Kris Draper’s a frigging rebel.  On a night when the boxscore could have made an emphatic statement, he had to go and throw a shorty in there. If not for his unassisted goal in the second the entire scoresheet would have been dominated by the to this point unnamed Zetterberg, Homer and Datsyuk line.

2nd Period, 00:40: Datsyuk, assisted by Zetterberg.
3rd Period, 05:39: Holmstrom, assisted by Zetterberg and Datsyuk.
3rd Period, 07:21: Zetterberg, assisted by Holmstrom and Datsyuk.

Just another 8-point night for the only line in town.  A line we’d better come up with a name for, don’t you think? 

Khan(!)

Between them, Zetterberg, Datsyuk and Holmstrom already have 10 goals and 16 assists.

“You get a little confidence when you get some points, and we play a lot, too,” Zetterberg said. “We should create some chances, and tonight the puck went in for us. The key is consistency, we have to bring it every night.”

This is a situation that just begs for statistical analysis. Considering the way the _______ line is carrying the rest of the team, you have to know that the stats must show some lopsided, crazy stuff.

Well, kinda.  The _________ line does have exactly half the team’s points: 26/52.  They’ve taken a little less than half the shots among the forwards: 65/146.  They’ve registered half the assists: 16/33 and 5 out of 7 power play goals. 

Worried about ice time? Don’t.  Zetterberg’s averaging 22:23, Datsyuk’s at 21:16.  Homer’s around 17.  Richards, St. Louis and Lecavalier all average more minutes.  So do Doan, Heatley, Jagr and Drury.  Zetterberg is right up there in shifts/game though at 27, which ranks him 4th in the league.  Datsyuk’s down at 26th.

Overplaying these guys is not the concern and we all know it.  In fact, we wouldn’t even be talking about this if anyone other than the _________ line and Draper were scoring.  But no one is.  At least no one healthy.  Samuelsson’s doing his best to avoid the official goat label. He’s got 4 points, but he’s also got an issue.

Kulfan

“He’s got a minor thing and we don’t want it to become a major thing,” Babcock said.

I’m sure Samuelsson’s pleased Uncle Mike emphasized the fact that his groin is minor, rather than major.  Not sure how sensitive the Swedes are about that kind of thing, you know.  Thankfully, offline, Babcock stressed he didn’t mean anything by the reference.

MBCQOTD
“Look, it’s minor.  Mine? Major. I mean that...Major.  Sam’s? Minor.  Not sure of the rest of the boys.  But I’ll tell you this. It’s not good for the club if a players’ is more major than mine.  We’re guys.  Major and minor mean something in the room.  Mine’s major.”

Thanks Mike. 

Back to balanced scoring.  Thankfully, Grigorenko’s lighting it up down in GR, right?  Oh...sorry.  Zero points in three games.  But hey, I’m sure his production will switch from minor to major when he gets back to Detroit.  When?  Try next week.

Khan(!)

“Jimmy Nill (Red Wings assistant GM) has seen the first three games. The question continues to be the tempo of the game,” Holland said. “Part of it is conditioning, part of it is his ability to play at a higher tempo with speed.

He’s played OK, (but) he’s a guy that has to get points, that’s what he brings to the table. Next week we’re going to bring him back, and we’ll see where it goes.”

Yep.  That’s what he said, “next week.” Here’s some advice, which I’m sure will be heeded.  Don’t bring the kid back up here and stick him with Maltby and Drake, or Kopecky and Draper.  If the intent is to finally make a determination as to what he’s going to bring to the table, split up the ________ line and give him to Datsyuk for a few games. 

Khan(!) must have had a serious sit-down with Kenny because he also mentions the fact that the organ-I-zation hasn’t ruled out a Markov return, but not at his 3.5 asking price.

“Nothing’s changed from their part, and nothing’s changed from our part,” Red Wings general manager Ken Holland said. “I like our defense, we think Derek Meech can play, we think Kyle Quincey is close, we’re happy with Jonathan Ericsson. We got cap space (between $4 and $5 million). Ideally, we’d like to put the money into forwards.” A goal-scoring winger or a second-line center would be their top priorities.

Hey, uh, Kenny?  I’m thinking that goal-scoring winger? Yeah, you’ll probably see him tonite.  Another hint?  Big guy. Violent.  Ring any bells?  He was, um, a Wing for a little while.  Put that one in the “missed the boat” category.  More specific? We should have signed Bertuzzi.  Just sayin’.