Lack of Offense
This article will be talking about the Detroit Red Wings and their lack of offense in the past 5-10 games.
I will first off start by saying that in my opinion the Red Wings have plenty of offense throughout their roster. However with that being said I think the team is having a very hard time in finding chemistry with lines so far this year.
I think the biggest mistake that Coach Mike Babcock and his staff are constantly making is moving guys around a little too much. It seems that there is no patience from Babcock and the Red Wings staff, meaning that if players don’t produce in one game the very game next you see different lines. I am talking mostly about Cleary and Andersson and guys like them. I really don’t know why they don’t put Tatar with Nyquist and Andersson in my opinion I think that would be a very creative line and hard working one at that. I say that because they are all fresh from Grand Rapids and willing to show what they can bring to the table, so why not put them all on one line? The biggest mistake is putting one of those three players with guys like Samuelsson or Cleary, the reason I say that is because then Tatar, Nyquist and Andersson cannot play like themselves because they are playing with such slower players which eliminates scoring chances.
Another point that is a really important that should be mentioned in this article is that the Red Wings over the last couple of years have been budgeting the money from previous players like Lidstrom and Rafalski very well. Which means they have been saving it so they could bring in players like Deykeyser and Brunner from last season. Players like Lidstrom and Rafalski took a lot of cap space so then we finally had money to go out and get some players this offseason (Weiss/Alfredsson). Now I know that those two haven’t been exactly been powerhouses but they were never expected to come right in and do damage right away. They need to be able to settle in and find their games, which I am confident they will.
Now onto the “duds” on the team if you will. These players are eating up a combined total of 4,750 million this season. Now I am well aware that Samuelsson’s contract is the majority of it, but the question I ask is why? Why did we sign a guy who is 36 years old and has only 2 points this year in 12 games to a 3 million dollar contract, it is totally bizarre in why they did. It almost seems the Red Wings had a little too much money to know what to do with properly.
One last thing that I should mention is that Forwards Jordin Tootoo and Patrick Eaves were both sent through waivers and put in Grand Rapids because Cleary and Samuelsson took their spots. Which then again personally I think it is a very bad move considering that Tootoo and Eaves bring energy and offense with them each and every night and battle extremely hard night in and night out. Can I say the say for Samuelsson and Cleary? No I honestly can’t, they both look very lost out there on the ice this season.
In concluding this article I think that the Red Wings really need to look up and down their line up and figure out who is performing and who isn’t. More importantly who should play with one another on a consistent basis, to get the best results (offensively). So I guess until the team as a whole can figure their offensive woes out hopefully Zetterberg and Datysuk continue to produce.