Winging It In Motown: All Posts by Graham Hathway

Mike Babcock To The Rescue?

2013-05-16T21:27:02Z

The Red Wings find themselves down in their series to the heavily-favored Chicago Blackhawks after a game in which they were thoroughly out-played over the final two periods.

The Blackhawks steamrolled the Western Conference over the course of this shortened-season, and heading into their series with the Wings it was thought that Detroit would not have enough to overcome the skill and depth of Chicago.

However, one area where the Red Wings have a distinct advantage is behind the bench. Mike Babcock is a better coach than Joel Quenneville, and if the Wings can make this a competitive series it will likely be due in large part to Babcock's moves.

Babcock's detractors have always pointed out that he inherited a team with a lot of superstars and simply had to manage them en route to a Stanley Cup. "Anyone could win with that lineup" those people would say, and to some degree it's probably true because as Quenneville has shown, having a lot of very good players on the team does tend to lead to success.

But in the past couple of years that talent pool has diluted thanks to retirements and departures. Gone from the 2008 Cup team are Nicklas Lidstrom, Brian Rafalski, Brad Stuart, Kris Draper, Kirk Maltby, Dallas Drake, and Chris Osgood. Not only did the Wings lose a lot of talent, they losses of these players left a hole in the dressing room in terms of leadership.

Henrik Zetterberg and company have done a good job of filling that void, but this is a much different team than it was 5 years ago. It's a team in transition, and that's a word that was thrown around a lot this season by the Wings' braintrust. The Red Wings signed veterans like Carlo Colaiacovo, Mikael Sameulsson and Jordin Tootoo to round out the roster this past summer, but injuries forced the team's hand and rookies had to be inserted into the lineup. Damien Brunner started the season on the top line, Gustav Nyquist and Tomas Tatar spent significant time with the team, and Joakim Andersson is a fixture on the penalty kill.

At the beginning of their series with Anaheim, the Red Wings had a defense group where half of the players (Brendan Smith, Jakub Kindl and Danny DeKeyser) were making their playoff debuts. After DeKeyser got hurt, Brian Lashoff stepped in to the lineup and made his first ever playoff appearance. Up front, the Wings had 4 forwards that were either playing their first playoff game or had played less than 10 playoff games in their career. It's the most inexperienced the Wings have been in the playoffs since the start of their 22-year playoff streak.

That's where Babcock comes in. He's had to do far more "coaching" this year than in years past, where he could call out a superstar's name and tell that player to get on the ice and do his thing. He's had to mix and match lines, deal with inconsistent performances from players who were supposed to play much better, watch as injuries forced the team to bring up players from Grand Rapids, and be more of a coach and less of a talent manager. That the Wings not only made the playoffs but are in the second round is a testament to the job he's done this season.

Because it's important to remember what the expectations were at the beginning of the season. Over and over we heard how this was a team in transition, as we moved from the Lidstrom era into whatever this new era will be called. This year was always going to be a rough one, so expectations were lowered to the point that some people were actually resigned to the playoff streak ending and looked forward to the inevitable rebuild.

What Babcock was able to achieve with a less-talented group in a hyper-competitive Western Conference should not be overlooked. He took a team with the 10th-youngest defense corps and turned them into the 5th-best team by GA/G in the NHL. He found a way to incorporate young players into the lineup, putting them in roles that would allow them to develop experience while contributing to the team, but without overwhelming them with too many responsibilities.

In the first round against Anaheim, Bruce Boudreau remarked "when you’re trying to match wits with Mike (Babcock), who has been in every pressure situation in the world, it’s not the easiest thing." Babcock earned a lot of praise for knowing which buttons to press on his team, whether it was motivating them to play better, softening enough to praise what they had accomplished, and making the right moves on the ice that would lead to wins. Case in point: heading into Game 7, Babcock split up Henrik Zetterberg and Pavel Datsyuk in an effort to spread their talent through the lineup. Boudreau had no answer and Zetterberg had a goal and an assist to lead the Wings to the second round.

Against the Blackhawks, Babcock is going to have to be even better. While the talent levels of the Wings and Ducks were relatively even, the Blackhawks own a clear edge in every major aspect except goaltending. Detroit is going to have to maximize the advantage they have in coaching and he is going to have to out-coach Quenneville by a lot if the Wings are going to win this series.That starts with making the right adjustments after being dominated over the final 40 minutes last night, but carries over to how he gets his team ready for Game 2.

No good coach succeeds without the help of his players, and Mike Babcock is no exception. However, even if the Red Wings fall to a superior Blackhawk team, the job that Babcock has done this season should provide hope for the future. Despite a team with less talent than in years past, youth and injuries, he was able to guide the Wings not only to a playoff spot but to the second round. Maybe this year's coaching performance will earn him the recognition outside of Detroit that he's always deserved but never received.

Not A Very Good Start: Blackhawks 4 - Red Wings 1 (Hawks Lead 1-0)

2013-05-16T03:33:01Z

It's only one game.

Get ready to hear that a lot, because for the next two days, that's what Red Wing fans will be saying to each other to try and get over the shock of seeing the Wings getting completely dominated by the Blackhawks in Game 1.

Oh it started out ok. After Niklas Kronwall got over the shock of playing hockey again and stopped giving the puck away to Jonathan Toews, the Wings settled down and actually played a good first period. They were tied 1-1, but all in all it felt like the Wings were in the game.

Unfortunately, the second period had to be played, and the Blackhawks made Jimmy Howard their own personal target, firing 36 shots on the Wing net over the final 40 minutes. The Wings bent and ultimately broke, and so they're down after Game 1 of a series for the 4th straight time.

There was literally nothing redeemable about this game (save for one thing, which we'll discuss), and the Wings will either have to play a shit ton better or this series is going to be over very, very quickly.

Break up the Brendan Smith-Kyle Quincey pairing. Play Ian White. Dress an extra forward. Build a bionic thumb for Danny DeKeyser. Just do anything except put those two on the ice at the same time. In fact, instead of Mike Babcock telling Brendan Smith that he needs to think about what Nicklas Lidstrom would do in any given situation, Smith should go all George Constanza and just do the opposite of his first instinct.
Pavel Datsyuk and Henrik Zetterberg were reunited in the third period. This seemed to work because the Wings had 9 shots in the third after getting 12 over the first two periods, but the Hawks did a very good job of containing both of them. If you have a strong stomach, check out the tonight's Corsi numbers. That's Mike Ricci-ugly right there. Hank led the team with 4 shots, but Pavel was held to none. That can't happen again.
If the Wings had a major disadvantage in any area, it was in special teams, especially with regards to their power play against the Hawks' penalty kill. The Hawks have killed off 20 straight penalties in the playoffs, including the 3 Wing power plays. Detroit was able to get some good looks, but there were times where they passed up shots to try and make an unnecessary pass. Against a more talented team, the Wings need to put as many pucks on the net and look for rebounds.
Jimmy Howard. What can you say about the man? Seriously, he made 33 stops in the final 40 minutes (including all 17 he faced in the second), which is more shots against than he averaged in the entire Anaheim series. It's yet another example of how he has carried this team throughout the entire season, tonight being no different. When you've got Blackhawk fans tweeting about how he was the difference, then you know that he was not the reason for the loss tonight.
On a positive note, the third line was buzzing again tonight. They were the only Wing players to post positive Corsi tonight, and they combined for 6 shots tonight, scoring the Wings' lone goal and coming close late in the third when Damien Brunner hit the crossbar. With the speed of the Hawks creating issues all night, this line could be a game-changer for the Wings because they can keep up with Chicago and create some much-needed offense beyond the first line.
The Hawks took a page out of the notebook of every team that has beaten the Wings the past few years: aggressively forecheck the defense, force turnovers, put a ton of pucks on Jimmy Howard, jam the net. The Hawks did that to perfection and won a game they totally deserved.
Food for thought that might mean nothing to anyone but me: the Wings lost their opening game of the season 6-0 to the Blues and looked awful. They lost 7-1 to these same Blackhawks in a game where they played even worse on Easter. They were blown out at home against Anaheim in Game 3 of the first round. But they've bounced back after every loss, and all I want is to see them be competitive against a very good Chicago team.
Thankfully, the Wings will get 2 days off to stew and think about everything they did wrong, and thinking back to the last series, they came out on fire and took it to a Ducks team who had played well in Game 1. While the Hawks looked very good, I thought the Wings did a pretty good job of limiting their quality scoring chances until the third period when Detroit looked to run out of gas. A better effort and more shots on Corey Crawford (who had the easiest game of his life tonight) and the Wings could earn a favorable result in Game 2.

It's only one game.

Red Wings at Blackhawks Game 1: Third Period Thread

2013-05-16T01:51:19Z

It's 1-1 after two periods of play, and the Wings are probably pretty lucky to be in this position with a chance to steal a game on the road. Detroit was outshot 17-5 in the second period and down 23-12 overall, but they're limiting chances which is good. Jimmy has been a boss, but it would be nice for the team to spend some time in the Hawks' zone.

It's the third period, 20 minutes to a surprise road win.

Monday Musings: Looking Ahead To The Second Round

2013-05-13T22:00:04Z

Being awake until 2 am followed by coming into work the next morning is always difficult, but when the reason that you're so tired is because you stayed up to watch your hockey team win a Game 7 and move on in the playoffs, then it's totally worth it.

The Red Wings, that flawed, inconsistent, maddening mess of a hockey team, proved all the doubters wrong once again by coming up big in a game they absolutely had to have. For those keeping track at home, the Wings went 4-0 down the stretch to get in to the playoffs, were 3-0 when down a game to the Ducks in their series, and 1-0 in a winner-take-all Game 7.

The Wings weren't the dominant team throughout this series, and there was plenty of stress due to their inability to hold leads in each of the first three games they won, but ultimately they proved to be the better team over the course of 7 games and ousted a Ducks team that probably wasn't as good as their record indicated.

Now it's on to the second round and a match up with the heavily-favoured Chicago Blackhawks, the team that has pretty much owned them for the past few years.

As most of you know, I live in the Chicagoland area, so I've been able to watch the Hawks up close and personal, and this is a very good team the Wings are facing. Out of every team left in the playoffs, they're my pick to win the Cup because they're the most complete. Every other team has significant weaknesses, while Chicago looks, at least on paper, to be just about unbeatable.

I have no delusions about the Red Wings winning this series. They were beaten all 4 times by the Hawks this season, including a rout so bad that guys in prison thought was over-the-top cruel. The Hawks are fast, skilled, tough, and have very good players at all positions.

That's not to say the Wings CAN'T win this series, but they're going to have to play much better than they did against the Ducks. Sitting on 2-goal leads and failing to convert on opportunities will result in this series being over in a hurry.

We'll preview all that in the coming days, but right now I'm feeling nothing but pride in this team. A month ago it looked like this team was dead in the water. They were playing like garbage, they had injuries, they couldn't hold a lead, they couldn't beat Calgary, there were a bunch of other teams right there with them trying to take their spot.

Then the last week of the season happened and the Wings turned it around. Henrik Zetterberg, Pavel Datsyuk and Jimmy Howard rose up and played out of their minds and the Wings were in. While the Wings were the "favorites" by a lot of experts, those of who watched this team night in and night out knew that we couldn't take anything for granted. But they once again, Z, Pav and Jimmy put the team on their backs and carried them into the second round.

And so here we are, facing the prohibitive favourites in a series where no one will give the Wings a hope of winning. And you know what? That's ok. Because the Hawks are a great team (no matter how much we may hate them) and there's no shame in losing to a great team.

The Wings are playing with house money here. Hell, it's not even house money. After crapping out in the first 10 minutes at the blackjack table, they found a chip on the floor, decided to put it on one number at the roulette table, won that, then decided to try again, and have been on a streak ever since. There's nothing to lose because they started with nothing, and the Wings can play that way because they're finally an underdog.

To me this seems like 2009 but reversed: the Hawks are the superstar-laden team with tons of depth trying to win another Cup while the Wings are the up-and-coming team with the next generation of players trying to gain experience in a transition year. That series turned out to be a short but very close 5 game affair that saw 3 games go to OT. The Hawks used that series as a learning experience and won the Cup the following year. Can the Wings take some lessons from this series regardless of the result?

There are a lot of keys to this series for the Wings, and we'll talk about them in more detail as we get closer to Wednesday, but for me, the biggest one is this: don't forget that you're not supposed to be here. No one outside of the most die-hard of fans thought this moment would come (and even they would tell you they had doubts at times), yet here you are continuing to make us all look silly for ever believing that you were going to be just another hockey team.

Times have changed, but this seems fitting: the NHL's most historic rivalry ending with a playoff series before the Wings head east. I'm not optimistic about the Wings pulling off another upset, but I'm ecstatic they're going to get an opportunity to try.

Red Wings at Ducks Game 7: Third Period Thread

2013-05-13T04:00:17Z

20 minutes.

That's all that stands between the Red Wings and the second round. They've got a 2-goal lead and I know what you're all thinking:

Can they hold on?

If they've learned nothing else in this series, it's that Anaheim will never go away. They are about to be set upon like never before in this series, and this is the moment where we see whether the Wings have figured out the whole "killer instinct" thing that has eluded them all season.

The skate is on the throat of the Ducks. Time to cut the head off and finish them.

Let's go Red Wings.

Red Wings at Ducks Game 7: Second Period Thread

2013-05-13T02:58:44Z

Wings are up 2-1 after a very back-and-forth first period. The refs had the audacity to call penalties on Detroit, but the Red Wings killed both of them off as a giant "fuck you" to the stripes.

40 minutes left and I don't think I have the heart to take this. Time to get more coffee.

Ducks at Red Wings Game 6 Highlights

2013-05-11T03:39:54Z

Relive the dizzying highs and terrible lows of Game 6

Ducks at Red Wings Game 6: OT Thread

2013-05-11T02:40:17Z

There is absolutely no reason why this should be happening. Up 3-1 with less than 4 minutes left, the Wings fell apart and now we're headed to OT for the 4th time in this series.

I just don't even know. The Ducks have gotten 3 bullshit goals but it is what it is and now the Wings will have to score or their season is over.

It's OT on a Friday night. What are you drinking?