A hole that must be filled

by Wings40 on Oct 18, 2009 5:07 PM CDT Comment 10 comments

I dont want to sound like a cry-baby whiner but I have some concern over our first 7 games. What is going on?!?!

Something isn't right. You can say that no-name guy who left us for Chicago is leaving a big hole but.... It's not that. Something is missing in our game. The blue line which was like a steel wall for many years seems to be rusting. Our offense seems to be a little off.

What in the world is going on? Why are we off to such a slow start? I think we all clicked as team mates. Big Bert and Willams are former Wings so they know the system. But our system is falling apart. Can someone tell me who is slowing us down?

Coaching? Not a fat chance. Babcock has been our leader into every game. Smart and not some angry old man, he has took us to the finals twice. The last one being quite a fail....
I don't want to put the blame on someone but there is a someone on this roster who is not performing well. Maybe it's a cold streak but that guy better turn it around. FAST!

I am keeping in mind that Franzen is out.

Poll

Who is our cold streaker?

Kronwall

4 votes

Stuart

1 votes

Zetterberg

2 votes

Datsyuk

9 votes

Osgood

22 votes

Cleary

2 votes

Rafalski

3 votes

Other

3 votes

46 votes | Poll has closed

0 recs | Comment 10 comments

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Comments

It doesn’t help that we lost Franzen and Datsyuk.

by Apocalyptic0n3 on Oct 18, 2009 7:13 PM CDT reply actions 0 recs

I

have kept that in mind, but u dont feel we are lacking some where else

Im like Steve Yzerman! No, not the leadership, goals, two way play or sportmanship..... Just the knee pain!

by Wings40 on Oct 19, 2009 5:37 AM CDT up reply actions 0 recs

I would have to say Hank and Rafalski, then. Lidstrom has been playing fairly well, his linemate hasn’t, however. At this point, I think it might be beneficial to try Kronwall on the top d-pairing and see what he can do with Lidstrom.

Zetterberg… he’s off to a really slow start. We could be in trouble if he doesn’t pick things up.

by Apocalyptic0n3 on Oct 19, 2009 9:37 AM CDT up reply actions 0 recs

It would be too easy to blame Lebda. And he didn’t look bad last game.

I say Z and Datsyuk. Compare Z’s play so far this season with the past two seasons. He is looking better game-to-game though, so there’s hope there. And Datsyuk has looked very tentative so far. Kind of like that “no-name guy who left us for Chicago” during the playoffs (Kopecky, right?).

by bleep bloop on Oct 18, 2009 10:24 PM CDT reply actions 0 recs

lol

Im like Steve Yzerman! No, not the leadership, goals, two way play or sportmanship..... Just the knee pain!

by Wings40 on Oct 19, 2009 5:37 AM CDT up reply actions 0 recs

In my humble opinion...

I think that maybe teams have just flat out figured out how to beat our system. Sure, it doesn’t help things one bit when you have guys like Franzen and Datsyuk out but I think the number of leads we’ve lost is an indicator of the fact that teams are just figuring out the system. Maybe it’s just a matter of time before our lines click though.

Winging It In Motown

by Casey Richey on Oct 19, 2009 2:31 PM CDT reply actions 0 recs

Yep

You are EXACTLY right. After the Wings won the Cup in ‘08 (that year they just seemed impossible to play against), the other teams realized in order to beat the Wings you have to be relentless and aggressive. Last year there offense bailed them out. This year they don’t have as good of an offense so they will be very beatable. It’s time for a system change, or even more drastic… a coaching change. I know that won’t happen this year because of the Olympics and all, but Babcock is a good coach and should start showing it. He needs to adjust to the even newer NHL. The NHL which is a high energy, full speed all the time game. If you don’t play that way against Detroit they will pick you apart, if you do play that way… Detroit won’t be able to keep up. They need to change something. It doesn’t bother me if they would lose because they are simply not good, but they have the pieces. Now they just need to compete every game, the entire game.

by dewman8810 on Oct 20, 2009 3:18 AM CDT up reply actions 0 recs

The way i look at it is we basiclly have a different team this year. Eaves, bertuzzi, williams,leino, may, even abdelkater i would say are new to the team and need to find there spot and role on the team. you cant expect to sign player to a new team and expect them to play top game when your not used to your linemates. if you think about it all of our lines have a new player in the mix, and i think babcock just hasnt found the right line combinatoins yet. i personally think we should move eaves upto third line(we need more scoring potential with the absence of franzen), and hes got scoring potential thats not gonna come to use if hes on a line with maltby , may , or draper thats main focus is to backcheck

by Fiend on Oct 20, 2009 3:34 PM CDT reply actions 0 recs

Keep Pavel and Hank together

I dont know why but Babcock seems to hate putting them together for too long when its obvious they compliment each other the best on the ice. (when healthy of course). I wouldnt fault Osgood because he cant help our defense for leaving men wide open and leaving the shooting and passing lanes wide open that lead to Ozzie havin to try and make amazing saves that not even Hasek in his hayday could pull off. Yea he hasnt played strong every game but the defense in general has played even worse.

by Jimbo5203 on Oct 22, 2009 1:44 AM CDT reply actions 0 recs

Keep Pavel and Hank together

I agree to your whole post

Those two are the most dynamic players on the Wings roster and compliment each other in both ends. They always seem to know where the other one is and get the puck to him usually without thinking.

The only reason I can come up with for splitting them up is because Pavel and Hank have the ability to make other players better. I can barely ice skate, I’m as coordinated as a drunken monkey, but if I was playing on a line with Pav or Hank… I’d look pretty darn good.

On a team full of new people and adjusting on the fly to a system those new people are still getting used to, it’s good to have veterans of the system and of the game that can make those players better all around, not just offensively, defensively, or as a team player within the system.

by The Dk on Oct 22, 2009 11:18 AM CDT up reply actions 0 recs