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Abel to Yzerman

Uncle Mike?  The Line Forms Over Here

by IwoCPO on 06/23/09 at 12:10 PM ET
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That would be the line for the Stress Train, if you’re wondering. 

Mike Babcock? Stressed out?  Not possible?  Think again.  Splitting priorities will do that to you, and that’s exactly where he’ll be for the next 8 months. Split right down the middle.

TSN

Mike Babcock will be sworn in as the coach of the 2010 Canadian Olympic men’s hockey team in Montreal this week.

“Sworn in”?  Seriously.  Let me get this straight.  Canada literally swears in their coaching staffs? 

Do the players have to be sworn in too? 

“Raise your right hand and repeat after me…”

“I, Sidney Crosby, do hereby swear I won’t act like a crying little bitch on an international stage.  Seriously, I swear.”

Oh.  Stop.  You’re surprised?

Back to my Uncle.

First things first.  He’d better get hot on firing Brad McCrimmon, because we’re going to need someone who can help out brother Paulie while Uncle Mike’s thoughts are with his country rather than the Wings. 

And let’s not kid ourselves, there are going to be days, even weeks, when our coach is thinking about Sweden in ways that trouble instead of please him.

How weird will it be for Mike Babcock to sit up at night wondering how to stop Henrik Zetterberg, rather than leverage him?  You don’t think he won’t shiver a bit when he sees Johan Franzen zip a wrister past Roberto Luongo in December, as he imagines the effect that could have on the rest of his life if it happens in a gold medal game in February?

He’ll be conflicted, but we’ll never know the extent.  He’ll be overworked, overtasked and mumbling more than ever before.  And to expect him to be able to offer the same kind of focus to the Wings as he has the last four years is not reasonable. 

And no, we can’t blame Babcock. No way he can turn this down.  Can’t blame Canada.  They’ve hired the right guy.  Can’t blame the Wings for stockpiling talent up and down the organ-I-zation.  But man this is going to be tough, tough.  And not just for Babcock.

It might be literally easier to name the Wings who won’t be playing in the Olympics than those who will be.  I’d bet at least, and this is conservative, twelve players off the current roster represent their countries in Vancouver.  Ready?  Try this: Zetterberg, Datsyuk, Franzen, Hossa, Filppula, Lidstrom, Rafalski, Ericsson, Hudler, Osgood, Kronwall, Leino. 

Yep. I said Osgood.  And I left out Samuelsson and Holmstrom.  I also left out Helm.  And you don’t think his name is being whispered these days?

The entire franchise is going to be picked to the bone by international scavengers.  And they’re going to be tired, more tired than they have been all this year.  More tired than they were last year or last Olympics.  Few teams in NHL history, if any, have played as much hockey as our Dynasty has the last three years, and now it’s going to be worse.

What team in the league is going to compare to that?  Pittsburgh? How many Olympians from that team, huh?  Maybe as few as two.  Seriously.  Other than Thid and Malkin, name me two players who are locks for Vancouver.

I, for one, am intensely looking forward to the Olympics.  I think it’s going to be a blast to watch and I think the Canada/Sweden Final will be a game for the ages.  Watching Zetterberg shut Crosby down again, in yet another huge setting, will be joyful. 

But it’s best that we understand right up front the kind of toll this thing is going to take on the players, the coaches and the entire organ-I-zation. 

In other words, Uncle Mike’s already aboard the Stress Train.  Any smart guy would be.  It would be for the best if you boarded that bitch too.  A summer-time excursion, an early start.  Come to think of it, leaving the Hasek was a silly thing to do in the first place.  It’s where we belong, isn’t it?

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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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