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4/4 Notes

Published
by
Matt Saler
on April 4, 2007
in Blue Jackets, Dominik Hasek, Kyle Calder, Mikael Samuelsson and Playoffs
. 0 Comments

… The Wings were credited with a win last night over Columbus, but really all the credit should go to Dominik Hasek, who kept them in it four 2+ periods. Once again, they waited until the third period to show up to play and even then they weren’t as dominate as they should have been. Kudos to the Blue Jackets for not giving up and making this interesting with a number of great chances throughout the game.

… A big thank you to Kyle Calder for getting his teammates going by scoring the first goal of the game at :16 of the third period. I think he got a bit of an elbow into Hainsey on that hit, but it was a great effort through the finish. Probably one Norrena would like back.

… The win put the Wings within a point of clinching the Division. They have 110 points to Nashville’s 106 and both teams have two games remaining. As the Preds can only reach 110, either they need to lose a game or the Wings need at least an OT/SO loss to be sure. As far as the Conference goes, the Ducks also have 106 points, but they have three games left and can max out at 112, meaning the Wings would need at least a win and an OT/SO loss if Anaheim doesn’t lose again. Of course, the Ducks play San Jose tonight, so a loss is a possibility.

… If the playoffs started today, the Wings would face Calgary, which has become a much less desirable matchup over the last week and a half or so as the Flames have heated up big time. They trail Minnesota by four points and it looks like the Wild are falling off a bit, so it’s possible that they could pass them if they win their three remaining games. Their job will be made easier if the Wild lose either (or both) of their last two games.

… One thing I’ve noticed over the past couple weeks, but have forgotten to mention, is the decision of Mike Babcock’s to put Mikael Samuelsson on the point during the power play. I have to say that I like it. Sammy is definitely better there than Jason Williams was, and is one of the only forwards on the team that has a hard enough shot for the job. Of course, it’ll be come less necessary once Mathieu Schneider returns, but it may not be a bad thing to mix it up like that every once and a while.

… Be sure to check out Dave’s recap.

Wings 3, Kings 2 (OT)

Published
by
Matt Saler
on March 10, 2007
in 2006-2007, Andreas Lilja, Brett Lebda, Danny Markov, Game Reports, Henrik Zetterberg, Injuries, Johan Franzen, Kings, Matt Ellis and Mikael Samuelsson
. 2 Comments

I didn’t take notes on the game, so I can only offer a few thoughts, not a comprehensive summary.

… Big story of the night: Johan Franzen left the game in the second period, not long after Pavel Datsyuk scored to make it 1-1, and did not return. According to Helene St. James, he didn’t practice yesterday due to the same injury (contradicting Babcock’s “Mule’s fine” comment) but apparently he felt good to go before the game.

Hopefully Franzen’s not going to be out for long because he was a big loss against the Kings. His tendency to shoot first, ask questions later, would have come in handy at some points later in the game.

Also, you may have noticed Danny Markov was missing from the lineup. According to St. James, he’s not hurt, he was just being given the night off, in favor of Andreas Lilja, who was in need of some playing time.

… The Wings came out flat and paid for it as the Kings took a one-goal lead in the first period. A bad turnover by Niklas Kronwall led directly to the goal, and it was too early in his return to expect Dominik Hasek to be 100% sharp on the play, especially after Kronwall failed to clear the net. Not Nik’s best game by a long shot.

The team as a whole looked out of sync for much of the first half of the game, whereas the Kings were battling hard and earning their lead.

… One positive thing was that there were few penalties called, so the flow of the game wasn’t disrupted so much. Only two penalties in the first two periods combined, followed by three in the third. Of course, the final call was an unfortunate one as it put the Wings on a 4-on-3 penalty kill to start overtime.

… Sean Burke was steady the whole game, though to be honest, he didn’t have to shine all that often. The Wings put 54 shots on net but the majority of them were low percentage perimeter shots or C-grade offensive chances. Not to take anything away from Burke, he had a great game. But the Wings did not put on their best performance offensively. The Kings, to their credit, put up a pretty good stand on the defensive side, though, which contributed to the Wings’ offensive hiccups.

… I noticed Matt Ellis a lot tonight. The man was obviously pumped from becoming a father, as he was everywhere when on the ice. He finished with only 8:22 in ice-time, but came close to scoring his first NHL goal a number of times.

… Good to see Brett Lebda channel Bobby Orr and/or Paul Coffey on his (literally) coast-to-coast goal in the third. Brett’s got the best wheels on the team, I think, and showed he’s got some great hands to go with them with that impressive finish. One of the top highlight reel goals of the season for both the Wings and the League, I’d say.

… Late in the third, the Wings had a power play but got far too cute in their attempts at scoring. They had Burke beat down low multiple times but made two or three too many passes and blew their chances.

… Nice penalty by Robert Lang at the end of regulation. I was a bit surprised when Mike Babcock put Andreas “Relative Pylon” Lilja out there with Chris Chelios and Kris Draper for the 4-on-3 penalty kill in OT. Fortunately, Lilja played it well and my fears were unnecessary.

… Nice give and go by Mikael Samuelsson and Pavel Datsyuk for the game winner. Poor Aaron Miller had no chance to defend the play, having committed to Datsyuk just as Pavel dished it right back to Samuelsson for the slam dunk.

Of course, I look foolish for saying in my preview Samuelsson probably wouldn’t figure much into the game. I admit it. I was surprised. He looked good in his return, though he looks real good for having scored a goal handed to him on a silver platter by Datsyuk. Hopefully it was just the first in a series of goals for Sammy.

… The win put the Wings one point behind Nashville in the Central Division title race. They have one more game in hand, Sunday’s matchup with Boston, before the big mid-March home-and-home showdown.

… Also, Ken Daniels and Mickey Redmond said not to expect Henrik Zetterberg or Todd Bertuzzi back until after the team’s trip to Vancouver and Calgary later this month, saying that the Wings would probably rather not have the two make the six hour flight out there with their backs having just healed. If they’re right, that would mean a March 22nd return, at the earliest.

3/8 Notes

Published
by
Matt Saler
on March 8, 2007
in Brett Lebda, Chris Chelios, Chris Osgood, Dominik Hasek, Injuries, Mathieu Schneider, Mikael Samuelsson and Tickets
. 11 Comments

… Ted Kulfan reports today that Dominik Hasek could start tomorrow against LA, not that he will. Ansar Khan, on the other hand, says that Mike Babcock expects Dom and Mikael Samuelsson to play.

So, it’s possible that Hasek will be backing up Chris Osgood, but probably not likely. I’m sure the team would like Dom to get a game in before the home-and-home series with Nashville next week.

… Ted Kulfan also reports that playoff ticket prices will remain just as out of reach for Joe Fan as they were last year:

Regular-season prices from $22-$85 will rise to $63-$144 in the first round, $72-$153 in the second, $99-$270 in the Western Conference finals and $135-$450 in the Stanley Cup Finals.

Oh well. What would watching the playoffs be like without Ken Daniels and Mickey Redmond’s commentary, anyway?

He says that the team has not announced a sale date to the public yet.

…  In Helene St. James’ Wings Corner daily, Mathieu Schneider and Chris Chelios address the final standings question. Chris Chelios believes that finishing first is important because it secures home-ice advantage,

“I think the biggest thing is if you ever get to a seventh game you’d much rather play at home. I’ve seen that before with Colorado when we blew them out.”

Chris Osgood told Ansar Khan much the same thing, but went on to say that playing well down the stretch is more important than where the team finishes,

“We’re trying to get our guys healthy and be playing well the last month of the season. To worry about what where we finish and who we play, we’ll figure that out when we get there.”

Mathieu Schneider agrees, as he told St. James,

“We’ve said all along, and I’ve come to believe this: We just want to get better as a team …

…. “Where we end up in the standings, we may not have control over that, but we just want to become a better and better playoff team. I think we’ve done that. We’re competing every night. In hard-fought games, we seem to rise to the occasion.”

After the Wings were eliminated in the first round by #8 Edmonton last year, I felt that it might be better for the team to finish in the middle of the pack. I thought that fighting for a playoff spot rather than coasting to the finish would be beneficial, because they’ve run into so many teams that were playing their best hockey down the stretch that their complacency couldn’t overcome it. As this season has gone on, however, I’ve been pleasantly surprised by this team’s tenacity and think that finishing 1st wouldn’t be such a bad thing.

However, that’s only because of the tight race with Nashville.  The Predators are making things difficult for the Wings and that’s something new. In previous years, they had the division and the conference virtually in the bag by this point in the season. This year, they’re fourth with four weeks left.

I agree with Chelios that home ice is desirable, but I’m more with Osgood and Schneider on this one. The team needs to focus on playing well, getting healthy, and not becoming complacent or comfortable. If they do that, home ice will be an added benefit, not an excuse.

Home ice will help the team if they had to fight for it and they are already playing well, and even then it’s not the guarantee it used to be. Any team the Wings face is going to be tough, whether they’re playing at home or on the road. That’s why maintaining a top level of play to the end of the regular season is so important.

… Lastly, Ted Kulfan points out that Brett Lebda will not be suspended for his slash on Scott Nichol, which broke a bone in the latter’s hand. Nichol basically said he wanted Lebda suspended after the game, but the League obviously decided it was not a bad enough incident, Nichol’s testimony to the contrary.

I didn’t see the play, so I can only offer my uninformed opinion on it: a malicious slash does seem to be against Lebda’s character so I’m inclined to believe it was accidental.

Hussey and Howard sent down

Published
by
Matt Saler
on March 7, 2007
in Darryl Bootland, Dominik Hasek, Griffins, Jimmy Howard, Josh Langfeld, Links, Matt Ellis, Matt Hussey and Mikael Samuelsson
. 2 Comments

Update (5:15 PM): Ansar Khan confirms that we can expect Mikael Samuelsson and Dominik Hasek back Friday night. - Matt

According to the AHL transaction wire, Matt Hussey and Jimmy Howard have been returned to Grand Rapids. So, it looks like Mikael Samuelsson will be ready for Friday, and Dominik Hasek will at least back up Chris Osgood.

To send down Hussey rather than Darryl Bootland, the team must have been really impressed with Darryl’s effort last night. Good to see that he’ll get another game in. Bootland, by the way, had 9:15 in ice time last night, which was almost three and a half minutes more than Matt Ellis, Josh Langfeld, and Matt Hussey had combined (2:32+2:08+1:09=5:49, via the NHL’s Official Super Stats).

Hussey was originally called up after Henrik Zetterberg went down with his back injury. If the Wings were sending down the player that was covering for Samuelsson, Josh Langfeld would be driving across the state on I-96 today. They can’t send Langfeld down, however, because he wasn’t on the Griffins’ clear day roster and cannot play for them again this season.

3/3 Notes

Published
by
Matt Saler
on March 3, 2007
in Blackhawks, Chris Osgood, Dominik Hasek, Game Reports, Hockey Bloggers, Injuries, Jason Williams, Jiri Hudler, Mikael Samuelsson, Nick Lidstrom, Robert Lang and Tomas Holmstrom
. 4 Comments

Update (10:43 PM): Just a clarification on my last update: Holmstrom’s last shift ended around the 14 minute mark of the third period. I apologize for wording it so ambiguously before. Thanks to Justin for pointing that out.

Also, Ansar Khan informed me via email that neither Robert Lang nor Tomas Holmstrom practiced today. Mike Babcock told him there were no injuries during the game against the Hawks, however. - Matt

Update (6:35 PM): I just remembered something I’d meant to mention earlier: Tomas Holmstrom left the game around the 14 minute mark and didn’t return, as pointed out by the FSN crew, who had noticed he wasn’t on the bench.

I haven’t seen anything indicating he has an injury, so it may have just been a case of Mike Babcock resting his top line, as neither Pavel Datsyuk nor Valtteri Filppula took any shifts from about 16:00 on, after they had helped kill of a penalty with Danny Markov and Nicklas Lidstrom. (via the shift chart) - Matt

So, I got home on the Detroit side of the state last night (for “Spring Break”) at around 2:30 AM after watching the game in Holland, thanks to terrible weather until around Lansing. Then I slept about four hours longer than I meant to, and now I’m way behind the eightball on the day. So, some links to people more on top of things than me, with a little commentary:

… The Wings won last night, 6-2 over Chicago. I watched the game but don’t have a heck of a lot to say about it, except that it’s nice to see the Wings can produce offense without Henrik Zetterberg in the lineup. However, as Dave at Gorilla Crouch has pointed out today, the Blackhawks aren’t exactly a Grade “A” opponent, so the jury’s still out.

For a reaction to the game from someone who was there, see Steph’s report at No Pun Intended.

… Jason Williams scored twice on his former team, prompting Mike Babcock to give the quote of the year:

“It’s good to see him score, too. What the heck.”

(via. Abel to Yzerman)

… It looks like the Wings having taken such a vested interest in rejuvenating the second line has awakened Robert Lang, who had four-point night and was as involved in the offense as he’s been all season. The Free Press wins the award for most lame headline today, with their story on the game: “Lang time coming: Center leads Wings past Hawks.”

… Nicklas Lidstrom scored his 200th career goal (finally) in the third period, and Christy Hammond of Behind the Jersey was there to cheer him for it.

… The FSN crew made a big deal out of the fact that Jiri Hudler came out for warmups wearing his red helmet last night. Apparently, he was thrown off by the fact that the Wings usually wear red at home, but were wearing white so that the Hawks could use their black jerseys. Ansar Khan reports that Robert Lang finally told him, after the whole team had a good laugh. Jiri scored a nice breakaway goal later in the game, making that the most memorable thing he did last night, rather than than the helmet thing.

… It looks like Chris Osgood will get another start, as Dominik Hasek will not be able to return tomorrow against the Avalanche, according to Ansar Khan. The Wings, needless to say, are taking every precaution with Dom and will not be rushing him back. Khan also says that Chris Chelios will be a game-time decision tomorrow.

… The Free Press reports that Mikael Samuelsson skated yesterday, though not with the team. He’ll still take some time to get back into game-shape so don’t expect to see him too soon.

… Lastly, non-Wings related: James Mirtle has been blogging about the Cam Janssen elbow on Tomas Kaberle last night, a vicious hit which knocked Kaberle unconscious and out of the game. Janssen has been suspended for three games, a verdict with which I wholly agree, as those kinds of hits should have no place in the game. However, it’d be nice if the League were more consistent in dealing out such penalties for those types of hits. A shoulder to the head is about as bad as an elbow, NHL.

Zetterberg out 2-3 weeks

Published
by
Matt Saler
on February 28, 2007
in Dan Cleary, Henrik Zetterberg, Injuries, Matt Hussey, Mikael Samuelsson and Todd Bertuzzi
. 0 Comments

Bad news: the Freep reports that Henrik Zetterberg will miss 2-3 weeks with an inflammed disk in his back. He had spasms in practice on Monday during practice, and through no problem was found on the initial MRI, a second scan revealed some damage, which Ken Holland says is nothing significant. However, he is expected to rest 7-10 days in hopes that the inflammation subsides.

As bad as it is to have Hank out for so long, a down time of 2-3 weeks means he won’t miss playoff time. There’s the good news.

Matt Hussey, who was sent back to GR today, will return to Detroit to help fill in, beginning Friday against Chicago.

Aside from Zetterberg, the Wings’ injury list stands at Dan Cleary (2-3 weeks, knee sprain), Todd Bertuzzi (2-4 weeks, back) and Mikael Samuelsson (1-2 weeks, broken foot).

As Helene St. James points out, the Wings fortunately have a fairly light schedule to round out the year, with not as much travel as they’ve had over the past couple months, and fewer teams against tough opponents.

However, they do play the Predators four more times (March 6th, 13th, 14th, and 29th), three of which will come before any of the injured Wings, except perhaps Samuelsson, are likely to return. Not good, especially given those games are very important in the race for first place in the Division/Conference.

Samuelsson Update

Published
by
Matt Saler
on February 20, 2007
in Injuries, Links and Mikael Samuelsson
. 0 Comments

Helene St. James, writing on a newly refurbished Free Press blog, has provided an update on Mikael Samuelsson’s condition today. Apparently, Sammy is expecting to skate as early as next week, and is hoping to be back for at least the last fifteen of the Wings’ 22 remaining games. He’s been out since January 20th and had a setback two weeks while skating in practice. His return will hopefully help jumpstart the stalled second line.

Khan: Samuelsson has setback

Published
by
Matt Saler
on February 6, 2007
in Dominik Hasek, Injuries, Joey MacDonald, Josh Langfeld, Links and Mikael Samuelsson
. 2 Comments

According to Ansar, Mikael Samuelsson worked himself into another couple weeks of recuperation time after hearing a pop during practice Monday morning. That’s good news for Josh Langfeld, who’ll get more time at the NHL level (unless the Wings bring someone else up and send him back down), but bad news for the Wings, who could use Samuelsson back in the lineup.

Also, Dominik Hasek will be in net tomorrow night against Phoenix, but Joey MacDonald will start Thursday in St. Louis. Another instance of Babcock starting Dom against the lesser team while the backup gets the nod against the tougher team (which the Blues, as a team fighting for a playoff spot, are).

2/4 Notes

Published
by
Matt Saler
on February 4, 2007
in Brendan Shanahan, Brett Lebda, Chris Chelios, Chris Osgood, Dominik Hasek, Injuries, Jimmy Howard, Jiri Fischer, Mikael Samuelsson, Scott Hartnell and Video
. 2 Comments

… Helene St. James has an interesting piece on Jimmy Howard in today’s edition. Howard, who has been out most of January with an ankle injury, is slated to return Wednesday and will be facing high expectations from management in Detroit. He has a 12-12-1 record when healthy, but the Wings are looking to see how he performs down the stretch as the eight-place Griffins fight for a playoff spot.

St. James touches on an issue that I don’t think has gotten a lot of press here in Detroit: the question of the condition of the team’s goaltending after this season. She writes that the Wings have not ruled out extending Dominik Hasek’s 1-year contract, noting that it depends on his health, his interest in playing, and the team’s performance in the playoffs. However, there’s a good chance Hasek won’t be back next season, and, pending Howard’s performance in the coming months, the Wings may decide he’s ready for the NHL.

Chris Osgood has one year remaining on his contract and would be a good mentor for Howard, so it’s at least possible that the Wings will go with a two-goalie system, with neither goalie having the declared starting job. They would probably like to get a bona fide starter, but given the fact that much of their cap space will be taken up by signing skaters this off-season, that may not be possible.

… Funny story: Chris Chelios badly wanted to fly to Miami to watch his hometown Chicago Bears play the Indianpolis Colts in the Super Bowl, but he didn’t have the nerve to ask Mike Babcock for permission. He considered going through Nick Lidstrom, but decided not to. Considering the Bears haven’t been to the Super Bowl in 21 years (i.e. when Cheli was a Hab), it says a lot that he’s sticking with the team and not looking for special treatment.

So, the team will be watching the game in New York instead and Brendan Shanahan has been invited to watch it with them.

The Freep has the team’s picks for the game here. The concensus seems to be that the Colts will win, though Brett Lebda is pretty confident his hometeam, the Bears, will emerge victorious (whereas Chelios seems pretty fatalistic). Gotta love Hasek’s reason fore picking Indy:

“Colts. I have Colts, so I cheer for them to win. I think Colts by 10. I think their quarterback will be the difference.”

When I first read that, I thought he meant he has horses, but I guess he means he has the Colts in some kind of fantasy league.

… Ansar Khan wrote yesterday that Mikael Samuelsson (broken right foot) is about a week away from returning. He skated through the whole practice yesterday and felt pretty good, though he still has trouble stopping and starting.

… And the video of the day (via Gorilla Crouch):

That warm and fuzzy feeling you’re getting comes from seeing Scott Hartnell get owned (in the crowd). Of course, the focus of the video is the shot in the dark by Moen, which is also heartwarming if you’re a Wings fan.

For old time’s sake, here’s another fight involving Scott Hartnell. It’s one of my favorites.

12/30 Notes

Published
by
Matt Saler
on December 30, 2006
in Books, Chris Chelios and Mikael Samuelsson
. 0 Comments

Update (5:30 PM): Ansar Khan reports that Chris Chelios will not be in the lineup tomorrow night as he is still recovering from a shin injury after a collision in the Minnesota game on Wednesday.Apparently, he could be back Tuesday night against Anaheim (Steve Yzerman Retirement Night).

Khan also says Mikael Samuelsson will in fact return from his groin injury tomorrow night against the Kings. - Matt

… I just finished reading Blood Feud: Detroit Red Wings v. Colorado Avalanche: The Inside Story of Pro Sports’ Nastiest and Best Rivalry of Its Era by Adrian Dater, a sports writer for the Denver Post.It was a quick read for a 264-page book and definitely more balanced than you might expect. Dater’s familiarity with the Colorado end of the story means there is a little disparity between the Avs’ side and that of the Wings, but it’s understandable, given who he’s worked for (the Post) and with (the Avs players) for over a decade. In the end, you get as good a picture of things as you’re likely to, unless a Detroit writer publishes something.

You might be surprised by some of the inside details he provides, such as the relationship between such players as Claude Lemieux and Brendan Shanahan or Mathieu Schneider and Patrick Roy.

At times, though, it reads like a very long piece for the paper, rather than a book. His lengthy bio-chapters on Lemieux, Scotty Bowman, Patrick Roy, and Darren McCarty are interesting but are more like breaks from the story of the rivalry, as is his chapter on the evil spectre of sports writer homerism.

To Dater, there don’t seem to be any villains in the Wings/Avs rivalry. His perspective as a sports writer definitely affects his perception of the men he worked with on a daily basis, usually in contradiction with images we fans have built of certain players. Even some of the biggest “Enemies of Hockeytown” such as Lemieux, Marc Crawford, and Patrick Roy (though to a lesser extent - he’s still pompous, even to Dater) are just “nice guys” whose on-ice personalities in no way reflect their real character. It was definitely a shock to my worldview to read about Claude Lemieux, humanitarian, etc. Dater insider’s look at the Wings may also jar some perceptions about certain Heroes in the rivalry.

Anyway, it’s definitely worth a read, if you have the time. Christy has a review, with some quotes from the book, here. Get it at Amazon here.

… The Freep reports that Mikael Samuelsson is apparently expected to make his return to the ice tomorrow night against the Kings. Josh Langfeld was sent back to Grand Rapids yesterday and unless the team calls someone else up, they’ll be short a forward if Sammy isn’t ready.

… The News says the Wings “are hoping” Chris Chelios will be ready to return tomorrow.