Archive for the 'Peter Forsberg' CategoryPage 2 of 2

1/25 Notes

Published
by
Matt Saler
on January 25, 2007
in NHL, Notes and Peter Forsberg
. 2 Comments

… Drew Sharp’s bi-, tri-, or whatever-monthly piece on hockey is out today and this time he’s spouts off on how the Wings need to acquire Peter Forsberg and how they need to do it whatever cost. Sharp believes that even Forsberg at 60% on the third line would be the answer to the Wings’ playoff question (in my opinion, if he comes here and is on the third line, there’s a problem). What about Forsberg at 0%? With that ankle problem, the man might not even finish the season.

The Wings have taken a risk on Dominik Hasek, another player with health questions, and have been successful so far. However, it cost them very little to go with Hasek and his health issue is entirely preventable. With Forsberg, they’d have to give up a lot to acquire him only to inherit his chronic ankle problems and have to hope some kind of solution can be found, even though there probably isn’t one.

Forsberg is an incredible competitor and will play if he can, but what if he can’t? This isn’t about throwing around money, like it was with Hasek. It’d be about throwing around the team’s present and future, as someone from the current roster and someone in the system plus a draft pick would have to go.

Say he comes to Detroit and is able to play. Great, but in the end, Forsberg will be gone this summer, especially if he ends up having a great finale and postseason. The Wings wouldn’t be able to hold on to him, whether because he’d retire or because he’d sign elsewhere. Would it be worth it? If the Wings win the Cup, of course the answer is “yes,” but not otherwise.

… Some more thoughts on the new jerseys after seeing them during the All-Star Game:

Given that the league is serious about these things, they need to start thinking about implementing an equipment change as well. The shoulder pads, especially, are too big and make the players look like they’re suiting up for the Colts or Bears.

The jerseys are too tight around the forearm.

If the League was trying to elminate individualist uniform cues a la the No Fun League, they failed. Everyone looked neat and clean before the game, but within minutes of the puck dropping, the jerseys of certain players had somehow ridden up over their pants and straps were flapping in the wind.

Other than that, they looked fine, for the most part, though the East All Stars’ jerseys were painfully white.

1/24 Notes

Published
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Matt Saler
on January 24, 2007
in NHL, Notes, Peter Forsberg and Scheduling
. 0 Comments

Update (10:05 AM): … John Niyo reports that the IIHF has proposed a new transfer agreement with the NHL that includes Russia, saying such an agreement would help the Wings’ efforts to sign Igor Grigorenko. That’s true, but, even if the NHL and IIHF don’t get a new deal, I’m not too worried about the Wings’ chances of signing Igor if they really want to. They do have some experience in nabbing Russian players, after all. - Matt

… Helene St. James looks today at the possibility of the Wings switching to the Eastern Conference if Pittsburgh ends up moving to a Western city. According to senior VP Jimmy Devellano, “if anybody from the Eastern Conference moves West, we’ll be the Western team to go East.”

Devellano sounds pretty confident there, but it doesn’t look like it’d be that cut and dry, as St. James found out from NHL deputy commissioner Bill Daly:

“Detroit would clearly have a strong case, but by the same token, there are other teams in the Western Conference that kind of depend on Detroit being in the Western Conference, so … there’s always balancing involved that would involve a lot of debate, I’m sure, with respect to what you do with the realignment. But hopefully we never get there. At least at this point.”

So the Wings could continue to be screwed just so teams like Phoenix can charge double when they come to town? Nice.

Of course, we won’t know for sure until the Pens’ mess is figured out, which apparently will come soon, according to Bettman, who supplied St. James with this gem: “It’s urgent, but it’s not imminently urgent. It will be shortly.”

If the Pens do move and the League does allow the Wings to move East (rather than, say, Columbus), they’ll be ready. They’ve been wanting it for years. And you know the governors will be interested in a schedule format change if Sidney and Company move to the West. Those Eastern owners that were so selfish this time around will change their stance real quick in that case.

… David Waddell of the Windsor Star looks at what the Wings will try to get at the trade deadline: a forward. Ken Holland feels the team has plenty of depth on defense, with three players in the AHL that are NHL-capable, but they are not quite so strong up front because of youth and inexperience in the minors.

Waddell says they’d like a top-six forward and mentions the team has an interest in Peter Forsberg, should he become available. Holland, though, isn’t hung up on Foppa and believes the market will have some other big names worth pursuit.

He has $2 million to play with and by the time the deadline rolls around, 3/4 of any player’s salary will already have been paid, so they can go after a $7-8 million guy, as Waddell points out.

It will be very interesting to see what move Kenny tries and how it works out with team chemistry, which is very good at the moment. (via Snapshots)

Mirtle on Peter Forsberg

Published
by
Matt Saler
on January 23, 2007
in Hockey Bloggers, Links and Peter Forsberg
. 0 Comments

I’m against the Wings acquiring Forsberg because of his significant health issues and the likelihood of his leaving this summer to retire or to join another team. James makes a similar case (though better articulated) against any team taking a chance on Foppa, who does seem to be playing better lately. How long that’ll last is the question and given the fact that his ankle problem doesn’t appear to be truly solved, the answer is likely, “not long.”

1/14 Notes

Published
by
Matt Saler
on January 14, 2007
in Blackhawks, Chris Osgood, Dominik Hasek, Henrik Zetterberg, Mathieu Schneider and Peter Forsberg
. 3 Comments

… I didn’t catch the game, but the Wings won last night, 6-3 over Chicago on goals from Jason Williams (2), Tomas Holmstrom, Danny Markov, Kris Draper, and Robert Lang. Chris Osgood had 33 saves and looked good apparently, though he allowed two weak goals. They play Montreal on Monday.

… Helene St. James has suggestions for the Wings over the second half of the season:

  • “Win the Division” - She’d like to see the Wings avoid playing San Jose or Anaheim in the first round and this is the surest way to do that.
  • “Play Dominik Hasek Less” - I’ve been saying this for a while now.
  • Play Chris Osgood more - She thinks it’s a good idea for Osgood to get more playing so he can get in a rhythm. I agree.
  • “Improve on special teams” - A no-brainer, though the Wings seem to be doing that with every game.
  • Lastly, “Get Peter Forsberg” - Um, what? I would be shocked if this happened. I don’t even know who the Wings would trade for Forsberg, let alone why they’d go after someone so injury-prone, no matter how good he is when healthy. It’s been a Red Wings fan fantasy for years and may be more likely than ever now, but I still have trouble seeing it happen. Maybe if it were a Williams-and-Lilja trade, but otherwise, I can’t see them disrupting the roster just to get a player who could be gone this summer. Forsberg would fulfill their need for a big, strong forward on paper, but how it’d translate to the ice is a big unknown.

… Henrik Zetterberg was the only other Red Wing named to the Western Conference All-Star team. Mathieu Schneider got snubbed again. I’m glad Dominik Hasek didn’t make it because the last thing the Wings need is for him to pull his groin in a fake game. Congratulations to Hank, though!

11/05 Notes

Published
by
Matt Saler
on November 5, 2006
in Dan Cleary, Notes, Peter Forsberg, Trade Rumors and Valtteri Filppula
. 0 Comments

… The Wings beat the Blue Jackets last night 4-1, extending their win-streak to six while at the same time opening up their offense a little. The Wings now have a couple days off before they host Edmonton on Wednesday at 8:00 ET.

… Daniel Cleary scored twice, including a great shorthanded breakaway goal in the second period. It’s hard to believe now, but Cleary was an offensive force in the OHL before he was drafted by the Blackhawks. Obviously, he’s fulfilling a different role now, but it’s good to know he has that burst of speed and a finishing ability.

… The other goals came from Henrik Zetterberg and Mikael Samuelsson. It’s good to see those two scoring. Hank’s was a blast from the left circle and hopefully signals more to come.

… Dominik Hasek didn’t get a ton of work, facing only 17 shots, but the goal he did allow looks like it was through a screen. It seems Dom’s getting on track as well.

… One thing that’s not getting on track, however, is the power play, which George Malik says is still in “‘decline the penalty’ mode.” The Wings were 0-for-7 last night, prompting Mike Babcock to say to the News,

“We’re going to talk about this every day until we get it fixed.”

I hope so. The special teams aren’t all bad, though. The PK unit killed off eight of nine Columbus power plays.

… Valtteri Filppula had a great game last night, according to Helene St. James. He played 13:45, of which 3:10 was power play time. He assisted on Mikael Samuelsson’s goal with a nice play from down low to Nick Lidstrom, who’s shot resulted in the scramble for the puck on which Sammy scored.

Although the Wings could use size and toughness, it’s easy to see why they’re taking Filppula over Brad Norton. Fil is just too good a player and can contribute offensively, something the Wings need probably more than they need what Norton can give. The Wings are a four-line team again, as St. James points out. Couple that with the team’s strong defense and they are still going to be tough to beat.

… Lastly, there’s a rumor floating around that has the Wings looking at Philadelphia captain Peter Forsberg. An earlier rumor had the Flyers interested in Andreas Lilja and Mathieu Schneider, and though the rumor mills haven’t officially connected the two into one coherent story, the idea seems to be that a Forsberg-for-Lilja-and-Schneider dea is likelyl. I say: “Bull!” George Malik puts it best:

Maybe I’m crazy, but I find it hard to believe that the Wings would trade their #1A defenceman for a fragile forward.

Malik also points out that even if the Wings traded both Schneider and Lilja, their combined salaries still woudn’t leave space for Forsberg’s, meaning the team would be right up against the cap. That might not be such a big deal if you’re of the persuasion that Floppa would fill in the sniper slot the Wings are supposed to eventually fill this year, but it would mean it’d be a lot harder to get a goalie, should the need come up.

Basically, I can’t see something like this happening. The days where Forsberg would have been an attractive acquisition are long gone. He’s still a great player, but far too injury-prone. Why trade away our best offensive defenseman for a guy who may or may not be able to play a full season? Besides, the Wings already have the next Peter Forsberg in Henrik Zetterberg.

If a Lilja-for-Forsberg trade would work under the cap, I’d say “Do it, Kenny!” but I doubt the Flyers would go for it. They have enough pylon-imitating defensemen as it is.

Quote of the Day

Published
by
Matt Saler
on February 21, 2006
in Chris Chelios, Olympics, Peter Forsberg and Quotes
. 4 Comments

From Helene St. James’ Hockey Diary:

A reporter asked Chris Chelios whether Sweden is a better team with Peter Forsberg. Chelios’ answer was vintage Chelios: “I would say ‘yes.’ He’s a pretty good player. Is this is a trick question?”

That is vintage Chelios. I can hear him say it. What a dumb question, seriously.

Nice to see the Freep get on the blog bandwagon. First it was the News’ Ted Kulfan “blog,” then Ansar Khan’s mLive-style blog and now we have Ms. St. James’. It’d be nice to see a links list from those three and maybe some more interactive functionality as well. Blogging is more than a format, guys, it’s a dialog. Want to join the conversation?