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11 and 7 offers options

November 21, 2017, 11:30 PM ET [8 Comments]
Bob Duff
Detroit Red Wings Blogger • RSSArchiveCONTACT
7-eleven is known for being open 24/7, but as far as Jeff Blashill is concerned, 11-7 is the best bet for having options at his disposal.

For all four games of the Detroit Red Wings’ current five-game homestand, which concludes Wednesday with the Wings playing host to the Edmonton Oilers, Detroit coach Blashill has opted to suit up 11 forwards and seven defenseman, as opposed to the traditional formula of 12 and 6. Now, it was an experiment, as experiments often are, that was launched out of necessity. Originally, the Wings simply didn’t have enough healthy forwards to suit up 12 of them.

But as his team regained its overall health, Blashill opted to stick with the 11-7 format, enticed by the options it presented him with his forwards.

“I’m fine with 11 and seven,” Blashill said. “I did it before. I did it in the American League. I think right now the way our team is set up, it allows me to up front to have a match line, and then also play some other skill lines together and play guys with multiple people, instead of just being stuck playing with one person.”

The match line is deployed as a checking unit against the other team’s top forward line, and has mainly consisted of Frans Nielsen between Darren Helm and Luke Glendening, although Justin Abdelkader filled a role with the trio when Helm was briefly out with an injury.

For the most part, though, what Blashill likes best about this format is the way he can mix and match his other eight forwards, and get the guys on the ice more that are playing the best on a particular night.

“There’s different guys on this team that when they’re playing great we try to feed minutes to, and dressing 11 allows that easier than 12,” Blashill said.

One of those forwards who has truly benefitted from this arrangement is Andreas Athanasiou. With just 11 forwards suited up, the speed merchant is not only garnering added ice time, it’s allowing Blashill to utilize Athanasiou more frequently at center, the position where his world-class speed serves him, and the team, best.

“The difference between center and wing for him is he’s a guy who skates when he gets the puck,” Blashill explained. “He doesn’t have the same necessary habit to skate without the puck.

“Helmer’s really learned as a winger how to skate to open space without the puck. AA kind of waits until he gets the puck. Well, it’s kind of hard to get it on the wing as much. You get it way more at center.

“I just think getting him in the middle of the ice where he can get the puck and attack up the ice at speed probably is using his best attributes.”

The other added attraction that comes from suiting up 11 forwards is it keeps everyone on the bench on their toes and into the game, because they never know when their number might be called.

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