Jiri Hudler’s Chance to Crack a Scoring Line?
Ansar Khan reports in his blog over at MLIVE that Mikael Samuelsson is out with a broken foot. The injury happened during the game against the Avalanche last Saturday:
[Head coach Mike Babcock] said it happened when Samuelsson blocked a shot in Saturday’s game in Colorado, but the club didn’t know it was broken until he had X-rays taken on Thursday.
With Samuelsson out of the lineup it will create an open spot on the second line that is centered by Robert Lang. Josh Langfeld will get the callup to fill Samuelsson’s roster position. Jiri Hudler played well on Robert Lang’s line earlier this season, scoring his first two goals while on that line. So with Samuelsson likely out of the lineup for an extended period of time, Hudler seems like one of the players likely move up to the second line.
Of course Johan Franzen could move up from his duties on the Draper and Kirk Maltby line to play on the second line. But the third line has been very solid, oftentimes taking the opening faceoff. Franzen has gone +6 since returning to the lineup on December 14 and also assisted on a short-handed goal. He is amongst the team leaders in hits per game and in short-handed ice time per game amongst forwards. So he is a great fit on the 3rd/checking line.
However the second line has been hit or miss all season. Lang has averaged 0.69 points per game. Dan Cleary went on a tear earlier in the season but has cooled off over the past dozen games and is averaging 0.59 points per game for the season. The opposite wing slot has been occupied briefly by numerous players but no one has laid claim to the spot. Filling that spot with a player who is an offensive threat could help to kickstart the second line. The second line has only scored 6 goals over the last 12 games and tallied just 13 points over that stretch of games. That simply isn’t enough production from a scoring line.
Jiri Hudler just started to heat up prior to the All Star break, scoring the game winning goal in back to back games against Montreal and Nashville on January 15th and 17th. The next week could be a good time to try him out again on the second line and see if the increased ice time helps get the Lang line back on track.
Dan Cleary Jiri Hudler Mikael Samuelsson Red Wings Robert Lang2 Comments
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[…] With Hudler playing as well as he has, he could very well move up to the second line, as Dave of Gorilla Crouch proposed yesterday. Ellis may center the checking line since he’s very good at faceoffs, but Franzen is also a likely choice. - Matt […]
[…] I suggested Hudler could benefit from increased ice time due to the injury Mikael Samuelsson sustained a little over a week ago. Head coach Mike Babcock was quoted in the media as saying that the younger players are going to have to prove that they deserve more ice time. Hudler has not been the defensive liability he was early on in Grand Rapids and he puts the puck on net, which is something Babcock drives home to his players nearly every chance he gets. He’s also scored some goals, which is something the team has struggled to do. […]