Weekly Preview: January 29 - February 4, 2012

Week: January 29 - February 4, 2012

Hopefully the Red Wings are feeling refreshed after the All-Star break and can put the disappointing game against the Habs behind them. The Red Wings are heading on a Northwest Division Road Trip this week playing the Calgary Flames, Vancouver Canucks, and Edmonton Oilers. Though there are no Divisional games this week getting points against Western Conference opponents is just as important, especially if Detroit wants to stay in the number one spot.

But first a brief re-cap of how the Detroit player's did in the All-Star Game

All-Star Game (Final Score: 12-9 Team Chara)

Only two Red Wings represented Detroit at this year's All-Star Game, Pavel Datsyuk (who was picked first overall), and Jimmy Howard. Both were victorious as they were selected to Team Chara. Datsyuk had 3 assists, two of which were on Marian Gaborik goals and reconnected with former teammate Mariam Hossa's goal. Datsyuk and Hossa both shared an assist on Gaborik's 3rd goal of the game. Makes you wonder what could have happened if Hossa had stayed in Detroit.

Jimmy Howard had a decent game (from the perspective of an All-Star game) stopping 11 of 14 shots for a 0.786% Save Percentage. Interestingly enough, he played better against a team of All-Stars than he did against the Montreal Canadiens.

Game 1: @Calgary

Calgary is coming off of a rather disappointing 1-0 loss to the Pacific Division Leaders, the San Jose Sharks. That loss also ended Jarome Iginla's 3 game point streak so hopefully the Flames' Captain will remain cold as he, along with goaltender Miikka Kiprussoff seem to be Calgary's key to winning.

Niklas Lidstrom's Flu like symptoms will likely be gone by this point and the future Hall-of-Famer will re-add the composure that was lacking in the loss against Montreal.

Game 2: @Vancouver

Vancouver currently sits on the top of the Northwest Division and is on a nice roll going 6-2-2 in their last ten. Hopefully the All-Star break has squelched their momentum. Roberto Luongo was experiencing some cramping during the shoot-out against Edmonton but that cramping will have likely subsided by the time they play the Wings. If Jimmy Howard can return to form and Datsyuk, Bertuzzi, Filppula, and the rest of the Wings could continue scoring as they have Detroit should take this one.

Game 3: @Edmonton

Edmonton's hot start has cooled off considerably and now they sit in 14th place in the Western Conference and have gone 2-6-2 in their last 10 games. In their last game before the All-Star Break goaltender Devan Dubnyk played well stopping 33 of 35 shots for the Oilers so if the young team in front of him can generate some offence this could end up being an interesting game.

Life Without Lidstom

Life Without Lidstrom

Flu-like symptoms caused Nicklas Lidstrom to miss just his 30th regular season game in his 20 year NHL career. Watching the Red Wings with out him getting shelled 7-2 by the Montreal Canadiens was quite a scary picture.

Lidstrom will turn 42 at the end of this season and in his epic career he has won the World Championship, an Olympic Gold Medal, 4 Stanley Cups, a Conn Smythe Trophy, 7 Norris Trophies, 2 Viking Awards (for best Swedish Hockey Player playing in North America), and been named an NHL All-Star 12 times. Quite clearly once he leaves Detroit will have a hard time trying to fill his spot on the blue line.

It has been rumoured that Lidstrom could retire at the end of this season and simply put, he can not be replaced but let's look at some of the options Detroit could do to deal without Nicklas Lidstrom. If the Red Wings turn to the Free Agent Market there are a number of big names that Detroit could go to. Probably at the top of the UFA market lies Ryan Suter. The 27 year old Blue-liner for the Nashville Predators has said he would like to go elsewhere if Nashville fails to improve their team going into the playoffs this year. In 7 season in the NHL Suter has posted four 30+ point seasons and is on pace to reach 48 points this year. Additionally his Defensive play has been fairly good posting positive +/- season in 6 of 7 seasons.

Another big name on the UFA list is Capitals defensemen Dennis Wideman. Also a 7 year veteran with similar point totals to Suter but with a slant towards goal scoring opposed to playmaking. The question mark about Wideman is his -31 +/- over his 7 seasons in the NHL, though some of this could be chalked up to the teams he played on. There hasn't been much talk about Dennis Wideman in the trade rumour circles but Wideman thought he had been traded when he got the call to the All-Star game. Perhaps this could mean there is some uncertainty around Wideman's future as a Capital.

With Shea Weber going to Salary Arbitration last year there has similar point totals to Wideman and Suter, but he has had more of a superstar flair being named a 3 time NHL All-Star, Olympic Gold medalist, Norris Trophy Finalist, and in 2009 was named the Best Defenceman at the World Championship of Hockey. He has been some doubt seeded in his future with Nashville as well. Shea Weber has the size and skill to become true NHL great but being an RFA Detroit would have to sign him to an offer-sheet which would see them lose 4 first round draft picks. With Detroit's prowess in scouting it is doubtful that they would like to part with 4 first round picks to land Weber.

If the Wings look to the trade market Carolina's Joni Pitkanen could be a potential target, but he's currently sidelined with a concussion. Toronto's Luke Schenn name has been floating around the trade rumour mill. However, despite his apparent potential in his 4th year he has yet to have a true break out season. Both teams however could have steep asking prices, looking for high draft picks or top 6 forwards since the trade market is shaping up to be a Sellers Market. There hasn't been much noise as to which Red Wing forwards could be expendable but one could imagine Jiri Hudler could being the only expendable top 6 forward.

All in all, it will be impossible to replace a player like Nicklas Lidstrom but with his big salary coming off the books next year and no expendable top six forwards, a likely move would be to go after a sought-after UFA Blue-liner like Suter or Wideman.

Weekly Review: January 22-28, 2012

Week: January 22-28, 2012

Game 1: St. Louis Blues (@Home): Win 3-1

The Wings have extended their Home Winning Streak to 17 games by defeating St. Louis in this contest. However the Wings looked a little flat to start the game letting St. Louis score the first goal of the evening, a Scott Nichol one-timer from B.J. Crombeen. This goal seemed to light a fire underneath the Wings, as it was all Detroit for the rest of the game dominating the scoring and physical play. Pavel Datsyuk opened the scoring for the Red Wings in the 2nd on a power play with a beautiful deke and backhand shot above the shoulder of Jaroslav Halak. Johan Franzen then got the go-ahead goal by putting away a rebound from a Jonathan Ericsson point shot. Darren Helm had a huge hit on Alex Pietrangelo which caused Carl Colaiacovo to get a roughing penalty. On the ensuing Power Play, Niklas Kronwall would put the icing on the victory with a slapshot from the point thanks to Tomas Holmstrom's screening of Halak. Lots of talk was given to Jaroslav Halak coming into this game but it was Jimmy Howard who stole the show between the pipes, saving 21 of 22 shots posting his league best 30th win of the season.

I criticized the Wings earlier for looking a bit flat and being taken to Overtime and Shoot-out by some mediocre teams, however this decisive win over a top contender like St. Louis shows that the Wings can rise to the occasion when needed. Victories like these are the ones that the Wings will need if they want to make a deep playoff run.

Game 2: @Montreal Canadiens: Loss 7-2

Nicklas Lidstrom was sorely missed as he sat out with flu-like symptoms to watch his team get shelled for 4 goals in the 1st period. Jimmy Howard was pulled after letting in 4 goals on 12 shots. Ty Conklin came in and didn't fair much better letting in 3 goals himself on 13 shots.

Jiri Hudler was the only bright light for Detroit this game, scoring twice in the third period. Hopefully Detroit will be able to put this loss behind them as they head into the All-Star Break.

***

Detroit opened the week nicely with a huge regulation time win over St. Louis, but losing 7-2 to a fringe team like the Canadiens doesn't bode well. Detroit has had a pretty good season so far (their road record is the only blemish on an otherwise great season) heading into the All-Star break, hopefully they can find out what went wrong against the Canadiens and continue playing the rest of the season like they did against the Blues, dominating the scoring and physical play.

Weekly Preview: January 22-28, 2012

Week: January 22-28, 2012

The All Star Break comes at a good time to give the Detroit Red Wings a much needed rest. After playing 8 games in two weeks they only have 2 games this week before the brief recess. However, they can't start cruising yet as Monday they have a huge game against Division Rivals the St. Louis Blues.

Game 1: St. Louis Blues (@ Home)

This is Detroit's biggest game since playing the Chicago Blackhawks in that epic Saturday afternoon showdown January 14th. Not only is it a Divisional match-up its against the red hot St. Louis Blues who are close in pursuit of Detroit's lead a top the Central Division, Western Conference, and NHL.

Similar to the Wings, St. Louis is on a roll with a 4 game win streak. However, this streak has been against weaker opponents (Minnesota, Dallas, Edmonton, and Buffalo). The best ranked opponent in this streak is Minnesota, who sits in 9th place in the Western Conference. The thing the Blues have going for them however is goaltender Jaroslav Halak. After posting back-to-back shut-outs against Dallas and Edmonton, he has posted a 1.00 GAA in his last 4 games with a 0.955% save percentage during this time.

Despite the fact that most of the Wings wins have been 3-2 OT/SO victories, their big guns have been contributing. However, they need all the big guns firing at the same time if they want to get enough goals to secure a win.

A win here could start to put distant behind the Wings and the rest of their Division and would be a good way to head in to the All-Star Break.

Game 2: @Montreal Canadiens

Some life was breathed into the Montreal Canadiens season after upsetting their lifelong rivals, the Toronto Maple Leafs 3-1 on January 21st. They still are in 11th place in the East, 7 points back of 8th place, but their win over the Leafs kept the Leafs from taking the 8th spot and was a huge win over a team that they'll need to beat again if they want to climb back into the thick of things. The Red Wings should be well rested having a full day off since playing St. Louis and if they can continue having some hot goaltending from Jimmy Howard, and if the likes of Pavel Datsyuk, Todd Bertuzzi, Jiri Hudler, Valterri Filppula, and Johan Franzen can continue their scoring ways victory for the Wings should be imminent.
The Habs are looking to start a play-off push, but the Wings will be looking to head into the All-Star Break a top the NHL standings breaking away from the rest of the pack. So both teams should be firing on all cylinders

Weekly Review: January 15-21, 2012

Game 1: Buffalo Sabres (@Home) - Win 5-0

Detroit came out swinging against the injured Sabres and they set the Franchise Record for longest Home winning streak with 15 straight home wins. The Wings gave Ryan Miller a warm welcome back to the Joe Louis arena scoring 5 goals on 14 shots before Miller got replaced with Jhonas Enroth. Enroth fared better stopping all 12 shots he faced. Jimmy Howard also looked good stopping all 22 shots for his 10th career shut-out.

Zetterberg, Franzen, Lidstrom, Bertuzzi, and Helm were goal scorers in this contest, Pavel Datsyuk and Todd Bertuzzi lead the Wings with 3 points each (3 Assists, and 1 Goal and 2 Assists respectively), and Drew Miller got an assist on the last goal that went passed his brother Ryan Miller.

Game 2: @Dallas Stars - Win 3-2 SO

Despite Detroit's excellent, record setting home play this year they have gone 11-13-0 on the road heading into this game. Finding wins on the road is imperative if Detroit wants to make a deep playoff run. Tomas Holmstrom opened the scoring with a blistering slap shot from the slot thanks to Jan Mursak chasing down a potential icing call and sending it to Justin Abdelkader who centred it to Holmstrom.

Brenden Morrow and Loui Eriksson erased the Detroit lead changing the score to 2-1 for the Stars.

It seemed as though Detroit was fired up as Jiri Hudler scored just 1:43 into the 2nd period with a backhand that bounced off Defencemen Alex Goligoski's skate and into the net. Scoring would stop there as the teams were then headed to overtime and later a shoot out. Once again Jiri Hudler would be the hero as he pulled the one-handed "Forsberg" deke on rookie goaltender Richard Bachman to become the only shoot out scorer.

Game 3: @Phoenix Coyotes - Win 3-2 SO

With this 3-2 SO win, 5 of the Wings last 7 games have been 3-2 wins in extra time and have obtained the NHL's best record. Additionally the Wings move to 13-13-0 on the road with this win, which is a good start if they want to match their home success this year at 18-2-1.

Raffi Torres opened the scoring for Phoenix sliding a wrap-around passed Jimmy Howard. Early in the 2nd period Ian White tied up the game with a beautiful slapshot from the point over the shoulder of Mike Smith. Todd Bertuzzi gave the Red Wings the lead with a slapshot of his own thanks to some crafty work from Pavel Datsyuk bringing it into the zone and Johan Franzen sending it from behind the net to Bertuzzi. The lead was short lived though as Gilbert Brule would even up the game with a nice wrester sending it to OT and shoot out.

Pavel Datsyuk was robbed by Mike Smith, but Todd Bertuzzi's spin-o-rama deke would put the icing on the cake for the Wings and give them their 5th straight win.

Jimmy Howard played amazing once again, stopping 31 of 33 shots and all shoot out attempts earning his 28th win of the season.

Game 4: Columbus Bluejackets (@Home) - Win 3-2 SO

It was a "Sweet Sixteen" for Detroit as they extended their Franchise best Home Winning Streak to 16 games, their win streak to 6 games, and also the third 3-2 shoot out win in row for the Wings. This game should have resembled the 5-0 blow-out over Buffalo rather than the recent close games against Phoenix, Chicago, and Dallas however a win is still a win. Perhaps the Wings were a bit tired coming back from a 2 game road trip, or playing a 8 games in two weeks was a bit much but the Wings looked a bit stagnant. An awkward rebound off of a Derrick Dorsett shot gave way to a goal by Ryan Russell to open the scoring for Columbus, however Niklas Kronwall was quick to answer back. After chasing down a lose puck he centred the puck to Jiri Hudler who head-maned the puck to Valterri Filppula as Kronwall bolted up the ice into the slot and one-timed a pass from Valterri into the net for his 10th of the year. Scoring was halted until the 2nd period when off a quick draw Nikita Nikitin wristed the puck past Jimmy Howard. Nicklas Lidstrom would end up tying the game (sending it to OT) with a beautiful slap shot which bounced off the end boards and banked off goalie Curtis Sanford. Lidstrom picked up his 10th goal on the play and Kronwall picked up his 2nd point of the game with the assist on that play.

Heading into overtime Jimmy Howard stood tall stopping 2 very good shots sending the game to a shoot out. After denying Datsyuk, Hudler and Bertuzzi it would be Valterri Filppula who would finally solve Sanford in the shoot out to put another tally in the win column for the Wings.

***

The Wings were a perfect 4-0-0 this week, however 3 of those wins went to the Shoot out and all of their games were against much weaker opponents. They did play 8 games in the last 14 days which could have contributed to their slight sluggishness but at the end of the day they found a way to win.

Weekly Preview: January 15-21, 2012

Week: January 15-21, 2012

Another busy week for the Red Wings with 4 games and a back-to-back contest on Monday/Tuesday. Only one Divisional game though this week against the Columbus Bluejackets.

Game 1: Buffalo Sabres (@Home)

The Sabres currently sit 11th in the Eastern conference and are 3-5-2 in their last 10 games. With Detroit's home winning streak on the line this game will be a battle as they look to extend the streak to break the franchise record of 14 games. Ryan Miller is slated to get the start as the Sabres return to Miller's home state, though Miller is 2-5-2 against the Red Wings. From a Red Wings point of view it would be nice to see brother Drew Miller put a few pucks in the net.

Game 2: @ Dallas Stars

After 3 straight games at the Joe, the Red Wings head on a two day road trip starting Dallas. To start the week of Dallas has been a mediocre 5-5-0 in their last 10. Dallas's leading scorer Jamie Benn recently had his 5 game point streak snapped and has played 2 games with out a point. If he continues to slump this could be good news for whoever starts in net for Detroit.

Game 3: @ Phoenix Coyotes

Much like the rest of the teams the Wings face this week the Coyotes have been on a long cold streak going 2-4-4 in their last 10 to start the week. In their contest with the Red Wings last week they did manage to push the game to a Shoot-Out before Pavel Datsyuk and Henrik Zetterberg showed their Shoot-Out magic.

Game 4: Columbus Bluejackets (@Home)

The Columbus Bluejackets currently sit in last place in the entire league with only 29 points. Jeff Carter will likely still be on the Injured Reserve, but even when he has been playing he hasn't connected with Rick Nash as much as the Bluejackets had hoped. Providing Detroit doesn't get worn out on their road trip and maintain focus they should hopefully gain a victory here.

***

Detroit will need to maintain focus and try not to get worn out as this is their 2nd straight week of 4 games. Their opponents this week have been mediocre at best and if the Wings stay sharp this could end up being a really good week for the Wings.

Detroit set to play Toronto in annual Winter Classic

It was one of the worst kept secrets that Detroit would host next year's Winter Classic but who their opponent would be was in question.

Well reports have come in that Detroit will host The Toronto Maple Leafs at the University of Michigan's Michigan Stadium (aka the Big House). The Big House has hosted hockey game with the largest attendance in 2010 and it is speculated that this game will eclipse that marker.

This is the first year a Canadian based team has played in NBC's Winter Classic as their mission was always to sell hockey to American viewers. With the size of Leafs Nation and the amount of displaced Torontonians across the US they should have no problem selling out this game and garnishing great ratings.

If this game is as exciting as the most recent Wings/Leafs match-up we will be in for a treat, hopefully this time with the Wings ending on top.