What happens when our team becomes fully healthy?

[odin1981]

Welcome aboard.

And I like your lineup. I think it's extremely balanced and adds an opportunity for offense from each line. Looks like something Babcock would do, except I'm not sure we'll see Helm moved away from center duties.

Thank you as well for the welcome mate.

I really like our center depth. Fil for top 6 replacement (injury), Helm for bottom 6. Yeah it would be hard to not see helm lining up for 3c but currently I feel our 3rd line should not be touched at all unless scoring dries up on it.

I feel that as the season has progressed our d as it is now is trending up well. And would not touch it outside of injury. Also since I'm a site noob I apologise if I can't list by # for players. Just saves time so that is why I did it.

 

[RedWinger10]

Thank you for the welcome mate. Yeah it is a nice benefit of always having great center depth.

I personally would be surprised to see Samuelsson plays 10-15 this year given the groin injuries. And if Babcock refueses to split up one of Brunner/Franzen from Zetta I would like to see a forward lineup along the lines of:

93-40-24
51-13-43
17-63-21
8/20-25-22

(it won't happen but I would love aby to sit come playoffs as 13th man while miller plays)

I'd like to see a 14 in there somewhere. Otherwise a good lineup.

 

[odin1981]

Me too but I don't think it will happen without a Eaves or Miller injury given we are at our max roster currently. But in all honesty unless they playoffs call him up if Grand Rapids is out early I hate to say it is more than likely we won't see him till next year.

Also Babs seems to keep him on a extremley short leash so I would kinda not want him to suffer from confidence issues by that as well.

 

[Bench]

Also Babs seems to keep him on a extremley short leash so I would kinda not want him to suffer from confidence issues by that as well.

He does at first, but then, and admittedly slowly, they get more and more responsibility. Look at Helm and Abdelkader as examples. Abby is in the top 6 now for Pete's sake!

Andersson and Tatar seem to be playing their way into roster spots and getting more looks from Babcock. Same goes for Kindl lately, even though he was on thin ice to start the year. Sometimes I wish these things happened faster, but if the players are good enough, they always seem to earn their time. Another example is Ericsson rising to the top 2 on the blueline.

Holland has mentioned Nyquist coming to the lineup by playoff time. But it will be interesting to see what happens and how the team responds to getting players back.

 

[odin1981]

Oh nice. I was unaware Holland had said that about Gustav. Well maybe that gives some hope to maybe see the GrG 1st line as our 3rd line come playoffs than.

One thing about Babs that worries me (keynote not saying he should be fired or anything) is that he seems very stubborn. I know he is very accomplished as a coach and am in no way saying he hasn't forgotten more about hockey than I know. But he unlike Bowman seems much more "it works like this and I won't give something else a whirl" type coach. Where as Bowman was not sloth about switching stuff around to see if stuff would work.

About abby I hope he is potential trade bait for a famous shot in the dark of a hakan andersson 7th round pick. I believe his current value is maybe a fifth at most. Maybe to a team like edm or something that needs player from a proven winner to help influence their kids in their growth as nhl'rs. I also feel abby would never be top 6 if it weren't for current injury situation and I don't mind him bottom 6 for a run as long as he doesn't get a typical 3rd period penalty lapse that he is often prone too.

 

[Big Poppa Puck]

What happens? Andersson and Tatar go back to GR and Huskins gets waived.

Then we all get to watch Cleary and Sammy fall all over themselves.

FWIW, I don't think Bert comes back this year.

 

[RedWinger10]

He does at first, but then, and admittedly slowly, they get more and more responsibility. Look at Helm and Abdelkader as examples. Abby is in the top 6 now for Pete's sake!

Andersson and Tatar seem to be playing their way into roster spots and getting more looks from Babcock. Same goes for Kindl lately, even though he was on thin ice to start the year. Sometimes I wish these things happened faster, but if the players are good enough, they always seem to earn their time. Another example is Ericsson rising to the top 2 on the blueline.

Holland has mentioned Nyquist coming to the lineup by playoff time. But it will be interesting to see what happens and how the team responds to getting players back.

Yes, but there is NO WAY Abby should be in the top 6! There are articles on the red wings web site praising Abby's goal last night......* mind blown* was I the only one who noticed there was NO GOLIE IN THAT NET? And that was his first goal of the season...he has been playing on Datsyuk's wing for weeks now, he should be stacking them up! Nobody in their right mind could say with a straight face Abby is doing better than Nyquist would on Datsyuk's wing.

 

[odin1981]

What happens? Andersson and Tatar go back to GR and Huskins gets waived.

Then we all get to watch Cleary and Sammy fall all over themselves.

FWIW, I don't think Bert comes back this year.

I agree with you on bert and pray that andersson and tatar isn't what happens.

I think if he is walking around on a cane he will be a ltir until his contract is up (next year I believe) at least ltir this season maybe he might try to go for a bit next year.

I truly hope that cleary turns it around or that sams keeps reinjuring groin due to the idea if they are both in the lineup I believe it is impossible for us to run a 3 line puck possesion type of team. With the GrG 1st line we can and I believe our defense has righted the ship due to the fact that other than kronwall I don't believe anyone played in the lockout elsewhere.

 

[silkyjohnson50]

In about two weeks or so when Helm is healthy how would you all feel about helmer winging on Datsyuk's line?

I would absolutely love that. Helm is basically everything that you'd want from a bottom 6 forward on Datsyuk's wing: great on the forecheck, great on the cycle, hard on the puck. In addition, his speed opens up space for him to find and create lanes. He's essentially everything that Abdelkader and Cleary are not.

I especially like the idea of both Fil and Helm on the wings. I think that would be a tremendous line that could be used in any situation and would match up great against opposing top lines. Helm and Fil's speed would also allow Datsyuk to play more aggressive offensively, rather than the rover position he's basically taken in recent times.

With all of that being said, I don't think Babcock has the guts to pull a lineup move like that. He'll instead put Helm on the 3rd line, call him "the best 3rd line center in the league," and say it helps the team depth up front.

I love the idea though, and Emmerton/Andersson's development have definitely allowed for such creativity.