How to Make Our Hot Wings Better

The Wings are scary good right now, doing it all while Hank and Dats are struggling MIGHTILY. I wrote about this over at Talk Sports/Drink Beer, but I'll say it again, the Wings are a contender for the Cup this year. At the same time, I can honestly say, at this point in time, that there are no prohibitive favorites to win it all as there are a good amount of strong teams and it'll truly come down to who's playing at the top of their games come May.

On that note, that brings up the main point of this stream of thought: the Wings need to make a move or two at the deadline to increase their cushion to make errors, solidify those weak points in the lineup. After watching this team a lot the past few weeks, I've come to a few conclusions:

• The power play is struggling not from the players on the PP, but the fact that those players are in a slump. The puck is still moving as crisply and cleanly as ever, and the Wings are getting their opportunities, they just don't have puck luck right now. With Mule connecting on the PP the last couple games, I truly believe all these calls for making a move for a player based on the PP is short-sighted.
• Speaking of slumps, Dats, Hank and Franzen are the three best offensive players on the Wings, hands-down. They also were the three players struggling the most to find the net recently. The past six games, the Wings have scored 17 goals, eight of which have come from Jiri Hudler and Drew Miller. The next six are spread among such game-changers as Cory Emmerton, Danny Cleary, Todd Bertuzzi, and Valtteri Filppula. Out of those 17, only three come from the Big Three, and those goals came as two on the power play by Franzen and Hank's gift goal last night. This is the big area I believe the Wings need to solidify. While it's great right now, that's because Emmerton, Hudler and Miller are playing well. We can't rely on those boys carrying the offense.
• Finally, I'm very impressed by the play of the defense this year. Lidstrom is proving once again why he's the Norris T-1136, a cyborg sent back to protect the Wings' Cup hopes from annihilation by Skynet...err, the Western Conference. His pairing with Ian White have played as good as any in the league this year, a strong statement considering they play in the same division as the vaunted Weber-Suter combo. The second pairing of Kronwall and Stuart has been strong all year and continues to provide a great second pairing to send out against a deep opponent. Finally, the pairing of Kindl and Ericsson scared the bejeezus out of me earlier this year, but now I honestly can breathe most of the time they are on the ice. The defense isn't a dire need to be fixed.

So what areas should the Wings address at the trade deadline? I think the Wings should go after a top-6 forward, someone who can take the pressure off the Big Three and give the Detroit offense a little cushion for error when the Big Three are slumping. Preferably, get somebody who can step into Homer's role on the top two lines and push Homer down to the third line. While that would be a great addition, it's a piece that isn't necessary and overpaying is not necessary, when the Wings are set up to go into this offseason with enough cap space to sign a replacement for Nick AND a forward. The necessary addition, in my opinion, would be a second pairing defenseman who can join the third pairing, for the inevitable time when Ericsson or Kindl implodes. This would make the defense that much stronger and should be much cheaper to acquire. I believe that this alone would be the key move of the deadline and a way for the Wings to make themselves as strong as possible.

In the end, if the Wings makes no moves at the deadline, I will not be greatly disappointed. While I believe a move is recommended, I don't believe it's necessary and should not be a reason for blame if the Wings flame out in the playoffs this season.