Monthly Archive for October, 2005Page 3 of 4

GameDay: vs. San Jose (3-2-0, 6 Pts) 7:30 ET

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Matt Saler
on October 17, 2005
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Tonight is the first of four games between these two teams this season. They split the season series 2-2 in 2003-2004, with the Sharks winning their last meeting 5-2.

The Wings have won their last two and are 5-1-0 so far this season. They are coming off a 2-0 win in Phoenix Saturday night that capped off a short two-game road trip. The Wings are still the second highest scoring team in the league with 24 goals in six games. Only Toronto has scored more, with 27 in six.

The Sharks are riding a 3-game winning streak, a rebound from losing their first two games of the season. The lost their opener in Nashville, 3-2, and then at Chicago 6-3. They then headed to St. Louis and won 7-6. Their next two games were at home, a 4-1 win over Columbus and a 4-3 win over Chicago. Now, they are on the road for six games. They too have a high scoring offense, with 20 goals in six games, and they will give the Wings’ defense a good test.

Manny Legace will probably get the start for the Wings, though Babcock did mention the possibility of giving him a rest and starting Jimmy Howard for either the Phoenix game or tonight. Evgeni Nabokov will get the start for the Sharks.

… It looks like Steve Yzerman re-aggravated his groin injury while on the road trip. The Wings will not know more about his status until today, the papers are reporting, but I would not be surprised if he were to sit this game out. It doesn’t make sense to make it worse and, with the next game coming Friday, he’ll get a few more days than is usual between games to give it a rest. The Freep says it may have been due to the bad ice in LA and Phoenix, which made it harder to skate. Whatever caused it, it’s a disappointment. Babcock told the Free Press, “He’s just so” ticked “off he can’t talk.” If Yzerman does not play tonight, Mark Mowers will be plugged into the lineup to replace him. Let’s hope The Captain can get this injury taken care of now so that it’s not a concern as the season goes on. Update (1:41 PM): TSN confirms that Yzerman will sit the game out tonight.

… Injured goalie Chris Osgood is scheduled to head to Grand Rapids this week in order to get some playing time in before returning to the lineup with the Wings. He will play Wednesday night in San Antonio, at least, and maybe in one of the two games that follow (Friday at the Houston Aeros or Saturday versus the Omaha Ak-Sar-Ben Knights). He will likely return to the main roster for Monday’s game in Columbus. (Freep)

… It should be a good game tonight. Both teams can score and both have good goalies. Sharks head coach Ron Wilson expressed some concern after their last game about his team’s ability to move the puck quickly against a “pressure team,” but I’m sure they’ve worked on that. The Wings’ defense will have to play well tonight and we’ll need to get solid, sharp play from our forwards in the offensive zone as well. No more soft passes. It will not be easy to score on Nabokov so they’ll need to take advantage of the chances they get.

Update (1:12 PM): Be sure to read Jes Golbez’s exceptional 11th Carnival of the NHL. It’ll be a tough act for anyone to follow. The bar continues to be set higher and higher.

Wings 2, Coyotes 0

Published
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Matt Saler
on October 16, 2005
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The Wings shut out the Coyotes 2-0 tonight in Phoenix. It wasn’t the most exciting game ever, but it was another win. Manny Legace was largely responsible for the win and is working hard to solidify his position as the #1 goalie in the face of the return of Chris Osgood.

First Period
The first period had decent flow and some good up-and-down hockey. There were some good chances for both teams but nothing too exciting. The Wings looked a little sloppy on some passing but the Coyotes didn’t capitalize on it.

Maltby, Draper, Yzerman, Lidstrom, and Chelios started the game.

At 1:12, Robert Lang took a long pass from the near boards at the Wings’ blueline and broke in on Curtis Joseph. He beat Joseph but sent the puck high and off the cross bar.

At 1:58, Denis Gauthier was called for holding and the Wings went on the power play for the first time. They generated some good pressure with both units but were unable to get the puck past Joseph. They only managed one shot on net.

Two minutes after the Gauthier penalty expired, Paul Mara went to the box for holding the stick and the Wings went back on the power play. Again, they generated some decent pressure but were unable to convert. With just 20 seconds or so left on the penalty, Holmstrom was called for boarding and we got 19 seconds of 4-on-4 before Phoenix went on the power play. The Wings did a good job killing off the penalty and kept the Coyotes from getting on the board.

Immediately after the Coyotes power play, the Wings had some good chances in the Phoenix zone, mostly the work of Henrik Zetterberg and Pavel Datsyuk. Those two look good together, as usual.

By 11:30, both teams only had 4 shots, though they had more chances than that number indicates.

At 13:40, Shanahan made the check of the game on Gauthier in the near corner of the Wings zone. Gauthier left the game soon afterwards with a hand injury.

At 14:59, Henrik Zetterberg had a nice chance near the net off a shot from the blue line. He sent it wide, however. The Wings went to the power play soon after, however, when Keith Ballard was called for holding. The Wings started in the Phoenix zone and had a good set up but Yzerman lost the puck behind the net and it was cleared. Williams got in a good shot on their next sustained effort in the zone but it resulted in a Phoenix break the other way. The chance ended with a broken stick, however, and the Wings made another attempt at their power play. They couldn’t get anything going, however, and it was killed off.

Immediately after the power play expired, Cleary got a stick on a Shanahan shot but Joseph was there to make the save.

Around 17:35, there was a small scare when Manny Legace looked to be hurt after a collision with a Coyotes player. Fortunately, he got up and seemed none the worse for wear.

With just over two minutes left, the Coyotes turned the puck over on the near boards at the blue line. Maltby took the puck and cented it to Chelios but it was just behind him and a good chance was missed.

Shots were 9-8 Phoenix.

Second Period

The period started with an early penalty by Derek Morris with an interference call at 0:38. The Wings lost the initial face-off, and were unable to establish control in the Phoenix end for the middle part of the power play. The Wings tried to establish a passing lane behind the net, to get more lateral movement on the man advantage. At 1:48, the Wings had a good chance on CuJo with a Datsyuk pass to Holmstrom on the top of the right circle, but CuJo had a clear lane of vision on the one timer and made the save.

At 2:11, Zetterberg scored a pretty power play goal on a backhander after streaking across the crease on a blue-line feed from Woolley. 1-0 Wings. At 2:31, Keith Ballard broke in up the middle, splitting the Wings defense, but Legace was able to make a poke-check save before Ballard was able to get a shot off.

At 4:12, Franzen had a huge hit on Oleg Saprykin from behind as he attempted to gain the Wings zone. It was nice to see Franzen make a gritty play and cause Saprykin to turn the puck over in the process. After a few minutes of choppy play, Legace made a huge save at 7:06 with traffic in front. Legace has been solid tonight, especially with the Coyotes crashing the net and going after rebounds.

At 11:15, Geoff Sanderson broke in on the left, but Legace came out and was able to cut off the shot angle and make the save. It was a heads up play by Legace that likely prevented a shootout style breakaway chance for Sanderson. With sustained Coyote pressure, Legace made a huge stop on Comrie on the right edge of the crease at 11:43. As traffic built up in front of the net, Datsyuk was caught for holding to prevent a Coyote chance. The Wings had a good penalty kill and were able to pressure Phoenix’s neutral zone passes and create turnovers.

At 17:40, Shane Doan had a long shot on Legace and hit the crossbar. And at 19:45, Holmstrom was called for holding, caping off a really choppy period of hockey.

The Wings never established a good offensive flow in the second, and we were fortunate to get an early power play goal from Zetterberg. Shots in the period were 6-6.

Third Period

The Coyotes started the period on the power play and set up in the Wings’ zone immediately. They got two shots off from the blueline and another one ended up being tipped in on net but Manny made the saves, keeping Phoenix off the board.

Just a little over two minutes into the period, the Holmstrom-Datsyuk-Zetteberg line generated some good pressure in the Coyotes’ zone but without result.

Phoenix went on to get a number of good chances and only Manny’s solidness in net kept them from scoring. The Wings seemed listless and though they had the puck in the offensive zone a fair amount, it was doing a lot of pinballing around and was not under control.

At 6:43, Geoff Sanderson had a great chance off an odd-man rush with two of his teammates. Manny Legace made a sharp glove save, however, and kept the score 1-0.

The Wings went on the powerplay less than a minute later when Sanderson was called for hooking. They got a good setup to begin with and had a good shot or two. Their second and third tries after the puck was cleared generated good pressure as well but Joseph and the Coyotes held them off. After the penalty expired, the Coyotes got some good pressure of their own but to no avail.

At this point, play seemed to take place mostly in center ice and the upper offensive zone, with neither team following through fully on offensive chances.

At 11:19, Tyson Nash laid a big hit on Schneider in the Wings’ defensive zone. That was the second time in two games that a top Wings defenseman has taken a major hit in his own zone (Dustin Brown levelled Lidstrom in LA Thursday night).

At 12:07, Cleary had a good chance on Joseph when he took the puck from the far boards in on net. He didn’t score but his energy is really impressive.

Two minutes later, Pavel Datsyuk scored to make it 2-0. He had taken a pass from Tomas Holmstrom along the far boards, passed it to Nick Lidstrom at the near point and immediately receieved the puck back for a one-timer that beat Joseph just over the shoulder. It was a goal to make his former linemate Brett Hull proud.

At 16:28, Steve Yzerman and Kris Draper had a two-on-one but Draper kept the puck and ended up sending it wide on Joseph.

With just under two minutes left in the game, Brendan Shanahan made a nice individual effort, splitting the Coyotes defense and getting a solid low shot off on Joseph, who made the save. It was good to see that kind of jump from Shanny and would have been a good goal for the highlight reel.

The period essentially ended with the Wings on the powerplay. They took a while to get it set up and once they did, they just got it deep without generating any real chances.

Shots for the period were 8-6 Coyotes.

The Wings weren’t very sharp tonight and will need to work on that as they start to face tougher opponents.

Notes

Samuelsson’s 6-game point streak (extending into last season) ended … Jason Williams is 2nd in the NHL in assists with 7 … The Wings have scored just one power play goal in their last 15 tries … Chris Osgood is no longer feeling pain in his groin. He will head to Grand Rapids this week for a conditioning stint before returning for Detroit as early as the 24th for the game in Columbus … Manny Legace is now 5-1-2 in his career against Phoenix … Brett Hull did announce his retirement before the game. It was an emotional press conference, with many of his former teammates present. He appeared on the air with Ken Daniels and Pat Verbeek during the first period and spoke more on his retirement. We’ll do some sort of tribute post soon … The Wings are now 5-1-0 and are still tied with Nashville (who won tonight as well, 4-1 in St. Louis) for division lead … They will face San Jose at home on Monday night at 7:30 ET

Quote of the Game

“I’m still grumpy.”

– FSN Detroit road color man Pat Verbeek objecting to being called the “Former Ball of Hate” by announcer Ken Daniels.

Play-by-play Shift Chart Boxscore

GameDay: @ Phoenix (1-3-1, 3 Pts) 10:00 ET

Published
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Matt Saler
on October 15, 2005
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Tonight is the first of four games between the Wings and the Coyotes this season. They split the season series 1-1-2 on 03-04.

The Wings are riding a 4-1-0 start and coming off a sloppy 5-2 win in LA on Thursday. Their only loss came against the Canucks on Monday (2-4). They are tied for the Central Division lead with Nashville (4-0-0) and are the second highest scoring team in the league so far with 22 goals (Toronto has 24). They are 2-0 on the road this season.

The Coyotes have had a bit of a rough start under new coach Wayne Gretzky. Each game they have played has been decided by a single goal and only one of them was a win. They have lost their last two, 3-2 to the Stars in Dallas and 5-4 to the Predators at home in a shootout. Their only win was a 2-1 decision against the Wild on the 8th. They are dead last in the Pacific Division and have only scored 12 goals as a team. The Coyotes are 1-0-1 at home so far this season.

Manny Legace will very likely get the start for the Wings, though Jim Howard may see the ice sometime soon, the News reports. Rookie David Leneveu is the likely starter for the Coyotes. Former-Red Wings goalie Curtis Joseph is listed a “questionable” with a groin injury.

We’ll see at least two familiar faces on the ice tonight: Boyd Devereaux and Brett Hull. Both players signed with the Coyotes before the lockout after being left unsigned by the Wings. We may get to see Curtis Joseph as well, though his groin injury may prevent a return to the ice tonight. Update (5:37 PM): Well, it looks like we won’t be seeing Brett Hull tonight after all. CBC is reporting that he will announce his retirement from hockey after 18 years in a press conference scheduled for this evening. Wow. I wasn’t expecting that! Interesting timing though. More later.

We’ll also see a familiar face on the bench: Barry Smith. Smith, formerly an associate coach here, was passed up by the Wings in favor of Mike Babcock for the head coaching job. He could be a head coach in many cities but by the time he was free to seek a new position, the head coaching slots around the league were filled and he had to settle for working with Gretzky.

Although Wayne Gretzky’s experiment has not been very successful so far, the Wings still have a very high opinion of him. With his track record, it doesn’t make any sense to put the stamp of failure on Wayne’s coaching career so early. I expect him to get it together eventually.

The Wings should win this game but their performance on Thursday wasn’t very encouraging. They were sloppy and pretty much got a lucky win in LA. Hopefully they’ll be more prepared to play tonight and take care of business while the Coyotes are still floundering.

Wings 5, Kings 2

Published
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Brian List
on October 14, 2005
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The Wings beat the Kings 5-2 in the Staples Center, in the first of four games between the clubs this season. It was the Wings’ seventh straight win over the Kings, including their season sweep of LA last season. Manny Legace got the start for the Wings and made 26 saves on 28 shots, improving his season statistics to 4-1, .900 save percentage, with a 2.41 GAA. Steve Yzerman played in his first game since April 23, 2004, after recovering from a preseason groin injury. Jason Woolley also made his debut, fresh off of getting signed to replace the injured Kronwall. Ex-Wing Pat Verbeek was in for Mickey Redmond as color commentator, due to Redmond’s limited travel because of celiac disease.

Ist Period

The Wings got an early powerplay 46 seconds in, after Mathieu Garon was caught with a delay-of-game penalty for clearing the puck over the glass. The Wings managed just one shot on net during the man advantage, on a point shot from Jason Williams. Just as Avery got out of the box, after serving Garon’s penalty, the Wings had a good stand in the LA zone. Andreas Lilja, Daniel Cleary, and Nicklas Lidstrom all took shots wide of the net, but the Wings showed good skating and persistence. Cleary in particular.

At 13:53 remaining, Kirk Maltby prevented an Alexander Frolov breakaway with good backchecking. Frolov was dangerous all night, getting a number of near-breakaways and keeping the Wings defense on their heels.

At 12:30, the Kings got a 2-on-1 with Luc Robitaille and Mike Cammalleri, with Luc taking a snap shot from the right side and Legace making the save.

At 11:41, Frolov, had a chance on a break on a long pass up center, but shot wide. For all the chances Frolov got tonight, he only notched one shot on goal. I’d definitely be worried about this kid if he gets an accurate shot.

The Wings got another try on the PP off a Norstrom interference call at 7:51, and the Wings put up a good power play with decent passing in the Kings’ zone. As the power play expired, Zetterberg made a bad crossing pass, and the puck was cleared after the few minutes of sustained pressure by the Wings.

At 4:56, Jiri Fischer was caught on an interference call, after roughing up a King with a check to the head away from the puck, a definite no-no in the new NHL. The Wings had a good penalty kill, and kept the Kings shotless on the man advantage.

At 2:15 remaining, Brendan Shanahan scored his third goal of the season on a tip-in off a pretty cross ice pass from Jason Williams (6th assist of the season). Robert Lang was also charging the net, and was able to distract the Kings defense enough to keep Shanny open. 1-0 Wings. Shots in the period were 6-5 Kings, which is low because 19 shots were blocked/missed by both clubs. It was a wide open period, with 3 power plays and a lot of good skating and cross ice passing.

Yzerman was the 1st intermission guest on FSN, and expressed his concern that if too many power plays were called in the new NHL, it would slow the game down against the league’s best wishes. He also said his knees feels better than they have in three years, with only some slight discomfort.

2nd Period

Just under a minute into the 2nd, Fischer was caught after moving in on offense, and the Kings got a 2-on-1, to no result. The Kings controlled the pace early. At 16:56 remaining, the Sean Avery scored on a breakaway off a long, 3-line pass from Derek Armstrong. 1-1 tie. The Lang/Shanahan/Williams line played well, creating a number of chances and keeping the Wings in the game as the Kings kept their pressure.

At the midpoint of the period, it was like a LA power play, with Cammalleri nearly scoring off a wrist shot. A few minutes later, it was again like a LA power play, with sustained pressure in the Wings’ zone. Pavel Datsyuk did some good work in the corner, digging the puck out between the skates of a King and clearing the zone.

At 6:26, Yzerman was called for hooking, but the Kings’ PP woes continued as they failed to get a shot on net. At 4:03, Lang made a good pass to a breaking Yzerman, who was pulled down as he shot wide of Garon.

At 2:42, Conroy was caught on a high-sticking call along the boards, but the Wings were unable to generate any pressure and the period ended at 1-1, shots in the period 11-8 Kings.

Third Period

At 15:01, Fischer was called for holding on a pin along the boards, another interference call that Jiri should learn is going to be called every time in the new NHL. At 14:31, Maltby scored his 20th career short handed goal, stealing an errant Kings pass in the neutral zone. Maltby broke in alone on Garon, and made a pretty shot, beating Garon high on the blocker side to make it 2-1 Wings.

At 14:44, Draper was called for hooking on Visnovsky. It was a cheap call, as Visnovsky just lost his own footing with Draper in pursuit. This gave the Kings 43 seconds of a 5-on-3. Zetterberg, Lidstrom, and Chelios were solid on the 5-on-3, and limited the Kings to just two shots.

At 10:45, Maltby was called for a high stick, but Zetterberg and Draper did a good job on the penalty kill, as the Kings pushed to tie the game up.

At 5:45, Roenick scored when Dustin Brown shot the puck on a sprawling Legace, and the puck glanced off of Legace’s pads and redirected off of JR’s skate into the net. 2-2 tie. But, just a minute later, Johan Franzen scored his first career NHL goal off a left circle shot over Garon’s glove. Assisted by Clearly and Samuelsson. 3-2 Wings.

With three minutes left, Schneider was called for interference as he crushed Dustin Brown with a check. It was a retaliation play, and showed a lack of discipline on Schneider’s part. On the back end of the LA power play, Garon was pulled to make it a 6-on-4 advantage. With 48 seconds remaining, Zetterberg scored an empty net goal to put the Wings up 4-2. The Kings would pull Garon again, only to have Jiri Fischer score another empty netter and make it 5-2 Wings. Final. Shots in the period were 11-8 Kings, 28-21 total for the Kings in the game.

Trivia

This season marks Yzerman’s 22nd season, but 23rd officially, as the NHL is counting the missed season from the lockout in players’ season totals…Robert Lang was drafted by the Kings and played for them 1992-1996…Mike Leggo was one of the refs tonight, and has a bad history with the Wings…King Jeremy Roenick suffered his 10th concussion during the preseason…Chelios played in his 1,400th career game…Samuelsson ended his four-game goal scoring streak, but still has a streak of six straight games with a point (he assisted on the Franzen game winner)…Jason Williams has six assists this season…the Wings haven’t lost to the Kings in LA since October 12, 2002…

UPDATE (Matt):

These are from just the first period and so may be incomplete. However, Babcock seems to keep his lines pretty consistent, unlike Bowman, so these are pretty much it.

Forward units
Maltby-Draper-Yzerman
Zetterberg-Datsyuk-Holmstrom
Cleary-Franzen-Samuelsson
Williams-Lang-Shanahan
Shanahan-Lang-Zetterberg

Defensive pairings
Lidstrom-Chelios
Lidstrom-Lilja
Chelios-Woolley
Schneider-Fischer
Lilja-Woolley

PP Units
Shanahan-Lang-Samuelsson-Lidstrom-Schneider
Zetterberg-Datsyuk-Holmstrom-Lidstrom-Schneider
Maltby-Draper-Yzerman-Williams-Woolley
Zetterberg-Datsyuk-Holmstrom-Williams-Woolley

PK Units
Chelios-Lang-Zetterberg-Lidstrom
Samuelsson-Chelios-Lidstrom-Zetterberg
Maltby-Lilja-Cleary-Chelios
Lidstrom-Cleary-Franzen-Chelios
Franzen-Williams-Shanahan-Lidstrom

GameDay: @ LA (3-1-0, 6 Pts) 10:30 ET

Published
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Matt Saler
on October 13, 2005
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Tonight is the first of four games between the Wings and the Kings this season. In 2003-2004, the Wings swept the season series 4-0.

Detroit is coming off a disappointing 4-2 loss to the Canucks on Monday. They had won three games in a row, including their sixth straight season opener (5. Oct against the Blues, 5-1). On Sunday, they rolled over the Flames, winning 6-3 at home. On the 6th, they held off the Blues in St. Louis to win 4-3. This game is the first in a very short West Coast road trip for the Wings in which they will also play Phoenix (Saturday). When they return home, they will face two more West Coast teams, San Jose and Anaheim over the course of next week.

The Kings are riding a three-game home win streak after blowing their season opener in Dallas on the 5th (they had been up 4-0 and lost 5-4). Their three wins came against the Coyotes (3-2), Wild (2-1) and Oilers (3-1). This game is the second-to-last in a 5-game homestand for the Kings, who, after playing Columbus on Sunday, will go on the road to visit Colorado and Dallas next week.

Manny Legace will get the start for the Wings. The Kings, who have been alternating goaltenders every game, should start Mathieu Garon (Conan LaBarbera started their last game, against the Oilers).

Expect to see Steve Yzerman on the ice for the first time this season tonight. Both Detroit newspapers (Freep and News) are reporting that he practiced yesterday and is ready to go, finally. Babcock has him slated to play with Kirk Maltby and Kris Draper as his checking third line. Johan Franzen, who had been playing with Malts and Drapes, will be moved to the fourth line with Dan Cleary and Mikael Samuelsson. Mark Mowers had to be pushed off the roster in order to make room for The Captain. As for the rest of the lines, expect to see Henrik Zetterberg, Tomas Holmstrom and Pavel Datsyuk playing together as well as Robert Lang, Brendan Shanahan and Jason Williams.

Chris Osgood is still not ready to return from a groin injury, though he may be by next week. In that case, he would be sent down to Grand Rapids so he can get some playing time under his belt before returning to the main roster.

Don’t expect to see Jason Woolley yet. Even Mike Babcock doesn’t know when he’ll make his return to the ice.

This will be the first time since the 2000-2001 season we’ll see Jeremy Roenick on a Western Conference team. I’m looking forward to it, though I hope the Wings can shut him down. We’ll also see former Blues player Pavol Demitra for the first time this season.

Former-Red Wings forward Sean Avery continues to get in trouble for his mouth. The Oilers have filed a complaint with the league about comments Avery supposedly made to Edmonton forward Georges Laraque Tuesday night. Avery has already put himself in hot water this season by making derogatory comments about French-Canadian hockey players. Laraque is both French-Canadian and African-Canadian (?) so it’s not hard to imagine what Avery may have said. I recall Laraque being a rather large, tough man and I cannot imagine insulting him, especially if I were as small as Avery is. He’ll pay, I’m sure. I’m glad he’s not in the Winged Wheel any more.

It should be a good game tonight. The Kings have some solid scoring ability and seem to be getting some good goaltending. I’m glad the first late night game of the year came on my Fall Break. Otherwise, it would be a short night tonight since I would usually have a 5:00 AM start for work tomorrow.

Note: As for those personal issues I mentioned earlier, the situation is pretty static now (though it was not a positive outcome) and so I’ll try to keep up a regular posting schedule as much as I can. Thanks to Christy for keeping the site as up-to-date as she did.

Just who is Mikael Samuelsson?

Published
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Christy Hammond
on October 12, 2005
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Per request by the Predator’s Den’s Jason Kirk, I will uncover the deep secrets of Mikael Samuelsson. Who is he? Where did he come from? Why did the Wings pick him up? And what impact has he made thus far on the team?

The Basic Stats:
Name: Mikael Samuelsson
Age: 28
Hometown: Mariefred, Sweden
Height: 6-2
Weight: 211 lbs.
Pos: RW
Shoots: Left
Drafted: 5th Round pick in 1998 (145th overall) by San Jose

What’s his NHL background?
After being drafted by San Jose in 1998, he was eventually traded to the New York Rangers with Chris Gosselin in exchange for Adam Graves in June of 2001. Interestingly enough, his first two NHL goals were against the Avalanche. His first goal beat Patrick Roy and ended his shutout string of 192 minutes and 39 seconds. In February of 2003, the Rangers sent Samuelsson to Pittsburgh with 3 other players for Alexei Kovalev, Dan LaCouture, Janne Laukkanen, and Mike Wilson. Four months later, he was once again traded, this time to the Florida Panthers. While in Florida, he played 37 games and gained 9 points (3 goals, 6 assists). Fast forward to September 2005 when the Red Wings signed this unrestricted free agent. In the first four games of the regular season, Samuelsson has scored a goal in each game and notched an assist as well.

What did he do in the lockout?
During the lockout, Samuelsson returned to his native country, Sweden, where he played for Sodertalje SK. In 29 games, he notched 20 points (7 goals, 13 assists). He also played for HC Geneve-Servette, a team in the Swiss National League. There he brought in 2 goals and 4 assists in 12 games.

What are the scouting reports saying?
Well TSN’s reports say the following:

Assets: Has good size and excellent two-way ability. Plays a solid game in all three zones. Is willing and able in the penalty-killing department.

Flaws: Has to use his size more in order to maximize his value at the NHL level. Won’t ever put up huge scoring totals.

Career potential: Checking line winger.

Why the Wings?
Well, the Detroit Red Wings appear to have a growing fondness for Swedes. GM Holland says that this is “just a coincidence.” The Russian Five no longer exist in Hockeytown, but the Sweden Seven does. “There’s never been this many Swedes before,” Nicklas Lidstrom said. “It’s a different feeling.” Along with Holmstrom, Lidstrom, Kronwall, and Zetterberg, Detroit newcomers Andreas Lilja, Johan Franzen, and Samuelsson round up the seven Swedes. “It’s nice,” Tomas Holmstrom said. “There is a lot. I’m not sure what’s happening.”

Holland signed Samuelsson to add veteran depth to the third and fourth lines. “He’s played in the league, he has almost 200 games of experience (188), and we feel he can provide hard work and energy to this team,” Holland said.


Courtesy of DetroitRedWings.com
Up until this point, Samuelsson never really had an NHL home. The Wings showed the most interest before the start of exhibition and it wasn’t a hard decision for him to sign with Detroit. “It’s an awesome organization, and it has to be when you consider all the world championships they’ve won and making the playoffs year after year,” Samuelsson said. The Wings and the rest of the league aren’t the only one surprised with his scoring thus far, Samuelsson is to. “I can’t remember ever doing that before,” Samuelsson said.

We’ll have to see how he does throughout the season but he seems to be a great addition to the Wings team thus far!

UPDATE (Matt): Samuelsson appears to have at least the potential to put up good numbers: He scored 32 goals and had 78 points in 66 games with the Kentucky Thoroughblades of the AHL in 2000-2001, the same year he entered the NHL with the Sharks. He won Rookie of the Month in 2000 for his performance in December of that year. That season was far and away his best, by the way.

Obviously, success in the AHL doesn’t automatically translate to success in the NHL and that certainly has been the case so far for Samuelsson but perhaps that will change now that he is on a skilled team.

Even if his offensive production goes down, he seems to be a solid player in his own zone and that alone makes him a worthwhile pickup. Especially for a paltry $537,500.

As for Jason’s question: “And does he have a fear of Predators?” Whatever his attitude was before he came to Detroit (he was on a Pens team that Nashville gave a 6-0 spanking in 02-03), he’s a Red Wing now and fear of the Preds is not in the job description!

Canucks defeat Wings, 4-2

Published
by
Christy Hammond
on October 11, 2005
in Uncategorized
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Last night, the Vancouver Canucks beat the Detroit Red Wings, 4-2, at Joe Louis Arena. Matt Cooke, Henrik Sedin, and Anson Carter all scored for the Canucks. Richard Park scored on an empty net to finalize the Canucks’ win. “It was in our grasp tonight, and I didn’t come up with the big save,” Legace said. In his first start of the season, Canucks goalie Alex Auld made 28 saves. Only Tomas Holmstrom and Mikael Samuelsson’s shots got past him. “It’s definitely nice to get in,” Auld said. “I knew it would be a challenge against that team.”

Samuelsson notched his fourth goal in four games. His performance thus far is not what most predicted. When the Wings were scouting him, they took comments from current Swedes on the team who commended his hockey play. “He’s playing great,” defenseman Mathieu Schneider said. “The kid is doing everything really simple. (He) has a great shot and a lot of speed. That’s what it is going to take to have great success in this new league.”

Unlike Sunday night when the Wings capitalized on five out of nine power plays, they went 0 for 6 on the power play. “We weren’t efficient on the power play,” Wings coach Mike Babcock said. “On the 5-on-3, we didn’t do what we wanted at all. Part of that is them, and part of that is us.”

Babcock had more comments about the team’s performance against the Canucks:

“We were in the game early, but I never thought at any time we were in control of the game. We didn’t have our ‘A’ game. We weren’t as hard to play against as we have been…To win night in and night out, your best guys have to be your best guys and I didn’t think we had that. They were just a more desperate team…This was a tough back-to-back for us. We had an opportunity to really dig in here tonight. We didn’t get it done. Now we’ll go on the road here and play hard in LA… I didn’t think we made it as hard on their goalie tonight as we made it on (Calgary goalie) Mr. (Miikka) Kiprusoff last night or on St. Louis. They had more puck possession. They were a more desperate team. The game is pretty simple. Comes down a lot of nights to who wants it more when the skill level is pretty much the same, and I thought tonight they did.”

Wings extinguish Flames, 6-3

Published
by
Brian List
on October 10, 2005
in 2005-2006, Flames, Game Reports and The Team
. 3 Comments

The Detroit Red Wings started the season with three wins after defeating the Calgary Flames, 6-3. Penalty trouble for the Flames helped the Wings get to a quick 3-0 lead by the end of the first period. The Flames had seven penalties in the first period alone, while the Wings had none. Nicklas Lidstrom, Brendan Shanahan, and Mikael Samuelsson all got a goal on the power play within the first 20 minutes of the game. The Wings outshot the Flames, 22-4, in the first period.

“You have to take advantage of your opportunities out there,” Lidstrom said. “You can put a team away or get ahead big when you get a lot of power plays.”

Henrik Zetterberg notched a goal and three assists in yesterday’s game. Pavel Datsyuk scored during a power play in the third period. “It wasn’t even close tonight,” Flames captain Jarome Iginla said. “You didn’t see any complaining from our side (about the penalties). We deserved them.”

Robert Lang scored his third goal of the season (one in each game thus far) towards the end of the second period. Goalie Miikka Kiprusoff was pulled after the second period. He was replaced by Philippe Sauve. Detroit’s goaltender, Manny Legace, made 21 saves in Sunday’s game. “We had a great start, we talked about that before the game, coming out and playing real strong,” Lidstrom said. “Our power play was working for us.”

Head coach Mike Babcock was pleased with the team’s performance. “We managed the puck and we were on top of their team more than they were on top of us, and we went to the net,” Babcock said. “We didn’t just play in the soft areas. We got involved in the game.”

Calgary’s Roman Hamrlik had a goal and an assist in the game. Rhett Warrener and Chuck Kobasew both scored a goal. Warrener’s shot was accidently tipped in by Kris Draper of the Wings.

Darren McCarty returned to the Joe, but as a member of the opposing squad. Even so, McCarty entered the ice to a sound of applause and cheering. “It was weird coming out and having to go right instead of left,” McCarty said. “It was great out there. I saw a lot of signs and shirts (greeting McCarty).” He also said that Sunday just flew by and thought Detroit has a strong team.

“It went quick, it was like a wedding day. It just blew by.” McCarty said. “They (the Wings) have a good team over there. We were in the box a lot. They played a good game. They were definitely on.”

In the first period, McCarty leveled Kirk Maltby, a former linemate. “I’m not mad at him or anything,” Maltby said. “He’s an aggressive player and he plays hard. That’s what I would expect.”

With yesterday’s goal, Lidstrom passed Ted Lindsay to become the sixth all-time scorer for the Detroit Red Wings with 729 points.

Wings re-sign Woolley

Published
by
Matt Saler
on October 8, 2005
in Uncategorized
. 3 Comments

In order to add depth to a very shallow defense, the Wings brought back defenseman Jason Woolley to a one-year contract today, TSN is reporting. As per team policy, terms of the deal were not disclosed.

It’s not much but the Wings should be better off on defense now. It doesn’t fully make up for the loss of Kronwall but Woolley is a good, steady defenseman and his experience will be valuable on the blueline.

I’m a little disappointed that Brett Lebda had to be sent down in order to make room on the roster, however. I’ve been impressed with Lebda so far and it’s a shame his NHL debut is being cut short.

You were right, greatwhitebear.

I’m sorry for the lack of updates on my part. The second half of this week has been a nightmare from a personal standpoint and I’ve had too much on my mind to spend time on the site. It’s still going on so posting may continue to be sporadic until the situation is resolved. Again, I’m sorry.

Wings beat Blues in season opener, 5-1

Published
by
Christy Hammond
on October 5, 2005
in Uncategorized
. 1 Comment

Before Game: Tonight, October 5, all 30 NHL teams will play each other in honor of the league’s return after a long lockout. The Detroit Red Wings will play the St. Louis Blues in back to back games. Tonight, the Wings will open at home. My dad and brother are at the game, hopefully they’ll enjoy themselves! Tomorrow, the Wings will head to St. Louis. Chris Chelios was happy that the Wings were playing a rivalry team, instead of “Columbus.” John Keating, the broadcaster, actually said ouch. Chelios went on to say that the Avs or another rivalry team like the Blues would be a better season opener to generate some energy and excitement.

During Game: With six players on the ice for the Wings with an impending penalty call on the Blues, Pavel Datsyuk put the puck past Blues goalie Patrick Lalime only a minute and a half into the game. I hope we see many more goals from him this season after we went through all of that off-season drama.

With 12:56 left in the first period, Mathieu Schneider rockets a shot past Lalime’s gloves into the top corner after receiving a pass from Datsyuk.

Eric Brewer beat Wings goalie, Manny Legace, to bring the Blues within one about 8:45 left in the first period. Tonight marks the first time Legace has started the season opener.

Mikael Samuelsson notched the Wings third goal only 2:41 minutes into the second period. Dan Cleary got the assist.

I just talked to my dad and I guess they passed out mini stanley cup trophies and the Red Wings logo magnets at the game and he’s giving it to me! My dorm room is definetely starting to resemble my room at home with all the Wings stuff. Plus I purchased, on eBay, a signed Draper 8×10 photo and a signed Maltby 8×10 photo for only $22 or so! Leave a comment if you’d like to learn more about where you can buy relatively cheap autographed photos.

In his first NHL game, Brett Lebda sent Lalime back to the bench with the Wings fourth goal. Austrian Reinhard Divis replaced Lalime in net. Robert Lang scored his first goal this season on a powerplay with 3:18 left in the second period. Holmstrom received the assist.

In the sixth minute of the third period, Blues wing Keith Tkachuk nailed Datsyuk who didn’t see him coming. Brendan Shanahan didn’t feel that the hit was justified so he went after him. The referees quickly split them apart but it sure did energize the crowd. It was good to know that an unfair hit to a skillful player like Datsyuk wouldn’t go “unpunished.” This led to another powerplay with two Blues players and Shanny in the penalty box. Right after a faceoff, Jamal Mayers threw his gloves down and he and Shanny just went at it. I love hockey fights.

The game ended with the Wings beating the Blues, 5-1. The Red Wings have won six consecutive opening games dating back to the start of the 1999-2000 season. I was disappointed when the announced the 2005-2006 team that Steve Yzerman wasn’t announced. I know he has a sore groin and wasn’t going to play, but this is probably his last season! Oh well. I do have fond memories of the 2003-2004 opening game against the LA Kings when Yzerman scored the game winning goal with 1.7 seconds left in the third period. Sweet victory.

Well the Wings play tomorrow night with the puck dropping at 8pm and hopefully they’ll start the season 2-0.

Game Score: Wings - 5 Blues - 1