On the Wings

Update (4:59 PM): Helene St. James reports that Jason Williams may return to the ice Friday night in Minnesota. Apparently, he feels a lot better today than he did last night and the pain could very well be gone in time for the game.

She says Ken Holland will be in Grand Rapids Wednesday (I’ll keep an eye out for him, though I won’t be leaving campus tomorrow) to check out the Griffins in case Williams does not return and the team needs an extra forward.

St. James believes Josh Langfeld is the most likely choice in such an event, though I think Darryl Bootland could be the one to get the call, despite what she says. Krys Kolanos, who stopped practicing with the team last week and with whom Bootland may have clashed, is now officially gone*, therefore removing a possible reason for Darryl’s recent benchings. He would bring a needed dimension, if he’s no longer in the doghouse.

*Interestingly enough, so is Stefan Liv, who has been sent down to Toledo of the ECHL in order to fine-tune his game after an awful North American debut. - Matt

Update (12:37 PM): George Malik links to a Windsor Star piece that points out that the Wings’ miserable power play isn’t operating in a vacuum: teams know they won’t have to pay for cheap shots as long as they’re facing the league’s worst PP percentage.

I can’t disagree, though only one of the three big injury-causing cheap shots so far this season (Wiliams 1, Franzen, Williams 2 below) has resulted in a Detroit power play. Kind of hard to use the man advantage for revenge when the officials aren’t calling penalties on the plays. - Matt

Update (11:37 PM): … IwoCPO is in fine form with his recap of last night’s game. Check it out here. - Matt

… The Wings won last night, 2-1 over Marty Turco and the Stars. Guess Tippett’s gamble to counter history didn’t work. Definitely a win the team needed.

I caught a little of the game, but was distracted by homework (among other things) at the time and don’t have much to say on it. I will comment that they seemed to be turning the puck over a lot, though they seemed to do a fair job of getting back to make up for their mistakes. Also, is it just me or does Dom fall a lot more this year?

… I did happen to be watching when Niklas Hagman’s knee caught Jason Williams just above his own knee behind the net in the Dallas end. I saw the replay from a couple angles and didn’t immediately think “Intentional knee-on-knee contact,” but some of the Wings are saying that it was, including alternate captain Kris Draper, who’s not known for shooting off his mouth. Mike Babcock, however, doesn’t believe Hagman went out of his way on the play, which resulted in a charley horse for Williams and fortunately not any knee damage. He’s listed as day-to-day, as of last night.

If it was intentional, I’d like to see some kind of disciplinary action by the NHL because then this lack of respect would be truly ridiculous. If it was just bad luck, that’s little consolation for Williams, who doesn’t need any more injury troubles on plays like that.

… Gotta love the title of the Freep’s Wings Corner today: “Datsyuk plans to shoot more.”

Apparently, he’s afraid that his opponents around the league have figured him out and know that he’s always looking for the pass. His solution? Shoot more. I’ll believe it when I see it, Pavel. I suppose it’s a good thing he realizes the puck doesn’t go into the net on its own.

Helene St. James provides two other excuses for Datsyuk: he has no proven Shahanan-like finisher, and he’s called on more to play a defensive role, like the rest of the forwards.

Yeah, well, you still need to produce offensively, Pavel. Just because you don’t have cannon for a wingman or because you’re meant to be more responsible defensively doesn’t mean you need to skate into a crowd and turn the puck over.