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Diggers Converge On Meech
by IwoCPO on 02/28/08 at 03:45 AM ET
Comments (18)
Forty hours after he registered 8 shots on goal against Edmonton, in the midst of the best game a defenseman (other than Lidstrom) has had for the Wings this year, Derek Meech is now a popular fella with the Diggers.
A few hints for you Derek. When they converge on you, Khan(!) in front, Kulfan filing his nails off to the left, Helene to the right, they’re not going to say much. Not too many questions. They’ll just kinda stand there until you start talking. And then? Get this...here’s something Brendan Shanahan learned long ago. They’ll write whatever you tell them, word for word, with no follow up. Tell them that after the Oiler game you became the first human in history to drink a gallon of milk in under an hour without puking. They’ll believe it. They’ll write it. It will become fact.
Where’s MacLeod you ask? Great question. He didn’t make the trip. Yeah, weird. Good? Definitely. He’s the best, the only quality reporter in the bunch. Oh. It’s because his cheap-ass employer won’t send him on road trips. Yeah, he’s a beat writer whose only beat is the beat he covers that’s within driving distance.
In the absence of the Anti-digger, here’s the quality you get.
St. James
Meech will be in a four-man battle with Chelios, Andreas Lilja and Brett Lebda for the last two openings on defense. As the Wings see it, that’s just the kind of healthy competition that should help spur a long playoff run.
A four-man battle Helene? Just to be clear, you’re saying Chris Chelios is in a “battle” to retain his spot when he returns? Umm, no. Chelios is locked in. It’s a three-man battle and as many have pointed out, and as distasteful as it may seem, Lilja’s probably got it sewn up. Can Meech play his way into that equation? Can Lebda? Sure, it’s possible. Just not likely.
All the Diggers have Meech stories today. I just read them all and dozed through each one. Read them if you want. Khan(!), Kulfan, St. James.
Khan(!)’s also got a little contract chatter: Cleary deal for 2.5/year still on the table. Lilja’s agent and Holland might not be the BFFs they were a year ago, as they haven’t spoken lately. Recommendation here is that Kenny wait as long as possible on that situation, and this: Chris Chelios will be offered another one-year deal.
Uncle Mike’s decided who Brad Stuart will be paired with and I like it.
Kulfan
Babcock said he’ll pair Stuart with Kronwall, who is expected to return Friday against San Jose after recovering from a clavicle injury. Stuart is expected to be at today’s practice at Joe Louis Arena and will play Friday.
St. James
Among Stuart’s duties will be manning a point on the power play and helping to kill penalties. Stuart and Babcock date to their days in Red Deer, Alberta, and to the Western Hockey League.
“North American kid, skates well, can move the puck, can play physical, solidifies our top four,” Babcock said when asked to assess Stuart. “I’ve known the kid for a long, long time, and I think he’ll be a real help to us.”
All the diggers have really taken a liking to that “North American kid..” quote from Babcock. I’ve now read it 19 times. Pretty riveting stuff I wouldn’t have determined on my own without that explanation. I’m sure, you know, the whole “Brad” thing hasn’t clued us all in to the fact that he’s North American.
Kulfan: Mike, can you confirm that Brad Stuart is, in fact, North American?
St. James: Mike, yesterday you told Ted Kulfan that Stuart is North American. Care to expand on that?
Khan(!): Mike, I wouldn’t be doing my job if I didn’t ask you this question. Is Stuart still North American?
Our diggers.
Speaking of Diggers and ineptitude, let’s move briefly to Denver. I have a feeling by now you’ve heard of the Floppa return to the Ass Can. You’ve probably also read Woody Paige’s Judy Blume-like novella from yesterday. There are, literally, at least twenty lines I could pull from that column that deserve our special brand of attention. This one seemed particularly effective.
--"The Joe Sack Five have done a lot of winning...”
Joe Sack Five? The Joe Sack Five. Terrible. And, for the record, he’s including Scott Parker in the Five Sack, along with Hejduk. He also refers to them as “Ice boys.” That’s right Darren...Ice Boys.
One more note on the Denver media. There’s a battle royal going on between the Dive bloggers and a local broadcaster. Joe at Mile High Hockey is leading the blogger charge and doing quite well. Read this post, as well as the comments.
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Comments
Brad could also be short for Bradley.
I went to high school with a guy named Brad. He played football, hockey, and baseball (third base) and in one hockey game, he was checked into the boards and his helmet dented, but he was able to continue the game. I don’t know whether that says more about his helmet or his skull. 
I think Stuart should mess with the media by telling them it’s a myth that he is North American and tell them he is actually Swedish and wanted to join a team with more of his people.
Posted by Baroque from Michigan on 02/28/08 at 08:10 AM ET
I don’t know if Babcock’s having a history with Stuart is a good thing. Remember Williams? If Babs is as blind to any of Stuart’s possible faults as he was to those of his old Cincinatti buddy Jason Williams, this’ll suck.
Posted by Matt Saler from Grand Rapids, MI on 02/28/08 at 08:36 AM ET
He did have a prior history with Cleary, a little bit, too. Although Cleary had to prove his prior ideas wrong in a positive direction.
Posted by Baroque from Michigan on 02/28/08 at 08:41 AM ET
As a blogger who’s actually seen the Diggers in action, they are like lemmings, little meek pack members who follow one another and ask the same player ever-so-slightly different questions. I can’t name names because I’ll be killed, but some really do stand there, looking like they’re constipated, while a few do toss out some reasonable questions...But my question to Nick Lidstrom still got in the papers because it was unique, which tickles me to no end.
That being said, this was a “filler for the plane trip home” story day, and it’s unfortunate that they share crib notes (Hahn may have something to do with what the “story of the day” is) instead of discussing different topics.
As far as the defensive pairings are concerned, I think Cheli’s a lock, but I’m not sure whether Lilja is because Meech outplayed both Lilja and Lebda over the past four or five games.
Woody Paige? Every four months, he writes a column about hockey, gushing over the Avs with the same purple prose that Rosie Dimanno uses to lust after the Leafs’ swarthy men in a slightly disturbing homoerotic (not that there’s anything wrong with that) version of Evil Drew Sharp’s “Well, now I decree the team I barely watch contenders/pretenders/screwed/must acquire so and so.” It’s just plain old creepy to read writers that are so taken with themselves that they don’t let reality intrude upon their, um...excretory remarks.
Posted by George James Malik from South Lyon, MI on 02/28/08 at 09:18 AM ET
“Creepy” is the perfect word for Woody Paige. Just seeing the man on camera gives me the heebie-jeebies. He looks like he would be perfectly at home in a dark alley with a fedora and a trenchcoat waiting to flash someone.
And don’t demean lemmings. They aren’t as brainless as you think - what about fish? They have a far more blank stare than lemmings, and school together the same way the retorters do.
Posted by Baroque from Michigan on 02/28/08 at 09:33 AM ET
Brad could also be short for Bradley.
Well now see, that’s the thing-- I was trying to avoid the obvious, it’s too easy. Of course, as you suggest, he might just be a closet Swede! In that case, the Diggers’ questions are perfectly legitimate...probing and inquisitive, even. Why, if they dig up the REAL story behind ‘Brad Stuart’-- or should I say ‘Bjorn Sjostrom?’-- then they’re nothing less than the next Woodward & Bernstein!
Or maybe I’m a complete crock like they are.
I went to high school with a guy named Brad.
My vote goes to his skull-- it must be something about guys named Brad. I knew one when I was young who went over the handlebars of his bike on a steep hill (Mulholland, off of Liberty, if anyone’s familiar with A2-- it’s an absolute killer). Bloodied his entire body, bashed up the side of his head, broke a few bones, got up and claimed he was perfectly okay and didn’t need to go to the hospital or get any shots. Especially not the shots. Of course, I was too young to know what shock was-- I just figured that as he never really used his brain anyway, what was the harm in a little knock?
If Stuart’s that much of an ox, he’ll be good to have around. And the fact that he’ll force Lilja out of the top four (and out of the mentality-- and expected pay-- of the top four) can only be a good thing. I have faith in Babs-- if memory serves me right, he had a long history with Cleary, and kicked his butt into shape anyway.
George, what was your question to Lidstrom?
Posted by AndrewFromAnnArbor from the land of closeted Vikings...that sounds bad... on 02/28/08 at 09:40 AM ET
I also wouldn’t read too much into Babcock’s relationship with Stuart. Babs has also known Brent Sopel for a long time and Sopel didn’t end up staying on the team for long.
With that being said I think Stuart will be a good fit for the Wings. I’m looking forward to a second pairing of him playing alongside Kronner. They’re both capable of dishing out some punishment.
Posted by Dave on 02/28/08 at 09:41 AM ET
the same way the retorters do
Flashing back to your lab days, Baroque?
(Sorry, I couldn’t resist. I’m a vial person.)
Posted by AndrewFromAnnArbor from a large building full of people in white coats on 02/28/08 at 09:45 AM ET
Chief,
First, the second-best game from a Wings d-man this season not named “Lidstrom” was Kronwall’s dominant four-assist game. It’s the only game since Vladdie was injured that I can recall a Wings defenseman outshining Lidstrom while both were in the lineup. Meech’s game the other night would be the third-best game.
And thank you for granting my request and bashing the Macomb Daily. You know how to keep all 19 (are we up to 20 yet?) of us satisfied (please people, take a pass on the obvious gay joke).
Posted by Nathan on 02/28/08 at 09:49 AM ET
Bill,
I appreciate the plug. You’re a true gentleman.
With McCarty, Foote and Floppa back, it’s like an injury-prone, bankruptcy-filing high school reunion.
A first-round matchup between the Wings and the Avs this year would warm my heart---at least until the Avs got swept in four games.
Posted by Joe on 02/28/08 at 10:30 AM ET
Joe Sack Five---glossary bound?
Stuart---definitely Scottish.
Posted by markw from Scotland on 02/28/08 at 11:18 AM ET
I meant “reporters.” I’ve gotten used to automatic spellcheck when I type - without the little squiggly red alert line, it’s harder to notice typos.
Posted by Baroque from Michigan on 02/28/08 at 12:04 PM ET
I learned a valuable lesson today: Never click on a link to a Woody Paige column ever again. It’s going to take me a couple days to destupify myself after reading that hash...and I only made it halfway through.
Posted by Matt from Chicago on 02/28/08 at 12:49 PM ET
“Woody Paige?...gushing over the Avs with the same purple prose that Rosie Dimanno uses to lust after the Leafs’ swarthy men in a slightly disturbing homoerotic (not that there’s anything wrong with that) version of Evil Drew Sharp’s...”
Wow! Three diggers tagged smoothly on one skewer! That’s a great paragraph George. Fire up the BBQ and roast em.
Posted by Rumbear from Sandy Eggo on 02/28/08 at 02:21 PM ET
Stuart---definitely Scottish.
Could also be Northern Irish Protestant, but most of them are transplanted Scots anyway, and given that he was a teammate of Owen Nolan’s last year (Nolan being a Catholic name and Owen Nolan himself actually having been born in Belfast) without getting into a sectarian fight with him, I suppose he’s probably not.
I meant “reporters.”
I know. Just bustin’ chops and taking the opportunity to make a real stupid pun on vial/vile.
It’s going to take me a couple days to destupify myself after reading that hash
Now that’s an insult to hash, Matt. Don’t you go demeaning it by comparing it to that tripe...which is actually not too bad in soup so...maybe I could call it garbage, but garbage has good uses in creating artificial ski resorts...er, slop, which is useful for feeding pigs…
Damn, I’m stuck in a loop trying to find an accurate simile.
Posted by AndrewFromAnnArbor from the library, leafing through the thesaurus on 02/28/08 at 02:40 PM ET
I’m guilty of straw man tactics from time to time and I’m sure others (has Thomas posted since I counter-trolled him?), you offer up personal attacks and sarcasm pretty frequently, etc, etc. Part of the game!
It seems we’ve discovered the reason our beloved Thhhomass has begun gracing our pages again. I guess A2Y isn’t the only blog waiting to see “the spreadsheet”!
Posted by Dahrken from Grand Rapids, MI on 02/28/08 at 03:00 PM ET
It seems we’ve discovered the reason our beloved Thhhomass has begun gracing our pages again.
I caught that, too.
If he has some potentially interesting information, he should just start a blog of his own and put it out there - or contact one of the stats/numbers blogs and see about a guest post - or, since it involves draft position, talk to one of the Oilers bloggers (Lowetide had a couple posts on how to evaluate success of a draft pick by position a month or so ago, I think, and Tyler Dellow does some very analytical stuff).
Since he mentioned being a sports writer maybe he did it under contract and thus there are issues of confidentiality - in which case he shouldn’t be talking about it at all, I suppose.
Posted by Baroque from Michigan on 02/28/08 at 03:24 PM ET
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Gah! Osrt, if you’re still looking for ways to motivate your undergrads, point them to Woody Paige’s piece. “You don’t want to end up writing like THIS GUY, do you?” Wow. If you’re looking for an example of purple prose to show them, you’ve got it. Makes Albom look like Dostoevsky. My favorite bit-- Sakic, Forsberg, and Foote are like Crosby, Stills, and Nash. If anybody has Musical Theory undergrads, there’s another motivator. Paige probably likes The Kingston Trio and Herb Alpert too.
Sorry Chief, that war is with a guy named Sandy. If you’re expecting me to take the Denver media or blogosphere seriously, you’ve failed.
Watch out though-- ‘Brad’ could be short for ‘Bradstrom.’ Or long for ‘Br.’ Regardless, Uncle Mike has history with the North American kid. Bodes well for developing him and retaining him.
Oh Chief, you’ve just made me the happiest girl in the world! Seriously, I can’t believe that Khan is listing the two important players to sign before July First as Cleary (with him on that) and Lilja. He gives short shrift to the possibility of a ruinous offer sheet being sent to Filppula-- he and Cleary are the important ones to get locked up. After that, Lilja can go join the Joe Sack Five and make it an even Sack Six.
Overall, though, I’m impressed with the Diggers. It only took them two or three days to use their eyes and see what we all saw in Meech.
Posted by AndrewFromAnnArbor from Harlequin romance novel Hell on 02/28/08 at 06:01 AM ET