I don’t know too much about the NHL and hardly pay attention to it all season, even the playoffs.
This year is different though. [Read more...]
Can the Detroit Red Wings Reclaim their Mojo?
March 25, 2012 By 1 Comment
The Detroit Red Wings have been beset by a series of key injuries – team captain Niklas Lidstrom, Johan Franzen, Jakub Kindl, Darren Helm, Patrick Eaves, Jonathan Ericsson and goaltenders Jimmy Howard and Joey McDonald, amongst others. And while Lidstrom’s, Kindl’s and Howard’s returns are imminent and Pavel Datsyuk has recently returned from missing 11 games with arthroscopic surgery on his knee, the Wings have struggled mightily during the month of March, going winless in 8 of their past 9 and 11 of their past 14 games, including a six-game winless streak (0-4-2).
Not coincidentally, their slide began when Lidstrom was sidelined with a deep ankle bone bruise.
Detroit Red Wings win NHL record 21st at home
February 15, 2012 By Leave a Comment
Somewhere within all the Jeremy Lin hysteria, and excitement for Kate Upton and Alex Morgan in the Sports Illustrated swimsuit issue, (I use the word “excitement,” but could just have easily used a more NSFW word to describe the phenomena at hand) this NHL record became lost in the shuffle.
Chicago is not a hockey town, and when the local team sucks, (I’d say losing 9 in a row getting D level effort from the goalies, F level effort from the defensemen counts as sucking) talking hockey recedes. When the team’s traditional rival, the Detroit Red Wings (and that IS a hockey town) is kicking ass, hockey talk dissipates even further.
Location of 2013 NHL Winter Classic Wings vs. Leafs revealed: Michigan Stadium
February 9, 2012 By Leave a Comment
The 2013 NHL Winter Classic will be a “home game” for the Detroit Red Wings. They’ll take on the Toronto Maple Leafs, the most valuable franchise in all of hockey in an all original six showdown.
It will be held at Michigan Stadium, home of UM Wolverines college football.
2011-2012 NHL General Manager Rankings
January 15, 2012 By 7 Comments
In comprising a ranking of the Top 10 National Hockey League (NHL) General Manager’s (GM’s), I assessed the GM’s by a series of factors: Overall performance – cumulative and trending; drafting and development; trades and acquisitions; capology – the ability to efficiently manage their respective salary cap; variable factors – ownership, organizational legacy, the situation they’ve inherited.
So, this list is not linearly-related to the team’s current record or whether they recently won the Stanley Cup as so many rankings of this type tend to do.
With that, here are the rankings of NHL GM’s:
Blackhawks’ Late Surge Gains Pity Point, But Wings Prevail
January 14, 2012 By Leave a Comment
Some sporting events have momentum swings that seem to occur in nearly every minute of action, but the tilt between the Detroit Red Wings and Chicago Blackhawks was not one of those events.
Through the first 40 minutes of Saturday afternoon’s matinee between the Red Wings and Blackhawks, there was little doubt as to who the better team was on the ice. Sure, the Hawks got a huge break when Wings goaltender Jimmy Howard flipped a puck from behind the net directly to Andrew Shaw, but the Wings were the class of the Central for those 40 minutes, outshooting Chicago 29-11 and outscoring them 2-1. As soon as the third period started, however, it became a hockey game.
Michigan Stadium, Red Wings Should Host Next NHL Winter Classic
January 2, 2012 By Leave a Comment
How has “Hockeytown U.S.A.” never hosted a NHL Winter Classic? The Detroit Red Wings are one of the game’s most legendary brands and franchises. With the exception of the Montreal Canadiens, no team has a richer history and more iconic logo on their sweater.
Of course, Montreal hasn’t hosted the game either, but first things first. The Wings have the perfect venue with a track record of success for hosting outdoor hockey, exactly what the January 1 NHL event.
Blackhawks, Red Wings Legend Chris Chelios Enters USA Hockey H.O.F.
December 12, 2011 By Leave a Comment
Former Chicago Blackhawks, Detroit Red Wings and Wisconsin Badgers great Chris Chelios will be inducted into the U.S. Hockey Hall of Fame tonight in Chicago, as he becomes the sixth Badgers to enter the hall.
Chelios will be inducted along with Mike “Doc” Emrick, Gary Suter, Ed Snider and Keith Tkachuk at the Renaissance Chicago Downtown Hotel. The U.S. Hockey Hall of Fame, is that kind of like the Latin Grammys or the Canadian Football Hall of Fame?
Jimmy Howard Has Ended the Red Wings’ Goalie Controversies
December 4, 2011 By Leave a Comment
The most celebrated goaltender in Red Wings history—indeed, maybe in NHL history—was a tormented man. It’s been said that you have to be a little off your rocker to want to throw yourself into the path of vulcanized rubber discs for a living. Terry Sawchuk may not have been crazy, but he wasn’t happy.
It’s been documented—by his teammates, by his son, by those who covered him. Sawchuk, the Hall of Famer who did three stints with the Red Wings from 1949 to 1969, was a tragically sad man, for the most part.
Sawchuk was like the comedian who makes your sides burst with laughter, but who himself is devoid of joy. Kind of like the troubled Lenny Bruce, who, like Sawchuk, was dead by age 40.
Sawchuk dominated NHL shooters in his day, racking up 103 shutouts (a record long considered unbreakable untilNew Jersey’s Marty Brodeur proved otherwise) and guarding the Detroit goal like an Irish beat cop in the Bowery.
NHL Central Division Week in Review
November 18, 2011 By Leave a Comment
While the NHL season is still young, the NHL Central Division is starting to show some separation between the playoff-contending teams and those slated for next June’s NHL Entry Draft lottery.
With that, here is a summary of the NHL Central Division for the first four weeks of the season (in order of the current Central Division standings):
Detroit Red Wings Life Without Nick Lidstrom Is Terrifying To Imagine
October 29, 2011 By Leave a Comment
Nick Lidstrom doesn’t block shots. He doesn’t body check anyone. He’s never thrown an elbow. His next fight will be his first.
The greatest hockey defenseman of his time, or maybe of any time, isn’t supposed to be so mild-mannered. He isn’t supposed to be less physical than a second baseman.
Lidstrom, the Red Wings all-universe defenseman, is 41 years old. In human years. In hockey playing years, he’s closer to 30, because he hasn’t used his body as a battering ram or for someone else’s target practice.
Lidstrom plays hockey like Bobby Fischer played chess and Minnesota Fats played billiards—literally. No one has seen that 200’x 80’ sheet of ice better than Lidstrom, who is always a move or two ahead of his opponent. He’s the geometric hockey player—using the puck’s caroms and angles like Fats used those green felt rails.
There hasn’t been a defenseman like him, before or since he entered the NHL in 1991. I’ll put up a batch of my wife’s Pasta Fagioli that there won’t be one like him after, either. Ever.
NHL Central Division Week in Review
October 28, 2011 By Leave a Comment
As the Columbus Blue Jackets are positioning themselves in 242 days for either top amateur prospects Nail Kabulov or Filip Forsberg in the 2012 NHL Entry Draft, and as I primarily cover the Blue Jackets, I am left with little to write about in a positive manner.
Therefore, as part of a continuing series, here is a summary of the NHL Central Division for the first two weeks of the season (in order of the current Central Division standings):
