More photos » Tom Pidgeon - AP

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There's been a lot talk recently about which numbers from the current era will be retired. Be it Osgood, Holmstrom, Federov, Draper, etc. the talk has been really good. It got me thinking about who the all-time team would roll out on the ice and the lines to follow. A lot of the top six is pretty much "well, duh." but as it gets down into the later lines it gets interesting.

Starting six:

Goalie: Terry Sawchuk: Clear cut choice who's number one for this department.
Defense: Nicklas Lidstrom: Like Sawchuk, no doubt about number one here. Lidstrom's not only the best defenseman Detroit has had, he might be the best ever.
Defense: Vladimir Konstantinov: Seems like it could be a case of the sentimental choice at first but Vlad was incredible in his short time in Detroit. 9th for points by defensemen, 2nd in +/- with +185. Vlad was on pace for a potential Hall of Fame career before the accident that ended his career.
Left Wing: Ted Lindsay: Terrible Ted won an Art Ross Trophy and four Cups with the Wings while racking up 728 career points in Detroit.
Center: Steve Yzerman: Nothing needs to be said about Yzerman that already hasn't been said. The example of leadership and determination. 
Right Wing: Gordie Howe: The greatest hockey player pre-modern era and consider by some still as the greatest player to play the game, Howe helped define the Red Wings and is symbolic of the franchise.

On the bench:

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Ah, St. Patrick's Day. The day that the majority of the United States celebrates as an official drinking day. However, I also think of it in a different light given the success of one Red Wing on the ice this season.

Today is indeed St. Patty's Day, the day of celebrating Patrick Eaves. St. Patrick, the patron saint of "off-season signings that have turned into something far better than expected", casts approval upon the way that Eaves has fit in with the Red Wings.

Eaves, who is still young at only 25, has proved to be an excellent linemate to Darren Helm and Kris Draper. Between the three of them, they're probably the fastest line that any team trots out onto the ice each night. Eaves has also found a resurgence in his scoring touch. Last season with Carolina, Eaves played 74 games and racked up 6 goals and 8 assists. So far this season, he's played 55 games and totaled 10 goals and 9 assists; his best numbers since his sophomore campaign. 

Aside from his statistical improvement, Eaves has quickly become a fan favorite. Night in and night out he's adding to the reasons that Detroit fans want him re-signed in the offseason.. One of the biggest examples was the fight against Kris Versteeg. Eaves threw some heavy punches and took a few himself but got up with a grin on his face and the crowd loudly voiced their approval. 

More recently, Eaves proved a great individual effort against the Sabres by taking a pass from Darren Helm and pretty much singlehandedly working his way past 3 Sabres along the boards en route to the goal and putting a shot past Ryan Miller to give the Red Wings an early 2-0 lead.

The type of game that Eaves plays with hustle and determination just adds to the reasons Detroit fans are waiting for him to sign a 3 or 5 year deal for the hometown team. Add in some stats that are great for a fourth liner on a team that has struggled mightily at times and his value is incredible. Considering the Wings signed him for $500,000 from Carolina, he was an incredible bargain and worth every cent of that contract.

The Murph

We all know the legendary Larry Murphy and his approval of this holiday considering following the Wings 2-1 win in Calgary he said St. Patrick's Day starts at 8 a.m. in his book. So today we tip our glasses to you, Larry Murphy. May today be a great alcoholiday for you. 

Let me preface this post by saying this is no way meant to be an actual prediction, mainly for kicks and giggles and a way of looking at the percentages for each team based on home and away records.

The way I added them up is this. Negative points for opponent's total point percentage and home/away point percentage added up to the Detroit total point percentage and home/away point percentage. Point percentage, as I've used is basically how many games a team has earned points in.

The way a game is decided between win or loss is like this. Win is anything above .05 (or 5%). Ties for anything below 5% but above 2%. Negative points automatically make it a loss. Not an exact science by any means, and its not intended to be. Just a way to look at the schedule and predict based off of records thus far.

Final total: 7-3-5 (19 points) Yeah, the 5 is kind of unlikely in terms of that many ties. Just games I had trouble deciding one way or the other based on the points and previous games this year.

Final record: 39-26-17 (95 points)

The 95 points would put the Wings in the playoffs by way of James Mirtle's numbers.

How do you all think the Wings will end the season?

I owe a huge thanks and stick tap to Mr. Petrella. He did double duty today and did an absolutely fantastic job covering for me during the trade deadline as well as hosting a live chat of his own over at The Production Line. I posted the original trade deadline thread and the trades up to the Blues getting D'Agostini from Montreal but after that, it was all him. So I owe him a huge thanks for covering for me and keeping you all in the loop.

Petrella's love of all things hockey and his commitment to total badassery saves the day once again. Unfortunately for him, Bertuzzi's still a Wing :)

More photos » William McNulty - AP

(AP Photo/Team Rubicon William McNulty)

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Hey all, first off sorry for the delay in this post. I wanted it to get its proper recognition and didn't feel that the Olympic Break would have helped it out all too much. 

We finally got the donations in order and made the donation to the American Red Cross following our Hockeytown 4 Haiti game thread. We raised over $550 in donations--$400 direct, $150 indirect--and donated the money to a good cause. I can't thank you all enough for contributing to this event, it's pretty awesome that a venue like this allows us to help other people who have had their lives turned upside down.

I'd like to take some time to personally thank those who donated: jennbikegirl, jennyquarx, Baroque, ahtrap, mauvais gardien de but, mpetrella, my pops, and a couple of donors that wished to remain anonymous.

Thank you thank you thank you.

Continuing along the lines of charity, our buddies Michael and Rob over at The Production Line have put together an awesome additional fundraiser for Herm 2 Hockeytown, I won't go into full detail since the post explains it much better than I could. Donations have exceeded the needs for Herm's travels so the remaining donations go to the Children's Hospital in Detroit.

Brian Rafalski, of the Red Wings and Team USA, celebrates following a goal.

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In the border war game last night between the United States and Canada, one Red Wing stepped into the spotlight while the other had his seat get a little bit hotter. 

By now, you all know the outcome of the game. The United States downed Canada 5-3, the first win over Canada since 1960. The game was close to a monumental win for the Americans and even though they were drastically outshot, Ryan Miller was strong in net and the offense made the most of the chances it got. Efficiency goes a long way as the underdog. The Americans are the underdog no more as they head into bracket play as the top overall seed, a huge advantage in their pursuit of the gold in Vancouver.

A side story, but still one that is pretty big in the minds of Red Wings fans, is how well Brian Rafalski has played in these Olympics. Rafalski netted two of the 5 goals yesterday and had an assist on another goal that hit off of Jamie Langenbreuner in front of Canada goalie (and former New Jersey teammate) Martin Brodeur. Rafalski has become a secondary source of offense for the Americans during the Olympics and the production comes somewhat unexpectedly. 

Rafalski has scored 4 goals and added an assist in the three games the US has played. By comparison, he has 4 goals this year in 57 games for the Red Wings this year. Granted, two of the goals scored by Rafalski were against Norway late in a game that was practically over. But then again, the other two (and almost 3) came against perhaps one of the most talent-rich Canadian teams to take the ice. No easy achievement there.

Perhaps this increase in scoring will help boost his playing level once the NHL season resumes on March 1. Or is this just a sign of Rafalski getting a bit lucky? Either way, the fact that he is tied for the lead in goals after group play is something that I'm willing to bet nobody had picked.

Babcock's seat heating up? Continued after the jump.

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More photos » Darren Calabrese - AP

Mike Babcock will be the head coach of Team Canada for the 2010 Winter Olympics.

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With no Wings games until March 1st, we're going to have very little "new" stuff to post on the team. However, since the Olympic hockey starts soon, we could very easily just do posts about the guys playing in Vancouver. 

Pretty much, we're going to run some feature stories over the break but we also want to interact with you guys on the Olympic level as well. So I ask you, how do you want things to be done and how likely are you to join us during the Olympic Break for some of the things below:

• Game threads-for the big games (Canada vs. USA, etc.) and for any games involving a Red Wing
• Game recaps for each game involving Detroit players, focusing mainly on their involvement
• Stat tracking for all Red Wings players involved
• Daily summary (to be posted morning after games) of the previous night's games
• A daily highlight of one Olympian and his time in Detroit and international career.
• Nothing.

More photos » Paul Sancya - AP

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I sat down last night during the Super Bowl, which I found to be probably the most boring in a loooooong time, and tried to figure out how Babcock would juggle the lines with the return of Johan Franzen and possibly all three of the players that left the game against the Kings could be back to the line-up.

So many names to choose from, it's actually kind of fun for once. I couldn't really decide on who goes where because for the first time since October, the Wings will have scoring depth on every line.

Wait, what?

No matter how you juggle the lines, there will be a more than capable scorer on that line. That's an odd thought for this season and may begin to solve some of the scoring woes that have plagued the Wings all season long.

Here's what we know: the line of Draper-Helm-Eaves isn't going anywhere. They're too good together and are lightning out on the ice. In all likelihood, they'll drop down to the fourth line but will still see substantial playing time. But where do you go from there?

Who makes the top line and who gets pushed down to the third? 

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