Monthly Archive for September, 2007Page 2 of 2

Roster battles

Published
by
Matt Saler
on September 14, 2007
in Derek Meech, Igor Grigorenko and Matt Ellis
. 0 Comments

 According to Ted Kulfan, the Wings expect to carry 22 players into the season. Apparently, that means 13 forwards, 7 defensemen, and 2 goalies, though Holland allows for the possibility that another forward could impress in camp, forcing them to carry 14. He doesn’t say the same about the defensemen, so it looks like that logjam will have to be cleared up by camp/pre-season performances. If Meech doesn’t out-perform Sopel, it looks like the Wings will risk losing him on waivers by sending him back to GR. This isn’t the first time the Wings have indicated they’d only like to carry 7 defensemen, so the scenario I posted the other day is looking more and more unlikely. Wishful thinking, I guess.

As for the forwards, the battle for the 13th spot will primarily be between Matt Ellis and Igor Grigorenko. I think Igor’d better watch his back. Ellis is just the kind of player Babcock loves and if Grigs takes so much as a drill off, he’ll fall behind. Obviously, though, the Wings know what their doing in leaving a 13th and a 14th spot open, as it’s likely both players will perform well.

On Sopel

Published
by
Matt Saler
on September 12, 2007
in Andreas Lilja, Brent Sopel, Brett Lebda, Brian Rafalski, Chris Chelios, Nick Lidstrom and Niklas Kronwall
. 0 Comments

Update (13. Sep, 12:22AM): Bruce MacLeod has posted a look at the situation and it’s a good read. He writes that the competition is between Sopel and Meech, not Lilja. At the onset, that’s exactly how it will be, but MacLeod admits that “[Sopel] could force Detroit’s hand into trading or cutting one of its top six defensemen.” If it came down to it, I’d guess that player would be Lilja, which would give Meech the 7th spot. Or the team would just carry 8 defensemen, which isn’t fair to the experienced player (Lebda or Lilja) that gets to share the skybox with Meech. Plus, it would create problems with the forward corps.

What problems? Well, if Grigorenko has a strong enough camp to make the team, and if the Wings want to keep Matt Ellis (a heart-and-soul player in GR ready to be one in Detroit), they’d need to carry 14 forwards (those two, plus Datsyuk, Zetterberg, Holmstrom, Filppula, Cleary, Samuelsson, Franzen, Maltby, Draper, Drake, Hudler, Kopecky). 14 forwards plus 2 goalies plus 8 defensemen equals 24 players, one man over the limit of 23.

So, as already looked at by IwoCPO, if both Sopel and Grigorenko turn out to be good enough to make the team, someone’s on their way out. It’s going to be interesting to see how this all shakes out. Maybe Sopel will be a flop and all they’ll have to worry about is what to do with Igor and Ellis. - Matt

Ansar Khan has a blog post up with a few Babcock quotes on various topics, but one of the most interesting is this one on Brent Sopel, one of the Wings’ free agent camp invitees:

“… I’ve known him since he was a kid, we have a real good feel for him and think he’s a top-four NHL defenseman. Now, just because we think it doesn’t mean anything, he’s got to relax and let his skill come to the forefront and show us what he brings (though the preseason).”

Sopel’s entry into the top four would upset the current projections of the group, which is generally considered to be Nick Lidstrom, Brian Rafalski, Niklas Kronwall, and Andreas Lilja. The first two are locks for the top pairing (or at least, the top four, in Rafalski’s case) and the team isn’t paying Kronwall $3 million to play in the third pairing, or, for that matter, to sit on the bench. And speaking of the third pairing, Chris Chelios and Brett Lebda play too well together to break that up. So, that leaves Andreas Lilja. If Sopel cracks the lineup, it seems to me that Lilja would be the odd man out.

That wouldn’t be a new situation for old Andreas, whose had an up-and-down career in Detroit, ranging from Nick Lidstrom’s defensive partner in 05-06, to seventh defenseman and odd-man out to Niklas Kronwall and Brett Lebda last year. He had a surprisingly good playoffs and still brings the most physical presence of any Red Wings defenseman (relatively speaking), but even in the Mike Babcock era, offensive defensemen win out in Detroit.

Obviously, Sopel is no lock for a contract with the Wings, but the possibility is intriguing.

I realize I’m a little late to chime in on this topic. Others have said their piece already and made some great points. See Abel to Yzerman, Gorilla Crouch, and yzerman is god.

Wings training camp roster finalized

Published
by
Matt Saler
on September 11, 2007
in Links, The Team and Training Camp
. 0 Comments

The Free Press has the list, which includes jersey numbers and player positions with the names, as well as height and weight information, and birthdate and birthplace. Camp begins Friday in Traverse City.

More on Grigorenko

Published
by
Matt Saler
on September 11, 2007
in Igor Grigorenko
. 0 Comments

Update (4:41 PM): In contrast with MacLeod’s report, Red Wings Central’s Sarah Lindenau writes that the Wings are “happy with the play” of Grigorenko, quoting Jim Nill as saying,

“He’s played pretty well. He’s really got the head (for the game). He makes plays that guys aren’t ready for, but this has been good just to get him ready for main camp.”

This doesn’t mean MacLeod’s assessment is wrong by any means, as his information could have come from observing body language or on a condition of anonymity. Nill, knowing he’s being quoted by Lindenau, has no reason to call Igor out there and it’s not unlikely that he’s keeping the team’s real assessment of him private, as the Wings often do.

Even asuming that Nill is not fully speaking his mind there, the phrase “he’s played pretty well” is a bit ambiguous and it’s hard to tell exactly how he meant it when he said it without actually hearing the words. (via Snapshots) - Matt

Bruce MacLeod’s latest:

Igor Grigorenko needs to do a lot more to make this team. He had a sub-par game against the Rangers. He was above average in a tournament against 18-22 year-olds, a tournament that he could have dominated. He came to camp out of shape. There’s still time for Grigorenko, but at the moment, the Red Wings’ brass is not impressed.

So, it wasn’t just that first game and those video clips, after all. I had hoped he didn’t have his eyes so set on the NHL roster that he’d neglect the intermediate steps, but it sounds like he isn’t taking this prospect camp seriously. No doubt he still expects to play in the NHL, even after his lackluster performance in this stage of the entry process.

Look at Evan McGrath, who by all accounts is having a great camp. He’s taking this thing seriously and, as a result, is impressing all the right people, even though he has no chance of making the Wings this year. Maybe that’s the problem with Igor. It sounds like he’s let the projections of himself as an NHL-ready forward go to his head. The organization needs to sit him down and talk about his future, which could very well include a stint in Grand Rapids. He has to understand that GR isn’t a career killer and that he has to pay some dues here.

While I’d love to have a Calder Trophy candidate Grigorenko on the team, I have no interest in seeing the Wings give a roster spot to a player who isn’t going to give his all when there’s a guy like Matt Ellis ready to step in. If Igor has a great main camp, the question becomes murkier, but he still should probably see some AHL time. He’s no Henrik Zetterberg or Pavel Datsyuk, after all. If that’s not okay with him, good riddance.

Grigorenko in the wild

Published
by
Matt Saler
on September 10, 2007
in Igor Grigorenko, Jonathan Ericsson, Links, Mattias Ritola and Video
. 1 Comment

NHL.com has some video (opens Hightlight Machine) of Igor Grigorenko from the first prospects game (versus Atlanta). Nothing terribly exciting, as it consists mostly of Igor skating and gliding around, rarely lower in the zone than the circles. From the admittedly scant evidence provided by the video, it seemed to me that his linemates were doing most of the work. Granted, it was his first game, but I hope he starts moving his feet more than that and mucks it up along the boards a little more in the future.  For more video options, including film of Jonathan Ericsson and Matthias Ritola, click here. (via Snapshots)

Zetterberg Update

Published
by
Matt Saler
on September 10, 2007
in Henrik Zetterberg, Injuries and Links
. 0 Comments

Update (11. Sep, 12:08 AM): Ansar Khan has a post up that covers much the same ground Kulfan covered in the link below. The difference is he has more actual quotes from Hank. - Matt

Remember those reports out of Sweden a little over a month ago that said Zetterberg bowed out of a charity game because his back injury had flared up? Well, Hank has now set the record straight. He told Ted Kulfan that he chose not to play because he had not been on the ice before the game and did not want to risk being injured due to being somewhat out of shape.

RWC reports on Grigorenko’s debut

Published
by
Matt Saler
on September 8, 2007
in Igor Grigorenko, Links and Prospect Camp
. 0 Comments

Red Wings Central’s Sarah Lindenau has the story on the Wings 3-2 loss to Atlanta in the first game at prospect camp. Grigorenko posted an assist and was impressive overall, at least according to Evan McGrath and Jan Mursak, his linemates.

Kukla’s new look

Published
by
Matt Saler
on September 7, 2007
in Hockey Bloggers and Links
. 0 Comments

If you haven’t seen it yet, go there now. Looks great, Paul!

Wings to sell $9 tickets

Published
by
Matt Saler
on September 6, 2007
in Tickets
. 2 Comments

Update (8:16 PM): George Malik, an outspoken critic of the team’s relationship with the fans (or lack thereof), has the perfect headline to his post on the ticket announcement: “Hell freezes over as Wings offer $9 tix.” That about sums it up. - Matt

At the end of a solid post on a number of players on the team, Ansar Khan includes the news that, starting Sep. 13 at 10:00 AM, the team will sell special $9 tickets for each homegame. Purchases will be limited to two tickets per person and can only be made at the JLA box office. The tickets will only be releasted on a monthly basis, though, so you won’t be able to buy a ticket to the New Year’s Eve game yet.

No information yet on where the seats will be (the seating chart has not yet been updated), but there aren’t really any bad seats at the Joe so no real worries there. $9 is $9, after all. For $9, I’d sit in the rafters if it meant I got to watch the Wings in person. I’ll definitely be taking advantage of this a few times this year. Or trying to, anyway. I’m sure these’ll sell out real fast, since this is just the kind of thing that will entice people to go to games they previously couldn’t afford to attend.

The official announcement is here (a direct link so you can avoid the Wings’ awful splash page). And be sure to check out the rest of Khan’s post, which includes interesting tidbits on Rafalski’s assimilation process and Draper’s possible new role as a top-six winger, among other things.

Igor skates with Wings

Published
by
Matt Saler
on September 5, 2007
in Igor Grigorenko
. 0 Comments

Update (4:30 PM): John Niyo has posted a more personal reaction to the practice over at the News’ Wings blog. (via. George Malik) - Matt

Update (12:07 PM): Apparently, I linked to the first edition of the Freep article, as there is now a piece up that has some more content. - Matt

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David Guralnick/The Detroit News (gallery)

Igor Grigorenko, the most highly anticipated rookie since Henrik Zetterberg came over, has finally arrived in North America and has donned the Winged Wheel in an informal practice with a number of his teammates at a rink in Troy, MI. By all accounts, his first skate with the team went well, but that’s about all the accounts tell us, aside from the usual bits of information included in all stories about Grigorenko (The Accident, The Lost Step, The Escape Clause, etc.). Even the quotes from the Wings’ brass are the same, such as this one from Ken Holland in the Freep:

“You know, he’s an unknown for me. In the sense of how close is he to being NHL? This is a big month.

“Obviously, we’re going to give him some time. He hardly speaks the language…you know, it’s a different style of hockey. I know he’s got the hands and the head.”

The closest we get to a report on how he actually looked out there is this comment by Kris Draper, made to John Niyo of the News:

“He seems like he has a great set of hands, holding onto the puck. But it’s the first week in September — he’s still adjusting. Exhibition games and training camp are going to give you a better feel for what he’s able to do.”

So, how would you grade him, Drapes? B? B-minus?

Draper told Ansar Khan pretty much the same thing he told John Niyo, but ended with,

“Hopefully he can step in and be a good surprise, kind of like when Pav came over.”

No pressure, Igor.