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Abel to Yzerman

Monday Digging

by IwoCPO on 10/01/07 at 03:26 AM ET
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What appeared to be nothing more than pre-season circumstance a week ago has been made official.  Pavel Datsyuk will join Henrik Zetterberg and Kris Draper as alternate captains.

St. James/Freep

“...because we think he’s a big part of our leadership group,” coach Mike Babcock said. “We want Datsyuk to understand that.”

St. James said the Wings will figure out a rotation between Datsyuk, Draper and Zetterberg.

Not a bad move by the organ-I-zation and the next logical step in their methodical approach to developing Pavel Datsyuk.  Intimidated by American culture?  Larionov steps in.  Almost pathologically shy?  Brett Hull will speak for you, and he’ll convert anything you put within five feet of his stick. Struggling?  Here’s a few games with Zetterberg on your line.  Uneasy about postseason failure?  Here’s a seven-year, fifty million dollar deal…on the eve of the playoffs. 

And I’m guessing Uncles Mike and Ken probably wouldn’t give an “A” to a “one dimensional” player. 

We should all find out today what will come of Igor Grigorenko.  My money’s on a locker at the Joe, and Teddy Kulfan looks like he’s a believer too.

Babcock even has called the improvement “drastic.”

Grigorenko’s savvy with the puck, his ability to read plays and find open spots, and his knack in the offensive zone have grown throughout training camp.

Not a bad job by Kulfan, bringing out the “drastic” quote the way he did.  Again, it would be a shocker to see him assigned to Grand Rapids.  Sticking with my prediction: Grigorenko’s a Wing for at least a month. 

The anti-digger discusses Nick Lidstrom’s legal custody of the Norris Trophy.

“Some things he does, we call them Nickisms ... like he will be in the middle of the ice and then all of a sudden taking some guy out along the boards,” said Red Wings coach Mike Babcock. “Or the way he glides along the blue (on the power play). You watch those things and start to wonder how he does it.”

Babcock also said he believes some of those things are due to magic and that sometimes before games he sits in his office eating the yellow easter bunny candies loaded with sugar with the marshmallow filling.  He also mentioned the fact that he’s still unsure that Racer X is actually Speed Racer’s brother.

Deep digger captain Khan(!)‘s been fed some intel.  No chance he says this unless someone handed it to him.

Downey is hoping to earn a contract, possibly a two-way deal.

Finally, the blogger preview series of the Division That Gary Built continues today with the Forechecker’s look at Bubba.

Chris Mason takes over the #1 job after the trade of Tomas Vokoun to Florida, and while nobody likes to see such a 1-2 combo broken up before its time, Mason has proven himself worthy of such a promotion and should acquit himself well. What the Predators will miss is the confidence of depth - Dan Ellis beat out Pekka Rinne for the backup job coming out of training camp, but his one game of NHL experience (with Dallas prior to the lockout) leaves more questions than answers.

If Chris Mason goes down for any length of time, Bubba pulls a Denver.

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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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