It would not surprise me to see the Wings start Chris Osgood Friday night vs. Edmonton to rest Hasek for Saturday night's tilt in Nashville.
The Wings have a great chance to put some distance between themselves and the Preds with this weekend's games. At this stage, winning the division takes on greater precedence than in years past. With 5 games remaining head to head with Nashville, the division is still up for grabs. I would be surprised if Hasek starts vs. Edmonton when they have not played Hasek in back to back games all season in the hopes of avoiding injury.
No one wants to face Anaheim or San Jose in Round 1. If the Wings could hand pick their first round opponent, I think they would opt for Minnesota or Dallas. Nevertheless, with this 5 game stretch of 3 games vs. Chicago, at Nashville and at home to Edmonton, the Wings have a golden opportunity to stretch out a small gap on the Predators heading into the final month of the season.
This weekend also bring us closer to Tuesday's trade deadline. The need to diversify the Wings' offense continues to grow with every game played as the line of Datsuyk, Zetterberg and Holmstrom continue to carry the majority of the offensive load. Consider the fact that over the past 16 games (going back to January 15th), this line has scored 27 of the 49 goals scored by Detroit (55%). Without question, Holland will get himself at least one top 6 forward to hopefully address this issue. The hope is he is also a player who can address Detroit's perceived lack of toughness. The question at this stage is who and at what price.
As for Dominik Hasek, his play has been very good this season and his presence in the postseason will definitely increase their chances of winning playoff hockey games. Yet, I still believe the biggest piece Holland could go out and get for this team is another solid d-man to add to the blueline to solidify the backend. Whether that piece is available over the course of the next 5 days is to be determined. Aside from the Lidstrom/Markov pairing, the depth on the blueline concerns me.
Kronwall's play has begun to slightly improve over the course of the season, however the fact he is only +1 on this team is a concern. Pairing him with a solid defencemen at this stage would solidify this 2nd pairing. In a perfect world for the Wings, their 3rd defensive pairing heading into the playoff would be Chelios and Schneider with Lebda as your 7th man.
I will be stunned if Schneider is resigned in the offseason. He obviously can still produce on the power play and is good at moving the puck, however I have never felt his play to be particularly strong in his own end. He should be relegated to the power play and 3rd defensive pairing. I truly believe this team's downfall could be the fact that their top 4 defensemen don't match up with other teams top 4 defensemen, in particular in the Western Conference with teams such as Anaheim, Calgary and Nashville. In my opinion, it was the play of Edmonton's top 4 D-Men (Pronger, Smith, Staios and Spacek) which did in the Wings in Round 1 last spring over (Lidstrom, Kronwall, Schneider and Chelios). Then again, the play of Dwayne Roloson didn't hurt.
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