Archive for January, 2009

Game Day Notes: vs. Dallas

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… This is the fourth and final meeting between these two teams this season. Dallas leads the series 2-1, with wins Dec. 12 and Jan. 12. The Wings won the Jan. 8 meeting. 

… The Stars are 3-1-1 since we saw them last. They earned wins against LA, Florida, and Atlanta, but lost in Tampa Bay and to Buffalo. They’ve played just one game since the All Star Break (a 2-0 win over the Thrashers). 

… Dallas is 11th in the Conference and just two points behind the 7th and 8th seed Minnesota Wild and Edmonton Oilers with 49. They’re back in the playoff hunt after an awful start nearly took them well out of it. 

… Via Mike Heika, the lines from the Stars’ skate yesterday: 

Ott-Ribeiro-Lehtinen
Sutherby-Richards-Eriksson
Neal-Modano-Conner
Lundqvist-Petersen-Barch

… It looks like Mark Parrish is out with the flu. Conner is taking his spot. Fabian Brunnstrom is listed as out with an ankle injury, but he’s actually in the AHL for conditioning. 

The rest of the injured list is as follows: Landon Wilson (ribs), Brenden Morrow (knee, out for season), Sergei Zubov (hip). 

… Marty Turco should be the starter tonight and Richard Durrett is optimistic about Marty’s chances to come up big against a team that’s been his nemesis for years. 

… The Wings are 2-2-1 since losing to the Stars on the 12th. They were able to follow up that game with two wins, in Anaheim and LA, but finished the road trip started in Dallas with two regulation losses, in San Jose and Phoenix. Their return from the All Star Break was also a loss, a 3-2 overtime decision in Columbus on Tuesday. 

… Nick Lidstrom and Pavel Datsyuk will return tonight after The Suspension. I wouldn’t be surprised if they have exceptional games as they work off some frustration. 

… Henrik Zetterberg is out tonight after getting back spasms during the game Tuesday. 

… Former Dallsa Star Aaron Downey was  called up today with Ville Leino, but of the two, only Downey will dress tonight. 

Leino would have created a nice storyline as the player the Wings picked up after the Stars won the Brunnstrom sweepstakes, but Downey can add a storyline of his own by keeping that donkey Steve Ott on a short leash. 

… Leino, by the way, had a great start in the AHL, but fell off a bit. A variety of factors played into that, of which not the least was the tough AHL schedule. His fast start also resulted in opponents triple-teaming him. Unlike a certin Russian, though, he’s been a trooper and has earned a call up for review. We can look forward to seeing him in the Winged Wheel on Saturday.

… For those of you who may be wondering why Jonathan Ericsson or Darren Helm weren’t called up: they are both injured at the moment. As for Jakub Kindl, my wife tells me he “sucks” lately, AHL All-Star appearance notwithstanding. 

… Brad Stuart will miss his second full game with a cartilege issue in his ribs. He is now on the IR and has to sit out 10 games or 24 days. Fortunately, the Wings have no shortage of NHL defensemen who can fill in. It looks like Chris Chelios will be the one to do that tonight.

… Chris Osgood gets the start tonight. 

… The lines and pairings should look something like this (based on this Helene St. James post):

Holmstrom-Datsyuk-Hossa
Franzen-Filppula-Samuelsson
Cleary-Hudler-Draper
Maltby-Kopecky-Downey 

Lidstrom-Rafalski
Kronwall-Lilja
Chelios-Lebda  

… George Malik’s scouts the Stars here. 

… This should be a good game. The Stars are confident these days, and the Wings get to play in front of the home crowd. Both teams should be pretty fired up and that should lead to an exciting night.

Leino, Downey Called Up

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Update (11:50 AM): MacLeod now reports that Downey, not Leino, will play tonight. The reason is probably, as Dennis points out in the comments, Steve Ott.

Leino will make his regular season NHL debut Saturday in DC. - Matt

Bruce MacLeod reports that Ville Leino and Aaron Downey have been called up from Grand Rapids. The move is made possible by the fact that Brad Stuart (and his $3.75 million salary) has been placed on the LTIR and must sit out at least nine more games (or 24 total days) before he can return.

Leino can enter the lineup tonight in Zetterberg’s absence, but the reason for Downey’s presence isn’t immediately apparent.

FSD Ratings Not So Bad Actually

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Christy Hammond found some numbers on FSD’s ratings that paint a better picture than last week’s report on their 21.8% decrease.  

Still, the question remains: why have they fallen off so much? As I wrote on the 20th, two explanations come to mind: “interest in the Wings is down this season or people are cutting back on their expenses to the point of dropping cable.” Given Michigan’s horrific economy, I’m leaning toward the dropping cable option.

Along those lines, people may be more focused on just getting by, which may not leave time for leisure activities like watching a three-hour hockey game. 

Of course, that doesn’t explain the high numbers in Buffalo and Pittsburgh, which aren’t exactly rocking and rolling from an economic standpoint.

On the Zetterberg Extension

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First off, the video of the press conference, in case you didn’t catch it live:

Next, the particulars, as relayed by Helene St. James. 12 years, $73 million, broken down by seasons in the following way:

09-10 $7.4 Million
10-11 $7.75 Million
11-12 $7.75 Million
12-13 $7.75 Million
13-14 $7.5 Million
14-15 $7.5 Million
15-16 $7.5 Million
16-17 $7.5 Million
17-18 $7.0 Million
18-19 $3.35 Million
19-20 $1.0 Million
20-21 $1.0 Million

From a cap standpoint, the yearly hit will be $6.08 million.

Needless to say, this is a heck of a deal. Zetterberg is a steal at $7.4 million a year and even more so at the $6.08 million cap hit. Kudos to Ken Holland for his role in the deal, and to Zetterberg for his willingness to take such a cut down from his likely market value. Hank proved himself to truly be the kind of player we thought he was.

I’ve been a fan of Hank since he was the next prospect down the pipe from Datsyuk. I still hate Barrett Jackman for winning the Calder in 2003*, stealing Zetterberg’s rightful prize. My second jersey was a Zetterberg jersey (got it before he was given an “A” and after the obligatory Yzerman sweater). My next one is likely to be one of his Team Sweden or Winter Classic editions. I’m the type of fan who puts most of his “fanship capability” eggs in one basket. The Wings are the basket holding the Zetterberg basket, if you will.

Reading Elliotte Friedman’s now-infamous “throwaway comment” a couple week’s ago ruined my day. It killed me and caused me to step out on a limb I’d never tried my weight on before as a blogger: calling the Wings’ PR reps (got their voicemail). I had to know if that line about him rejecting an offer was right. I was a Fedorov partisan back in the day and from that crappy experience I knew too well what it was like to see negotiations with your favorite player go sour.

As that story played out, calm was restored, but the positive reports that came out after didn’t do much to restore confidence in the process. I needed the press conference announcement. Reading last night’s news was almost like watching the Wings win the Cup again. I knew it was coming, but enough doubt crept in to allow visions of defeat snatched from the jaws of victory. The conference announcement changed all that. Although I hoped Khan’s early reported numbers were right, all I cared about was that Zetterberg had re-signed. It’s still sinking in. 12 years! It’s incredible.

The deal limits the Wings’ cap space to about $10 million for next season, but will allow for some more good news on the free agent front. Unfortunately, as Holland was careful to point out, this team will see some pieces broken off this summer. The important thing, however, is that this group take advantage of the time it has together and that those left here after the summer movement work to be right back at or near the top, in the Red Wings tradition.

This contract puts the Wings in great shape going forward with as good a core as there is in the league and a number of capable players currently reaching maturity in the AHL. Whether Hossa or Franzen or whoever stays is important, but regardless of what happens with the UF/RFA’s, the Wings’ status as serious competitors in this league was further solidified today.

Hank said during the press conference that he’s glad he won’t have to go through the negotiation process again. I gather from that statement that the process was something of a drain on his attention. Here’s hoping he can step it up somewhat in the second half now that the contract talks are over and he’s in the fold for what should be the rest of his career.

*A post dating back to before Blogger had post titles.