Some Things I Like, Some Things I don’t.

The Wings have found a way to right the ship.  After a torrid 5-0 start, which was followed by a dreadful 0-5-1 stretch, Mike Babcock has found the right buttons to push and the team has won their last four.  Although this is great stretch, there are still some slightly concerning things happening in Motown.  

First of all, the Wings have outscored opponents 18-4 over the last four games.  Great news considering they scored only six in their winless streak.  However, you love to see a team have production from the blue line, but the Wings seem to be relying on their defensive pairings too much for offense.  Three of the five goals scored against Dallas in the last game were scored by defensemen.  That’s a great number, but the Wings know they’re not going to get that production every night.  

Franzen has nine goals in the team’s nine wins.  Simply put, if the mule scores, the Wings win.  But what happens if he reverts back to his streaky ways and goes on a goal-less streak for a week?  The team simply can’t afford to lose every time he doesn’t light the lamp.  

The recent lineup shuffle seems to have picked up the play of Filpulla and Franzen, who are now on the flanks of Zetterberg.  Datsyuk, who was between Holmstrom and Bertuzzi until Bert’s latest spat with a sinus infection, has gone on a career long scoring drought, now at 9 games without a goal.  Although he hasn’t been scoring goals, he still has 8 assists this year.  Zetterberg is the more concerning of the two, with only two goals and three assists on the year.  Both still need to pick up their game.  Through 15 games last year, the Euro Twins combined for 33 points.  Through 15 games this year, 16 points.  

With Bert on the mend, I think Clearly would be a good replacement on the line with Datsyuk and Homer.  The 3rd and 4th lines have been on a roll lately.  Even if they’re not scoring, the combination of Abdelkader, Helm, and Hudler has been giving opposing teams fits in their defensive ends.  Emmerton, Eaves and Miller had great games the past week as well.  

The fact that Jimmy Howard isn’t on the All-Star ballot is a joke.  Although he said in a recent interview that it doesn’t bother him, as a fan, it bothers me.  Tied for 3rd in wins, tied for 5th in save percentage, 3rd in GAA, and tied for 1st in shutouts.  If he continues on this pace, he could be a Vezina trophy winner, and not an all-star... I can’t remember a time that’s happened recently.

I love that the Wings have turned it around this past week, and against true tests in Edmonton and Dallas.  Couldn’t be happier with the production from the blue line, but some key offensive players need to step up their game.  Howard has been amazing since his time off for the birth of his son.  I’m excited to see what they team can do on this upcoming west coast trip.  

For the record, Ian White suffered a broken cheek bone with his goal saving sprawl across the crease in the Dallas game.  He will be replaced in the lineup by Brendan Smith who will serve the final game of his five game suspension against St. Louis on Tuesday.  Smith was suspended for his hit on Ben Smith during the pre-season game against the Blackhawks.  Although White broke a bone in his face, I think he could be back in about 2-3 weeks with a full shield.  

Something Has To Be Done

After a tantalizing start to the year, the Wings have been on an unheard of 5 game losing streak.  For any other team in the league, maybe 5 in a row isn’t unheard of, but for a franchise like the Wings, it’s just simply unacceptable.  

The most surprising occurrence in this current skid, is the complete lack of offense.  Over the last 5 losses, the Wings have produced 5 goals.  Overlooking the fact that they’ve also given up 18, you just can’t win by scoring an average of one goal a game.  

So what can be done?

The obvious answer is try to shake things up with the current team.  After tearing up the first handful of games, Franzen and Filpulla don’t seem to be clicking right now.  Val has just looked a step too slow in his moves and a second too slow on his decision making.  Franzen didn’t even have a shot last night against Minnesota while playing 15 minutes.  There’s no doubt in my mind that Babcock has blown up on the team more than once during intermissions and after a few of these games, but maybe a line-up switch could be the solution.  Zetterberg and Datsyuk also haven’t been producing.  Maybe moving Z onto a line with Filpulla and Hudler, and Franzen up with Datsyuk and Homer could be the difference.  

Another option could be in the line-up moves that Ken Holland has already shown he’s willing to do.  The call up of Nyquist and sending down of Brunstrom is a good move in my opinion.  For the 11 minutes Nyquist was on the ice last night, he certainly didn’t look like he was making his NHL debut.  Another move that could be seen in the very near future, especially if this offensive drought continues, is the call up of Tomas Tatar who had 24 goals and 33 assists in 70 games last year with the Griffins.  

Finally, a third option could be to make a trade slightly earlier than anticipated.  With over $5 million in available cap space, pretty much everyone expected the Wings to make a move at some point this year.  However, with the inability to bury the puck, Holland may have to make a move sooner than expected.  Although in a previous post I said I would love to see them make a move for Shea Weber, that may have to wait until the offseason, based on the then available cap space. Clearly the biggest need is scoring, and it might not take a blockbuster trade to bring in a high powered scorer.  Even a trade for a 3rd line guy who can come in and light a fire under the team’s ass can get all the big names going.  In 10 games so far this year, Franzen is leading the team with four goals, that wouldn’t be a terrible total, if all the other top scores like Zetterberg, Datsyuk, Cleary, Filpulla, and Hudler didn’t have two or fewer.  

If any singular or a combination of the above options is a key to unlock the early struggles for the Wings, I don’t know for sure.  But this one thing is clear, something has to be done in Motown.