Winging It In Motown

[Game Thread] Wings vs. Flames

2008-11-22T17:00:07Z

Tonight, the Wings continue their Western Canada road trip as they face off against their second Albertan team.

This game thread was written just after Thursday night's game against Edmonton so I can't say for certain who will be in net or the lineup. I would guess Chris Osgood would get the start. Tomas Holmstrom and Niklas Kronwall are maybes after missing Thursday, but since the severity of their injuries are unknown as of right now I can't say for certain. Both Dan Cleary and Chris Chelios did not come on the trip so we know they definitely won't be playing.

I am in South Carolina all weekend and likely won't have Internet access during the game. If I do have access, I plan on leaving comments throughout the game based on Ken Kal's call of the game and/or the boxscore on NHL.com. If you don't see any comments from me five minutes into the game, that means I was unable to get access but please feel free to post your thoughts on the action either way!

The game starts at 10pm EST and will be shown on CBC and FSN Detroit.

Wings don't travel as far as you'd guess

2008-11-22T03:08:24Z

Over at Kukla's Korner, the Forechecker has put together a pretty thorough Google spreadsheet that looks at the miles logged by each team as they travel this season as well as the number of back-to-back games.

Detroit has 39,642, which sounds like a lot. However, there are 16 other teams that have to travel further than the Wings, which I was pretty surprised by to be honest. I figured the more west coast teams would log more miles but to see the Florida Panthers and Atlanta Thrashers with more was not what I would have predicted.

In terms of back-to-back games, Detroit has 16 this season. The Columbus Blue Jackets lead the pack with 20 games while Colorado only has eight, which is crazy since no other team has below 11 games.

I guess I shouldn't complain too much about the schedule now that I know the Wings are about average in both categories.

[Game Recap] Wings cling to 4-3 win over Oilers

2008-11-21T04:40:48Z

Chris Osgood moves within one in all-time career wins from his boyhood idol, Andy Moog, with Thursday night's 4-3 win over the Edmonton Oilers. He made 31 saves in the effort. The Detroit Red Wings (13-2-3) extend their winning streak to four games.

The surprise of the night was the absence of forward Tomas Holmstrom, who was scratched late with back spasms. Tomas Kopecky was promoted to the top line and he scored his first two goals of the season by deflecting two shots while screening Oilers goaltender Dwayne Roloson. His Homer imitation served him well.

Jiri Hudler scored Detroit's other goals giving him a season total of six. He first scored just 1:50 into the game to give Detroit an early lead and was assisted by defensemen Andreas Lilja (who also got in a fight) and Brett Lebda. Hudler's other goal came on the power play. Derek Meech had taken a slapshot from the point that went off the glass behind the net and Hudler promptly put it in.

Detroit went three for five on the power play and allowed one goal in six penalty kills.

I had hoped the Wings had matured from their penalty trouble issue, but the Wings started taking trips to the penalty box allowing the Oilers to score two quick goals in the third period. The Wings narrowly escaped with the victory after grabbing a four goal lead. U-M alum Andrew Cogliano scored Edmonton's first goal.

[Game Thread] Wings vs. Oilers

2008-11-20T16:13:53Z

For a second straight game, the Detroit Red Wings (12-2-3) take on the Edmonton Oilers (9-8-2) after winning on Monday night, 4-1. The Wings are currently on a three-game winning streak and hope to start off their Western Canada road trip on a strong note.

Dan Cleary and Chris Chelios did not make the road trip and will not play. The goaltender starting the game has not be released, but I'm guessing it will be Chris Osgood since backup goalie Ty Conklin started the past two straight games.

The game starts at 9pm and I will be here commenting away during the action so please stop by!

Next Game

Detroit Red Wings
@ Edmonton Oilers

Thursday, Nov 20, 2008, 8:00 PM CST
Rexall Place

Complete Coverage >

11/19 Quick Hits

2008-11-19T22:53:57Z

Some Red Wings and NHL news from around the blogosphere and MSM:

Darren McCarty cleared waivers earlier today. GM Ken Holland had placed him on waivers to make sure the Wings could call up Jimmy Howard if a goaltender got injured or if they needed to call up a defenseman due to an injury.
You can now join the Wings VIP Mobile Club, which means you will get texts twice a week from the team with team updates, exclusive offers, and more. On December 18th, the team will randomly select one winner to get a phone call from a DRW player as well as an autographed jersey by that same player.
Ansar Khan at MLive.com has an article about the return of Niklas Kronwall's play from last season including solid offensive output and the big hits at center ice. As Kronner is the WIM favorite, I am personally quite happy to see him returning back to form.
In early December, the Wings have numerous promotional giveaways for their home games. My favorite and most unusual is the hospital scrub giveaway. The Detroit Medical Center is a team sponsor and they are giving scrubs to the first 10,000 fans on December 1st.
A Detroit Free Press article argues that while Ty Conklin is not the starter, his play of late certainly warrants a second look by Detroit.
This NHL.com article is a great look at Wings prospect Mattias Ritola and his journey to where he is today with the Grand Rapids Griffins (AHL).
James Mirtle at From the Rink links to the fabulous LIFE hockey photos that Google recently archived. The photos that I have seen already look great and I can't wait to go through them more when I have some free time. Second City Hockey also posted some of the great photographs.
Frank at PensBurgh comments on how you're never supposed to step on the logo. So true.
Lighthouse Hockey talks about former Wings prospect goaltender Joey MacDonald.
I want to personally welcome new SBN hockey bloggers at In Lou We Trust and Fear the Fin.

[Game Recap] Wings shutout Oilers 4-0

2008-11-18T23:28:21Z

On Monday evening at Joe Louis Arena, the Detroit Red Wings shutout the Edmonton Oilers 4-0. It marked Detroit's first shutout of the season and Ty Conklin's first shutout with the Wings. The Wings are now 5-1-0 with Conklin in net, who made 21 saves in his fifth career shutout.

"He's been good for us, but we didn't bring a kid in here," coach Mike Babcock said. "We brought a man in here. He had a good run in Pittsburgh last year. He's had ups and downs (in his career), but that's the good thing here. When he's not playing, he's not worrying about it. He's getting ready for his next start."

Last night's game was much more reminiscent of the Red Wings from last year, which was a great sign for Wings fans. We saw scoring from four different players, kept the Oilers to 21 shots, killed all five penalties, and went 1-5 on the power play.

WIM favorite Niklas Kronwall earned the first star of the night honor by scoring Detroit's first goal of the night while on the power play and by assisting on Johan Franzen's goal in the third period. Franzen now has a goal in five straight games.

Detroit is back on another road trip as they swing through western Canada with a second straight game against Edmonton. Seven of Detroit's last nine games have been on the road.

[Game Thread] Wings vs. Oilers

2008-11-17T22:00:05Z

Detroit (11-2-3) returns home after sweeping in their series in the Sunshine state to face off against the Edmonton Oilers (8-7-2) at 7:30pm.

Dan Cleary is out for 2-3 weeks with an eye infection that resulted in him missing the past three games. He has not been able to practice over the past week or do any kind of conditioning. Cleary has been able to see out of his eye, but it's blurry.

“He’s not ready to go,” Mike Babcock said after Sunday’s practice. “They’re working with his eye. I guess it’s some sort of scratch. What they did for him originally kind of worked in the wrong way, so it’s taking more time than they expected.”

Ty Conklin will get a second straight start tonight, his first two consecutive starts with Detroit as the number two goaltender. His start comes just two days after the birth of his son Nash.

I will be at the game so I will be unable to leave comments during the game, but please feel free to leave your thoughts as the game goes on!

Behind the Blog: Pension Plan Puppets

2008-11-17T13:00:07Z

This week's Behind the Blog features the great duo of PPP & Chemmy, who are the brains behind Pension Plan Puppets, the Toronto Maple Leafs blog here at SB Nation.

Q.1a - You started PPP back in August of last year. Before that, you blogged at the Battle of Ontario and PPP on Blogger. Why did you decide to start blogging? And how did you pick the blog name Pension Plan Puppets?

PPP: I started blogging shortly as the Oilers' miracle run to the Stanley Cup Final after being introduced to the world of blogs by the Oilogosphere. Reading The Battle of Alberta, Covered in Oil, Black Dog Hates Skunks and Mc79Hockey (among others) opened my eyes to another way of following your team. My buddies and I always tossed e-mails around after Leafs games and I love to write so I figured it was a good creative outlet.

As for the name, the short version is that the Ontario Teachers Pension Plan has, amongst its vast, vast, vast holdings, a few billion dollars worth of property in the city's centre. So the joke between a friend and I developed, as word of the Edmonton fan crushes grew, that they kept the Leafs good enough to make the playoffs and win a round of two to keep the fans happy but not so good that they win the Cup because the city would be razed to the ground in a celebration. Surprisingly when I explained that to Pat Quinn he didn't hang up the phone and thought it was kind of funny.

Also, I am a huge fan of alliteration.

Q.1b - When did you come aboard PPP and what made you do so?

Chemmy: I first wrote for Pension Plan Puppets as a guest editor during the 2008 Entry draft, while PPP (the person) was off gallivanting across Europe. A combination of the enormous boost in traffic to his site from all of my adoring fans, combined with the buyout of the namesake of my old blog (The Darcy Tucker Fan Club) resulted in PPP asking if I wanted to come on board. Obviously, I accepted.

Q.2 - When and why did you become a Toronto Maple Leafs fan?

PPP: I became a Leafs fan when my family started moving to Canada from Colombia in the 1970s. Team affiliations in the football loving world tend to get passed down from father to son if the son wishes to be fed, housed, and clother so it was pre-ordained that I'd be a fan of the buds more than a decade before I was born. Not that I would change it for anything in the world.

When did I realize that I was indeed a Leafs fan? Tough to say. It might have been when I was seven and spent an entire morning in Florida trying to figure out if the Leafs had beaten the Blues in their playoff game (they had not, thanks Bester). It probably coalesced during the Spring of 1993 during that magical run that ended one Kerry Fraser rip-off job away from the Final (that they would have won with no doubt).

Chemmy: I grew up in Hartford, as a Whalers fan. My coach was a huge Leafs fan and nick named me "Felix" after Felix Potvin. The Leafs were my second favorite team from about 1992 until the Whalers left Connecticut. I wasn't going to root for a team that deserted me, so I bumped the Leafs up a spot to #1.

Q.3 - Everyone knows that Toronto is a rumor-crazy place where fans/media speculate that any one player is coming their way at any time. What's the best rumor you've heard in the last couple of years?

PPP: Some, always unnamed, website makes a living off of selling rumours to gullible visitors. However, the usual path that these stories take involves the media making baseless speculation, fans chatting about whether it would be a good idea if it were true, the media then reporting that Leaf fans are exchanging wild rumours (without mentioning that they initiated them) and then opposition fans jumping in - completely clueless of the chain of events mind you - and projecting their shortcomings and insecurities on Leafs fans.

The best rumours I have actually heard from semi-reputable sources are completely unprintable because they usually involve a player's wife or overzealous female fans. On the hockey side, the craziest one my friends and I believed (because dammit, things were desperate) was that the Leafs would actually be able to follow through on JFJ's plan to poach a big-ticket UFA like Luongo during the summer of 2006. Of course they were all locked up long before July first.

Chemmy: I don't follow rumors much, I liked the Mathieu Schneider and Bobby Ryan to Toronto for peanuts rumor recently though.

Q.4 - What do you hope to achieve with your blog over the next year?

PPP: The main goal is to continue the growth of the site. Visits and page views have grown each of the last five months, we have a great core of commenters and contributors, and I got to interview Pat Quinn. Chemmy and I have some great ideas to keep the momentum. Basically, we want to keep the site growing in every sense while maintaining the sports bar vibe and feel that had made the site as popular as it is now. The community makes running the site a tonne of fun so making sure that any growth keeps an eye on that truth.

Chemmy: This is going to sound canned, but I'm hoping to grow the community. The first thing I did as a guest editor on the site was to start doing things to increase our rank on Google. In the future I'd like to start getting the word out in Toronto to people who may not be incredibly internet savvy.

I think our site is a great place for Leafs information that isn't as obnoxious as the mainstream media's take, but without an overwhelming air of homerism. PPP and I are huge Leafs fans, and I think that comes through on the site, but I think we do a decent job of admitting that there are things the team does well and things it doesn't. Unlike Cox, Berger, et al., we present those things without being insulting to our readers.

Q.5 - The Maple Leafs made some changes this summer including a new coach in Ron Wilson. Do you think Toronto is a better team now and what are your thoughts on the new coach?

PPP: For the last two and a half seasons (the LA game in January prompted a harsh realization) I had been able, as it wont of most fans that seek to put a positive thing on developments, to convince myself that the Leafs had in fact made the necessary moves to first stay in the playoffs and then overcome the two point gap and then end the heartbreak of missing the playoffs by a solitary point. However, last year the wheels fell off and the Leafs are much stronger for it having happened.

Ron Wilson, while not necessarily the coach that will get a team over the hump, is the one that will build a team up from scratch until they are the kind of team that the Leafs have shown that they can be. He makes them outwork, outhustle, and outskate the opposition. There are some bright spots that will develop in the next two or three seasons like Mikhail Grabovski, Nikolai Kulemin, Luke Schenn that go along with guys like Nik Antropov, Niklas Hagman, and Tomas Kaberle to give the Leafs a good core going forward.

The Leafs might not improve in the standings come April but given a full year of learning Wilson's style of play and his systems I don't think anyone will be able to say that they have not improved in a long-term sense.

Chemmy: Toronto is definitely a more exciting team, and a younger team. I think this year's Leafs will finish about where they did last year, but the team got considerably younger and has some bright young stars in Schenn, and Grabovski. The Leafs need to keep stocking the cupboard, but as long as the Leafs continue to ice a team as exciting to watch as the 08-09 Leafs, I don't think anyone will mind.

Ron Wilson has done a good job so far in my eyes, though it's a bit perplexing that MLSE hired him as a defensive minded coach and the Leafs have the second worst PK in the league.

Q.6 - When you're not obsessing over the Maple Leafs, what do you like to do in your free time?

PPP: I am an obsessive reader. I tend to use a book as a launching pad to others whether they are by the same author or a related one or based on the same topic or event.

I also obsess over Liverpool. They are my second love. I meet up with almost complete strangers on Saturday to watch the Reds play.

And I play soccer twice a week with some cousins and friends. Mondays is pickup fun and Thursday nights we play in a men's league which means that it's serious business. Or at least the psychos we beat each week think so.

Chemmy: I play men's league hockey on a bunch of teams which eats up a lot of my time. When I'm not reading, writing, watching, or playing hockey I like to cook, read, play video games, drink, travel, and make my own beer.

Q.7 - In your profile, you said that you spent your entire paycheck to go to Game 3 against the Hurricanes in 2002. Was it worth it after the Leafs lost in OT? What other crazy things have you done to support your team?

PPP: When Bryan McCabe's shot got past Arturs Irbe to knot the score at 1 in that game the roar was deafening. I almost landed in the row in front of me and I couldn't hear my uncle speaking beside me. The loss was crippling but I wouldn't have changed it for the world.

As for other crazy things, I haven't really had the chance to do anything too insane mostly because the Leafs' haven't won. In 2004 if they had of made it to the Final I would have grabbed the next flight home from Copenhagen but JR ruined that plan. I guess I'd have to go with driving to Montreal last December during a massive snowstorm against the advice of everyone and then getting stranded when the highway was closed. The Leafs lost but we got a free day off to play in the snow and eat St. Hubert's so it was a worthwhile layover.

Chemmy: In the playoffs in 2003-2004, a guy I'd never met before said he had an extra ticket to game seven, Senators at Leafs. The puck dropped in ten hours and I was in Boston. I called Air Canada, credit card in hand, and found out that they wouldn't sell me a ticket to fly to Canada the day of the flight.

Aside from that, I drive up to Toronto once a year at least to catch a Leafs game, and I go see them whenever they're in Philly, New Jersey, New York City, Long Island, or Boston.

Q.8 - Do you think there will ever be another NHL team in southern Ontario closer to Toronto? If so, how would you feel about that as a Leafs fan?

PPP: I don't think so for a couple of reasons. The first is the obvious one that MLSE likely wouldn't allow a team to locate in the city. While it could end up making a good profit from a team in its territorial area I don't think that they would allow it in the city proper.

The other reason is the Sabres. They have a large base of fans in Southern Ontario plus a number of Leaf fans as season ticketholders. A new team in the area would definitely hurt what is already a financially weak team.

Would it be a financially viable team? Absolutely. There is no doubt that there would be enough corporate and fan support in the area. As a Leafs, another team would constitute one more fanbase of jumped up fans thinking that they have any standing to rip on Leaf fans. It would simultaneously free the bandwagon of the worst fans that the team has and give me three or four close road games for me to travel to where I can see the Leafs play without having to fork over a kidney.

Chemmy: It would make a lot of sense to put another team in the golden horseshoe. As a Leafs fan, I really hope it happens, and I hope the other team is really good. It would light a fire under MLSE's chairs to really build and ice a contender, and hopefully a second team would reduce demand for tickets just a little bit so that Leafs fans could see more than one game a decade.

Q.9 - Who is your favorite hockey player (current or retired)? Why?

PPP: This was easily the toughest question. When I was little my dad loved Wendel Clark so he was my favourite and to a large extent I think a lot of Leafs Nation longs for a player that was such a complete specimen of awesome. Down Goes Brown has done a great job of chronicling why Wendel Clark is basically a deity for Leafs fans. Obviously Dougie was riding shotgun with Wendel from 92-94 when the Leafs were threatening to shut anti-Leafs fans up forever.

On the current team Nik Antropov is my favourite player just because I've waited so long for his potential to finally be met. I'll probably get a jersey of his over Christmas.

But my all-time favourite is Mats Sundin. He has always been one of the classiest players in the league, an ironman, and a consistent offensive threat. Even during the last few years when it would have been easier for him to leave or to give up he hit the ice every night knowing that he was the only offensive threat for the team and would spend the entire night targeted by the opposition.

He never backed down even though refs never gave him the protection it gave other stars which allowed opposition defence's to climb all over him and hack him to bits. Throughout that he not only showed up every night but in the most crucial moments. I'll never forget game one of the 2001 playoffs sweep against the senators when Sundin scored the OT winner in game 1 and my friends and father joined the partisan Leafs crowd in the Corel Centre in delirium. And of course, his 500th goal could not have been scripted any better.

This drawn out off-season has hurt me and a lot of fans mostly because we loved him so much. Even as the knuckle draggers in Leafs Nation and the anti-Leafs crowd (read: every other fan in the league) slammed him for not being a leader or other dog-whistle slams for being European my admiration for Sundin grew. If he leaves I'll hate him for a while but only because I loved him so much.

Chemmy: Felix Potvin is probably my favorite, he's the reason I'm a Leafs fan, but I also love Wendel Clark and Dougie Gilmour. I love Mats Sundin and Alexander Mogilny. I love Mahovlich and Salming and Sittler. Belfour and CuJo. The Leafs have a ton of history, and a ton of really inspiring players, it's hard to pick one or two or ten.

Q.10 - Is there any hockey blog or website that you look to for inspiration?

PPP: I would say that the Battle of Alberta, as I've mentioned before, is an example I try to follow. They are informative, passionate, and funny in turn when needed or all three at once. They've also been the gateway site for a lot of the great work that other Oilers fans and Gabriel Desjardins have been doing in terms of advanced statistics so what little I am able to figure out and apply to the Leafs I owe to them.

Obviously, the larger SBN sites are also a bit of an inspiration but another site is The DailyKos run by one of the co-founders of SBN (not to be a brownnose). The community that they have developed is both enormous and passionate and for the most part intelligent. They have managed to maintain the overall quality of the site despite ridiculous growth so they serve as a template for me going forward (hopefully).

I wouldn't mind Puck Daddy's traffic either.

Chemmy: Down Goes Brown, He Score, He Shoot, and Bitter Leaf Fan are the three that come to mind. They're all incredibly well written, and I love working with all of them. I would also say Pension Plan Puppets, which in combination with the Battle of Ontario is the reason I started blogging.

Wings win two consecutive games in Florida

2008-11-16T00:51:50Z

The Detroit Red Wings defeated the Tampa Bay Lighting and the Florida Panthers on consecutive nights with just a one goal differential in both games. Power forward Johan Franzen scored the game-winning goals in both outings.

On Thursday night against Tampa Bay, the Wings allowed two goals in the first period. It took determination by the Wings to turn it around and come back from the early deficit. In fact, Detroit tallied three goals in the final frame of action. Pavel Datsyuk got the Wings on the board first just 1:33 into the second period. Nearly 20 minutes later, Henrik Zetterberg gave Detroit a second goal on a two-man advantage. Marian Hossa assisted on both of Detroit's first two goals.

Bruce MacLeod of the Macomb Daily made an interesting note:

That flurry of power plays in the last half of the second period was sparked by Zetterberg. Z drew three Tampa Bay penalties in a seven-minute span, including the rarity of drawing one penalty then another during the delayed call.

Less than a minute after Zetterberg's gaol, Mikael Samuelsson scored to get Detroit's first lead of the game. Franzen sealed the deal with almost 11 minutes remaining with assists by Zetterberg and Samuelsson.

In the game, goaltender Chris Osgood made just 15 saves en-route to his 370th career win pushing him into 14th place on the NHL's all-time list and improved his unbeaten record against Tampa Bay to 17-0-0. After allowing three goals in the outing, Osgood snapped following the game and did not talk to reporters until the next morning.

"Just tired of letting in three goals," said Osgood, 7-1-3 with a 3.31 goals-against average. "You like winning. Winning is great and our record is good, but it comes to a point where you get frustrated and enough is enough. Had enough of (allowing) the three goals, three goals, three goals. You go from last year, it was always one or two. You never get used to giving up goals, regardless of whether they're good or bad.

Less than 24 hours after Tampa Bay's loss to Detroit, Lightning head coach Barry Melrose (and former ESPN hockey analyst) was fired. James Mirtle has the details about Melrose being fired and the expensive price tag that will come along with it. Wings GM Ken Holland was a bit surprised by the quickness of his firing.

“There have been so many rumors out there that it’s hard to say it’s a surprise,” Holland said before the Wings played the Florida Panthers. “I would say it’s more a surprise in a sense that it’s 16 games into the year. It’s hard to really get a complete evaluation on your team. They obviously know their team better than I do.

“He’s been out of the game a long time. I would like to have seen things work out better for him. I’ve known him a long time.”

On the following evening, the Wings faced off against the Florida Panthers resulting in a 3-2 win. Once again, Franzen scored the game-winning goal to give Detroit a Florida sweep. His game winner came on a tipped shot by Niklas Kronwall, who notched three assists in the two games in the sunshine state.

Franzen has been on quite the impressive offensive output of late with three goals in the past three games with eight total this season (four of which were GWG). Paul at Kukla's Korner shows that he's been like this since about 16 games before playoffs started last season.

Last season, playoffs- 16 games played, 13 goals, 5 game winning goals.

Last 16 regular season games of 2007-08- 15 goals, 6 game winning goals.

Totals in that time period- 43 games, 36 goals, 15 game winning goals.

Another player has had a past couple of games -- Marian Hossa. He notched the other two goals of the game giving Detroit a 2-0 lead in the first half of the game. He earned four points against the two Florida teams (2 G, 2 A).

I don't really think about it right now," Hossa said of tallying eight points in four games. "Just try to enjoy the ride. ... Everything seems to be pretty easy when you're winning games."

Another great note from the last two games was the turnout of Red Wings fans in both arenas. The team easily noticed the number of Winged Wheel jerseys in the crowd and apparently the "Lets Go Wings" chant and jerseys were easily noticed during the TV broadcast.

Good line by Babcock afterwards, joking that so many Red Wings jerseys in the crowd threw off the Detroit players ... "I thought the thing that threw us off in the first period is we came out and the bottom bowl was filled with Red Wings' fans. You know how we've been at home this year. We thought we had a home game. That threw us right off."

Detroit's next game is this Monday against the Edmonton Oilers at home.

[Game Thread] Wings vs. Lightning

2008-11-13T21:53:33Z

After a disappointing 7-6 loss to Pittsburgh in overtime on Tuesday night, the Detroit Red Wings hope to turn things around with a win tonight against the Tampa Bay Lightning. Chris Osgood will get the start in net despite allowing seven goals against Pittsburgh since the Wings' defense was more to blame than anything else. Plus, Osgood has a pretty good record against Tampa.

Against the Lightning, though, Osgood has yet to be beaten, going 16-0-0 with a 1.80 goals-against average and three shutouts in 18 appearances. Though he has not played in Tampa since Dec. 17, 2005, he's won all seven starts there, recording a 2.28 GAA.

In the last five games against Detroit, Tampa Bay has gone 1-3-0 scoring just nine goals.

Despite this being a road game, I will be unable to comment during the game. I have a ton of group projects due for classes in the next week or so and I have two group meetings tonight sadly. But please feel free to leave your own comments and I'll respond to them once I get back!

The game starts at 7:30pm and will be shown on FSN Detroit.

Six Wings make the NHL All-Star Ballot

2008-11-13T12:00:05Z

Last week, the NHL released its 2009 All-Star ballot. Two teams had a league-leading six players named to the ballot (Montreal and Detroit). Okay, so we have six players on the ballot. That's 26.1% of the 23 man roster. We as Wings fans should be impressed that our team garnered that many players on the ballot. We're not, but before I get ahead of myself let me say which players were named.

Defenseman: Nicklas Lidstrom & Brian Rafalski

Forwards: Pavel Datsyuk, Henrik Zetterberg, & Marian Hossa

Goaltender: Chris Osgood

So if I'm being honest, the NHL did select the big names of the roster. But as a Wings fan, who do you see not on the list that most certainly should be? That's right -- Johan Franzen. The Mule was *this* close to winning the Conn Smythe before a head injury resulted in six missed playoff games. Despite his absence, he still led the team in goals (along with Zetterberg who ended up winning the Conn Smythe) with 13, five of which were game-winning goals. How can someone who was almost the playoff MVP last season not get named to the ballot?

Other two players that I thought were worthy of being on the ballot were defenseman Niklas Kronwall and forward Tomas Holmstrom. Admittedly, they aren't the big name players but both are critical to the team's success.

Mike Mouat at the Detroit Examiner argues that the NHL needs to adjust its nominee allocation to better reflect the standings:

Oddly enough there are only 12 defensemen on the ballot for eight spots, and when you factor in injuries, and no-shows, it is possible that the league may have to add somebody to the roster that isn’t even listed on the ballot.

There are 30 forwards to choose from. Dallas, who ranks 10th in goals per game in the Western Conference, leads the way four players, while Colorado who ranks seventh and St. Louis who ranks ninth have as many nominated players as the Wings who lead the Conference in goals per game.

Certainly they are all good players, but this is the All-Star Game and it’s about goal scoring. So why not reward the players from the highest scoring teams with a higher number of nominations?

As a Wings fan, I like his logic. And I understand that just because the Wings are sweet, it doesn't mean they all get to make the All-Star team. It's just hard to see the Mule, especially, not get recognized for his dominating play when he's not injured.

Other All-Star Ballot Comments: The NHL is going to have the ballot results available online in real-time so you can see how your favorite players are doing before the voting is over. Apparently, the league is the first to do so and as James Mirtle at From The Rink says, it does seem to give more transparency to the process which is usually a good thing.

[Game Recap] Wings lose 7-6 to Penguins in OT

2008-11-12T05:02:04Z

Well, that sucked. The Detroit Red Wings had a 5-2 lead over the Pittsburgh Penguins at one point and lost it courtesy of Jordan Staal, who was most certainly the star of the game with three goals and an assist. Let me back track, the actual game was fantastic. Plenty of action, scoring, and some of the best forwards in the league on one sheet of ice. The end result was obviously not what I or any other Wings fan wanted and that part was disappointing.

Since there were 13 goals in one NHL game, I don't have the time to recap the game goal by goal. However, I do want to make a few comments on the action.

Defense and goaltending were not the positives of the night for either team. Chris Osgood allowed seven goals on 34 shots. Marc-Andre Fleury gave up six goals on 34 shots.
Nicklas Lidstrom logged 29:26 in tonight's game. Crazy.
Darren McCarty scored first for Detroit with a Kirk Maltby assist.
After missing five games due to a sprained knee injury, Johan Franzen scored his sixth goal of the season.
Jiri Hudler had quite the game with one goal and two assists for Detroit.
The Wings seemingly collapsed five minutes into the third period and the trips to the penalty box certainly didn't help either.

You can check out Frank's review of the game over at PensBurgh.

[Game Thread] Wings vs. Penguins

2008-11-11T20:00:07Z

Tonight's game is the one that many Wings and Penguins fans had marked off on their calendar since the schedule was released. I, for one, cannot wait to be at the Joe for the game and while there may be some tension, it will most certainly be a closely contested game. Not only are the fans looking forward to this game moreso than normal, but the players have admitted that they want to win this game maybe a little more than some others this season.

“We had a good battle last year, and it’s the first game now, so it’s going to be fun,” Henrik Zetterberg said. “It’s a good team, and I think both of us want to win a little extra. It was a great final."
Hossa joined the Wings in July after spurning an offer from the Penguins.

"I didn't really know until the last two weeks, when I check the schedule," Hossa said. "There are lots of people I know there, a couple of good friends, so it's going to be real interesting."

Chris Osgood will get the start in goal and Johan Franzen is hopefully going to return after missing five games due to a sprained knee (I still can't believe it was only five games).

While I will be at the game, please feel free to comment on the action in the thread below or head over to fellow SBN blog, PensBurgh, where Frank will be covering the action from the opposing side. The game starts at 7pm and will be shown on Versus.

Hossa exceeding expectations in Detroit

2008-11-11T05:18:19Z

In honor of Tuesday's game against Pittsburgh, I thought it would be appropriate to discuss how Marian Hossa is fitting in with the Detroit Red Wings. It took a few games for him to get comfortable, particularly since linemate Pavel Datsyuk was out with a sore groin during most of the preseason. However, he now leads the team with 17 points including eight goals and nine assists in just 13 games. He also leads the team with a plus-9 rating. In fact, Hossa has only failed to register a point in just two games this season.

When we signed Hossa to a one-year deal this summer, I was ecstactic because I knew the offensive firepower that we were getting on top of Datsyuk and Henrik Zetterberg. Wings fans saw firsthand how dangerous he was during the Stanley Cup Finals and I personally thought he was the best player for the Penguins during that series. It still amazes me that Hossa is here in Detroit. In a Sports Illustrated article before the start of the season, GM Ken Holland said the following:

"Hossa being here is a compliment to us; it's an honor," says Holland. "This was all him. He's here because he was determined to be a Red Wing."

I guess what has surprised me the most is just how strong he is defensively as well. Datsyuk and Zetterberg were both finalists for the Selke Trophy last season as two of the top defensive forwards in the league. When comparing Hossa to those two, he appears to be on line with them. I remember at least a couple instances this season where I saw him get back and make a really strong defensive play and I came away impressed. Basically what I'm trying to say is that I knew Hossa would be good, I just didn't realize he'd be this good.

Another aspect of Hossa that has impressed fans, teammates, and the media alike is his infectious and down-to-earth personality that seems uncharacteristic with a star of this magnitude.

"I knew he was a really good player when he got here, but I didn't realize that he was this good," Niklas Kronwall said. "I mean, he's so strong on the puck, even just going against him in practice, it's amazing how strong he is.

"And then not only is he just an unbelievable player, but the type of person he is, I mean, he is just the nicest guy to everyone. He's not cocky. He's not one of those divas that some great players are."

It's not only his personality, but the energy that he brings to the top line and the team as a whole. The Wings are hoping to be the first team to win back-to-back titles since they did so in '97 and '98. In order to do so, Detroit is trying to avoid the Stanley Cup hangover and I think Hossa is just the cure for the hangover blues. Because he has never won a Cup and seemingly has a one year shot to do so with Detroit, he's giving it everything he's got.

"He's brought excitement, and we haven't been an excited group," Babcock said. "That's one of the things that you really cherish, is his energy, and I think Pavel and Homer have been caught up in that."

Scott Burnside at ESPN.com briefly talked about Hossa's impact in Detroit and a quote he referenced by head coach Mike Babcock really hits home how Hossa can possibly bring the emotion that Dallas Drake had last postseason.

"He's probably been the most emotional guy on the team," Babcock said.

According to Hossa, part of the draw in coming to Detroit was the chance to play among future Hall of Famers. He specifically mentioned how impressed he was by the play and work ethic of defensemen Nicklas Lidstrom and Chris Chelios. When he called Sidney Crosby in July to tell him of his decision to come to Detroit, he mentioned that as one of the reasons.

"We (Crosby) talked about it," Hossa said. "We had a good talk me and him.

"Syd was disappointed because he wanted me to stay. When I look back, it wasn't easy to get away from a player like that and make a new decision.

"I felt inside me there'd be something better in Detroit. I just felt that way.

"I also had a chance to play with future Hall of Famers with guys with loads of experience. That's the other reason."

While it's just the first month and a half of the season, Hossa has already left his stamp on the team. On October 26th, he was named by the NHL as the Third Star of the Week. Just over a week later, Carhartt presented him with the Hardest Working Player of the Month award.

During the regular-season, Carhartt will present the monthly award to the hardest working Red Wings’ player, along with Carhartt merchandise. The award, in its second season, recognizes the player for his hard work and individual dedication to commitment necessary to excel on the ice. The Red Wings’ coaching staff and front office personnel select the monthly recipients.

Hossa finished October on a nine-game point streak, which came to an end in the Wings’ 3-2 win at Vancouver on Nov. 2. His first goal of the season was a milestone for Hossa, who entered the new campaign with 299 career goals.

In conclusion, I would like to ask the WIM readers which Wings forward is the most valuable one to the team. Don't just base it on the first month of the season, but you can certainly use it as a starting point.

Poll

Which Red Wings forward do you think is the most valuable to the team?

Want a free ticket to Tuesday's game against Pittsburgh?

2008-11-10T00:03:55Z

I have a single seat ticket to Tuesday's game against Pittsburgh at 7pm. The seat is in section 209, row five, seat three. The ticket is free and is close to the blue line where the Wings shoot twice.

Please email me or leave a comment if you want it. I would leave it at will call for you.

Thanks!

Update: The ticket has been claimed by longtime reader Steve!

[Game Recap] Wings beat Devils 3-1

2008-11-09T04:41:52Z

Well, it looks like New Jersey is going to have to wait another year before they have a chance to win a game at the Joe. The Devils have yet to beat Detroit in Joe Louis Arena since 1996.

Hossa continued to rack up the offensive points with two goals in tonight's 3-1 win. His first goal came just 3:30 into the game on a quick shot from below the left circle. It was a weird angle, which is why I was surprised that it went in. However this is why head coach Mike Babcock tells his players to shoot more because even if it's an unlikely angle, you just never know. About halfway into the second period, Hossa struck again on a wrist shot again from the left circle and beat goaltender Kevin Weekes. Pavel Datsyuk had passed the puck to Hossa who was in a 2-on-1 with Tomas Holmstrom. Hossa now has eight goals and 17 points.

New Jersey's only goal came in the second period a little over six minutes before Hossa's second goal. Johnny Oduya had taken a shot from the point and Zach Parise was able to tip it in past Chris Osgood, who made 24 saves in the effort.

The final goal of the game came from (drumroll please) Kirk Maltby! It was his first goal of the season as he put in a loose puck. Interestingly enough, Andreas Lilja and Tomas Kopecky were given the assists.

Detroit advances to 9-2-2 and will play next this Tuesday at home against Pittsburgh.

[Game Thread] Wings vs. Devils

2008-11-08T15:56:29Z

The New Jersey Devils come to Detroit for the first time since 2005 and look to get a win in Detroit for the first time since 1996. Unfortunately for New Jersey, they are without the services of their goaltender Martin Brodeur. Brodeur suffered a torn biceps injury on Saturday in a game against Atlanta. He had surgery yesterday and is expected to make a full recovery in three to four months.

Tonight's game at 7pm marks Detroit's first game in nearly a week. The Wings are coming off a 3-2 win against Vancouver on Sunday. Chris Osgood will get the start in net for Detroit. The line-up is as follows:

Holmstrom-Datsyuk-Hossa
Filppula-Zetterberg-Samuelsson
Hudler-Draper-Cleary
Maltby-Kopecky-McCarty

Lidstrom-Rafalski
Kronwall-Stuart
Meech-Lilja

Osgood
Conklin

While I will be at the game, please feel free to leave comments about the action.

11/07 Quick Hits

2008-11-07T21:24:48Z

Some quick hits from around the internet about the Wings and NHL:

Power forward Johan Franzen is expected to play on Tuesday night's game against Pittsburgh, which means he will not play tomorrow against New Jersey but he will have only missed five games. That's not bad considering the injury.
For those fans going to Saturday's game, the Wings ask that you bring in a new smoke detector with batteries for their seventh annual Smoke Detector Collection. They will be collected and given to low-income families.
The NJ Devils come to Joe Louis Arena for the first time this year, but they will be without goaltender Martin Brodeur. He suffered an elbow tendon injury and will be out for three to four months. As a result, Kevin Weekes will be in net against Detroit tomorrow.
Online NHL.com sales of merchandise increased for 16 teams during October. The Chicago Blackhawks led the pack with a year-over-year sales increase of 234 percent. Detroit had the second most significant year-over-year sales with a 140% increase.
Pierre LeBrun at ESPN.com wrote a profile piece on former Wing Igor Larionov, who will be inducted into the HHOF this weekend.
A recent Canadian Press article talked about Steve Yzerman's progression from player to executive director of Team Canada.
Defenseman Brett Lebda, who has a team worse minus nine rating in 11 games, will not play on Saturday.

"Minus-9," said Babcock. "Let's make this clear ... Lebs has been outstanding for us for three years. Hasn't gone as good (this year). (He) gets a little reminder here. He's a real good player, a very important part of our team. It's important that his confidence doesn't suffer any from this. He just gets reminded how hard it is and how much fun it is to play. Sometimes we all need to be reminded. That's why I got married. My wife reminds me every day."

Better Know a Blogger: Christy Hammond

2008-11-07T04:55:48Z

I was recently interviewed by Pardeep Toor at the Flint Journal for his ongoing online series entitled Better Know a Blogger. He has been going around interviewing the top Detroit sports bloggers from around the web (including fellow SBN blogger Ian Casselberry at Bless You Boys) and I am honored to have now been included in the group. You can read my responses on a variety of topics ranging from my favorite Red Wings moment to my opinion on Team Canada's selection of Steve Yzerman as the executive director in the online section of the Flint Journal called It's Just Sports.

Finally...Winter Classic Ticket Info Released

2008-11-04T00:27:04Z

The NHL has finally announced the public sales process for the 2009 Winter Classic. Yes, you'll be in line behind the Blackhawks season ticket holders and "NHL Winter Classic partners," which for all we know could be anyone.

To enter the drawing for the scraps, visit www.chicagoblackhawks.com after Noon ET on Wednesday, November 5. go to http://blackhawks.nhl.com/tickets/wctickets.htm. You have until Noon ET on Friday, November 28 to register. As usual, one entry per person.

(we'll pause here for the snickering to stop for the "one entry per person" line).

Good luck!