can score much. Tatar is on pace for just under 20 goals over 80 games. Sammy has only had 2 seasons in his entire career with more than 20 goals. he isn't much of a scorer. yes 2 years ago he had 30. But that was his career high water mark. Bert hasn't scored more than 18 in 5 years. Guys, come on we just don't have it. We can hope for better, dream of better, but this group just isn't capable of it. Now we have exhausted datsyuk and Zetterberg, it could get much worse.

Only the plus side, the D is playing better, so we don't have to score as much......we hope..........

 

do you purposely leave franzen and filppula out? franzen is a borderline 30 goal scorer every year, and filppula is one of our most accurate shots, he just needs to shoot more.