The Wings have been in an offensive slump as of late. This isn’t surprising considering the holes in our regular roster. As fans, we’ve had a great look at the future of our blue line, and while it looks good, it lacks the experience necessary to make the heads-up first pass that Kronwall, Rafalski and Lidstrom make so frequently.
It seems to me that Babcock has been working on new breakouts over the past month and a half, two months. Through the beginning of the season, we saw quick passes to a forward in full stride up a wing. At some point, it seems like we’ve been working on getting the defenseman to carry the puck to the opposing blue line, having him dump it in, and getting the trailing forwards to make chase.
This hasn’t worked terribly well for us. We’ve gotten better at this dump and chase game, but we just don’t have the size or the grit on our scoring lines to make this pay off. Draper will get the puck when it’s chipped in deep (if he’s not offside already), but then what’s he gonna do with it? Pass it to Maltby so Malts can shit-talk it into the net?
I don’t have a solution for this, and I’m not sure that there is one. We aren’t cut out for this dump and chase game, but we seem intent on playing it. I can understand Babcock trying to get the Wings to expand their repertoire, but at what cost? Our seemingly untouchable lead has dwindled to five points, which at the current rate, could be gone in a week or two. While I don’t believe we stand any real danger of missing the playoffs, I don’t have any desire to be in the middle of the standings, facing a divisional leader in the first round.
I hope with the return of our defenseman that we can find our form through the neutral zone again, and get a few goals on the rush. God knows we need ‘em.
