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In Red Wings Land
Tomas Nosek Deserves A Spot With The Detroit Red Wings | Fanrag Sports
Franklin Steele at Fanrag sports makes the case for Tomas Nosek to be a full-time Red Wing next year.
Tomas Nosek has been outstanding in the minors throughout this season and has proven that he’s ready for a shot on one of Detroit’s top two forward lines. Glancing at his NHL stat line may make some folks hesitant about this idea — he has all of one goal through 17 games with Detroit — but you get young players ready for roles by actually playing them in those roles.
Around the NHL
Gordie Howe: The game's most wonderful ambassador - Sportsnet.ca
It’s hard to believe that it’s been a year since Gordie Howe died. I’m guessing that like me, you will never tire of reading tributes to Howe, so here is a great collection of them. For example:
“When Wayne thought of playing hockey, he thought of one thing—Gordie Howe. That’s all there was to it. There were no players other than Gordie Howe. That’s why he always wore No. 9. The reason he’s got 99 is because when he went to Sault Ste. Marie, someone else already had nine. The coach made a sweater with two nines on it so Wayne could still have a nine on his back for Gordie Howe,” Walter says.
Bonus Expansion Article
30 Thoughts: Who might waive no-move clause ahead of expansion draft? - Sportsnet.ca
I was going to save this for Monday’s article, but there’s enough good stuff here that I didn’t want to wait. First Friedman has a bit on Marc-Andre Fleury
11. Nick Kypreos has said for a while now that Vegas’s Pittsburgh pick will be Marc-Andre Fleury. Not convinced, however, that’s where he stays. A flip candidate.
Way more surprising is this section on Cam Fowler. He had a good year, and he’s shown to be a better player than when we analyzed him last off-season, but this would be a huge overpay for the Ducks.
12. Cam Fowler prediction: he re-signs in Anaheim for something around eight years and a $6.5 million average. When he slipped to 12th in the 2010 draft, one of the reasons was that he didn’t interview well. He admitted at the time he was uncomfortable with the process. As an awkward 19-year-old myself, I was sympathetic. Have always wanted to see him do well to overcome that, and he’s earned it.