2011/ 2012 Red Wings

[smogboy]

In the off season, we mercifully we didn't sign Jaromir Jagr in the off season. We didn't go out and make huge free agent splashes and sign the capable likes of White & Commodore. We say good bye to Paul MacLean and Brad McCrimmon behind the bench. And we also say goodbye to the long standing guys like Chris Osgood and Kris Draper (last of the Grind Line) as they head off to the golf course; their Cup contributions won't be soon forgotten. We also welcome back Ty Conklin into the fold again. And we still have the best defenseman I've ever seen lacing them up in Nick Lidstrom for another year.

Feel free to discuss as the season progresses and maybe in mid-June we'll still be playing some significant games.

[Wingnatic]

Well Kenny Holland has the habit of pulling a rabbit out of a hat , this offseason is no different in that we don't usually trade away players that we are developing . Cory Emmerton is an example of that , he's ready to come up from Grand Rapids as is a few others , but in his case is either play him up here or lose him . Its time to start bringing up some of these youngsters .

[Downriviera]

Real nice start to the season. Hudler looking better, too.

[I <3 DET]

I just went to my first Red Wings game on Friday. It was so much fun. Joe Louis Arena was so energetic and exciting. The other fans were friendly. The food at the stadium was delicious. To top it off we won 5-2. Overall it was a great experience.

[TKshreve]

C'mon Wings........ find your game.

Five losses in a row has to go back some time. Either way I'm a die hard fan, but watching them lose in this fashion is really rough.

[Downriviera]

Those 5 losses in a row are a distant memory, the team is playing great. Howard is at his best.

[Wingnatic]

I can't believe Howard isn't on the all-star ballot after having a great season last year and even better one this season so far . I've written him in on the ballot .

Well folks this isn't quite what I wanted , I would have rather had us replace Atlanta (now Winnipeg) in the East . At least no more 10 pm and after starts . I believe this realignment could have two East or two West teams face off for the Cup , I think I heard this on HNIC


Board of Governors adopt radical realignment plan

PEBBLE BEACH, Calif. -- The NHL's Board of Governors on Monday approved a radical realignment plan, eliminating the current two-conference, six-division setup in favor of a configuration that features four conferences based primarily on geography. Two conferences will have eight teams and the other two conferences will have seven teams.
The Board authorized Commissioner Gary Bettman to implement this proposal in Monday evening's vote, pending input from the National Hockey League Players' Association. The League's intention is for the four-conference set-up to be in place starting with the 2012-13 season.
The vote to approve realignment required a two-thirds majority of the League's 30 governors, and it passed on the first of two days of meetings here at The Inn at Spanish Bay.
The makeup of the yet-to-be-named four conferences is as follows:
* New Jersey, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, New York Rangers, New York Islanders, Washington and Carolina
* Boston, Montreal, Toronto, Ottawa, Buffalo, Florida and Tampa Bay
* Detroit, Columbus, Nashville, St. Louis, Chicago, Minnesota, Dallas and Winnipeg
* Los Angeles, Anaheim, Phoenix, San Jose, Vancouver, Calgary, Edmonton, Colorado
much more at :
http://www.nhl.com/ice/news.htm?id=604852

[kenp]

I wish we were in the Boston, Montreal, Toronto Conf instead. Oh well.
I wonder how the playoffs will work.

[TKshreve]

I wish we were in the Boston, Montreal, Toronto Conf instead. Oh well.
I wonder how the playoffs will work.

2 Conferences
2 Divisions per Conference
East Conference: 2 Divisions of 7 teams each
West Conference: 2 Divisions of 8 teams each

Top 4 teams from each conference go to the playoffs.
1st round & 2nd Round are fought within the Division.
3rd round is a conference championship.
4th is the cup.

That is my current understanding.

[kenp]

It says there will be 4 conferences, so each conferece will have a champion. Then I dont know what conference plays to get to the Finals though I would agree it would probably be the "western" teams playing together. The one good thing here is we would only have to go out west for one series in the playoffs instead of a possible three series under the current process.

[Downriviera]

So the NHLPA nixed the realignment. I think this is just posturing by Donald Fehr, the new head of the NHLPA and ex MLB union head. With a new contract coming up it seems this is just a shot off the bow of the NHL by Fehr. Its going to get interesting with him and Bettman.

[Wingnatic]

The problem appears to be how teams make the playoffs .

[TKshreve]

Congrats Wings on the impressive Franchise Record!

[Thruster315]

The Todd Bertuzzi Spin-O-Rama shootout goal the other night- I couldn't believe that there are some people on some other sports threads (not DetroitYes or Detroit related) say that it shouldn't have been allowed because the puck lost forward momentum. I get the gist of the rule but why would that matter with his goal in particular. I never once thought that the momentum of the puck stopped- maybe it slid parallel along the crease for a split second, but Bert still kept the puck moving. Isn't that the idea?

Personally I wouldn't care if he skated in circles with it. The second he shoots the puck or loses control should be the criteria IMO.

[Downriviera]

I've been wondering about this as well. According to the old rules of a penalty shot the goal would be disallowed. Not just because of the spin move, but because he initially skated towards the boards and not directly to the goal. Patrick Kane had a questionable shootout goal where he slowed down and appeared to stop his forward movement, also disallowed under the old rules. Are the rules for a penalty shot different than for the shootout? Not sure, I need to see the new rules.

[kenp]

This shootout stuff is really changing the game. I cant stand when a game is played only to end in that.
The Red Wings have good one on one players, you would never have thought Bert would be so good at it.

[Thruster315]

Heckuva game versus the Blues tonight. It had a playoff atmosphere. Both teams vying for first place. While it took awhile to get stewing, that third period was pretty intense and got pretty physical. I loved seeing Jimmy Howard come out swinging especially if he felt as though he was run (he was). Not only does he need to defend his crease but he has to protect himself. Way to wield that blocker, Jimmy. Don't take any sh!t from anyone.

And it was also nice to see the Wings walk away with a 3-1 victory.

[kenp]

I saw a show last night were they followed Nic Lidstrom around for 36 hours and was shot during the recent Buffalo home game and ther Dallas road game. It was really a good show.
Lidstrom is an interesting guy, has all kind of weird rituals. He eats at the same place before each game at the same time and same table. And a bunch of other habits. Also Holmstrom seems to be his asst. Funny stuff

[canuck]

Seven to two. Yikes! Montreal was flabbergasted. Didnt think the Habs would do more than putt-putt along last night. Our new coach is beginning to knock some sense into our talented young Subban. Wish he could blowtorch Gomez's rump to get the bastard to shoot the puck.

[Downriviera]

That was a forgettable game. I liked the game where we chased Patrick Roy out of Montreal better.

[canuck]

That was a forgettable game. I liked the game where we chased Patrick Roy out of Montreal better.


Yeah, that was like the beginning of a long line of chasing talent out and getting highly paid, surly faced, untalented or at least lazy players on board...

It had better be a forgettable game to Detroiters, but for the Habs players, it has to be a reminder that effort = results.

[Whitehouse]

Red Wings about to make history?

One home win away from an NHL record. (http://www.detroitnews.com/article/20120210/SPORTS0103/202100459/Red-Wings-run-home-win-streak-19-one-short-NHL-record?odyssey=tab|topnews|text|FRONTPAGE)

[Downriviera]

Hard to compare this streak with the teams that hold the record. They did it without overtime or shootouts. Its still a nice streak and I'm just glad they're winning at home. Need to get a bit better on the road and the pp needs a little work. Who goes down after Howard comes back, Conklin or McDonald?

[Thruster315]

Streak not withstanding, this team is starting to show some serious moxie. I like what they've been doing defensively again- and that always seemed like a hallmark of the winning WIngs teams of old. Puck control is still one of the benchmarks of this team too.

One other thing that I'm really liking about the Wings is how they've been rolling in some of the fresh troops like Nyquist, Brendan Smith, Corey Emmerton, Jakub Kindl, Jan Mursak, etc.. It's not just one over ripe kid from Grand Rapids; they keep everyone guessing and hustling to be with the big club. It's this sort of depth that keeps this team relevant over the last two decades.

[Thruster315]

Following up my recent post about the Wings depth, let's hear it for journeyman netminder Joey MacDonald. One could tell he's really falling into a groove by being The Man while Jimmy Howard is temporarily on the shelf. He's playing his angles well and really not afraid to come out and challenge the shooters now. His one gaffe in the Philly game was playing the puck and that has to do with communicating confidently with his defensemen. But his team rallied around him and it didn't hurt the team any.

This was also following an impressive shoot-out victory against some pretty decent shooters in the Ducks game too. Way to stand tall Joey Mac!

[TKshreve]

Following up my recent post about the Wings depth, let's hear it for journeyman netminder Joey MacDonald. One could tell he's really falling into a groove by being The Man while Jimmy Howard is temporarily on the shelf. He's playing his angles well and really not afraid to come out and challenge the shooters now. His one gaffe in the Philly game was playing the puck and that has to do with communicating confidently with his defensemen. But his team rallied around him and it didn't hurt the team any.

This was also following an impressive shoot-out victory against some pretty decent shooters in the Ducks game too. Way to stand tall Joey Mac!

I do like his confidence. He comes right out to the edge of the crease and gets a piece of those shots.

A lot of people were speculating that Joey was just riding surge of confidence. And that it would burst at any minute. But after his gaffe vs. Philly, he continued to play a solid, consistent game.

Tremendous difference between Joey and Ty. Which is too bad, because not only did Ty start the year strong, but he was pretty good for us when we had him several years ago. Nothing is ever guaranteed though.

[Thruster315]

Period one done and 20 shots on net already. Poor Dallas. I feel for Lehtonen because he's got to wonder where the five guys are in front of him.

And I'm not one to put the cart in front of the horse but if the Wings continue this sort of intensity, the NHL can scratch up a new record. It's seriously been dominating and very very workman like.

[Thruster315]

21 wins.

Impressive? Meh. A record nevertheless. I wish the team could've gotten Joey Mac a shutout but it goes down into the record books as another W. And just because we got 21 doesn't mean that this record is done with yet.

Next up is Nashville, San Jose, Vancouver & Colorado for the month of February. Again, who knows when it's going to stop.

[Downriviera]

It was nice to see the corporate fans in the lower bowl stay to the end for a change.

[kenp]

I always think its funny how the lower bowl is half filled until about 7 minutes after a period starts.
For me its always rush up after the period, piss, get a beer or 2 and back to my seat.

[rb336]

I remember at the beginning of the year, some pundits were predicting a bad year for the wings -- possibly not even a playoff berth! it cracks me up

[mikefmich]

I fear it will be a long summer this year.

[Downriviera]

By not suspending Weber, Shanahan just put a bounty on Nashvilles skill players like Radulov and Legwand. If I'm Babcock I tell my guys to target these players. Thanks to Shanny and the NHL its open season. This is exactly how the Steve Moore incident started. He went after Vancouver's top player, the NHL did nothing about it, and Bertuzzi fixed it.

[Thruster315]

The season ended too quickly. Sure, the Preds played like a hungrier faster version of the Wings, but the lack of depth on this Wings team showed. Darren Helm was out of the series early on but could one player like him have made that much of a difference? Doubtful. The chemistry just wasn't there and the bounces just weren't going our way. It's not time to break up the band yet but it's definitely time to re-tool.

One aspect of the Wings turnover that I'm not sure got looked over or not is the assistant coaching. Gone was Paul McLean, Brad McCrimmon (God rest his soul) and Todd McClellan; they were proven players who transitioned into coaching. I wonder if the new assistants Bill Peters and Jeff Blashill tinkered too much or am I pinning blame on them?

The home streak was fun, fine and dandy but immediately after this exit, that's about all I can hang my hat on now.

[BrushStart]

^ The team is in desperate need of new blood. Holmer should retire. If Lidstrom decides to return, he should take a more secondary role. Pav and Z should be elevated to veteran status. While they are both still among the best two-way players in the league, they cannot be expected to take the full brunt of the other team's defense every shift. We need some young guys who are durable and energized to win. A lot could be accomplished just by winning battles by getting to the puck first. That only requires hustle. If the young guys can get the pucks to the vets like Pav, Z, and Johan, we can setup plays in deep and score some goals. That would improve the offense.

In terms of defense, we simply need more talent. This is where I'd spend the salary cap money. When Raf left, there was void. Nobody was there to pick up the slack and Lidstom can't do everything. I would bring in a player with a few years in the league who has shown promise and let Nik finish molding him. When Lidstrom is gone, we are going to have big problems on defense. Our weaknesses were already showing this post-season.

[jiminnm]

I think the home streak hurt the season end and playoff performance of the Wings much more than it helped. There was so much team focus on winning then, but that focus disappeared after the loss at home and never seemed to come back. It reminded me of the season that the Wings led the league in points but lost in the first round. For the last weeks before the playoffs, and against Nashville (who beats the Wings most of the time anyway), the Wings were pretty passive on the ice and only occasionally displayed the aggression that they are known for.

They also never seemed to recover from the rash of injuries. Datsyuk came back, but I'm not convinced Howard and Franzen were fully healed. They missed Helm because he provides a spark and makes something happen almost every time he's on the ice, and no one else except Zetterberg and Datsyuk seemed to be able to do that (and not as often). Patrick Eaves was also out since Nov. While not a star, he is a solid consistent player.

The Wings definitely need a more solid defense, as I expect Lidstrom will play even less next season (if he's still playing). I like White and Quincey (at times), and of course Kronwall, but I don't think they can carry the load. They also need a solid back up goalie, as I think McDonald is too inconsistent.

Well, sometime this weekend I'll have to take off the Red Wings' license plate frame.

[Downriviera]

In the past when we desperately needed a goal, Babcock put Z and Dats together on a line. I wonder why he did not do this in this series. The injuries killed our momentum, which you need going into the playoffs. I hope either LA or St. Louis wins it.