more red wing stablility

Henrik Zetterberg's contract for 12 years and 73 million dollars is another sign that Mike Illitch and Ken Holland form the best owner/general manager combo in all of sports. Now that Zetterberg, Datsyuk, Rafalski, Filppula, Cleary, Stuart and Kronwall all have long term deals, the Wings can just keep filling in the pieces around them, while still developing young players.

Zetterberg is a team leader, one of the top players in the league, and along with Datsyuk make players around them better. By splitting them up, Babcock gets to put other players with them so these players can hone their skills, but not have all the pressure on them. This year Babcock has mixed Marion Hossa at times with both of these guys. Now Hossa is a star in his own right, so you could put him with about anyone and he would shine. But other guys like Dan Cleary, Tomas Holmstrom, Johan Franzen, and Valterri Fillpula all see their games pick up when playing wing next to Zetterberg and Datsyuk. In my opinion I wish Fillpula could play with them all the time. He needs the experience, help, and confidence to take his game to another level. But for right now, he seems like the odd man out most of the time.

As the playoffs get near the Wings will have to finalize all 4 lines, so they will be able to roll them in the playoffs. The game changes during the Stanley Cup playoffs, and the Wings need the right mix.

Here are the lines I'd like to see.

Cleary Datsyuk Holmstrom

Hudler Zetterberg Hossa

Franzen Fillpula Samuelsson

Helm Draper Maltby

Franzen has now proved himself to be a star player in the league. Putting him on the 3rd line gives that line more confidence and since Fillpula is still a little gun shy shooting the puck, it makes sense to give him a true goal scorer like Franzen to put the puck in the net. Cleary can chase the puck in the corners on the top line, and the 2nd line are all dangerous snipers. Finally the 4th line will be used for energy. (How quick can Abdelkader replace Malty in the lineup?)

Tough decisions, but the strategy will hopefully give the Wings another cup.