Wings discuss Offensive Woes
The lack of goal scoring has been the story thus far with the Detroit Red Wings. There have been many theories bandied about and Helene St. James addresses them in this Detroit News article. I think each of the reasons has some validity. Let’s take a quick look at them.
Detroit has become a more defensive team, with the forwards responsible for back-checking. That gives them fewer chances to get out on the break and generate odd man rushes:
“You can count on one hand how many 2-on-1s we’ve had this year,” Robert Lang said Monday. “For the skill and the speed we have, we should have 2-on-1s, 3-on-1s every game. But we play sort of a safe style. I mean, with five guys back, we can’t really get ahead of anybody. It’s kind of hard to go from being back to being first on the offense. It’s hard to get anything going.”
There is some truth to this but I don’t think it is the biggest issue facing Detroit. As St. James mentions, the Wings have the second lowest goal against average. So the defensive focus is working and should help Detroit come playoff time.
The big issue is the lack of production from the power play:
“It’s a little bit disappointing that we haven’t scored as many goals as we have in the past,” Lidstrom said. “I think the power play is a big part of that. Usually we get a goal or two on the power play a game, and that’s a lot of goals if you add that up.”
Detroit was tops in the league last year on the power play and that in turn played a big role in Detroit averaging 3.6 goals per game. Back-checking isn’t relevant when you have the man advantage and are in the opponent’s end of the ice. The Wings do miss a big sniper like Brendan Shanahan on the power play. So one way to address the lack of production on the power play could be to make a trade. That will probably be tough to do right now but I think there is a good chance something gets done during the second half of the season.
Putting Henrik Zetterberg and Pavel Datsyuk together on a line could also be effective. Both players were point a game players last year so this could be a good way to jump start the offense. This is what head coach Mike Babcock needs to do to try and generate some more offense: juggle lines. Dan Cleary is having a breakout year so if you can also get Datsyuk and Zetterberg to produce like they did last season then the goals per game should start to climb.
Dan Cleary Henrik Zetterberg Mike Babcock Nicklas Lidstrom Pavel Datsyuk Red Wings Robert LangNo Comments
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