Posts filed under “The Team”

#1B versus #2

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The Jimmy Howard injury has put the fact that the Wings are screwed without him front and center. And it has jumpstarted the debate: do the Wings need a #1B or a #2 goaltender to go with Jimmy?

I’m defining #1B as one half of a Luongo/Schneider or Rask/Thomas combo, the kind of guy you could be about as comfortable with in the playoffs as you are with Jimmy. A #2 guy is a traditional backup, the kind of guy who spells your #1 guy during the regular season and who charts faceoffs just about no matter what in the playoffs.

Add Joey MacDonald to the mix and you’ve got three ways forward (four if you count Conklin, but who is?).

I see a #1B guy as out of reasonable reach, 1) because who’s trading a starter at the deadline and 2) the cost is sure to be high for those that are available. And I see a #2 guy as relatively pointless: you deal an asset for a guy who  may only be a marginal improvement over Joey MacDonald and he’s still not a viable tool in the playoffs.

Boston and Vancouver get to have that kind of strength in net because it more or less happened organically. The chips didn’t fall that way for the Wings.  So they may  need to go the traditional one horse route for the playoffs, unless they’re willing to get in on a deal that will equivalently diminish another aspect of the team on the off chance that they might need another goaltender in the playoffs.

I say, assuming his promising outing Saturday night doesn’t turn out to be an anomaly, Joey MacDonald may present the best way forward in terms of setting Jimmy up to succeed in the playoffs. If he can prove to be the kind of guy who can spell Howard down the stretch, the Wings are golden.

What they  need is a guy who can take care of Jimmy’s nights off now. And Mac may be that guy.

Report: MacDonald Recalled, Howard Injured

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Update (1:39 PM): And now we have the source of the injury. Lapierre’s one credited shot of the night appears in the play-by-play at 1:39 of the third period. - Matt

Update (12:28 PM): The latest, via Khan. So that’s good. - Matt

Update (10:07 AM): Press release from the team confirms the Joey Mac recall and the Howard right-hand injury. They say he’ll miss at least the next two games, and that he’ll be reevaluated when the team gets back to Detroit on Tuesday.

The two week timeline came from somewhere, but the team’s not making it official yet, at least. - Matt

Update (9:56 AM):

So, it’s not killer (i.e. long-term), if that’s true. The Wings’ schedule over the next two weeks isn’t terrible, either. But there’s this counterpoint (and part two). Yep.

We’ll see if Conklin can rise to the occasion. The Wings can’t afford to fall back much at all as tight as the race is.

Also, George notes it’s his right hand, since he remembers the circumstances leading up to Jimmy’s trip to the bench. - Matt

No press release from the Wings yet or record of the move on the AHL website. But there’s no reason to disbelieve Ward. No confirmation from Detroit media yet. They’re probably still out of action thanks to the time difference.

Jimmy was at the bench in the third period, though at the time it seemed to be an equipment issue. Piet Van Zant was there, however, which is never a good sign even though Jimmy went back to the crease and finished the game.

Ugh. Ugh. Doesn’t even begin to cover it.

Assuming Ward’s report is right, it is possible that it’s not something that’ll keep him out too long. But this is where the Wings complete lack of a capable (thus far) backup could really come back to bite them.

Ugh.

Today in Totally Useless But Awesome Factoids

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Okay, “totally useless” may be overstating it. We’ll see.

On Kindl

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Last night:

Update (1:14 PM): Followup this afternoon: