Red Wings lose 3rd preseason game
The big story this offseason was the acquisition of Marian Hossa. But the storyline has altered with the start of the preseason schedule. Now the focus is on the defensemen battling it out for a roster spot. Last night the Red Wings sat their top 5 d-men and let the younger guys play heavy minutes. There’s a good game recap in this thread over at HF Boards.
Derek Meech potted a goal but was also on the ice for two goals against in a 2-1 loss to Boston. So he finished the game -1 while playing on the top pairing alongside Brett Lebda. Kyle Quincey struggled a bit moving the puck but Mike Babcock said that’s something you expect with Q being a stay-at-home guy who brings other qualities to the table - he adds another physical player to the blueline. Quincey was on the third pairing last night. The full lineup can be viewed over at Bruce MacLeod’s Red Wings Corner blog.
Ansar Khan suggests that the battle for the final d-man spot could come down to two players:
Because Lilja and Lebda are valued for, among other things, their experience, the competition for the final spot might come down to Meech and Quincey.
There’s a great new Red Wings blog I just noticed the other day: Red Wings Hardware. The blog had a great take on some things Mark Howe said about the Red Wings defense but it appears that post has been removed. I was gong to link to that post since it sort of fits in with what Ansar Khan is saying about the Survivor-like battle to determine which defenseman gets kicked off the island.
If the battle does in fact come down to a competition between Quincey and Meech it is going to be interesting as they have completely different styles. Meech fits the typical Red Wings d-man style of play [skating, passing, solid two-way player] while Quincey would have some similar characteristics to Andreas Lilja as well as Niklas Kronwall and Brad Stuart [without the skating and offensive flair the latter two d-men possess].
Meech was decent in a limited role on the Red Wings last season when he appeared in 32 games. Quincey was impressive when he was thrown into a tough situation during the 2006-07 playoffs when he was called up and put into the lineup for 13 games. Quincey struggled last season after recovering from an injury early in the year but the Griffins as a whole had a forgettable season last year.
Ansar Khan indicates the Red Wings are roughly $300,000 over the salary cap so trading either player would get them slightly beneath the cap ceiling.
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