When did Nyquist become chopped liver?
If you're going to call up Sheahan to be the 3c or 4c that makes sense. Calling him up to play top 6 wing over Nyquist would make 0 sense.
When did Nyquist become chopped liver?
If you're going to call up Sheahan to be the 3c or 4c that makes sense. Calling him up to play top 6 wing over Nyquist would make 0 sense.
The main reason is because it's obvious Babcock wants a bigger guy on each scoring line. When healthy that would be Bert and Mule. If Sammy is healthy he'd be put on one of those lines. Since none of them are healthy Babs is putting Cleary and Abby up there. Cleary obviously doesn't belong, so that's why I'm suggesting giving Sheahan a try on a scoring line. He's got the size Babs is seeking but should be a much more useful player than Cleary.
Ahhh ok that makes sense then. I think that's a bit overrated since our best line last year was Hudler-Z-Fil and none of them are very big, but I do understand the thought process, and Babs does like size.
I'd really like to see Riley get a shot at 3rd line center myself. Run something like this, that puts helm back at 4th line and gives us an awesome 4th line.
Franzen-Z-Brunner
Fil-Dats-Bert
Tatar-Sheahan-Sammy
Abby-Helm-Tootoo
When we are healthy, I think that would be an awesome lineup.
Darth Vadar is Luke Skywalker's father.
Call up Goose...
Who is going to have the highest TOI out of that bottom6 the next game? Miller's got to be the favorite, I'd guess with 12:30. Tatar's the darkhorse if we get a lot of PP time. I bet the other four all get under 10 minutes...
Who knows, but I'm actually fairly confident in these lines. Andersson as the 3rd line center scares me however, don't think he's made a fool of himself but he's a 4th line guy at best for the time being. On the other hand, the bottom six lines are interchangeable.
I'm more pessimistic about the top six having two guys that can't even be considered as scoring pluggers.
I'm all for giving players a legitimate shot at the top 6 if they deserve it. But in a shortened season you don't have time to experiment. Abdelkader is not (and probably will never be) a top 6 player. He can't play a fluid, puck-possession style Hank, Brunner and Mule play. His game is "skate it to the opponent's zone, forecheck, hit anything that moves and try to put the goalie under pressure". Those are his limitations.
Tatar should play in the top 6 and I'd give Eaves a shot with Z.
What the hell is going on with Sammy anyways? Been out a long time
I think I finally give up on Babcock. How he can put two guys who have combined for 1 goal and 1 assist through 26 games beside Pavel Datsyuk and Henrik Zetterberg is absolutely mind boggling. This is not a good product to ice, plain and simple.
Babcock has two skilled guys in Tatar, who has as many points as Cleary and Abby do in 5 games rather than 26, and Nyqvist, who is a PPG in the AHL.
This need for size for players playing alongside Dats and Z is a some sort of weird idea Babcock, and other people have thought up, which i just DO NOT understand. Datsyuk and Zetterberg are such good players that they create space on their own for their linemates without the NEED FOR SIZE. That`s what big guys do, they create space and make it harder for the opposition. That is exactly what Datsyuk and Zetterberg do because they are EXTREMELY skilled, which is something all skilled players do!
You gotta score goals to win the game, why is that so hard to understand? Instead of getting offensively skilled guys to play with the Wings best players, Babcock puts perhaps the teams LEAST offensive players. Because they're BIG! They aren't EVEN that big!!!!
I'm so mad, so pissed off right now at seeing that line up.
Nyqvist - Zetterberg - Brunner
Filppula - Datsyuk - Tatar
Miller - Abdelkater - Eaves
Tootoo - Emmerton - Cleary
Why?????
We would be BETTER OFF with 1/2 of the team being Griffins instead of useless heaps of formerly good players like Cleary, Bertuzzi, Samuelsson, etc.
Tatar earned his spot, Lashoff earned his spot, Nyquist has his spot that he should be entitled to him being kept from him, Andersson has played well enough - though I'd rather see Sheahan playing in his spot.
It's a good thing Holland did sign all these vets. Who's to say if he didn't that half the lineup would be comprised of the Grand Rapids Griffins by now? Heck, we're already close to calling up a fourth member of the Griffins now.
Of the veteran forwards KH has (re)signed, two of the three are injured.
Nyquist - Datsyuk - Filppula
Tatar - Zetterberg - Brunner
Abby - Andersson - Tootoo
Miller - Emmerton - Eaves
Tatar is the perfect player to put alongside Hank and the Nose. That line is missing a good defensively responsible forechecking winger to make up for Brunner. If Nyquist can't crack the top-six by now in KH's eyes , then he probably never will; the kids 24. I don't want Abby at center, Andersson has done just fine and should stay until Helm is back. No Cleary please.
Is it just me, or is improving our current lineup really easy? I know I'm not qualified to be a GM/coach, but it perplexes me how complicated Babcock is making the lineup and KH is making the roster. It took me about 5 minutes to make a forward lineup that looks a lot better than the one we rolled out two nights ago, on paper at least.
Like those lines. But really don't like what I see from Andersson thus far. He looks to be a borderline NHL player. I'd rather Emmerton center that third line.