Fight Night at the Joe

Dear Nicklas Lidström

2011-01-31T00:12:00.003+01:00

I am sitting here watching the All Star Game. I might be buzzed or drunk. But I am crying. Tears of joy. I am wearing my Lidström jersey. I am watching you be a plus-5 after two periods of a 7-6 game. I am watching you, thinking about you, remembering all the joy you have given me. You have been a Red Wing since I was a toddler, you were a Red Wing before I became a fan. My entire Red Wings life has been with you in it and strongly based on your amazingness. You are perfect, you are amazing, you are probably the best defenseman the NHL has ever seen. Thank you for that. Thank you for bringing our team all the glory you have brought, thank you for being an amazing ambassador for the Wings and for the sport both on and off the ice. Thank you for existing. I cannot imagine how I will feel the day you retire. It's gonna break my heart. But for now, keep on rocking and thank you for every amazing memory you have brought me over the last 16 years. I am truly thankful for that and thankful for you.

People, let's all stop and take a moment to imagine the last 20 years of Red Wings history without Nick. Try to imagine a life without Nick. Be thankful. We Red Wings fans have been blessed with a lot. Stevie, Stanley Cups etc etc, but being blessed with the opportunity to watch the greatest defenseman of all time, arguably one of the five best players of all time and an all around great human being play for and represent our team every night for 20 years is a hell of a gift. Let us be thankful. Let us appreciate Nick when we still have him. Thank you Nicklas. Thank you from the bottom of my heart. You are THE MAN.

Andy, Oslo, Norway.

The Ozzman Cometh, the Ozzman saw, the Ozzman got his 400th

2010-12-28T03:48:00.006+01:00

1st period
- Altitude feed tonight. I hate that. Not as bad as FS North and they do suck up to the Wings a lot, but they are still dumbasses.
- Early on the Avs took it to the Wings. Outworked them and got chances. Three and a half minutes in Fleischmann (The Flesh Man?) took a shot and neither Kronner nor Eaves could cover Duchene on the rebound and he could score easily.
- Shortly after the Wings got a PP chance and the unthinkable happened. Flip found Hudler with a cross-ice pass. Hudler took one shot, it went off the legs of a player and came back to him and he scored. His second of the year. His second against the Avs and Budaj. What's up with that? He promptly went on to disappear for the rest of the period and had a few PP fuckups.
- The booing of Bertuzzi is relentless. I wish he'd scored a hat trick or won a fight or something in response.
- Less than a minute after the equalizer the Avs scored. I'd like to blame the refs for their non-call on a crosscheck/interference 5 seconds before. Or the coverage for letting Galiardi walk in with the puck, but a weak, short-side shot from the circles NEEDS to be stopped. This one is all on Ozzie.
- Ozzie was good for the rest of the period. Made some strong stops, especially on the PK, but looked kinda shaky doing it.
- The Wings followed the goal against by taking two penalties, but both the 5-on-3 and the following short normal PP went by without the Avs scoring.
- The Wings pushed back and got a PP. It came after 5 fucking crosschecks from Liles to the neck of Homer. Homer was on his knees. The call came on the fifth crosscheck. I know cause I kept looking at the ref.
- On the PP the Wings needed only 7 seconds. Nick found Mule in the circle and he scored on a nice shot. Kudos to Homer for screening Budaj.
- The Avs went back to pressuring, but handed the Wings another PP with 5 minutes left. The PP was a carcrash. Terrible. Biggest chance was to the Avs after a Ber giveaway.
- The Avs took it to the Wings again for the rest of the period. They were speedier and outworked them. Won all the battles. The Wings were lucky that they escaped the period with a tie. 16-9 was the shot total in favour of the Avs.
- Homer took a puck to the face from Budaj late in the period. Hope he is okay. (Came back in the 2nd).

2nd period
- CHRIST MOTHERTRUCKING OSGOOD! That could be my full summary of this period. Okay then, I'll give you more.
- The Avs came out like they ended the 1st. Dominated the Wings, kept them in their defensive zone and brought tons of pucks to the net. The Wings looked flat, but did a good job blocking shots in this period.
- Less than five minutes in Mursak got on the scoresheet of his first NHL game. Sadly it was for taking an unlucky penalty during one of the few and short trips into the Avs zone.
- The PK did good and Ozzie stood tall, then the Avs took a penalty on a dumb interference. The 4-on-4 was an onslaught by the Avs. But then the Wings went on a short PP. First the Avs had to instances of uncalled aggravated assault on Wings players and then the Wings got a few chances. No goals though.
- The Wings followed it up by taking a dumb penalty and even though the Avs didn't get too many shots they still looked dangerous.
- After that PP the Avs took it to the Wings. The Wings got nothing. The Avs kept occupying the Wings zone shooting and passing around the Wings. Luckily the blocking of the D and Chris Osgood stopped all the pucks.
- The Wings looked a tiny bit better towards the end, but only after killing another penalty and a ton of Avs shots. They got badly outplayed this period.
- Shots in the 2nd? 23-9 Avs. YIKES!

3rd period
- The Avs came out hard in the third and got an early PP. It was killed off nicely, but they kept pressing.
- A little into the period the Wings got better. For much of the period they got some chances, but the Avs were still dangerous.
- 13 minutes into the period the Avs took a penalty. The PP took some time, but almost 90 seconds into it Nick got the puck at the point and scored on an awesome wrister.
- The Wings controlled for a little after that, but with 3 minutes left Kronner was dumb and unlucky and the refs were cheap and the Avs got a PP. Of course they scored on it. Duchene got to stand alone on the far side and bat in a rebound.
- Shots in the third was 10-9 Avs.

Overtime
- After a little back and forth the Wings got a PP the ouck ended up at Kronner's stick at the top of the circle and he blasted one home!
- How fitting that Ozzie's 400th happened against the Avs.

Play of the game
Hudler scored. It happens so rarely that I have to make it play of the game.

Player of the game
Ozzie got his 400th and had 46 saves.

It's a Holiday in Cambodi.. uh... St. Paul

2010-12-27T01:48:00.006+01:00

1st period
- The Wings went right on the attack and drew a penalty less than 90 seconds into the game. The PP was pretty good and had some great scoring chances, but got no goals.
- Four and a half minutes in the Wings pressure paid off when a shot from Kronner rebounded out to Z who shot it from behind the goal line, into Backström's pants and into the net. The FS North crew whined about how it was luck, but he clearly knew what he was doing.
- Shortly after that Jonathan Ericsson took a dumb interference penalty in front of his own net, but the kill was great. The Wild barely got shots off cause the Wings were in every shooting lane.
- The Wings responded with attacking. And when Flipper found Cleary in the corner he banked one in off Backström from behind the goal line.
- Then both teams got slapped with a penalty each in quick succession. The Wild one was the rare 2 faceoff infractions penalty. The Wings one was Homer getting tripped and pushed into Backström. When are PxP people and refs gonna learn that "In the crease" stopped existing 10 years ago?
- Both teams got a borderline cheap penalty each later in the period. The Wings PP seemed weak while the Wild one was threatening.
- The Wild had some pressure now and then, but Jimmah stood tall and the Wings had the best chances.

FS North
- Many stations suck. You have dumb play by play people, dumb commercials for the home team, dumbing down for the viewers etc. But no station is worse from top to bottom than FS North. They had technical issues all night. They didn't send HD (at least not to GCL and ESPNPlayer.
- The announcers are so fucking annoying, homers to the stupidest degree and they bumble and mess up anything.
- Last time I watched FS North we got one period of discussing Ron Gardenhire's snowmoblie race/Ron Gardenhire getting a blowjob by the announcers. Worst interview ever. Was pleasantly surprised that they didn't do features like that on Span, Favre and whoever else they could get this time.
- Every commercial, everything the announcers talked about between whistles was: Vikings, Vikings news, where to find Vikings news, Favre etc etc. State of Hockey? Really?
- I think the bad quality was due to every HD cam, every technician and every talented reporter being on duty making the 5 hour mini series about how Brett Favre's cock celebrates Christmas.
- Rant over.

2nd period
- The second started with some nice Wings pressure. Not the biggest chances, but they dominated.
- 5:30 into the period Kronner took a great shot from the point. Draper who was out in the circle, stretched past a defenseman and masterfully redirected it in mid-air. It was a thing of beauty. 3-0.
- Shortly after the Wild got a counter attack after some blatant hooking and interference. On that odd-man rush E dumbly tripped Havlat who dived like he was shot. Luckily the ensuing PK was excellent, the Wild never got to a point where they could fire.
- The teams kept battling for a couple of minutes until Kyle Brodziak delivered a MEAN crosscheck in the back of Helm's neck. On the PP Z deked his way into the zone and shot. The rebound ended in the skates of Homer. He was tied up but managed to stretch around himself, score and then fall on his stick and break it.
- For the rest of the period it was pretty even, but the Wild had some nice chances. Maybe they finally decided to try and attack.
- It sounds like the PxP guys get so turned on every time they get to mention Matt Cullen.
- In all fairness to Minnesota, while I despise the Vikings and Twins and dislike the Wild, I have no ill feelings towards the Timberwolves (except the name is kinda dumb). That might be because I don't give a flying fuck about basketball and don't know anything about the Timberwolves except for the fact that they exist, which frankly, in and of itself, is more than I really wanna know.

3rd period
- The third started with a holding call on Bert which was killed off nicely. Except for one gaffe later on the PK did great tonight.
- Then followed a long period of nothing. A few chances here and there for both teams, but nothing much to note except that fact that Cleary got shot in the ankle by Stuart. I thought he broke it for sure, but he went back on the ice and finished the game.
- The Wings had a bad PP right after the midway point of the period and then Draper took a hooking penalty. On the PK 2 guys couldn't stop Havlat from jamming himself through the crease and no one picked up Burns. 4-1 and shutout ruined.
- The Wings got another PP towards the end, but got nothing on it.
- Good, solid game, albeit really boring.
- Hudler was as invisible as ever. He also only played 8 minutes. Least on the team.
- Didn't notice Kindl much which is good.
- I did credit the Wild with some chances here and there, but they didn't get much going. In a game where they had 7 PPs (two of them shortened though) they had a grand total of 17 shots. The Wings had 27.

Play of the game
Draper's amazing tip

Player of the game
Zetterberg had a nice and dominant 2 point night

30 minutes are 30 too few

2010-12-24T02:46:00.005+01:00

1st period
- The Wings started terribly. First line let the Blues first line play with them in the zone for a full minute to start the game and though the Wings had a few chances after that they decided to let the Blues keep dominating the game. Yes, Pavel is out, but the difference in talent level between these teams is so big that letting the Blues dominate like that is unforgivable. No focus coming out.
- Then, midway through or so, the Wings took a penalty. It was hard to see if it was right. In the Blues feed it seemed like Abby just lifted the guy's stick and nothing hit him, but I am sure it was right. Terrible PK. Yes, the Blues should have been penalized on a blatant interference, but still, they let the Blues get a way too good shot and Ozzie had no chance.
- Seriously guys, the Doug Janik joke.. funny once.. But sure, a nice way to stay away from blaming the guys really responsible.
- The Wings luckily resonded. A high dump from Z found Franzén who scored on a nice shot. 1-1 just 30 seconds after the first goal.
- But the Wings let them right back. They let them into the zone easily and the Blues had luck. The shot went off Kronner and in. People blamed Ozzie, but even if it was 60 feet out he had no shot. The puck was going glove-side, then it changed direction and went to the other side. No goalie reacts that fast. Sorry. I know it is easy to blame Ozzie when the team plays badly, but this one is too cheap. No one would blame Howard for that, except for the Howard haters and the guys who will blame every goal on the goalie.
- The Wings did nothing to get it back. Instead they took another penalty. On that PK they let the Blues have a way too clear shot and they let a Blues player stand way too alone in front of the net. Still, THAT was not a good goal by Ozzie. But damn, the PK SUCKS these days.
- The Wings ended the first with the first half of a PP and got nothing.
- The Wings seemed dead. They didn't pass well. They didn't skate well. They didn't win a single fucking battle. Weak.
- Blues fans shouted Ozzie's name after the second goal. Louder after the third. I guess after the third it is useless, but understandable, but after the 2nd? After two goals he had no shot at?

2nd period
- The rest of the PP sucked too. Then the Wings got another. They had some good chances towards the end of it, but the biggest chance was a 2-on-1 by the Blues that needed a big Ozzie save. Second time in two PPs that that happened.
- Five minutes in E made a big fuckup in the neutral zone and gave D'Agostini a breakaway. Ozzie overcommitted and let him score way too easy. At this point Oz should have had 2 of 4, but three of those four were situations he never should have been put in.
- In the middle of the period I was about to throw this recap away and write a tirade. Except for a few 4th line shift I hadn't seen a single play where the Wings hustled. They won NO 50-50 battles. I was irate.
- At the midpoint Bertuzzi decided to take responsibility and drove strongly to the net. He drew a penalty and then the Blues took another when a player played with two sticks (weird situation) on that penalty. On the 5-on-3 the Wings made no mistake. Nick scored on a great shot with Halak screened.
- The Wings got close on the rest of that penalty. The Wings got better after that. Especially the bottom two lines did good stuff. Hudler had a great keep-in on the PP and they grinded.
- With three minutes left the hard forecheck lead to the Blues giving the Wings the puck and it eventually ended on the stick of Eaves who scored on another nice shot.
- Shortly after a Blue tried to high stick a Wings player, but the Mule decided to lift his stick to defend himself and got the high sticking penalty.
- The penalty was killed off and Mule got a breakaway coming out of the box. He missed the net. Wings down one goal after two. They sucked for 30 minutes but still had a chance after 40.

3rd period
- Sure, the Blues had a few chances in the third and they hit the post twice on the empty net. Sure they even had a PP after a dumb crosscheck from Kronner, but this period was about the Wings. They shot and shot, attacked and attacked, but Halak was great and nothing went the Wings way. Tough loss.
- The Wings woke up after 30 minutes. That was 30 minutes too late.
- Make sure to vote in the poll in the top right corner.

Play of the game
Nick's PP goal gave the team hope.

Player of the game
Helm had a good game.

When you can't recap - make poetry!

2010-12-23T02:20:00.014+01:00

There once was this fella called Edler
He was in way over his head-ler
And when Pasha he came
Really put him to shame
Yeah he thaught him to not be a meddler

And then there's Roberto Luongo
Bad goalie, but played a mean bongo
The puck he couldn't stop
It went in off the hop
Yeah his ass was deported to Congo

Please meet my friend who's named Abby
Plays hockey like if he was crabby
And he hits and he grinds
Smacks some lady behinds
And you won't see him beating a cabbie (hi Patrick!)

Our friend Mike he can really babble
His words they are perfect for scrabble
He stares people to death
Yeah they die like on meth
To the press he can sure rouse a rabble

There once was this fella named Pavel
He was cooler than Czech Vaclav Havel
When he dangles and dekes
Well the D looks like geeks
He composes his plays just like Ravel

Lidström's the one perfect human
He is prettier than Karen Newman
Never makes a mistake
Awesomeness he does make
He is much cooler than Harry Truman

Our goalie is named Jimmy Howard
We all know he isn't a coward
Took Oz's place in the net
And his place it is set
Did you see Ozzie cry when he showered?

And then there's the winger named Danny
And the way he can score is uncanny
Has the grit and the speed
Everything that we need
Now he just needs a mustache like Lanny

Have you seen the young blonde we call Flipper
He's a much better player than Kipper
But he needs to shoot more
If on ice he shall score
But in bars he is sure a good tipper

Have you heard of my friend who's named Tomas?
His vocabulary rivals A. Dumas (yeah, I know French pronounciation, but work with me here!)
He speaks English like few
Better than me and you
Or at least that's his wish for this christmas

Well Hank is the man with the mad skills
His playing it gives us some big thrills
And he scored from the back
off the net - took some sack
To do that and give us some real chills

That Burrows he sure is a dumbass
He whines and he acts like a jackass
Yeah, he goes after Nick
And his play makes me sick
Take a goon like yourself you big bitch ass

But where is the legend Kyle Wellwood?
The way that he played it was real good
But to Russia he went
All his money was spent
And he got a bad craving for fast food

After this one my whole head is spinning
And my face, yes that's right, it is grinning
Cause today what we got
With that Zetterberg shot
God damn it feels good to be winning

Programming notice

2010-12-23T02:11:00.002+01:00

- Seeing as people might be busy during the holidays the Q&A will go on hiatus and return in 2011.
- I was gonna recap tonight's game, but an old friend drunk dialed me and I missed the middle of the first period.
- Fight Night will be on and off during the holiday season due to some work and my family's excessive amount of xmas parties and dinners. Will return stronger in the new year.

Merry christmas and a happy new year

Love, Andy

Dallas pregame - Q&A with Ben Ellis (@BigDHockey) from Big D Hockety

2010-12-19T18:00:00.001+01:00

Yeah, so that was a shitstorm against the Hawks, huh? I'm too tired to write a long intro for this, but we need to get back on track on winning here. And while Dallas is a team the Wings should beat, they have been really good this year and will be a tough task. Hopefully their tradition of struggling at the Joe can continue tonight. Also, I won't get to recap this one because my two youngest siblings (one of which, baby sis, is a Stars fan) are coming over to watch with me.

Anyway, today I've been lucky enough to get some insightful answers from Ben Ellis of the great Stars blog Big D Hockey. Here are his answers to my Q&A:

1. At the moment of writing this question, the Stars are on top of the Pacific division and they have looked very impressive at times this year. What's behind this sudden improvement compared to the two last seasons?
Ben: I don't know that it's as sudden as it might appear. Last season the Stars had a lot of bad breaks in addition to some tough injuries, inconsistent play in net and weak defense. Even still, they were in the hunt for a playoff spot until the last couple weeks of the season. But, the biggest change between last season and this one is the man in net. The Stars have gotten really strong play from Kari Lehtonen in net. In addition, youngsters James Neal and Jamie Benn are showing that their good play last season wasn't just a fluke.

2. Do you think the Stars will be able to keep up this play for the rest of the season? How far can they go?
Ben: Yes, I think the Stars are showing that they're a team to be taken seriously. The Pacific Division is going to give them a run for their money, though. As of Saturday night, the gap between the first place Stars and the last place Phoenix was four points. That's five teams separated by four points; not a lot of room for mistakes. I'm not sure the Stars have the defense to hang with the big dogs in the West for a deep playoff run, but then again if you get a good locker room together, the unexpected can happen. I do think Dallas will make the playoffs this season and I expect them to make it to the second round, at the very least. But, as a Stars fan, I'm always dreaming of Stanley Cup glory...

3. The end of the Mike Modano in Dallas-saga could obviously have ended in more amicable ways. How do Stars fans feel about the way it all went down?
Ben: Stars fans are pretty split on this subject. The successful start to the season has kept complaints to a minimum. Mo will *always* be a Dallas Star. It doesn't matter what sweater he wore this season, he will never be booed in Dallas. He means so much to the organization and - on a much deeper level - hockey in Texas. For that reason, many Stars fans feel he should have been able to play in Dallas for as long as he wanted and retire on his own terms. It's something management promised him when he signed his last contract. But, with the ways things ended last season and the almost fairy-tale wrap-up his career could have had with the game in Minnesota, lots of folks were hopeful he'd hang up the skates. He obviously felt he had more in the tank, and wanted to play. Stars GM Joe Nieuwendyk made the tough call to not offer Mo another contract and let him pursue other options. I think it was the right call to make. If he hadn't done that, Mo would have been taking up a spot that has been used for many of our young guys to develop this season.

4. What do you fear from the Wings in Sunday's game? What will the Stars need to do to win?
Ben:
I fear the same thing I always do when the Stars play the Wings: Detroit's depth. They're an experienced team with a really good bench boss in Mike Babcock. And The Joe is always a tough place for visiting teams to come into. It's that total combination I worry about. The other issue is that Dallas is coming off a game the night before in Columbus, and it's a 4:30PM CST start. If the Stars come out flat and give up a quick goal or two to the Wings, it might be tough for them to rally back later in the game. The Stars need to focus on coming out strong and taking it to Detroit early. In the same way, a quick goal or two *for* the Stars can swing momentum into their corner and give them some confidence heading into the later periods. They need to keep pucks out of their zone and away from the crease, whether Lehtonen is in net (or more likely Andrew Raycroft). Keeping Pavel Datsyuk off the scoreboard would be helpful too! It's going to be a pretty tough game for the Stars and a real test to their stamina.

5. Why should the Wings be worried about the Stars? What part of the Stars' game will they need to shut down?
Ben: The Wings should worry about the Stars ability to hang around. They're one of the best teams in the league in terms of pulling out wins when trailing after two periods. And, they seem to be in most every game they play right down to the final buzzer. It's pretty rare when the Stars are taken to the cleaners in a game, and if the Wings can't do that, the Stars have show the ability to pull out a win, regardless of the circumstances. One of the areas the Wings will be focused on is shutting down Brad Richards, who is in the NHL's top ten in scoring. They'll also want to put a ton of rubber on net; they'll need to keep Dallas netminder (whether it's Lehtonen or Raycroft) very busy all afternoon. That said, though, Dallas is still going to have a pretty tough job ahead of them on Sunday.

Great stuff from Ben. Interesting take on Mo and yeah, if Dallas' top guys perform I could see them do very well this year. Thanks to Ben for doing this!

Too cute and too anemic - But hockey doesn't matter tonight.

2010-12-18T02:25:00.009+01:00

Before we get on with this, Don van Vliet, more famous as Captain Beefheart, died today at the age of 69 after a long time of illness. Beefheart might be the most overlooked and misunderstood artist of the 20th century. Too weird for many people to understand, too eccentric, but he was a brilliant genius and is one of my all time favourite artists. So Rest in Peace Don, I will sure as hell miss you.

First Period
- The Wings started terribly. They flat out sucked. They didn't skate and were on their heels at once. Ericsson took a dumb penalty. And boom. 1-0 Pat Sharp.
- Didn't get better. Before five minutes were played the first line got caught standing around and it was 2-0.
- Babbles took a timeout and just gave the guys the death stare for 30 seconds. It worked. The Wings went out and scored. E shot wide, it bounced behind the net and Eaves scored on the rebound.
- The Wings dominated the rest of the period. The Hawks had a few good chances, but the Wings had most of the offense and got close to tying it a lot of times.
- Sorry folks, sorry if it offends you, but in my opinion, the skill, the player, his "hotness", whatever should NOT matter when he is a Hawk. Should be hated no matter what. Liking a Hawk is just wrong. They are the enemy.

Second period
- The Wings started badly this period too and gave the Hawks a couple of early chances.
- Then they came back and though the Hawks got a couple, the Wings had the best chances in the next part of the period, but Crawford was good, the Wings were too cute and the Hawks played good D.
- Hudler got served two HUGE opportunities to tie it by Helm. On the first he fanned on it, which lead to a great counter-attack chance for the Hawks. On the second he decided to pass it to Cleary who had no time to shoot.
- The Hawks took over a bit towards the middle of the period and after 11 minutes or so, on a delayed call, Campbell rushed into the zone, the Wings lost coverage on Kopecky who got the puck and could score easily.
- The game was wide open for a few minutes after that. No team could establish much.
- After that the Wings took over. The Hawks had some counter chances, but the Wings had the pressure, but they got too cute. Always a pass or a deke too much. Not enough shots. And the Hawks were very good with active sticks.
- The Hawks got a Pens break towards the end when they got away with a long, obvious too many men-situation.
- Everytime I have to listen to Eddie O I can feel my braincells dying.
- Great job by Chicago fans being classy for Cheli today. Also glad to see that "Let's go Hawks" is too hard for them, so they had to chant "Detroit sucks".

Third period
- The Wings let Chicago start another period well with a couple of chances.
- The Wings were in the offensive zone for most of the period. But they got too cute and didn't shoot enough. The passing was off. Not fast or accurate enough.
- The Wings lost way too many battles. They seemed anemic all night.
- Credit the Hawks for playing the Wings the right ways and getting in the shooting lanes.
- After the first minute the refs swallowed their whistles. No more penalties. The Wings should maybe have had a couple, but Chicago got away with a lot. And they understood it and played it smarter than the Wings. They saw they could get away with stuff and took advantage of it. They were hooking and holding and made it hard for the Wings to get things going.
- The Wings just lacked jump tonight. This was a bad game for them.
- Even though it ended in Kopecky scoring in the empty net, I loved that Babcock pulled Howard with two and a half minutes left. Gotta take chances. Nothing to lose there.

Play of the game
I guess the only goal we scored.

Player of the game
Helm wasn't too sucky.

Hawks pregame - Q&A with Brent (@earnyourfeather) from Earn Your Feathers

2010-12-17T19:00:00.002+01:00

After that delightful win against the Blues it is time for the Wings to head into Chicago for the teams' second meeting of the year. We all remember the first one. On the bright side, we won't have to suffer through a banner raising, copious amounts of Eddie O, cello versions of U2 and some unintentionally hilarious moments when half the players on the ice weren't there last year. On the bad side, we won't get to ruin another banner raising. The Hawks have been up and down this year, but don't be fooled into thinking this will be easy. The Hawks still have a strong core and a lot of players that can steal a game. And they're gonna be pumped. The Wings are stealing back the division and conference crown and the Hawks aren't gonna let that go without a fight. Add in 22,000 people in the United Center cheering them on, shouting "Detroit sucks" and booing when the refs call offside and icing and the Wings are gonna have to perform. But we can win this. The Wings have a better and deeper team. The Wings have a better goalie. The Wings have Pavel Datsyuk and Nicklas Lidström. The difference though, should lay in the 3rd and 4th lines. Every time I watch the Hawks this year, I see the two top lines play real well, but the team often loses momentum when the bottom two lines come on. The Wings might have the best bottom two lines in the league and hopefully they can take advantage of this. So the Wings need to go out, get to them early and play a stable and tough game all night. And they need to say hi to Tomas Kopecky and remind everyone why he was a guy who barely placed on the roster in Detroit. And dear God, please let me get an FSD feed on ESPNPlayer.

Anyway, even in the toughest rivalries there are awesome people on both sides and Brent Zartler from the great Hawks blog Earn Your Feathers was kind enough to answer my questions about the Hawks and give us a little insight before tonight's matchup. Here are his answers:

1. The Hawks losing several players because of the salary cap was one of the big NHL stories this summer. Has this affected the team more or less than you expected? Which player do you miss the most?
Brent: I really think it's about what I've expected out of this team. I knew it was going to take some time to gel with the new line mates and I knew that the load was going to be put more on the shoulders of the core players. At times this season they've looked really tired and it shows that they had a lot of ice time last season. The player I've missed the most is Andrew Ladd. Ladd is one of those guys who shows up every night and does his job and does it great. That is why he is wearing the "C" in Atlanta. Great team player.

2. With the play of Corey Crawford lately, a goalie controversy seems to be brewing in Chicago. Do you think Crawford is good enough to take the number 1 spot and keep it?
Brent: I'll be the first person who will say I didn't have much respect for Crawford but he's not only won my respect but a lot of respect out of the fans in Chicago. I knew a lot about him but wasn't sure he could be a NHL goalie and I'll admit I was wrong this kid is good and very fundamentally sound hockey player. Knowing Joel Queneville he'll give starts to anyone who is winning and the Hawks just seem to play better and more confident in front of Corey anyways so let the kid play.

3. The Hawks have seemed a little inconsistent when I've watched them. Some games they look great, other games they look like they have big holes. How good is this team really? How far can they go?
Brent: Just like the wings last season the injury bug has been haunting us. How good are they? I really don't know still. I still think this team can make the playoffs and go deep it. When they have all of their players healthy who knows but I still think they are a good team that could surprise some teams in the playoffs.

4. What do you fear from the Wings in Friday's game? What do the Hawks need to do to beat them?
Brent: Puck possession. The Hawks should fear the Wings ability to play long stretches with the puck. The Wings also score in bunches so if and or when the Wings score they need to get momentum back and do it fast otherwise the Wings can bury you real fast and play the keep away game. The Hawks need to beat them at their own game and keep the puck in the Wings zone to have a shot at winning.

5. What should the Wings fear about the Hawks? Who will they need to shut down?
Brent: Personally these two teams don't fear each other and know each others game very well. The Wings know about the Hawks speed and aggressive style. The Hawks took a page out of the Wings play book last year and played the puck possession game all season so the Wings and Hawks know each other very well. I've heard that Patrick Kane should be ready to go Friday so the Wings will have to look at shutting down the first line of Kane, Toews and Stalberg.

Great answers from Brent, seeing how these Hawks fare for the rest of the season will definitely be interesting. And Crawford, the way fans felt about him and what he has done sounds a little like Howard last year, huh? Anyway, thanks to Brent for doing this!

Nick's trick and other stories

2010-12-16T02:16:00.006+01:00

First period
- The game opened well for the Wings. They went right on attack and had a couple of good early chances.
- They then gave the Blues a PP and seemed to lose momentum a little. They started getting outworked, didn't get first to pucks, lost battles and just didn't get the flow in their game that they need.
- They still had some offensive pressure, but most of the time they just didn't get a shot away or the shot was blocked or off target.
- They did have a few big chances though, none bigger than one midway through where Pavel hit the post and the puck was bouncing in the crease for seconds with several players swatting at it.
- The later we got in the period, the worse the Wings got. Towards the end the Blues had a few good chances, but the post and Howard stopped them.

Second period
- The Wings started the second with more jump to the game and got some early chances. They capitalized with the game's first goal less than five minutes in. Nick took the puck up ice, fed it to Z, who took it into the zone and gave it back to Nick, who scored on a bouncing shot.
- The Blues came right back and tied it a minute later when E got caught flatfooted and Draper failed covering up for E.
- Right after the goal came a situation I cannot explain or describe. How Homer got penalized for it is equally weird. Let's just say that it was innocent, but weird and that the Wings killed the PK.
- The Wings continued pressuring after this and drew a penalty on a crosschecking Backes midway through the period. They got some chances on it, but didn't score.
- Helm had a great period and capped off a great shift by drawing a tripping call. 2 seconds after the end of that penalty, Cleary found Kronner who scored on a great shot.
- A minute later David Backes, who you might remember from his attempted assault on Jimmah earlier this year, decided to crosscheck Homer even though they both were away from the puck. The result: a penalty and a great, grinding goal from Cleary on the PP.
- The Wings kept on going and it obviously frustrated the Blues. The Wings got to end the period with another PP. No goals, but the PP continues in the third.
- Hudler looked like he tried and he got a lot of stuff right, but he couldn't put the puck in the net.
- E had a weird play where he scored in his own net. Luckily, icing was called when he touched the puck, so it didn't count.

Third period
- The Wings pressured on the rest of the PP and kept going and soon drew another penalty. On the PP, Nick got the puck at the blue line, Homer screened Halak and Nick blasted it into the net!
- The Wings kept going for a while, but then let the Blues in a little. Hudler took a dumb penalty and the Blues scored on the PP.
- 4-5 minutes of heavy Blues pressure followed and it was scary.
- The Wings took the game back after that, controlled it and closed the game out nicely.
- With an empty net Cleary just missed, turned around and fed Nick at the point. Nick made no mistake and score for his first career hat trick.
- Gonna go read the game thread at St. Louis Game Time now. And laugh and laugh and laugh.

Play of the game
- The Lidström goal. Great, smart play by him and Z.

Player of the game
Nicklas Lidström. Norris-worthy as always.

St. Louis pregame - Q&A with Jeff Quirin from Bluenotezone.com

2010-12-15T16:28:00.004+01:00

EDIT: I answered some questions for Jeff too. Check them out here

The Wings are hosting the Blues at the Joe tonight and the Wings are looking to bounce back from the terrible loss to the Kings on Monday. The Blues are always tough to play for the Wings and have given them a lot of trouble over the last few years. To give us an update on the Blues' season and what to expect from them tonight Jeff Quirin, founder of the great Blues blog bluenotezone.com and Blues writer for NHL Hot Stove and Hockey Independent, was nice enough to answer my questions about the Blues and provide some great answers. Here they are:

1. The Blues had a great start this year, but seem to have collapsed slightly and now find themselves in the bottom part of the conference. What's gone wrong?
Jeff: In one word, injures. The Blues have been without David Perron, TJ Oshie and Roman Polak for longer than a month with a return not in the near future. All a bit frustrating in St. Louis as they push in to triple digits of man games lost to injury. With Andy McDonald added to the ever growing list the Blues are down an entire scoring line. Any team missing three primary scoring threats is going to have it's share of struggles.

2. Do you see the Blues turning this around, getting back to winning and making the playoffs? What needs to be done for this to happen?
Jeff: If they are going to happen, we'll know by the end of December. The Blues play 10 of 14 at Scottrade with 11 total in the month against Western Conference clubs. They're off to a good start. Taking points in four of five games to date. Going 2-1-2 in that stretch. Mainly due to a resurgent Halak and a smarter work ethic. Too often in the pair of five game losing streaks they skated at 100 mph and were caught over thinking.

To make it not only do they need a little luck in getting Perron and McDonald back from concussions sooner rather than later, but tight even strength play with special teams as the counter balance must occur as well. When that formula is applied on the ice, they win games like they did against Vancouver and Columbus. When the special teams disappear, that's when they will slide as they did against Washington and Carolina.

There have been comparison's made to the 2008-09 squad that made the playoffs despite bloated man games lost to injury figures. This group is in a better position to stay in striking distance till a deal can be made for scoring help or injured players return.

3. The Blues have a much better home record than road record, what's been going wrong on the road?
Jeff: Preventing pucks from ending up in their own net has been the major concern. The penalty kill has been very out of charecter on the road. Killing penalties at just a 78.6% clip. The PK is run by Brad Shaw and his system has consistently produced results. However the loss of Mike Weaver to free agency and the absence of Polak seems to be hindering the units effectiveness. The Halak/Conklin tandem has also struggled away from St. Louis. The pair has allowed 51 goals against in just 15 away games. An average of 3.4/game.

Keep in mind, these numbers were greatly influenced by the high point of the injury epidemic in November.

October: 9 Goals Against in 4 Road Games, 2.25 GA/A.
November: 38 Goals Against in 9 Road Games, 4.22 GA/A.
December: 4 Goals Agaisnt in 2 Road Games, 2.00 GA/A.

4. The Blues have lost several players to injury this season, which player has been missed the most?
Jeff: TJ Oshie. Much like Alex Steen, Oshie does everything. Offense, defense, all special teams situations. Bringing energy through tireless effort. Without his creativity in the offensive zone (as well as Perron's) there has been a decline in high percentage scoring chances. The forwards have struggled greatly to get pucks off the perimeter and in to the dirty areas. His puck pursuit and forechcecking abilities are also missed. As evident by the inconsistent forward pressure since he went out.

5. What do you fear about the Wings in this game and what should the Wings fear from the Blues?
Jeff: There seems to be two ways to beat Detroit. Either possess the puck more than they do or make the game play as choppy as possible.

If the Blues fear anything, it's the skill and experience level of Detroit possessing the puck all night. Which takes away the Blues physical game of chipping pucks behind the aging Wings defense and pounding them below the red line. Which is where Red Wings fear should be.

6. Finally, a division game deserves a heated atmosphere, so tell us how you feel about the Wings!
Jeff: I have an interesting history with the Wings. I grew up with much family bred venom for the evil empire. The more I've learned about hockey, the less venom I've had. It also helps that I've become friends with many a winged wheel fan that are far classier than the average Blackhawk fan I deal with at Scottrade.

Still, in the back of my mind I know there is a legitimate reason my Dad calls the Wings the "Russian Dive Team". :)

We certainly feel the Blues' pain when it comes to the injuries, having seen our Wings go through what they went through last year. Thanks to Jeff for doing this!

Kings pregame - Q&A with Marie (@marie_stiles) from Purple Crushed Velvet

2010-12-13T19:00:00.000+01:00

The Wings' California road trip was slightly hampered at the end by an overtime loss against the Kings. Tonight, the Wings get the chance to take revenge when the Kings roll into the Joe. To give us the down-low on the Kings season and what to expect tonight Marie Stiles from the excellent Kings blog Purple Crushed Velvet was nice enough to provide some really great answers to my questions about the Kings. Here is what she had to say:

1. The Kings have been incredibly streaky so far this year. What are the reasons for this and how can they find a way to win on a more stable regular basis?
Marie: The Kings have definitely been streaky so far. They were great the beginning of the season, even led the NHL at one point, probably only for a day, and then things went downhill in November. The Kings aren't getting enough scoring. The offensive production is only coming from a handful of guys and more need to step up, including a couple defensemen named Jack and Drew. The penalty kill is still strong and I think it definitely helped them during the winning streak, but it faltered a bit during the losing streak. I think the most recent wins, especially the one against the Wings at the beginning of December, will help with confidence and they'll find a way to play more consistently.

2. How far can the Kings go this year? Do you see them challenging for the a spot in the finals or do they need another year or two?
Marie: It'll be very disappointing if they don't make the playoffs. I can see them making the second round, possibly the third depending on the matchups and what happens at the trade deadline. But I don't think they'll be making a Cup Finals appearance just yet.

3. The Kings have a few exciting rookies coming up into the league, which one are you the most excited about?
Marie: Initially I was excited about Brayden Schenn and he looked pretty good at the beginning of the season. I think there's a lot of potential there so maybe next year he'll get a crack at a spot on one of the top three lines, instead of being a fourth line energy guy this year. I've been waiting patiently the past couple years for Thomas Hickey to make the big leagues, but it looks like I'll have to wait another year or two for that kid to be ready. I've been most impressed with Alec Martinez, who was called up before the game against Montreal, and then proceeded to score his first NHL goal in that game. He played a couple games last season and I do not remember him at all from those games. But Kings fans are definitely going to remember him this year.

4. What do you fear from the Wings team in this upcoming game?
Marie: I always fear everything about the Wings except for the goaltending. But usually it doesn't matter who is in goal for Detroit because the rest of the team is so damn good.

5. What should the Wings be worried about from the Kings?
Marie: If the rest of the team doesn't shit the bed, then the Wings should be worried about goaltending. The second line of Smyth-Stoll-Williams has been on fire this season and in most nights are more of a threat than the top line. It should be a good game.

Definitely should be a good one, and I agree, the Martinez kid impressed me in the last game. Thanks to Marie for taking the time to do this!

Easy street, but not good enough yet

2010-12-12T01:50:00.006+01:00

First period
- WOoooooo WOLVERINES! GO BLUE! FUCK THE SPARTANS! And how the hell does the NHL think they can EVER follow that (without using Beaver or Michigan Stadium)?
- It took 28 seconds for the Wings to score. Pavel shot from the boards, by the line and it went off Homer's stick and in.
- And just over a minute later Cleary took it up on the left side and scored on a great shot.
- The Devils had 1.5 power play and they were killed off. Both Ozzie and Nick did some great work on those PKs.
- The Wings' half PP was unsuccessful.
- The Devils had more shots, but didn't get very dangerous outside of their first PP.

Second period
- The first half of this period bored me to death. The Devils suck. The Wings played down to their level. But they got better chances cause they kept the Devils to the outside.
- With 7-8 mins left of the period, Pavel won a great battle along the boards to Z. He shot it and scored on his own rebound. 3-0.
- The rest of the period was boring in the same way.
- Clarkson and Ericsson got 5 each for hugging/"fighting".
- Doc and Chico were so very infatuated with the Wings.
- Chico Resch is so bad. Worst announcer ever. Also, Ken >>>> Doc.
- The Wings and Devils are fierce rivals according to MSG. Wow, I didn't know that. DId I just travel 10 years back in time?
- Booooring

Third period
- The third started with the murder of Jamie Langenbrunner. Kronwall got position and hit him cleanly, but he turned at the point of impact and died when he hit the boards. What? What did you just say? Langenbrunner was on the ice a minute later? You can not be serious! He looked very, very dead on that play! The way he was laying dead on the ice...
- On the PP, Elias scored. It was screened and Ozzie had no chance
- Both teams had two more PPs, I was bored. No goals. Booooring.
- I don't know what to say, I was bored and thus have notbing to say
- Halfway through Z beat an icing, put it out in front where Pasha was alone, deked and scored. 4-1.
- Not a great game. Boring as sin and more importantly, the Wings played down to the Devils a lot. But a win.

Play of the game
Pavel's battle that lead to Z's goal

Player of the game
Oz not only got his 399th win, he also had a great game.

Devils pregame - Q&A with Josh (@jjburnett82) from Intent to Blow

2010-12-11T19:00:00.003+01:00

The Wings are taking on the Devils, one of the league's worst teams so far, today at the Rock. As you might remember, the same game last year was won by the Devils in a shootout after the Wings had played catch-up. Let's hope for a better performance this year, this is one game our boys have to win. And hopefully our guys can deliver a performance that is a little more dominant than last night's.

To give us some info on the Devils, their troubles and what we can expect, I had the great honour of getting some answers from Josh Burnett, co-founder of, and writer on one of my favourite hockey sites, Intent to Blow, a site you can check out here. Here is what Josh had to say:

1. The theories about the Devils struggles are many. What is in your opinion the main reason for their poor play this year?
Josh: There's so many reasons they're so bad right now, I think. It's impossible to state just one main reason - there's Kovalchuk's continued inability to gel with the team/system in place, a ridiculous list of injuries, a new head coach, a team captain that seems disinterested and constantly cranky, a huge influx of rookies (as a result of those previously mentioned injuries). If I had to pinpoint two main reasons, it'd be trying to shoehorn Kovalchuk into our usual system and the injuries, though.

2. Any chance of them turning this around? Where do you think they will end up?
Josh: I don't know if I'm stupid or optimistic, but I really do think they turn this around. People tend to forget, this team has gone through bad stretches since the playoff streak has started (every season since '96-'97). It's never as bad as it seems in the bad times nor as good as it seems in the good times. I think winning the division is a bit of a stretch, or even catching home ice advantage in the first round of the playoffs, but a 6, 7, or 8 seed is not entirely out of the question, yet.

3. What needs to be done in New Jersey to get back on track?
Josh: Something needs to change. I hate to pin it on coaching, but I feel like if the Devils fall to both Ottawa and Detroit this weekend, you HAVE to make a coaching change and get someone in from out of the system (a Ken Hitchcock type, perhaps). The Devils poor play is not the coach's fault in this case, but as the Penguins and Flyers have shown us in recent years, sometimes a coaching change is the kick in the pants teams need to turn things around.

4. What do you fear about the Red Wings for this game?
Josh: Every damn thing. The Wings are doing what they always do, quietly destroying the opposition without a whole hell of a lot of fanfare. By the way, can we have Brian Rafalski back yet? We really liked him here...

5. Why should Wings fans be worried about this game?
Josh: That Chris Osgood will fall asleep in net from a combination of under-use and boredom (Our arena these days is very conductive getting a good nap in), and Brian Rolston will actually hit the net with one of his shots while Ozzy's out.

In all seriousness though, Wings fans should be worried that this team is playing desperate, if they really want John MacLean to remain head coach. The game against Detroit could be Johnny Mac's last stand.

Also, we get that Brodeur kid back the night before. He's pretty good too, you can fear him.

No, Josh, you can't have Rafa back, he's ours now. Thanks to Josh for doing this!

It's not pretty, but the Wings hold on

2010-12-11T01:58:00.006+01:00

Update: Topham from Lions in Winter recapped the game and I thought it'd be fun to see it from the other side, so here is his recap

First period
- YES! FSD Feed!
- True confession time: I thought the game started 7:30 PM Eastern as usual. Woke up 7:25 from a nap and was horrified to learn that the game had already started.
- I lost the first ten minutes, but it didn't sound like I missed anything good judging from the people in my twitterfeed.
- I was in time to see the Habs take the lead, the Wings were caught standing around after a faceoff, the Habs got to the puck first and Moen made a smart play behind the net, banking it off Jimmah before he could get in place.
- After that we saw a couple of minutes of what I feared from this game. The Habs were first on pucks, stressing the Wings and making them make bad passes and make mistakes.
- What seemed to turn the period around was something as rare as a hit from Rafa. Plekanec tried to bank the puck off the boards and walk around him and Rafa decided to stop him with a hip check. The check was not late and a clean hip check, but Plekanec tried to avoid it and just narrowly failed. He got thrown around by the minor impact. He decided to lay on the ice and do his best "play dead"-impression while occationally peaking up at the ref to see if he was going for it. Luckily the ref was not.
- Of course, to demonstrate how this was not a dirty hit, the FSD team showed us Laraque's attempted murder on Kronner from last year. Painful, painful memories.
- The Wings got going a little after that. They got some better chances, but Price stood tall and saved every opportunity. Some credit should also go to the Habs, who kept the Wings to the outside very nicely.
- With a little less than five minutes left, the Wings got a PP. They didn't manage all the perfect set-ups and it got cleared a few times, but they got to some great shots. But, yet again, Price was too good.
- Right after the PP ended, the Habs took another penalty. As Mick said "I wish they didn't call that". It was weak. The PP started badly though, but that only lead to Plekanec taking a penalty, giving the Wings a long 5-on-3.
- The 5-on-3 got some good chances, but the Wings played it too tight, didn't get the D switch fast enough and by not moving their feet enough, they made it easy both for Price and for the tight 3-man box of the Habs. After a Habs timeout, they got better puck movement, but gave the puck away with ten seconds left of the period. Luckily, the Habs gave it back. Homer got it behind the net, passed it to Pasha on the other side and he put it in from for Nick, who had snuck in. It was initially a little confusion about the time, left, but Nick got it in with 1.2 seconds left of the period. Tie game at the intermission.

Second period
- The Wings started the period with a few seconds of PP. Due to a broken Habs stick they stayed in the zone for a minute. And when the Habs finally got it out, they promptly took a too many men-penalty.
- The PP got nothing, but the Wings kept pressing. Abdelkader threw it out to Buckets, the pass was a little too far in for him, so he dived after it, stopped it and passed it to Kronner from his knees. Abs went to the net and Kronner scored with a perfect shot in the top corner. Price was whining about goalie interference, but there was no contact and Abs was outside of the crease (not that the crease technically matters these days, but neither players, announcers or refs seem to have read the rules).
- Cheli was in the box with Ken and Mick early in the second. Great stuff. And you just know that Mick is gonna be on fire when the Habs are in town. I mean, half his stuff is Believeau-stories already, so this must be a holiday for him.
- Loved the atmosphere tonight. Saw some people whine about the Habs fans there, but I love it. As a European I am used to seeing fans of both teams at games and I think it creates a louder and more dynamic atmosphere.
- After the goal, the game went back and forth. The Habs managed to create some chances with their speed, the greatest on a flurry in front of Jimmah, but James made some great saves. The Wings had some great chances too. Neither team managed perfect plays, many of the best chances came off broken plays, but the energy was great and both teams were flying.
- With a little more than six minutes left, E took a really obvious, really dumb hooking penalty. The first half of the PP scared me. The Habs had some amazing keep-ins in mid air. Thankfully, Helmer took the puck out and killed time like only he can. Most underrated killer in the league? The Habs got another great chance later and hit the post, but when E came out, the puck ended on Pavels stick. He put on the dynamo and rushed himself to a half-breakaway. Instead of dangling, he roofed it shortside on an unbelievable backhand shot. 3-1.
- The Wings got another PP before the end of the period, but got nothing on it.
- Once on that PP and once towards the end, Nick killed great Habs chances in ways that made it look easy as shit. The guy is a fricking miracle. As I said on Twitter, take some time to think of the fact that you get to see Nick and Pavel every game. Those two guys are undescribable, and truly unique players that constantly blow our minds. We should be so thankful. We don't even realize how lucky we are, I know I don't.

Third period
- The Habs came out flying in the third. They were fast on the puck, pressured hard and had the Wings on their heals. Only great play from Jimmah kept them from scoring.
- Seven minutes in, the Habs had a long period of pressure. The Wings had a broken stick and just couldn't get it out. When they finally did, two guys went to change and Flip and Stuart couldn't decide on who should cover Pouliot. So he just took a huge shot and scored.
- The Habs kept on pressing. They were faster on the pucks and they had some amazing keep ins. All credit to them for that. But the Wings were on their heals and did lack a little burst of energy. It wasn't a pretty period. Luckily, Jimmy was on top of his game.
- I have said this before, but now I really mean it: I am done with Jiri Hudler. He does nothing. Nothing at all. In the second he even turned back on a breakaway. Bench him, trade him, send him back to Russia, give him an all expenses paid African safari. I don't care, just get him away from the ice! NOW!
- The Halak trade has obviously worked out well for the Habs since Price has been good, but it is still a shockingly bad trade. They traded a good goalie for a Danish guy. Who the fuck does that? If there was a Dane on my team I'd be giving away players to which ever team was willing to take the Dane off my hands.
- With two minutes left, Stuart made a terrible mistake giving the Habs a 2/3-on-1. Jimmy stood up and delivered two HUGE saves.
- With less than a minute left and the goalie pulled, the Habs tried to take a 10 men on the ice-penalty, but instead Eaves scored in the empty net.
- This wasn't a pretty game for the Wings. They had one good period and they got mauled in the third, but they held on and got a win. Great teams win even on bad days and it was great to see them pull this one out.

Play of the game
Dan Cleary's diving/knee pass to Kronner befor the second goal.

Player of the game
Jimmy made a ton of huge saves tonight. He is the reason the Wings won.

Habs pregame - Q&A with Topham (@Topham79) from Lions in Winter

2010-12-10T18:00:00.002+01:00

UPDATE: Topham also asked me a few questions about the Wings and Habs, you can read his post here!

I've gotten a bit bored lately with the whole preview thing. Had a few concepts I tried, but I didn't like any of them. So I will quit of droning the same thing again and again about what we did wrong the last game (I already told you in the recap), who is playing (fifteen other bloggers already told you) and that this opponent "always plays us hard", but that we can beat them if "we play up to our potential" (duh, we're the best team in the league, on paper and in real life, so of course we can). Instead, I will try and find a blogger from the opposing team to tell us a little about their thoughts on their team's season and on what to expect for the game.

Before we head there I just have to note that this game is gonna be tough, against a speedy, very good team and that the losing streak really needs to be snapped tonight.

For today's inaugural edition of this I was lucky enough to get a Q&A with Topham from the excellent Habs blog Lions in Winter. Here's what he had to say:

1. The Habs have looked great so far this year, what reasons are behind the improvement from last year?
Topham: They’ve certainly had some great games and are avoiding terrible games thus far. To be honest, I think the secret of their success lies in that. They have been prepared for each game they have played in, which has not always been the case in the past. They have scored first a whopping 18 times in 28 games, and started 16 of their 18 victories that way. The flip side is a 2-6-2 record when digging out of a hole

2. Will they be able to hold on for the entire season?
Topham: Hold on? Yes. They have shown they have the discipline and the personnel they need to be a division leader, or at least challenge for that title (albeit in an easier division than the Wings’). I think they’ll be in the playoffs now, which is a change from what I thought at the beginning of the season.

But, I don’t think that we’ll be talking about them as a team that was consistently impressive for 6 months. Some of their success depends on scoring first, as the forwards don’t favour playing against teams that are shutting down to hold a lead. Sooner or later, there will be a stretch where by luck alone the team falls behind to start a few games.

3. Which player do you guys plan to boo next?
Topham: Funny question. I guess Montreal fans have a reputation that stretches a long way.

On your team? Hopefully Bertuzzi. Being in the West, Montrealers haven’t had a full chance to boo him for his past actions. The most knowledgeable fans might boo Doug Janik, (he played two uneventful games with the Habs 2 seasons ago) because former Habs are always shown affection with a good booing.

But you probably meant on our own team, didn’t you? Well that one’s tricky, there’s never really a plan as such. Brisebois was booed for consistently passing better to opposition players than to our own, ditto for Souray when he went down. Theodore was booed for forgetting how to play. Being a goaltender in Montreal you get 2 bad games before booing (maybe one), so Price isn’t far from a booing, nor Auld. Gomez might be getting boos already, haven’t heard.

Montreal fans also all want to boo the GM on a hair’s trigger, so if a trade is made the fans don’t like expect either a) the player acquired, or b) the player who stayed and took the place of the dearly missed to be booed on the GM’s behalf.

4. Going into this game, what do you fear about the Wings? What should the Wings be looking out for?
Topham: Personally, if I were a player, I would fear the Wings ability to keep the puck. If the Wings score first, which is probably a 50:50 proposition at this point, then how do our forwards get in the door?

It gives me great pleasure to say it, but the Wings should fear a very similar thing from the Habs (we’ve been admiring the Wings for so long now). If the Canadiens get the lead, they are excellent at giving away the easy shot and protecting the net from dangerous attempts. They don’t kill with possession (which would be my preference), but they kill by leading shooters into paths and cleaning up messes quickly.

5. Predict the final result of the game and tell us why!
Topham: This may sound arbitrary, but I think it will be a shootout. The Canadiens haven’t had one yet, and the Wings haven’t piled them up either. Two good young goalies, defenses that know what they’re doing and competent attacks. I think 2-2 sounds about right.

The shootout will go to you guys, and Montreal fans will hold a protest about the withdrawal of points for losing in a shootout. Bettman will be booed the next time he’s in Montreal. Until Bettman’s next visit, they might boo the next shortest person associated with the NHL; he’s bound to reside in Montreal anyway.

Thanks to Topham for answering the questions!

Too little, too late, too lame

2010-12-09T02:14:00.006+01:00

First period
- While the Wings had a chance or two, they were badly outplayed for the first 6-7 minutes. Nashville just won every battle, was first on every puck and outworked them. The Wings turned the puck over, didn't get chances and let the Preds get way too close.
- The middle part of the period was the best for the Wings. They slowly worked themselves into the game and managed to get some offense going and had some good chances.
- A weird Eaves penalty (we didn't get a replay, so it's hard to tell what it was) put a stop to that, but the Wings killed it off nicely.
- In the latter part of the period the Preds took over again and kept outworking the Wing.
- In the last minute an offensive turnover lead to a quick attack from the Preds. Rafa was shadowing O'Reilly, but when he crossed over he gave him up to E. E didn't really get up to O'Reilly and Rafa never managed to cover the pass to Colin Wilson who had the easiest tap-in ever.
- The Wings just looked weak and lame in the first. The Preds looked sharp. Not a good period at all for the Wings.

Second period
- The second started terribly. The D coverage was severely lacking and the Preds got a weird shot on net and E batted it into his own net with his glove.
- The Preds naturally laid back a bit after that and the Wings took over a bit, but bad passing killed them. They just couldn't connect on more than one pass at a time.
- The Wings got a PP, but only got one decent chance. That one was a beautiful pass from Buckets to Z though and an awesome chance, but Lindback made an amazing save.
- The Wings took over a bit after that and had some nice chances. The best came when Huds made a great waiting deke, but finished badly and Nick got a point shot a few seconds later. That shot slowly trickled towards the net after it hit the goalie, but was swatted away at the goal line.
- The Preds got a 4 minute PP in the middle of the period when the Wings were starting to really take over. Sure, it was an unlucky high stick by Homer. Sure it drew blood, but Erat throwing his stick and gloves and playing dead should REALLY at least result in an embellishing minor. It was Academy Award worthy. And disgusting.
- The 4 min PK was not only beautifully killed, but midway through it Z and Pasha took the puck up ice, Pavel got a few shots and swatted one in to make it 2-1 Nashville.
- The Wings kept pressing and got another PP towards the end. They didn't score and near the end of the PP Bert got an okay crosschecking penalty. My problem with it is that if a defenseman does that to Homer or Bert or Buckets, it's okay. But if a forward does it... Why is there no equality. Shouldn't matter where on the ice and what zone, the same act should be a penalty no matter where, when or who.
- The PK was killed off nicely though.

Third period
- The Wings didn't have a great start, but fought themselves into some pressure after a while. A little before the midway mark they finally drew a penalty.
- On the PP they got nothing. AT ALL. NOTHING. Didn't even manage to establish themselves in the offensive zone once. The play right before and after the PP were both much better.
- Which lead to another, better, yet unsuccessful PP.
- The Wings kept pressuring, but with 5-6 mins left Z didn't see Stuart pinching and passed to an empty spot. The Preds attacked and scored on the 2-on-1 against Salei.
- The Wings threw everything at the Preds, but Lindback stood tall. Not stranger. Every Anders is awesome. Fact.
- With 2 minutes left the Wings pulled the goalie. I was just thinking "I love this move, we're not gonna win, but the only way to have a shot is taking a chance" when the Mule scored on a nice shot.
- Sadly, Franzén sucked before that and he sucked after that and with a great chance to tie it he fanned on the puck. Wings lose.
- Losing streak now. 2 LOSSES in a row. 3 REAL losses (2 losses, 1 OT loss) in a row. This need to be corrected.

Play of the game
Pavel's shortie was a beautiful, grinding play.

Player of the game
Oh what the hell, let's say Pavel.

Game 23: Showing the Ducks who's boss

2010-12-04T04:39:00.003+01:00

First period
- The Wings got off to a great start when the Wings broke up a pass from Visnovski and Flip took it into the zone. His pass bounced over Mule's stick, hit the boards and went back to Mule who scored from a very sharp angle.
- The Ducks had a quick bounceback with some chances, but luck, good D and Jimmah held them off.
- The Wings then took over and controlled much of the period. They got close to another goal when Helm got an open net, but hit the post from a sharp angle and Homer flubbed the rebound.
- Homer had a terrible period. Not only did he miss that big chance, but he also managed to feed the Ducks with two big outlet passes/turnovers. The second one lead to a huge Ducks chance which forced E to take a penalty.
- On that PP the Ducks had one huge chance, saved by Jimmah. Otherwise the kill was great. With 13 seconds left of it Pasha took an unlucky high sticking penalty. The 5-on-3 and the rest of the penalty was killed brilliantly.
- The Ducks controlled the rest of the period and won the shot count easily, but got no more big chances.
- The Ducks 3rd jerseys don't look like the Ducks in a way and they are a nice mix of boring and ugly.
- Honda Center seemed brighter than usual tonight. Weird.

Second period
- The first two thirds of this period had nothing for the Wings. They opened with a couple of big chances and had a breakaway for Helm later, but that was it. They got stopped in the neutral zone and got nothing going. The Ducks didn't get too much established zone time either, but were dangerous in what they got and on the counter attack. Luckily Jimmah was excellent.
- The Ducks had no penalties through 2. Thank you refs.
- With 5-6 mins left Z shot from a sharp angle and Homer beat Perry to the rebound. 2-0. Perry showed class by crosschecking Homer in the back after the goal.
- And shortly after Rafa shot it towards the net and Cleary re-directed it in. 3-0.
- Not a good period by the Wings, but they played smart, good defense, had good goaltending and were effective as hell.

Third period
- The third started with another PP for the Ducks. Luckily it was killed off.
- When it was over the Wings struggled to clear the zone for a long time, but when they managed to do it, they got a delayed Ducks penalty. They played with the delayed penalty for more than a minute and Kronner, Bert and others had soem amazing chances.
- The PP had some great chances too, but was unsuccessful.
- The rest of the period was back and forth. Both teams had some great chances, but both goalies stood tall. The game felt decided and there wasn't too much action. '
- With half a minute left E found Flip in front of the net and he made it 4-0. Second 4-0 win over the Ducks in 2 tries.
- Not a perfect game for the Wings, but a good, solid road win.

Play of the game
The save Jimmah made on the first PP, aided by a great stick-check and clear by Nick.

Player of the game
Jimmah bailed us out with some huge saves and got the shutout! Great game!

Pregame 20: Blowjays and third jerseys

2010-11-26T14:00:00.001+01:00

Dear family members. If any of you still peak in from time to time, I would advise you to exit now and stay away until Monday, because I'm immature, my friends here are immature and a team named the BJs just leaves way too much open for sexual innuendo.

Soooo... that said... The Wings REALLY shit the bed in Atlanta. It was terrible, it was gruesome, it was the most depressing thing I have seen this autumn (Lions games obviously excluded. Wow.. that Pats game. Shoot me now). In the week before, the Wings played 3 games and pulled out five out of six points, but didn't play well in any of them. So they need to be better. Seeing as yesterday was thanksgiving and probably not a day spent working too hard, this have to come from the inside. The team needs to stop with the damn turnovers, turn up the energy and grit and go for it again. They need to be bold. They need to work hard, be better and be much stronger on puck support defensively. They need to start winning battles again. And if Joey Mac is in net like some rumours say, then.. well.. we need to be realllllly good.

Because while it earlier has been easy to laugh at the Columbus Blue Jackets, they are no laughing matter this year. With one more game played than the Wings, they are at the same level in points. They have a 14-6-0 record and are +12 in goals. They've been fucking great so far. And, if that wasn't enough, they're on a fucking five game winning streak, with some impressive results along the way. So the Wings really need to step it up for this one.

Oh, and well, tonight and Sunday night, I have a task for you guys. It's BJ nights. They have Clitsome. You know what to do. If you decide to tweet a BJ-tweet, tag it with "#BJnight" and I will try and round up the best dirty tweets you make. Also, if Bradley is out there, you are needed for this one, and it's not too late to come back to Twitter from this.

On another note: The BJs are debuting their new third jerseys tonight. They are bland and boring as fuck. Very similar to the Panthers and Pens third jerseys. BUT the mascot that comes with it. Holy shit. You'll see to night. It's a cannon. And it totally looks like a phallos. So..

Keys to the game
- More energy
- Simpler plays
- Win battles and have puck support

The Blue Jackets media guide sadly has no fun personal section. But feel free to search the internet for random facts against blowjobs. I'm sure you can find some, but it's probably smart to have safe-search ON.

Not an Atlanta recap

2010-11-25T03:21:00.002+01:00

My internet fell down for most of the first period, so I won't write a recap. I wouldn't wanna anyway. This game is the culmination of a week of bad Wings hockey. Better to forget about it and hope for something better on Friday cause this was terrible.

Fight Night at TP:60

2010-11-23T21:41:00.002+01:00

Yesterday I had the pleasure of making my debut on The Production Line's TP:60. Chris Hollis couldn't come because of weather issues, but TPL's own Michael Petrella and Rob Discher were there, doing a great hosting job. The other guest was Graham from Winging it in Motown. It was a lot of fun and we covered a lot of Red Wings subjects and I hope you guys have half as much fun listening as I had recording it.

You can find it HERE!

Game 18: Undeserved victories taste excellent

2010-11-21T23:48:00.007+01:00

First Period
- How about those Lions *shoots myself*
- Dan O'Halloran in as emergency ref. Greaaat! *shoots myself again*
- The Wings got an early PP and capitalized. A shot from Nick went off a skate and out to Rafa. He found Mule with a fast cross-ice pass. Mule settled it down and roofed it. 1-0.
- A few minutes later the Flames tied it. Iginla got past Salei who pinched in the neutral zone and sent it to Hagman who scored. Iginla was backing in with the puck and it is a bit iffy if he had control when he entered the zone, but it wasn't ruled offside, so there is nothing we can do about it.
- The Wings had some new lines today. I like them in theory, but in the first they showed nothing.
- It was pretty even when the teams played at even strength. Calgary might have had a little more control, but Kipper had to make some huge saves.
- The Wings had 3 more PPs, but didn't get more than 4 PP shots total. They struggled. Too many cute passes, not enough movement. The puck got cleared way too much and they didn't find open shooting lanes. Just really bad PP play.

Second period
- The second started terribly. The Flames had the pressure and after less than 2 minutes Rafa lost the puck behind the net, it came out in front and Iginla gave the Flames the lead.
- Of course the Flames got a makeup PP shortly after and on that one they got the puck out to the blueline with all four Wings caught in front. The defenseman found Iginla on the weak side where he had all the time in the world to make it 3-1.
- The rest of the first half of the period, the Flames kept pressing and the Wings sucked.
- The second half the Wings had more play, but still looked lifeless and tired, with no jump. Didn't get too many good chances either.
- Towards the end Abs had a big hit and after a whistle two Flames got after him and a scrum ensued. It ended in a minor to each team. The refs suck.
- The team has seemed worse and worse after all the line juggling.
- Hudler plays lifelessly and like shit. Eaves is a ball of energy and is in the press box. Switching them wouldn't have been enough to change everything, but damn, it would have been better.

Third period
- Early in the third the Wings to on the Power Play and Pavel Datsyuk scored on a brilliant tip in off a shot from Nick.
- The Flames came back controlling the game though and 7 minutes in, Rafa lost an edge and Tanguay took it and scored.
- Dan Cleary did not play in the third after getting hurt in the second period. Regher from Calgary went down in the third.
- Shortly after the Flames goal, Bertuzzi got a minor for interference and then weirdly another for unsportsmanlike conduct. The PP was short for the Flames though as they soon took a penalty themselves.
- On the 4-on-4 it went up and down for a while until Z took the puck past a defender and fanned on a backhandshot. This fooled Kipper and the lead was cut to 4-3.
- The Wings came on strong after this, but struggled scoring. They had good chances, but the puck wouldn't go in.
- With a few minutes left the Wings got a PP and it looked terrible. Then with 2 minutes left they got another and even though they had chances and Howard was pulled they couldn't fool Kipper. When the puck was cleared with 10 seconds left, things looked bleak, but Pasha and Z got a 2-on-1 and Pasha gave Hank an open net to tie it with 3 seconds left.

Overtime
- 90 seconds in, after the Wings had controlled most of it, Nick got a good chance and could have shot into an open net. Instead he deked Kipper, went around him and scored. I yelled loudly.
- We didn't deserve a single point in this, but took 2. 11 out of 12 on the homestand. Excellent!

Play of the game
The 2-on-1 goal that tied it with 3 seconds left.

Player of the game
Henrik Zetterberg. We should call him out more often.

Game 17: Giving it away

2010-11-20T02:12:00.005+01:00

First period
- The first period started with some back and forth hockey. The Wings controlled the play, but didn't really get anything big, because the Wild play tight defense.
- Todd Richards is a fraud. The Wild are still a boring, defensive trap team.
- The Wings finally got a few good chances, but a dumb hook by Z sent the Wings on the PK.
- It was killed off, but before Z could get back into the play, a point shot from the Wild went in with E screening his own goalie.
- The Wings kept trying, but the Wild cluttered the neutral zone and the blueline so they didn't get much.
- On their second PK the Wings actually had some decent chances, but didn't score.

Second period
- The second started terribly. Clutterbuck, the team's leading scorer (I know, what the FUCK?) banked a puck in between Howard and the post from behind the net. Terrible post coverage by Howard.
- Then it went back to the Wings trying, but not getting through. It looked like they were sailing for much of the period. The Wild just slowed them down so much. Well (and boringly) played by the Wild, but also just not good enough by the Wings.
- The Wild barely had any attacks this period.
- When the Wings got a little offense they finally got a PP and then a 5-on-3 midway through the second. They got a few shots, but no good ones. It was embarassing. They were just standing around, moving the puck slowly.
- I am tired of seeing guys on the PP sailing around the net and then doing nothing. The Wild were clogging the front and they should be prepared for that.
- Zetterberg looks weak this days. Takes bad shots, does too little, does too much, just not the Z we are used to.
- The Wings got a 2nd PP that was better, but didn't score on that either.
- In the last minute, Eaves won a puck behind the net for Abby, he took it around and fed it across the crease to Helmer, who scored. This happened 20 seconds after Mick had ranted about the boringness of this (really boring) game.
- The Wings nearly got another with a few seconds left, but like every other shot by Nick tonight, it went wide.

Third period
- The Wings got on a PP early in the third. It was the second soft penalty on Matt Cullen. The Wings took advantage of it and the Mule scored on a shot that went off a Wild player.
- The Wings continued to pressure and got rewarded 5-6 minutes in when Eaves took two whacks at a rebound after shot by Rafalski, then took it around the net and scored on the wraparound.
- The Wings kept the pressure a little after this, but it got broken up when Nick took an unlukcy penalty. It was killed off.
- The Wings looked in control until 6-7 minutes were left. After that the Wild pressured, but the Wings got a few good chances on the counter attack.
- With less than 2 minutes left a Detroit center (Mule? Flip?) lost his assignment and let Koivu be all alone to tie the game. And they pressured on and nearly won in regulation.

Overtime
- The Wings dominated the first 3 minutes and had tons of huge chances.
- Then Havlat had a huge save that Jimmah stopped, but shortly after a rebound ended in the net when Stuart couldn't keep his guy.

Play of the game
Eaves' goal. Great hustle.

Player of the game
The entire third line was great, but I am giving it to Eaves.

Pregame 17: Take ride on the Wild side

2010-11-19T20:27:00.003+01:00

The Wild have won five of their last seven and are coming into the Joe tonight. The Wings are even hotter. The Wild are defensive, they are playing tight hockey and they are hard to play against, but we usually play them well at the Joe. Not much to say about this one other than that we need a better and more consistent effort than against the Blues. We need the PP to be better than it was in the first two periods. We need the Wings to be quicker to loose pucks and be better with the second man. No more sloppy passing. Make Pinky cry. Do it!

Keys to the game
- Another good defensive team that we need to get to early.
- Better power play
- 60 minute effort

Ten things you didn't know about the Wild
1. Niklas Backström would like to meet James Hetfield and Bono. So would I. James is my hero and I wanna slap Bono in his face.
2. Cam Barker has a pug name Puma. Who gives their dog the name of a feline animal is its name?
3. Kyle Brodziak's favourite reading material is FHM. A true intellectual.
4. Brent Burns listens to John Mayer, Brad Paisley, Keith Urban, Blink 182 and Fall Out Boy. He is also a 13 year old girl.
5. Cal Clutterbuck grew up idolizing Stevie and Sakic. Really modelled his game after them, didn't he?
6. Chuck Kobasew lists Lance Armstrong and Eddie Vedder as the people he would most like to meet. Cheaters and whiners are his thing it seems.
7. Mikku Koivu used to work at an ice cream shop. Quite the step up to the NHL.
8. Guillaume Latendresse is a huge Bon Jovi fan.
9. Tom Brady is John Madden's favourite athelete. Shame Madden can't have the same glorious hair.
10. James Shepphard's hobbies are playing guitar and being a complete failure.

Game 16: 3 minutes is enough to win or Sometimes talent trumps determination.

2010-11-18T02:12:00.006+01:00

First period
- The Wings started terribly and gave the Blues several chances. Typical for a team that hadn't played in 4 days.
- Then the Wings took over and Halak stopped several huge chances.
- The first goal however came when Abs took a simple shot on net, Miller was on the rebound and Halak saved. Halak tried to just bat it into the corner, but instead he batted it into his own net.
- Hahahahahahahahahalak
- Both teams blew some huge chances. Wings' best were Hudler not elevating a shot close in and Nick missing a big 3-on-1.
- The Blues' biggest came on a terrible Wings PP.
- The Blues goal came on a weak shot after the Wings just got trapped in a 4-on-3. Weird goal. Good play by the Blues, not good by Jimmah.
- In the final second, on a PK (that will continue into the second) Jimmah made a HUGE save.

Second period
- The second started with the rest of the PP. Weirdly, a clock malfunction delayed Bertuzzi getting back onto the ice with 5 seconds.
- After that the Wings had a couple of chances, but then let the Blues start to roll over then.
- The Wings were terrible for much of this period. They looked like they were sleep walking. Sloppy plays, bad passing, bad at having second man-pressure, bad at covering in front of their own net.
- The Blues eventually got a PP and scored. Nothing Jimmah could do.
- The Wings had a terrible PP after a weird penalty. Or well, the penalty was a big slewfoot, but Datsyuk got away with a vicious cross check right before it.
- In the second half of the period the Wings kinda got going a little more and the 4th line capped off and energized shift with a nice shot-pass from Rafa (also called a Rafa special) that was deflected in by Afrogator.
- The Wings soon took the lead with a nice shot from the boards by Cleary. The nice wrister went in on the short side.
- But the first line went out and had a terrible shift. After some terrible passes in their own zone, the Mule tried to make a fancy play instead of getting it out and served up the tying goal.
- The Blues got close to potting another on the last shift of the period. This was really a period to forget. Need a much better third.

Third period
- The Wings finally came out with some fire in the third and had some good early chances. Then they got a PP and you might have expected the third time to be the charm. Sadly it wasn't. The Blues forechecked and pressured hard on it and the Wings didn't get the passes and skating going. It was the most pathetic PP I have ever seen.
- The Blues took over right after that and spent 5-6 minutes outplaying the Wings. Only Howard held them in. He had a great game tonight.
- Midway through the third I thought that the Wings would be lucky to win this. The Blues forechecked hard, worked hard and were quicker on every puck while the Wings looked lazy. But then, over a span of four minutes, it all changed...
- First Modano finished a rare attack by putting it out in front. Cleary found it between the legs of a defenseman and scored on a quick shot. His second of the night.
- Less than a minute later, Z had a long raid into the zone, turned back, went to the net and scored.
- Then on a PP, Brad Stuart scored on a big slapper.
- The Blues were dirty tonight. Many small dirty plays. Backes went after guys a few times. And when under 6-3 they sent out Janssen who first blindsided Kronner dirtily (but not in the head) and then took a roughing penalty.
- On the PP Homer tipped in a shot from Rafa with his body to settle the score at 7-3 This happened just 4:14 after the 4-3 goal.
- With 3 seconds left Backes slashed and went after Jimmah for no reason. He was held away and it looked like he was crying. Fitting for the bitter Blues. Always a bridesmaid.
- The Wings did not deserve a win, but 4 good minutes gave them just that and we'll take it.

Play of the game
Jimmah's HUGE toe save to keep it a tie game in the final second of the first.

Player of the game
Tempted to go with 2-goal scorer Cleary who played hard all night, but he seems to win this every game, so I will go with Rafa and his 3 assists.

Pregame 16: Playing the Blues

2010-11-17T20:44:00.003+01:00

I went to the Crossroads, fell down on my knees...

So the Wings are playing the Blues tonight. The Blues had a really hot start and looked like the team to beat, but then got slapped with some injuries, the one to Oshie hurts them bad, and have lost four straight and played terrible. Which probably means that they will come into the Joe on fire. Know this: The Blues are talented. Their team is chock full of talent from the front and end and all the way back to Jaro Halak, who will probably follow up some recent bad efforts with a mindblowing game. How do we handle this? The guys just need to go out there and play good, solid Red Wings hockey. That will lead to a win.

Keys to the game
- Get to Halak early. Make him break down again.
- Don't let the Blues speed capitalize on our defensive mistakes.
- Thank God that Kariya is gone. Such a Wings-killer.

10 things you didn't know about the Blues
1. David Backes would like to play golf with Sarah Palin, Ronald Reagan and Albert Einstein. Yowza...
2. Patrick Berglund is a really bad tipper according to my friend who's dad drove him in his cap after his rookie season. The tip: 20 cents.
3. Eric Brewer was on the 2002 Canadian Olympic team. No, I don't get it either.
4. Ian Cole is nicknamed "MachEEN"
5. BJ Crombeen likes Old School and Will Ferrell. His name makes me laugh.
6. Matt D'Agostini and TJ Hensick grew up idolizing the player everyone grows up idolizing. Hockey players get it. Stevie was the man.
7. Jaro Halak grew up idolizing Curtis Joseph, the worst goalie I have ever seen live.
8. Aside from loving DMB, Barret Jackman won the Calder back in 02/03. Bet half of you had forgotten who snubbed Z.
9. Cam Jansen is a metalhead. I approve.
10. Erik Johnson would have the Blues assistant equipment guy in his golf foursome.

The All Star experiment rosters

2010-11-14T03:49:00.004+01:00

As you know, Doug and I have an All Star experiment going to see if the snubs will be better than the worst players on the ASG ballot. Check out the rosters here and check in now and then for updates at TDT. Actually, bookmark it. Whatever sport it is TDT rocks and you SHOULD read it.

Game 15:

2010-11-14T01:45:00.005+01:00

First period:
- The Avs looked really quick. Even thought the Wings controlled most of the first, the Avs speed still created trouble for the Wings.
- Both teams had a PP in the first half of the first. None of them successful. Both good penalty kills.
- On the Wings second PP, Bert got the puck along the right boards in the offensive zone and sniped a shot over the top of Budaj's shoulder on the short side. 1-0. A real goal scorer's goal.
- Jonas Holøs is getting his named slaughtered. I understand that you can't get it right, but Hol-aass is unacceptable. At least understand that ø is like the Swedish ö and say Hol-us, which wrong, but acceptable.
- The Mule had a breakaway where he deked himself to an open net, but shot wide. WTF?
- The Avs did not score on a late PP and will start the second with 23 PP seconds.

Second period
- The second started with an Avs PP, but when he came out of the box, Nick found Huds. Huds missed on the breakaway, but banked the rebound off Budaj from behind of the net and in! Cheeky!
- I talked about the Dive's foot-speed before the game and how possession is important. The Wings did this in the 2nd. No speed can match up to good passing.
- Love Kevin Porter. Shame he is an Av.
- Both team had two PPs and while the first from the Wings looked real good, they were both killed off.
- The 3-0 goal came midway through when Bert, along the boards, found Cleary who scored on an awesome shot!

Third period
- The third was a typical 3-0 period. The Wings relaxed, let the Avs control it, but won easily.
- On an early Avs PP, the refs decided to overlook severeal fouls because the Dive was already getting slaughtered, instead they got a too-many men 5-on-3 and scored. It was goalie inteference. The forward clearly hindered Jimmah's horizontal movement and for a person used to see the shit Homer gets blown off for it was ridiculous, but it ended 3-1, so who cares.
- Seriously, can anyone tell me how to stop on person's tweets from being retweeted to me? I have already stopped the worst sinners from retweeting, but still 4-5 of you keep retweeting him/her and I don't wanna have to stop retweets from you all.
- The Wings had an empty net for the last 2 minutes, but did not score.

Play of the game
Hudler's goal! Cheeeeeky!

Player of the game
Nick did not only contribute offensively, but also controlled the D.

Pregame 15: Down with the Dive

2010-11-13T19:26:00.003+01:00

The Divealanche are coming to the Joe again tonight. Last time the Wings lost a heartbreaker in the shootout, let's hope for something better today. The Dive have 9 players on the IR and Budaj is in goal, just like the last time. The Wings will continue with the lines that were successful against the Oilers and will hopefully get the same out of them tonight. No word on who sits though.

The Avs will play us hard, but we're a better team and if we can overcome their speed and play a puck possession game where we slow them down a bit, we will win. Sound defense, faceoff wins and good passing will be key.

Keys to the game
- Eliminate those turnovers and defensive errors.
- Continue the offensive onslaught.
- Stop the Avs speed.

Ten things you didn't know about the Avs
1. Craig Anderson's brother Jon was drafted by the Red Sox and his dad was a professional car racer. In related news, motor"sports" are NOT sports.
2. The reason Peter Budaj has Flanders on the back of his helmet is that he is a Christian, straight-edger, just like Flanders.
3. Adam Foote idolized former Red Wing-flop (and Toronto hero) Börje Salming.
4. Milan Hejduk loves playing tennis and golf. I don't.
5. Jonas Holøs from Sarpsborg, Norway is not even on the roster in the media guide. And it is unforgiveable that journalists call him Holos. Bloggers I can understand, but paid media are paid to get the names fucking right with a fucking Ø/ø.
6. David Jones, a 288th pick, is the lowest pick in franchise history to make it to the NHL.
7. Peter Mueller is a Twins fan, which is a good reason to hate him with a passion.
8. Ryan O'Reilly was nicknamed "Snook" as a kid. You know where I'm going with this.
9. Kevin Porter is from Detroit, idolized Modano growing up and is an avid Detroit Tigers fan. Can we make it illegal for him to be an Av?
10. Chris Stewart sat out the 03-04 hockey season to play High School football.

All Star Ballot Snubs and Errors. We need YOUR help

2010-11-12T23:00:00.004+01:00

The All Star Game ballot came out today and it was, as usual, full of guys who shouldn't have been on there and there were also a lot of noticeable snubs. Doug from The Detroit Transplant wanted to do something about it and Brad Boswell on Twitter gave us an excellent idea. Me and Doug have set up a 2-man fantasy league where he manages Team Snubs and I manage Team Overrated. His team will be filled with the worst snubs from the ballot, mine with the players that shouldn't have been on it.

We need YOUR help to decide who should be on each team, and we want you to post your ideas of which players were snubbed and which players should not be on the ballot in the comments here. You can give us 1 player name, or enough to fill a team, everything is appreciated.

The teams will be as such:
3 goalies
6 Defensemen
4 Centers
4 Right Wings
4 Left Wings
3 bench spots

We score goals (1 pt), Assists (1pt), Plus/minus (1 pt), Game winning goals (2 pts) and blocks (.5 pts) for skaters and Wins (1 pt), Goals against (-.1 pts), Shots against (.1 pts) and shutouts (1 pt) for goalies. It is a total points league.

So sound off in the comments with your ideas for who we should include.

Here is the list of the players on the ballot:

GOALTENDERS (18)
Anderson, Backstrom, Brodeur, Bryzgalov, Fleury, Giguere,Halak, Khabibulin, Kiprusoff, Lundqvist, Luongo, Miller, Niemi, Quick, Rinne, Thomas, Vokoun, Ward

DEFENSE (29)
Boyle, Bouwmeester, Byfuglien, Campbell, Chara, Doughty, Enstrom, Gonchar, Green, Hamhuis, Jovanovski, Kaberle, Keith, Lidstrom, Markov, Martin, McCabe, Phaneuf, Pitkanen, Pronger, Rafalski, Robidas, Seabrook, M. Staal, Streit, Suter, Timmonen, Weber, Zidlicky

FORWARDS (53)
Alfredsson, Backstrom, Booth, Briere, Bergeron, Carter, Cammalleri, Crosby, Datsyuk, Doan, Franzen, Gaborik, Getzlaf, Gionta, Heatley, Hejduk, Hemsky, Hossa, Iginla, Kane, Kessel, M Koivu, Kopitar, Kovalchuk, Krejci, Lecavalier, Malkin, Marleau, Morrow, Nash, Oshie, Ovechkin, Parise, Perry, B Richards, M Richards, Roy, Ryan, D Sedin, H Sedin, Selanne, Spezza, E Staal, Stamkos, Stastny, Smyth, St Louis, Tavares, Thornton, Toews, Umberger, Vanek, Zetterberg

Game 14: Suck it Jacob!

2010-11-12T02:15:00.008+01:00

(Jacob is my little brother and an Oilers fan)

First Period
- Early on Mule had two good chances. One came after he made some awesome moves, but Bulin made a great/lucky save.
- Hudler created things and looked good early on and it paid off on a shift where he dominated and found Flip on a flip-pass from behind the net. Val batted it in for 1-0. Let's hope that is what Happy needed.
- The Oilers had a few good chances, but were stoned by Howard each time. Except for a PP for the Oilers (after a blatant hook by Modano), the Wings dominated the period.
- The Wings second goal came off a Z pass from the sideboards, that Pav just pushed forward to Homer. Bulin stopped Homer's redirection, but scored on the rebound.
- The third goal came when Bertuzzi found Cleary with a backhand pass. Buckets made no mistakes and scored on a shot that Khabibulin maybe should have had.
- Not much to say about this period. Everyone looked fricking awesome.

Second Period
- Early in the second Bert took a breakout pass down with his hand, took it to the corner, switched from left-handed to right-handed and passed it to Buckets. He decided to be equally good and scored his second on a spin-o-rama move.
- The Wings continued to dominate, but then in the middle part of the period they let the Oilers in to it a bit. It's natural to let up a bit, but I disliked it anyway. Luckily they never got really dangerous due to good defense.
- Bert and Kronner had a bad giveaway each, but what really got me was how well we cleaned up after those.
- The Oilers got away with a few because the refs felt bad for them, but the Wings got slapped with a cheap penalty. The kill was entirely dominant, which switched the momentum back in favour of the Wings. I love the kill this year.
- The Wings dominated towards the end, got rewarded with a PP and on a scramble in front of the net Mule scored his 100th career goal. Now that he's over that he can maybe start scoring regularly again.
- The shift after the PP looked like a PP.
- The end of the second saw half a kill. A good one. Penalty will resume in the third.
- Loved to see Ndamukong Suh taking in the game and getting a good "SUUUUUUUUUUH" from the crowd. Go Lions!

Third Period
- The Oilers played the rest of that PP like they meant it and scored.
- The Wings relaxed a little more this period, but still controlled the play.
- Datsyuk laid out Penner.
- Hemsky got hurt. Let's hope it's not bad.
- Homer made it 6-1 on a rebound off a Z shot.
- The Oilers scored again right before the end, but the Wings won 6-2 in dominating fashion.

Play of the game
Bert's take down and switch of handedness, his pass to Cleary and Danny's spin-o-rama.

Player of the game
Dan Cleary scored two, set up tons of chances, made himself some chances and worked hard.

Standing up for Detroit

2010-11-11T07:38:00.003+01:00

Robert Tychkowski of the Toronto/Edmonton Sun is in Detroit following the Edmonton Oilers. As we all know the Oilers suck and I've heard Edmonton is a dreadfully boring city. So those Oilers fans don't have much to feel good about. So when playing a superior franchise, both history-wise and right now, there's a certain need to take shots at Detroit the city, so that the Oilers fans can feel better about their weak team getting another ass kicking by the Wings. His article, a hockey article, which you can find here opens with the following:

Welcome to Detroit, where the forecast, as always, is muggy, with a chance of murder.

When you’re trying to breathe a little life back into your year, this is not the place to visit. And not just because they use more white chalk at crime scenes than they ever did in the schools.

Classy. Tyler, over at the always excellent The Triple Deke posted about this and included the douchebag's email adress. So I decided to take action and email him. Going for some sarcasm on my first attempt. Here is my email to him:

Dear Mr. Tychowski

I write to you from Oslo Norway to congratulate you on choosing the oldest joke ever for your article today. It shows real class to beat down on and crack jokes at a struggling city that has been hit hard by recession and that is full of hard working men and women doing their best to get their lives and the city on the right track. Nevermind that the murder rate in Detroit has gone significantly down since the 80s and 90s and that you write this in a piece about a hockey game, it is still a classy, nice touch. Sets the tone nicely. I'm proud of you and hope you can continue to write pieces where you get off topic to make old jokes and laugh at struggling, hardworking people. Kudos

Andy
Oslo, Norway

Mr. Tychkowski responded less than two minutes later with this charming and classy reply:

Feel free to walk the streets here at night. I'll notify the next of kin

I felt that I needed to point out his ridiculousness and replied:

Sure, there are areas in Detroit where you shouldn't go at night. Yes they have problems. But I don't see where this gives you a license to take cheapshots and make jokes at a city full of people trying to change it for the better. Especially not in an article about sports teams. I am pretty sure Edmonton and every other major city in North America has a higher rate of violent crime than the one I was fortunate enough to grow up in, but none of this gives me the right to make jokes on the expense of those cities.

Furthermore, it's just so extremely unoriginal to write the same old intros that make Detroit sounds like it's Johannesburg or Bogota. If you really want to set the mood and do a good journalistic job I am pretty sure there is a lot of good stories you wouldn't have to dig deep to find. Storylines about the Wings signifying a hope that the inhabitants of a struggling city can rally around, something about the efforts to make the city a better place. Or you could stick to what you know and write about hockey and hockey only.

The citizens of Detroit, and those of us who have fallen in love with the city and it's sports teams from a long distance, see shots at Detroit every day. And while it's easy for me to shrug off and the pride of my friends from Detroit is strong enough to shrug it off, it feels tiresome, unoriginal and beaten to death. And you also excelled by probably going further than any writer I have seen in painting the city as black as possible.

I haven't heard back from him yet. Maybe he just went to bed, who knows? If I hear more from him I will edit this article and include all further correspondence.

If you want to email him you can do so at robert.tychkowski@sunmedia.ca

A Norwegian hockey store

2010-11-10T23:51:00.002+01:00

Some recent Twitter discussion made me think of something. This story is irrelevant and weird, but still worth telling. It's about a guy named Petter Bruflat who runs a hockey store in Oslo and I felt like telling you guys.

Back when I was a kid and started playing hockey there was really only one hockey store in Oslo. Sure, sports stores had some skates and hockey stuff, but if you wanted a good selection, you had to go to a guy named Kurt. He was a nice guy and had a store near where I live now. Just by the arena of the team I hate the most, Vålerenga. Then, he moved a few kilometers and a guy named Petter Bruflat took over his store. They had some healthy competetion for a while until Kurt's store went bankrupt. He then moved to another store, but I dunno if he's in buisness anymore. Anyway, this lead to Petter being the main man when it came to hockey equipment in Oslo for a while. Nowadays there are one or two competing stores. One might even be better and I know Petter sold a couple of years after he moved his store a block down the road to become an equipment manager for a team. Anyway, my story is about the time when his store was the only one that mattered in Oslo.

Petter was a nice guy. He loved to talk. He loved to talk so much people called him Petter "Prate" which means Petter "Talk". He'd been equipment manager for a team or two in the Elite League before he opened the store, so he had a vast knowledge of everything related to equipment. And everything about hockey in Norway really. He talked to every customer and shared info with every customer. He'd help you find the stuff you needed and then tell random news and anecdotes from the Norwegian hockey world before pumping you, or rather your dad, for information about how you were doing, how your team was doing etc etc. I swear, he knew every fucking team around Oslo. He new every age group on that team, how good they were, which players were good, everything. And he'd talk a hole in your head about it.

Hockey stuff is expensive. We all know that. But Petter would give special discounts to everyone he knew. Which was probably 98% of his customer base. And if the equipment arrived later than promised (which it usually did), you'd get even more of a discount. So he usually ended up selling stuff for just about the same price he bought it for. He worked 10-6 all day and I'm not sure he ever made a dime off his store. I think he went in minus at times, even at best. But he kept on working. Alone, sometimes with unpaid help from young hockey players who liked to hang out there and help out. They'd maybe get a stick or a discount on something in return if they helped him enough.

In the 9th grade, when we are 14-15, every student has to have a week of work practice. You basically work unpaid at some place for a week. Me and a guy I went to school with who played for my rival team both worked for him. It was awesome. He was nice to us, let us do our thing and treated us to burgers and Coca Cola every day. He even let us answer the phone (which he sometimes disconnected cause it annoyed him) and even sometimes help customers. When he went out we manned the store alone. If someone needed some tape or some small thing we didn't know the price of we were just told to make up a price. We'd also spend much time every day putting together sports bets and watching the 1994 99 All Stars vs. Norway All Stars game.

Our first job each morning was to make the store tidy. It was a small store and way too much stuff in it. It'd be a mess. We'd maybe spend two hours tidying up and organizing. And later we might for instance have to organize and cathegorize skates. The next morning it'd be as messy (imagine Hiroshima in a hockey store) and we'd have to go to work again. He'd just drop stuff when he didn't need it so equipment was floating all over. In the afternoons we'd play floorball IN the store. It was an awesome week. At the end I got a discount on a helmet, a Tac stick and a discount so I got a TPS Response for 80 bucks (they usually cost 250 back then). It was also pretty fun when our teacher came to look for us. She was kind of a MILF, but stuck up and me and her kinda hated each other's guts. She was very, very proper. He was very, very messy and forgetful. And what did we find out? They'd been a couple when they were young and saw each other as "the one that got away".

So, here you had an eccentric, nice, talkative guy who spend 6 days a week working hard and having fun in a hockey store he never made money on. How could he do that? Why did he do that? The answer is. He was stinking filthy rich. His parents owned a lot of shit. His brother went to Yale and Harvard. Petter himself was a ship broker, but decided it was boring. So he started a hockey store that he made no money on, and got his cash off a REALLY successful party tent business that rents party tents to the biggest events in Oslo. But that he did in his spare time. I don't know where I'm going with this story and what the point is, but I guess I just wanted to tell the story of a man here in hockey-dead Norway, who could have had an easy, relaxing life, but chose instead to work all day at a hockey store he made no money on cause he loved the game and stories about the game so much and who still does the same, just from a position as equiment manager (can't remember which team).

Game 13:

2010-11-09T02:17:00.003+01:00

First period:
- The Wings started with pressure and it paid off early. Modano stole a puck, brought it to Rafa, who intentionally shot it wide. On the other side of the net was Cleary, who could just tip it in.
- The first period was terribly sloppy. Both teams played with speed, but there were more mistakes than good plays.
- The Wings struggled to connect with more than one pass at a time and got every damn play broken up. And they went offside time after time.
- The Wings got a PP off a scary situation. Stempniak crosshecked Salei so he fell onto Howard. Howard looked heard. Pray to God that he isn't.
- Towards the end of the period Hudler had a shift where he first fucked up a good attack and then failed to clear the zone twice on easy plays. He is really proving to everyone that he doesn't deserve the ice time.
- The PP looked really bad in the first, like it has lately. They just seem unable to set up and get shots to the net. The only one looking good on the PP in the first was Rafa.
- Towards the end of the first the Wings went offside. Somehow the faceoff ended up outside their blueline and not the Phoenix one. Weird. From their they went offside again. Yes, that was sloppy, but it was not intentional offside. However the faceoff ended up in the Wings zone. The Wings decided to ice it (though it went via a Jets stick and should not have been icing). On the ensuing faceoff Hanzal won it, the defenseman shot it off the backboard and Hanzal beat Pasha to it and scored. As you see this goal was the result of sloppy play and referees being clueless.
- Another goal in the last minute. This HAS to stop!
- Modano called Eddie O about Detroit. WHAT. THE. FUCK?

Second period:
- The first started with 7-8 minutes where they got nothing going. The Coyotes were all over them and the Wings looked tired. They lost every puck battle and failed to connect on passes.
- When they finally seemed to get it going a bit Stuart got caught behind the offensive goal, Pavel covered nicely for him, but no one covered anyone on a broken play and the Jets scored.
- Through a 4-on-4 and a PP that was kinda bad, but picked up at the end the Wings slowly crawled back.
- Towards the end of the period the Wings had the play. They still had a lot of bad passes, but they won the battles and got pucks to the net.
- Babbles had some wild lines towards the end of the period. Everyone were playing with everyone.

Third period:
- The Wings started the third like they were on a mission. They attacked and attacked and created some chances, but never got the really big ones. This lead to me complaining that they needed better shots.
- Ten seconds after I said that, Nick blasts a cannon from the point to tie the game.
- The Wings PK in the third was awesome. I don't even think they got a shot on net.
- The Wings controlled most of the third, but the Coyotes had a couple of dangerous chances.
- We've seen a lot of Z-Dats-Cleary in 3rd periods this year and I love it. They had some DOMINANT shifts tonight.

Overtime
- I was looking for Z to show himself after being invisible lately and on a shift with Cleary, they drew a penalty, got the cycle going on the delayed call and Z managed to tip Salei's shot-pass into the net. Red Wings WIN!

Play of the game
Rafa's shot off the endboards to Cleary. So good to see Rafa back doing his thing.

Player of the game
Daniel Cleary. Holy shit is he having a good time on the ice right now.

Pregame 13: Hit BizNasty

2010-11-08T19:48:00.003+01:00

The Wings are hosting the Coyotes tonight and they need to do better than the last time. Remember how they gave that game away in a terrible fashion? Well Ozzie isn't in goal tonight, but still, these Coyotes are always good against the Wings and we've gotta play them hard. The Wings are coming off a tough roadtrip and they tend to suck in their first home game after that. And they did look tired two days ago. But let's hope for something better tonight.

Rafa is back in and that is huge. Miller and Kindl are scratches. E and Hudler should be scratches, but they're not.

Keys to the game
- Stop with the sloppy defensive mistakes we've seen on and off this season.
- The first two lines need to get going again offensively.
- Pummel Bryzgalov with shots. (Also Kronwall BizNasty).

10 things you didn't know about the Coyotes
1. Taylor Pyatt's nickname is Pyzee. What?
2. Pyatt's favourite band is Coldplay and if he could meet one person, dead or alive, it'd be Elvis. Me and Pyatt will never ever be friends.
3. Kurt Sauer's brother Kent was drafted by Nashville in 98, while another brother named Craig played 4 seasons in the NFL for the Falcons and Vikings.
4. Lee Stempniak's favourite book is The Alchemist, by Paolo Coelho, also known as the overrated, mediocre book, that made white, pretentious women (and a few men) go apeshit in their romanticism and struggle to properly pronounce Coelho.
5. Kyle Turris loves Steve Yzerman, Jack Jonhson and pierogies.
6. Scottie Upshall wants to be on Entourage and loves TMZ.com. Wow, douche alert.
7. He also loves Pearl Jam. For the three of you who didn't already know: I despise Pearl Jam.
8. The most played song on Ray Whitney's iPod is "Oh Lord, It's hard to be humble"
9. Wojtek Wolski's name is pronounced VOY-teck VOHL-skee according to the media guide. It's kinda fun to say with a heavy Polish accent.
10. Keith Yandle loves the Red Sox.
BONUS:
11. Hockey in Phoenix is a joke and they should move back to Winnipeg NOW!

Game 12: Tired Wings

2010-11-07T03:46:00.008+01:00

First period
- The Wings early power play had one really good chance for the second unit, but otherwise the whole power play was awful. Didn't even manage to set up anything really.
- The following penalty on Kronwall was technically correct, but really, really cheap. Kronner should be too smart to do that in the new NHL, but still...
- Professional baseball player Keith Ballard had a five second interference/crosscheck session behing the net shortly after, and it went uncalled. Weird.
- The first was mostly a positional struggle. Not many big chances. The Wings had control of the first part, but got sloppy towards the end and let the Canucks take over.
- The goal, another one in the last minute, was mainly E's fault. First of all he went into the offensive zone, was to weak to take a hit, so he dumped it, but didn't get it deep. Datsyuk covered him and took his guy on the return, but sadly E failed to follow up and was last back. His guy got to be alone in front of the net and scored.
- Hockey Night in Canada for me tonight. Jim Houghson has a special way of talking and I know a few people hate him, but he was the voice of my youth's EA sports NHL games, so I love him.

Second period
- The Wings did not look ready to go at the beginning of the second, but got it going quick when Abs got it in, threw the puck at the net. The rebound went off Cleary's hip and in.
- Right after that Homer set up Kronner, who shot wide, but scored on his rebound off the boards.
- The next shift the second line got caught in their own zone on a long shift and Mikael Fuckwad Samuelsson (yes, that is his legal name) scored on an insane deflection.
- The Wings had the play for much of the period, but it was played pretty tightly and evenly.
- The Wings had two straight PPs, but got nothing on them. Credit a lack of shooting and very agressive Canucks PK. The kills made for some Canucks mojo towards the end.
- Hudler cannot buy a goal. When he got a huge chance, he rung it off the crossbar.
- On their two PPs before the Wings gave up some dumb chances. On their third, towards the end it went wrong when Datsyuk got too cute on the blue line. Malhotra got a breakaway and scored.
- After that the PP seemed like it had urgency for the first time and E scored on a great slapper with Buckets screening.

Third Period
- Very early in the period Kronwalla walked in and roofed one to give the Wings the lead.
- Of course we let the Canucks take over after that and pretty soon they got one back when no one bothered to cover Hansen in fron of the net.
- Much of the period after that was really sloppy back and forth with the Wings being the sloppiest. They gave the game to the Canucks in this period.
- The Canucks then got two power plays and scored on both. On one a screened shot went in. On the second E missed his assignment.
- Hudler and Ericsson are fucking useless.
- Taking a lazy penalty when you're down 2 with less than 10 to go is stupid as fuck Homer.
- The Wings were tired and sloppy and kept giving Canucks chances. The Canucks were good, but the Wings could have won it if they didn't get tired and give it away. Tough road trip, tired team, shit game.
- There is no question that Hudler is the one that should be in the press box. PERMANENTLY.
- I haven't seen stats, but the Wings seemed to lose EVERY FUCKING FACEOFF!

Play of the game
Kronner's second goal. Great shot.

Player of the game
Kronwall has turned it around lately and today he was excellent.

Pregame 12: Slapping Sammy

2010-11-06T21:21:00.002+01:00

Wouldn't it be totally fricking ridiculously awesome to come away from the Western Canada road trip with 6 out of 6 points? That would really cap off a great start to the season for the Wings. And with Rafa coming back it could put us on a big roll. Of course, today's opponent isn't Calgary or Edmonton. It's a Canucks team that has won five straight games. That's more games in a row than times I've overheard the couple above having sex today (4). So this will be a whole different ballgame. But while the wins against the Flames and Oilers were small, they were dominant. The Wings controlled the games and I never really feared for a loss. And remember, Jimmah doesn't lose in regulation. Ever. So if the guys go out with an effort like the ones they've shown lately and get to Luongo early, then we should win this. Actually, if we play at a top level we should beat every team, cause that's how good this team is.

Keys to the game
- Continue to play dominant puck possession hockey.
- The third line has carried the load for two games, need to see the first two lines score.
- Avoid taking dumb penalties.

Ten things you didn't know about the Canucks
1. They were the subject of the funniest exchange between the FSD announcers of the entire last season. Or maybe you knew that? If you know what I'm talking about, tell me in the comments!
2. In high school Keith Ballard was a fullback and linebacker in football and a great golf player. Which is surprising. I'd have guessed baseball player.
3. Kevin Bieksa has a bachelor in finance. He also idolized Stevie as a kid. Hmm, I might like this guy.
4. Alexandre Burrows is a crying douche. Oh, you knew that? Okay, he's an asshole who likes to talk shit about Detroit. You knew that too? Well, he was recently inducted into the Canadian Ball Hockey Hall of Fame. THAT you didn't know!
5. Darcy Hordichuk works out with Chuck Lidell. Chuck Lidell scares me. If I met Chuck Lidell I would totally lie and pretend to not think that UFC and WWE and all that crap is total bullshit.
6. Rick Rypien's cousin was MVP of Super Bowl XXVI.
7. The Sedin brothers own four racing horses. On a related note, I'm scared of horses, but think their meat (no, not that meat, PERVS) makes for great sausages.
8. The Canucks are launching a Ring of Honor as part of their 40th anniversary, but Pavel Bure has not yet been announced as one of the inductees. He hasn't had his number retired either. This makes me sad.
9. Until I fell for the Wings in 94-95 I was a Canucks fan.
10. The reason for this was that my dad bought me one of these monstrosities while in Canada.

NHL's best uniforms ever

2010-11-04T12:32:00.001+01:00

Doug from the Detroit Transplant and I have done another co-op post, yet again on the topic of jerseys. This time we ranked the best ones through NHL history and you can see the result here.

One year

2010-11-03T19:00:00.001+01:00

Wow, it's been a year. One year ago I sat really bored at uni and decided that I was gonna start a blog. A lot has happened since then. I've gotten a ton of new friends, been introduced to Twitter. Gotten (a couple of) regular readers, been on podcasts, you name it. I just became part of my first series of co-op posts with another blog. I've learnt so much about hockey and gotten so many new perspectives from everyone else and from doing this. So I wanna thank all of you for making this a really fun experience. I hereby retire from blogging.

*Now, minimize this post. Wait five minutes. Come back. Continue reading*

I hereby un-retire from blogging. Happy blogday to me, this blog and my readers! Thank you again to every reader and every twitter follower. Here's to many more years of Fight Night silliness! Cheers!

Pregame 10: Insert bad joke about firefighting here

2010-11-03T17:29:00.002+01:00

Quick thoughts
Jimmah and E are back in, Janik is back in GR and Ozzie is hurt. Huds remains a healthy scratch for today. I have faith in Jimmah, but the question is how E will fare. Hopefully better than he's done the last year or so, but I have no big hopes for that. Mike Modano needs to step up the gas today if he doesn't wanna get scratched next.

We all know the Flames are gonna play the Wings hard, but we also all know we can win this if we play our best. So the guys need to go out and go at the inconcistent Flames hard and make it another one of their bad games.

Keys to the game
- Manage 60 concistently good minutes.
- Third line needs to step up.
- Get a lot of shots on Kipprusoff.

10 things you didn't know about the Flames
1. Their media guide has no "personal"-section for each player, so it's limited what I can find here.
2. So this section will not be in today.

Program notice

2010-10-31T16:18:00.001+01:00

As those of you who follow me on Twitter know, my laptop charger is broken. This means I can't watch games and that writing is a pain in the ass (typing this from my phone). So regular posts resume when my new charger arrive, probably Tuesday.

Ranking the worst NHL jerseys

2010-10-29T21:56:00.002+02:00

Doug over at the Detroit Transplant invited me to join him for a ranking of the 10 worst NHL jerseys of all time. This may, or may not, be the first in a mini-series of co-op posts. Anyway, head over to The Detroit Transplant and check it out! NOW!

Game 8: Just not enough

2010-10-29T00:26:00.005+02:00

In a sentence
Ozzie and the guys stink it up in the first and bad finishing skills seals the deal.

Recap
Slow start. Then Kindl took a dumb penalty. It was killed off nicely, but the Wings got nothing going. Then Vrbata turned Kindl inside out and scored. Shortly after Modano took an unlucky hooking penalty and on the PP Yandle got to be alone for far too long, Ozzie went down way too fast and he scored. The Wings tried to bounce back, but their first PP was so bad that they got scored on again. The shot hit Nick's stick and became wobbly, but Oz probably should have had that one too. The Wings woke up towards the end of the period and had some chances, and got two more PPs but remained ineffective.

The Wings started the second on the PP. They had lots of chances, but got no goal. They continued to pressure after that, including a brilliant shift where Pasha deked every person in the world twice. But still no goals. And the shift ended in Homer taking an unlucky penalty. It was nicely killed off and the Wings went back to pressuring. They had big chances and dominated big time, but they just couldn't score. They had another PP, but that was ineffective too. At the midway mark the Coyotes got back into it a little bit. But then Bryzgalov took a penalty and on the PP Hudler had a brilliant shot-pass that Mule skillfully redirected in. The rest of the period went back and forth, but the Wings had the most pressure. No more goals though.

The third started with a few Jets chances before the Wings took over. A nice feed from Z found Pasha who shot three times, Bryz masterfully stopped them all, but Homer banged it in. But then Bert took a dumbass penalty, Helm drew one shortly after, but the Dogs took over and even though the Wings had better chances, they limited them to few. And then the Dogs got a PP towards the end. It was killed off and followed by a big flurry where Kronner nearly scored. Instead the Dogs scored in the empty net. Game over.

Thoughts
- Oz was bad. Really bad. But he said he was gonna be better this year and I believe in giving him more than this game to try it. If he fails in the next few games, then he is done, but I won't judge yet.
- In the second Ozzie got to show his top skill. Making a big save after having nothing to do for a few minutes. He did it several times. Didn't make up for the first period, but nice to see.
- He was good in the third too. Ended with good stats. Yes, he let in some bad goals and doesn't get an approved mark on the game, but he is not as terrible as everyone made him out to be after the first. Relax people. Let him find his groove.
- Credit Bryzgalov for good play and the Coyotes for getting sticks into the shooting lanes.

3 things that worked
- Dominated the second period
- Never gave up
- Strong last two periods by Ozzie

3 things that didn't work
- Ozzie had a terrible first period
- Anemic first by the team.
- Too cute and ineffective offensively. Especially on the PP.

Play of the game
When Pavel dangled everyone behind the goal.

Player of the game
Pavel. He's way too cute with his play at times, but damn that guy is magical.

Final words
Now we're done with playing games, on to serious buisness on Saturday

Pregame 8: Don't blink

2010-10-28T07:19:00.003+02:00

So, I haven't done the pregames in a while. The reason is that what I say here is the same thing as everyone else says. I have no revolutionary thoughts on each game and 10 other people will give you the lineup. So I am going to try something new today. Something a little more enjoyable for me to write, so hopefully it is more fun for you to read too. Here we go!

Quick thoughts
We drew first blood against the Dogs with an overtime win in their lair in their home opener. So now they're even more hungry to beat us. They always play us hard and this game will be no exception. Hopefully they are a little tired and we are rested.

Keys to the game
- Eliminate those defensive mistakes
- Play a full 60 minutes
- Avoid the sloppy starts that often comes after time off

10 things you didn't know about the Coyotes
1. Adrian Aucoin is a big fan of Led Zeppelin. I approve. He also loves Entourage and John Candy. I approve again. What you probably did know is that he uses a wooden stick, which makes Mick love him.
2. BizNasty's idol growing up was Sandy McCarthy. True story. He would also like to be a DJ or star of an MTV show.
3. Mikkel Bødker is Danish and thus I hate him. Okay, you did know that. What you did not know is that if he wasn't a hockey player he would be a gay construction worker (okay, I made the gay part up).
4. Shane Doan's sister is a National team basketball player and plays in Europe. His cousin is an Olympic gold winner in speed skating.
5. Shane Doan loves U2, Creed and Garth Brooks. We now KNOW he is a douchebag of epic proportions.
6. Aside from having a slightly dirty name, Vernon Fiddler also has a really bad favourite movie, You, me and Dupree. Really? Did anyone like that movie??? WOW!
7. Maxim Goncharov's idol while growing up was Sergei Gonchar. Fitting.
8. Martin Hanzal loves Matt Damon. Maybe this love of retards is what makes him choose a team only a retard could believe has a reason to stay in Phoenix.
9. Ed Jovanovski has a daughter named Coco. According to my sources the odds are even money that she does porn before her 19th birthday.
10. Peter Prucha enjoys strawberries and dumplings. I KNOW you always wanted to know that.

Game 7: Baaaarely.

2010-10-24T00:28:00.005+02:00

In a sentence
Wings win an offensive game despite terrible defense.

Recap
The Wings started pretty well and got on the PP after nearly five minutes. The PP was terrible. After that Kronner Kronwalled Selänne heavily. A Duck tried to take revenge, but missed Franzén on an attempted headshot. But right after that Perry collided with Mule and got a penalty. On the PP Nick found Z who let off a blast that went in. Might have gone off the skate of Homer. The Wings soon got on another PP and had some more great chances on a great PP, but didn't score. After that the Ducks came back a little more and got on a PP after Helm half-tripped a guy. The penalty was nicely killed. Towards the end of the period Pavel had a great play where he just stopped, which fooled two guys and fed Kronner. Only a great save by McElhinney and a poor shot by Kronner made that not be a goal. Instead Stuy, Nick and Flip got caught by Ryan sneaking in and scoring in the last minute. Ugh.

The second period started with an energized Ducks team. They got several odd man rushes early and Koivu hit the post. The Wings looked flat. And after 6 mins Kindl and Salei got too weak in front on a rebound and Carter scored. Less than a minute later, a turnover by Janik lead to another goal by Syvret. The Wings slowly worked their way back in after that. And midway through the period it paid off. Lilja was weak on a play and Bert stole the puck from him. He fed the Mule, who had three whacks at the puck and scored on the last. The Wings pressed harder after that and with three minutes left, three straight shifts of good forecheck and great chances paid off when a shot from Stuy was redirect in masterfully by Homer. The Ducks had a late chance or two, but tied after 2.

The third period started with chances both ways, but Anaheim seemed the hungriest. And after eight minutes Selänne lead an odd man rush and scored on a nice shot. The Wings bounced back and after a face off win, Zetterberg scored on a nice shot. The game wet back and forth again after that, but the Wings had the most pressure and it paid off when Pavel took a rebound deked Lilja and scored on a perfect shot. Red Wings win!

Thoughts
- The Ducks are as nasty as ever.
- Big Sexy took a puck to the face HARD. Scary shit.
- Mule and Bert had another great game.
- Mick with the season's first stick rant.
- Kronner still has ways to go, but looks better and better.
- Before Z's tying goal the Joe played Metallica's For whom the bell tolls. Coincidence? I think not. I call it karma. Play a surefire top 10 all time song and you deserve a goal.

3 things that worked
- Had a better start.
- Good comeback in the second.
- All lines looked good offensively.

3 things that didn't work
- Another goal against in the last minute of a period. This has to stop.
- Lousy, anemic start to the second.
- Still too many defensive holes.

Play of the game
Pavel's stop-deke and feed to Kronner. Shame that Kronner couldn't finish.

Player of the game
Henrik Zetterberg with a four point night.

Final words
5 days until the next game. Can we tighten the D before that?

Game 6: JIMMAH!

2010-10-22T01:20:00.005+02:00

In a sentence
Inconsistent Wings battle and get bailed out by good goaltending to pull out a nice win.

Recap
In the beginning of the first the Wings definitely had pressure and good chances. But then Kindl took a penalty and only luck and Jimmah managed to keep the Flames from scoring. The Flames took over after that and had the pressure for the middle part of the period. With 7-8 minutes left the Wings pushed back a bit, but instead they got scored on. Kindl followed a man back behind the goal and Modano followed behind them. The Flames player passed it to another player behind the net, Salei went after him and that made 3 Wings be trapped behind the net, leaving Västerås-native Mikael Backlund alone in front to score his second NHL goal. Shortly after the Wings scored. Datsyuk and Z had a two-on-one and Pasha fed Z a beauty. But right after that again a broken play ended in front of the goal, where Janik couldn't hold off his guy and Backlund got his second of the night. The Wings pressured after that, but didn't get any goals, despite good chances.

The second started with some good Wings play and they got rewarded with an early power play. After a bad start, they got settled, Pasha deked a guy masterfully and found Nick who scored on a blast of a shot. They of course let the Flames back in the game after that and they got on a PP after a hook by Salei, but the penalty was killed off. After that, the Wings went right back on the PP. It was a weird PP with some good chances, but also some bad play. After that the game evened out for a little, before the Wings got another PP. Again they had some good chances, but no dice. Towards the end of it, Hudler got penalized for a very marginal interference. After a short 4-on-4 the Flip and Muled killed some time in the offensive zone and the rest was killed off too. The rest of the period went fast, with nothing major happening.

The third started with a big Calgary chance, where the Wings got away with one. Then the Wings took over and after seven minutes Mule got the puck at a bad angle. He tried to bank it off Kipper's mask, but it landed on his shoulders, but fell in when he leaned back. Of course the Wings let the Flames go straight to attack after that, but they took a penalty for goalie interference. That was soon negated by a phantom call on Modano. The Flames dominated the 4-on-4 and had good chances. When they started their brief PP Kronner had a terrible turnover and Salei had to knock the net off. The Flames were dangerous both the brief 5-on-3 and on the PP, but some nice plays, luck and some amazing saves kept the lead. Right after the penalty ran out the Wings got a PP and had some chances on it. When that ran out the Flames started pushing to tie it, but instead Bertuzzi stole a puck on his own blue line, raced up ice and roofed it. The Flames seemed to give up after that and didn't even pull their goalie.

Thoughts
- Seriously, I hate the commercials where a company beats down on another.
- Ken sounded like he got aroused when Kronner lost his helmet and looked like an Old time hockey player.
- Janik did not have a good night tonight. He had a good offensive chance though.
- Kronner is looking better again, but had a terrible turnover.
- The refs were very inconsistent.
- Bert silently had himself a great game.
- Filppula had a very good defensive game.

3 things that worked
- Pretty good PP at times. Better movement.
- Jimmah had a good game
- Effective offense.

3 things that didn't work
- Defense still porous and makes big mistakes.
- Can't seem to keep momentum after scoring.
- Inconsistent.

Play of the game
The Eurotwins goal was a beauty.

Player of the game
Jimmy Howard gave the Wings the chance to win this.

Final words
Good win, now let's get it all together a little more before the Duck hunt.

Man (Bradley) Down.

2010-10-18T03:48:00.002+02:00

We all miss you buddy. I have talked to alot of tweeters who misses you. You said you'd be back for the season. Come back dude. I miss you! Kristin misses you, Greg misses you, everyone misses you! This is a pathetic blogpost, but we all miss our dear CorpusCavernosa.

Game 5: Winning again.

2010-10-16T23:18:00.003+02:00

In a sentence
Wings wake up after one and pull out win in overtime.

Recap
The first was quick and boring. The Wings started the best, but then Hudler took a moronic hooking penalty. The Wings killed it off, but even though they got two (very) unsuccessful PPs could make up for the momentum it gave the Coyotes. And on a faceoff with half a minute left, Helm lost it. Nick and Stuart lost their guys AGAIN (WHAT THE FUCKING FUCK? YOU ARE SUPPOSED TO BE OUR BEST DEFENSEMEN GOD DAMN IT! YOU SHOULD NOT DO SHIT LIKE THE LAST TWO GAMES!) and Hanzal scored. 1-0. Not good by Howard either, but most of the blame has to go to the defense.

The second started with some Wings pressure they had control and kept it until Eaves scored off a pass from Pasha. As it turned out Eaves didn't touch it. Pavel's goal. The Wings pressured for a little after that, but then the Coyotes took over. The game was pretty open, but they had a little more pressure and they got 2 PPs which we killed off nicely. With 20 seconds left we got the cheapest PP ever, but couldn't do anything with that time.

The third started on the PP, but it sucked. They didn't get shit done. Instead the Jets dominateed the start of this period. But after 2-3 minutes Winnipeg took a double minor. Except for minute 2 of those 4 minutes the Wings played well, but the chances should have been bigger and they should have scored. After that it went back and forth through the rest of period, with both teams killing off another penalty.

In the Overtime the Jets first took one penalty and the Wings were close to scoring on that one. And then they took another (or they took two, Homer took one) and seven seconds before the end of it Kronner won the game on a point shot and I probably woke every neighbour by screaming yeeaaaahhhhh

Thoughts
- Jiri Hudler, please get hurt or get traded or something. You never had the heart and you never will.
- After a good start Kindl looked much, much weaker in this game. He struggled and also took a dumb penalty.
- Dave Strader might have been good with the Wings, but he is too much of a homer and Tyson Nash is just the biggest homer in the league (other than Bob Errey). Dear ESPNPlayer, I want Ken and Mick!
- Kronner had a much better game and notched his second for the winner.

3 things that worked
- Good bounceback in the second.
- Kept it up in the third.
- VICTORRYYYYY

3 things that didn't work
- Could not take control of the game from the start and gave away another lead in the last minute.
- Didn't win it earlier
- Bad PP effectiveness

Play of the game
The Kronwalls shot that won the game.

Player of the game
I think Todd Bertuzzi was the game's best player. He worked hard and set up a lot of chances.

Final words
A WIN! Drunk Andy is happy!

Pregame 5: Taking Arizona

2010-10-16T19:44:00.005+02:00

We all know what the Wings need to do. They are Mule-less and has only 17 skaters, but let us hope they can play harder and want it more and that they can eliminate some defensive mistakes. Howard starts in the net for the Wings.

The Coyotes have been off for a week since their games in Europe. This is their home opener. This is the game all the Dogs fans have looked forward to. They want revenge. I would imagine the players do too. We ruined their party in the playoffs. We humiliated them in game 7. They want to give us back for that, so look for them to be another team with a little extra motivation to play us extra hard tonight.

I'd advice all of you to do like me and make sure to be drunk before the game, just in case it becomes painful.

Keys to the game
- Need better focus and more energy.
- Stop with the turnovers.
- Stop standing around in the defensive zone.
- TAKE space offensively. Be assertive.
- Test Bryzgalov early and often. He is a great goalie, but will let in softies now and then.
- Look out for Doan's dirty hits.

I hope you're tougher than this in private, Mike

2010-10-15T15:11:00.003+02:00

From Red Wings TV we got this video of the Mule, Mo and Babbles discussing the game last night and Mule's injury.

I said this in last night's recap of the Dallas game and I will say it again. This is not the time for us bloggers, the fans or the media to have a freakout. Yes we are 2-1-1 and we'd obviously love to be better than that, but there are 78 games left. Yeah, losing the Mule for some games would suck cause his line has been great. And the fact Rafa is out for 3-4 week is bad. For every game without him we all notice how much we need him and his breakout passes. However it is better to have those injuries now than in March. Much better.

I'm not gonna freak out about the team being crappy either. The Avs game was bad in many areas. I hoped they would learn from that and play with another level of effort and also eliminate some of the problems they've had in all the games. Last night was unacceptable. That doesn't bother me too much in the long run. There are new defense pairings, lots of switching around, new teammates, new lines, new everything. They will settle in. I am worried about Kronner in general, but he was slightly better last night. What I don't like was the anemic effort.

This Wings team is good enough to not play like that. You know it, I know it and I hope Babbles knows it. In that video he talks about having played hard and having done good things, but not being able to convert and Dallas having a good game (which they did). I think that's a smart strategy by Babbles. This is a little early for him to start chewing out his team in the media. However I do hope that he doesn't believe the crap he told the media. This team needs to focus. They need to play tougher with more energy. They need to eliminate the stupid mistakes. Phoenix WILL play us damn hard and there is no way in hell we wing that game if we play like that. So while I am pleased with what Babs said to the media, I really hope that he gives the guys an earful about focus and effort level at practice today. Be angry, Mike! Drive the point home. Cause you know this team can be better than what they have shown so far.

Game 4: Anemic as fuck

2010-10-15T00:31:00.004+02:00

In a sentence
Anemic Wings get blown out in a pathetic effort in Dallas.

Recap
The first opened with a Dallas attack that drew a penalty. They scored on it very fast on a shot from the point. After that the game was tentative. The Wings had the puck the most, but didn't get any chances. The Stars had some chances, but didn't manage to hit the goal. Their best came off a terrible turnover from Nick. Then the Wings got a nice attack with some chances, but right after that the Stars got another PP. Luckily it was killed off due to good PK and an amazing save by Ozzie. The game continued it's tentative and weird pace after it and no team managed to get anything going. Towards the end, the Wings got two PPs. They got some chances on them, but couldn't keep pressure or get set up and settled down.

The second was UGLY. After just 41 second Nick and Stuart got caught standing around. They didn't stop the guy with the puck, they didn't get the man in front. 2-0. The Wings kinda had the play after that, but got no good chances. Instead the Stars got away with their second hook of the period and seconds later Z coughed it up, Stuart went for the puck carrier, who Nick would have had, made Nick just get shoved out of the play, leaving Stuy's man open. Morrow scored on a weird, broken shot. Then the Wings got two PPs, but got little to nothing out of them. A couple of chances, but they just couldn't set up and settle down. Terrible. They had some chances after the second PP and Hudler hit the post (the Wings' third) with an open net, but instead Stuart didn't manage to take his man AT ALL (FUCKING WEAK) and the Stars scored again. The Stars got another PP to end the period, but luckily didn't score.

The third started with some Wings pressure. Then the Stars pushed back for a bit, but no team had big chances. Midway through the period the Wings got on the PP and at the tail end of it they finally got set up properly. Bertuzzi found Kronner with a nice pass and he made no mistakes. After that the Wings had some more chances, but didn't score. Would have been too little, too late anyway.

Thoughts
- Janik forechecked once. Weeeeird.
- Classy of them to give Mo a standing ovation.
- Mule got hurt on a borderline hit in the first and left the game.
- Kronner with a huge turnover on the PP. He was bad as usual, but not nearly as bad as Stuart. Nick had a bad game too. And Kronner finally scored, which was nice.
- I didn't notice Janik much, which meant he did okay.
- The offense was pretty lame too. Found no space to work on.
- While non of the goals were directly on Ozzie, he did not have a good game.
- Kindl silently had a good game.
- The Wings outshot the Stars badly. Way to not capitalize.
- Credit the Stars with being effective, playing like a team, clogging the neutral zone, not giving up ANY space, being first on loose pucks, being hard on the puck carrier and generally giving the Wings a hard night.

3 things that worked
- Say
- What?
- At least we didn't get shut out.

3 things that didn't work
- Anemic in both ends of the ice.
- Still bad turnovers.
- Terrible power play

Play of the game
The only goal. Bert's pass to Kronner.

Player of the game
Pavel looked like he tried.

Final words
Pityful. Terrible. A waste. A team that plays like this will win no games. Still, no time to panic, but the team has to wake up.

Pregame 4: Mo's going to Dallas

2010-10-14T22:00:00.003+02:00

So, first of all, skip the whole pregame song thing. I didn't like it. Sooo over that haha

The Wings will ice the same lineup as against the Dive, just with Ozzie in goal. Oz was great in Chicago and let's hope the trend continues. We're gonna need him this year. The D needs to tighten up and be tougher, be better and more focused on the defensive side. This especially goes for Niklas Kronwall. Get it together dude, you've been stinking it up so far. Would also be awesome if Doug Janik played like he wasn't Doug Janik. They also need to avoid the bad turnovers and be better at breakout passes. Offensively all is well. They struggled to keep momentum against the Avs, but that was rather because of bad D and bad breakout passes than because of anything else.

Modano is coming home. I expect him to be fired up and deliver in a big way. It would make me laugh like a moron if the Stars fans boo the player that gave them so much and that their GM sent away like trash. If they were smart they'd boo Nieuwendyk (what a name to spell) instead.

The Stars will not only be fired up because of Modano, but also because it's their home opener and they've won their two games so far. But they have won them in a shaky way and this is a team the Wings should be able to beat. However, the Stars always play us damn hard in Dallas, so this will be tough, but if the Wings take the Avs game as a wake up call, then they win this.

Keys to the game
- Better breakout passes
- Less east-west play (Hi, Amanda)
- Ozzie needs to be solid
- Tougher D
- Be hard on Lethonen. Test him early and a lot.
- Avoid Steve Ott. If necessary, treat Ott to a beating (looking at you Mr. Salei, if nothing else, your face can break his hand. NOT looking at you Mr. Dastyuk and ESPECIALLY not at you Mr. Janik).

Game 3: Unneccessary and unacceptable loss

2010-10-13T01:07:00.006+02:00

In a sentence
Wings have Avs on their knees several times, but fails to pull the trigger.

Recap
The Wings started well and had the early edge and after less than three minutes, Bert worked a puck loose on the forecheck and the Mule took it and scored on a nice shot. The Wings fell together after that. The rest of the period was controlled by Colorado who had way too many chances. The Wings had some chances, but it was Colorado's period. The Dive did not score on a PP, but towards the end of the period they scored after a Mondao turnover. It wasn't all Modano's fault though as his backchecking gave the line a chance to clear, but they failed it. The goal was also one of those that would have been called off if it was Homer. They looked better in the last two minutes, but this was a bad period for the Wings.

The second opened much better for the Wings. They got on an early PP and on that PP Z found Pavel with a great shotpass that Pavel redirected in. After that it was pretty open for a while, until Flip took a hooking penalty. We rode the PK off, but the Avs got some momentum. The Wings slowly got into it and on a counter-attack, Mule found Flip in the neutral zone. He took it in and found Mule again with a perfect pass for a 3-1 lead. The Wings dominated the rest of the period and were close to putting the game away. But in the last minute Kindl and Hudler misunderstood each other on an Avs counter-attack and O'Reilly got to walk in and score. Jimmah maybe should've had it.

The Avs dominated the start of the third and got an early PP. Jimmah and the guys luckily killed it off. But right after that Winnik turned Kronwall inside out and scored on a shot Jimmah probably should have had. The Wings got a little more into it, but the refs being the refs they slapped them with another penalty. But on the PK, Lids gave Helm and Eaves a 2-on-1. Helm found Eaves and the Wings took the lead back. They played with it for a while, then Jones got his second of the game and tied it. Janik should have taken him out and Jimmah should have saved it. The game went back and forth after that with a couple of penalties to Colorado (among them a high stick) blatantly ignored by the refs.

Detroit dominated the overtime and should have won it there.

Everyone failed for many rounds in the shootout, until Yip put it away.

This is a game the Wings controlled. And they gave it away with defensive errors, some bad goals on Jimmah and inability to keep momentum.

Thoughts
- Janik got schooled in a fight with McLeod in the first. Embarassing.
- Kronner had two amazing chances in the first, but could not connect.
- The Avs did a great job blocking shots and getting in lanes.
- Eddie O.. Shut the fuck up

3 things that worked
- Got more into it in the 2nd period.
- Scored some goals
- Nothing, fucking nothing

3 things that didn't work
- Way too bad in the first. Let the Avs take over the game easily.
- Too many bad shots into blocks or wide.
- Let them back into it in the third. Shootout fail too

Play of the game
Datsyuk's redirection on the PP was ace.

Player of the game
Mule with 2 goals

Final words
A lot to fix here for the Wings. And the shootout will always be a joke.

NOT blogging about Babcock's signing

2010-10-11T22:01:00.001+02:00

Mike Babcock and his famous death stare were each handed a four year extension today. Click on any blog in my blogroll and you will find a well written, nice blog about it. So I won't blog about it. You get something better. Me blogging about not blogging about it. And I think I've done enough, so I am gonna stop blogging about not blogging about it and go back to just not blogging about it.

Chidenfreude: Chicago Blackhaws - I disappear

2010-10-10T23:26:00.001+02:00

So, I made this little tribute to all the players that left the Hawks this summer. The lyrics of the chorus just fits so smoothly. And if you, like me, get sick of seeing Hawks players do good things, then remember where they all ended up.

Game 2: Banner razed

2010-10-10T01:48:00.007+02:00

In a sentence
Detroit comes into Chicago and ruins banner raising night in a tight, hard-fought game.

Recap
After a lenghty, sickening ceremony the Hawks came out flying as expected on the first shift and got some chances. The Wings took it back though after a minute and had slightly more pressure and better chances during the first part of the period. After the first commercial break the Hawks took over a bit, but then after the next break it evened out. Then Bert fed Mule a pass and he found Flip all alone in front of the net. Easy goal for Val. The Hawks bit back though and controlled the rest of the period. Ozzie had to make a great save on Kane and Eaves made a huge block. Then towards the end of the period Salei took a dumb penalty and on the PP the Hawks scored with three seconds left of the period. Tie game.

Early in the second Stuart bounced a shot intentionally off the boards and Tuzz was in the right place and tipped it in. But the Hawks answered with immediate pressure and scored on a shot that went off Salei. After that the Hawks pressured a little, but the Wings fought back and got a PP. It looked nice, but got no goals. They kept momentum for a little after that before Pirri stumbled in a battle with Rafa and Rafa got a cheaaaap penalty. The kill was good though. After that the game went back and forth with big chances in both ends, but the Hawks got the biggest ones. In the last couple of minutes the Wings had a PP, but it looked very bad and the short span after the PP was dominated by Chicago.

The third started with Detroit in the driver's seat and after a few minutes they got a power play. Towards the end of it a Chicago D lost an edge, Flip got past him and lost the puck. Luckily he lost it so it bounced into the net! Shortly after Kronner took a dumb penalty on a late hit, but it was nicely killed. Same went for a Kindl penalty shortly after. A lot of sticks in lanes and blocks. The Hawks continued to pressure and Bert stupidly gave them a third chance, but the Wings killed that too and withstood the pressure. VICTORY!

Thoughts
- The banner raising ceremony was long and sickening. I feel violated. Let's never mention it again.
- Kindl looked better than E has done in a long time.
- I hate CSN Chicago. So terribly bad.
- Ozzie wasn't to blame for any of the goals. He played well.
- Damn it felt good to beat Chicago!

3 things that worked
- Good goaltending. Ozzie did good.
- Nice, potent offense.
- Did a nice job keeping the lead in the third.

3 things that didn't work
- Too many turnovers
- Inability to sustain momentum, especially after scoring.
- Gave up too many big chances

Play of the game
The first goal was a badass pass from Mule to Flip.

Player of the game
Flipper had two goals including the game winner, so he gets it. Eaves and Ozzie impressed too.

Final words
SUCK IT CHICAGO!

Pregame 2: We loathe the Hawks and we'll always loathe the Hawks...

2010-10-09T19:24:00.004+02:00

The two teams meeting tonight started the season in the most different of manners. The Wings outplayed the Ducks for an easy victory, while the Hawks were outplayed by the Avs, crawled back into the game, but lost in overtime on Turco's second blunder of the night. But tonight is different, tonight they start from scratch again.

The Hawks want to win this. They want it badly, do not doubt that. They raise the banner, they have their opener in front of their home crowd and they have lots to prove. They have to prove that the first game was a fluke. They have to prove that they didn't lose too much talent to succeed this summer. They have to prove that they still can compete with big brother. The Hawks will play hard tonight. And their team has quality players. Guys like Kane and Toews will undoubtedly capitalize if we give them chances as stupid as those we gave the Ducks last night. And Keith and Seabrook will make life much harder for the circus. However, if you watched the Hawks opener against the Avs, you could see them struggle to sustain momentum because their bottom two lines are weak. The Wings bottom two lines rock. This could be exploited. And with Turco in net, there is always a chance for something crazy to happen. But know this, the Hawks will be amped for tonight, and that will either turn into a strong performance or into them being over-amped and nervous, and thus sucky.

The Wings are amped too. They want to show little brother who's king. They wanna ruin banner night. They need to take the good feeling from last night into this game and play hard. If they can do that and eliminate turnovers, then they win this game. Osgood in goal is a weird decision. I do want him to get games, but against the Hawks? And Jimmah needs to rest in game 2? Well, Oz has reportedly been better in this preseason, so let's hope he can play well tonight. He won't have to steal the game for us, just not lose it for us and I choose to trust Ozzie enough to do that. Kindl is in for E, which should be good too. All in all, this is gonna be an exciting game. It's gonna be hard, but I think the Wings definitely have the edge talent wise.

Keys to the game
- Carry on the good offensive play
- Better PP. Need to capitalize.
- Minimize the defensive mistakes and turnovers.
- Hunt for and victimize the Hawks' weaknesses.
- Who can be better? Or less bad? Turco or Ozzie
- Feed upon their fans' minority complexes and "Detroit sucks"-chants and show them who's the real team here.

Motivational song
The third line should be changed to "we won't care about the Hawks this year".

Game 1: Homecoming hero, Gordie Howe hat trick and shutout

2010-10-09T02:20:00.003+02:00

In a sentence
Modano scores in his Wings debut and Pavel Datsyuk notches a Howe hat trick as the Wings open the season with a dominant win.

Recap
The Wings came out flying in the first and played very well. They had the pressure and after about five minutes Mule had a nice give and go with Flipper and buried a nice shot from the sideboards. Less than a minute later Stuy held a puck in, Cleary worked hard and gave it to Modano who scored his first as a Red Wing on a nice shot. After that the game opened up a bit, but the Wings retained the control and got a PP right before the midway point of the first. They got a few nice chances on it, but no sustained pressure. The rest of the period was controlled by the Wings, but the Ducks had some dangerous rushes. Luckily Jimmah stood tall on those.

The second period started with a couple of good Anaheim minutes, then became pretty open. A few minutes in Z took a point shot intentionally wide and Pasha redirected it in masterfully. After that the Ducks came on strong and got some good chances, but Jimmah was good. And the Wings got some good chances the other way too. Despite some sloppy mistakes, the Wings had control. In the second half of the period Homer got tired of constantly being harassed by Fuckface Getzlaf and Dickwad Perry and picked up a misconduct for 10 mins. Same went to Perry. In the scrum Sutton and Salei half-fought and got a minor each. Towards the end of the period Pasha found Buckets with a nice pass and Cleary got his own rebound in with his body. The net was off, and everyone expected it to be waved off, which it initially was, but apparently the net wasn't completely off when it crossed the line, so it was "a good hockey goal." After that Ryan got two chances off bad turnovers, but Jimmah saved both.

The third period started with Wings pressure. Cleary hit a post and Pavel had a great chances. Then the Wings got an even better chance on a delayed call, but Hiller saved. After the whistle had gone a scrum broke out and Pavel fought Perry and kicked his ass for his first career Gordie Howe hat trick. Getzlaf and Z also picked up offsetting minors. The PP was decent, but didn't score. Right after the power play Parros tried to go with someone and picked up a minor and a 10 minute misconduct. The PP looked better this time, but got no closer than the post. The Wings dominated the period and the Ducks got dirtier and dirtier and chippier and chippier. At the end of that PP Homer took a penalty, but it was killed nicely. Then with 4 minutes left Stuart went with Brookbank on another delayed call. The ensuing PP soon became a 5-on-3 and then an extended one, but the Wings rolled all their lines and though they had chances it stayed 4-0.

Thoughts
- Look at that, I hate Anaheim this year too.
- Jonas Hiller has a badass mask.
- Getlaf tried to goon it up. As always. Hate that douchebag.
- E getting deep in the zone scares me.
- I hate Perry too.
- E got back spasms. I might be evil, but I hope they continue, so Kindl can take his spot.
- The Wings proved they don't need any no-talent enforcers.
- The Ducks are such ugly, chippy bastards.

3 things that worked
- Had a very nice, offensive start and got holes on Hiller early.
- Good offense. Potent shooting.
- Howard was great. SHUTOUT!

3 things that didn't work
- The rush defense needs to be better, need more responsible play.
- Too many bad mistakes and turnovers.
- Gave the Ducks too many chances that a better team would punish them for.

Play of the game
How can you go with anything else than Modano's goal in the first period of his debut.

Player of the game
How can one resist Datsyuk after his Howe hat trick? So it's him. Jimmah and Cleary were awesome too.

Final words
It's on bitches!

Pavel's fight. Thanks to Kukla for finding the video:

Today's game song

2010-10-09T00:19:00.001+02:00

The pregames will from now on have a song in them that is somewhat motivational or ties up to the game in some way. Since I came up with this AFTER writing today's pregame, I present today's song in its own post. This song is especially relevant for Modano, but really for the entire Wings team today. Doesn't hurt that it's a fucking great song too...

Pre-game- The poultry is coming to town

2010-10-08T18:58:00.002+02:00

So, new season, new expectations, new hopes. I could write a page or five of cliches here, but let's get down to buisness. We're opening the season against the Ducks today and we're all fucking excited. The Wings are lacking Drapes and Abby today and Bert is questionable, but will probably play. Anyway, our team looks strong. It looks good. We've got Jimmah, we've got a solid D-corps, even though E is still out there and the pairings are changed up, we've got the circus, we've got a rad second line and the third line looks scary. Even the fourth line looks fucking great. What can stop us?

Hopefully not the Poultry. They lost Niedermayer in the off season and their defensive corps looks really weak this year. Like, terribly weak. Their team struggled last year, so most experts pick them to struggle this year. But we know it's not gonna be that easy. They still have an elite group of top forwards and Hiller's gonna stand on his head in the crease. And most of all they play us hard. They play us dirty. Getting a win against Anaheim is never ever easy. Escaping the game without injuries is even harder. Somehow the Wings need to do both tonight. And they should be pumped to do it on opening night. So let's go out there and get a good start to the season boys!

Keys to the game
- I look forward to the reception Modano will get when he enters the ice.
- Jimmah needs a good game.
- Shut down the Getzlaf line.
- Exploit their defensive holes.
- Get a hole in Hiller early.
- Don't get caught up in a chippy game with lots of rough stuff. Don't retaliate. That's what the Ducks want. Let them do the dumb stuff and take the dumb penalties.

Season preview - the rest

2010-10-07T00:01:00.003+02:00

This will be nice and snappy seeing as I am running out of time.

Darren Helm
Helm is the leader of the fourth line in my eyes. He comes off a season where he managed to keep the energy level up for a whole year, played well, killed penalties like a mofo and burned more breakaways than anyone else. This year, I think that much will be the same. He will get a little less ice time seeing as the team will be healthier, but he will continue to do what Helm does. People are becoming increasingly aware of his speed, but I think he will still be effective. On a line with Abs and a rotation of Eaves, Miller and Draper, Helm gets to be the speedy energetic one and I am sure he will score a few with a little better finishing skills than last year and set up Eaves nicely for quite a few goals.

Prediction
80 GP, 12 G, 16 A, 28 pts, .35 PPG

Justin Abdelkader
Abs showed a lot of grit in the parts of last season that he got in Detroit. He grinded hard, killed penalties and hit a lot of guys. He is tough to play against. He agitates. He is a bit like Kirk Maltby. Except the fact that he fights now and then. We have yet to see the offensive talents he has shown on lower levels, but I expect him to a little, but not a lot better on that front this year.

Prediction 75 GP, 3 G, 9 A, 12 Pts, .16 PPG

Patrick Eaves
Even though I had higher expectations of Eaves than most other people last year, he still was a pleasant surprise. He has struggled a bit in camp, but I think Eaves will get a lot of playing time and give us a lot of good things. He will work, hard grind, be good in the corners and unleash his shot a little more this season. I also expect him to be as stellar on the kill as he was last year.

Prediction 67 GP, 15 G, 12 A, 27 Pts, .40 PPG

Drew Miller
Miller was a total surprise after having been picked up on waivers last year. He scored some pretty goals, but most of all he showed us some hard play and good grinding. He was good on the PK too. I expect more of that this season.

Prediction 41 GP, 5 G, 9 A, 14 Pts, .34 PPG

Kris Draper
Draper is Draper. Still fast, still works hard, still a good grinder. But he is older, he is less effective and will get a diminished role this year. But when he plays he will be a good leadership influence and strenghten the PK. And in the playoffs he will get more ice time. Bank on it.

Prediction 34 GP, 1 G, 5 A, 6 Pts, .18 PPG

Tomas Tatar
Skilled guy, showed a lot of hustle in the pre-season. I think he will be rewarded with a couple of games and do decently in them.

Prediction 3 GP, 0 G, 1 A, 1 Pt, .33 PPG

That's it. Let's go Red Wings!

25:19 break - NHL app and more

2010-10-06T01:44:00.003+02:00

Sorry for the silence. Just haven't been inspired lately. But that will change soon. Tomorrow I hope to have another post out that quickly goes over the rest of the lineup and completes my picks for the prediction contest. And once the season starts I will be here with previews, recaps and other fun stuff. Look forward too it.

25:19 has been gone for 2 weeks now. I know there is like 11 weeks left or so of it, but right now I have no ideas and I don't wanna force it and write boring lists. I love the concept, so I am gonna let it rest for a few weeks and then get back with a few more. Okay?

Last of all: Our mate Michael Gorman, also known as Crater from SoCal over at A2Y and @craterburnsyou on Twitter has written an Android app called NHL Feeds. I have used it for a few weeks now and I find it very useful for checking news when I am away from my computer. It lets you pick a team and then you see all news and links posted on Twitter regarding that team. It's fast, it's nifty, it's free and it is written by a fellow member of the 19, so get into the Market, search for "Michael Gorman" and you will find it.

An introduction to the Norwegian Elite League - part 3

2010-09-23T07:21:00.005+02:00

Click for part 1 and part 2.

Storhamar Dragons

Logo

Jersey

History
Storhamar was founded in 1957. They enjoyed a great period from the mid 90s until 2-3 years ago, but have faded the last 2 years. They won the Norwegian Championship in 95,96,97,00,04 and 08. They won the league in 92/93, 93/94, 94/95, 95/96, 00/01, 03/04 and 05/06.

Last season
They finished 8th and lost to Vålerenga in the semis 1-4.

Arena
Hamar OL-Amfi (Hamar Olympic Amphitheatre) was built in 1992 for the 1994 Winter Olympics. It seats 6 091 people. The arena is very beautiful and the facilities are great. Nothing bad to say about it, except that it gets empty and big at times.

Location
Storhamar are from Hamar, a city 2 hours North of Oslo, by the shore of Norway's biggest lake, Mjøsa.

Location in Norway (green dot):

Key personell
They have a no-name goalie staff and defense. The forwards are lead by veterans Pål Johnsen and Eirik Skadsdammen. Both have national team experience, but Johnsen is over the top and Skadsdammen is in the second tier of Norwegian players. Goalie Robert Hestmann and winger Joakim Jensen both have great talent, but have never really panned out.

Overview
This team is much weaker than in their glory years. They have no really great players and the team isn't deep enough either. Nevertheless, they're not terrible and I think they will finish seventh and lose in the first round.

Lørenskog

Logo

Jersey

History
Lørenskog was founded in 1963. They have never won anything and usually been up and down between the Elite league and division one.

Last season
They finished 4th and lost 4-1 to Storhamar in the quarters.

Arena
Lørenskog ishall was built in 1984 and takes 1 350 people. It is decent, with decent facilities, but is and looks kinda cheap and simple.

Location
Lørenskog is a suburb right outside the Northeastern borders of Oslo. My band rehearses there.

Location in greater Oslo (red pin):

Key personell
The veteran goalie Tommy Lund guards the goal. He is probably among the weaker starters in the league. The defense has a lot of decent guys, the most notable is National team captain and former German league star Tommy Jakobsen. Among the forwards they are stacked. Knut Henrik Spets, Mats Frøshaug, Lars Erik Spets, Kenneth Larsen and Anders Fredriksen all have quite a bit of national team experience. Mats Frøshaug is a Canucks draft pick and a former teammate of mine, but he has yet to really pan out.

Overview
The team has pumped a lot of money into this year. They have stolen lots of players and the coach from Vålerenga and they look stacked. I think they have the strongest lineup in the league and that they will win the league, but lose in the semis.

Vålerenga

Logo

Jersey

History
The club Vålerenga was founded in 1913, but they didn't take up hockey until the late 1950s. Since then they have dominated Norwegian hockey. They became Norwegian champions the following 26 times: 1960, 1962-3, 1965-71, 1973, 1982, 1985, 1987-8, 1991-3, 1998-9, 2001, 2003, 2005-7 and won the league the following 26 times: 1962-71, 1980, 1982, 1985, 1988, 1991-4, 1996, 1998-2000, 2002-3, 2005, 2007, 2009.

It should be said. This team is Norway's most popular hockey team. Their football team is the most popular football team. Everyone in Oslo with no ties to another team roots for them. They are my team's rivals and were the only team that could compete with us in my age group. They are arrogant, they have a horrible macho culture inside the club, would rather take players from other clubs than develop themselves and always have a lot of money (by Norwegian standards) and get bailed out by investors every time (often) they almost go bankrupt cause they don't understand economy. I hate them with all my heart and soul.

Last season
They won the league, but lost the finals to Stavanger 2-4.

Arena
Jordal Amfi taked 4 450 people and was built for the 1952 winter Olympics in Oslo. It got a roof in 1971. It is old and weird. The stands are very steep. It is assymetric. It gets a lot of critisism for being old, but the facilities for players are nice. There are few facilities for the fans, but it is very intimate and loud and very special. People want a new arena, but I like it and hope it stays. Oh, and it is a five minute walk from where I live.

Location
Vålerenga is a part of Oslo on the inner East side. It is a traditional working class part of the city, but has been shined up lately and a lot of young people live here, including, ironically since I hate the team, me. It's a very cozy part of the city.

Location in Oslo (green dot):

Key personell
The most famous guy in the organization is Norway's best hockey player ever, former Djurgården, Mighty Ducks and Blue Jackets great Espen Knutsen. He is the team's coach. Among the player, Patrick des Rochers, the team's goalie is the key player. The former Coyotes first round pick (1998, 14th overall) who has 11 NHL games for Phoenix and Carolina is arguably the league's best goalie. The defense is lead by veteran team Norway defenseman Lars Erik Lund. Up front the team is stacked with young Norwegian talent, while the experience is provided by new American aquisition Mark McCutcheon (has AHL experience), and Canadian former Caps pick (few AHL games) Blake Evans.

I know guys on each team in the league, but defenseman Anders Hilt Jørgensen is the one I know the best. He grew up 3 doors from me and his mom is married to my mom's cousin (not his father though). We went to school together and were good friends for a while. He's not very talented, but has enough skill to be a decent 5th-6th defenseman in the league due to good hockey sense and most of all, enormous amounts of will.

Overview
This team SUCKS with economy. They used way too much money the last few years and now they have to pay. Lørenskog raided their roster and their team is their weakest in many years. Still, they have a good, talented team and with support og a large fanbase they should do well enough to place fourth and then lose in the finals.

An introduction to the Norwegian Elite League - part 2

2010-09-23T06:02:00.006+02:00

Click here for part 1.

Sparta Warriors (the club is really named Sparta Sarpsborg

Logo

Jersey

History
Sparta was founded in 1958. They won the Norwegian Championships in 1984 and 1989. In 1995 they went bankrupt and got relegated to level 3, but were back in the elite league just 2 years later.

Last season
Sparta finished second in the league and lost 2-4 in the semis to Stavanger.

Arena
Sparta Amfi was built in 1963 and became Norway's first indoor hockey arena. The building is old and the facilities are pretty run down and the dressing rooms are shitty. The arena itself is dark and cavernous and has a capacity of 3 450 people. As bad as the arena is, it is often full and when the crowd is rocking it is LOUD. It's probably the hardest road arena to play in.

Location
Sarpsborg is a city in the county Østfold. It is 50 mins or so East of Oslo, towards the Swedish border.

This pic shows its location in the Southern half of Norway (green dot):

Key personell
Defenseman Mat Robinson who has NCAA and AHL experience looks like a very exciting addition before this season. The same does 21 year old Alaska product Dion Knelsen (FW). But the two key players for the team are forward Henrik Malmström, a swede with a lot of experience from the Swedish Elite league, and team captain Jonas Andersen. Andersen is an experienced forward with some national team experience and some experience from Sweden.

Overview
Sparta has a team with a mix of good young players and some experienced veterans. It's not the team with the most star power, but they have a very deep team and are hard to play against. Sarpsborg has hockey as its number one sport and lately hockey has become extremely popular there. They even call themselves Hockeytown (ugh). And with a good team and a good home crowd, this will be a team to be reckoned with. I think they will finish third in the league and then win the championship.

Stavanger Oilers

Logo

Jersey

History
Stavanger Oilers was founded by Finnish expats in 2000 and was promoted to the Elite League a couple of years later. They won their first Norwegian championship in 2010.

Last season
They finished third in the league and won the Norwegian Championship.

Arena
Siddishallen takes 3 100 people and was built in 1968. It's an old arena, but it has decent facilities and has been shined up lately, so it's a pretty nice arena. Nothing special, but nice enough.

Location
Stavanger is a city on the Southwestern coast of Norway. It's a pretty nice city and it is the oil capital of Norway.

Location in Norway (green dot):

Key personell
Finnish goalie Antti Ore is a key reason for their recent success. Defensively, Norwegian national team player Juha Kaunismäki is the anchor. Henrik Solberg also has some nation team time. Former UMass, Griffins and Springfield defenseman Cleve Kinley is an exciting addition too. Up front Lars-Peder Nagell, Snorre Hallem and Marius Trygg are both veterans with national team experience. Peter Lorentzen is on the national team now and is a key forward. Several Swedish and Finnish forwards round out the pack.

Overview
This team has a few very good Norwegian players and then a good crop of foreigners. Ex-national team player and coach Petter Thoresen coaches them well and there is no doubt that this is one of the country's better teams. I predict a second place finish and then a loss in the semifinals.

Rosenborg

Logo

Jersey

History
Rosenborg is mostly known as Norway's best football club. The hockey team was founded in 1934, but always lived in the shadow of city rival Trondheim IK. When TIK went bankrupt a couple of years ago it opened the door for Rosenborg, who was promoted to the elite league this year.

Last season
They won the division 1 comfortably and got promoted after placing second in the promotion/relegation playoffs.

Arena
Leangen ishall was built in 1977 and takes 3 000 people. I have never been there, so I know nothing about it really.

Location
Rosenborg is from Norway's third biggest city, Trondheim, which is in the middle of the country, by the coast.

Location in the country (green dot):

Key personell
In goal they have young national team backup Ruben Smith. He's a pretty good goalie (and a nice guy). On defense, young Lars Petter Mengshoel will be a key player. I remember playing against him as a youngster and the kid is good. Offensively Inge Stokvik has always been the club's big player, but now he has help from former University of Vermont product (and Detroit Little Ceasars product) Colin Vock and former Hamilton Bulldog Ilya Dubkov.

Overview
The team has been strengthened a little since last year, but their roster remains to thin and full of young, inexperienced player. The fact that David Brodawski, a guy who played one year above me for the same team as me, makes the team scares me. I predict that they finish last, but survive the relegation round.

Stjernen (means The Star)

Logo

Jersey

History
The team was founded in 1960. They became Norwegian Champions in 1981 and 1986. They won the league in 1986/87.

Last season
Stjernen finished 6th and lost to arch rivals Sparta 2-4 in the quarters.

Arena
Stjernehallen was built in 1970 and takes 2 473 people. It's a bit old, but it is nice enough and has decent facilities, even though the dressing rooms are a bit cramped. This is the arena where my team won the Norwegian Championship in my age group (15 year olds) in 2003.

Location
Stjernen are from Fredrikstad, a city in Østfold, 50 minutes East of Oslo, towards Sweden. The city is almost grown together with Sparta's hometown Sarpsborg.

Location in Southern Norway (green dot):

Key personell
The team has National team starter (and plumber) Pål Grotnes in goal. On defense they have no big names, though Alex Syversen, ex-teammate, is an asshole. Henric Höglund and Elias Godoy leads the team offensively.

Overview
The team doesn't have too many big names, but the team is deep and filled with pretty good players. I think they will finish 5th and lose in the first round.

An introduction to the Norwegian Elite League - part 1

2010-09-22T14:13:00.008+02:00

So, the first pre-season game is tonight, but I dunno if we even get to see it. And frankly, as nice as it is to see the guys on ice again and stuff.. well frankly my dear, I don't give a damn. Now, that's a lie. I just wanted to say that, but honestly, all this pre-season stuff doesn't interest me way too much. So no preview for this one. Instead I thought I would introduce you to the Norwegian Elite League and its teams, seeing as it started this Sunday. Now, I don't follow the league way too closely, but I follow it closely enough to give you guys the general idea.

First of all: This is a bush league. It has second rate Norwegians for the most part, together with third and fourth rate Swedes, Czechs and Americans.

Second of all, the format: The league consists of ten teams (though last year, one team had to drop out after a month due to bankruptcy.. yes.. seriously). Each team faces the other teams five times each, for a total of 45 games. The top 8 teams make the playoffs. The number one seed gets to pick which one of the four lower seed they get in the quarterfinals. Then number two picks and so on and so on. This is total bullshit, and last year it lead to my team (the 7th seed) having to take on the first seed, because the first seed wanted to avoid travel. So we got a harder opponent than we had deserved by our play during the regular season. Total bullshit. The quarters are best of seven. Then it's on to the semis, with the same picking system. The semis and the finals are best of seven. The two last teams enter relegation play with the top two teams from division one. This is a round-robbin thingy where the two best teams play in the Elite league the next yeat and the two others go to division one.

Now.. onto the teams:

Frisk Tigers (the club is really named Frisk/Asker though)

Logo

Jersey

History
The club was founded in 1922. They became Norwegian Champions in 75, 79 and 02. They won the league in 73/74, 75/76, 76/77, 77/78 and 07/08.

Last season
The team finished 9th (dead last), but survived the relegation tournament.

Arena
Askerhallen, has an official capacity of 1342 seated places plus 1058 standing places, but they've had as many as 3200 people in there. It's an old and kinda run down arena with cramped locker rooms. It's never a fun place to play, but when it's full and the crowd is rocking, it's loud, it's rowdy and the whole building shakes. Not a fun place to play an away game.

Location
Asker is a suburb west of Oslo, a 20 minute drive from the city limits.

This map shows its location in Norway (marked with a black dot):

And here is its location in greater Oslo (green dot):

Key personell
Frisk is probably the team with the two most famous players in the Norwegian Elite League. The biggest name for Norwegians, and maybe also for Wings fans is ex-Red Wing, Avs, Isles, Bruin and cocaine fuckup, defenseman Anders Myrvold. Myrvold was aquired from Stjernen before the season and they expect him to play a key role as maybe the teams top defenseman. If he is on form, he is a smart, experienced and physical defenseman, but seeing as he is yet again having off ice trouble with the law, it's hard to say how well it will go.

The biggest name internationally, is Rene Corbet, who has 362 NHL games for 4 different clubs. You might remember him as the guy both scored and fought in the Fight Night. He was aquired from Germany in the middle of last season and helped a team that almost exlusively lost, get more competetive. He might be old and not what he once was, but in this league he is still an effective player.

Another name worth noticing is the 22 year old captain Henrik Ødegaard. They this skilled defenseman captain before last season and see him as their leader for the future. He's a good player and a nice guy who gave us opposing forwards a lot of grief when we were younger.

It is also worth noting that even though forward Fredrik Rålm is a year younger than me, we were teammates for a lot of years.

Overview
After a very successful 07/08 season, they lost their top three scorers, the Canadian Abbott brothers and Mats Zuccarello Aasen to the Swedish league. That lead to two weak seasons and though they have now beefed up a bit with Corbet and Myrvold, they are still a team full of young no-name players who need more experience. They will fight hard for a playoff spot, but due to my own homerific tendencies I think they will finish 9th.

Lillehammer IK

Logo

Jersey

History
The club was founded in 1957. Their only Norwegian championship came in 1994.

Last season
Lillehammer finished 5th in the league and lost 2-4 in the first round to Stavanger.

Arena
Kristins Hall, built in 1988, takes 3 194 people. It's a pretty nice arena, nothing flashy, but nice and comfortable, both for the fans and the players. It also has a curling rink. Ironically enough, Norway's maybe nicest arena, Håkons Hall, is it's next door neighboor, but it is too expensive to use.

And just for shits and giggles, it's neighboor, Håkons Hall (capacity 11 500):

Location
Lillehammer, known for having hosted the 1994 Olympics, is located about 3 hours North of Oslo, by Norway's biggest lake, Mjøsa. Very pretty city actually.

Location in Norway:

Key personel
The team has lost a lot of key players and is mostly filled with no names, but American Gino Guyer (FW) and Canadians Evan Chevrie (FW) and Scot Hotham (D) have some AHL experience on their resumes. Canadian goalie Jonathan Boutin has played for an impressive amount of AHL clubs, despite only being 25 years old. Defenseman Justin Bostrom has experience from the University of Minnesota and was one of the top scorers for my team, Manglerud Star, last year.

Overview
This team always has a core of good young players, due to their junior team being linked to one of Norway's too Ice Hockey high schools (the other is Frisk's). They have lost some good players, but also loaded up with a few new foreign players, but I fear that their team will be mediocre yet again this year, with too little experience to match up against the best. A 6th place and first round exit is my guess.

Manglerud Star

Logo

Jersey

History
The club was founded in 1913. They have never won the league, but won the Norwegian Championship in 77 and 78. The jersey's are actually due to mistakenly recieving jerseys meant for the Minnesota North Stars as training jerseys back in the 70s and since then the design has been more or less inspired by that franchise. Yes, they are ugly, but I donned that jersey myself for 10 years, so I love it.

Last Season
Manglerud Star (often called M/S), finished 7th, but lost 1-4 to Vålerenga in the first round.

Arena
Manglerudhallen was built in 1979. When I played there it took less than 1000 people and was a shithole. The dressing rooms in the arena had no showers and were only for use during intermissions. You had to walk 50 meters outside to get to the clubhouse, which had a few, small, shitty dressing rooms. It was cold, old and bad. In 2004 it finally got rebuilt and now it's a pretty nice, comfortable and modern arena with a capacity of 2000 people. Of course I retired right when the building was about to be finished, so I never got to play in the new arena.

Found no images of the arena.

Location
Manglerud is a suburb in Eastern Oslo (see the Norway map under Frisk Asker to find Oslo).

Location in Oslo (blue dot):

Key personel
This is an incredibly young team with no real big names. Captain Peter Andersen is a huge forward who is slow, but has good hands and who scores a lot. Otherwise, a fair bit of talent, but no real profiles. Forward Jonas Moen was my classmate for 3 years.

Overview
The team always excels in the younger age classes. My team won the league every year and we got a Norwegian championship and a silver in our age group. But due to bad economy, leadership and results, the best players have always ended up in other clubs. This year they ice the league's youngest team, with an average age of 22. They have no experience, but a lot of talent and I hope for an 8th place finish and first round exit.

The next part will come soon

25:19 week 8: Disappointments, arena names, Datsyuk and more

2010-09-22T00:09:00.003+02:00

Welcome to 25:19, a feature that will run every Tuesday for 19 (duh!) weeks. Every week I will make 5 (Nick) lists, with 5 (number of rings Nick will retire with) points on each list. Thus having 25 (DMac) points in total every week. The lists will be random hockey stuff, some rankings, other in random order. Some will be opinions, others humour. I will leave it to you judge what is what. Hopefully you will find it entertaining and/or provoking enough to leave your ideas on things I missed and what I did wrong in the comments.

1. Five teams that will disappoint this season
- Chicago: Will disappoint us by being decent and making the playoffs, and their fans by not being near a division title or a cup.
- Tampa Bay: High expectations and a lot of new faces, but still not enough depth.
- New York Rangers: Cause they always do.
- Toronto: No, this is not a playoff team.
- Sharks: No cup this year either.

2. Five reasons I've missed hockey
- I miss seeing my team win.
- I miss the goal horn
- I miss the speed and intensity
- I miss the sounds of the game.
- I miss the huge hits.

3. Five companies that should buy arena naming rights
- Red Bull Center, in New Jersey, cause let's face it, you need ten of those to stay awake during a Devils game.
- Fisherman's friend Pavillion, in San Jose, yeah kinda lame, but uh..
- Progressive Center, in Montreal, cause you're gonna need car insurance if you park outside for a playoff game.
- Bud Lite Center and Miller Lite Center, in Pittsburgh and Chicago, cause the teams are as overhyped as the products.
- Prozac Place, in Edmonton, cause their fans need it.

4. Five amazing old player nicknames
- "One Eyed" Frank McGee (Ottawa Silver Seven 1903-1906)
- Georges "The Tabasco Kid" Poulin (Montreal Canadiens 1909-1917)
- Georges "The Chicoutimi Cucumber" Vezina (Montreal Canadiens 1910-1926)
- Goldie "The Cinnamon Bearcat" Prodger (Various teams 1909-1925)
- Ace "Major Hoople of Bracebridge" Bailey (Toronto Maple Leafs 1926-1933(

5. Five Pavel Datsyuk clips that will make you smile and be fired up for the season
- Hey Mike Grier, goodbye Mike Grier
- I can flip it over the net too.
- Who the hell is Tomas Voukoun?
- Maybe the Hawks should have watched this before they signed Turco.
- A real #DanEllisProblem

Eye Candy
Going a different way today

And I heard grey hair is hot..

Nill interview reminder

2010-09-20T08:24:00.003+02:00

As I wrote here Jim Nill is going to do an interview on the Corner Pocket show on WXOU today, Monday, some time between 6 and 8 PM Eastern Time. So remember to tune in to the show which you can find on wxou.org. You can also follow WXOU on twitter @WXOU and the host Matt Pocket @cornerpocket422. Anyway, now I've reminded you. YAY! I remembered something!

Oh and just a quick thing of general notice:
25:19 is for now officially moved to Tuesdays. Fits better into my schedule that way.

Eastern and Western Conference predictions

2010-09-16T23:08:00.002+02:00

Western Conference:
1. Detroit Red Wings
2-14. Who cares?
15. Edmonton Oilers

Eastern Conference:
1-15. Who cares?

WC QFs:
Wings over who cares?
Who cares?
Who cares?
Who cares?

EC QFs:
Who cares?

WC SFs:
Wings over who cares?
Who cares?

EC SFs:
Who cares?

WCFs:
Wings over who cares?

ECFs:
Who cares?

SCFs:
Wings over who cares?

Stanley Cup Champions:
Detroit Red Wings.

Nill interview.

2010-09-16T04:06:00.002+02:00

Nightmare on Helm Street has a lot more on this, but Matt Pocket of WXOU (Oakland University's student radio) sent me an email asking me to tell you about an interview coming up on his show The Corner Pocket, which runs every Monday from 6-8 PM. Jim Nill will be on the show Monday the 20th, so you should all tune in to that.

Season preview - the third line

2010-09-15T21:56:00.003+02:00

Jiri Hudler
Last three years
07/08 - Red Wings - 81 GP, 13 G, 29 A, 42 Pts, +11, 26 PIM
08/09 - Red Wings - 82 GP, 23 G, 24 A, 57 Pts, +7, 16 PIM
09/10 - In Russia with (hooker-) love

Last season
Last season Huds played for Dynamo Moscow. I heard he did pretty well, but who knows how good the KHL is. He apparently also got out of shape, picked up a drinking problem and banged some hookers and avoided getting paid for his service to the club. Sounds like an eventful, nice, little year off.

The upcoming season
Huds left Detroit in a way that fucked us over as bad as he could possibly do. He betrayed us. He did it for the money. This means that he has a lot to prove. He has a room full of teammates and an entire fanbase to win back. Hopefully he is motivated to do so and raring to go. He's gettin a good playmaking center, who also can score some in Mike Modano and a grinder with a scoring touch in Cleary. Together they should be an offensively gifted third line, that should give Huds a chance to pick up a few goals and assists.

What we need
Happy is supposed to be the main offensive force on his line. He's gonna be the one who scores the goals and he's expected to dish a few for his linemates to score too. He's expected to be a creative force on the wing and score 60-70 points for the team. He's gonna get a lot of PP time and is expected to put up quite a few power play points. And in line with the Detroit tradition, hudler needs to take a step up defensivelt this season and learn how to play defense and do it well.

What we will get
I think Hudler will do pretty well. He's got a nice line around him, he should be hungry and should have every opportunity to have the breakout season he was in line for when he bolted to the KHL. He might not live totally up to the lofty goals Babbles have set for him, but I think he'll come pretty close. At least he'd better... If not, look for Huds to be in a different team's jersey some time soon.

Prediction
82 GP, 32 G, 30 A, 62 Pts, .76 PPG

Dan Cleary
Last three years
07/08 - Red Wings - 63 GP, 20 G, 22 A, 42 Pts, +21, 33 PIM
08/09 - Red Wings - 74 GP, 14 G, 26 A, 40 Pts, Even, 46 PIM
09/10 - Red Wings - 64 GP, 15 G, 19 A, 34 Pts, -3, 29 PIM

Last season
Last season was a nightmare for Cleary. He lost time with an injury and struggled producing all year. He seemed uncomfortable when playing on a top line and did his best work as a grinder on the third line. He did have some great games too, like the Flyers game, but for much of the season, he pretty much sucked. He went from a Team Canada candidate to far out of the discussion. As it turns out, the reason for this was a knee injury that made it painful for him to even walk.

The upcoming season
Buckets should be healthy and ready for the season and he should be rested and hungry to show what he is good for. He's on a third line, but a scoring third line, where he is expected to provide the grit and meanness and score a few goals. If the line clicks like it should, this will be a dangerous and complex line and the position should fit Cleary perfectly.

What we need
Cleary is expected to have a bounceback season. He is needed to bang bodies, play gritty forecheck and backcheck hard, win board battles and sacrifice his body for the team. He is also expected to create things offensively and score a few goals. They don't have to be pretty, but we need him to score them. He will also be asked to deliver on the penalty kill.

What we will get
I think Danny will have a strong year and be the gritty force on the third line. He'll find back his ability to score the big goals in ugly ways and be a perfect compliment to the slicker Hudler and Modano on the third line.

Prediction
74 GP, 20 G, 18 A, 38 Pts, .51 PPG

Mike Modano
Last three years
07/08 - Stars - 82 GP, 21 G, 36 A, 57 Pts, -11, 48 PIM
08/09 - Stars - 80 GP, 15 G, 21 A, 36 Pts, -13, 46 PIM
09/10 - Stars - 59 GP, 14 G, 16 A, 30 Pts, -6, 22 PIM

Last season
Last season Modano lost a lot of time to injury and supposedly took a step back. Of course his 30 points in 59 games are much better than his 36 in 80 from the year before, but it is clear that he is not what he once was. However he did play on a really shitty Stars team.

The upcoming season
A fucking American legend is arriving in Hockeytown. Mike Modano, leader among American players in goals, points and basicly every offensive cathegory worth leading, born and raised in Livonia, Michigan, is finishing his extraordinary career by coming home to Hockeytown after 20+ years in the Stars organization. Can you get a more perfect marketing tool than that? Your armhairs are gonna stand like stiff dicks when he gets announced at the home opener. He is ours, he's an American hero and he is finally home. People are gonna get crazy for him, they're gonna celebrate him, but still, we've only got the setup for the perfect movie. The set up is there though. Take everything I've said so far, add a hot celebrity wife, the fact the organization that he served faithfully for 20 years threw him out because he was too old, despite promises that he could finish his career there and that the Wings are seen as too old by everyone, and you can see how this has potential for an ending that makes even the shrewdest Hollywood writer salivate. Modano has to reach that ending though. He could flame out, be poor, be mediocre. He could prove Dallas right. But you can feel pretty damn sure Mike Modano is gonna do his best to prove them wrong. The fact he chose to go on with his ccareer, after the magical last two games last season, after being thrown away by Dallas, shows that he is motivated and raring to go on a team with some of the greatest players on earth. He's gonna get a technical scoring player in Hudler and a grinder with a nose for scoring in Cleary on his line, perfect for a playmaker like Modano.

What we need
We need Modano to be the playmaker on the third line. He has to deliver the puck to Hudler and Cleary, create plays and be the creative force on the line. We need him to put up a good number of assists and a few goals too. Seein as this is the Red Wings, he will be expected to work defensively too and be the main two-way force on the line. As a right handed shot, he will likely be quarterbacking one of the power plays too, likely the second unit, together with Niklas Kronwall.

What we will get
When people look back on Modano in 20 years, there is no doubt that he will be looked at as a Dallas Star first and foremost. The first face of hockey in Texas. The question is if people will remember his stint with the Wings. There's a good chance it will be like Salming's stint with the Wings at the end of his career, mediocre and instantly forgetable. Something people will bring up as difficult trivia or that people will see in his stats and go "oh, that's right! I had totally forgotten about that". There is however also the chance that this will be remembered. A feel good story. The great year Modano had with the Wings when they all thought he was done. It is hard to say, but I think the latter is likely. He's motivated, has the right guys around him and still has a good dose of talent, a well of experience and a great hockey mind. Modano will not only be a great leadership influence and a breath of fresh air for this team, but also a contributor. Look for him to be healthier, play more and deliver more goals and points than the last couple of years. My gut feeling tells me that Modano will exceed expectations during the regular season and then be good and provide a clutch goal or two in the playoffs, completing his career with a storybook ending, skating on the ice with his second Stanley Cup, Detroit's number 12.

Prediction
72 GP, 14 G, 30 A, 44 Pts, .61 PPG

25:19 week 7: Vegas, jobs, scary players and more

2010-09-15T00:46:00.004+02:00

Welcome to 25:19, a feature that will run every Monday for 19 (duh!) weeks. Every week I will make 5 (Nick) lists, with 5 (number of rings Nick will retire with) points on each list. Thus having 25 (DMac) points in total every week. The lists will be random hockey stuff, some rankings, other in random order. Some will be opinions, others humour. I will leave it to you judge what is what. Hopefully you will find it entertaining and/or provoking enough to leave your ideas on things I missed and what I did wrong in the comments.

Sorry for being a day late, but I had no ideas last night.

1. Five awards the NHL should add to the NHL awards
- The Sean Avery Trophy - For bending the rules in the most creative way.
- The Glen Sather's reputation Memorial Trophy - Worst General Manager
- The Claud Lemieux Award - For the biggest cheapshotter of the year.
- The Tyler Conklin Trophy - Best backup goalie performance.
- The Dan Ellis Trophy - Best social media presence.

2. Five ideas for what Wings players would be without hockey
- Pasha - Extravagant gentleman thief who steals big treasures from museums, never gets caught and leaves a note saying "I Dangle You!" as his trademark.
- E - Male model of course
- Hudler - Clown or midget clown at a circus
- Homer - Lumberjack
- Rafa - High school teacher. You know that kind of teacher who tries to be cool and hip, but fails badly.

3. Five reasons why NHL should put an expansion team in Las Vegas
- There are nothing casino guests would rather do than watch a hockey game.
- It would be perfect to attract Free agents that are gamblers, heavy drinkers or addicted to hookers.
- It's in a great traditional hockey climate.
- Gambling on hockey is such a natural and popular thing.
- It's a fucking retarded idea, which means it is perfect for the NHL.

4. Five opposing players that scare the crap out of me
- The Talbot monster - Can not tell you why cause I have forced myself to forget.
- Rick Nash - Not so much these days, but still, he has our number.
- Wojtek Wolski - Owned us in the playoffs.
- Patrick O'Sullivan - What? That guy sucks! Yes he does, but he always kills us.
- Joe Pavelski - Arghhhhhhhh

5. Five plays that make me laugh until I cry even though I have seen them a thousand times
- "Patrick Eaves has one of the better shots on the team, let's see if he uses it."
- ToskaLOL
- Patrick Stefan is clutch
- Let's goooooooooo-oooops
- Heia Sverige!

Eye candy
For those of you who like them big and natural: You're welcome

(Blogger cropped the pic a bit unfortunate. No, there is no nipple in it, so don't be scared/too excited to look)

Eaves fans:

Season preview - the second line

2010-09-09T23:16:00.003+02:00

Haven't been in a writing mood lately and I forgot my notes at work Tuesday, but here I am, back again.

Valtteri Filppula
Last three years
07/08 - Red Wings - 78 GP, 19 G, 17 A, 36 Pts, +16, 28 PIM
08/09 - Red Wings - 80 GP, 12 G, 28 A, 40 Pts, +9, 42 PIM
09/10 - Red Wings - 55 GP, 11 G, 24 A, 35 Pts, -4, 24 PIM

Last season
Last year was a difficult season for Flip. he started off very well on a line with JWils and Leino, but then they faded and in late October, Flip broke his wrist on a nasty late hit from behind against the Oilers. He lost time until after Christmas and was understandably a bit rusty at first when he came back. In the first couple of months after that he first centered a very depleted second line, then an equally weak third line. On both those lines, Flip was the sole playmaker and had to really lead the line offensively and he didn't seem to handle the position that well. He semmed to try to do too much and do everything on his own. Down the stretch he finally got to play wing on Z's line and suddently flourished through the rest of the season. With the pressure of him and another main creative force on the line, he seemed to be more relaxed and accomplished much more. Still, he didn't have a bad year. If we look at his points per game over the last three years he had .46 in 07/08, .50 in 08/09 and .64 last season, so it was his best offensive season per game.

The upcoming season
We've been waiting for Val to have a breakout season for a couple of years, but so far it has aluded him. It's time for him to have that season and live up to the hype, expectations and the money the Wings pay him. We have seen potential from Flipper for years, but he's never broken clean through yet. What better year to finally do it than this year? He's gonna be coupled with Mule and Bert, two guys who can create room and some plays on their own and also two proven goalscoreres who are perfect for a passer like Filppula. So I would be surprise if Flip hasn't seen this year as the year he's gonna take the next step.

What we need
We need Filppula to have a strong showing this year. The second line has potential to be scary. Mule and Bert are two guys who can produce quite a bit and they showed some chemistry together last year in the playoffs. Flip is a guy with loads of potential as a playmaking two-way center. Together this line could be the NHL's scariest second line and better than some teams' first lines. But for that to work we need Flip to be dominant, dish the puck to his wingers and not try to do everything himself. We need him to score a few goals, but most of all to put up a good load of assists. He might get some time on the PP and he will definitely be a key player on the PK and we're gonna need him to be strong in those situations too.

What we will get
I think Flip will find it this year. He's gonna have two high scoring linemates and especially the Mule should make it easy for him to get room, create plays and gather up a buttload of assists. I think that having three scoring lines and playing with two proven linemates also will take some pressure off Flip and that he will be more relaxed on the ice. These elements combined will make Val have a breakout year. Look for him to finally take the step and become a dominant player in both ends of the ice.

Prediction
79 GP, 22 G, 44 A, 66 Pts, .84 PPG

Todd Bertuzzi
Last three years
07/08 - Ducks - 68 GP, 14 G, 26 A, 40 Pts, +8, 97 PIM
08/09 - Flames - 66 GP 15 G, 29 A, 44 Pts, -13, 74 PIM
09/10 - Red Wings - 82 GP, 18 G, 26 A, 44 Pts, -7, 80 PIM

Last season
Todd Bertuzzi had a very strange year with the Wings last season. Early on he was absolutely useless. He took dumb penalties, threw the puck away on weird spin-o-ramas and was useless on all counts. Then, a little while into November, you could see that Bert had gotten into his groove more, bought into the system and started understanding thungs. he took less penalties and you could see him working hard on his defensive game. The positive flow then turned into offensive output as he won games on his own in December and scored a lot in January too. Sadly, his offensive output slowed a but after that and he ended with 18 goals, but he played fairly good for the rest of the season and did very well in the playoffs.

The upcoming season
This season bert has a new deal and I assume he hopes to keep last year's success going, but with a little more consistency. He's getting older, but he stayed healthy last season for the first time in years and should be rested and ready for a new season. He's gonna get a lot of chances to score goals and be the gritty one on this line and playing with the Mule is also nice for a guy who often likes to pass rather than shoot. He's got everything around him in place, he is adjusted to Detroit and the system and he should have a nice season in his sights this year.

What we need
We need Bert to be tough, to work hard, be strong in the corners and work his ass off defensively too. We need him to buy into the system, try and not take too many dumb penalties and to avoid moronic spin-passes. We need him to dare to shoot and to score between 15 and 20 goals.

What we will get
Hard to say with Bert. He might lose his cool and go back to his old ways. He might get hurt. But I think he will build on last season, stay relatively healthy and the line he is on is perfect for him. Look for Bert to have another good season, take another step towards redemption and win his first Stanley Cup.

Prediction
82 GP, 20 G, 28 A, 48 Pts, .59 PPG

Johan Franzén
Last three years
07/08 - Red Wings - 72 GP, 27 G, 11 A, 38 Pts, +12, 51 PIM
08/09 - Red Wings - 71 GP, 34 G, 25 A, 59 Pts, +21, 44 PIM
09/10 - Red Wings - 27 GP, 10 G, 11 A, 21 Pts, +1, 22 PIM

Last season
The Mule got injured in the third game last year and was out until right before the Olympic break. When he came back he played pretty good, but not up to the old Mule standards. In the playoffs he had a point in every game except the last one and lead the league in scoring when the Wings got eliminated. He didn't score much outside of the four goal blowout aginst the Sharks though. He said his knee held him back a lot and that he felt slow and weak because of it.

The upcoming season
Now Johan is heakthy and ready for a bounceback season. His knee is fine and we should see the Franzén of old. He's gonna play on a line with a playmaker and excellent passer in Flip and with a big guy, who passes well and is good at creating havoc in Bert. This should be perfect for a sniper like the Mule. His big body and shot, combined with Bert's size should create a lot of room and this line looks very dangerous.

What we need
We need the Mule to be a big contributor this year. He needs to stay healthy and score between 30 and 40 goals for us. He needs to go into the tough areas, create room and play dominant offensively on the second line. We need him to be Flip's main support as a defensive forward and he's also gonna be counted on for power play production.

What we will get
If the Mule stays healthy he'll deliver. He's gonna get a lot of helo from his linemates and I think we'll see a sharp, ready and motivated Franzén, who's gonna score a ton of goals. He might not be the Avalanche 08-version of himself in every game, but we can expect him to be a dominant performer, delivering exactly what we need on the second line.

Prediction
76 GP, 43 G, 30 A, 73 Pts, .96 PPG

25:19 week 6: Rosby, FSD, signs you are obsessed and more

2010-09-06T20:21:00.004+02:00

Welcome to 25:19, a feature that will run every Monday for 19 (duh!) weeks. Every week I will make 5 (Nick) lists, with 5 (number of rings Nick will retire with) points on each list. Thus having 25 (DMac) points in total every week. The lists will be random hockey stuff, some rankings, other in random order. Some will be opinions, others humour. I will leave it to you judge what is what. Hopefully you will find it entertaining and/or provoking enough to leave your ideas on things I missed and what I did wrong in the comments.

1. Five signs that you're obsessed with hockey
- You remember numbers through jersey numbers and when you hear different numbers, all you can think of are different players.
- You think How I Met Your Mother's Canadian sex metaphor system of blue line, red line and in the crease is much cooler than the baseball metaphors in today's America.
- You can give a decent analysis of Jassen Culimore's career.
- You can name at least one team Mike Sillinger did NOT play for.
- You know you're gonna tune in to the first available pre-season game, even though it's gonna be between two teams you don't care about and they ice 5 regular NHL players in total.

2. Five favourite Rosby moments
- Cindy goes after Z and gets owned by Jimmah.
- Kirk Maltby murders Rosby with a slash... that barely touches him.
- Cindy gets so frustrated with Z, he tries to end his career
- Brad Stuart lets Cindy get to see white lights
- Rosby punches Valabik in the ass.

3. Five reasons the Wings will win the cup this year
- We have a goalie, that is he avoids the slump, can carry a team on his back for stretches of time AND a backup that has won 3 cups and backstopped his team to two more finals.
- We have the world's best defenseman ever and a solid defense corps around him.
- We have four lines where, if they click, the 1st line is the best 1st line in the league, the 2nd line is the best 2nd line and so on.
- We have a coach that has been the best and winningest coach in the league the past decade.
- We are Hockeytown. We always win.

4. Five things I miss about Fox Sports Detroit
- Ken Daniels. I don't know, but the guy is just, safe and warm and hockey for me.
- Mickeyisms. Like bingo bango, or ranting about broken sticks.
- The moment in each broadcast when you realize Murph is truly wasted.
- Murph's rants, like the one about the Canucks logo.
- John Keating. He always messes something up, like "Sidney the kidney". Brilliant.

5. Five players I hate more than I hate Ohio
- Claude the Turtle. I hate that fucker more than I hate the Blackhawks for fuck's sake.
- Cindy Rosby. Class never come at a lower level in a better and more overhyped player.
- Sasquatch. Just look at his ugly mug.
- Patrick Roy. Puke.
- Captain Greybeard Niedermayer. You don't try to kill Pavel Datsyuk without me hating you.

Eye candy
From Norway, Triana Iglesias. You can all thank me later.

I feel that the quote on the picture deserves translation: "It is hard to take Swedish policemen seriously. There's something about the hats they wear.

For the ladies, I don't get either of these two, but I know there are girls who think each are hot, so here it comes, and it would be a shame to not get Meech done before he leaves the team.

300th post ramblings (lockout, cap, Wings pride and more)

2010-09-04T01:31:00.004+02:00

This is my 300th post. I had something big planned. I have no idea what, but I wanted to do something big. Instead I lay here, a few beers in, writing about nothing. Seinfeld was a show about nothing and was pretty damn good wasn't it? Yeah? So I can fucking write my 300th post about nothing. Or everything. Or anything.

Right now I figure there is a 50/50 chance of ever finishing this post. I might decide I don't like it and throw it away. Maybe I have nothing to write, who knows? But I figure flow of conciousness is the way to go here. Like a litteral James Joyce of blogging. James Joyce sucks by the way. Did you like Ulysses? Yeah right, I am sorry, but you're a fucking poser. No one liked Ulysses. People just say it to try and look smart. It's pretentious to like it. No one does. I'm not sure Joyce did either, I bet he either wrote it while on ten different kinds of drugs or he wrote it trying to look smart. It sucks, it's boring, it's pointless, and anyone who claims anything else is a douchebag. I read it cause my parents gave up on it. I wanted to get further than them. I succeeded. Yay me. I got nothing for it. Can I have those hours of my life back?

Where was I? Flow of conciousness. Yes. I will go with that. First thought that comes to mind: My family found this blog. I'm not sure if I like that. The way I write her is different from how I act towards them, which is different from how I act towards my grandparents, which is different from how I act at uni, on twitter etc etc etc. We all have multi-faceted personalities. We all act in specific way towards specific types of people. Which on is me? All of them. And this side of me is a homerific, paranoid, vulgar asshole who feels free to swear like a sailor and curse the refs for penalties a neutral observer would say is correct. This is not family me. Well, to my family, I'm not sure if I want you here, but you claim it is public domain, which is correct, so feel free to stay. Just know I won't change what I write here at all for you. This is the first and last time I adress you and I will continue to pretend you don't read this... wait a second.. dear little brother, the Oilers suck. They are useless. ... back.. okay done.

First of all, I am gonna be honest here. The lockout talk is pissing me the fuck off. It is two year removed. The NHL and the NHLPA just made progress. Why worry now? We have a great season ahead of us and we should focus on that, not a potential lockout in 2012. Let's worry about it if it happens. I think it won't, but I see that it can happen. What I am trying to say is, stop the negativity! This is out of your control. If it happens, then it happens. Enjoy the hockey we are about to enjoy instead! Seriously people, we are about to be presented with thousands of hours of really fucking compelling games on the highest of all high levels. Focus on that! Not a potential lockout. I'm not scared. If it happens, then it happens.

Also, I know some of you are disillusioned, I know some of you have seen this before. We all have. But a lockout is not meant as spitting in our faces, it is not done specificly to fuck over fans. Get over it. It sucks, and it does fuck us over, but that is a sad side-effect. I don't like lockouts either, but I don't think they are made to fuck me personally, or us fans, over. So please, if you threathen to pull away from hockey and from your Wings after a potential new lockout, like I have seen about 10-20 of my twitter followers do the last few weeks, then you might be disillusioned, you might be tired, but consider these two questions: 1. Do you really mean this? Do you think you can pull away from hockey completely? Don't you think that you'll be hungry as fuck for more hockey once the lockout is over? Yeah, stop the empty threaths then. If you're not convinced yet, then let's proceed to number two: 2. Are you really a serious hockey fan and a fan of your team if you'll give up the best league in the world, the best sport in the world and the team you love just because of a lockout? Really? Well.. off you go then...

Speaking about the lockout, I will gladly take a strike if it gets rid of the goddamn motherfucking piece of shit cuntwaffle of a salary cap. It's useless, it's made for weak teams, weak management and weak economies like Florida and Edmonton. In Detroit, fans pay to see the game, the same in New York, Toronto, Montreal etc etc.. Don't those teams' fans at least have the right to see their teams have an insane, and bigger amount of money to try and succeed? You have no fans? No people who cares, then fuck you! I don't care if you succeed. It is only fair that the clubs with more fans, and more revenue get to spend more money without being restrained by some retarded cap. And let me make this clear: I think BOTH the players AND the owners are greedy fucks, so I'm not gonna discuss THAT.

But furthermore, consider this: The Maple Leafs and the Rangers both spent insane amounts of money in the last years before the cap. Did they succeed? Nope. They fucking sucked. No matter how much money they used and how many washed up star players they signed they got no closer to the cup then I have gotten to sleeping with Kristen Bell. So, money is not everything. Consider this too: The payroll of the Lightning and the Flames in 04, the two teams that reached the finals were low, they were nowhere close to the top of the league, so if you are smart, and lucky, then you can win without a high payroll. Spending money is not enough, you have to be smart too.

Is it really fair that we had to let pieces of our team go last summer? And as much as it is fun, and deserved because of poor management, is it fair that the Hawks have to let their championship team go? Good drafting and development now only gives you a small window and then you are in cap hell. That's not fair. It should be rewarded. It should be rewarded highly. It should be rewarded so fucking highly, for as long as those players play. But it doesn't under the cap. Not at all. Teams are broken up because the development was too good. What the fuck is fair about that? Nothing. And look at it this way: In the NHL today, all the non-star players get shoved around, changing teams like Tiger Woods change sexual partners. Sometimes you can't recognize teams from one year to another. Before the cap you had stability, you had more franchise players among the grinders too. You could look at a team and feel identity in not only the logo, but the players. We in Detroit still have that, we are lucky, we have AMAZING management, but look at the rest of the NHL. How many teams can say that that survived over the past 10 years, throught the lockout, save for a few players on each team. And on top of that, the blockbuster trades: GONE. So we basicly lost EVERY fucking aspect that was fun about player movement and loyalty, and it is replaced with fucking Kovalchuk drama. Yeah.. I love the cap.

And in the end, it comes down to this: If my Red Wings draft well, develop players well, sign well, trade well and earn a shit-ton of money due to success, being in a strong Hockeytwon, with fans who pay money, companies paying money for ads, etc etc, they deserve to be allowed to keep their team and spend as much money as they want and not be stopped because some retards were moronic enough to give teams to fucking Phoenix and Florida and other places where everyone could see hockey wouldn't work. It's not fair to the teams, not to the fans, to no one. So let's throw the fucking salary cap away. Now.

Last of all, as a statement to celebrate my 300th post and since this is the post where Andy swears a lot and is a huge asshole. I will make a statement. Dear fans of the other 29 teams. We ARE better than you. Sorry, but that is how it is. Our team has history and recent success. How many other teams can say that? None! Detroit is hockey royalty, it is the pinnacle of hockey in the last 20 years and among the top cities in hockey history. Our fans are knowledgeable and passionate as fuck. We have an amazing amount of blogs and tweeters, and they all know their shit. We're constantly being kicked at by other teams' fans. We have a right to be paranoid, the refs and the league seem to rule against us unfairly more often than against anyone else. We have the right to be proud and we have the right to be paranoid. And seeing as out organization has been filled with the classiest of players, we have the right to bash douchebags like Rosby and 20 cent. Hockeytown earned it for us. Our team is the best and classiest, our organization is the best and classiest. Our fan base is the most passionate and knowledgable and we don't smash cars and cities when we win. So we have right to be proud, damn proud. Sure, if the douchebags who constantly attack us and talk shit to us had kept their inferior, jealous mouths shout we would even be classy about it. But hell, we raised a fucking huge amount of bucks for a Children's hospital, we brought Herm to Hockeytown. We will have NHL's biggest gathering of bloggers and tweeps in March. We have a right to be proud. Of our team, of our organization and of our fanbase that is made up of some of the most intelligent and awesome people I have ever talked to. And we have the right to expect our team to lift the cup EVERY damn year. As the sticker I got from Scotty Bowman back in 96 said: "Proud to be a Wings fan". I am. Always will be. I have never been to Detroit. I have never been to the United States. But when I get to Detroit in March it is going to feel like coming home for the first time. It is the second hometown that I have never been to. It is the place I hail from that I have no formal ties to. I AM FROM DETROIT, I AM A WINGS FAN AND I AM PRETTY FUCKING PROUD OF IT!

Season preview - the first line

2010-09-03T21:12:00.002+02:00

Henrik Zetterberg
Last three years
07/08 - Red Wings - 75 GP, 43 G, 49 A, 92 Pts, +30, 34 PIM
08/09 - Red Wings - 77 GP, 41 G, 42 A, 73 Pts, +13, 36 PIM
09/10 - Red Wings - 74 GP, 23 G, 47 A, 70 Pts, +12, 26 PIM

Last season
Last season was a bit troublesome for Z. First he played for a team where more and more players fell to injury. Then, in early December, he got taken down by Matthias Öhlund and lost 8 games to injury. Then, when he came back, he seemed weak at first, he clearly wasn't fully healed and lacked the upper body strenght that makes him such an effective player. But he slowly got back into the groove and was very effective over the last part of the season. And despite injuries and the fact that he had weaker linemates than usual and new ones every weak, he still managed to put up points at about the same pace as the year before and he tied Pasha for the team lead in points. So while it was a weird season for Zetterbeg, he didn't show as many signs of getting old and weak as media likes to think.

The upcoming season
This year Zetterberg will be faced with an easier task. He's gonna have a much stronger offensive squad around him and he will, at least at first, be placed on a line with Pasha and Homer. After a couple of seasons with a little lowered production I'd assume he wants to prove what he is good for offensively and that he's gonna gonna get all the help he needs to achieve that. And as he said in an interview the longer rest will make him more ready and focused both mentally and physically.

What we need
This year we won't need Z to carry the team as much as we needed last year, but we do expect him to be one of the main offensive forces and also contribute defensivelt. Due to the fact that a few of last year's penalty killers will likely be in the press box each night he might see a little PK time and he will be among the main men on the PP. Ideally we'd like to see Zetterberg play as many of the games as possible and put up a point per game for 80-90 points. And we expect him to make Rosby cry like a little bitch again.

What we will get
I think Z will have a good year this season. He'll likely go down with some minor injury at some point, but I think he will have a mostly healthy season and that he'll be effective. The Circus line will kick into gear this season and together with Pasha I see Z dominating both ends of the ice and proving himself as one of the main forces in the league. I expect him to be among the most dominant players on the ice in most of the games and to have a season that will rank among the best of his career.

Prediction
75 GP, 41 G, 50 A, 91 Pts, 1.29 PPG

Pavel Datsyuk
Last three seasons
07/08 - Red Wings - 82 GP, 31 G, 66 A, 97 Pts, +41, 20 PIM
08/09 - Red Wings - 81 GP, 32 G, 65 A, 97 Pts, +34, 22 PIM
09/10 - Red Wings - 80 GP, 27 G, 43 A, 70 Pts, +17, 18 PIM

Last season
Last season wasn't easy for Pasha. While he stayed healthy for most of the season, none of the players around him did. For a long time he played on the team's only scoring line, with Bert and Homer. On that line he was the sole creative force and in that situation a lot of weight was on his shoulders. Defensively he handled himself excellently the entire season, capturing another Selke and leading the league in takeaways. At times it looked like he could steal the puck at will. Offensively he seemed to not handle the pressure as well. He was good the entire season and lead the team in points, but for a long time he seemed to lack that extra dimension, the "Fuck you, I'm Pavel Datsyuk"-gear. After the Olympic break that came into full force though and down the stretch he seemed to score goals at will and he showed himself as a really dominant force.

The upcoming season
This season, Pavel will benefit from not having to carry the team on his shoulders, with Z and Homer on his line, everything will be in place for him to have a season like the one he had two years ago. Pavel seemed to explode offensively late last season, he seemed to shoot more and find his goal scoring touch. He will no doubt try to continue that this season and try and have a career year in goals scored. And on a strong offensive team that can break down a team's defense and that can roll two strong PP lines, he leads a strong offense and could be aiming for his first brush with 100 points.

What we need
We need Pavel to be his dominant self. We need him to dangle, deke, play his perfect passes and score. We need him to be an ace defensively. We don't need him to carry the team every game, but we need him to be among the best players out there most of them and lead the team in the offensive cathegories. We'll need him to play some PK occationally and we'll need him to stay healthy for most of the season.

What we will get
Like Z, I think Pasha is in line for a career year. He might not have Hossa to dish the puck to, but he's got a strong lineup around him, he has learnt to score more effectively and I think he is ready to take revenge for last season, the Olympics and everything. I think he'll reach the 100 point mark for the first time, be in contention for the Hart and Lindsay and no doubt take home another Selke.

Prediction
78 GP, 34 G, 70 A, 104 Pts, 1.33 PPG

Tomas Holmström
Last three years
07/08 - Red Wings - 59 GP, 20 G, 20 A, 40 Pts, +9, 58 PIM
08/09 - Red Wings - 53 GP, 14 G, 23 A, 37 Pts, +18, 38 PIM
09/10 - Red Wings - 68 GP, 25 G, 20 A, 45 Pts, +5, 60 PIM

Last season
Homer had a bounce back year last year. He scored 25 goals, worked his ass off in front of the net and in the corners, took loads of punishment from goalies, defensemen and refs and had one of his most effective post-lockout seasons. The tail end of the season was hampered by a broken foot (thanks Lebda) and then a knee injury and he probably struggled a little with that for the rest of the season.

The upcoming season
The fact he chose to sign a two year deal instead of a one year deal tells me that Homer feels healthy and motivated. Last season must have made him believe in himself being effective for two more years and I look forward to seeing a motivated Homer on the ice this year. As always he will be coupled with Datsyuk, and with Zetterberg too on the line, Homer will have every chance to have a great year.

What we need
We need Homer to stay healthy, battle in the corners and keep putting his butt in every goalie's face. We need him to continue to battle defensemen, take punishment and come back for more. We need him to be slapped, pushed and slashed by goalies, crosschecked and tripped by defensemen and get penalized unfairly and have goals wrongly called back by referees. And when he's done doing that we need him to come back for more, again and again. To frustrate goalies and defensemen, screen them and score ugly goals. We need him to win battles in the corner. If he can stay healthy for most of the year and pass the 20 goal mark again, then we've gotten what we need from him.

What we will get
You know what you'll get with Homer, he does his job, he does it well and he does it effectively. If he can stay healthy he will deliver what we expect from him. But his health is the question. He's growing older and his body takes extreme amounts of punishment every game. Chances are that he'll get injured at some point during the season, but we can always hope it's an inury that doesn't put him out for too long or strain him too much when he gets back.

Prediction
66 GP, 23 G, 21 A, 44 Pts, .67 PPG

Seriously, if this line stays healthy and clicks, can you think of a better line?

Season preview - the rest of the defense

2010-09-01T06:44:00.004+02:00

Jonathan Ericsson
Last three years
07/08 - Red Wings - 8 GP, 1 G, 0 A, 1 Pt, -3, 4 PIM
08/09 - Red Wings - 19 GP, 1 G, 3 A, 4 Pts, -1, 15 PIM
09/10 - Red Wings - 62 GP, 4 G, 9 A, 13 Pts, -14, 44 PIM

Last season
Last season was nightmareish for Ericsson. He got injured for a while after a bad hit by official scumbag Shane Doan, he played a lot with Meech and Lebda, something every defenseman should dread and of top of that he had a giant sophomore slump. He was out of position, made bad desicions, bought dekes, stressed with the puck, had a massive amount of giveaways and was a pretty bad defenseman for much of the season. Offensively he was a shadow of what he was as a rookie.

The upcoming season
This year is a huge year for E. It's a contract year and he is fighting for a good new deal and for defining the course his career is gonna take. He has to bounce back. He has to play safe and he has to live up to more of the potential we know he has. He is probably gonna play a lot with Ruslan Salei as a safe defenseman to play with, which is gonna help him. But he will also play with Kindl, and then he will need to be steadier.

What we need
We need Ericsson to calm down in his head. He needs to relax and let the game flow faster in his head. In this wa he'll see the play better, improve his positioning and stop throwing the puck away when he has more time. We need him to improve this. With Kindl, he is gonna have to be the safe defenseman. With Salei he can take bigger risks, but he's gonna have to be improved and better here too. We need him to show us that he can play safe defense and contribute offensively without taking too big risks.

What we will get
I think E is motivated and ready to show us what he's got. I don't expect him to be as good as in his rookie season, but much better and safer than last year. I think he'll do good beside Salei, but struggle a bit when set to play with Kindl

Prediction
70 GP, 7 G, 18 A, .36 PPG

Ruslan Salei
Last three years
07/08 - Panthers/Avs - 82 GP, 6 G, 24 A, 30 Pts, -4, 98 PIM
08/09 - Avalanche - 70 GP, 4 G, 17 A, 21 Pts, -4, 72 PIM
09/10 - Avalanche - 14 GP, 1 G, 5 A, 6 Pts, -1, 10 PIM

Last season
There's not much I can say about Salei's last seasons. According to Avs fans he looked good when they aquired him, but has become weaker since and last season he was mostly injured.

The upcoming season
Salei hopes to stay healthy this year and if he does his role will be as Ericsson's defense partner. He's gonna be a stay at home guy, who can be safe, cover E's ass, slam bodies and deliver some penalty kill time.

What we need
How much play Salei will get depends on how good Ericsson and Kindl does. If E and Kindl are both on fire, playing them together so both gets ice time and experience will be the right choice for the Wings. But if one of them struggle, look for Salei to get many games with the other. And seeing as I think neither Kindl nor Ericsson will be a 100 % safe, I think Salei will get quite a few games with both and play in most of the games this season. He will not be asked for much offense, but to be a physical and safe defenseman that can handle the other team's 3rd and 4th line, mentor the young guys and log ice time on the penalty kill.

What we will get
This depends on if he can stay healthy. If he can we'll get a solid, defensive, physical defenseman who can throw his body around a bit and play the PK. If he is injured he'll probably also be weaker in the time when he plays. He is a small gamble, but my gut feeling says it will work out.

Prediction
72 GP, 1 G, 14 A, .21 PPG

Doug Janik
Doug Janik did a decent job as a call up last year and will probably be asked to play a few games as a call up this year too. We pretty much know what we'll get from Janik. He is big, slow, positionally sound and can play decently on the PK. He's a good injury replacement and he will do what we need him to do, no more, no less and also be a strenght for the team in Grand Rapids.

Prediction
10 GP, 0 G, 3 A, .30 PPG

Brendan Smith
Smith comes off some stellar hockey seasons in college, but also had some off ice issues there. It's hard to know what to expect at camp. Hopefully he can blow everyone away and take a spot on the roster, but he is more likely to spend the year in Grand Rapids. I think he'll get a chance to play a few games as a call up and I expect him to do decently in those few games.

Prediction
10 GP, 2 G, 4 A, .66 PPG

Jakub Kindl
Last season
The treasured talent of the Wings organization did decently in his first couple of NHL games with the Wings last year. Decently, but no more or less. In Grand Rapids his progress seemed to have stopped a bit though and it seems like the Wings are a bit worried about him.

The upcoming season
This year he is out of options in Grand Rapids. He will be in Detroit and he will get the chance to compete for a regular roster spot. He hopes to prove himself as a safe, reliable defenseman and show off his offensive skill. Chances are though, that in competition with Ericsson and Salei, he will fall a bit short and spend more games in the press box. Still, the guy will get his chances.

What we need
If Ericsson and Kindl do as well as we hope we only need him to do decently when he gets his chances. But the better he plays, the better his future looks. And if he could manage about 40-50 games and play sound defense and contribute a little offensively in those games, it would be very good for the Wings.

What we will get
The step up to the NHL might energize Kindl and make his progress continue a little. But seeing as he is inexperienced on this level I think he will fall short of getting a regular spot and show some weaknesses defensively and in the positional play, but put up some decent offensive numbers.

Prediction
32 GP, 2 G, 9 A, .34 PPG

Derek Meech
Who knows, who cares, he is not staying in Detroit.

Season preview - second defense pairing

2010-09-01T01:09:00.003+02:00

First of all, my buddy Doug, also known as @drdougfresh on Twitter designed an awesome new logo for Fight Night. Check it out above. Thanks Doug!

Brad Stuart
Last three seasons
07/08 - Kings/Red Wings - 72 GP, 6 G, 17 A, 23 P, -10, 69 PIM
08/09 - Red Wings - 67 GP, 2 G, 13 A, 15 P, -3, 26 PIM
09/10 - Red Wings - 82, 4 G, 16 A, 20 P, -12, 22 PIM

Last season
What a year it was for Stuart last year. He had to play with a lot of different, weak defense partners like Janik, Meech and Lebda. He had to be a defensive rock and log loads of ice time for much of the season. He got power play time and he was essential when shorthanded. And when we called upon him, he delivered. For the first half of the season he was our best defenseman and maybe even MVP. In the second half he could allow himself to fade a bit, but was still our second best defenseman.

The upcoming season
Stuart's gotta feel good going into this season. He's coming off his best year of his career quality of play-wise and he'll be part of a better defense corps. Niklas Kronwall is gonna be a bit rusty at fist due to losing the pre-season, but hopefully he can get into the groove and have a healthy year. This would give Stuart a healthy and steady defense partner that he doesn't have to babysit on the ice. Last year it felt like Stuy had to babysit everyone, even Kronner. With more freedom this year, he's gonna be able to continue to be a great defensive defenseman and we can even look for his offensive numbers to rise a bit. Due to the arrival of Modano, and also Kindl, he will hopefully avoid power play time, so he can focus on 5-on-5 and the PK.

What we need
It's hard to say how good Kronner's gonna be. If he's good, it will take a load of Stuart, but as the status is now we have no idea where Kronner will be. Rafa looked a little more off than usual last year and the third pairing has a lot of potential, but could also be terrible. So Stuart might be our safest bet to be our second best defenseman this year. In a perfect season both Kronner and Rafa would be better, but since that is no safe bet, we're gonna need Stuart to keep his play up and play with the quality he gave us last year. We will need him to log fairly decent minutes, but without power play time. And it would be perfect if he could give us another 82 game season. We need him to be safe defensively. Offensively we don't ask much of him, but it would be a bonus if he could increase his numbers a bit.

What we will get
It's hard to say if we will get the monsterous Stuart of the first half of the last season or the slightly weaker one of the second half, but with Stuart you usually know what you get. You get a high quality of defensive play, a hard hitter, a safe and good defenseman. You also get a guy who now and then will make a mistake so huge that you'll wanna rip your hair out. But he makes up for it with his general standard of play. So I feel safe in predicting that Stuar will deliver another safe and good season where he gives us exactly what we need from him.

Prediction
82 GP, 3 G, 20 A, 23 Pts, .28 PPG

Niklas Kronwall
Last three seasons
07/08 - Red Wings - 65 GP, 7 G, 28 A, 35 Pts, +25, 44 PIM
08/09 - Red Wings - 80 GP, 6 G, 45 A, 51 Pts, +2, 50 PIM
09/10 - Red Wings - 8 GP, 7 G, 15 A, 22 Pts, +5, 32 PIM

Last season
The last season was a nightmare for Kronner. He started out fantasticly, with him and Stuart being the team's strongest pairing, looking like they were getting ready to replace Nick and Rafa in a year or to. Then the no-good, cheating, dirty scumbag George Laraque decided to deliver one of the most blatantly dirty kneeings in NHL history on Kronner in early November. Nick jr. lost several months and when he came back he looked shaky at first, but then got into a nice groove. Then he reinjured the knee and lost a few more games and after that he looked a little off out there on the ice. He made more mistakes than usual, contributed less offensively and wasn't the usual physical force.

The upcoming season
Right now Kronner is going in to get his knee scooped out. He will reportedly be back in time for the season opener, but lose training camp and the pre-season. So expect him to be a bit rusty at first. Hopefully he can get into the groove soon enough and get back to the Kronwall we are all used to. After a weak season last year he should have a lot to prove and be motivated to deliver strong numbers and make the defensive pairing with Stuart a pairing that is hard to score on and incredibly painful to play against. A healthy season would also be a big step forward for the injury prone defenseman.

What we need
With the uncertainty around the players in the third pairing we need the two first pairings to be solid and healthy. So we need Kronner to be his old self and stay injury free. We need him to hit hard, be safe defensively and contribute some offense, especially on the power play, where he will likely be paired up with Mike Modano on the blue line.

What we will get
I would love to predict an injury free season for Kronner, but looking at his career, that would be naive. His knee might get fucked up again or he might take another injury. In all probability he will get hurt at some point in the season, but I hope it's not one that keeps him out for too long and affects his play too much. I think that when he is playing he will move into the zone and be the Kronner of old, giving us safe defensive play, huge hits and some good offensive numbers.

Prediction
61 GP, 10 G, 34 A, 44 Pts, 0.72 Pts/G

Look out for the rest of the defense tomorrow!

25:19 week 5: Pressure, guilty thoughts, moving stories and more

2010-08-30T20:42:00.004+02:00

Welcome to 25:19, a feature that will run every Monday for 19 (duh!) weeks. Every week I will make 5 (Nick) lists, with 5 (number of rings Nick will retire with) points on each list. Thus having 25 (DMac) points in total every week. The lists will be random hockey stuff, some rankings, other in random order. Some will be opinions, others humour. I will leave it to you judge what is what. Hopefully you will find it entertaining and/or provoking enough to leave your ideas on things I missed and what I did wrong in the comments.

1. Five players who need to perform this season
- Sam Gagner - Showed Oilers fans so much as a rookie and nothing since.
- Taylor Hall - Has to prove his worth as a first pick, by outplaying Tyler Seguin. Hall will be asked to carry a lot of production, with bad players around him. Seguin will be asked for less, with great players around him. Pressure is on Hall and odds are firmly stacked against him.
- Jiri Hudler - Bolting in the worst way possible to KHL for money and then coming back on his knees with some bad rumours around him. Needs to win us back over.
- Jonathan Ericsson - Needs to prove it was a sophomore slumb, not a rookie luckout.
- Ilya Kovalchuk - After all this mess, hype and attention, the guy has something to live up to, don't you say?

2. Five phrases I never wanna hear on an NHL broadcast again
- Driiiiive
- Edzo
- Monster
- And the Chicago Blackhawks are the Sta... nope.. can't get myself to write that.
- Lindström

3. Five things I look forward to this season
- Seeing the United Center half empty in March.
- The relocation of the Phoenix Coyotes (a guy can dream)
- Number 12
- The extinction of the species known as Hawks fans.
- Nick's 7th Lidström trophy

4. Five hockey thoughts I feel guilty about having
- Joe Sakic was a damn amazing hockey player.
- I still like Michael Nylander, even AFTER Chicago.
- I kinda like the Philadelphia Flyers (minus Pronger of course)
- I enjoy to see two guys fight like animals (but only if there is a reason for the fight)
- The joy of every other team losing, looking up to us and hating u... no wait a second, not guilty at all. Just proud.

5. Five hockey stories that move me to tears
- Darren McCarty - Gutsed his way into the NHL, got it all, fell to abuse, but came back for one final victory.
- The 98 cup win - The way the team gathered and fought for Vlad was true beauty.
- The Theo Fleury story - Think that guy battled a little to get to where he got?
- Mario's return - Yeah, I loved watching reruns of late 80s, early 90s Pens games as a kid, though I wasn't a Pens fan. I loved Mario, both his returns were amazing. Today's Mario can choke on a big fat cucumber though.
- The Sharks playoff history - Tears of laughter

Eye candy
Yes I know she is a shitty person, but wow...

For the Helmophiles out there

The Fight Night prediction contest.

2010-08-29T20:57:00.019+02:00

Update: The prize will be a $15 online gift certificate to the NHL.com store

Update 2: The deadline for this contest is game time of the Ducks game. Which is Friday at 7:30 PM ET. All entries emailed to me (puppetz4ever[at]hotmail.com) of left in the comments here before that time are accepted into the contest

So, I am predicting a lot of stats for this season in the season previews. And I feel pretty sure I'm gonna look stupid when we look at them after the season. So I want you people to look stupid with me! So what I want is that you predict a few stats too.

I will take a look at the predictions after the season, give you points for mistakes and the one with the least points will win a prize of some sort which will be announced later.

What I want you to is to predict the following in the comments:

For each goalie
Number of starts, number of wins, GAA, save percentage and shutouts. (I will calculate you predicted win %)

It will be scored like this:
Differential between predicted and actual number of starts: 1 point per start
Differential between predicted and actual number of wins: 3 points per win
Differential between predicted and actual win %: 2 points per 5%
Differential between predicted and actual GAA: 2 points per .05
Differential between predicted and actual save %: 2 points per .001
Differential between predicted and actual number of shutouts: 1 point per SO

For each skater
Games played, goals, assists. (I will calculate your predicted points per game)

It will be scored like this:
Differential between predicted and actual number of games played: 0,25 points per game
Differential between predicted and actual number of goals: 1 point per goal
Differential between predicted and actual number of assists: 1 point per assist
Differential between predicted and actual point per game: 2 points per .05

So to repeat, least points = winner.

I think this will take some time for you to guess, so do it over time in a word document, maybe at the same pace as I do the previews or just do it now.

I need your submissions BEFORE the season opener at the latest.

You can submit your predictions in the comments or to me per email at puppetz4ever at hotmail.com.

Below are the players I want you to submit your predictions for. I will update the list with my predictions as the previews come along and link to each preview. And below that again, I will put up YOUR predictions as they arrive.

Roster and my predictions

Goalies
Jimmy Howard 58 starts, 40 wins, 2.31 GAA, .917 save %, 5 SO, 0.69 win %
Chris Osgood 24 starts, 13 wins, 2.58 GAA, .906 save %, 1 SO, 0,54 win %

Skaters
Nicklas Lidstrom 77 GP, 12 G, 53 A, 0.884 pts per game
Brian Rafalski 78 GP, 9 G, 42 A, .0654 pts per game
Brad Stuart 82 GP, 3 G, 20 A, .28 pts per game
Niklas Kronwall 61 GP, 10 G, 34 A, .72 pts per game
Jonathan Ericsson 70 GP, 7 G, 18 A, .36 PPG
Ruslan Salei 72 GP, 1 G, 14 A, .21 PPG
Derek Meech Hahahahahahahaha
Brendan Smith 10 GP, 2 G, 4 A, .66 PPG
Jakub Kindl 32 GP, 2 G, 9 A, .34 PPG
Doug Janik 10 GP, 0 G, 3 A, .30 PPG

Henrik Zetterberg 75 GP, 41 G, 50 A, 1.29 PPG
Pavel Datsyuk 78 GP, 34 G, 70 A, 1.33 PPG
Tomas Holmstrom 66 GP, 23 G, 21 A, .67 PPG
Todd Bertuzzi 82 GP, 20 G, 28 A, .59
Valtteri Filppula 79 GP, 22 G, 44 A, .84 PPG
Johan Franzen 76 GP, 43 G, 30 A, .96 PPG
Dan Cleary 74 GP, 20 G, 18 A, .51 PPG
Mike Modano 72 GP, 14 G, 30 A, .61 PPG
Jiri Hudler 82 GP, 32 G, 30 A, .76 PPG
Justin Abdelkader 75 GP, 3 G, 9 A, .16 PPG
Darren Helm 80 GP, 12 G, 16 A, .35 PPG
Patrick Eaves 67 GP, 15 G, 12 A, .40 PPG
Drew Miller 41 GP, 5 G, 9 A, .34 PPG
Kris Draper 34 GP, 1 G, 5 A, .18 PPG
Tomas Tatar 3 GP, 0 G, 1 A, .33 PPG

Reader predictions

Michael Petrella of the new and improved Production line (check it out, it is sweet) comes through with the first prediction, remind me of Doug Janik and takes a dig at me with his Bertuzzi prediction. I like that his prediction includes 51 wins. Here are his predictions (win and PPG calculated by me):

:: Howard: 60 starts, 39 wins, 2.56 GAA, .914 sv%, 4 SO, .65 win %
:: Osgood: 22 starts, 12 wins, 2.87 GAA, .899 sv%, 0 SO, .55 win %

:: Lidstrom: 81 GP, 16 G, 56 A, .89 PPG
:: Rafalski: 78 GP, 17 G, 49 A, .85 PPG
:: Kronwall: 55 GP, 11 G, 31 A, .76 PPG
:: Stuart: 80 GP, 4 G, 18 A, .28 PPG
:: Ericsson: 60 GP, 8 G, 18 A, .43 PPG
:: Salei: 65 GP, 2 G, 9 A, .17 PPG
:: Meech: 0 GP (in Detroit)
:: Smith: 0 GP, 0 G, 0 A, .00 PPG
:: Kindl: 30 GP, 4 G, 11 A, .50 PPG
:: JANIK FTW!: 6 GP, 1 G, 1 A, .33 PPG

:: Zetterberg: 80 GP, 40 G, 48 A, 1.10 PPG
:: Datsyuk: 82 GP, 38 G, 61 A, 1.21 PPG
:: Holmstrom: 70 GP, 25 G, 18 A .61 PPG
:: Bertuzzi: 81 GP, 19 G (HA!), 24 A, .53 PPG
:: Filppula: 81 GP, 21 G, 22 A, .53 PPG
:: Franzen: 74 GP, 34 G, 31 A, .88 PPG
:: Cleary: 68 GP, 14 G, 18 A, .47 PPG
:: Modano: 61 GP, 16 G, 20 A, .59 PPG
:: Hudler: 78 GP, 25 G, 36 A, .78 PPG
:: Abdelkader: 55 GP, 6 G, 8 A, .25 PPG
:: Helm: 75 GP, 12 G, 10 A, .29 PPG
:: Eaves: 65 GP, 17 G, 19 A, .55 PPG
:: Miller: 45 GP, 9 G, 7 A, .36 PPG
:: Draper: 41 GP, 2 G, 7 A, .22 PPG
:: Ritola: 6 GP, 1 G, 1 A, .33 PPG

My man Liam Hart from the excellent new Babcock's Fly Hair chimed in second with these predictions. Like Petrella he predicts 51 wins. We seem to be a positive crowd.

:: Howard: 62 starts, 40 wins, 2.30 GAA, .913 sv%, 6 SO, .65 win %
:: Osgood: 20 starts, 11 wins, 2.59 GAA, .900 sv%, 1 SO, .55 win %

:: Lidstrom: 78 GP, 12 G, 49 A, .78 PPG
:: Rafalski: 76 GP, 11 G, 40 A, .67 PPG
:: Kronwall: 66 GP, 8 G, 31 A, .59 PPG
:: Stuart: 80 GP, 6 G, 20 A, .33 PPG
:: Ericsson: 68 GP, 8 G, 15 A, .34 PPG
:: Salei: 72 GP, 2 G, 11 A, .18 PPG
:: Meech: Bye
:: Smith: 5 GP, 1 G, 2 A, .60 PPG
:: Kindl: 29 GP, 3 G, 9 A, .31 PPG
:: Janik: 4 GP, 0 G, 1 A, .25 PPG

:: Zetterberg: 76 GP, 33 G, 49 A, 1.08 PPG
:: Datsyuk: 81 GP, 31 G, 60 A, 1.12 PPG
:: Holmstrom: 75 GP, 25 G, 19 A, .59 PPG
:: Bertuzzi: 77 GP, 17 G, 26 A, .56 PPG
:: Filppula: 81 GP, 20 G, 42 A, .77 PPG
:: Franzen: 76 GP, 37 G, 32 A, .91 PPG
:: Cleary: 78 GP, 17 G, 20 A, .47 PPG
:: Modano: 75 GP, 21 G, 25 A, .61 PPG
:: Hudler: 78 GP, 26 G, 37 A, .81 PPG
:: Abdelkader: 60 GP, 7 G, 10 A, .28 PPG
:: Helm: 74 GP, 11 G, 11 A, .30 PPG
:: Eaves: 72 GP, 14 G, 15 A, .40 PPG
:: Miller: 40 GP, 7 G, 9 A, .40 PPG
:: Draper: 45 GP, 3 G, 6 A, .20 PPG
:: Ritola: 7 GP, 1 G, 3 A, .57 PPG

Our long lost buddy Bradley, aka. Corpuscavernosa (hey, it's almost hockey season dude, come back to Twitter!) chimes in with another optimistic prediction including 53 wins. Glad someone agrees with me.

:: Howard: 57 starts, 39 wins, 2.39 GAA, .925 sv%, 5 SO, .68 win %
:: Osgood: 25 starts, 14 wins, 2.44 GAA, .910 sv%, 2 SO, .56 win %

:: Lidstrom: 82 GP, 15 G, 49 A, .78 PPG
:: Rafalski: 74 GP, 12 G, 43 A, .74 PPG
:: Kronwall: 59 GP, 10 G, 29 A, .66 PPG
:: Stuart: 82 GP, 9 G, 21 A, .37 PPG
:: Ericsson: 79 GP, 14 G, 17 A, .39 PPG
:: Salei: 72 GP, 2 G, 11 A, .18 PPG
:: Meech: Peaced Out
:: Smith: 6 GP, 2 G, 2 A, .67 PPG
:: Kindl: 22 GP, 2 G, 7 A, .41 PPG
:: Janik: 3 GP, 0 G, 2 A, .67 PPG

:: Zetterberg: 74 GP, 37 G, 51 A, 1.19 PPG
:: Datsyuk: 82 GP, 34 G, 70 A, 1.27 PPG
:: Holmstrom: 70 GP, 24 G, 20 A, .63 PPG
:: Bertuzzi: 79 GP, 23 G, 27 A, .63 PPG
:: Filppula: 74 GP, 23 G, 45 A, .92 PPG
:: Franzen: 74 GP, 40 G, 31 A, .96 PPG
:: Cleary: 72 GP, 17 G, 21 A, .53 PPG
:: Modano: 70 GP, 20 G, 33 A, .76 PPG
:: Hudler: 81 GP, 29 G, 36 A, .80 PPG
:: Abdelkader: 77 GP, 8 G, 13 A, .27 PPG
:: Helm: 78 GP, 16 G, 16 A, .41 PPG
:: Eaves: 72 GP, 12 G, 16 A, .39 PPG
:: Miller: 46 GP, 9 G, 13 A, .48 PPG
:: Draper: 40 GP, 4 G, 8 A, .30 PPG
:: Ritola: 12 GP, 2 G, 4 A, .50 PPG

My man Topher, known as @Topher78916 on Twitter came through with another exciting set of predictions, predicting 52 wins and a Vezina worty season for Jimmah if we go by the numbers and some Kirk Maltby action.

::Jimmy Howard: 60 Starts, 41 wins, 2.27 GGA, .925 Save%, 9 SO, .68 win %
::Chris Osgood: 22 Starts, 11 wins, 2.30 GGA, .895 Save%, 1 SO, .50 win %

::Nicklas Lidstrom 75 GP 15 G 50 A, .87 PPG
::Brian Rafalski 76 GP 13 G 39 A, .68 PPG
::Brad Stuart 80 GP 6 GP 20 A, .33 PPG
::Niklas Kronwall 69 GP 9 G 35 A, .64 PPG
::Jonathan Ericsson 59 GP 7 G 15 A, .37 PPG
::Ruslan Salei 67 GP 4 G 7 A, .16 PPG
::Derek Meech MIA (Detroit)
::Brendan Smith 2 GP 1 G 2 A, 1.5 PPG
::Jakub Kindl 32 GP 4 G 11 A, .47 PPG
::Doug Janik 18 GP 3 G 6 A, .50 PPG

::Henrik Zetterberg 77 GP 37 G 52 A, 1.16 PPG
::Pavel Datsyuk 80 GP 45 G 58 A, 1.29 PPG
::Tomas Holmstrom 74 GP 29 G 21 A, .68 PPG
::Todd Bertuzzi 81 GP 22 G 27 A, .60 PPG
::Valtteri Filppula 79 GP 20 G 35 A, .70 PPG
::Johan Franzen 72 GP 40 G 28 A, .94 PPG
::Dan Cleary 66 GP 19 G 24 A, .65 PPG
::Mike Modano 67 GP 22 G 30 A, .78 PPG
::Jiri Hudler 80 GP 20 G 31 A, .64 PPG
::Justin Abdelkader 58 GP 8 G 6 A, .24 PPG
::Darren Helm 71 GP 15 G 14 A, .41 PPG
::Patrick Eaves 69 GP 15 G 15 A, .44 PPG
::Drew Miller 45 GP 11 G 10 A, .47 PPG
::Kris Draper 43 GP 5 G 9 A, .33 PPG
::Mattias Ritola 6 GP 3 G 2 A, .83 PPG
::Kirk Maltby 20 GP 4 G 2 A, .30 PPG

My good friend Sara of the awesome Red Wings photo blog A Neuie Perspective came through with another set of predictions. It has 50 wins for the Wings, but does include some early season slumping for Jimmah. Let's take a look, take-a-lookers:

:: Howard: 48 starts, 29 wins, 2.51 GAA, .910 sv%, 5 SO, .60 win %
:: Osgood: 34 starts, 21 wins, 2.51 GAA, .908 sv%, 1 SO, .62 win %

:: Lidstrom: 80 GP, 15 G, 44 A, .74 PPG
:: Rafalski: 78 GP, 9 G, 41 A, .64 PPG
:: Kronwall: 63 GP, 7 G, 33 A, .63 PPG
:: Stuart: 79 GP, 5 G, 20 A, .32 PPG
:: Ericsson: 71 GP, 4 G, 13 A, .24 PPG
:: Salei: 68 GP, 3 G, 16 A, .28 PPG
:: Meech: Sorry
:: Smith: 4 GP, 0 G, 1 A, .25 PPG
:: Kindl: 41 GP, 2 G, 16 A, .44 PPG
:: JANIK: 8 GP, 0 G, 2 A, .25 PPG

:: Zetterberg: 77 GP, 35 G, 46 A, 1.05 PPG
:: Datsyuk: 81 GP, 32 G, 59 A, 1.12 PPG
:: Holmstrom: 71 GP, 21 G, 22 A, .61 PPG
:: Bertuzzi: 79 GP, 16 G, 27 A, .54 PPG
:: Filppula: 80 GP, 21 G, 34 A, .69 PPG
:: Franzen: 74 GP, 33 G, 27 A, .81 PPG
:: Cleary: 71 GP, 18 G, 20 A, .54 PPG
:: Modano: 77 GP, 14 G, 25 A, .51 PPG
:: Hudler: 80 GP, 25 G, 30 A, .69 PPG
:: Abdelkader: 66 GP, 6 G, 8 A, .21 PPG
:: Helm: 72 GP, 12 G, 18 A, .42 PPG
:: Eaves: 68 GP, 15 G, 10 A, .37 PPG
:: Miller: 36 GP, 5 G, 6 A, .31 PPG
:: Draper: 41 GP, 4 G, 10 A, .34 PPG
:: Ritola: 9 GP, 1 G, 4 A, .56 PPG
:: Maltby: 2 GP, 0 G, 1 A, .50 PPG

From Twitter, Keith Dotson (@KeithDotson of the blog Hackerphish pipes in with a very interesting set of predictions. He predicts 124 points which would have the Wings 1st in the Central, 2nd in the West and 3rd in the NHL in his opinion. And it seems he expects the Larsson to rejoin the fold and get a game. Also interesting to finally see a prediction keeping Meech as a Red Wing. So let's take a look, shall we.

Goalies
Howard: 59 Starts, 2.76 GAA, .934 Save %, 4 SO, W-L 48-11 (6 Reg 5 OT), .81 win %
Osgood: 22 Starts, 3.13 GAA, .907 Save %, 2 SO, W-L 8-14 (7 Reg, 7 OT), .36 win %
Larsson: 1 Start, 3.99 GAA, .858 Save %, 0 SO, W-L 0-1, .00 win %

Players GP-G-A
Abdelkader 60-8-11, .32 PPG
Bertuzzi 74-14-22, .49 PPG
Cleary 71-20-21, .58 PPG
Datsyuk 82-31-55, 1.05 PPG
Draper 65-8-8, .25 PPG
Eaves 66-10-11, .32 PPG
Ericsson 79-5-6, .14 PPG
Filppula 76-19-30, .64 PPG
Franzen 55-21-15, .65 PPG
Helm 70-25-19, .63 PPG
Holmstrom 73-20-20, .55 PPG
Hudler 79-38-41, 1.00 PPG
Janik 5-1-2, .60 PPG
Kindl 20-0-5, .25 PPG
Kronwall 59-9-18, .46 PPG
Lidstrom 82-10-49, .72 PPG
Meech 56-3-10, .23 PPG
Miller 82-15-20, .43 PPG
Modano 79-20-29, .62 PPG
Rafalski 81-10-43, .65 PPG
Ritola 11-4-3, .64 PPG
Salei 76-5-19, .32 PPG
Stuart 72-2-11, .18 PPG
Zetterberg 81-39-41, .99 PPG

My man Chris, also known as @ChrisDF0 on twitter, chimes in with a nice set of predictions, giving the Wings 54 wins next season. He even was nice enough to calculate the percentages. Take a look:

::Jimmy Howard: 62 Starts, 44 wins, 2.31 GAA, .935 Save%, 8 SO, .71 win %
::Chris Osgood: 20 Starts, 10 wins, 2.50 GGA, .915 Save%, 1 SO, .50 win %

::Nicklas Lidstrom 78 GP 13 G 52 A, .83 PPG
::Brian Rafalski 76 GP 11 G 37 A, .63 PPG
::Brad Stuart 81 GP 5 G 23 A, .35 PPG
::Niklas Kronwall 71 GP 13 G 42 A, .77 PPG
::Jonathan Ericsson 62 GP 8 G 16 A, .39 PPG
::Ruslan Salei 64 GP 3 G 7 A, .16 PPG
::Brendan Smith 2 GP 0 G 2 A, 1 PPG
::Jakub Kindl 36 GP 5 G 17 A, .61 PPG
::Doug Janik 16 GP 2 G 4 A, .38 PPG

::Henrik Zetterberg 79 GP 42 G 56 A, 1.24 PPG
::Pavel Datsyuk 78 GP 46 G 55 A, 1.29 PPG
::Tomas Holmstrom 76 GP 31 G 26 A, .75 PPG
::Todd Bertuzzi 80 GP 20 G 31 A, .64 PPG
::Valtteri Filppula 75 GP 26 G 30 A, .75 PPG
::Johan Franzen 76 GP 48 G 32 A, 1.05 PPG
::Dan Cleary 72 GP 22 G 24 A, .64 PPG
::Mike Modano 55 GP 16 G 28 A, .8 PPG
::Jiri Hudler 77 GP 21 G 31 A, .68 PPG
::Justin Abdelkader 62 GP 10 G 8 A, .29 PPG
::Darren Helm 65 GP 13 G 20 A, .51 PPG
::Patrick Eaves 62 GP 18 G 11 A, .47 PPG
::Drew Miller 48 GP 8 G 15 A, .48 PPG
::Kris Draper 53 GP 11 G 12 A, .62 PPG
::Mattias Ritola 8 GP 4 G 1 A, .63 PPG
::Kirk Maltby 18 GP 3 G 6 A, .50 PPG

My good mate Doug of the excellent The Detroit Transplant sent me some predictions. Let's take a look:

An overly-optimistic 53 wins! Vezina for Jimmy, Norris for Lidstrom, Selke (again) for Datsyuk. Chicago finishes 3rd in the division, behind Nashville. HAHAHAHA
:: Howard: 64 starts, 43 wins, 2.15 GAA, .925 sv%, 7 SO, .67 win %
:: Osgood: 16 starts, 9 wins, 2.98 GAA, .898 sv%, 1 SO, .56 win %
::McCollum: 2 starts, 1 win, 2.50 GAA, .850 sv%, 0 SO, .50 win %

:: Lidstrom: 80 GP, 16 G, 54 A, .88 PPG
:: Rafalski: 77 GP, 9 G, 48 A, .72 PPG
:: Kronwall: 62 GP, 8 G, 42 A, .81 PPG
:: Stuart: 76 GP, 6 G, 50 A1, .74 PPG
:: Ericsson: 40 GP, 2 G, 25 A, .68 PPG
:: Salei: 62 GP, 7 G, 39 A, .74 PPG
:: Meech: Who?
:: Smith: 5 GP, 0 G, 2 A, .40 PPG
:: Kindl: 30 GP, 2 G, 12 A, .47 PPG
:: Janik: 10 GP, 1 G, 2 A, .30 PPG

:: Zetterberg: 75 GP, 28 G, 50 A, 1.04 PPG
:: Datsyuk: 79 GP, 30 G, 54 A, 1.06 PPG
:: Holmstrom: 72 GP, 26 G, 21 A .65 PPG
:: Bertuzzi: 75 GP, 15 G, 30 A, .60 PPG
:: Filppula: 65 GP, 18 G, 35 A, .82 PPG
:: Franzen: 70 GP, 24 G, 38 A, .89 PPG
:: Cleary: 64 GP, 16 G, 20 A, .56 PPG
:: Modano: 68 GP, 18 G, 25 A, .63 PPG
:: Hudler: 72 GP, 22 G, 40 A, .86 PPG
:: Abdelkader: 62 GP, 5 G, 7 A, .19 PPG
:: Helm: 78 GP, 12 G, 15 A, .35 PPG
:: Eaves: 50 GP, 9 G, 9 A, .36 PPG (+2 more shootout fails)
:: Miller: 53 GP, 12 G, 11 A, .43 PPG
:: Draper: 48 GP, 7 G, 13 A, .42 PPG
:: Ritola: 16 GP, 3 G, 5 A, .50 PPG

My mate Murdoch aka. @skeletonframes from Twitter chimes in with a set of prediction now close to the deadline. He predicts a 51 win season and some time for McCollum. Let's look at his predictions, shall we?

:: Howard: 62 starts, 43 wins, 2.24 GAA, .924 sv%, 3 SO, .69 win %
:: Osgood: 8 starts, 2 wins, 3.36 GAA, .845 sv%, 0 SO, .25 win %
:: McCollum: 12 starts, 6 wins, 2.76 GAA, .899 sv%, 0 SO, .50 win %

:: Lidstrom: 82 GP, 14 G, 61 A, .91 PPG
:: Rafalski: 72 GP, 12 G, 52 A, .89 PPG
:: Kronwall: 76 GP, 11 G, 36 A, .62 PPG
:: Stuart: 82 GP, 3 G, 28 A, .38 PPG
:: Ericsson: 71 GP, 4 G, 18 A, .31 PPG
:: Salei: 72 GP, 1 G, 11 A, .17 PPG
:: Meech: 82 games watched
:: Kindl: 30 GP, 5 G, 13 A, .60 PPG
:: Janik: 7 GP, 0 G, 4 A, .58 PPG

:: Zetterberg: 76 GP, 36 G, 52 A, 1.16 PPG
:: Datsyuk: 82 GP, 42 G, 66 A, 1.32 PPG
:: Holmstrom: 68 GP, 18 G, 27 A, .66 PPG
:: Bertuzzi: 73 GP, 14 G, 31 A, .62 PPG
:: Filppula: 76 GP, 19 G, 43 A, .82 PPG
:: Franzen: 78 GP, 39 G, 29 A, .87 PPG
:: Cleary: 81 GP, 15 G, 29 A, .54 PPG
:: Modano: 67 GP, 12 G, 24 A, .54 PPG
:: Hudler: 80 GP, 28 G, 26 A, .68 PPG
:: Abdelkader: 61 GP, 8 G, 13 A, .34 PPG
:: Helm: 69 GP, 16 G, 18 A, .49 PPG
:: Eaves: 48 GP, 11 G, 14 A, .52 PPG
:: Miller: 44 GP, 6 G, 7 A, .30 PPG
:: Draper: 42 GP, 4 G, 9 A, .31 PPG

Season preview - first defense pairing

2010-08-29T19:08:00.003+02:00

Today I'll take a look at our first defense pairing for this season, which, as always, will be Nicklas Lidström and Brian Rafalski.

Nicklas Lidström
Last three seasons
07/08 - Red Wings - 76 GP, 10 G, 60 A, 70 Pts, +40, 40 PIM
08/09 - Red Wings - 78 GP, 16 G, 43 A, 59 Pts, +31, 30 PIM
09/10 - Red Wings - 82 GP, 9 G, 40 A, 49 Pts, +22, 24 PIM

Last year
I think Nick got a bad rap last season. Yes, he had a scoring slump, no he didn't have too many points early on, but think about this. He played 82 games, and with a few exceptions he was still the Perfect Human in most of them. He lead a defense coprs that was filled with replacements, bad players, Brett Lebdas and youngsters for much of the season. Leadership and defense naturally became his first priority. He still logged massive amounts of ice time and when he started scoring he actually scored quite a lot. His point total took an upswing late in the season too. Defensively he was arguably NHL's best defenseman, only maybe beaten by Duncan Keith and if you look at his +/- it is higher than the team +/-. While the season wasn't his best, he was still a premier NHL defenseman and would have deserved to finish second, after only Keith, in the Norris voting.

The upcoming season
If I had to choose one defenseman for my team for this season and this season only (or the next 2-3), it would still be Nick. He chose to return which shows commeitment and motivation. With a better, more solid defense corps, Nick will also be allowed to think a little more offense and better offensive depth will also help out his offensive numbers, Defensively he will probably make mistakes now and then, but still so few that we get shocked when he makes one. I have a feeling this will be Nick's season. One where he shows exactly how good he still is.

What we need
This year we won't need Nick to carry the whole defense on his shoulders. I expect to see a fresher and better Rafa and this will also help him out. Hopefully the Wings will be good enough to let Nick rest a few games, but he will yet again be asked to log big minutes for close to 80 games. We need Nick as a point producer too and, while we don't need him to score at the pace he did late last seasonm we expect a higher goal total from him, the same goes for points. And with a better team, it is only fair to expect that his +/- will be even better too.

What we will get
A long summer of rest, a better team and new motivation. All these things make me very optimistic for Nick this season. He is back to take revenge for a season deemed to be his weakest in years, and with a great support cast I expect him to deliver exactly what we need. I expect him to be mentioned highly in the Norris discussion this year, and would not be surprised if he blows everyone away and takes the trophy home.

Prediction
77 GP, 12 G, 53 A, 65 Pts (0,156 G/GP, 0,688 A/GP, 0,844 Pts/GP)

Brian Rafalski
Last three seasons
07/08 - Red Wings - 73 GP, 13 G, 42 A, 55 Pts, +27, 34 PIM
08/09 - Red Wings - 78 GP, 10 G, 49 A, 59 Pts, +17, 20 PIM
09/10 - Red Wings - 78 GP, 8 G, 34 A, 42 Pts, +23, 26 PIM

Last season
It was a weird season for Rafa last year. He struggled with smaller injuries, missing a few games here and there and after a fantastic Olympic tournament he seemed tired for the rest of the season. He also had to play for a weakened defense and log time in shorthanded situations, which he usually avoids. He had a more defensive system around him than usual and this did hamper his offensive production a ittle. He did not have a bad season, but he didn't give us the stuff we expect from him either.

The upcoming season
This season I expect better from Rafa. He is well rested, should be healthy and getting Nick back as his defense partner, possibly for the last time, has to be a kick for him. Hopefully we can see him be more solid defensively and togeher with Nick he should be able to produce more up front.

What we need
We need him to log about the same number of games and amount of ice time as Nick. We need him to be defensively sound, not make Rafa vs. Rick Nash type mistakes, and continue to make our first pairing be one that no star player or top line wants to go up against. Offensively we need his numbers to go up a little and he needs to be a little better on the breakout passes.

What we will get
Rafa is over the top when it comes to full seasons of excellence, but I think he can be better than last year, be consistently good and at times give us fantastic stuff, like he gave Team USA. I expect him to be solid beside Nick and give us a slight upswing in numbers compared to last season.

Prediction
78 GP, 9 G, 42 A, 51 Pts (0,115 G/GP, 0,538 A/GP, 0,654 Pts/GP)

No preview tomorrow as it will be time for a new 25:19