Deadline Needs: Scoring or Grit?
With all the talk about acquiring a top six forward at this years deadline things can get a bit out of control. First off, if the Wings were to pull off a trade to bolster their top two lines, where would said player fit in?
Click the jump for an explanation.
I know that most of you will say Hudler or Bertuzzi should be moved to the 3rd line, but why move Hudler when he is playing the best hockey of his life? Why move Bertuzzi when he works so well with Pav and Mule?
I want clutch scoring as much as the next guy. Zetterberg is that guy. He's capable of putting up 40 goals. The reason that Filppula and Hudler have been having such amazing seasons is that Z is sacrificing his offensive game to create opportunities for his linemates.
He is starting to heat up though, and as we all know the Red Wings really do have a "switch" that turn on come playoff time. I have no doubt that Zetterberg will be in Conn Smythe form once again in April, and hopefully May and June.
This team has scoring. What it needs is more grit, size and agitation in the bottom six. I don't feel that Emmerton or Mursak can hack it for a long cup run just yet. A player like Paul Gaustad is exactly what the Wings need. He's a character guy that fans love. He is big, abrasive and clutch in the faceoff circle and on the PK.
Only Kenny knows for sure what this team needs, and we will all soon find out what, if anything that is.
Trade deadline ends tomorrow at 3pm
Apparently the need is to let everyone around the Wings get better while not doing a god damn, motherfucking thing.
@garth I truly believe in Kenny; but I don't know if we did enough...Nashville has made some moves and I think they are for real...and even the Sharks now have more depth after today and they've been a torn in our side for the past 2 seasons. A lot of the teams in the West just got deeper. (That's what she said). I hope we are running on all cyclinders come playoffs. And it looks like we are getting a lot of injuries again, yet another hurdle!
Go, Red Wings, Go!
Our needs are different with and without Pav. Since we'll have him for the playoffs, I think we'd be better suited for a big tough gritty forward. Obviously, right now though, it looks like we need a top six forward but that's just because Pav's out.
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@marti783I would argue that whether we have Datsyuk or not we need a top six forward. Sure, some grit would be great but look at our forwards. We have Datsyuk, Zetterberg, Filppula and Franzen ans genuine top-six forwards. By my math that puts us at two thirds of a genuine top two lines. Bert is only top-six when he plays with Datsyuk (same as Holmstrom) and Hudler is top-six by default rather than nature. We have an abundance of bottom-six forwards and a genuine dearth of top-sixers. Datsyuk or not.
This is tough. From where I sit, our team has all the potential to be a scoring powerhouse, but we just don't see delivery that often. Defense sees the same scenario...sometimes those pucks are mishandled way too much, and placed right in front of our goalie. All in all, I think out team is a great team, I mean, just look at the consecutive playoff appearances. That being said, it would be nice to have a team that would almost always score on the man advantage. Lets face it, our guys seem to play better when they have no advantage than when they supposedly have one. I D-guys are scoring plenty of goals, which must've been embarassing to your offense guys for awhile when they weren't really scoring at all. I would say try juggling the lines some more, but maybe we need someone new in there that can light the lamp nine times out of ten, and strikes fear into the hearts of other teams? Don't get me wrong either, Datsyuk certainly does that. When he comes out on the ice, everyone on the opposing team knows it, but that might be our problem as well. I'm sure opposing teams spend plenty of time watching Datsyuk on their off days, making sure they aren't the next victim, or at least making sure that don't look as much of an ass as the last guy that got juked.
Pav is so amazing, I think he clouds our opinion of Top 6 players. First off, I didn't like the Bert resigning (raise and 2 years, that is). Same rate for one year would have been fine. I don't see him as a Top 6 forward. He is 3rd line material. I think Line 1b is great, but we have only 1 true Top Line forward. To me, Pav stands alone on this team as a Top Line player. Hank used to be and probably would be right now if he wasn't _____________ (injured?). Franzen can be but only is for a few games at a time. He has some history of stepping it up in the playoffs, but again I think we sugar coat his performance because of what he has done a few times. We need another person who is always a threat on the top line. An Iginla, Nash, or whoever. So shoot me, but I would trade Franzen, Emmerton, and a draft pick or two for Nash.
@ThroatShot The problem with that is that he could be a complete playoff choker, he's a bit unproven in that regard.
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I love our top 3 lines. Franzen-Dats-Bert, Filp-Z-Huds, Abby-Helm-Miller ... So I want a 4th line center to fit with Homer and Cleary. If we can get a guy who shouldn't be a 4th liner and put him with 2 guys who also shouldn't be 4th liners then we don't have a 4th line. We have 1a 1b and 2a 2b.
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Here's why you move Bertuzzi or Hudler. Because neither one of them should be in the top 6 in the first place.
Bertuzzi playing well with Datsyuk doesn't negate the fact that there could be a better player who would play better with Datsyuk. Think of Datsyuk playing with a bonafide top six player.
As for Hudler, his three point game last night doesn't change the fact that he is way, way too inconsistent. In fact, I would say it accentuates it. Before last night he had two points in the previous ten games.
Also, I was looking at something on nhl.com today and noticed that they have an "if the playoffs started today" feature and guess who the Red Wings would be playing if the playoffs did indeed start today. The Sharks. Anyone think that this team, which isn't significantly better than the ones that couldn't beat the Sharks the last two years is going to do much better against them this year?We absolutely need a top-six forward. There is no Cup being won by this team with only four real top six forwards.But yes, I would love a Paul Gaustaf TOO. Not instead of, but TOO. But our grit need would have to play on the fourth line because unless Babcock is a retard, he's not going to be breaking up up the Abdelkader/Helm/Miller line any time soon.And yes, please trade Daniel Cleary, he's been completely useless for us this year.
@garth All this complaining and were like top 3 in the league! Hudler hasn't been that iconsistent this year anyway. Also, ideally our top six would be something like Zett-Dats-Yzerman, Nash-Crosby-Stamkos, but oh wait this is reality!
@Reddy Also, regarding the Wings position in the league, if Ken Holland was satisfied with the team he wouldn't have added Quincey and he wouldn't be working the phones all weekend to try to make the team better. He would be standing pat, saying that he's happy with what they've got and he's not going to make moves.
@Reddy @garth Ok, but the reality is if don't step it up and make sure we can really turn on the switch and be consistent in the playoffs or else we're done early...that's the reality! And also, if we don't get home ice advantage we are hosed! So we need something to now to help also with filling the void of Datsyuk. Cause the way we are playing just isn't going to cut it.
@RedWingsRule @Reddy Hudler hasn't been inconsistent? He's gone 3 or more games without a point about 6 times and before last night he went 10 games without a point. That's not inconsistent?
And yes, we're top 3 in the league, but we're also completely mediocre on the road and we're 0-3 without Datsyuk. And let's not pretend that a LOT of Detroit's wins have come because of Jimmy Howard bailing the team out, and let's also not pretend that the Wings were VERY lucky to have gotten the play out of Joey MacDonald that they got.
And say what you will about the "reality" of what our top six is, but in 2008 and 2009 we had AMAZING top two lines. Remember when Hudler, Filppula and Cleary were bottom six?
And I'm sure the Wings didn't complain in 1996 when they won a record 62 games in the regular season, but does anyone remember if they won the Stanley Cup? Because I do. And the answer is NO.
So you can take you regular season successes and stuff them in a sack. As I said before, it is right now this team isn't much different than the ones that lost in the second round to San Jose the past two years. Except it's very possible that they will face the Sharks in the first round this year.
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@garth I agree that we do need another scorer, I know we had this discussion before; but Selanne with Datsyuk and Mule would be a great line. But a cheaper Knuble would be nice too, he has the scoring touch, he's just under performing this yeah and so is Washington as a whole. Buy low with him.
Also, Zetterberg really needs to step up from this point on...I'm sorry but he looks bad. There is something wrong with him, I have a feeling that he's playing through an injury and it looks like a back injury. I won't be surprised if he has back surgery after this season. I know that he's never been the strongest skater; but he's sluggish.
@RedWingsRule See I've thought that about Zetterberg at first, but lately he's been very good in my opinion.
@moorecha @RedWingsRule I'm with you on this one. He hasn't been necessarily putting up the numbers but I still think he's been very good in the other facets of his game.
@RedWingsRule See I've thought that about Zetterberg at first, but lately he's been very good in my opinion.
@moorecha @RedWingsRule I'm not saying that he hasn't been good; but he's not the same player who can shut down any player that he was a year or two ago. He is off and not as dominate anymore; hope he can turn the switch on in the playoffs
@RedWingsRule @moorecha I agree that Z has been underwhelming this season. Injury, maybe. Getting older, maybe. I don't know. We can like him as much as we want, but 13G from a shooter like him after 61 games is not there. The Euro Twins are two way players- I get that. But I also think we suger coat their performance by relying on that cop out too much. Pav looks dominant. Hank does this season to me. He looks like a 2nd liner at best. I actually hope it is a back injury, because then he should get better again. If he is actually going downhill this fast, that doesn't bode well for us.
And maybe Filppula and Hudler is making Zetterberg look better than what is he this season....He has done nothing the last few games with Mule and Bert...I expect Zetterberg to be more dominate than this.
The last couple of game I have found a couple of issues besides us not having energy out of the gate. Right now a lot of our top players are not playing and the only line that has shown up consistently is the third line; but I think Cleary is useless this season and should possibly be part of a trade package (don't get me wrong I love the guy but I think he will not improve from this point on). Another issue was the energy in the top two lines while Datsyuk is gone. I was thinking that Helm or Abby needs to center the first line to get it going and get Cleary off of the top six. Babcock is a smart man and he did just this in the third and that's why he's the coach and I'm not. He needs to stick with this change until Datsyuk is back. Also, when Datsyuk comes back and if we do get a gritty center for the bottom six, I feel that Babcock should keep the 3rd line in tact and move Cleary to the 4th line. I would package Cleary and Emmerton (Keep Mursak only because he shoots right-handed) for either a gritty player and a draft pick or maybe Knuble for added scoring for the bottom six.
I know that paragraph might be all over the place; but I'm know proof reading right now lol; hope my point gets across.
