Pre-Game Talk: Wings @ Canucks, Wednesday at 10:30 (Franzen out with injury, Glendening Recalled)

[BinCookin]

Abdelkader and Cleary need to get out of the top 6, and ideally the top 9.

Now you say you want to get Franzen going. OK. Who is his off wing? Justin Abdelkader. How has Justin Abdelkader's production been as an NHL player? What is it about Abdelkader's game that benefits Johan Franzen?

Now let's say, we take Abdelkader off Johan's wing, and in turn we give Johan Franzen, who is a goal-scorer, a young shifty playmaker with a knack for creating scoring chances for his linemates. Replace Abdelkader with Nyquist and roll with Franzne-Zetterberg-Nyquist. Now tell me how that 2nd line plays. That's the kind of line that could get Franzen going.

So you say 1 player doesn't make that much of a difference, but if 1 player ignites an entire line, and helps get 2 other guys going, well then the dominoes just start to fall after that. It can effect the whole team.

I see this debate about our lineup. I agree with many points, but also realize we as fans react too quickly. If people wanted D-men traded whenever they look like crap... well we wouldn't even have enough of them to ice SIX. Smith gone, quincey gone, Lashoff gone right?... XO and sproul... they will save our D right.... give them 30 games and you MIGHT be asking for their heads too... but only trouble is... there are no more heads to be had... you would be stuck with them forever. Basically the defense we have is relatively young, and even the "veterans" are young. So lets just settle down and watch them play. Hopefully Smith improves. Maybe Quincey will play his way off the team like White did.

As for the forward lines. The general movement of players within the lineup has been ok in my eyes.
Sammy not providing much, he moves down to bench.
Weiss not providing much, he is demoted.
Bertuzzi working hard, he is moved up.
Alfredsson working hard, he is moved up.
Tatar has been recently de-benched, and moving up the lineup.

The management is reacting, only MUCH slower than we fans want.
I don't mind cleary on the top line as long as he gets NO points, and looks bad up there. Infact, giving him top line minutes should make that more apparent to everyone. Lets hope Tatar gets some points. God please. Abdelkader experiment should be coming to an end. I mean how LITTLE does he have to score before they demote him??? He has a longer leash than Weiss??

Hopefully we see this slow progression of line juggling UNTIL what we fans already "predict" - NOT KNOW... is that Cleary, Abdelkader belong at best in bottom 6. Bertuzzi maybe top 6. Eventually there will be too many CLEAR bottom 6'ers that trades have to be made to get rid of some.

At this point i will be happy with jettisoning ANYONE from the team to reduce forward numbers (Anyone but Tatar).

 

[BinCookin]

Good luck from a canucks fan. We aren't really in good shape with our bottom 6 cause we have 4-5 injuries in our forwards that are pretty lengthy, I'm expecting canucks top guys to come out tired.

You are worried about your bottom 6... we are worried about our top 6.

 

[Syckle78]

N

You are worried about your bottom 6... we are worried about our top 6.

And our bottom six and our defense, but hey our goaltending is solid.

 

[Chance on Chance]

N
And our bottom six and our defense, but hey our goaltending is solid.

and our coach and our GM

 

[The Geelee]

Detroit Red Wings ‏@DetroitRedWings 25s
#RedWings lines at practice: Zetterberg-Datsyuk-Bertuzzi; Cleary-Weiss-Alfie; Tatar-Andersson-Abdelkader; Miller-Glendening-Eaves

 

[Vladdy84]

Detroit Red Wings ‏@DetroitRedWings 25s
#RedWings lines at practice: Zetterberg-Datsyuk-Bertuzzi; Cleary-Weiss-Alfie; Tatar-Andersson-Abdelkader; Miller-Glendening-Eaves

Cleary? Really? Can't put Tatar with that line? Have to put Tatar with two offensively anemic players? Fire Babcock.

 

[Zetterberg4Captain]

Detroit Red Wings ‏@DetroitRedWings 25s
#RedWings lines at practice: Zetterberg-Datsyuk-Bertuzzi; Cleary-Weiss-Alfie; Tatar-Andersson-Abdelkader; Miller-Glendening-Eaves

hahaha wow, keep it up Babs

with decisions like this if team canada should not win gold I hope you have a good hiding spot...

hmmm, lets put sidney on a checking line, hmmmmm

 

[Chance on Chance]

Cleary? Really? Can't put Tatar with that line? Have to put Tatar with two offensively anemic players? Fire Babcock.

Am I missing something with Cleary? Does anyone think hes looked good? I've watched 9.5 games and havent seen anything from him to think we need him in the top 6 or even on the team

 

[Chance on Chance]

hahaha wow, keep it up Babs

with decisions like this if team canada should not win gold I hope you have a good hiding spot...

hmmm, lets put sidney on a checking line, hmmmmm

Starting line of Cleary - Thorton - Morrow

4th line of Stammer - Crosby - Hall

 

[Brick Top]

Detroit Red Wings ‏@DetroitRedWings 25s
#RedWings lines at practice: Zetterberg-Datsyuk-Bertuzzi; Cleary-Weiss-Alfie; Tatar-Andersson-Abdelkader; Miller-Glendening-Eaves

Must be Babs' insistence on putting a big body/realgood grinder type guy on each line... except for the 4th which is typically just the PK leftovers.

Pretty sure his lines are created out of his love for the old school Nintendo Ice Hockey game... make sure to have at least 1 fat guy who can lower the boom and has a bomb slapshot along with some combination of medium and skinny guys.

Anyway, if Cleary can't spark Weiss' game and get him going, nothing will.

 

[Xvash2]

Put Tootoo on the first line instead of Abby, that would be a fun experiment.

 

[gretskidoo]

Am I missing something with Cleary? Does anyone think hes looked good? I've watched 9.5 games and havent seen anything from him to think we need him in the top 6 or even on the team

He's basically been completely invisible. That's both good and bad.

Babcock needs to try Zetterberg with Weiss already. Hope that's his next move if Weiss doesn't get going after playing with the one true god himself.

 

[Chance on Chance]

He's basically been completely invisible. That's both good and bad.

Babcock needs to try Zetterberg with Weiss already. Hope that's his next move if Weiss doesn't get going after playing with the one true god himself.

Zed -Weiss - Tatar/Nyquist would/could be a solid line. Playing with Zed on the 3nd is gonna help a lot more then on teh 4th with srubs

 

[Frk It]

On a positive note...

Tatar is playing on a line with Datsyuk. That's pretty badass.

Looks like I spoke too soon.

Should have known Cleary was going to get into the top 6 sooner or later. I'm so sick of Mike Babcock.

You want an answer on why we all talk about Cleary so much Benchy? Here ya go.

 

[SoupNazi]

Looks like I spoke too soon.

Should have known Cleary was going to get into the top 6 sooner or later. I'm so sick of Mike Babcock.

You want an answer on why we all talk about Cleary so much Benchy? Here ya go.

These lines keep changing. How do you know that these will be the lines in a game? You don't.

 

[Unfriendly Ghost]

Lines tweeted:

Z-D-B
C-W-Al
T-An-Ab
M-G-E

I can't believe this nonsense. Babcock has nothing going anymore.

 

[Flowah]

Lines tweeted:

Z-D-B
C-W-Al
T-An-Ab
M-G-E

I can't believe this nonsense. Babcock has nothing going anymore.

It's actually better than what we had speculated with Weiss on the fourth line, both Abby and Cleary top6.

That said, it's still pretty bad. It's pretty obvious at this point that Babcock views Clearly completely differently than we do.

I'm a bit confused though. I thought he was pissed at Bert for last game. He seemed to sit all of the 3rd period and OT. But back out on the top line?

 

[The Zetterberg Era]

These lines keep changing. How do you know that these will be the lines in a game? You don't.

I bet you he gives these lines more than the first period. More than I can say about how he has generally treated Tatar or Nyquist.

Cleary has 750 feet of rope from Babcock, the guy couldn't hang himself from the RenCenter. He just isn't evaluated the same way as everyone else and it is very frustrating.

 

[SoupNazi]

I bet you he gives these lines more than the first period. More than I can say about how he has generally treated Tatar or Nyquist.

My point is that these aren't even the same lines as those in practice yesterday. Who knows if they'll be the same tomorrow?

 

[Vladdy84]

It's actually better than what we had speculated with Weiss on the fourth line, both Abby and Cleary top6.

That said, it's still pretty bad. It's pretty obvious at this point that Babcock views Clearly completely differently than we do.

I'm a bit confused though. I thought he was pissed at Bert for last game. He seemed to sit all of the 3rd period and OT. But back out on the top line?

It goes way beyond that. It's not differently. It's another planet. I'd like to hear from Babcock what Cleary does during a game to help the team. I wanna sit next to him and watch game tape and hear his comments about Cleary's play and impact. It's like that movie THEY LIVE. Babcock has the sunglasses on.

 

[Syckle78]

Correct me if I'm wrong, but hasn't Cleary been in the top six two days in a row now? Sure the lines might not be these exact lines. However, that tells me the chances of Cleary being in the top six tomorrow is pretty much a given.

 

[Chance on Chance]

My point is that these aren't even the same lines as those in practice yesterday. Who knows if they'll be the same tomorrow?

I'm gonna roll the dice that Cleary is in the top 6 and gets PP time. Still waiting for all these moves that holland has planned to get Nyquist on the team

 

[Frk It]

My point is that these aren't even the same lines as those in practice yesterday. Who knows if they'll be the same tomorrow?

That's only because not everyone was practicing yesterday. Everyone was on the ice today. I'll bet you whatever you want, you're wrong.

I have a tweet saying those will be the lines tomorrow. What do you have?

 

[Heaton]

That's only because not everyone was practicing yesterday. Everyone was on the ice today. I'll bet you whatever you want, you're wrong.

I have a tweet saying those will be the lines tomorrow. What do you have?

At this point, who cares? If these lines work and the Wings end up winning, does it really matter? The truth of the matter is that the lines that are on paper don't mean anything if they're not working. We saw Tatar - Z - Franzen and they did nothing. I'm not defending the idea of Cleary in the top 6, but I think people get too wrapped up on line combos. There's no guarantee that people X player next to Y player is going to do anything unless they start playing better.

The entire team sucks right now, a perfect lineup on paper means jack ****.

 

[Syckle78]

How much of the problem though is too much juggling? Like you said that line didn't do Jack ****. Bit there's n chance given to build chemistry and learn to work with one another. At some point he's gotta decide on something and just give it a chance. I suppose its still really early and now is the time to experiment ...