Abel to Yzerman
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Halfway There; Start Preparing For Poultry
by IwoCPO on 01/03/08 at 09:29 AM ET
Comments (12)
Man, the Dallas writers sure took this one hard. Check this out:
That was the worst loss of the season tonight, and there could be some hell to pay.
Oh. Woops. That wasn’t a Stars beat writer, it was actually Adrian Dater talking about Denver’s 5-2 loss to Phoenix last night. Sorry about. Sometimes when I laugh hysterically, I get all fuzzy.
The Dallas writers? Well, you’ve seen this before.
Mike Heika
“The one thing that comes back to you is their best players are their best players every night,” Tippett said.
How did Tippett feel about the Stars’ best players?
“I didn’t see many of them out there tonight,” he said.
I’m sure the fact that I chose that quote, along with Adrian’s sobbing rant, makes me smug and arrogant—and maybe a little dismissive. I apologize for that. It’s just that, with 30 wins on January 3rd, it’s hard to stifle myself. Because the Diggers tell me history was made last night.
The Wings won 30 games for the first time in half a season (30-9-3) and have more points (63) at this juncture than any other Wings team.
They helped the Red Wings reach the halfway point of the season with 30 victories, one more than any team in NHL history at this stage.
The feat set an NHL record for an 82 game schedule, and surpassed the club record of 29 wins after 41 games in 1995-96 and in the lockout-shortened season of 1995.
I bring you those three nearly identical statements because, once again, Bruce MacLeod has proven himself as the anti-digger. 30 wins at this stage? Impressive. Record-setting and historic? Technically…but not really.
This is probably the most dominant regular-season Red Wings team since the 1995-96 season. The stat that the team is throwing out there that this year’s team has 30 wins through 41 games and the 95-96 team had just 29 (on its way to a league-record 62) is bogus though. Four shootout wins so far this season means that by 95-96 rules, the Red Wings have 26 wins this season. That puts these Wings behind the 1995 team through 41 games as well. Still, a monumentally great season thus far.
Like that line: “The stat that the team is throwing out there is bogus.” Can you imagine Kulfan, Sipple, St. James or, especially, Khan(!) taking issue with a Hahn-fed fact? Of course not. I’m looking forward to seeing what MacLeod comes up with after Saturday’s game in Dallas.
Oh…nevermind. The Macomb Daily Tribune doesn’t let him travel with the team anymore. Budget concerns I guess. Hey, here’s a question. Why aren’t the Wings offering seats to the Diggers on Red Wing One? How many blog entries do we have to read from Khan(!) whining about airport delays (because none of us have to deal with those)? If it’s a seating issue, why don’t the Wings offer up two seats each road trip and let the Diggers rotate through them? George? Any insight on that?
Chris Osgood leads the league in GAA (1.71) and Save Percentage (.931) and he’s 5th in wins despite starting seventeen fewer games than Nabokov, the leader in that category. Naturally, he won’t be going to Atlanta with Uncle Mike, Lidstrom, Zetterberg and Datsyuk. He’d have to go as a backup, selected by the league and we all know that’s not going to happen. No chance in hell Little Gary will allow a fifth Wing if it means every team in the West won’t be represented.
Wonder what would happen, though, if Nick Lidstrom stated publicly he’d be willing to give up his spot if it meant Osgood got the selection he deserved? Probably wouldn’t affect much, but it would be nice to watch LG sweat that one out.
You’re still fetal about the lack of “secondary scoring” aren’t you? You’re still stressing despite goals from Cleary, Franzen, Drake. Deep down inside you’re harboring thoughts you won’t post on MySpace about a need for that second-line miracle worker.
You must endeavor to let those thoughts go because Ken Holland will not bring in another forward. It’s not going to happen and it shouldn’t. Unless we see a season-ending injury, no forward will be added to this roster. A defenseman? I’m not ruling it out. But, I wouldn’t be surprised if absolutely nothing happened at the deadline.
Prepare yourselves for this: the MSM is going to start making predictions soon. Take some deep breaths because the daring, risky moves to make will be to predict a first-round loss for the Wings. They’ll cite a “lack of adversity,” forgetting that the adversity came last year in the Western Conference Finals and this entire regular season is one big preamble to a rematch with the Poultry, in whatever round that may occur.
Everything from this point forward leads to that series.
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Comments
Sounds like we need ourselves a poll Alex. See above in about two minutes.
Posted by IwoCPO from Sunny San Diego, bitches on 01/03/08 at 10:32 AM ET
The “Greatness” of this team is relative. This is the CAP era, when all the NHL talent is spread out among the 30 teams.
How would this team stack up against their own 2002 team? What would the Sabers look like if they had not been dismantled? The Bolts with Khabibulin? The Senators with Hossa and Chara?
Be careful about proclaiming the dominance of this team. Their personnel are not THAT much better than everyone else. I think they are a better tuned engine, ala NASCAR.
But a key injury here or there, and, well ... you saw what happened when Sasquatch assasinated Homer and Schneider and Kronwall got broken…
Posted by w2j2 on 01/03/08 at 10:32 AM ET
Simple Hasek starts game 1. You have to go back to him. He plays till he plays poorly. Then we switch to osgood. And go back and forth. Platoon has worked great so far it would be stupid to stop it just cause we get to the playoffs. Keep both our goalies sharp and protect us against an injury.
No doubt Hasek is the starter. But its gotta be a short rope. In the end might as wel share the load as long as both can get it done.
Posted by solo16 from CT on 01/03/08 at 10:35 AM ET
Yep the Wings are (according to Mickey) “hotter than firecrackers”.
As I posted previously, all you have to do is look at thier overall record and subtract their record against the division:
Overall: 30-8-3
Division: 6-7-2
Record against Non-Division opponent: 24-1-1
Downright Obscene Goodness!!!
I also opined that Z’s injury will give the “Boy Wonder” pause to pursue the secondary scoring the Wings so craved earlier in the season; due to the improved play of Whoodler and Fill. Personally, I’m praying for a “D-Man” upgrade. (But then again, if Lilja is traded, I won’t have such an easy target to rant about).
Posted by Jeff OKWingnut from Quest for 12 on 01/03/08 at 11:29 AM ET
No doubt Hasek is the starter. But its gotta be a short rope.
Unless he’s hurt by that time.
Still half a season left for the situation to sort itself out.
Posted by Baroque from Michigan on 01/03/08 at 12:36 PM ET
Also:
Projecting out the points values for the full season, Anaheim is on the edge of the playoffs. They could make it in as the eight seed, therefore setting up a situation where the defending Stanley Cup champion Ducks could knock out the Red Wings in the first round - because they are so much tougher (they have Bertuzzi! and Pronger! look at the number of penalty minutes they have - they must be tougher!).
The (poorly-composed) stories would write themselves for the reporters. They wouldn’t even need to wake up from their naps or stay up late enough to see West coast playoff games.
Posted by Baroque from Michigan on 01/03/08 at 12:42 PM ET
Personally, I’m praying for a “D-Man” upgrade.
Be careful of what you wish for. It seems lately, our little whipping boy has been laying the some good hits on the opposition. The turnovers suck. Yeah. And they’re maginified in the playoffs. Yup. But he’s not scare to lay the smack down. Hard. I’ll be the first to admit that since before the season started, I wanted to see Lilja gone. But Dammit. He’s been okay, lately with his gritty play overshadowing his faults.
If replaced, are the Wings going to replace him with one that’s as effective physically? Obviously they’ll look to the turnover factor and upgrade. But will the upgrade in less turnovers be a downgrade in physicality or other plays?
Is he, or any Dman on the Wings, enough of a defensive liability to travel into the unknown?
Just sayin, do we really want to fix what isn’t broken?
Posted by cementslinger from Midland MI on 01/03/08 at 01:52 PM ET
After the kind of game Ozzie played last night, I wouldn’t hesitate to start him in the playoffs instead of our CMoI. But, then, I’m not Babcock. [I know that because when I look in the mirror there’s no jagged scar across my chin…and I look a lot older than the guy who appears in those post-game interviews.]
Posted by OlderThanChelios from Grand Rapids on 01/03/08 at 01:52 PM ET
Slinger, I do agree that Andreas “the Giant” has been upping the ante on his physical play, and goodness knows the Wings need all of that they can get! Last nights game surely was one of the better ones for the Wings in the “get physical” department.
Having said that, $5 mil under the cap should give “Boy Wonder” the ability to get a D-Man that can skate (can’t help but note that Lils isn’t the most fleet of foot), hit like a “cement wall”, and most importantly—consistently move the puck out of the zone and onto the blade of one of his own players!!!
Posted by Jeff OKWingnut from Quest for 12 on 01/03/08 at 02:36 PM ET
Okie, who would you have in mind?
Posted by cementslinger from Midland MI on 01/03/08 at 07:11 PM ET
Slinger: The trade-deadline is Feb 26th. If you look at the Eastern Conf. standings, it certainly appears everybody is in that hunt; except maybe the ‘Bolts. Out West, same story, everyone but the Kings are in the hunt. Probably slim pickings on a rental player.
Spector has posted the pending UFA’s:
A LOOK AT THIS YEAR’S UNRESRICTED FREE AGENTS.
Spector’s Note: With this year’s trade deadline only eight weeks away (February 26th), several publications have examined the value of this year’s crop of unrestricted free agents to determine which ones are worth keeping and which could be shopped by the deadline. Given the lack of any significant rumours today, this is as good a time as any to post these up. Enjoy!
THE SCORE FORECASTER: lists Buffalo’s Brian Campbell, the Islanders Mike Comrie, Atlanta’s Marian Hossa, Columbus’s Adam Foote, Calgary’s Kristian Huselius and Daymond Langkow, Vancouver’s Markus Naslund, Tampa Bay’s Vaclav Prospal, Ottawa’s Wade Redden, Dallas’ Mike Ribeiro and Carolina’s Cory Stillman as this summer’s potential “impact players”. Calgary’s Craig Conroy, Columbus’ Sergei Fedorov, Atlanta’s Bobby Holik, Nashville’s Martin Gelina, Vancouver’s Trevor Linden, Chicago’s Yanic Perreault, Atlanta’s Mark Recchi.
Its hard to see the Wings tying up too much salary, because they can renegotiate an extension with Hank at the end of July, and you know thats at the top of Holland’s to do list.
Still, a rental would be nice. I’ll do some more digging on this topic tomorrow.
Posted by Jeff OKWingnut from Quest for 12 on 01/03/08 at 07:50 PM ET
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i have a conundrum that has been bothering me over the past week that i haven’t shared yet as i don’t want to break the good feelings and warm, fuzzy blankets that we’ve wrapped around ourselves as Wing fans.
who starts in game one, round one?
Hasek? Osgood?
game two?
the rotation works for now and Hasek has been playing well enough (stood on his head despite the loss on Monday) for Osgood not to usurp him completely. but what will Mike do?
Posted by Alex from San Francisco on 01/03/08 at 10:20 AM ET