On the Wings

Update (7:50 PM): … Helene St. James reports in a blog post that both Brad Norton and Mikael Samuelsson are ready to return to the ice. Samuelsson expects to play Wednesday against the Flames, and Norton just needs to be cleared by some doctors. Norton still has not been taken off the IR, but when he does, the Wings will be over the 23-man active roser limit, meaning Valtteri Filppula’s stint in Detroit will probably soon be over. That is, of course, unless the Wings decide to send someone else down, which would most likely be Norton, if anyone.

… The Calgary Sun has a piece by Randy Sportak today that provides more details on Darren McCarty’s bankruptcy. For anyone thinking Darren brought this on himself by throwing money away, there’s this:

“It sounds as if I blew $6 million, which isn’t the case. A lot of it had to do with a couple of properties that we owned and I signed my name to. It’s not as if I was blowing the money.”

Apparently, it was more a case of being stabbed in the back by a business partner than anything else. (via Snapshots)

… When Evgeni Malkin and Sergei Fedorov both went down with injuries, I was in need of a center on my fantasy team so I traded Kari Lehtonen for Marc Savard and David Aebischer. It was probably a dumb trade then, but I feel really stupid now, after reading this. - Matt

… In the Freep’s Wings Corner today, George Sipple focuses on Chris Chelios, who will tie Wayne Gretzky in games played on Wednesday when the Wings play the Flames at home. Gretzky currently holds 12th place on the all-time list with 1,487 games (over 20 seasons) while Chelios obviously has 1,486 games (over 22 seasons).

Cheli will be able to pass Gretzky (how unlikely does that sound?!) on Thursday when the Wings travel to Chicago to play the Blackhawks.

… In his Red Wings Notebook, Ted Kulfan writes on the contrast between the Wings’ three game slide during their West Coast trip, and their three-game win-streak since. They’re making mediots like Damien Cox look pretty dumb, though, granted, it is a long season and they’ve only been able to string three together so far. However, I think they’ve got it together now, and I wouldn’t expect any more three-game losing streaks.

… Kulfan also has a quote from Mike Babcock on why the Wings’ power play went 0-for-5 Saturday night:

“We wouldn’t shoot the puck. We passed it around, passed it around, passed it around and wouldn’t shoot. I don’t know why that happened.”

Well, Mike, it was that, and the fact that the guys seemed to revert back to the power play strategy of last season. You know, the one that didn’t work any more and the one you had the players work on last week? Why does the PP focus on the defensemen at the point again?

… Mathieu Schneider, a popular player around here, was interviewed by The Sporting News’ Ray Slover this weekend. It’s not very long but definitely worth a read.

I like this part:

SN: Tomas Holmstrom scores from the dot. Did you guys about fall over on that one?

Schneider: He never ceases to amaze me. He finds different ways to score all the time. He still gets heck. I think he had a goal like that in the Olympics, but most of them are obviously inside the crease. But he’s just a great presence in front of the net. He doesn’t get the credit he deserves for being able to handle the puck and move it outside the top of the circles.

Link via Snapshots.

… Ansar Khan looks at the coming roster problem in an article for Booth Newspapers today.

As far as I’m concerned, I think they should keep Valtteri Filppula up and send Norton down, but only if Babcock is able to give Filppula an appropriate amount of ice time. The problem is, that will be difficult once Mikael Samuelsson returns and picks up the 15-16 minutes in ice time he was getting before injuring his shoulder. If Valtteri were covering for just Norton, it would be no question, but with Mikael coming back soon, it may not be the best thing for him to stay with the Wings. I know the Griffins could use him.

Sending Norton down isn’t the Wings’ only option if they’re looking to keep Filppula on the roster. According to Khan, Brett Lebda is a player the Wings could send down to make room for Valtteri since he wouldn’t have to clear waivers. Haha, very funny, Ansar (to be fair, he does say it’s unlikely). Another option would be sending extraneous third goalie Joey MacDonald for a two-week conditioning stint.

… The Wings aren’t the only team that is proving the hockey media wrong. The Colorado Avalanche, who also have been picked to fall by the columnists, have won four in six, including a big one over the Minnesota Wild last night.