Ericsson Paired With Lidstrom, Will It Boost Big E's Confidence?

Posted 10/05/2010 - 19:31 by HockeyPolls

Ansar Khan of Mlive.com reported that in today's practice, Jonathan Ericsson was paired with Nick Lidstrom.

Ever since the 2008-09 Stanley Cup playoffs, Ericsson has been on a downward spiral.

Last year, Ericsson's first full-time job with the Wings, Ericsson showed stretches of inconsistency.

Bad turnovers.

Bad positioning.

And lack of confidence.

So today in Red Wings practice, after going with Lidstrom-Kronwall/Rafalski-Stuart/Ericsson-Salei the entire pre-season, Wings coach Mike Babcock decided to split Lidstrom and Kronwall and try Ericsson on a line with Lidstrom (Kronwall paired up with Salei).

Will this help the young Swede with his return to the form he showed in the 2008-09 playoffs?

It should.

Being on a line with Lidstrom is a plus for any player that ever had a chance to do so. So it should be a huge confidence boost for Ericsson.

Learning under the wing of a Hall of Famer like Nick Lidstrom should help the development of youngster like Ericsson.

But what if in the end, the experiment doesn't work?

Where do the Red Wings go from there?

Jakub Kindl grabbed on to the final roster spot to become the seventh d-man.

He's also showed that he has a tremendous upside.

As the year goes on, and if Ericsson continues to show struggles, is Ericsson going to be on his way out?

Ericsson has shown potential during his time in Grand Rapids, but has not shown any since his tremendous 2009 playoff year.