joesuffP

Sorry everyone, had to make a new thread

I believe Babcock has been terrible this year. I think injuries and the roster is hiding the fact that this team is undisciplined, no structure and often un prepared. You never know what your gonna get with the wings. The powerplay and penalty kill is a joke and an embarrassment for the last 3 years. Whose fault is that? Every year it seems we get a new assistant coach but have the same problems so what does that mean?

So the real question... Fire him or not?

Let's discuss Flippula for a moment.

 

I've been talking about Flippula a lot lately and it's not because I don't like the guy. I have always stood by him in his developing years and knew he would have his breakout year last year. If you look back at my older posts I have always been a big fan but, this being his final year in his contract, I just don't find it wise for Holland to give him a raise and lock him up long term. Going forward this team needs to be bigger and stronger. Finesse and skill is fine but we have more than enough of that. Flippula gives us no extra dynamic in the top 6 and honestly, if you replace Flippula with Nyquist I don't expect to see much of a difference. Flippula would make a huge difference on other teams and be worth the money to them but to the red wings I don't see a place for him if we get to the point of being a stanley cup contender. I would love for Holland to atleast take one step in the right direction this season by getting somebody new that can shake up the lineup

 

And this isn't because I'm freaking out about the loss. This is a big choice Holland has to make whether to keep him, trade him or let him walk so and that is just my opinion

So why haven't they named a captain yet? Is it safe to say it is Zetterberg?

If we head into the season as is our forward line up would look like

Nyquist-Datsyuk-Franzen
Brunner-Zetterberg-Flippula
Samuelsson-Helm-Bertuzzi
Cleary-Abdelkader-Tootoo

If Nyquist and Brunner keep their top 6 positions than our bottom 6 looks amazing... Lots of scoring, speed and hitting. That 3rd line could be a game changer every night. That Nashville series was lost in the bottom 6 matchup. Having Helm playing with some offensive guys would give him his real shot at being a scoring threat every game. Than our 4th line has more scoring than most plus very fast and strong. Having this bottom 6 in place is a Stanley cup winning bottom 6. Beef up the top 6 and D and our team will be solid in all aspects