Abel to Yzerman
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Sunday Odds and Ends
by IwoCPO on 09/09/07 at 07:23 AM ET
Comments (4)
It’s been nearly two years since we came up with the blog title, “Abel to Yzerman.” For most of you, the significance of that has been pretty clear. “Abel” refers to Wing legend Sid Abel. “Yzerman” is our tribute to a little-known role player who somehow eeked his way onto the Detroit roster for 23 consecutive seasons.
Why do I bring that up?
Two reasons. First, I still see other sites refer to A2Y as “Able to Yzerman” as if it were some sort of wacked-out verb phrase. Kind of nifty, really. But not our intent. Secondly, our resident transvestite Dive fan reader occasionally defends himself by claiming this as an “NHL blog, not a Wing blog”.
Hopefully, we’ve cleared that up for him a bit. Hey…join me for one chorus, will you?
“Hail, hail to Michigan the champions of the…”
In case you were wondering, UM hasn’t won a game since Bo Schembechler died the day before Lloyd Carr’s most recent annual trip to the OSU dentist.
Speaking of unemployment, the Toronto hockey media, Steve Simmons in this case, is still pushing the Bowman/Leaf agenda; only now with a different tact. Scotty’s a lying liar.
If anything has been proven accurate in this continuing two-step with the legendary Bowman—other than the Leafs inability to get a deal done—it’s that almost nothing Bowman has said for attribution can be believed.
Just coming to that conclusion, Steve? We’ve known that for more than a decade.
Hey, here are some things on my mind this morning.
Justine Henin won the US Open last night. Don’t care. Don’t care. Don’t care. Please tell me hockey’s not on the same level of disinterest as women’s tennis. Please.
A Hooters girl was kicked off a Southwest Airline flight. I care deeply about that. Will let you know when I have my class action suit ready to go. I’m, in case you didn’t know, not a Hooters girl but I do have appreciation for what they bring to the table. I’m talking about Wings, of course.
Back to hockey.
The Free Press has “five questions” about the Wings this morning.
1. How will the lines shake out?
The Wings face major changes in their four forward lines. The players who made up last year’s second line—Kyle Calder, Robert Lang and Todd Bertuzzi—are gone. Pavel Datsyuk and Henrik Zetterberg need to be split up for the good of the team. Coach Mike Babcock told the Free Press last month that he’d go into camp with Datsyuk, Tomas Holmstrom and either Johan Franzen or Jiri Hudler on one line, and Zetterberg, Mikael Samuelsson and Franzen or Hudler on another. The other two lines going into camp will be Valtteri Filppula with Dan Cleary and Kris Draper, and Tomas Kopecky centering Kirk Maltby and Dallas Drake.
I’m guardedly optimistic about those third and fourth lines. I believe Filpulla’s going to have a breakout year (yep, I’m sticking with 20 goals) and a combination of Drake and Maltby on one line has great potential for causing emotional duress. I’m wondering where Grigorenko fits in, as we all are; if he makes the team.
He can make $838,000 with the Wings or $75,000 if he’s sent to the Grand Rapids Griffins. Grigorenko has a clause in his contract that allows him to go back to Russia if he’s not on an NHL roster in November.
So, Grigorenko does some damage in TC, turns some heads (which he did last night) and makes the team. What then? Who’s the forward Babcock sits? Nobody. If Grigorenko heads to Detroit after camp, someone’s getting dealt. Who? Hudler. That’s my guess. And according to Grigorenko’s agent, decision time is coming.
“Everyone wants to play in the best league,” said Grigorenko with his agent, Mark Lapush interpreting.
“He will be playing here definitely,” said Lapush. “Wait until you see what he does if they put him with someone like (Pavel) Datsyuk.”
Interesting reference to the Wings in the Boston Globe this morning. Check this out.
One of Holland’s priorities will be to lock up Zetterberg, who has two more years on his current deal, to a long-term extension, most likely at a tick under Datsyuk’s annual pay of $6.7 million.
I guess I’m curious about that. If the Cap wasn’t an issue, which may be the stupidest sentence I’ve written since “Sign Martin Gerber Kenny…now”, would anyone pay Zetterberg a “tick under Datsyuk”? Nope. But the Cap is an issue, as we all know, and it’s something that Holland has to be stressing over every day. Despite Zetterberg’s claims that he wants to be a Wing for life, when the time comes to cash in…
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Tags: Abel, Bo, Bowman, Datsyuk, Drake, Grigorenko, Maltby, Transvestite+Avalanche+Fans, UM, Yzerman, Zetterberg,
Comments
Stothers’ having to yell at Grigorenko is no biggie, it’s his second game in North America. We’ve got the rest of the prospect tournament and all of training camp to get it in his head he needs to shoot.
Zetterberg will get at least 7 from the Wings, and deserves it. They’ll have the cap space, or they’ll make space.
And if/when Grigorenko makes the team, I think it might be Drake that loses his spot, unless we can get a lot for Hudler.
Go Green!
Posted by Pete K from Grand Rapids, MI on 09/09/07 at 09:31 AM ET
Just to let everyone know, the “GM Junior” is writing for NHL.com, and doing a pretty good job:
Maybe the chief could teach him a little ...sarcasm?
http://fans.nhl.com/Groups/2007_NHL_Prospects_Development_Tournament/
Posted by w2j2 on 09/09/07 at 11:28 AM ET
Man, I’m more excited about this season than I have been for any season in quite a while. All the new faces! All the possibilities! All the sophomores (and other relative newcomers) who showed us a spark, and are coming back! Filpulla, Hudler, Grigorenko, Kopecky, Franzen, Samuelsson, Cleary…a blast from the past in Dallas Drake, and some new options on defense with the addition of Rafalski. Oh, and of course, the departure of Robert Lang!
I’m really looking forward to seeing him on the blue line. Schneider was great, great, great, but a new dimension will be nice.
I can’t wait to see them get this season going!
Posted by Paul from Miami Beach on 09/09/07 at 10:27 PM ET
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Lloyd certainly lost his compass when Bo left him. His team reflects his own lost soul.
I think it is certainly appropriate to scrutinize Hooter girls on a Wings’ blog.
The Wings’ brass is working very hard to dial down fan expectations for Grigs to make the Big Show. Last night coach Stothers had to yell at him “SHOOT THE PUCK!”. Does this sound like another Russian we all know and love?
Posted by w2j2 on 09/09/07 at 09:07 AM ET