Saturday, May 29, 2010

Report: Lidstrom's decision coming soon

ESPN.com's Pierre LeBrun said on CBC's Hot Stove tonight that The Perfect Human, Nicklas Lidstrom, will make his decision regarding his future within the next seven days.

It was also mentioned that the Wings have began contract negotiations with Tomas Holmstrom and Todd Bertuzzi (much to Petrella's displeasure), George Malik at Snapshots notes.

I put up a poll asking what you think Lidstrom's decision will be: stay or retire? I expect him to re-sign at a salary slightly below what he's making right now ($7.45 million). He's shown that he can still play at a Norris Trophy candidate level, and if this was a "down year" for him, it was one heck of a down year.

Let's hope he decides to stay -- him and Yzerman leaving in the same week would be harmful to my health.

Thursday, May 27, 2010

Defenseman Brendan Smith signed

One thing we've always known about Kenny Holland and the Wings is that they make the most of their draft picks - and Brendan Smith should be no exception.

The Wings signed the Wisconsin Badger defenseman to a three-year entry-level contract today. Smith was the 27th overall pick in the 2007 NHL Draft, and spent the past three seasons in Madison, Wisconsin.

He put together a fine collegiate career:
  • Led the nation among defenseman in scoring this year, posting a total of 52 points (15 goals, 37 assists).
  • His points-per-game average of 1.27 was good enough for top-15 in the nation.
  • 2009-10 Hobey Baker finalist.
  • All-WCHA first team.
  • WCHA defensive player of the year.
  • Smith scored 26 goals, to go along with 61 assists, for 87 points in his three-year Wisconsin career.
This is a guy who improved each year at Wisconsin, from finishing second in rookie scoring for the Badgers his freshman year, to leading UW defenseman in goals his sophomore campaign, to being possibly the best blueliner in college hockey this past season.

Now, obviously it's too early to know if he will pan out to be the top line d-man we expect him to be, but he most definitely has the skills to be that type of player.

I got the chance to see him play at the Frozen Four this year, and everything the scouts say about him is dead-on. He moves the puck very well, as shown by his five-assist effort over RIT in the semifinals, and his impressive vision complements that very well. He is a fantastic skater and is smooth with the puck in pressure situations. (Something he was good at with the Badgers, and hopefully he'll be able to retain that with Detroit.)

He's 6-foot-2 but will have to continue to bulk up, which will help him in improving the defensive side of the game. Additionally, he'll have to prove that he can stay healthy, something he really wasn't able to do in college, and make smarter decisions as far as when to pinch in the offensive zone.

He will attend training camp up in Traverse City then start the season in Grand Rapids. Let's hope the 21-year-old can continue to improve and become the front line defenseman that will be vital to success in Detroit.

Tuesday, May 25, 2010

Goodbye, Stevie Y

Sports bring out the best, and worst, of our emotions. It's one of the few things in this world that can collectively bring an entire group of people, regardless of age, popularity, and location, together in celebration, or grief.

Perhaps even rarer than that, though, is when one single person has the ability and character to inspire a city, as well as lead a team through the tough times.

Steve Yzerman is one of those people.

Words cannot describe how much he means to the city of Detroit and Red Wings fans all around the world. We've been blessed with a man who's led us through the best and worst of those emotions. As Jesse at Bingo Bango said, he's set the stage for what a leader should be. He's set the stage for what a hockey player should be. He's set the stage for what a professional athlete should be. He's set the stage for what a person should be. How often can we say that about someone?

He led us through the pre-dynasty era. The close-but-not-quite years. Even with all that, we knew we'd be okay because he was The Captain. Led us through the Vladimir Konstantinov and Sergei Mnatsakanov tragedy, through the Avalanche rivalry, through the 2001 playoff loss to the LA Kings, but we knew we'd be okay because we had The Captain.

The same captain who brought us three Stanley Cup championships. Who nearly single-handedly revived the franchise and turned us into Hockeytown. Who brought us 27 years of Hall of Fame skill, class, and integrity.

Which is why it's nearly impossible to look at the image above. Like @Whoabot said, it still looks so strange with that logo next to his name. And it will, for however long Yzerman is on board with teams other than the Wings.

But we owe it to Stevie Y to accept his decision. And we have. All it takes is a search for "Red Wings" on Twitter and you can see that we have. We may not like it. It's killing everyone inside. But it's not fair, considering all that he did for the franchise, to criticize him or have doubts about him for taking the Lightning GM job. (Although, for the sanity of hockey fans, it is unfortunate he beat out Pierre McGuire for the job.)

It's clear he wasn't going to get to be a general manager here in Detroit -- for a while at least, as Kenny Holland is here to stay. Apparently, Mike Illitch had asked Holland if he wanted to move up to the vice president position, but he declined, wanting to stay as general manager. We can't blame him for the decision. We knew he wanted to run his own team, and clearly that wasn't going to happen in Detroit, but that doesn't make the news any easier to take.

I think that Tampa is a good place for him to get his feet wet and take over a NHL franchise. His five-year, $2.5 million per deal allows him to try and turn a team that was 25h in the league this year into the winner it once was only six years ago. He'll take over a team that has possibly the best player no one talks about in Steven Stamkos, an anchor on the blue line in Victor Hedman, and two players that are capable of carrying a team in Vincent Lecavalier and Martin St. Louis.

The Lightning are $21 million under the cap, but have only 13 players signed for a combined $40 million. It will be interesting seeing what type of team Stevie wants to build, how he handles it, and who he hires as coach. He has some options, including current Wings assistant Paul MacLean and Portland Pirates coach Kevin Dineen. Will he lure MacLean down to Florida?

All I know is this: I now have a new favorite Eastern Conference team. Sorry, Montreal.

(I also invite you to join this Facebook page I made - Steve Yzerman: Good luck in Tampa.)

Wednesday, May 19, 2010

Meeting Jimmy Howard


Jimmy Howard was signing autographs at Perani's Hockey World in Livonia last night. It was total luck that I happened to be there (my sister had to get some goalie stuff) just as the line was starting to get bigger. I had no idea that I was even going to Perani's, or that Jimmy was even signing there -- so let's just say luck was on my side.

Realizing that, hey! I have nothing for him to sign!, I quickly bought one of those street signs that say "Red Wings Rd." on it. I stood in line for roughly over an hour -- well worth the wait.

The first thing I realized was that he writes left-handed. Which is awesome, because yours truly is left-handed as well. I figured it was best to not tell him that, though.

I pretty much avoided talking with him, which is pretty much what I did when Mike Babcock asked my mom and I to watch his computer at the Novi rink when he went to tie his daughter's skates. (This actually did happen.)

When we got up there, my dad told him that he once landed in Odgensburg, New York, where Jimmy grew up. My dad said something like, "I bet you were playing about 10 years ago." As you might expect, I stood off to the side, trying to figure out just what level of awkward that moment was.

I'm not sure what I was expecting -- but Jimmy sat there and said, "Ahh, 10 years ago? Wow, that was a while ago." I then got my picture with him, as you can see above. That was it.

It really doesn't seem like much, but that 45-second, maybe minute long encounter epitomizes just how special hockey players are. They're the most genuine, down-to-earth athletes we follow, which I think says a lot about their character, especially when you consider the game they play. He said thanks, didn't charge money, didn't just sign a picture and move on. I'm positive he made every single one of the kids' days, and I'm willing to bet that while the session was scheduled to end at 8 PM, he was there past that to make sure everyone got a chance for an autograph.

With all the trouble athletes are getting into in the other sports, it makes me glad to say I'm a hockey fan first, and a sports fan second.

Sunday, May 16, 2010

This is your TV deal, NHL

Joe Yerdon summed it up perfectly with this tweet:
NHL Broadcast partner my ass.
In case you don't know what I'm talking about, I'll do a quick recap.

The first stage of the Tour de California was on Versus, tentatively scheduled to end at 7 PM, right before Game 1 of the Eastern Conference Final between the Montreal Canadiens and Philadelphia Flyers.

I say tentatively because Versus apparently isn't all that interested in broadcasting hockey games.

Instead of, you know, cutting to the hockey game, Versus decides to keep it on cycling for an extra five or six minutes. Why? To show the podium ceremony.

You can't make this stuff up. As I said on Twitter, this is YOUR TV deal, Mr. Bettman. On a network that obviously still doesn't seem that interested in hockey. (I'll even throw NBC in there as well -- as it was pointed out to me that today was the first time an article from Pro Hockey Talk made it on the NBCSports.com homepage.)

I realize that yes, viewers did not miss any of the action, but still, I would not be happy if I'm an NHL exec right now.

I really can't say anything other than that this league still continues to amaze me, night in and night out.

Friday, May 14, 2010

Red Wings sign Mitchell Callahan

The Detroit Free Press is reporting that the Red Wings have signed 18-year-old Mitchell Callahan to a three-year entry-level contract.

Callahan was drafted by Detroit in the sixth-round (180th overall) in the 2009 NHL Draft. He's spent the past two seasons playing for the Kelowna Rockets, who played in the 2009 Memorial Cup, in the Western Hockey League.

He scored 20 goals and had 27 assists for 47 points in 72 games this past season. At 5-foot-9 and only 175 pounds, I was a bit surprised to find out he also tallied 165 penalty minutes, but he has played the agitator role very well for Kelowna in his time there.

He is going to have to get bigger if he wants to keep up his style of play in the NHL. Players like Callahan are usually ones the Wings tend to not draft, but they saw potential in him as a future third- or fourth-liner.

According to hockeyfights.com, Callahan dropped the gloves 19 times this year, which was the second highest total in the WHL.

He seems to fit the typical agitator definition: a yapper, has the ability to get under a player's skin, and hits everything.

His size will hamper him at the next level, but I think that he has the qualities -- hard-hitter, high-energy, afraid of no one -- to be a grinder and checking line type of player with Detroit.

Tuesday, May 11, 2010

End of the year thoughts

The end of a season is always a heartbreaking experience for a team and its fans. It's obvious enough that I am pointing out the obvious, but I think that I've come to learn that each season has to be treated differently for the pain to slowly ease away. Previous seasons, like the terrible end to the 2006 campaign or last seasons Stanley Cup Final debacle, hit me hard and still continue to so. (Actually, I really don't know if I will ever be able to fully get over that Game 7 loss.) Handling a playoff loss, especially when you know that no matter how dedicated you are as a fan, there really isn't anything you can do about the result, isn't always easy.

That's not to say that this year's loss to the San Jose Sharks in the Western Conference semifinal was easy to take. It wasn't, we all know that, but so far, I think it's fair to say I've taken it relatively well compared to other postseason losses in the past.

Part of me wants to be objective, I guess, and say that maybe we actually were playing like a team that was a five seed, albeit a strong five seed. There was no doubt in my mind that this team could win the Stanley Cup for the 12th time in franchise history, but I think that after we barely survived the scare that was the Phoenix Coyotes and were simply outplayed by the Sharks, it was just as far as we could go this year.

The other side of this would argue that that logic is somewhat flawed due to the incredible amount of injuries we had sustained throughout the season, and the fact that our guys had played more hockey the past four seasons than any other NHL team.

The Wings had a total of 312 man-games lost this year, a number I'm sure puts us within the top-five in that category. Ten(!) Wings missed at least five consecutive games, and I'm willing to bet we all remember when we fielded the Detroit Griffins at one point in the season, where eight guys were out at one time.

Franzen (torn ACL) missed 55 games. Filppula (broken wrist), Williams (broken leg), and Kronwall (sprained knee) missed 94 games combined. Zetterberg, Cleary, and Ericsson were out a combined 34 games in December.

These weren't just injuries -- they were significant injuries, and I think when I look back on this season one of the things I will definitely remember was this team's ability to overcome these losses, especially the Franzen one, in my opinion, on their charge to the playoffs.

Now obviously that's no excuse for how we played in the playoffs, but I think it's pretty amazing that this team was able to make the playoffs, let alone be a five seed in the very tough Western Conference. How they accumulated the 102 points wasn't always impressive, but it is impressive that we had the seventh most points in the league, including finishing with one more point than the Pittsburgh Penguins.

As Matt Saler said, it makes me very proud to be a Detroit Red Wings fan. We did overcome great adversary this year and I thought that Babcock and the players handled it very well.

These adversaries made this one of the most exciting seasons ever for me as a fan. While watching and struggling through the rough start in Sweden and the "meh" months of October-December wasn't always fun for us, the ups-and-downs of the season made we feel more committed than I've ever felt before as a Red Wings fan.

That, along with the emergence of Twitter, made this one of my favorite Red Wings seasons, despite the postseason exit. It's good to know that such a classy organization has such a great fan base, and I think things like Herm 2 Hockeytown and the great blogs we're able to read prove that.

I look forward to the 2010-11 season and the road to the Stanley Cup. For the 12th time.