Morning Skate: Shark Tale

by Casey Richey on Feb 2, 2010 6:00 AM CST in Game Preview

Joe Thornton and Patrick Marleau in the remake. Not confirmed yet.

Happy Groundhog Day to everybody! We'll have quite a bit of stuff today so keep on checking back throughout the day, all the way until the whistle blows after the Wings/Sharks game tonight.

Andreas Lilja rehab stint in Grand Rapids begins tomorrow This is great news for Lilja and the Wings moving forward. To lose that much time of your career from an injury is kind of hard to believe and for Lilja to finally get on the ice is surely something he's long been awaiting.
Tomas Holmstrom returns to the line-up. Homer's been out for a while with a broken foot but tonight he will get back on the ice and plant his rear end in front of Evgeni Nabokov, picking up where he left off by infuriating opposition goalies.
Continuing on Homer, think just how much he brings back to this offense. Power play, even strength and in the corners he is a nightmare to defend against. Plus, I know we're all looking forward to trying to figure out what he says during intermission reports as well.
Around the league tonight: Jean-Sebastian Giguere gets his first start in a Leafs uni, the Coyotes take on the Preds, Wild battle Stars, and Rangers take on the Kings. Minny, Dallas, and a surprising Anaheim are all sneaking up on that 8 spot so
For those scoreboard watching: Calgary dropped another game and thus put Detroit back in the 8 spot heading into tonight's contest with the Sharks.
After Calgary lost, they sent Olli Jokinen and Brandon Prust to New York Rangers for Christopher Higgins and Ales Kotalik.
I'm feeling a Valtteri Filppula goal tonight. Just sayin'
The Herm2Hockeytown website is up and running so check it out!
Our pal Motownchollis has a great post up over on Motown Wings about the scenarios the Wings need to make the "magic number" for the playoffs. My head hurts.
Sharks top goal scorer is also the League's top goal scorer: Patrick Marleau with a blazing 37 goals. That's one shy of the career high for the guy that always looks either surprised or confused.
Fear The Fin is the home of the SB Nation Sharks blog. Ch-ch-check it out.

Cap issues are starting to rise up. When Franzen returns on the 9th against the Blues (the tentative time for his return) and a possible return of Lilja, the Wings will have a lot to figure out in terms of the cap. Expect to see Drew Miller and Patrick Eaves to stay though, they've earned it.

Niklas Kronwall seems to be fine after the hit he took against the Penguins and Jordan Staal and will play tonight. What a huge sigh of relief.

With Homer returning, Jason Williams will likely head down to the fourth line to join Miller and Maltby. Which means...no May or Leino!

Nicklas Lidstrom is a +20 on the ice while Jonathan Ericsson is a -12. Hooray and yikes. Lidstrom's +20 is good enough for fifth while Ericsson is tied for 228th. Wow.

Goalie battle? Jimmy Howard and Evgeni Nabokov are tied for third in save percentage at 92.8% shots saved.

How to beat em: For the love of Gordie, make decent passes and take some shots. The Wings were horribly constricted by the Penguins defense and it showed. That was probably one of the easiest games MAFleury has ever played because the shots and quality chances were not that numerous.

Key match-up to watch when the Red Wings are on the attack: How will Holmstrom do in his return to the ice? Will he pick up where he left off or is there a bit of a catching up period for Homer.

Key match-up to watch when the Sharks are on the attack: Dany Heatley, Patrick Marleau, and Joe Thornton. That's one heck of a line and with Thornton dishing to two great scorers, the Wings have their hands full.

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Comments

Our pal Motownchollis has a great post up over on Motown Wings about the scenarios the Wings need to make the “magic number” for the playoffs. My head hurts.

Points-per-game is more important with overtime/tie points, but that post only took into account (the more interesting) win ratio. If the win-ratio held and only wins counted, the Red Wings would finish the season with 79-80 points. If, however, the points-per-game number is used instead, the Red Wings will finish the season with 95-96 points, the exact projected minimum for the final playoff spot in the western conference.

Of course, the Red Wings are only nine points behind Phoenix in fourthish (third if not for divisions—if not for conferences, the Red Wings would be in one of the last three playoff spots).

by bleep bloop on Feb 2, 2010 7:50 AM CST reply actions

I prefer they win em all

And not have to worry about it.

by 42jeff on Feb 2, 2010 8:46 AM CST reply actions

must take advantage of Calgary sputtering

must must must…start winning guys!…GO WINGS

TULO = 2010 MVP!

Troy Tulowitzki: "When people think of the Rockies, I want them to think of a winning organization."

LETS GO WINGS!

by TuLoRocks2008 on Feb 2, 2010 11:31 AM CST reply actions

any word on what the lines are going to look like yet

hopefully we can reunite the line of

hank-dats-homstrom
lidstrom-rafalski

man i missed those days

by dhall25 on Feb 2, 2010 11:45 AM CST reply actions

Yesterday,

Babcock had Z and Pavs split up but I don’t expect that to stay. He said it was to get them both skating through the middle of the ice so my guess (based on Khan too) is this:

Holmstrom-Datsyuk-Zetterberg
Bertuzzi-Filppula-Cleary
Draper-Helm-Eaves
Maltby-Abdelkader-Williams

Winging It In Motown

by Casey Richey on Feb 2, 2010 12:09 PM CST up reply actions

did you mean miller on the 4th line?

by dhall25 on Feb 2, 2010 12:14 PM CST up reply actions

yes. my bad

i was listening to the TOV episode when I responded.

Winging It In Motown

by Casey Richey on Feb 2, 2010 1:36 PM CST up reply actions

That ususally means distraction; I was listening to it during a really boring class and trying not to laugh out loud, and have everyone think I was crazy. Or talk back to it, which I occasionally do.

by crperreau on Feb 2, 2010 2:55 PM CST up reply actions

I'm so scared, somebody hold me

But seriously, let’s come away with two points and not have this back and forth crap between the 8th and 9th seeds.

I root for the Tigers, Pistons, Red Wings and yes, the Lions.
www.twitter.com/zajareich

by ReichardZ on Feb 2, 2010 1:55 PM CST reply actions

Ericsson a healthy scratch tonight, not really surprised.

http://www.freep.com/article/20100202/SPORTS05/100202051/1355/sports/Wings-Jonathan-Ericsson-a-healthy-scratch-tonight

by crperreau on Feb 2, 2010 2:53 PM CST reply actions

who is replacing him?

by dhall25 on Feb 2, 2010 3:17 PM CST up reply actions

If I had to guess, I’m betting Lebda/Meech will both be in. Somebody correct me if I’m wrong.

by crperreau on Feb 2, 2010 3:25 PM CST up reply actions

ahhh alright. ill go with that haha

i still say they should pair ericsson and lidstrom. it worked for the most part in the playoffs.

by dhall25 on Feb 2, 2010 3:30 PM CST up reply actions

and ericssons numerous mistakes wouldnt be as costly with lidstrom there. IMO

by dhall25 on Feb 2, 2010 3:33 PM CST up reply actions

Something’s gotta change for him, that’s for sure. I think that’s why he’s scratched tonight, give him a chance to breath. I’d hate to see Lidstrom out there with Ericsson against SJ’s top line, though. Ericsson and his recent turnovers + that line would not be a good combination.

by crperreau on Feb 2, 2010 3:34 PM CST up reply actions

yeah. i feel you

it sucks seeing how he has been playing and how he played in the past. hopefully he can turn things around. especially at this point in the season

by dhall25 on Feb 2, 2010 3:37 PM CST up reply actions

Fresh Wings

I thought Mike Babcock’s observation regarding our team being slower than we were two weeks ago due to returning players was a good one. While happy to have our boys back, I feared a small slip as eight or so players are getting their legs back. I am optimistic that as we go down the road we will see our speed and accuracy return. …Really concerned with Ericksons plus/minus and bad turnovers. Defense needs to get better and that includes our forwards. Go Wings

by katiebarthedoor on Feb 2, 2010 5:14 PM CST reply actions

don't forget

This is really Ericsson’s first full season in the NHL. It’s normal and expected for young defensemen to struggle. He’s talented and works hard, long-term he’ll be fine.

Maybe he needs to take a deep breath and relax more than anything else. I’m sure he had high expectations for himself and probably gets a little stressed whenever he thinks about how far off from them he is.

"While there's life, there's hope." --Cicero

by Baroque on Feb 2, 2010 7:20 PM CST up reply actions

Ericsson

Yeah Baroque—I agree. It’s a fine line between winning now, which we all want, and making sure we develop the good talent for the future, which we certainly must do. Ericsson showed his worth in the playoffs last year. A night off or two might just be what the doctor ordered. Bottom line is I support him, and he sure isn’t the only source of poor decisions in front of or own net. Go Wings!

by katiebarthedoor on Feb 2, 2010 9:00 PM CST up reply actions

Yay Holmstrom!

Slowly but surely the team is getting back to full strength.

Insert Clever Statement Here

by MrNFL on Feb 2, 2010 5:19 PM CST reply actions

Gotta play smart

Giving up the puck in the defensive zone is not acceptable and just terrible hockey. In order for us to play puck possession hockey we HAVE to take care of it in our zone. We couldn’t generate any good chances against PIT because we couldn’t get through the neutral zone without coughing up the puck. Gotta be smart. Just make the right play with the puck.

Let’s go Wings!

by Brobz on Feb 2, 2010 5:50 PM CST reply actions