by true Citizens of Hockeytown
It looks like the recent success of the Pistons and Tigers has shortened the season ticket waitlist for Wings tickets considerably. It’s been three years since I signed up for the waitlist, and back then it was a rumored 10 year wait for season tickets. Has anyone else gotten the letter?
The CP is reporting that the one-hour jersey retirement ceremony will take place before the Wings’ Jan. 2nd game versus the Anaheim Ducks. Steve Yzerman’s jersey will be the 6th to be retired by the Wings and will join Terry Sawchuk’s #1, Ted Lindsay’s #7, Gordie Howe’s #9, Alex Delvecchio’s #10 and Sid Abel’s #12 in the rafters of Joe Louis Arena. If you want tickets to that game, camp out on your computer the night they are released because they’ll be gone very quickly, I’m sure. It’s either that or take out a loan in order to buy them off someone. By the way, does anyone know the ticket release schedule?
Via George Malik, who writes “Lower [jersey] numbers mean a good chance of getting a ‘long look,’ while higher numbers tend to indicate a season in the minors.” George also points out an interesting entry in the list: 02 Jiri Fischer, Detroit (NHL). Since when is Jiri coming back, or at least getting a chance to try out? It must be a mistake, since you’d think someone would have picked up the huge story of Jiri Fischer’s amazing return to the ice. But maybe not… It would be nice to know what’s going on.
The Illitches have moved one of their chief executives over to head a team investigating two options: a new arena and renovations of JLA. Personally, I can’t imagine the Wings without the Joe so I hope they end up deciding to renovate. I don’t want to go to some fancy new arena with some corporate name and zero character. But that’s just me. The News has a story on this too but I can’t access it right now (”Server too busy”). Maybe you can.
The NHL announced the schedule for next season today and that means we now know who and when the Wings will be playing.
They’ll open the season on October 5th, at home against the Canucks, making them the first team to face Roberto Luongo as a Canuck in regular season play.
They’ll get two of ten games against Eastern opponents out of the way early: on the 7th, they’ll head to Pittsburgh to face Sidney Crosby and Co., and after playing host to the Coyotes on the 11th, the Sabres will come to town on the 13th.
The Wings will face their first Central Division opponent on the 28th, St. Louis on the road.
November includes a three-game Western Canada road-trip beginning on the 14th in Vancouver and ending on the 18th in Edmonton, with a stop in Calgary in between, on the 17th.
They’ll face Toronto, Ottawa, and New Jersey on December 9th, 12th, 16th, and will have a home-away-home series with Minnesota on the 22nd, 23rd and 27th. That ought to be exciting… The annual New Year’s Eve game is against LA this season.
Montreal comes to town on January 15th and the Wings travel to Long Island to face the Islanders on the 30th. They’ll be back to that area on February 5th as they face Brendan Shanahan’s new team, the New York Rangers. They’ll close out their games against the East after playing Philadelphia on the road on February 12th and Dave Lewis’ new team, the Bruins, at home on March 11th.
The season ends with a pair of home-away series with Columbus and Chicago. The final game is at home against the Hawks on April 7th.
Click here for the complete Red Wings schedule.
According to Ansar Khan, the Wings have called a press conference for 1:00 PM Monday afternoon. Are we finally going to hear The Decision? The only other thing I can think of would be something involving Jiri Fischer.
Update (03. Jul, 11:05 AM): The concensus seems to be that this conference is to announce Steve Yzerman’s retirement. Various bloggers have pointed out correctly that it can’t be for a trade or a signing because something big enough to hold a press conference for would have leaked by now.
I have to say that some kind of unconscious denial has left me basically unprepared for this. Of course, we’ll have a tribute post if he does in fact retire today.
Kukla’s Korner has a number of sources reporting the obvious: an Yzerman retirement. I wish the Wings had just said it had to do with him from the start. There’s no need for secrecy any more.
Update (03. Jul, 12:25 PM, Brian)
I hope Yzerman announces his retirement this afternoon, for his sake and the Wings’ sake. He was frustrated for the majority of the season and his play obviously doesn’t fit in with what Babcock is trying to do. Babcock giving Pavs the final faceoff over Yzerman in Game 6 is the microcosm of this. Also, he has had a number of serious injuries but has been lucky enough to return from them all fairly healthy. He does not need to risk his health for another season, he has proven enough. He and his family deserve his health and well-being in his retirement. The only reason he should be returning is to get to 700 goals, but the previous reasons outweight this. Some players might also want to have a pre-determined “last game” with a final skate, like Gretzky did. But Yzerman is not that type of player, so I doubt it bothers him not to have that.
And for the Wings’ sake, if he returned it’d be another rocky season of Yzerman dealing with Babcock’s system and limited ice time. The $1.2 M salary he would likely get would also take up valuable salary cap space. And for the few games where he flashed brilliance last season, he was invisible for the rest. It’s just the right time for the era to end. It’s been 22 seasons and I don’t like to see it end but at the same time it’s the right time and I don’t see a better time coming.
The Wings took 18-year-old Cory Emmerton 41st overall as their first pick of the draft. Emmerton scored 90 points (26G, 64A) in 66 games for the Kingston Frontenacs this past season, had an assist in the OHL All-Star Game and scored two goals in six games in the postseason.
Hockey’s Future has this to say about him:
A talented playmaker with offensive flair and a nose for the net, Emmerton is the type of forward that makes those around him better. He has a knack for finding the open man, or hitting a teammate in full-stride for an offensive chance.He has elite playmaking and passing skills and is solid on his skates. He could benefit from some extra attention on the defensive side of the game, but he projects to challenge for the OHL scoring title should he remain in the league next season, and could be a solid point-producer for years to come no matter what level he plays at.
He’s 5′11″, 177 pounds, shoots left, and plays center. A playmaker, evidentally, not a goal-scorer, and yet another center in the system.
The Wings’ second pick was Shawn Matthias, another 18-year-old center. Matthias played 67 games for the Belleville Bulls, notching just 13 goals and 21 assists over that span. He scored three goals in the first round of the OHL playoffs in six games.
Hockey’s Future has this to say about him:
He can skate and handle the puck, but he still needs to work on his two-way play. Never one to shy away from hard work, Matthias is considered to have NHL potential.
At 6′3″, 211 lbs., Matthias definitely has some size so he brings something the Wings could use if he really is NHL material.
For their third pick, the Wings took the 19-year-old Swede Dick Axelsson 62nd overall. Axelsson split his time between the Huddinge J20 team and the Huddinge main roster, scoring 19 goals and 34 points in 28 games with the former and 17 goals and 19 points in 23 games with the latter.
Elite Prospects has this to say about him (translated from Swedish):
Axelsson has great size and is an aggressive and physical player. He has good timing in his hits. His skating, the intensity he plays with and his forechecking is quite good. Axelsson’s main asset is his hockey sense and he is good at finding passing openings. At the same time he is a good scorer. Technical skills and hands are good. There is room for improvement when it comes to his defensive game and his acceleration.
Axelsson, at 6′2″, 176 lbs, has some good size as well. He’s listed as a forward so maybe he’s not a center.
That’s all I have on these guys for now but I’ll post more as I see it.
Three picks, three forwards. So much for bolstering the defensive depth of the system.
Update (11:11 PM): Christy has more here.
Just after the 28th pick, the Wings completed a trade with Phoenix, handing the Coyotes the 29th and 152nd picks in exchange for the 41st and 47th. So, although they’ve only had two first rounders in the last 7 years, the Wings traded it away for two second-round selections. They now have three picks in the second round (41st, 47th, and 62nd).
Phoenix used the pick to select a defenseman, Chris Summers, a smooth-skating American U-18 gold medal winner, according to TSN’s draft tracker and James Mirtle.
Pretty disappointing the Wings only did such a minor deal. I’ll be honest: visions of Shane Doan in the Winged Wheel went through my head when they mentioned the Wings were talking a trade over with Phoenix. Paul Kukla says the Wings are uncomfortable drafting in the first round. It sure seems like it!
Guess we’ll have to wait and see who they pick with what they got. Since OLN is no longer broadcasting the draft, if you’re in the States, you’ll have to watch it online with NHL Network’s live stream (via. Kukla’s Korner). If you’re like me and on a slow connection, try refreshing Mirtle’s liveblog or NHL Draft Net’s tracker.
Update (10:04 PM): The second round picks are in:
41st - Cory Emmerton - C/LW
47th - Shawn Matthias - C
62nd - Dick Axelsson - W
More to come.
Because I’m no expert on prospects and the immediate draft needs of the Wings’ minors system, I’m deferring the draft preview to Red Wings Central. All I’ll say is maybe they should think about bolstering their defensive depth because it’s pretty weak beyond the main roster. Based on what Matt Wuest says, that could be what they’ll do:
It’s just the fourth time in the past 10 years that the Red Wings have held their first-round pick. Each time, the Red Wings have looked to the blue line — selecting defensemen Jakub Kindl (19th in 2005), Niklas Kronwall (29th in 2000) and Jiri Fischer (25th in 1998).
OLN is broadcasting the draft tomorrow beginning at 6:00 ET. Be sure to stop by GlobeandMail.com to catch James Mirtle’s special feature live-blog of the event. Update (24. Jun, 11:31 AM): Here’s a more direct link to the live-blog, which James reports will start in the hours before the draft begins. – Matt
We’ll have the Wings’ picks posted along with any information we can find on them, of course.
Also, my Dad is out of the hospital. The scare was that he had had a stroke on Sunday but it turns out he just had a TIA (transient ischemic attack), which amounts to a mini-stroke. He’s doing a lot better but will have to undergo therapy and hopefully he’ll be able to recover fully. It’s been a rollercoaster of a week, to be sure.
Well, it’s two weeks ago today that the Wings were eliminated and maybe you’re all wondering where we are. The week following that Monday consisted of exams and checking out of my apartment (a ridiculous process that kept me there three hours past my appointed checkout time), then coming home and re-ordering my life on the other side of the state. Then it was back to GR on Saturday to see a couple of my best friends graduate and by then it was nearly a week since the elimination.
Last Tuesday, I had ankle surgery in which the metal plate put in when I broke my ankle in 1999 was removed. Since then I’ve hobbled around the house in a walking cast and read 870 pages of a nearly 1300-page book (Once an Eagle by Anton Myrer), killed innumerable Stormtroopers/Rebel Alliance soldiers on my laptop, watched King Kong, Poseidon, Supertroopers, Master and Commander, flipped through the TV over and over again, and been generally bored out of my mind. I have avoided reading Red Wings news beyond what IwoCPO posts over at Abel to Yzerman and read a couple roundups of the previous night’s games every morning.
Really, life has gone on. A2Y calls the elimination the “Punch in the Face,” but to me it’s more like what we used to call a “Cup Check” in football, if know what I mean. I still haven’t really dealt with it and I probably won’t until The Captain announces his retirement and it’ll finally sink in that I won’t see him play again.
As for the team I’d like to see make it all the way now, it’s the Oilers. Not because of the usual reason: “I’m rooting for [insert eliminating/hope-crushing team here] because then the Wings lost to the Cup winner and losing to them won’t be such a bad thing.” I’d like to see Edmonton go all the way because they convinced me that they wanted it during that series. Losing to them sucked because I could see it coming and I didn’t know how the Wings would stop them. When they tied it on that freak goal, I knew they would score before regulation ran out, that it was inevitable.
Now, seeing that they’ve had a little trouble with San Jose but are overcoming it with just as much grit and heart as they showed against the Wings, I would love to see the Cup go back to Edmonton again. I’m still a Wings fan through and through but Edmonton has moved up to the #2 spot in my fanship pantheon.
The only game I’ve watched all the way through since the “Cup Check” was Saturday night’s Buffalo/Ottawa game. All I’ll say is an Edmonton/Buffalo final would be pretty exciting, but it wouldn’t be for the faint-hearted fan!
Random comment: you know, after watching all these young goalies tear it up these playoffs, the idea of a Jimmy Howard/Stefan Liv net doesn’t sound so bad. Other teams are going with youth, why can’t we? Home-grown talent is the way to go now and going after a veteran goalie seems outmoded.
Thanks to our readers for posting comments and generating community during the first round. It was great to have comments to respond to and know that you guys were out there. Your insights and jokes were great and made the effort this site takes worth it. I’m sorry the playoff run didn’t go any longer because now we’ve got the long, quiet summer ahead of us.
Anyway, we’ll start posting again once things start to happen in the off-season. We should be pretty busy with all that, once it starts. For now, I’m just trying not to dwell on it.
