Zetterberg might have to wing it

Henrik Zetterberg spent much of last season as coach Mike Babcock's answer to a slumping winger. It was an ideal situation for both men.

Zetterberg grew up playing center and thrives in that position. It is the one he would prefer to play this season.

"I think I played better last year as a center than I did as a wing," he said Friday after an informal workout at Troy Sports Center with a dozen fellow Red Wings. "I think I'm more comfortable playing center. So if I had to choose, I would play center."

There's just one problem: The Wings bulge in the middle. They've got three gifted centers in Zetterberg, Pavel Datsyuk and Robert Lang, and while that creates an enviable depth chart, it also creates a mathematical challenge.

All three are players who should average between 17 and 19 minutes a game, but that would mean one would be playing with mostly defensive wingers. Last season, Babcock resorted to a variety of solutions: Playing Lang with Steve Yzerman and Kris Draper, playing Lang on the wing, playing Zetterberg on the wing.

With camp less than a week away, Babcock is once again pondering what to do with Zetterberg, Lang and Datsyuk.

"That's a real good question, and I've asked myself that all summer long," Babcock said. "I'll figure it out in training camp."

Babcock said he would spread Zetterberg, Datsyuk and Lang across three groups and let them go head to head. Ditto for the three auditioning to center the defensive lines: Kris Draper, Valtteri Filppula and Greg Johnson.

"As exhibition goes on, we'll try a number of things," Babcock said. "I had no plans to play 'Z' at center last year, but then he played so well, I couldn't move him. But anytime you don't have the success you expect, you evaluate everything."

There's a limit to what Babcock can do, because it was clear last season that Lang really is not a winger, and neither is Datsyuk. Zetterberg is the only one with the versatility to play wing, but at the same time, he's much more at home in the middle.

"I think you get more into the game," he said. "You get to have the puck more. You skate a little bit more. But sometimes you have to play wing, and I'm not complaining to do that, either."

Playing Zetterberg with Datsyuk has worked well, and probably would again. But Zetterberg was so good at center last season that Babcock came to rely on him as a way to get any slumping winger jump-started; it worked exceedingly well with Mikael Samuelsson, for example.