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Up-to-the minute updates and insights from the Red Wings locker room at home and on the road. By Chuck Pleiness of The Macomb Daily.

Monday, October 19, 2009

Even-strength effectiveness

The Red Wings' goals for and against per 60 minutes of ice time ...

FORWARDS, GF-GA (ranked by GF)
Maltby, 4.3-1.4
Helm, 4.1-6.1
May, 4.0-8.1
Abdelkader, 3.5-4.7
Zetterberg, 2.9-4.1
Eaves, 2.3-4.6
Draper, 2.2-2.2
TEAM, 2.2-3.1
Cleary, 2.0-3.9
Filppula, 1.9-1.9
Holmstrom, 1.7-2.5
Datsyuk, 1.6-2.4
Franzen, 1.4-1.4
Bertuzzi, 1.4-3.4
Leino, 1.3-2.0
Williams, 0.7-2.0

DEFENSEMEN, GF-GA (ranked by GA)
Lidstrom, 3.1-1.5
Rafalski, 2.4-1.9
Stuart, 0.9-2.4
Kronwall, 0.5-2.6
TEAM, 2.2-3.1
Meech, 1.8-5.4
Ericsson, 4.0-5.9
Lebda, 5.4-8.1

Yes, I do believe that the forwards list is upside down. That's the best possible explanation. Frankly, I find it hard to believe the other reasoning ... that the Wings have scored more with Maltby, May and Helm on the ice (a lot more) than they have with Datsyuk, Holmstrom, Cleary and Franzen.
OK, so obviously seven games is a small data base. But kudos to the fourth liners for their offensive contributions. In the past, the Wings' fourth line has been good when it doesn't score and the opponents don't score and bad when it doesn't score and the opponents do score. There was never really a we-score option. This season, they've scored and that's been a big boost. And Maltby's production has been the best among Detroit forwards thus far with the Wings outscoring opponents, 3-1, with him on the ice. Abdelkader, May, Helm and Eaves have been on the ice for goals scored, but also on for too many goals against.
Datsyuk's line obviously needs to pick up the offense. And the third line, Filppula's line, that was so good in preseason has stumbled early. Williams has been on the ice for just one even-strength goal scored in 90:6 of ice time ... that's more than a game and a half.
On defense, Lidstrom is off to a better start than he was last season, much more like he played the previous three post-lockout campaigns.
Kronwall and Stuart have been offensive black holes. You think Williams has had a slow start, the Wings have scored just one goal in 115:12 of Kronwall's even-strength time ... nearly two full games.
It's nice to see Ericsson and Lebda so active offensively, but the defensive cost has been way too high. Ericsson has been on the ice for more than half of Detroit's 17 even-strength goals allowed (nine). Lebda has played just 44:37 of even-strength time, but has been on the ice for six of the 17 team goals allowed. No wonder he's been on the bench.

2 Comments:

Anonymous Anonymous said...

I find it hard to understand why Maltby's gotten so little PK time. It's one of the few things he still excels at. He's the rare player that can bring a crowd to its feet with his penalty killing. He should be the first option for wingers.

October 20, 2009 at 9:53 AM 
Anonymous Primis said...

Maltby's gotten so little PK time because he's generally the one going to the box when the ref's arm goes up.

October 21, 2009 at 8:45 AM 

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