Gorilla Crouch

Grades for the forwards are right beneath this post. This time around in addition to grades I will compare each player to a Detroit(ish) Landmark/Institution/what have you.

Defensemen

Nick Lidstrom: C

Detroit Landmark: General Motors. At one time it was one of the largest companies in the world and the pride of the Motor City. The GM of today wishes it’s hard times were as minor as Nick’s have been. Not to discount getting speared in the junk or anything. If that happened to me I still wouldn’t have crawled out of bed yet.

Brian Rafalski: C

Detroit Landmark: Henry Ford Museum and Greenfield Village. He’s the lone guy from the area so he has history on his side - and he is from Dearborn. So it was either Henry Ford Museum and Greenfield Village or Fairlane Mall because I just don’t know Dearborn that well. The museum is a very popular field trip destination and Rafalski isn’t much taller than your average fourth grader.

Niklas Kronwall: B

Detroit Landmark: Kronk boxing. Both will knock you the f#ck out - unless of course you’re Sugar Ray Leonard or Marvelous Marvin Hagler. Good luck getting either of those guys on ice skates.

Brad Stuart: B+

Detroit Landmark: The Ambassador Bridge. Stuart brings a distinctly North America by way of Alberta style of play to Detroit. However a bridge to Alberta would be way too long and think about all the tolls you’d have to pay. So a bridge to Windsor will just have to do.

Jonathan Ericsson: C-

Detroit Landmark: The Sleeping Bear Dunes. I remember climbing the Dunes once as a kid. I started to run up them at first because they didn’t look that high but with all of that vertical running I quickly lost all motivation and began to walk. By the time I got to the top I was basically crawling. Nice view though from way up top.

Brett Lebda: D+

Detroit Landmark: Cheli’s Chili. The Chicago restaurant closed about a second after the ink was dry on that trade that sent Chelios to Detroit. For some reason I always link Chelios with Lebda – probably because they’re both from Chicago. And probably because their play over recent years - like chili - gives me the sweats, heartburn, and a bad case of gas.

Andreas Lilja: INC

Detroit Landmark: The big-ass tire along I-96 near Detroit Metro airport in Romulus*. It’s big, just as immobile, and nearly as ridiculous looking while still being undeniably impressive. Your first impression on seeing both is WTF?!

Derek Meech: D+

Detroit Landmark: Sanders Bakery bumpy cake. I like both despite the fact there’s nothing to point to objectively to support that opinion.

Goaltenders

Jimmy Howard: B+

Detroit Landmark: Comerica Park. A lot of people didn’t like CoPa when it first opened and this was largely due to their love for Tiger Stadium. The team was awful the first few seasons in the new park and as a result attendance waned. But as the Tigers rose from being one of the worst teams in the history of baseball in 2003 to a surprise World Series team in 2006 the park finally gained some goodwill.

Playing goaltender for the Detroit Red Wings is largely a thankless job and with Howard struggling early on it was easy to write him off. But he’s played well and all it will take is one solid playoff performance for Howard to establish a place for himself in Detroit. That will of course result in fans coming up with every reason under the sun to play any goaltender other than him. So he’s got that to look forward to.

Chris Osgood: C-

Detroit Landmark: Motor City Casino. Lately it feels like you’re gambling during the regular season when you put Osgood between the pipes. Oh and both usually involve heavy drinking.

* - I checked with like 5 different people and none of us could remeber the company that uses the tire for advertising. The guesses: Uniroyal, Firestone, Michelin and Goodyear. Woo advertising!

Andreas Lilja Brad Stuart Brett Lebda Brian Rafalski Chris Osgood Derek Meech Jimmy Howard Jonathan Ericsson Nicklas Lidstrom Niklas Kronwall Red Wings

January 5th, 2010
Categories: Red Wings . Author: Dave . Comments: 2 Comments

Yahoo sports has a good article on Niklas Kronwall’s spotty performance as his minutes have increased. The goal is to limit the amount of time Nick Lidstrom spends on the ice each night. For that to happen Kronwall is going to play more minutes and play tougher competition night in and night out. That’s clearly the case right now as Nik Jr. leads the team in time on ice.

Lidstrom is still eating up plenty of ice time while short-handed, as he and Andreas Lilja are the leading PK’ers on the blueline. And Lidstrom, QB’ing the top power play, is also the ice-time leader with the man advantage. So it appears Lidstrom will continue to dominate specialty teams. Kronner will get the heaviest minutes at even-strength and the thing to watch during the season is his progression.

He’s struggled thus far, as he’s near the bottom in plus/minus - along with two members of the third checking line [Kris Draper, Dan Cleary], along with his defense partner [Brad Stuart] and Brett Lebda. But his performance during last year’s playoffs gives you reason to believe he is up to the task.

Nicklas Lidstrom Niklas Kronwall Red Wings

October 21st, 2008
Categories: Red Wings . Author: Dave . Comments: No Comments

I stole this bit from Jeff Moss, who hasn’t done the bit in about one year. He was doing the sarcaustic sports coverage before it became teh blogging hotness. A quick primer on the source material:

Not too far removed from Borat. With that out of the way, on to the “Ach, ya” or “nitcht-nitcht” segment.

Will Johan Franzen repeat his production from last season?

Nitcht-nitcht. Tyler over at MC79hockey banged out a spreadsheet that shows shooting percentages for every player in the NHL last season. You can view the spreadsheet here. Franzen shot 26.4% while on the power play, which means he scored on just over one in four of his shots when playing with the man advantage. That type of production just doesn’t seem likely to repeat itself. I think 15%-20% seems more reasonable. He was sixth in ice time during the regular season and with the addition of Hossa it’s unclear how that will impact his ice time as Hossa was getting more than 4 minutes per 60 minutes last season.

Will Marian Hossa be Detroit’s leading goal scorer?

I doubt the legitimacy of this picture but it fits in just fine right here

Ach, ya. Assuming Mike Babcock keeps Pavel Datsyuk and Henrik Zetterberg on separate lines then Hossa is likely to remain on Datsyuk’s wing. Recently recognized as the second best passer in the Western Conference behind Joe Thornton, Datsyuk will put the puck on Hossa’s tape when he’s in prime scoring position in front of the net. The one factor that has yet to be determined is how the power play lines will work out. If Hossa stays on Datsyuk’s wing and Babcock keeps the Eurotwins apart then Hossa will likely be Detroit’s leading scorer. If Babcock puts Pavs and Hank back together then Hank will once again be Detroit’s leading goal scorer.

Can Niklas Kronwall continue to perform at the high level of play he demonstrated during the playoffs?

Ach, ya. This would be much more debatable if not for Detroit’s ability to re-sign Brad Stuart. Stuart was a fixture in the lineup on that second pairing once the playoffs rolled around. I don’t think it’s a coincidence that Kronwall started feeling a little more comfortable about roaming the ice to deliver bone-breaking hits and dish out assists. The second biggest beneficiary of Brad Stuart’s new deal [behind Stewie’s seeds] will likely be Kronner.

Can Conklin bring the ConkBlock [TM Pensblog] to the Motor City?

Nitcht-Nitcht. The main reason I say this is he’s unlikely to play the role in Detroit he played in Pittsburgh as far as giving the team the shot in the arm they needed when the Pens lost Fleury. I’ll let Empty Netters explain:

There was the 29 saves he made against the Sabres in a 2-0 shutout win Dec. 29. There was the 35-save effort he had against the Panthers in a 3-0 Jan. 5. There was the 50 saves he made in a 4-2 win against the Islanders on Long Island Feb. 26 that appeared almost effortless.
…
Performances like that led to many wondering if Conklin was really the Penguins’ true MVP. Some even wondered if Conklin should’ve been considered as the league’s MVP. Others even questioned if Conklin should be the Penguins’ starting goaltender regardless of Fleury’s health.

His stats this season may look similar given the depth at center and on defense the Red Wings will throw out onto the ice in front of him. But even if that’s the case he’s unlikely to merit that kind of lavish praise. Hell, Chris Osgood did the exact same thing when it became obvious Dominik Hasek was complete and utter FAIL in the playoffs. Once that happened it was oh yeah well who couldn’t backstop that Detroit team to a Cup.

Johan Franzen Marian Hossa Niklas Kronwall Red Wings ty conklin

September 5th, 2008
Categories: Red Wings . Author: Dave . Comments: No Comments

Yesterday I took a look at how I think the top two lines might be put together. Today I’ll focus on the power play. Last season the Red Wings finished #3 overall as measured by the best Power Play success rates during the regular season. They dropped to 9th overall during the playoffs so there’s certainly some room for improvement.

First, let’s take a look at the top power play unit of Henrik Zetterberg, Pavel Datsyuk, Tomas Holmstrom, Nicklas Lidstrom and Brian Rafalski.

The following stats are from Behind the Net.

Top Power Play Unit

Name	Games	PP TOI	Goals/60	Asst1	Points/60	P/M-on	P/M-off	P/M-diff
Nick Lidstrom	76	4.24	0.19	2.61	4.47	6.90	5.17	+1.73
Brian Rafalski	73	3.99	1.03	0.62	3.91	7.21	4.63	+2.58
Henrik Zetterberg	75	4.15	2.89	1.54	5.20	7.13	5.62	+1.51
Pavel Datsyuk	82	3.95	1.48	2.22	5.74	7.60	4.41	+3.19
Tomas Holmstrom	59	3.85	2.11	0.53	3.43	6.60	4.94	+1.66

The key stats are obviously goals, but primary assists is a good stat for the power play. The final stat shows whether the team scores more with that player on the power play than without him on the ice with the man advantage. Every single player on the top power play unit has a plus total here so the top unit is obviously in pretty decent shape. Lidstrom and Datsyuk are the key setup guys while Homer, Z and also Rafalski are the primary goal scorers. Datsyuk also gets in on the action when it comes to scoring goals.

Let’s take a look at the remaining players by TOI while on the PP last season.

2nd Power Play Unit Options

Name	Games	PP TOI	Goals/60	Asst1	Points/60	P/M-on	P/M-off	P/M-diff
Nik Kronwall	65	2.62	0.00	1.41	2.11	4.58	7.13	-2.55
Brad Stuart*	72	2.87	0.58	1.16	2.90	5.52	5.45	+0.06
Marian Hossa*	72	4.19	1.19	1.39	3.98	4.77	3.29	+1.48
Jiri Hudler	81	2.60	0.57	1.71	3.70	4.84	7.22	-2.38
Johan Franzen	72	2.51	4.31	0.33	4.98	8.62	5.17	+3.45
Valtteri Filppula	78	1.79	1.29	1.72	3.45	4.31	6.83	-2.52
Dan Cleary	63	2.46	1.55	1.55	4.65	5.82	6.08	-0.27
Mikael Samuelsson	73	2.58	1.27	0.32	3.18	6.37	6.63	-0.27

* - stats are from regular season with previous team

Nik Kronwall is guaranteed to hold down one of the point slots and is a solid assist generator. In fact he was dominant during the playoffs which hopefully forebodes him really coming into his own in the NHL. Another player who really came into his own is Johan Franzen. Look at that goals/60 minutes of power play time. Homer will likely stay with the top power play unit this season but the Mule is knocking on the door and who knows how patient the big lug will be before he knocks it down and becomes a fixture alongside Pavs and Z.

My guess is Marian Hossa plays on the second power play unit. Mike Babcock could separate out Datsyuk and Zetterberg and put them on separate units but it doesn’t seem like a great use to have one of them of the ice with the man advantage as the second unit gets a small fraction of the ice time the top unit does. Could Hossa play alongside them from time to time? Sure, but Hossa could be the key to really making the second unit consistently dangerous.

So if that happens you can pencil in Kronwall, Mule and Hossa onto the second unit. The big battle will be for the second point slot and the other forward slot. Mike Babcock has used Mikael Samuelsson on the point due to the fact he’s one of the few “right shooting” players which is beneficial in theory. Brad Stuart could fill that point slot but I suspect Babcock will keep Sammy on the point.

The battle for the third forward slot will likely be waged between Dan Cleary, Jiri Hudler and Valtteri Filppula. Kronwall will likely be the dominant assist man on this unit but it also needs another good setup man amongst the forwards. Jiri Hudler will likely get the first crack at this slot as he is a good assist generator. Filppula and Cleary aren’t far behind though and will obviously continue to get power play time.

If Hudler is going to become a longterm Red Wing it will likely be due to his performance on the second power play unit and getting the nod in shootouts. Huds will continue to get shots on the second line but right now he needs to become a dominant performer on the power play. He’ll have a great opportunity if he’s on the ice with Mule, Hossa and Kronwall.

Pittsburgh had a great power play during the playoffs, and that was due largely to pairing Sergei Gonchar with three excellent forwards and Ryan Malone. Detroit could do something similar when they really need to score goals.

Lidstrom > Gonchar
Datsyuk = Crosby [I’m being generous to Sid here]
Z > Malkin [based mostly on the playoffs]
Hossa = Hossa
Mule = Malone

Aaron Downey is due to re-up any day now by signing a one-year, two-way contract. This is a great signing. While the Red Wings will never lead the NHL [or finish in the top half for that matter] when it comes to fighting majors, you do need a guy on your team who will hold opponents accountable if they get a little carried away with physical play. The perfect example last season was when Ian Laperriere went after Nick Lidstrom when the captain was in a vulnerable position. Downey took him down and put an end to that.

He also fought Kyle McLaren early last season and after winning that fight the Red Wings rallied to knock off the Sharks. Probably more importantly, Downey was reported to be a great guy in the locker room and helped maintain a good atmosphere during the playoffs when he wasn’t contributing on the ice. And just check out these dance moves.

George Sipple reports they still have an offer extended to Darren McCarty for a two-way contract as well.

Aaron Downey Brad Stuart Brian Rafalski Dan Cleary Darren McCarty Henrik Zetterberg Jiri Hudler Johan Franzen Marian Hossa Mikael Samuelsson Nick Lidstrom Niklas Kronwall Pavel Datsyuk Red Wings Tomas Holmstrom Valtteri Filppula

August 15th, 2008
Categories: Red Wings . Author: Dave . Comments: No Comments

It was apropos that on an afternoon where the Detroit Lions drafted yet another high draft pick that should be a bonafide high-level NFL talent [heh], the Detroit Red Wings were led by yet another of their obscure NHL draft picks that has blossomed into one of the better players in the game.

Johan Franzen - a late bloomer if ever there was one who was drafted in the third round - tallied his first career hat trick to pace the Wings to a 5-1 demolition of the Colorado Avalanche. The team hasn’t made much of their former rivalry with Colorado and their play on the ice has only gone to accentuate those differences.

The Avalanche are led in scoring by Joe Sakic and Milan Hejduk, who each averaged just about a point a game in the series against the Wild. They’ve combined to tally two points [a goal and an assist] during the first two games of the series thus far. They were both key parts of the Avalanche attack in the late 90’s. Wojtek Wolski is the only younger player who ranks in the top 5 in scoring for the Avs during the playoffs.

For the Red Wings? Their top 5 scorers are Johan Franzen, Niklas Kronwall, Hank Zetterberg, Pavel Datsyuk, and Jiri Hudler. Their average age is 27. This is why we laugh knowingly at people who tell us that the Red Wings are so old and slow. Kronner plays on the second pairing and Hudler has been tearing it up on the 3rd and 4th lines. But every other guy is a key contributor on a scoring line.

Datsyuk finished 4th in the league in scoring and should win the Selke award as the best defensive forward. He played 82 games and led the entire league in plus/minus rating. Hank Zetterberg, who missed 7 games during the regular season, finished 6th in scoring and is the odds on favorite to win the Selke.

These guys who are leading the Red Wings right now were - on average - 17 when the Avs-Wings was a big rivarly. Heck, Jiri Hudler was 14, and I’m not even sure they have televisions in Olomouc where he hails from so he might not have even been able to watch those classic matchups between what used to be the two best teams in all of the NHL.

Today everyone who follows the NHL knows about Johan Franzen and that his nickname is the Mule. He was interviewed on NBC following the game and if there’s one person who should have been paying close attention to the exploits of Franzen it’s another player who toiled in Sweden and went undrafted when he was 18 and then 19 years old. His name is Fabian Brunnstrom and he’s a free agent, meaning he can sign with any team in the NHL. The word is that the Red Wings are in the running as being one of the teams the 23 year old forward is considering signing with. If that is indeed the case he should also understand what it took for Mule to make the team.

Mule talked a little bit about what it took for him to make the Red Wings after he was drafted. He came over at the age of 24 and made the team right out of training camp. With Franzen he’s always been a defensively responsible player and that was his ticket to earning a spot on the Red Wings. So it took him four years to become an overnight sensation.

Now Brunnstrom might have much better offesnsive skills than Franzen - the big lug has only scored 22 goals over the past 24 games the Red Wings have played. But even Jiri Hudler, who is a pure point producer and isn’t known as a great two-way player, needed to hone his defensive skills on the fourth line before he was given significant time on a scoring line this season. Hudler put up 96 points in the AHL before being brought up to Detroit and was more than a point a game player at the highest levels of Czech hockey before playing in Grand Rapids.

So if Brunnstrom is seriously interested in joining club Sweden over here in the States the path is pretty obvious. I have no doubts there are easier routes to the NHL and to playing on a scoring line. But Johan Franzen is proof positive that a late-bloomer can succceed in Detroit at the highest levels during the most important time of the hockey season.

fabian brunnstrom Henrik Zetterberg Jiri Hudler Johan Franzen Niklas Kronwall Pavel Datsyuk Red Wings

April 27th, 2008
Categories: Red Wings . Author: Dave . Comments: No Comments

If you are Ken Holland you probably have three thoughts running through your head right now: your team has a three game losing streak with the final loss coming against your biggest rival; the timeline for your #3 defenseman coming back from the IR continues to stretch out longer and longer; and you just lost your grittiest player, who is likely lost for the remainder of the regular season.

There’s no real question that the Red Wings need to make a move. The Ducks have turned their season around with the addition of Sammy Pahlsson, Scott Niedermayer and Teemu Selanne to their lineup. They’re still going to have to fight to ensure they get a playoff spot but with the way they are playing right now they look like a reasonable bet to be one of the top eight seeds.

The Red Wings need a similar infusion. I pushed for making small moves like trading for Hal Gill to help out along the blueline and for trading to acquire Vaclav Prospal to add some scoring punch to the second line. But after how last season played out with injuries to two top 4 d-men [Kronwall and Mathieu Schneider], I think it’s likely that Ken Holland will need to up the ante and trade for a legit top 4 defenseman who can play on the power play and penalty kill.

Pete over at Yzerman is God supports going back with hat in hand to Danny Markov and trying to sign him for a playoff run. I’m not sure that’s gonna happen. Putting aside the issues with bringing a guy over from Russia who signed a two-year contract [a potential issue we’ll sidestep], do you think Markov’s bargaining position has improved just a slight bit? He turned down a two-year deal for $2.5mm per season. So do you add more money and/or more term to bring over a guy who is making $2mm per year tax free playing in his homeland? Doubtful.

Matt over at On the Wings disagrees that the Red Wings need a top four defenseman. He thinks a top four of Lidstrom, Rafalski, Lilja and Kronwall is fine. And it could be. But there are two big risks the Red Wings would be taking if they stand pat. One, Nik Kronwall could suffer another season-ending injury and Detroit would be stuck with two legit top 4 defenseman. And the second, of course, is that Andreas Lilja has struggled when paired with Brett Lebda who hasn’t exactly proven he’s capable of playing top 4 minutes himself. If that happens do you want Chris Chelios playing on the second pairing for the remainder of the playoffs? That Lil and Cheli pairing that lacks speed playing 3rd pairing minutes ain’t gonna get any quicker playing 2nd pairing minutes. And that’s a risk I’m not sure Ken Holland really wants to take.

If the Wings pick up a legit top 4 d-man here is how I see the pairings working out:

Even-strength
Lidstrom-Rafalski
Kronwall-[trade]
Chelios- Lilja or Meech

Power Play
Lidstrom-Rafalski
Kronwall-[trade]

Penalty Kill
Lidstrom-Chelios
Kronwall-Lilja or [trade]

If Kronwall gets injured you can still bump Lils up and play him with a legit top 4 d-man, where he’s less likely to struggle. In this scenario I obviously have the Wings trading Lebda. I like him and he has nice wheels, but he’s not great at headmanning the puck [he just skates it into the offensive zone], he’s not much of an offensive defenseman, and he’s an okay defensive defenseman in his own zone but can struggle along the boards. Meech just seems to have more potential in my opinion as his game is more well-rounded than Lebda’s.

Andreas Lilja is simply too inconsistent, but you can minimize that by putting him on the third pairing or pairing him with a solid top 4 d-man if he’s forced to play on the second pairing. Lils ideally is perfect as a 6th d-man who can play on the penalty kill. I’m not one of the people who has been ripping on Lilja, I’ve actually said he’s a good fit for Detroit. But not as a regular top 4 d-man. Plus, if you do play him top four minutes he’s going to demand to be paid like a top 4 d-man. That might be why he hasn’t signed a contract extension. Last season was perfect, where he was scratched for many games but stepped in and performed admirably during the playoff run. But he’s NOT a long-term top 4 d-man.

Ken Holland has got to provide some insurance for his team in case Kronwall gets injured. He has the cap space and assets to do so. I don’t agree with Bill from Abel to Yzerman so much in terms of the bounty Holland is seeking [Bill thinks Mats Sundin is headed to Detroit], but I do think Holland realizes his team was in a great position to win the Cup last season before the season was derailed by injuries to Kronwall and Schneider.

Sure, the team still gave the Ducks their best series of the playoffs. The Wings had a great shot to win the Cup, and they have another great shot this season. Ken Holland, who has loads of cap space and some nice assets to trade, needs to make a deal sometime within the next two weeks to get a top 4 d-man who can play on the PP and the PK. It ain’t gonna be cheap but like Bill says, you don’t kick a Cup gifthorse in the mouth.

Dan Cleary Danny Markov Niklas Kronwall Red Wings

February 11th, 2008
Categories: Red Wings . Author: Dave . Comments: No Comments

After posting my thoughts on Detroit’s defensive corps yesterday Pete over at Yzerman is God took exception with the idea that Brent Sopel might compete for the last open spot on the second defensive pairing:

Whatever the circumstances, I don’t see why the Wings should sign this guy, at least to the big club.
…
But making Sopel the 4th D? He doesn’t make sense

Everyone pretty much agrees Lidstrom, Rafalski and Kronwall are the top 3 defensemen - at least until Kronner gets injured this season. Who’s most likely to fill that #4 spot right now? If the season were to start right now Andreas Lilja probably has the inside track. And while he played well during the playoffs, he’s also a player who was routinely scratched during the regular season. He played 57 regular season games but only missed two due to injury. So you’d hope the Red Wings would try to develop some competition for the spot rather than just hand it to Lilja.

Pete seems to agree up to that point but then suggests Brett Lebda or Derek Meech should be partnered with Kronner.

So, Lidstrom, Kronwall, Rafalski, maybe Lebda (given his speed) … oh yeah, and Meech…sounds like an ideal candidate when it comes to getting quick shots on the move from the blueline. I’m not saying he’ll get lots of time, but if the Wings’ PP is struggling Babcock would be crazy not to insert this guy, even if as basically a PP specialist.

I’m sorry but Lebda was highly ineffective during the playoffs. He showed no ability whatsoever to deal with teams that would cycle the puck down low. He was Ryan Getzlaf’s property whenever he happened to be on the ice during the Western Conference Finals. With Mike Babcock coaching the team he has made it his mandate that the team must be tougher to play against. That’s just not Lebda’s game. Sure, he’s a great skater and he’s a perfect fit as a 6th d-man. But I really don’t see Lebda playing with Kronwall. An undersized defensive pairing like that would likely struggle - in the regular season and especially the playoffs.

Before we put Meech on the 2nd pairing, let’s wait and see if he can actually make the team. He’s coming off a solid season in Grand Rapids, where he was an All Star and was the Griffins’ man of the year. But the Red Wings brass has made it clear he is going to have to make the team as he’s not guaranteed a spot even though he’d have to clear waivers to return to Grand Rapids. So I think it’s a bit premature to think he’s going to step in and take Lilja’s spot.

Now Sopel makes some sense as far as competing for that 4th d-man spot. I’m not saying he’s going to get it, I’m merely arguing he will compete with Lilja and possibly Kindl for that spot. First off, he’s actually a top 4 defenseman. The last time he played close to a full season [80 games in 2003-04] he put up 42 points. That was when he was 26. He put up 37 points the previous season. On a team like Detroit, particularly if he’s on the second power play unit, he has the capability of putting up 40 points. He’s not going to put up 50+ because he’s not going to play on the top PP unit.

But still, 40 points is very solid. Last year Kronwall put up 22 points and Lebda put up 18. Kronner has more upside and will eventually put up 40+ points if he actually plays a full season. Sopel, while playing on a horrid Los Angeles team, played 148 minutes on the power play. The unit scored 10 goals but allowed 1 short-handed goal. Sopel had a hand in 8 of those goals [2 goals, 6 assists]. Lebda, by comparison, played 94 minutes on the power play and while he was on the ice the Wings scored 4 goals but allowed 2 short-handed goals. Lebda tallied 1 goal and no assists. So putting Kronner and Sopel on the 2nd power play unit should make the unit much more effective.

Pete is absolutely correct that the slapshot is more likely to get blocked during the playoffs. The Red Wings adapted by firing the puck off the endboards to generate scoring chances down low. Right now Lidstrom and maybe Mikael Samuelsson are the only point men with a decent slap shot. Sopel would add a third guy and could replace Samuelsson as the point man opposite Kronner on the second power play unit.

brent sopel Brett Lebda Derek Meech Niklas Kronwall Red Wings

September 11th, 2007
Categories: Red Wings . Author: Dave . Comments: 4 Comments

Babock is bullish on the prospects of Kronner having a breakout season

Helene St. James from the Free Press had a chance to talk with Mike Babcock and here’s what he told her about the pairings he has penciled in prior to training camp.

• An entire line (Kyle Calder, Robert Lang, Todd Bertuzzi) is gone. If the roster stands as it is, does this increase the likelihood you’ll split up Zetterberg and Datsyuk?

“The way I see it now, I see Datsyuk and (Tomas Holmstrom) and a left wing, and Z and (Mikael Samuelsson) and a left wing. I have (Dan) Cleary with Filppula and Draper. I see Kopecky between (Kirk) Maltby and Drake. For the left wings, I have (Johan) Franzen and Hudler there — but who is playing where, I don’t know. And Grigorenko — I don’t have him in there, because I don’t know him. But I hear he is a huge talent.”

So here is how the lines look:

LW - Datsyuk - Homer
LW - Zetterberg - Samuelsson
Cleary - Filppula - Draper
Maltby - Kopecky - Drake

Franzen, Hudler and Grigorenko will compete for those two left wing slots. I’d read somewhere that Kopecky would center the fourth line and that seemed a little strange as Red Wings Central lists him as a winger, as does TSN, while the Red Wings site lists him as a right wing. At any rate, that will be a nice fourth line assuming Drake doesn’t take a bunch of ill-advised penalties as he’s done throughout the bulk of his career.

As far as those top two left wing slots go, I’d guess Franzen starts off with Datsyuk and Homer as putting Hudler and Homer on a line together might make a good offensive line but wouldn’t be the greatest collection of two-way talent. Having Hudler play on Hank’s wing would make a lot of sense and would work out defensively as both Z and Samuelsson are solid 2-way players.

I was way off on some of my projections as I figured there’d be a good chance Babcock would keep Zetterberg and Datsyuk on the top line. That could change of course if the team struggles to score goals, which was the case at the start of last season. Babcock acknowledges this while discussing general planning:

Of course, as Babcock likes to point out, grand schemes often stumble against reality.

At least he can juggle lines with the knowledge that if he needs to jumpstart the team’s scoring he can reunite Datsyuk and Zetterberg. On defense he expects Lidstrom, Rafalski and Kronwall to eat up the bulk of the minutes, with Lilja rouding out the top four. Babcock said he plans on pairing Lidstrom and Rafalski. One thing that was unclear was his comment when St. James asked him about replacing Mathieu Schneider on the power play.

• How do you compensate for the loss of Mathieu Schneider on the power play?

“Rafalski and Kronwall. Now we’ll have a right-hand and left-hand shot in Rafalski and Lidstrom, (respectively), and Kronwall all over the ice. Kronwall really is a dynamic player.”

Does this mean Babcock plans on using three defensemen on the power play? It’s doubtful but it kind of reads that way when he explains who will take Schneider’s spot on the top power play unit. My guess is it’s more likely Kronwall will get some time on the top unit while also playing on the second unit like he did last season.

Another interesting comment is that each of the vets on the team is taking one of the second-year players under their proverbial wings. Datsyuk and Zetterberg are showing Val Filppula the ropes, Dallas Drake is mentoring Tomas Kopecky and Kris Draper is working with Jiri Hudler. I think you can read into some of the pairings (Filppula and Kopecky) in terms of the roles they will play on the team in the future but I wouldn’t read too much into the future role on the team for Hudler based on having Draper as his mentor. The two players couldn’t have more different styles of play unless one of them was a goaltender. Draper’s ability to evade the scoresheet doesn’t count in this regard.

The best news in my opinion is twofold: Babcock expects huge things from Kronwall this season, which would be a pleasant surprise; and the coach feels that a number of younger blueline prospects are knocking on the door and there will be good competition to fill out the 6th and 7th spots. The darkhorse has to be Brad Ference, who looked to be headed directly to Grand Rapids. But he plays the kind of game Babcock likes and would add a third physical d-man [Kronner and Lilja are the other two] to the ranks so he seems to have a decent shot at making the roster.

At a bare minimum as a 6th guy Ference could fill a role as a PK specialist who could clear the front of the crease. That’s an important role and Andreas Lilja might be the only other guy with enough size and physical capability to fill that role. Kronner’s more of an open-ice hitter and doesn’t have ideal size for clearing the crease.

brad ference Mike Babcock Niklas Kronwall Red Wings

August 19th, 2007
Categories: Red Wings . Author: Dave . Comments: 2 Comments

Kronner seemed less than thrilled when the
puckbunnies offered to massage his sacrum
Flickr photo: codechick

The recently redesigned Red Wings website includes some nice new stories, including this one about Niklas Kronwall getting back on the ice. His rehab stint from a broken sacrum appears to be progressing fairly well:

Summer vacation ended early for defenseman Niklas Kronwall, who was back at Joe Louis Arena on Tuesday to begin a 10-14 day rehabilitation assignment for a fractured sacrum suffered on March 30.

“It feels pretty good,” said Kronwall, who skated in the Red Wings top prospects camp. “There’s still some swelling and some things that I’m not able to do in the gym yet. But I’m sure after these next two weeks I’ll be…healthy.”

The prognosis was that he would likely miss the entire playoffs but might have had a shot at making a comeback if Detroit would have advanced to the Stanley Cup Finals. But that ended up being a bit overly optimistic.

Originally, it was speculated that Kronwall would miss 6-8 weeks. Though he did make the trip to Anaheim for Games 3 and 4, he was relegated to working out off-ice daily, and never did receive a clean bill of health to return to action.

So what started out as a 6-8 week injury has evolved into three-plus months.

The good news is it sounds like he should be fully healthy in time for Training Camp.

Congratulations to Christy over at Behind the Jersey who is going to intern for the Detroit Red Wings! She recently interned for the Plymouth Whalers and will do a great job working in the PR department.

Niklas Kronwall Red Wings

July 10th, 2007
Categories: Red Wings . Author: Dave . Comments: 2 Comments

Helene St. James from the Freep has an article on Niklas Kronwall’s injury history. She also remarks on the defenseman can do right now as far as trying to stay in game shape in the hope he can play again sometime during the playoffs:

While [his Red Wings teammates] lifted weights and rode bikes, Kronwall sat on the floor, squeezing and relaxing thigh muscles — about the only leg exercise he can undertake for the next three weeks.
…
So, as he has done many times, Kronwall must endure a long recovery. Right now, his aerobic conditioning is limited to an arm-bike. He’ll have to use crutches for three weeks and wait for the numbness that is affecting his right leg to subside.

Bill (formerly Ansar?) Khan also has an article on Kronwall, as does Ted Kulfan of the Detroit News.

Kronner’s done well when he’s stayed healthy

You have to appreciate his intiative to do whatever he can to get ready to play if he gets the chance to do so this playoff season. Sure, he’s a professional athlete and it’s what he must do. But with the incredibly bad luck he’s had with injuries you have to appreciate his attitidue in spite of the many setbacks he’s faced.

Niklas Kronwall Red Wings

April 4th, 2007
Categories: Red Wings . Author: Dave . Comments: No Comments