Detroit Red Wings starting lines

[yave1964]

Dylan Larkin making the team changes everything. Lets look at what appears to be the Wings opening night lines:

First line: Zetterberg  Larkin    Abdelkader

 

second line: Nyquist Richards Tatar

 

Third line: Franzen  Sheahan Pulkinnen

 

fourth line: Miller  Glendening  Ferraro

 

Love it! Jurco and Cleary watching from the press box, we have three lines that can flat out score, Larkin insulated between Zetterberg and the rugged Abdelkader, he gets a fair chance, not playing ten minutes on the 4th line.

 And a month from now, Datsyuk and Helm will be back in the mix. The top six are safe as is Sheahan but the rest have to absolutely earn their keep or risk being the odd man out.

 

 What to do with Jurco? He had a poor season last year but is talented, everyone knows the Wings abundant of riches, and like we lost Nestrasil last season to Carolina the same could happen to Jurco if we dare to attempt to send him down. Holland is probably quietly working the phones to see what he can get.

 

  I love that two elite kids in Larkin and Pulkinnen are in the top nine, not so much that Franzen is in there lumbering down the ice. What worries me with the third line is Franzen can be times with a sun dial and Pulkinnen was sat regularly by Babs because of his disinterest in defense. But he can score, he led the AHL in goals in spite of only playing a little over half the season down there, 46 games. it will be interesting with those two on a line for sure.

  I love the 4th line, Glendening has turned into a team leader for a young man and his scoring touch is coming around. Miller is Miller and Ferraro has a motor that never quits which is exactly what you want on your energy line.

  What i mostly love is the thought of Z playing the wing this year, playing center he tends to wear down too soon. When Pavs comes back if we bump Larkin down a line or two it still allows Z to stay on a wing.

 

 

[Old School Hockey]

From what I've read this looks to be the PP lines.

 

Franzen-Zetterberg-Abdelkader (net), Kronwall. Kindl, and Larkin rotating at other spot Tatar-Nyquist-Sheahan (net) Green-Richards

[yave1964]

@Old School Hockey

 

Whew, very nice, as long as Mule has anything left in the tank. He did extremely well on the power play until injured last year, as a matter of fact as critical as I am of Franzen the Wings slide corresponded with his concussion. If he comes back, plays well within a defined role he could still have a lot to offer. I might swap Franzen and Nyquist around because Mule and Abby are the two net front presence on the team and it would allow for someone playing the old Holmstrom role on both lines. Tatar and Nyquist are more skill and less grit in front of the net. Kind of surprised to see Kronner on the first PP unit and not Green, I could see that changing too.

[WingNut722]

@yave1964

 

So once Datsyuk and Helm come back, who gets bumped?  Both will be inserted almost immediately into the lineup and both are centers.   I can see Larkin being sent down, unless he plays to an All-Star caliber, but who else would get the bench?

 

EDIT:  By the way, it is SOOOO nice to be talking in terms of certainty now...  Drop the Puck!

[yave1964]

@yave1964

 

So once Datsyuk and Helm come back, who gets bumped?  Both will be inserted almost immediately into the lineup and both are centers.   I can see Larkin being sent down, unless he plays to an All-Star caliber, but who else would get the bench?

 

EDIT:  By the way, it is SOOOO nice to be talking in terms of certainty now...  Drop the Puck!

Helm played middle six wing last year and only played center when there were injuries. I expect he will do the same this year. I think Helm coming back bumps Ferraro back to GR.

As for Pavel, I think it is one of the two kids, Pulkinnen or Larkin, depending upon who is doing the best. Of course Franzen is one hit away from being gone forever. One thing for sure, it is a beautiful problem to have.

[SpikeDDS]

@yave1964

Cleary will be watching from GR. He was waived today. World is back on its axis.

You forgot about Andersson. He will play cards with Jurco in the press box during intermissions.

Surprised to see Ferraro, but not disappointed. His name just wasn't thrown around very much this preseason with all of the other kids' names being thrown around by the media. I, too, like that 4th line. In fact, I like them all. I'm interested in seeing how that 3rd line does. I will say that Franzen played better in the preseason than I thought he might. It would be great if he came to play and feed The Incredible Pulk the puck for a bunch of slappers.

I also like Z on the wing. Larkin has very good playmaking skills, and his body will take the beating that center can bring more than wing.

This year, more than any in the last decade, I think it will be true for the you NG players, but also everyone else, that if you play well, you will PLAY, and if you don't, someone else will play INSTEAD of you. Hopefully the looming presence of the young kids will light the fire under the backsides of the veterans who need to put it in a higher gear.

Offensively-speaking, this should be the most exciting year for the Red Wings in quite some time. How can any Red Wings fan not be excited for this season and the next few to come?!

[Old School Hockey]

I heard today that Howard starts game 1.  I'll be at the game in Carolina, so I guess I'll get to see Mrazek play?

[yave1964]

@SpikeDDS

I always forget about Andersson. Yeah Ferraro is out of options so he has to stay or he will be lost.

It says something about our forward depth that our castoffs who couldn't even make the roster are littering other teams rosters, Nestrasil in Carolina, Nylen-Janmark in Dallas, Jarnkrok in Nashville all come to mind. All are okay prospects but there is simply no room for them.

@Old School Hockey

Carolina! You suck dude. Yeah I think that is the plan that Mrazek is starting most of the games on the road to start the year. Hey we still need to get together the next time you are in Ohio man. Let me know.

@WingNut722 I cannot remember the Wings ever having this much depth, can you? again, just a great time to be a Wings fan.

So guys, seriously, is the defense good enough with all of this offensive talent? Kids like Oullet, Marchenko, Jensen and Sproul are all good prospects, good but nothing like the forwards. Is adding Green enough to make the back end strong enough to make us a championship contender?

To me, the three top teams in our division are Tampa, Montreal and Detroit. Winning the division is huge, it lets the other two beat up on each other while we draw a slightly weaker team. Of course we gotta get there first but no reason to think that good things cannot happen this year.

Damn lets just drop the puck already!

[SpikeDDS]

@WingNut722 I cannot remember the Wings ever having this much depth, can you? again, just a great time to be a Wings fan.

Uh, 2002! Sorry, but we are not even close to 2002's depth. Igor Larionov centered the 4th line, for crying out loud.

That said, we haven't been this deep since then, and we've certainly got more levels of potential talent than we did then. We had the team, and that was it, because we had to trade all of our kids and picks away to assemble it. But oh what a team that was!

Sorry, what were you saying again? I got distracted.

[SpikeDDS]

So guys, seriously, is the defense good enough with all of this offensive talent? Kids like Oullet, Marchenko, Jensen and Sproul are all good prospects, good but nothing like the forwards. Is adding Green enough to make the back end strong enough to make us a championship contender?

The answer is yes, because we have SO MANY kids with trade value that IF we finish developing them and we still haven't quite been able to muster a Cup because of the D, we can lose one of the lesser kids along with a pick or two for the D-man we need when the time comes.

With this cast of talent, the idea of Detroit being a coveted destination for hockey players, which seems to have waned a bit in the last few years, will be resurrected. Potential for winning Stanley Cups has a way of making your city an attractive place to play. If these kids turn out to be 3/4 of their potential, Kenny Holland's job gets a LOT easier...that is until their initial contracts all expire and we gotta re-sign them all. But the years in between look DARN good right now!

[yave1964]

Uh, 2002! Sorry, but we are not even close to 2002's depth. Igor Larionov centered the 4th line, for crying out loud.

That said, we haven't been this deep since then, and we've certainly got more levels of potential talent than we did then. We had the team, and that was it, because we had to trade all of our kids and picks away to assemble it. But oh what a team that was!

Sorry, what were you saying again? I got distracted.

Okay lol, since 2002. What I actually meant was I cannot remember this much depth of young talent coming up at one time but that isn't quite true either, early 1990's, Federov, Lidstrom, Vlad, Lapointe, Ozzie, McCarty ect... still have this class of kids beat but since then no group of kids on our team has even come close to the ones we have now.

[WingNut722]

@yave1964

 

As for the defense, I think they're "comfortable".  Adding Green is of course a good thing.  But their success is going to hinge upon the goaltending.  They have a great crop of forwards who will (should) score plenty of goals.  The key will be to let at least one fewer goals by the other team.  The defense will do their job; perhaps not in stellar fashion, but they will hold up their end.  It's Howard and Mrazek.  Mrazek needs to return to last season's form, and Howard just needs to improve.