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Category: Detroit-Red-Wings

No Longer The Favorite

by Paul on 11/07/09 at 08:54 AM ET
Comments (3)

from Michael Traikos of the National Post,

Even Holland conceded that for the first time since he has been in Detroit, the Red Wings are no longer thought of as championship contenders.

“It’s a long-term plan,” Holland said prior to tonight’s game against the Toronto Maple Leafs. “If you just hang onto the old guys, eventually everyone’s play falls off at the same time and it’s a long way back. What we’re trying to do is put a team on the ice that we think is going to be capable of being a playoff team. At the same time, we’re trying to get some younger people going.

“Obviously, we’ve played at a high level for a long time. We lost all the offence in the offseason. And some of our key guys are getting older. Nick Lidstrom is 39 and turning 40 in May. The expectations are at some point in time we’re going to decline.”

It has been a while since “decline” has been in the Red Wings’ vocabulary.

more

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One Team Rolling, One Team Needs A Win

by Paul on 11/06/09 at 02:32 PM ET
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from Jim Hughson of CBC,

After last Saturday’s 3-1 win in Calgary, Red Wings coach Mike Babcock said, “For the first time all year we were a five-man unit, we made some nice plays. It was impressive. We looked like a hockey team.”

That served as an ominous warning to the league that, despite a slow start, reports of the Wings demise are rather premature.

The Wings returned home and dispatched the Bruins 2-0 then beat San Jose 2-1 in a game they deserved to win before the shootout. They’ve won three in a row and four of five.

So what’s got the winged wheel rolling straight again?

continued and a look at the HNIC matchup tomorrow between the Leafs and Wings.

Filed in: NHL Teams, Detroit Red Wings, Toronto Maple Leafs | KK Hockey | Permalink
 

“We Win, I’m More Happy”

by Paul on 11/06/09 at 08:42 AM ET
Comments (2)

Pavel Datsyuk talks about the victory over the Sharks last night.

added 8:49am, Elliotte Friedman was on Fan590 this morning and talked about how the Wings seem to now understand the can no longer win 5-3 games and have tightened up their defensive play.

Listen here.

Filed in: NHL Teams, Detroit Red Wings | KK Hockey | Permalink
 Tags: Pavel+Datsyuk,

Lilja Visits A Vancouver Chiropractor & Headaches Seem To Be Gone

by Paul on 11/05/09 at 12:33 PM ET
Comments (14)

from Ansar Khan of Mlive,

“It’s unbelievable,’’ Lilja said. “I’d been having headaches for eight months. Then I see him for one day and headaches disappear for three days.’’

Lilja said there is no timetable for his return, but he has picked up the pace in practice. The next step is seeing how he reacts to contact.

more

Filed in: NHL Teams, Detroit Red Wings | KK Hockey | Permalink
 Tags: Andreas+Lilja,

Budd Gets A Bobblehead

by Paul on 11/05/09 at 10:12 AM ET
Comments (2)

from Lynn Henning of the Detroit News,

In his broadcaster’s version of a world he relishes, Budd Lynch has been on the power play for 65 years. Not the penalty box, mind you, which is what one might figure would be the disposition of a man who left his right shoulder and arm on a tract of land in France in 1944, a few hours after a three-inch German rocket bored through him.

“My mother always had an Irish philosophy in life,” Lynch was saying over lunch last week.

“It’s a pleasure to grow old.

“Many are denied the privilege.”

So, there we have it, one man’s credo for happiness that he will again celebrate tonight at Joe Louis Arena as a big crowd, with Budd Lynch bobblehead dolls in hand, toasts a 92-year-old hockey icon whose life has been as resonant as his voice. Not coincidentally, it will be the 60th anniversary of the first Red Wings telecast that had as its play-by-play announcer one Budd Lynch.

continued

Filed in: NHL Teams, Detroit Red Wings | KK Hockey | Permalink
 Tags: Budd+Lynch,

Evening Line

by Paul on 11/04/09 at 06:51 PM ET
Comments (4)

“As players get older, people say they are going to start slowing down.  “But Homer isn’t going to go much slower. His game is he knows where to go....he still knows how to play the front of the net. I say he and Ryan Smyth are maybe the two best net front presence players in the game today.”

-Wings GM Ken Holland speaking about Tomas Holmstrom.  More on Holmstrom from Kevin Allen of Mucking and Grinding.

Filed in: NHL Teams, Detroit Red Wings | KK Hockey | Permalink
 Tags: Tomas+Holmstrom,

Osgood Has Been Better

by Paul on 11/04/09 at 02:28 PM ET
Comments (4)

from Michael Farber of Sports Illustrated,

“Actually Ozzie’s been much better,” Holland says. “His attitude, his work habits, his conditioning. He’s challenging shooters more. Really he’s in a different place than he was at the same time a year ago.”

Bottom line: Holland, who spends on skaters and not goalies, has no plans (or cap space) to tweak his goaltending.

more on the Wings and some Kessel talk plus Kari Lehtonen may be available when he recovers from back surgery…

Filed in: NHL Teams, Detroit Red Wings | KK Hockey | Permalink
 

A Look Back At The 2009 Winter Classic

by Paul on 11/04/09 at 02:02 PM ET
Comments (5)

Many of you know I don’t watch movies, but I think this is John Cusack (it is Brendan Leonard) narrating a video of the Wings/Blackhawks Winter Classic from last season.

Good video about the atmosphere at Wrigley and please tell me if I am correct about Cusack.

Filed in: NHL Teams, Chicago Blackhawks, Detroit Red Wings | KK Hockey | Permalink
 Tags: John+Cusack,

HHOF Spotlight- Steve Yzerman

by Paul on 11/04/09 at 11:37 AM ET
Comments (0)

from Jim Matheson of the Edmonton Journal via Faceoff.com,

At the 2002 Olympics in Salt Lake City, Team Canada trainers were draining his aching right knee of fluid and shooting the leg full of painkiller so he could get his skates on, never mind race up and down the ice. He wanted to play, so he did, but it was agony, at times, after his knee was scoped three weeks before the tournament.

“I played two pre-tournament games in Montreal and Minnesota and had no swelling. I told Wayne (Gretzky, Olympic team boss)I was fine, then the first tournament game it got sore against Sweden. Then, against Germany, the knee became really painful and it just progressed,” said Yzerman.

“I don’t know if I willed myself to play, but I said, ‘Oh, boy, I’ve made this commitment. I can’t bail out now. I knew I had to work through it as best I could.”

read on plus Dave Gross of Camwest News Service takes a look at Stevie too…

Filed in: NHL Teams, Detroit Red Wings, Non-NHL Hockey, International Hockey | KK Hockey | Permalink
 Tags: HHOF, Steve+Yzerman, Team+Canada,

We Knew That

by Paul on 11/03/09 at 03:39 PM ET
Comments (6)

via Chris McCosky of the Detroit News,

There’s been some chatter on the internet hinting that the Red Wings were among the teams in Sweden this week to scout Peter Forsberg, who is healthy again and competing in the Karjala Cup tournament.

The Wings may very well be scouting that tournament, but I just exchanged emails with Ken Holland and he very clearly said the team had no interest in Forsberg.

Chris, I know you are new on the beat this season so a little bit of advice.  The internet hinting comes from a guy who just wants hits on his website.  Case closed.

Filed in: NHL Teams, Detroit Red Wings, NHL Media, Dwayne | KK Hockey | Permalink
 Tags: Peter+Forsberg,

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