by true Citizens of Hockeytown
With Brendan Morrow’s goal in the fourth overtime last night, Dallas defeated San Jose 2-1 and advanced to the Western Conference Finals to face Detroit.
The schedule (via Mirtle):
Game 1: Thursday, May 8 in Detroit
Game 2: Saturday, May 10
Game 3: Monday, May 12 in Dallas
Game 4: Wednesday, May 14
Game 5: *Saturday, May 17 in Detroit
Game 6: *Monday, May 19 in Dallas
Game 7: *Wednesday, May 21 in Detroit
More to come.
Update (2:34 PM): Helene St. James reports that Stuart told her he has “recovered enough that he can shoot and pass like he wants to.” That’s good news. - Matt
Update (1:12 PM): MacLeod has updated now that practice is over. The two most interesting bits of information:
First, Brad Stuart (broken finger) told MacLeod that he’s still looking at a Game 1 return, though he apparently still has trouble shooting the puck. As far as I’m concerned, as long as he can play a sound positional game and pass with authority, he should be in the lineup.
Second, Justin Abdelkader will skate on the wing of a definitely returning Kris Draper in the opener with Jiri Hudler. That’s quite a turnaround for the kid.
Also, Mikael Samuelsson skated and still think it’s possible he’ll return Thursday. I’m very skeptical about that. Kirk Maltby did not skate. - Matt
Update (11:42 AM): Bruce MacLeod reports from practice here.
Apparently, neither Kirk Maltby nor Mikael Samuelsson are on the ice. Sammy’s absence is a definite sign that he will not be back Thursday.
Also, neither Darren Helm nor Jonathan Ericsson have made an appearance. My guess it they have been returned to Grand Rapids for the duration of the week as they prepare to finish their season on Saturday.
MacLeod also provides the practice lines:
Datsyuk-Zetterberg-Holmstrom
Cleary-Flippula-Franzen
Hudler-Draper-Abdelkader
McCarty-Hartigan-Downey
Drake
Expect the Eurotwins to see a lot of time together when the Wings are at home and a lot of time apart when they are on the road. - Matt
I plan on adding to this post throughout the day, so check back. I’m short on time at the moment so I can only pass along a couple thing nows:
… The Tennessean has the times for Games 3 and 4: 7:30 ET and 9:00 ET respectively. Game 3 presents a problem for me as I have a class until 8:40 that night and missing time is very much frowned upon. Hmm.
… According to Helene St. James, Brad Stuart (broken finger) is no longer the lock for Game 1 he was expected to be. Ken Holland told her “It’s how he feels.”
Obviously, the sooner Stuart can make it back, the better, but whatever it takes to get him healthy.
… Kris Draper, on the other hand, is expected to be back from his groin injury.
… Mikael Samuelsson (groin) is unlikely to play in Game 1 because the team would prefer he go through a few practices first. If he can make it through the full practice today, I believe that would be the first time since he went down with the injury March 25th.
… If you read nothing else this morning, read this post by George Malik. The hockey media is really making itself look silly these past few days.
… Lastly, I’ll have a series preview up Wednesday evening or Thursday before 1:00. I have some school things I have to take care of before I can devote energy to that. Sorry.
Via MacLeod:
Game 1, Thursday, 7 p.m., at Detroit, FSN, Versus
Game 2, Saturday, 2 p.m., at Detroit, NBC
Game 3, Mon. Apr. 14, TBA, at Nashville, FSN, Versus
Game 4, Wed. Apr. 16, TBA, at Nashville, FSN, Versus
Game 5, Fri. Apr. 18, 7:30 p.m., at Detroit, FSN, Versus
Game 6, Sun. Apr. 20, 3 p.m., at Nashville, NBC
Game 7, Tues. Apr. 22, TBA, at Detroit, FSN
Via TSN:
The NHL has approved a scheduling format that will have each team play 24 divisional games, 40 in-conference matchups, 15 games against non-conference teams and three wild card games against out of conference teams.
No more Chicago, Columbus, Nashville, and St. Louis eight times in a season, Wings fans! I can hardly believe it, but the League actually listened to the fans.
Update (7:35 PM): George Malik has a nice breakdown of the schedule here. - Matt
Like the rest of the NHL, the Wings released their schedule for next season today. They’ll open the season on October 3rd at home against the Anaheim Ducks and will finish on April 6, also at home, against Chicago. Some points of interest in between, as pointed out by Ansar Khan:
The Wings will play on Thanksgiving for the first time in recent memory, visiting Nashville on Nov. 22 for an 8 p.m. game. Their final 11 games, and 14 of their last 15, are against Central Division opponents, …. They host St. Louis in their annual New Year’s Eve game.
Two more dates to watch out for: Alexander Ovechkin’s first trip to Detroit, on December 17th and the Hockey Day in Canada game in Toronto on February 9th.
So, start planning your trips to the Joe! I hope to go to more games this season, after only making it to one this past year.
Sept. 18 — at Minnesota, 8 p.m.
Sept. 20 — vs. Minnesota, 7:30
Sept. 21 — vs. Pittsburgh, 7:30
Sept. 22 — at Pittsburgh, 7:30
Sept. 24 — at Tampa Bay, 7:30
Sept. 25 — vs. N.Y. Rangers, 7:30
Sept. 27 — vs. Tampa Bay, 7:30
Sept. 28 — at Toronto, TBA
Sept. 29 — vs. Toronto, 7:30
Training camp is September 14th-17th. It’s looking like the regular season schedule will be released tomorrow, so keep an eye out for that. (thanks Brian)
Ansar Khan reports that both Tomas Holmstrom (bleeding eye) and Brett Lebda (concussion, sprained ankle) are day-to-day. Apparently, Homer saw an eye doctor in Calgary before the team returned to Detroit and will see an eye specialist tomorrow. His eye is swollen shut, so, like Khan says, it doesn’t seem all that likely that he’ll be ready to go for Game 1 of the second round.
As for Lebda, he wasn’t feeling great after skating yesterday, but will try again tomorrow or Wednesday. It sounds like he’s more likely to play in the opener.
The NHL has released the official schedule for the second round and the Wings’ games will take place as follows:
Date/Time (ET) #1 Detroit vs. Dallas/San Jose Network
Thursday, April 26 7:30 p.m. Dallas/San Jose at Detroit VERSUS
Saturday, April 28 3:00 p.m. Dallas/San Jose at Detroit NBC
Monday, April 30 9/10:00 p.m. Detroit at Dallas/San Jose VERSUS
Wednesday, May 2 9/10:00 p.m. Detroit at Dallas/San Jose VERSUS
* Saturday, May 5 2:00 p.m. Dallas/San Jose at Detroit NBC
* Monday, May 7 TBD Detroit at Dallas/San Jose VERSUS
* Wednesday, May 9 TBD Dallas/San Jose at Detroit VERSUS
I can’t say I’m overly thrilled with the start time on Game 2 since I have to go to a long-time friend’s college graduation that day at 3:00 PM. Not sure what’ll happen for the game report. I’ll get back to you on that.
If you don’t already know, Game 4 will apparently start at 9:30 PM ET on Thursday night. Previously, the time was listed as TBD on the NHL.com schedule page. As I have to get up at 5:00 AM Friday morning, I’m thankful it’s not going to be 10:00 PM or later. Every little bit helps!
Update (11:10 AM): Thanks to reader Chris for this comment below:
Just so you know, Charter will continue to have Vs. They hit an agreement last week.
That’s good news. Still waiting for the FSN schedule, though, since I’d much prefer to watch games on that channel than on Versus! - Matt
Here it is, via NHL.com:
Date Time (ET) Location Network Thu., April 12 7:00 p.m. at Detroit VERSUS, CBC Sun., April 15 1:00 p.m. at Detroit NBC, CBC Tue., April 17 10:00 p.m. at Calgary CBC, VERSUS Thu., April 19 TBD at Calgary CBC, VERSUS *Sat., April 21 3:00 p.m. at Detroit NBC, CBC *Sun., April 22 TBD at Calgary CBC, VERSUS *Tue., April 24 TBD at Detroit CBC, VERSUS
So, I was wrong to assume Game 1 would be on Friday with a Sunday Game 2.
Gotta love that back-to-back home-home bit there with Games 5 and 6. That’ll be interesting, should the series go that long (which it probably will). Good to see that the decision to have Game 2 on Sunday screws the players a week later.
All in all, nothing too surprising. The afternoon games make me a little nervous based on the Wings’ prior performances in those situations (Saturday’s whomping of Chicago notwithstanding), but the most worrisome thing is the travel. Also, that gap between Games 1 and 2 could be momentum-killing.
The most important thing for the Wings is to win the first two as well as at least one of Games 3 and 4. If the Flames steal home ice right off the bat, a tough series will get even tougher.
Now I’m just waiting for the FSN schedule to be released. If they don’t cover the games shown on Versus, there may be a problem, as the cable carrier in Grand Rapids was apparently going to drop Versus for the playoffs. Fans were supposed to call in and petition, but I don’t know whether or not the channel was saved.
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)
