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John Niyo: Q/A With A2Y

by IwoCPO on 05/12/08 at 05:02 PM ET
Comments (7)

If you haven’t noticed, John Niyo’s been ramping up the coverage since the Conference Final kicked off.  He’s been good enough to answer a few of our questions and his replies are below.  Great stuff from one of the Detroit News’ better writers.  See below for his thoughts on the Wings’ decisions when and when not to retaliate, Dominik Hasek’s mood in the room since Osgood’s ascension to the number 1 job, slushy ice in Dallas and more.

A2Y: Lots of talk about the Wings’ unwillingness to retaliate.  Have you sensed anything at all that tells you the players are displeased with that approach?
John Niyo:  No, and that actually was my line of questioning Sunday before we headed to Dallas. It’s easy for the coach or the media to tell guys to turn the other cheek. Not so easy when your head is the one getting punched by Steve Ott or Marty Turco. (Two of the funnier guys you’ll ever meet, by the way.) But even the guys who’d have the hardest time with it—McCarty, Chelios, et al—bought in long ago.

Scotty Bowman used to preach it, and they all (except for Marty Lapointe) listened—or they got sent packing. And Mike Babcock’s no different. He doesn’t have a lot of patience with stupidity.

It’s always dangerous tip-toeing along the company line, but on this one I couldn’t agree more. Toughness isn’t swinging your stick at somebody in anger, or mauling somebody after a whistle in front of your net. It’s mental toughness that wins the Cup. Scotty understood that better than anybody. Babcock seems to understand it pretty well, too.

Now, that said, the other difference you’re seeing in this team is their ability/willingness to initiate physical play, to be more of the aggressor. That’s true somewhat up front, with the expected progession of guys like Filppula (still underrated, I say) and Franzen and the unexpected contributions of McCarty and Drake and Helm, who has been a bit of a revelation the last few weeks. Then you throw in Kronwall and Stuart on the blueline—two guys who weren’t there a year ago—and it makes a big difference in just how “tough” the Wings are to play against.

A2Y:  Is there a sense among the media that this is the Wings’ year, that there may be intangibles or signs that point that way?
Niyo: To me, it’s starting to look more like ‘97, from the relative team health to the stifling defense. First-round “scare”, second-round sweep, surprising dominance in the conference finals (though Colorado had home-ice adv. in ‘97 if I remember right).

And I suppose it could end up like ‘97 in the end, too, when everyone talks about the imposing beast of the East in Pittsburgh and then gets stunned when the Wings steamroll the Penguins and the opposing head coach starts talking about “choking situations” or something like that. Don’t think that’s going to happen, obviously—Pittsburgh looks pretty scary good, too, at this point—but I picked Rangers-Sharks before the season, so what do I know?

A2Y: How the heck can Franzen’s concussion go without diagnosis? Is it as simple as him just not saying anything about the headaches?
Niyo:  It might actually be as simple as that. He’d been experiencing headaches, but they’d come and go as he took Advil or whatever. But as they persisted—and got worse a little bit, apparently—at the start of the conference finals they decided it was something that needed to be looked at. Or at least that’s the story we’ve been told. (Rather believably, I should add.)

Talked to Ken Holland again this morning about it and they were going to put Franzen through the whole battery of tests today (at DMC, I think) and then hopefully they’ll have a better idea what the problem/prognosis is. We haven’t had a chance to talk to Franzen since the news broke before Game 2. And in the playoffs, everything’s kept under wraps with regard to injuries, though at this point I honestly don’t think they know enough to hide much yet.

For what it’s worth, Kronwall and Lebda were joking about how tough it’ll be to do a CAT scan on Mule’s enormous noggin, so it doesn’t sound like they’re too worried about the severity of things. Still, I guess I’d be surprised to see him return in this series.

A2Y:  How much of a coincidence is the Wings 8 game winning streak and Chris Osgood’s insertion as the starter?  How do they play so much better in front of him than Hasek?
Niyo: Well, I think it’s more coincidental than we’ll all make it out to be if Ozzie keeps this up and wins the Conn Smythe and leads the victory parade down Woodward. But there’s something to be said for the re-invented Ozzie style—very sound positionally, very comfortable in the crease, and probably comforting for the team to a certain extent. But I’m not so sure Dom wouldn’t have come back with a shutout in Game 5 against Nashville and been fine. We’ll never know, though, I suppose.

A2Y:  What’s Hasek’s mood been like? We’ve read nothing about him since he was benched against Nashville.
Niyo:  Quiet, but not exactly melancholy. He hasn’t checked out on them at all, like I think some would’ve expected. Still working out hard like he always does. But it’s obviously awkward for him, and I’m sure it’s eating him up inside to be a bystander. He’s just not really interested in expressing that at this point. Understandable.

A2Y: How bad is the ice in Dallas?  How different will the games there be?
Niyo:  Talked to the guys after the morning skate and they said it wasn’t too bad. Of course, they’ll have to open the doors to let in 18,000 people later today so that could change. But they may have caught a little break for Game 3. Only going to top out at about 80 degrees and not all that humid today. Thunderstorms and upper 70s the next two days so Wednesday could be a little worse.

And I smell an overtime game here, maybe tonight, and that’d make for a slushy affair, too. Bad ice obviously favors Dallas more than Detroit, but I don’t think is a real decisive factor. Stars know it’s do-or-die tonight, so I’d expect their best.

---------------
Clearly, John doesn’t know the effect overtime games have on the 19 of us here at A2Y.  I see no reason to put us or our families through that, thank you.

Big time thanks to John for taking time out of an obviously busy day to answer those questions.  I’m sure you all agree that his willingness to engage that way is appreciated.

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Comments

We should invite Niyo to come and hang out here during the games!

That was great Chief; the questions I would ask (except for Hasek, almost forgot about him except as a club car) and great answers from John.

Keep going Niyo, you’re the next anti-digger, the pupil to MacLeod!

Posted by Osrt on 05/12/08 at 04:17 PM ET

from John Niyo’s article in the Detroit News:

The Wings know they’ll be without Johan Franzen for at least one more game, and possibly more, as he recovers from concussion-like symptoms that have bothered him since early in the conference semifinals.

holy crap!  he was playing WITH those symptoms, and still scored 9 goals in 4 games?!

Posted by PaulinMiamiBeach on 05/12/08 at 04:17 PM ET

Good stuff from Niyo.  Nice work tracking him down, Chief.

Posted by disch from bat country on 05/12/08 at 04:31 PM ET

holy crap!  he was playing WITH those symptoms, and still scored 9 goals in 4 games?!

Yup.  Maybe scoring so many goals made him lightheaded?

That’s why Babcock initially was joking that whatever wires might be crossed in his head, maybe they should just keep them crossed. 

Posted by Baroque from Michigan on 05/12/08 at 04:34 PM ET

holy crap!  he was playing WITH those symptoms, and still scored 9 goals in 4 games?!

I submit that the head injury actually released a previously-unknown, evil, goal-scoring personality.

Posted by Matt from Tennessee on 05/12/08 at 04:53 PM ET

Send Niyo over to the Hasek for a visit.  They got the Stress Train stuck on a side spur here near “Victory Station”.  It’s long one iron, or a nifty 5 wood, across the southwest parking lot of AA Center.  Nice view of downtown, reminds me of Detroit without all the glitter.  I’m just saying…

Posted by Rumbear from the den.... on 05/12/08 at 06:30 PM ET

Thanks, Chief. And I’m sure you already passed on 19 “thank yous” to John Niyo. His Wings coverage is definitely a cut above the average Digger’s—and he’s been equally good the few times I’ve seen him on FSN.

RE: Osgood vs. Hasek—I agree with Mr. Niyo that Dom would have probably bounced back vs. Nashville. Team defence was the real problem (like it is right now for Dallas), but the goalie always takes the most heat regardless. The breakdowns in Round 1 woke the Wings up, and they’ve played much stronger team defense since.

As a guy who’s always maintained that Ozzie could and would have gotten the job done in 2002, I do have to say that I find the current situation sweetly ironic. Hopefully, it has the same happy ending.

Posted by YzermanZetterberg on 05/13/08 at 11:19 AM ET

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