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.