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Abel to Yzerman

Bye, Bye Bubba

by IwoCPO on 03/21/08 at 01:23 PM ET
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Six straight losses at the SoGay, a goaltending tandem that has Barry Trotz climbing a bell tower, a rag-tag collection of goons who haven’t learned the difference between agitating and taking idiotic penalties, and a crowd that can’t come up with anything better than, “Chelios is a sissy.”  Are you kidding me?  That’s the best you’ve got? 

That, my friends, is the team we want in the first round.  Unfortunately, it’s not gonna happen.

Back to the “sissy” chants for a minute.  Helene St. James, who takes a fair amount of deserved abuse here at the pinnacle of journalistic standards, did us proud this morning in a few short sentences.

In their first game since finding out Brad Stuart will miss three to six weeks recovering from a broken finger, the Wings had Chris Chelios paired with Niklas Kronwall. That gave fans plenty of opportunity to chant “Chelios is a sissy,” unaware, perhaps, that the accused sissy is playing his 24th season in the NHL, about a third longer than the Predators have been in the NHL.

As Chelios himself said, “it’s stupid.”  A crowd of idiots and that hasn’t changed in nearly a decade.  This October will be their ten-year anniversary and they’ve collectively gotten dumber since Little Gary proved his worth and put a team there in ‘98.  Bubba getting the 8 seed is a pipe dream, but it’s one I’ll keep my eyes on just out of sheer hope.  If ever a series was made for a sweep, it’s that one.

Thoughts from last night:  That was vintage Hasek.  Terrifying, brilliant, borderline psychotic, bored, victorious.  Amazing at the start, a victim of weird goals that only he seems to attract, lackadaisical when the game seemed in hand, then intense and brilliant again when we needed him to be.  HDNET’s shot of him stretching his back was not a pleasant sight, but like I said a week ago….30 more games or so Dom, then you have my permission to fall apart.

Franzen’s scoring streak has given him an amazing confidence boost, and you can see that when he’s handling the puck.  We’ve got ourselves a bonafide power forward, one who can score in all the traditional ways, with the guts to plant himself in front of the crease and take as much abuse as necessary.  This ten-game stretch has, once again, proven the brilliance of Tick Tock Holland.  In three years’ time he and Uncle Mike have transformed this team from a group of aging vets into a young, hungry, immensely talented team without a downside and with huge potential for years to come. 

But still a team without any firm prospects for goaltending. 

I’m looking into the future and I see next Friday’s game against St. Louis at the Joe.  I see a packed house and I see the grind line starting the game with Darren McCarty at right wing, making his return appearance.  And I see a huge number of Wing fans who can’t watch it because the game’s on the NHL Network.  And I see myself throwing yet another Verizon-induced tantrum. 

A certain Nashville broadcaster who blogs for a certain wedding singer said he was shocked to see Pavel Datsyuk listed as the third star for last night’s game.  He says that aside from Datsyuk’s two “meaningless” goals, he was a non-factor.  Please see comments above regarding the absolute stupidity of the Nashville fan base and apply said comments to the broadcasters, as well.  Datsyuk and “non-factor” are not terms I’d use together, ever. 

More on Datsyuk: if he wins the Selke this year, as he should, he will dominate that particular award for five more years.  One win will open people’s eyes to the brand of hockey he plays, and the words “Selke” and “Dasyuk” will be synonymous.  Better yet, consecutive Selkes along with consistent top five scoring will place him in the conversation as the best player in the NHL. 

If the playoffs started today:

(1) Detroit vs. (8) Denver
(2) San Jose vs. (7) Calgary
(3) Minnesota vs. (6) Vancouver
(4) Anaheim vs. (5) Dallas

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Welcome to Abel to Yzerman, a Red Wing blog since 1977.  No other site on the internet has better-researched, fact-laden and better prepared discussions than A2Y.  Re-phrase: we do little research, find facts and stats highly overrated and claim little to no preparation.  There are 19 readers of A2Y. No more, no less. All of them, except maybe one, are juvenile in nature.  Reminding them of that in the comment section will only encourage them to prove that. Your suggestions and critiques are welcome: .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)

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