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Four games into an 82 game regular season is not the ideal time to hit the panic button following a disappointing 4-2 home loss by the Detroit Red Wings against the Phoenix Coyotes.
However, the manner in which the Coyotes outplayed the Red Wings and the lack of apparent urgency or motivation from the Wings to change the script is what should be most alarming to Coach Mike Babcock at this early juncture of the lengthy season.
"I’ve never seen it like that, we’ve never been beaten like a drum like that at home ever. Their intensity was much higher than ours and we addressed it from the first period on and never were able to anything about it. I know we have good face-off people; we’re a real good face-off team and tonight, for whatever reason, we weren’t.”
“I thought we were poor. We started out, we lost the first seven face-offs in our own zone and we didn’t skate very good, gave up too many odd-man rushes.” ---Coach Mike Babcock following Detroit's 4-2 loss to Phoenix
Needless to say, Babcock's patience appears to be running extremely thin with his second line of Franzen, Weiss and Alfredsson. He expressed concern during training camp in Traverse City over their lack of cohesiveness early on and minor tweaks to Franzen (hip flexor) and both Weiss & Alfredsson (groin), the preseason did not afford them much of an opportunity to play together to rectify what Babcock saw in camp.
Unfortunately, it has been much of the same through the first four games. Last night's effort against Phoenix perhaps the group's worst performance yet, with each player having a Corsi percentage below 40% during 5 v. 5 play.
Realistically, if the Wings get another 78 games of this type of play from Franzen, a
potential buyout of his contract next summer will appear to be more enticing than it did this past summer.
Ultimately, this club benefitted last spring from an infusion of youth and talent with the likes of the Nyquist, Andersson and Brunner. The energy and exuberance provided this group was paramount in the success the hockey club experienced during their post-season run. I can understand the reasoning of giving the veterans a chance to recapture their spots after injury-plagued shortened seasons. However, more performances like last night and that leash is going to get extremely short in a hurry.
************************************************************************
In the interim, Babcock is limited to shuffling up the lines and inserting the likes of
Tomas Tatar or
Jordin Tootoo into the lineup. Yet, let's look ahead to the month of November and suggest the unlikely scenario that all 17 forwards currently in the Red Wing system are healthy and able to play. Here is my suggested lineup:
Zetterberg - Datsyuk - Franzen
Abdelkader - Weiss - Alfredsson
Nyquist - Andersson - Tatar
Miller - Helm - Eaves
Healthy scratches:
Bertuzzi
Cleary
Waived/moved:
Emmerton
Samuelsson
Tootoo
Let's face facts though....this is my suggested lineup and we all know the likelihood is that Tatar is not going to be given a proper opportunity in the top-nine of this lineup until there is an injury or two that opens up a spot. Realistically, rightly or wrongly, it will remain Bertuzzi and Cleary alongside Andersson for the foreseeable future.
If/when Helm does return, I could envision him anchoring the 4th line to get back up to speed. Babcock has publicly stated he feels it might take Helm six weeks of NHL game action to get to the level he expects out of Helm.
UPDATE: 12:03pm ET Reports from Red Wing practice today state that
Cory Emmerton and
Petr Mrazek have been sent down to the Grand Rapids Griffins of the American Hockey League.
Jonas Gustavsson is ready to return as
Jimmy Howard's backup goaltender.
In addition,
Ansar Khan of mlive.com shares some interesting news:
It will be extremely interesting to find out tomorrow's forward group and lines for Detroit's contest vs. the Philadelphia Flyers.
Make sure to follow Mark on Twitter!
Four games into an 82 game regular season is not the ideal time to hit the panic button following a disappointing 4-2 home loss by the Detroit Red Wings against the Phoenix Coyotes.
However, the manner in which the Coyotes outplayed the Red Wings and the lack of apparent urgency or motivation from the Wings to change the script is what should be most alarming to Coach Mike Babcock at this early juncture of the lengthy season.
"I’ve never seen it like that, we’ve never been beaten like a drum like that at home ever. Their intensity was much higher than ours and we addressed it from the first period on and never were able to anything about it. I know we have good face-off people; we’re a real good face-off team and tonight, for whatever reason, we weren’t.”
“I thought we were poor. We started out, we lost the first seven face-offs in our own zone and we didn’t skate very good, gave up too many odd-man rushes.” ---Coach Mike Babcock following Detroit's 4-2 loss to Phoenix
Needless to say, Babcock's patience appears to be running extremely thin with his second line of Franzen, Weiss and Alfredsson. He expressed concern during training camp in Traverse City over their lack of cohesiveness early on and minor tweaks to Franzen (hip flexor) and both Weiss & Alfredsson (groin), the preseason did not afford them much of an opportunity to play together to rectify what Babcock saw in camp.
Unfortunately, it has been much of the same through the first four games. Last night's effort against Phoenix perhaps the group's worst performance yet, with each player having a Corsi percentage below 40% during 5 v. 5 play.
Realistically, if the Wings get another 78 games of this type of play from Franzen, a
potential buyout of his contract next summer will appear to be more enticing than it did this past summer.
Ultimately, this club benefitted last spring from an infusion of youth and talent with the likes of the Nyquist, Andersson and Brunner. The energy and exuberance provided this group was paramount in the success the hockey club experienced during their post-season run. I can understand the reasoning of giving the veterans a chance to recapture their spots after injury-plagued shortened seasons. However, more performances like last night and that leash is going to get extremely short in a hurry.
************************************************************************
In the interim, Babcock is limited to shuffling up the lines and inserting the likes of
Tomas Tatar or
Jordin Tootoo into the lineup. Yet, let's look ahead to the month of November and suggest the unlikely scenario that all 17 forwards currently in the Red Wing system are healthy and able to play. Here is my suggested lineup:
Zetterberg - Datsyuk - Franzen
Abdelkader - Weiss - Alfredsson
Nyquist - Andersson - Tatar
Miller - Helm - Eaves
Healthy scratches:
Bertuzzi
Cleary
Waived/moved:
Emmerton
Samuelsson
Tootoo
Let's face facts though....this is my suggested lineup and we all know the likelihood is that Tatar is not going to be given a proper opportunity in the top-nine of this lineup until there is an injury or two that opens up a spot. Realistically, rightly or wrongly, it will remain Bertuzzi and Cleary alongside Andersson for the foreseeable future.
If/when Helm does return, I could envision him anchoring the 4th line to get back up to speed. Babcock has publicly stated he feels it might take Helm six weeks of NHL game action to get to the level he expects out of Helm.
UPDATE: 12:03pm ET Reports from Red Wing practice today state that
Cory Emmerton and
Petr Mrazek have been sent down to the Grand Rapids Griffins of the American Hockey League.
Jonas Gustavsson is ready to return as
Jimmy Howard's backup goaltender.
In addition,
Ansar Khan of mlive.com shares some interesting news:
It will be extremely interesting to find out tomorrow's forward group and lines for Detroit's contest vs. the Philadelphia Flyers.
Stay tuned!
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