Friday, August 29, 2008

Lines According to Mike Babcock

The wait is over! According to Craig Custance of The Sporting News, Mike Babcock has prepared line combinations to start the 2008-2009 campaign. They are as follows:



Holmstrom - Datsyuk - Hossa

Franzen - Zetterberg - Hudler

Cleary - Filppula - Samuelsson

Maltby - Draper - Kopecky

Downey/McCarty/Helm/Abdelkader as the 13th



These lines absolutely make me salivate. I can't even predict what the PP units will be, because they would be ridiculous. However, I'm personally wondering what Mike Babcock is doing with Filppula being the pivot between Cleary and Samuelsson. The Red Wings' brass just signed Valtteri to a 5 year, 15 million dollar deal based on his potential to be a second line center. Though having Datsyuk, Zetterberg, Draper, and Filppula down the middle is pretty solid, Valtteri will never produce the amount of points being the center for Cleary and Samuelsson as he would for another pair. I would much rather see line combinations of:



Holmstrom - Datsyuk - Zetterberg

Franzen - Filppula - Hossa



With the tear Franzen was on in during the latter stages of the regular and post seasons, I believe Filppula will be more productive (points-wise) with these skilled players as opposed to Cleary and Samuelsson. But alas, I'm not a Stanley Cup winning coach, so I'll let Mike do his job.

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

i agree

Scotty said...

Hand Them The Cup Now.....WOOOOOOOOOOW

Anonymous said...

I agree with you, totally. Not too worried, though, as Babcock never sets it in stone. If he doesn't like how it's working, he'll switch it.

I'm more disappointed that Helm isn't anywhere. After his great performance in the playoffs, I'd have liked to see him instead of Kopecky.

Anonymous said...

thats just not fair...

Anonymous said...

Yeah, I mean he was playing so well that they didn't remove him from the lineup during the Stanley Cup playoffs, but now he's not good enough to make the regular season roster?

I still don't see why they're so high on Kopecky. He's a third-liner at best.

Brodes said...

As you mention at the last part of the blog, Babcock will end up doing the right thing. I'd rather see the old Holmstrom-Datsyuk-Hank line than see Hossa go with them. It would give Franzen someone reliable to work with.

Also, you forgot Ville Leino, who is very well in the mix for at least a potential 13th man spot.