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2/20 Rafalski Update

Published
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Matt Saler
on February 20, 2008
in Brian Rafalski, Injuries and Links
. 0 Comments

Update (21. Feb, 7:18 AM): George Sipple confirms the waiving. - Matt

Update (11:15 PM): Ted Kulfan casts some doubt on the status of Matt Ellis by suggesting he has not yet gotten confirmation from the Wings on the move. I find it hard to believe that MacLeod would be wrong, but I suppose it’s possible. (via Snapshots) - Matt

Update (5:59 PM): Bruce MacLeod reports that Matt Ellis was put on waivers today, so the Hartigan move isn’t due to an injury after all. George Malik says the Wings must want to give Ellis more playing time and are opting to expose him to waivers rather than send him down for a conditioning stint. He is available to until noon tomorrow.

Let’s hope no one claims him. The Griffins could sure use Ellis back and I’d hate to see him lost to the Wings’ system. - Matt

Update (2:41 PM): Ansar Khan claims that Jonthan Ericsson will make his NHL debut Friday, as Niklas Kronwall will not be ready.He also mentions that Dallas Drake and Pavel Datsyuk were given the day off. Given Hartigan’s call-up, I have to think one of those two must be injured. - Matt

Update (2:15 PM): Looks like Rafalski isn’t returning Friday after all. Ryan Doherty reports that he skated for only 15 minutes or so and then left the ice. Doherty says Jonathan Ericsson has been called up from Grand Rapids. Bruce MacLeod says it’s possible Niklas Kronwall could return Friday, but Ericsson will play if not.

Doherty also reports that Mark Hartigan has been promoted. Not sure of the reason for that, as no more forward injuries have been reported that I know of, aside from Valtteri Filppula’s gashed face. Rafalski and Dominik Hasek have been put on the IR to make room for Hartigan and Ericsson. - Matt

Bruce MacLeod reports that Brian Rafalski (groin) participated in practice today. As he points out, this is good news, as it could mean Rafalski will in fact be back Friday night. That means the team may not have to call up Jonathan Ericsson.

Still no word on Nick Lidstrom’s knee, but MacLeod reports he was not on the ice this morning. No surprise there.

2/16 Notes

Published
by
Matt Saler
on February 16, 2008
in Brian Rafalski, Chris Osgood, Dominik Hasek, Injuries, Johan Franzen, Lines and Niklas Kronwall
. 0 Comments

… Both Ansar Khan and Bruce MacLeod report that Jimmy Howard will start tomorrow in Dallas. He has not started an NHL game since December 13, 2005, when he was pulled after allowing three goals on sixteen shots during the Wings’ 7-6 loss to Atlanta.

Given that the Wings seem to play more carefully in front of the young goaltender, this is probably a good move. They have not been giving Chris Osgood much support and he could probably use a game off to regain confidence in his teammates.

… Dominik Hasek (hip flexor) will not make the trip to Denver and Colorado, and it does not look like he’ll be back until  next Saturday in Vancouver.

… Brian Rafalski (groin) will make the trip, but it looks like he won’t be back until Monday against Colorado.

… Niklas Kronwall (clavicle) is also going along with the team, but Khan says he won’t be back until the Calgary game on Friday at the earliest.

… With Kronwall and Rafalski remaining out, Kyle Quincey will stay with the team at least one more game.

… Khan also provides some mixed-up lines that Babcock tried in practice:

Franzen-Datsyuk-Holmstrom
Filppula-Zetterberg-Samuelsson
Kopecky-Draper-Maltby
Hudler-Drake-Downey (Ellis working in)

As he points out, that top line skated together at the start of the season prior to Franzen’s knee sprain.  As I wrote when Dan Cleary went down, Johan should benefit greatly from inheriting a larger role in Cleary’s absence. Let’s hope he takes advantage of the move to the top line.

Rafalski out, Quincey in

Published
by
Matt Saler
on February 14, 2008
in Brian Rafalski, Darren McCarty, Injuries, Jonathan Ericsson and Kyle Quincey
. 3 Comments

Update (1:55 PM): In his post on the Rafalski/Quincey situation, Ansar Khan includes an update on Niklas Kronwall. Apparently, he is hoping to play Sunday against the Stars. Khan provides no evidence for whether that’s realistic or not.

Also, it does not appear that Dominik Hasek (hip flexor) is very near returning, as Mike Babcock professed not to know his status. - Matt

Ryan Foherty reports that Brian Rafalski (groin) will sit out tomorrow night’s game against Columbus. Evidently, he suffered the injury during the Nashville game Tuesday night.

The team has called up Kyle Quincey from the AHL to fill in during Rafalski’s absence. To be frank, I don’t understand why Quincey was chosen instead of Jonathan Ericsson., who has over twice the points Quincey has and is +4. Quincey is -5 and, by all accounts, has not been the same player since being demoted to Grand Rapids after playing with the Wings in the playoffs.

Ericsson, I’m told, has had a solid year in the midst of the Griffins’ troubles this season. Perhaps that’s the reason the Wings opted for Quincey: the Griffins cannot afford to lose Ericsson and Quincey could use the confidence boost.

It doesn’t appear to be a waiver issue, as Ericsson is described by Red Wings Central as having a “waiver-free status.”

In any case,  Rafalski is a big loss, even though he’s only day-to-day. The last thing the Wings needed was to lose one of their better skaters as they head into a contest with a young Columbus team that’s fighting for a playoff spot.

It will, however, be interesting to see Derek Meech take on a larger role, if only for one game. My confidence in #14 is growing.

I apologize for the lack of posting this week. It’s been a bit busy at my end, but hopefully things will quiet down after this week.

By the way, I met Darren McCarty Tuesday night in Holland.  I’ll be at his home debut tomorrow night, as well.

I couldn’t have said it better myself

Published
by
Matt Saler
on January 22, 2008
in All Star Game, Brian Rafalski, Links and NHL
. 1 Comment

Update (11:05 PM): Clark Rasmussen of DetroitHockey.Net, posting a comment at Abel to Yzerman, just noted that the FSN broadcast team of Ken Daniels and Larry Murphy said Rafalski was asked to go to the Game by the League, but declined.

That lessens the blow somewhat so far as the Wings fan part of me is concerned. The pure hockey fan side of me still feels the outrage of Niedermeyer’s being named a replacement for Zubov at the expense of any number of more-deserving candidates in the West. In that respect, I stand by my post below.

(By the way, I’m not watching the LA game because I’ve gotten maybe 17 hours of sleep over the past 48 and I have to be up at 5:30 in the morning. I’d like to be able to attain the standard level of consciousness tomorrow, so I’m going to bed.) - Matt

IwoCPO has an excellent post over at Abel to Yzerman that you have to read.

Every once and a while, the NHL does something that forces fans to weigh the benefits of continuing to follow the game against the complete and utter stupidity that so often comes from the League offices. This is one of those times.

In my judgment, the League passes once again, but only just. The All Star Game is simply too meaningless for this to do anything more than royally piss me off.

10/19 Injury Update

Published
by
Matt Saler
on October 19, 2007
in Brian Rafalski, Dallas Drake, Injuries and Links
. 1 Comment

Update (4:55 PM): This isn’t an injury per se, but Helene St. James, in her post about Drake and Rafalski, mentions that Henrik Zetterberg took a puck to the eye during warmups. Apparently, one of his shots rebounded off Osgood into his face. So, if you’re wondering why he has a black eye and stitches, that’s the reason. - Matt

Update (4:45 PM): Bruce MacLeod’s post on the subject has an important corrective to Khan’s in it: he reports that Drake’s cheekbone is broken. Evidently, the checkup on Monday will be to determine his playing status, not whether or not he has a fracture. - Matt

Ansar Khan reports that Dallas Drake has been sent back to Detroit, where he’ll rest up for the weekend before undergoing tests on Monday to determine the status of his cheekbone, which may be broken. Mikael Samuelsson (groin) will return to the lineup Saturday in Phoenix to fill in the gap left by Drake.

Khan also says that Rafalski is “fine.” Apparently, he sat out the end of the game because of a knee-on-knee hit by Joe Thornton. If he really is fine, he’s fortunate, as is the team.

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
. 3 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.

Some new jersey numbers

Published
by
Matt Saler
on August 27, 2007
in Brian Rafalski, Dallas Drake, Links and Tomas Kopecky
. 0 Comments

George Malik points out that the Wings’ official site has an updated number for Tomas Kopecky and free agent signing Dallas Drake. Kopecky gave up #28 to Brian Rafalski and will take #82 this season. Dallas Drake can’t wear his St. Louis number, 10, here in Detroit, as it hangs in the rafters with Alex Delvecchio’s name on it. And he can’t wear the number he wore on his first time in the Winged Wheel, 28. So, it looks like he’s picked #17, most recently worn by Kyle Calder, as well as, more famously, Brett Hull and, more nostalgically, by Doug Brown.

Free Agent Update

Published
by
Matt Saler
on July 1, 2007
in Brian Rafalski, Danny Markov, Dominik Hasek, Mathieu Schneider and Todd Bertuzzi
. 2 Comments

Ansar Khan has an update on the status of the Wings’ free agent situation.

In summary:

… Hasek should sign within a day or two, having told the Wings he’d rather wait until after the first day of free agency to make a deal

… Todd Bertuzzi is shopping himself around the market, looking for a longer-term deal than the Wings are willing to give him. So, his return may not be all that likely. The Wings are looking for a “second-tier free-agent forward,” to, I assume, replace Bertuzzi in the event he doesn’t re-sign.

… The Wings are looking to spend their remaining $8 million on “Hasek, a forward, and a depth defenseman.” Quite frankly, I don’t really understand the need for a depth defenseman when the team’s blueline corps now stands at Nick Lidstrom, Brian Rafalski, Niklas Kronwall, Andreas Lilja, Chris Chelios, Brett Lebda, and, likely, Derek Meech. Seems pretty solid to me.

… Danny Markov turned down the Wings’ last offer, so he’s looking less and less likely to re-sign. Not much of a surprise there.

… The Wings apparently didn’t offer Schneider the kind of money they offered Rafalski (as in up to $2 million less per year). So, it seems that all along they were more intent on pursuing the younger Rafalski than on keeping the older Schneider. That’s surprising, given how re-signing #23 was listed as a priority all along.

Wings sign Rafalski

Published
by
Matt Saler
on July 1, 2007
in Brian Rafalski and Roster Moves
. 8 Comments

Update (7:23 PM): Apparently Rafalski did take a bit of a hometown discount to come to Detroit: the AP reports that one team offered him six years, $40 million ($6.7 a year) and he turned it down to become a Wing. Based on this TSN interview transcript, he sounds excited about the opportunity. (links via Snapshots) - Matt

Update (5:14 PM): Looks like my calculations below were a little off. Ansar Khan reports that the Wings have only $8 million to spend now that they’ve signed Rafalski. That $8 million will be spread rather thin between Hasek, Bertuzzi, and Markov, so thin that Holland may only be able to sign two of them and will be unable to go after a UFA like Ryan Smyth.

If I had to guess, I’d say the Wings sign Hasek and Bertuzzi while letting Markov go, leaving a million or two for down the road. While Bertuzzi is a gamble, it doesn’t seem likely that the Wings would be able to draw someone with a similar upside for around $3 million. - Matt

Update (5:00 PM): Eric McErlain has a post up on the deal over the NHL Fanhouse and Lyle Richardson has one at Foxsports.com. I’m still bummed about losing Schneider, but this Rafalski deal is sounding better and better. - Matt

Update (4:37 PM): Here’s the separate TSN piece on the signing.

The interesting thing about this deal is that Rafalski is getting, at an average of $6 million a year, more money than Schneider got from Anaheim. That shows more than anything else that Schneider left for personal reasons rather than because the Wings couldn’t meet his demands.

Rafalski is 33 now (turns 34 in September), which means the Wings will have him at least until he’s 38 (well, 39, really). That’s pretty much his prime years and that’ll give him a chance to improve on his offensive numbers, which aren’t all that far off from Schneider’s. And much like playing with Nick Lidstrom benefited Mathieu Schneider and helped boost his status, so should playing with Nick help Rafalski.

The fact that Rafalski was born in Dearborn, Michigan obviously didn’t motivate him to take a literal hometown discount, but it must be nice for him to be with his hometown team, even if he apparently has “adopted” Wisconsin.

By my loose calculations, the Wings now have a payroll of about $38.5 million with Dominik Hasek, Todd Bertuzzi and Danny Markov still yet to be signed. With the Wings having to find a way to split $12 million between probably at least two of those players, it looks like they won’t be bringing in anyone else.

Overall, I’m intrigued. I don’t know a ton about Rafalski, but his name has come up in years past and the fact that the Wings are investing five years and $30 million into him reflects their confidence in him. Given that their judgment has been right more often than not, it would seem this is a good deal. It doesn’t make up emotionally for the loss of Schneider, but it’s something. - Matt

Well, Holland didn’t waste much time signing another defenseman. Via TSN:

“Brian Rafalski agrees to a five year, $30 million contract with the Detroit Red Wings.”

More to come. (thanks Brian)