Jeff Blashill’s Red Wings have been decidedly mediocre through the first dozen games, with a 6-5-1 record and one of the worst shot differentials in the League.
To what degree that’s attributable to a coaching succession after Babcock’s departure has been an ongoing talking point. Since moving over to the Eastern Conference, the Wings have had some long stretches of similarly mediocre hockey under Babcock, but they were never this weak on possession.
You look at their current lineup, though, and it starts to make some sense with the injury situation. With Pavel Datsyuk and Brad Richards out, they’re a little thin at center at the moment after Zetterberg, and with Mike Green out they’re thin on defence after Kronwall. Both Green and Kyle Quincey are expected to miss their sixth consecutive game tonight.
The Leafs lost their one regular season meeting with Detroit after losing both preseason games to Babcock’s old team.
In Leafs lineup news, a now-healthy Scott Harrington returns to the lineup in the place of Martin Marincin on the left side of the bottom pairing. Harrington never lost his place in the lineup so much as he was nursing a injury that didn’t get reported until a little while later. This seems a no brainer given Harrington’s good start to the season, especially considering Marincin and Roman Polak have struggled with the pace of games at times and have been hurting the possession game.
Toronto Maple Leafs Projected Lineup
Toronto Maple Leafs vs. Detroit Red Wings Lineup - November 6, 2015| Left Wing | Center | Right Wing |
|---|---|---|
| van Riemsdyk | Kadri | Komarov |
| Matthias | Bozak | Parenteau |
| Winnik | Spaling | Lupul |
| Grabner | Froese | Boyes |
| Scratched: Clune (waived), Holland | ||
| Left Defence | Right Defence | |
| Gardiner | Phaneuf | |
| Hunwick | Rielly | |
| Harrington | Polak | |
| Scratched: Marincin, Corrado | ||
| Goal: | Reimer |
Detroit Red Wings Projected Lineup
| Left Wing | Center | Right Wing |
|---|---|---|
| Abdelkader | Zetterberg | Larkin |
| Tatar | Sheahan | Nyquist |
| Andersson | Helm | Pulkkinen |
| Miller | Glendening | Ferraro |
| Scratched: Jurco | ||
| Left Defence | Right Defence | |
| Kronwall | Smith | |
| DeKeyser | Ericsson | |
| Kindl | Marchenko | |
| Injured: Datsyuk, Richards, Green, Franzen, Quincey | ||
| Goal: | Mrazek |
