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11/03 Notes

Published
by
Matt Saler
on November 3, 2006
in Notes
. 1 Comment

Update (11:38 PM): … I’m in class and having the time of my life, but I’m updating the post anyway. It wasn’t up earlier this morning, but Hockey Recap’s game report for the Wings has been posted. - Matt

… Henrik Zetterberg broke his nine-game goalless streak last night, scoring a garbage goal at 3:09 of the third period against the Chicago Blackhawks, and tying the game at one. The Wings went on to win 2-1, extending their win-streak to five (each of which, by the way, has been by one goal).

I was able to catch a little bit of the game, so my impressions may not be correct given that I didn’t see the whole thing. I thought Chris Osgood looked pretty sharp, and because of that as well as Dominik Hasek’s play Wednesday night, my confidence in the goaltending is growing.

On the other hand, I’m a little concerned about the team in back-to-back nights. From what I could tell, the Blackhawks were the more energetic team. I won’t complain too much, however, since the Wings still found a way to win, but hopefully they’ll be able to make better showings in those types of games as the season goes on since they’ll have a lot of them.

… Both papers focus on defensemen in their respective daily notebook features, with the Freep looking at Kyle Quincey and the News taking a look at Chris Chelios, Quincey’s defensive partner the past two games.

Helene St. James reports that Andreas Lilja and Mathieu Schneider are due back for the Wings’ Saturday game in Columbus. If that’s true, Quincey will be sent back to Grand Rapids today or tomorrow.

… More later, probably. I have to go to work and when I get back, I probably ought to study for a test before I go to classes today. We’ll see how the day goes.

10/31 Notes

Published
by
Matt Saler
on October 31, 2006
in Henrik Zetterberg and Notes
. 1 Comment

Update (6:52 PM): A blogging Helene St. James reports that Andreas Lilja has a back injury and Mathieu Schneider has a groin injury, but has assurance from Mike Babcock that neither is serious. It was enough to keep them from practicing today, though, so we may hear more about it eventually.

She also notes that Filppula was the “odd forward out” today in practice, though Norton still has not come off the IR. If Norton stays out, and the Wings do decide to dress Valtteri again, it means either Tomas Kopecky or Jiri Hudler would have to sit.

Also, here’s your absurd opinion item of the day, via Off Wing Opinion. - Matt

Update (9:25 AM): Bruce MacLeod of the Macomb Daily has a good piece today contrasting the Wings’ newest defenseman, Danny Markov, with their longest-serving defenseman, Nicklas Lidstrom. Definitely worth a read. (via Snapshots) - Matt

… Both major Detroit papers have notebook sections dealing with Henrik Zetterberg’s slump today, though they each take slightly different angles.

The Freep’s Helene St. James takes a look at Mikael Samuelsson’s return, and suggests that he could help spark his fellow countryman, being a shooting forward. She reports that the two will be on the same line on Wednesday when the Wings face Calgary at home.

Ted Kulfan of the Detroit News notes opponents have been better at shadowing Zetterberg this season and suggests this is a contributing factor. He also points out that Hank has still be great defensively, and so, despite his lack of offensive production, has been valuable to the team.

It’s interesting that no one mentions his wrist as being a possible cause, as some fans have. I don’t know if that’s because it’s not a problem at the moment or because the papers are toeing the line on injury non-disclosure. If Hank’s wrist is bothering him, I’d hate to see him play the entire season only to have it get worse in time for the playoffs. Maybe a rest would be in order.

… Darryl Dobbs of The Fourth Period took a look at the Wings’ season in light of fantasy leagues in a column yesterday. He notes that though they may have a winning record, their lack of offensive production has made it rough for fantasy owners that have Red Wings on their teams. (I can attest to this)

Dobbs singles out Zetterberg as being in a particular slump, and opines that he will be unable to improve on his point total of last year (85) due to the Wings’ winning games by playing defensively. That may be true, but I’m not trading Hank away on my fantasy league, current slump or not. He will produce eventually.

… After starting the season at #1 in the TSN Power Rankings, the Wings fell to the bottom 15 after a 3-4-1 start through 8 games. Now, they’re tentatively back in the top half, at #13, above the Oilers but below the Avs. (Yeah, I know power rankings are stupid but it’s something)

10/30 Notes

Published
by
Matt Saler
on October 30, 2006
in Chris Chelios, Mathieu Schneider, Notes, The Team and Valtteri Filppula
. 0 Comments

Update (7:50 PM): … Helene St. James reports in a blog post that both Brad Norton and Mikael Samuelsson are ready to return to the ice. Samuelsson expects to play Wednesday against the Flames, and Norton just needs to be cleared by some doctors. Norton still has not been taken off the IR, but when he does, the Wings will be over the 23-man active roser limit, meaning Valtteri Filppula’s stint in Detroit will probably soon be over. That is, of course, unless the Wings decide to send someone else down, which would most likely be Norton, if anyone.

… The Calgary Sun has a piece by Randy Sportak today that provides more details on Darren McCarty’s bankruptcy. For anyone thinking Darren brought this on himself by throwing money away, there’s this:

“It sounds as if I blew $6 million, which isn’t the case. A lot of it had to do with a couple of properties that we owned and I signed my name to. It’s not as if I was blowing the money.”

Apparently, it was more a case of being stabbed in the back by a business partner than anything else. (via Snapshots)

… When Evgeni Malkin and Sergei Fedorov both went down with injuries, I was in need of a center on my fantasy team so I traded Kari Lehtonen for Marc Savard and David Aebischer. It was probably a dumb trade then, but I feel really stupid now, after reading this. - Matt

… In the Freep’s Wings Corner today, George Sipple focuses on Chris Chelios, who will tie Wayne Gretzky in games played on Wednesday when the Wings play the Flames at home. Gretzky currently holds 12th place on the all-time list with 1,487 games (over 20 seasons) while Chelios obviously has 1,486 games (over 22 seasons).

Cheli will be able to pass Gretzky (how unlikely does that sound?!) on Thursday when the Wings travel to Chicago to play the Blackhawks.

… In his Red Wings Notebook, Ted Kulfan writes on the contrast between the Wings’ three game slide during their West Coast trip, and their three-game win-streak since. They’re making mediots like Damien Cox look pretty dumb, though, granted, it is a long season and they’ve only been able to string three together so far. However, I think they’ve got it together now, and I wouldn’t expect any more three-game losing streaks.

… Kulfan also has a quote from Mike Babcock on why the Wings’ power play went 0-for-5 Saturday night:

“We wouldn’t shoot the puck. We passed it around, passed it around, passed it around and wouldn’t shoot. I don’t know why that happened.”

Well, Mike, it was that, and the fact that the guys seemed to revert back to the power play strategy of last season. You know, the one that didn’t work any more and the one you had the players work on last week? Why does the PP focus on the defensemen at the point again?

… Mathieu Schneider, a popular player around here, was interviewed by The Sporting News’ Ray Slover this weekend. It’s not very long but definitely worth a read.

I like this part:

SN: Tomas Holmstrom scores from the dot. Did you guys about fall over on that one?

Schneider: He never ceases to amaze me. He finds different ways to score all the time. He still gets heck. I think he had a goal like that in the Olympics, but most of them are obviously inside the crease. But he’s just a great presence in front of the net. He doesn’t get the credit he deserves for being able to handle the puck and move it outside the top of the circles.

Link via Snapshots.

… Ansar Khan looks at the coming roster problem in an article for Booth Newspapers today.

As far as I’m concerned, I think they should keep Valtteri Filppula up and send Norton down, but only if Babcock is able to give Filppula an appropriate amount of ice time. The problem is, that will be difficult once Mikael Samuelsson returns and picks up the 15-16 minutes in ice time he was getting before injuring his shoulder. If Valtteri were covering for just Norton, it would be no question, but with Mikael coming back soon, it may not be the best thing for him to stay with the Wings. I know the Griffins could use him.

Sending Norton down isn’t the Wings’ only option if they’re looking to keep Filppula on the roster. According to Khan, Brett Lebda is a player the Wings could send down to make room for Valtteri since he wouldn’t have to clear waivers. Haha, very funny, Ansar (to be fair, he does say it’s unlikely). Another option would be sending extraneous third goalie Joey MacDonald for a two-week conditioning stint.

… The Wings aren’t the only team that is proving the hockey media wrong. The Colorado Avalanche, who also have been picked to fall by the columnists, have won four in six, including a big one over the Minnesota Wild last night.

10/29 Notes

Published
by
Matt Saler
on October 29, 2006
in Blues, Chris Chelios, Notes, Robert Lang and The Team
. 0 Comments

Update (1:57, 02. Nov): Greg Gaz of The Blue Note Blog eventually did post a well-written response to the game in the evening on Sunday. Gaz toes the “soon-to-be Dead Wings” line and looks forward to a day where the Blues will be the dominant team, thinking it’s going to be sooner rather than later. Sorry, Greg, the Wings aren’t done quite yet. The Blues have just shown that they don’t have to be doormats anymore, while the Wings are showing that they still know how to win. - Matt

Update (7:46 PM): … Here’s the highlight reel for the goals from last night, including some good looks at Filppula’s first, via the NHL’s Highlight Machine. - Matt

… In his report on the game last night, Ted Kulfan confirms that Mike Babcock gave Chris Chelios a rest due to it being the second of back-to-back games, not because of some injury. I basically thought that was the case, though it’s good to hear for sure.

… George Sipple reports that the team had a special meeting yesterday morning where they focused stritctly on having confidence on the penalty kill. It was Mike Babcock’s response after the Wings gave up three power play goals on seven chances to the Dallas Stars Friday night. Apparently, the meeting had the desired effect, as they were perfect 5-for-5 on the PK against the Blues.

… According to Sipple, Robert Lang had to get eight stitches under his eye aftertaking Brett Lebda’s stick to the face in the first period.

… Sipple wins the award for lamest pun with the headline to his report on the game:

MANNY THANKS: Wings score early on ex-goalie Legace in 3-2 win over Blues

… No reaction to the game yet at the only Blues blog I could find, The Blue Note Blog.

… I’d say the St. Louis Post-Dispatch’s Jeremy Rutherford is a little hard on Manny Legace today for saying he wasn’t sharp last night, but I wholly agree with him when he says the defense wasn’t so hot. Legace stopped what he could and was left out to dry on the Wings’ goals.

… Before the game began last night, we were reminded of the Tigers’ loss in the World Series to the St. Louis Cardinals the night before when Cardinals manager Tony La Russa came out to center ice for a ceremonial puck drop. Not that it will make Tigers fans feel any better, but the Wings’ win is at least a small amount of revenge.

… Gloveside.net, after basically telling Manny to shut up and play, addresses concerns over Henrik Zetterberg in a post today. Basically, they point out that, while Hank isn’t scoring, he’s doing all kinds of things that don’t show up on the scoresheet, and is being invaluble to the team. He’ll be contributing offensively soon, as well.

10/26 Notes

Published
by
Matt Saler
on October 26, 2006
in Danny Markov, DetNews, Freep, Injuries, Johan Franzen, Mikael Samuelsson, Notes, Oilers and Valtteri Filppula
. 0 Comments

Update (4:02 PM): … In a blog post this afternoon, Helene St. James reports that Johan Franzen left practice early because of a charley-horse and may not be ready to play tomorrow night in Dallas.

She also says Samuelsson did not practice, and she doesn’t think it’s likely he’ll be back in time to play against the Stars (seems like a pretty good assumption).

Lastly, she reports that Brad Norton returned to the ice for his first full practice since sustaining a shoulder injury last Wednesday in Anaheim, but has not been pulled off the injured reserve list yet. When he does come off the IR, the Wings will be over the roster limit and someone will have to be sent down to Grand Rapids. The most likely candidate is Filppula because he does not have to clear waivers, like Norton, Hudler, or Kopecky would have to do.
link via Slapshots. - Matt

… John Wawrow of the Detroit News has a piece on Danny Markov today in the Red Wings Notebook. He begins by describing Markov’s hit on Ethan Moreau in the Edmonton game on Saturday.

“Saturday’s open-ice collision with Edmonton’s Ethan Moreau, which dislodged Moreau from the puck and resulted in a breakaway goal by Pavel Datsyuk, was a snapshot of why the Wings wanted Markov.”

Only problem is, that hit was on Jarret Stoll. Maybe Wawrow links Moreau to the play because he dislocated his shoulder when pulling his arm back for a sucker punch on the Wings defenseman in revenge for the perfectly legal check on his teammate. Now, he’s out until for a few months because it turns out he needs surgery.

… Wawrow also provides a little update on Mikael Samuelsson’s shoulder injury. Sammy is, “not on the radar screen,” according to Babcock, since he has not practiced or skated since he sustained the injury on the 18th in Anaheim.

He’s been taken off The Hockey Recap’s injured players list, however, though I’m not sure what they’re basing that on, given the Babcock quote. Wawrow does say the Wings could be without Samuelsson, “for a few more days,” so that may be it.

… Helene St. James profiles Valtteri Filppula in today’s Freep Wings Corner. Filppula played on a line last night with Kris Draper and Henrik Zetterberg, and looked pretty decent. It was a show of confidence by Mike Babcock, who had him playing with Jiri Hudler and Tomas Kopecky on Saturday. You have to wonder how much longer Brad Norton is going to stay “injured,” with Babcock’s new favorite young player Valtteri taking his place temporarily.

… The Wings beat the Sharks 2-1 last night and looked pretty good while doing it. They outshot San Jose 39-24 and could have won by a wider margin had Evgeni Nabokov not been so strong. Still, it’s a little disconcerting that the team leader in goals is a defenseman (Mathieu Schneider) and not one of our skilled forwards.

Robert Lang has been pretty strong so far this season and will hopefully continue to be so.

Neither Pavel Datsyuk nor Henrik Zetterberg were particularly noticeable last night but I didn’t watch the game too closely. Helene St. James says they had their chances, even if they didn’t score, so maybe there’s nothing to worry about there.

The power play unit finally scored, which was good to see. They didn’t get that many opportunities to demonstrate their new PP strategy, though, and should have, which wasn’t a good thing. Both teams got away with too much last night.

One thing I like from this year’s Wings team is that they seem to be more physical. They were outhitting the Sharks last night, which is not something they usually do against anybody. They had noticeable intensity and will be well off if they keep that up.

Dominik Hasek looked weak on the lone Sharks goal but it was a defensive lapse more than anything else and he was strong for the rest of the game.

It was good to see them come home and get a win. Now it’s time to see if they’ll be able to build on it.

They play the Stars on Friday in Dallas before travelling to St. Louis to play the Blues on Saturday.

I didn’t do a full game summary so here are the Freep and DetNews reports, as well as the boxscore.

6/24 Notes

Published
by
Matt Saler
on June 24, 2006
in Chris Pronger, Draft, Nick Lidstrom, Notes and Roberto Luongo
. 1 Comment

… James Mirtle addresses the surprising news out of Edmonton involving Chris Pronger’s trade request. Apparently, “family issues” meant “my rich wife from St. Louis hates Northern Alberta.” Although Pronger did request a trade earlier in the season due to his wife, he obviously didn’t make a big stink about it and was honorable enough to play through the season, becoming the Oilers’ most dominant player through their playoff run.

As Mirtle says, Pronger’s stock is incredibly high now so Kevin Lowe will be able to get a lot in return if a trade does in fact happen. Of course, that fact just makes Brian’s rumor that much more unlikely but it’s still a nice dream, eh?

… Ansar Khan reports that there has been progress made in contract negotiations with Nick Lidstrom. He quotes Ken Holland as saying,

“We had good conversations. We’ve gone back and forth the last couple of weeks with different ideas and numbers. I’m trying to convince Nick on a number, he’s trying to convince me on a number. We’re trying to find a compromise. I’d like to get something done (next) week.”

It sure would be nice to know just how far apart they are (i.e. $8.8 million versus $8 million or $8.8 million versus $7 million, etc.).

No talks will take place this weekend but they will pick up again on Monday.

Khan also reports that Holland doesn’t have a lot happening on the trade front, which isn’t all that encouraging. Perhaps that’ll change today after all the GMs get together for the draft.

… IwoCPO has a further reaction to last night’s big Luongo trade, posted from the Richmond airport today:

Yes, it would have been a move that re-kindled the excitement in Detroit. Yes, it seems that if it were to occur Pavel Datsyuk, at least, would have been sent to Florida in return. Yes, Luongo was the best goalie available, is going to be a great playoff performer and is a franchise player.And if goaltending was the only problem the Wings had against Edmonton, the deal may have been made. But, in the heat of the discussion over whether Holland should have mortgaged the offensive talent pool in favor of Luongo let’s recall a few happy moments. Remember Ryan (Jason, Smith, Smyth) with continued access to the crease, untouched. …

Basically, the Wings need grit, speed, and heart more than they need a big-name goalie. The equation “Luongo=the Wings’ savior” was always a false one (Luongo≠the Wings’ savior). Holland needs to focus on acquiring players that bring those qualities to the team and on losing players that don’t.

Be sure to check out Iwo’s classic timeline of his experience at the airport here.

… Of course, the draft is tonight and, as I posted yesterday, we’ll have whatever information we can find on the Wings’ two picks (29th and 62nd) in today’s rounds (1st and 2nd). Be sure to stop by James Mirtle’s liveblog of the event and checking Kukla’s Korner for updates is always a good idea. Hockey’s Future and Red Wings Central are also good resources for information on draftees (they’re basically where we’ll be going for it).

I should have thought of this earlier, but Hockey’s Future has a Red Wings draft preview here. Their section on draft tendencies is very interesting, noting,

New CBA rules, however, put heavy transfer fees on European players chosen after the second round and force NHL teams to sign European draft picks with two years of their draft date. Consequently, look for the Red Wings to reprioritize the draft and lessen their emphasis on European talent.

I had missed that little fact. It will be interesting to see the impact that will have on the Wings in the future. Their reliance on European talent was made necessary by their success over the years. It has to be easier to find overlooked and unknown players at the isolated rinks of Russia and Sweden than in the well-publicized arenas of the North American systems.

Update (2:58 PM): Christy also will be updating throughout the draft.

Update (4:10 PM): Looks like Luongo was caught off-guard by the trade, since, apparently, he thought he and Florida had a tentative agreement on a four-year contract. I guess that means there was no pre-negotiated long-term deal that the Canucks can count on simply because Luongo was not involved in the trade negotiations. For now, apparently, Luongo is too emotional to think about signing a long-term contract with Vancouver so Nonis will have to wait.

Update (6:50 PM): BoA has a reaction to the news about Pronger here. Definitely sucks for those fans.

12/17 Notes

Published
by
Christy Hammond
on December 17, 2005
in Capitals, Hockey Bloggers, Michigan and Notes
. 1 Comment

I finished my last final exam yesterday morning and I am officially on winter break, finally! So my updates will now resume as normal. I’m sorry for the pause in updates from me over the past two weeks. Now onto the rest of the entry…

  • Washington Capitals owner Ted Leonsis is at it again. Previously, all Caps season ticket holders received a free replica jersey and blogger Eric McErlain of Off Wing Opinion was invited to attend a Caps game with Leonsis. PJ at Sharkspage recently conducted an interview with the owner by telephone. You can read what he had to say to PJ here.
  • Across the hockey blogosphere, one can find numerous bloggers picks for Team Canada’s squad in the upcoming 2006 Winter Olympics. Among them are The Puck Stops Here, Battle of Alberta, and James Mirtle. The Hockey News have their own picks for the roster along with news that the WJC Canada roster has been set.
  • Speaking of the World Junior Championships, three Michigan Wolverines will be playing for the US and another for Canada. Freshmen Jack Johnson and Mark Mitera along with sophomore Kevin Porter will be playing in Vancouver for the WJC instead of playing with the rest of the Michigan team at the annual Great Lakes Invitational (GLI). Freshman forward Andrew Cogliano will be the sole Wolverine to represent Canada in the tournament. Only four collegiate athletes will play for Canada in the WJC, an increase from recent years.
  • The Michigan Wolverines swept Nebraska last weekend with 4-2 and 7-3 wins. Wondering how a former Wolverine is doing in the NHL or AHL? Check out this site. The Blog That Yost Built has some thoughts on the Wolverines’ recent games along with the WJC player invitations.
  • For those Carolina Hurricane fans, your prospect Jack Johnson is doing quite well playing college hockey for the University of Michigan. In his 17 college games, Johnson has five goals and 16 assists with a +9. Less than a month ago, hockey.com conducted this interview with Johnson. From the couple of games that I’ve seen, he’s a smart and strong defenseman. I’m just bummed that he’ll possibly go pro next season and the Wolverines won’t have his talented defensive abilities.
  • Back on December 9, Michael Fedor at Confessions of a Hockey Fanatic talked about Sidney Crosby stepping up as a leader to the Pittsburgh Penguins. Only 7 days later Michael was able to talk about Crosby being named Assistant Captain. Jes Golbez also chimes in on Crosby’s promotion at The Sidney Crosby Show. The Hockey Pundits also talk about Crosby’s “A.”
  • After articles like this one about the Carolina Hurricanes struggling attendance, Acid Queen has a thought or two on the topic.
  • Wondering which NHL team Sports Business Journal thought had the best website? The top three picks, in order, are the Atlanta Thrashers, Washington Capitals, and Chicago Blackhawks. The Detroit Red Wings came in 10th place, which surprises me because I don’t care for our website and it isn’t updated enough (in my mind).
  • The Vancouver Canucks Op Ed blog pointed out an interesting column from Cornell University’s sports editor of the college paper. He couldn’t believe the ‘craziness’ of the Cornell hockey fans and was embarrassed by their chants and actions. A friend of mine has season tickets to the Cornell hockey games and says that the games are a blast but the chanting can get pretty crazy, as in personal “attacks” to the opponents. But you’re going to get that at a lot of college sporting events. Hockey at Cornell is big like football here at University of Michigan (not that hockey isn’t big at UMich either).