Hooo boy, the Wings are going to have the best third line hockey!
Ya gotta love Mike Babcock. Bill over at A2Y mentioned this Sporting News article the other day. Craig Custance tracked the Red Wings coach down after he returned from a hunting trip in Tanzania in order to talk about the upcoming season and how he sees the forward lines shaking out. That’s when Babcock dropped this little ditty on Custance:
“Then you go [Dan] Cleary, [Valtteri] Filppula and [Mikael] Samuelsson. That’s as good as any third line in hockey.”
Marian Hossa? Yeah, he’s a nice addition. Pavel Datsyuk? Mr. Selke can play a bit. What’s that about Henrik Zetterberg? Well, the Conn Smythe winner sure hasn’t had any wrist problems since his lady friend moved in with him and they announced their engagement. Lidstrom’s got him another Norris which is all fine and dandy but just take a look at that there third line!
Emma’s keeping Hank happy and the
wrist problems are suddenly gone
That’s Babcock for you, who compared camping out in the wilderness during his hunting expedition to the Ritz Carlton in this article:
“It’s like being at the Ritz-Carlton,” he said. “You’re in a tent in the middle of nowhere, but there’s a cement floor and a stand-up shower and a sink.
“You’re sleeping in a queen bed, your laundry is folded on your bed each and every day and the meals are prepared by a five-star chef over a fire.”
Yeah, a five star hotel where you can become lion poop after being his latest meal. All kidding aside the third line is comprised of some great two-way players and each of them has at least one 20 goal season in the NHL [Val Filppula counts if you include his playoff production last season]. When I looked at the lineups I obviously had the scoring lines set up a little differently but the big question is whether Babcock keeps Zetterberg, Datsyuk and Holmstrom split up all season. He’s tried to do it in the past but he always ends up putting them back together. All of the Detroit papers are running with quotes from Babcock about how he has to split them up now that Marian Hossa has joined the ranks.
Welcome to the Jungle
Speaking of Hossa, he’ll arrive in Detroit on Friday to gear up for training camp. Now if Babcock can keep the Eurotwins on separate lines the Red Wings will have incredible depth at center.
Top two pivots: Zetterberg and Datsyuk
Third pivot: Valtteri Filppula
Fourth pivot: Kris Draper
If that happens Darren Helm is all but guaranteed to end up back in Grand Rapids. How many teams can boast two Selke finalists as their top two pivots? It’s pretty freaking rare. Heck, Draper’s a former Selke-winner as well and Fil should thrive as a third line pivot considering he was centering the second line last season. I’m a big Helmer fan but there’s no way he cracks the lineup as a pivot. There’s simply too much talent and depth there. The janitors at the Joe probably get called in to clear out blockages in the toilets in the Red Wings dressing room due to the fact this is a set of pivots that are likely crapping Selkes. Here are the top three lines Babcock said he’d start off with:
Holmstrom-Datsyuk-Hossa
Franzen-Zetterberg-Hudler
Cleary-Filppula-Samuelsson
I think having Hossa on Datsyuk’s wing makes a lot of sense and that’s what I envisioned when I looked at the lines last month. Hossa will seriously challenge Henrik Zetterberg for most goals if those lines hold up and it’s not a stretch to think he has an outside shot at challenging Steve Yzerman’s franchise record of 65 goals in a season. I also expected Mule to be on a line with Zetterberg.
Hudler hits the Jackpot
I went a little overboard by moving Homer off a scoring line and I had Cleary playing alongside Mule and Z. With that being said, I am intrigued to see how Hudler does playing on the second line. He’s got two really high-end guys who are also very solid two-way players on that second line. That is a really intriguing line and I think Hudler would be put in a great position to succeed there. If he can hold his own he’ll have a breakout campaign of somewhere in the neighborhood of 60 points.
The next interesting question is whether those top two lines will reflect the forwards on the top two power play units. If so here is how they would look.
First PP Unit
Homer-Datsyuk-Hossa
Lidstrom-Rafalski
Second PP Unit
Mule-Z-Hudler
Kronwall-Samuelsson
Supposedly Babcock hasn’t decided on the power play units, so we have that to debate until they get sorted out. But for now Babcock talked big game about his third line. If you’ve followed the Red Wings coach you have to expect there was a bit of message in his statement about the third line, which is typically your checking line.
Being the defending Stanley Cup champs the Wings are going to be hunted all season long and particularly in the playoffs. By re-signing Brad Stuart, putting together arguably the strongest set of pivots top through bottom in the NHL as well as one of the strongest checking lines in hockey, Babcock indicates he’s ready for Detroit to do some hunting this upcoming season.
Dan Cleary Henrik Zetterberg Marian Hossa Mike Babcock Pavel Datsyuk Red Wings Valtteri FilppulaNo Comments
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