Thank you for validating everything I’ve been thinking for this entire series. Khan has a great little piece on his blog today (of which I am not the only fan) highlighting the Wings’ struggles against the Flames and providing a number of helpful suggestions. Let’s just hope he sent Mike Babcock a copy.
Suggestion #1:
He should insert Jiri Hudler back in the lineup. Hudler played with a lot of energy in the first two games.
Jiri played so well in the first two games, only to be dropped with the return of Todd Bertuzzi. Now Bert has earned his keep, but there’s no reason Hudler shouldn’t be out there in place of one of our underachievers. I’ve been hoping Huds would get the call over Samuelsson.
Suggestion#2:
Or he might take out Samuelsson, who has just one assist in 10 playoff games the last two years. If he leaves Samuelsson in, he should at least stop playing him on the point on the power play. It isn’t working. Brett Lebda would be a better option.
Every time I bring up the idea of scratching Samuelsson, somebody says “Oh, but he’s playing the point on the power play.” Here we go again. Babcock is a great coach, but what is his obsession with putting forwards on the PP point?! Now, Samuelsson is no Jason Williams - he’s not a total liability there. But he’s not producing either. It just is not working. Oh, and if I had a dollar for every time I’ve told somebody that Lebs would be a better choice than Sammy for the PP point in the last two weeks, I’d be watching the next game from The Joe instead of my living room. Brett is a great skater and he’s got tons of offensive ability. He’s practically a forward anyway with the way he’s always wheeling around in the offensive zone. Babs should be all over this.
Another thing that I’ve had a hard time understanding is the fact that, despite being one of our hardest working players, Filppula can not manage to get decent ice time - instead it continues to go to guys who are simply wasting it. The thing that really gets me is that Babs admits that he should be playing him more.
“He probably wonders why the coach doesn’t get him on the ice more and the coach wonders that himself,” said Detroit coach Mike Babcock. “My son told me after Game 1 that I didn’t play Fil enough.” (via USA Today)
Even his kids know it! Is Babcock aware of the fact that he’s the coach and he’s actually allowed to make these changes himself? If he thinks he deserves more time, why doesn’t he give it to him?
Suggestion #3:
Valtteri Filppula needs to play more. I’d also try to find a way to work him in on the struggling power play.
Power play time? Now there’s an idea. That would give Fil more playing time AND change up our miserable power play. No, I think that would make too much sense…
Despite Babcock’s stubbornness regarding lines, he has done more this year than last and for that I am most greatful.
Coach Mike Babcock’s reluctance to change his lineup or even his line combinations proved costly in last year’s first-round loss to Edmonton. He made a good move by replacing Kyle Calder and Mikael Samuelsson on the second line with Todd Bertuzzi and Johan Franzen.
Darn right, Ansar. I just want to know what took him so long. I think everybody and their brother knew that Todd needed to be on that second line with Lang the day he returned to the ice. Sometimes I think Babcock is just a little too reluctant to make changes. It scares me. When you’re afraid to make changes, then sometimes you don’t do it until it’s too late. Hopefully that won’t be the case in this series.
Oh, and for anyone who didn’t think Babcock was completely insane for putting Lang out for the last faceoff of game 3 (I’m sure there is no such person, but you never know):
Robert Lang has won only 17 of 54 face-offs.
For those of you without calculators, that’s about a 31% win percentage. That means he loses them 69% of the time! I bet every time the opposing center sees that he’s facing off against Lang, he throws a little party in his head. “Freebie faceoff win! Coach will think I’m good at those! Yay!”
Suggestion #4:
Maybe Franzen should start taking the draws for that line. It couldn’t be much worse.
Sure it could, Lang has actually made an improvement from his game 1 faceoff win percentage - a whopping 20%.
Basically, I think Babs has made some unfortunate decisions up to this point. Maybe he’s overcomplicating things. To put it simply, the players who are playing the best should be playing the most. Makes sense to me. If someone’s not cutting it, they should be replaced, whether it be on the PP, in the faceoff circle, or on the lineup completely.
Sarah, I am with you 100%. We have the amazing, unknown threats in Lebda and Hudler, and they’re not being used. I understand giving the icetime to Zetter and Dats, and especially Cleary. But scratching Hudler? He brings so much needed energy to our team. He fights every shift and does a lot with his limited time. If you have a guy like that on the team, why wouldn’t you use him? And then there’s Lebda. He is quickly developing into a great defensemen under the care of Chelios. Plus, he brings an incredible amount of offensive ability. He’s fast and could get to the puck to hold it in the zone. He has a really good slapshot, as well as wrist shot. He’s very mobile, and very responsible. I ask again, with a player like that, why wouldn’t you play him on the point? These are questions that only Babcock can answer.
Great post, Sarah!
“but what is his obsession with putting forwards on the PP point?!”
You know who scores our power play goals? Lidstrom and Schneider. You know when they score them? WHEN THEY’RE BOTH ON THE ICE AT THE SAME TIME.
Splitting them up is why our PP is struggling.
I’m getting sick of all this juggling. It’s causing turnovers, bad passes, missed assignments - because it throws everyone’s timing off.
I agree with Paul. The juggling destroys whatever chemistry existed on a given line. the passes are off and the timing is non-existant. It starts to look like a pick up game with really good players trying hard and missing the mark.
Don’t get to down on olde Bob Lang, he did find his “game” for about 15 seconds last nite with the pass to Bert. You know…with those faceoff stats he could be a marquee player…in baseball.
Fantastic post, Sarah. The only thing I disagree with Ansar on is the idea of benching Calder. You can’t chalk up his lack of production to anything other than playing on Lang’s line.
Schneider is a great threat on the PP, and he really needs to get his game going. He had a goal in game one, but has been silent since then. It’s not like he’s not getting shots. They’re just not going in. If our PP is going to improve, that is one guy who needs to score. If he’s not the threat he usually is, and this goes for Lidstrom as well, the Flames can just worry about Hank and Pavel. And then it becomes passing around in a circle and outside shots that have little to no chance of going in. We need bounces. We need another Schneider missed shot to bounce in off the back of the goalie (Vokoun knows what I’m talking about). I agree, though, Paul. But Lidstrom and Schneider out there for the majority of the PP. They can both handle 1:30 shift. Then, for the other 30 seconds, put Lebda and Markov out. At the end of the season, Markov showed some real offensive ability (I know, I was confused too). Plus, he’s very responsible defensively.
Thanks Matt.
Paul,
I definitely agree - Lidstrom and Schneider should be on the PP together. You’re right, we have major timing issues. It seems like the whole team has been out of sync the last couple games, especially Zetterberg. I wonder if his back is bothering him or if he’s just a little off right now.
Gabriel,
Thanks. I agree about Calder. He has underachieved, but how much can you do with a dead weight like Lang as your center? He deserves a shot playing with motivated linemates.
Megan,
You’re right about the bounces. I think one of the big differences between the Detroit games and the Calgary games was that the bounces seemed to go our way in Detroit. In Calgary, not so much. Lebda and Markov sounds like a fine plan to me. Just so long as Sammy sits and Hudler plays.
Paul,
Great point about the line juggling. Babcock is not Bowman, that’s for sure. Scotty had a knack for figuring out what players went together at a given time and what players would help others break out of slumps. Babcock doesn’t have that knack, that much is obvious, and ought to keep the lines more static so that they can develop the necessary chemistry.
Keeping the top line together has worked out pretty well overall, so I don’t know why he doesn’t apply the concept to the other lines.