Big Red Machine

McCosky has an article today about the sudden salary cap crunch that the Wings find themselves in, or at least will, shortly.

He makes an interesting statement off the bat regarding The Perfect Human:

Holland could be looking at rebuilding half the team this summer, and all that’s at stake there is whether captain Nicklas Lidstrom comes back for another season. Because understand this, if Holland doesn’t put together a team for next season that Lidstrom feels can compete for the Stanley Cup, he’s packing up the family and moving back to Sweden.

Nobody can rightly expect Lidstrom, at age 40, to stick around for a rebuilding year and Holland understands that. But Lidstrom would likely stay if he thought there was another run at the Cup to be had.

What Nick chooses to do for next year of course has a huge impact on what Kenny does next year.  Nick makes $7.45 million–if he retires, that’s a ton of cap space freed up.  And there’s also the possibility that he could come back for another year or two at a much lower salary, something that wouldn’t surprise me.  Nick’s a millionaire several times over at this point, and I think he’ll take an Yzerman-style pay cut, when The Captain returned for 1.25 million in order to keep the team competitive.

And that’s what bothers me about McCosky’s second statement that Nick virtually is certain to return to Sweden if the team isn’t competitive next year.  McCosky sounds convinced that Lidstrom wouldn’t tolerate a rebuilding year.  But that’s the beauty of a Ken Holland constructed team–there really never is any rebuilding.  They just quietly infuse and reenforce the lineup with younger players, who are mostly all “overripe” in the first place.  Rebuilding insinuates tearing down the entire structure of the team and stocking it with high draft picks.  The Wings shouldn’t have to do that for a long, long time when you look at the players they still have under contract, along with some of the younger kids who are working their way up.

But what really gets me is… really?  McCosky honestly thinks that Lidstrom would bail on the Wings simply if they don’t have a clear shot at the Cup?  He wouldn’t stick around to mentor young defensemen?  He’d just up and leave because he’s not happy with the roster?  It’s ridiculous.  He’s already made it quite clear that when he retires, it’s going to be because he doesn’t feel he can play up to the high level that he expects from himself.  Nothing about the quality of the team.

Like I said, I think he’ll come back next season, albeit for much less than he’s making now.  He understands the cap crunch.  And in terms of play, well, we’re seeing right now that he can crank up the offense when needed, and we’ve all known he’s still invaluable defensively.

What does everyone think?  Will Nick be back next season or will he hang up the skates?

Sometimes I don’t get this team.  Sloppy game all around and yet we still walk away with the win.  Whatever, I’ll take it.

- For a textbook example of lackadaisical defense, see the first period.  Horrible.   The D got walked around a good 3, 4 times.  They had 18 giveaways, and most of them were egregious.  Absolutely giftwrapped.  The Wings should be thanking the Hockey Gods that the Preds had hands of cement.

+ Jimmy stopped 48 shots, and as many have already said, it was shades of the Kings game in which he faced 51 shots.  He was helped out by a lot posts and again, the Preds’ being unable to take advantage of the several defensive breakdowns that the Wings had.  But he still came up big when called upon, and looked a bit less tired than he had been.

+ Nice goal by J-Wills in his first game back, with his stick down on the ice to pick up the Miller tip right in front.  Sadly, I couldn’t remember what number Jason Williams wears. It took me a good 30 seconds to realize who #29 was.

+ Stuart with ANOTHER save right at the goal line.  That’s at least the 4th time he’s done that this season.

+ Nick is seriously cranking up the offense.  And Pavel is still on a hot streak.  If they can keep it up, watch out.

+ Power play success!  Williams and Lidstrom scored on the PP, and Miller was just mere seconds after the penalty expired.  The Predators took 4 penalties in a row and I had been hoping that the Wings would take advantage of them.

- Of course, then the Wings took 4 penalties in a row, and I swear when Rafalski took that late penalty I wanted to throw myself out the window.  The first thing I thought was GEE, THIS SURE IS FAMILIAR.

- The dreaded 2 goal lead, and when they blew it at about the 6 minute mark in the 3rd, I about died.  Mick had made jokes about 2 goal leads earlier, and I wanted to strangle him.

- I hate that Nashville has a guy on their team with the name Franson.  It confuses me, and then I’m immediately sad.

- Drives me crazy the way the Nashville players came charging over after Kronwall hit Smithson. Kronner knew it was a bad hit, and he stood back, but his teammates come sailing in with no regard to Smithson on the ice.  Similar to when Kronner destroyed Havlat.  Dude, have some respect for your teammate; you have no idea how injured he is.  A guy could be concussed, or worse, and jostling him around on the ice isn’t going to help any.

+ Filppula got stung with Shea Weber’s rocket of a shot and limped off to the bench. Thank God he was back the next shift.  I don’t think I could have dealt with another injury.

Tomorrow (12:30, ugh) the Wings take on the Penguins.  I hate the Penguins and I want to destroy them.  And we still need points, so let’s go, boys.

It’s been a long day, rife with computer problems at work.

As I’m certain everyone’s already heard, Abdelkader’s been sent down to Grand Rapids because he doesn’t have to clear waivers, and the Wings need the roster spot for J-Wills, who is making his return tonight.  Also sounds like Brad Stuart will be in the lineup, so good on that.

I think it goes without saying that we need 2 points here.

And with that, I’m taking the cheap way out and turning it over to a superior blog for the rest of the preview (cut me some slack, it’s been a crappy day):

Michael at The Production Line has created a masterpiece, mashing up the Red Wings and “Major League” together.  It all started with a comment about Kenny Lofton getting inducted into the Indians Hall of Fame, and snowballed from there into inspiration for Michael’s IR and healthy scratch nicknames.  Which, by the way, are always good when it comes to mixing pop culture references with hockey.

Secondly, make sure to check out the brand spankin’ new Herm 2 Hockeytown website at www.herm2hockeytown.com and donate!  Eric Duhatschek of the Globe & Mail also wrote about it:

AND FINALLY: Here’s a fun little story relating to the worldwide popularity of the Red Wings. For the past few months, Detroit’s on-line hockey community has been raising funds to bring a Brazil-based Red Wings blogger – Guilherme “Herm” Calciolari – to Detroit to see the Red Wings play. More than 100 fans sent in donations, enough to cover the cost of Calciolari’s trip to Detroit to see a game against the Minnesota Wild towards the end of March. With Calciolari’s expenses covered, the “Herm to Hockeytown” initiative has evolved into a charity event to raise money for Children’s Hospital of Michigan’s Child Life Program Fund. Donations will be accepted at http://www.herm2hockeytown.com up through Mar. 26.

Also, if you’re on Twitter, make sure to add the official H2H Twibbon to your avatar!

The trash can is getting a little too full with these games that you just “crumple up and throw away,” as Murph likes to say.

Babcock apparently held a mandatory meeting at practice before the game.  Bunch of good that apparently did.

What a bizarre first period.  Miettinen scores, then Pavel scores, then Miettinen scores, and then Pavel scores again.  And then Ebbett scored.

Speaking of, you can’t blame Osgood for the loss.  The whole team “shit their pants, as far as situational hockey,” to steal a great quote from John Tortorella.  First and third goals he had no chance on; the second was a well-placed rocket, and while I didn’t think he should have had it, maybe he could have.  Fourth and fifth I am pinning on him, though, due to poor lateral movement.  But you can’t look at that and say he lost the game for him.  And I am so glad that Oz didn’t open his mouth and say something stupid.  Khan has the quotes:

“For me, still, I wish I could stand on my head and steal a game,” Osgood said. “Yeah, we didn’t play great, but if I can get in there and steal a game, maybe that will start something. Just got to keep my (nose) to the grindstone and keep working hard.”

“I don’t think we helped Ozzie out at all on some of the goals they scored,” Lidstrom said.

“I can play a lot better than I have the last two games,” Osgood said. “I have to keep moving forward, working hard. Don’t give up. That’s a motto for our team.”

The first line +Nick were the best players all game.  They combined for 2 goals and 4 assists.  Pavel looked like he wanted to win the game all by himself, but unfortunately hockey isn’t basketball, so that’s impossible.

Few things piss me off more than when I’m watching the game online and the feed dies.  My internet crapped out in the middle of the 2nd period for about 12-14 minutes, so I have no idea what happened.  Makes me absolutely furious, but in the end I guess it’s probably better that I didn’t see it?

Too many penalties.  And an atrociously soft interference call on Bertuzzi.  Definitely saw the Wild do the same thing, no call.  Yet another case of ridiculous officiating by the refs (I’ve already got my tin foil hat on, thanks).

Anyway, moral of the story is, that totally sucked.  I don’t want to think about it anymore.

I guess?  At least for me… Hey, trying to look on the bright side here…

That’s 3 goals (1PP), 8 assists, 12 SOG from that game alone.

I’d totally trade it all and go goose eggs across the board the rest of the season for a Red Wings win.

What a shit show.  They had a 2 goal lead with 1:30 remaining and they blew it.  Tippett pulled Bryzgalov with almost 2 minutes left in the game, and I knew that Phoenix would at least get a 3rd goal.  But Jesus, you know what kind of season it’s been when you expect your team to give up a late goal.

I missed most of the first period while half-paying attention and talking to my mother on the phone. I had intended to go back and re-watch more intently during intermission, but my DVR recording got cancelled. Which was just a sign of things to come, I suppose.

+ I did get to see the Pavel goal, although not the entire play around it.  That was apparently his first goal in 7 games.  He looked dangerous all game long, and was one of the best fowards on the ice.  According to the boxscore he had 1 takeaway, but I saw almost a takeaway per shift in the second half of the second alone.  Babcock said in the post-game scrum that he had the puck on a string quite a bit, and I’d have to agree.  He ended the night with a goal and an assist.

- I don’t know if it was Versus, my cable box, or fuck knows what, but I had zero sound for the 2nd and third periods.  None whatsoever. I would normally rejoice being saved the pain of listening to the horrible announcers on VS, but I can’t deal with dead silence.  I ended up streaming the radio off 97.1, and just suffered through that being about 1:15 behind.

+ Thank God for Patrick Eaves.  He scored 11 seconds after the Coyotes did (yet another goal seen from a mile away).  That’s what it means to have a good shift after a goal against, and the third line of Draper-Helm-Eaves is totally responsible for that happening.  They were great.

+ Wings looked much more awake after Eaves’ goal.  Good sustained pressure by the Wings in the end of the second.

+ Two goals by Nick.  I loved the second one he got, just popped it in a wide open net on the power play from Doan knocking him over during the little scrum that ensued around Howard.  Now that the blue line is getting healthy and stronger, he can focus on offense a little more and not have to cover all the defensive holes.

+ Datsyuk and Zetterberg got a little scrappy, which I loved.  I’m really a fan of the Datsyuk-Zetterberg-Cleary line.  Cleary is more willing to set up in front of the net ala Holmstrom than Bertuzzi is.  He’s also quicker, and is able to keep up with the Eurotwins better.

+ The Wings looked confident; way more than we’d been seeing recently. They looked like they weren’t going to allow the Coyotes push them around.

- And then the wheels fell off.  Complete and utter collapse.  A minute and a half remaining in the game with a 2 goal lead and they blew it.  I don’t even care if it was goaltending, lack of coverage by the D, inability to get the puck out of the zone, whatever.  I’m blaming the whole damn team for not being able to hold on for a minute and a half.  To state the obvious, Nick missing that empty netter was huge.

- Brad Stuart with a -3 tonight.  No one else was worse than -1, and Rafalski was actually +3.  I am really hoping that once Kronwall settles back in, that Stuart can start playing a little more physical.  He had to put that aspect of his game on the backburner with Kronwall out, but now he can start being grittier in front of the net.

– SOG were almost dead even each period with 8 in the 1st, 12 in the 2nd, and 14 and 15 for Phoenix and Detroit, respectively.  OT was telling though, as Phoenix got 3 shots and Detroit just 1.  And Phoenix scored and Detroit didn’t.

= Kronwall had 0 points, went -1, 1 blocked shot, a hit, and giveaway, and took 30 shifts for 21:57.  It was such a relief to see him out there, and not have to worry about a boneheaded play from the likes of Lebda or Meech.  He’ll get his sea legs, so to speak, back quickly I think.

- I was not impressed with Howard.  Not saying that every single goal was his fault, but he looked tired.  According to Left Wing Lock, Osgood is your starter for tonight anyway.

So, the player I’m looking at to have a good game is Osgood.  I said on TOV this week that he needs to STFU.  I just want to see him play, to the best of his ability and not whine about the situation he’s put into, or the end result.  He’s not sitting on the bench for a month straight between starts, so no blaming “rust” this time.

I would also like to not see the Wings blow a 2 goal lead.  Or any lead, for that matter.  Minnesota is creeping up the standing, and the Wings can ill afford to have them making a run.

It’s (yet again) another must-win.

The big news here is Niklas Kronwall’s glorious return to the blue line.  With that, Meech is the odd man out, and will return to his familiar spot in the press box.  I am stoked for this.  It means we finally have 2 solid defensive pairings, and now Brad Stuart isn’t going to have to scramble around trying to cover for his partner.  Kronwall should also help out the power play, as he had been really heating up before he got hurt.

The goalies will be Howard vs. Bryzgaloz.  As the first game in a back to back, with Wednesday’s game against Minnesota, will Osgood get an opportunity?  And if he does, will he keep his mouth shut?  I’m getting ahead of myself…

Wings are sitting back in the playoffs at 8, but only because they’ve played one fewer game than Calgary.  If they lose, they’re back to 9 because Calgary (somehow) has more wins.  Win, they’re still in 8th, but have further solidified their position.

I want to see a team that plays all 60 minutes.  They know they need the points, but I want them to show me by dismantling the Coyotes.  The Yotes aren’t a high scoring team–they’ve got 139.  Sadly, the Wings are behind them in this regard also, with 131 on the season.

Who I’m looking at to have a good game: Nik is the obvious choice here.  I miss seeing him just blast someone on open ice.  And I think beyond that, just his return to the lineup will be a confidence booster for a team that seems to need it.

Also, in case you are interested, NHL.com is offering a free preview of GameCenter Live tonight.  There are 7 games on tap, though Phoenix/Wings is on Versus.  I can vouch for the service that when it works, it’s awesome.  When it sucks, it really sucks.  It actually makes me glad that the Wings game is on TV because I won’t have to worry about bandwidth overload.

The 7th episode of The Obstructed View is out fresh this morning!  This week I got to chat along with George James Malik of Snapshots, Tyler from the Triple Deke, and of course Chris Hollis from Motown Wings.  Producer Brian Kiernicki even joins in on the conversation this week, gracing us with his dulcet tones.  There’s some Bertuzzi talk, Osgood/Howard debate, and more.  As always, much fun, and I’m still thrilled to be asked back.

Download it here or subscribe on iTunes.

Phoenix game preview will be coming later this afternoon.

CaptNorris5 over at The Winged Wheel has a great “manifesto” in defense of Osgood.  I agree with every point he made, and have tried to make them in past on the blog, but clearly CaptNorris5 is a better blogger than I am and was able to convey it much better.

We also debated Oz/Howard a little on this week’s episode of TOV (keep an eye out for that tomorrow morning), but I know I didn’t make my argument very well, so eh.

Anyway, I have nothing to add to what’s already been said, so go check out The Winged Wheel for a great case for Chris Osgood.

According to Khan Kronwall will be back in the lineup tomorrow.

And, it seems that Mickey wasn’t as drunk as we thought during the Kings game, as Lilja has gone 13 days without a headache from his concussion (he needs to go 14 in order to be cleared by doctors).  Obviously this doesn’t mean he’ll be back right away, but it’s still huge news regarding his career and the state of the Red Wings’ defensive lineup.  I am thrilled to hear that he’s finally getting better.

Defenseman Andreas Lilja said he has been headache-free for 13 days and that he was told by doctors needs to be symptom-free for 14 days before being cleared. Unless he has a setback in the next day or two, he will meet with team officials this week and could return from a concussion that has kept him out since Feb. 28 of last season.

“My plan from the start was to go 14 days without headaches and I’m hitting 13 today, so we’ll see what happens,” Lilja said. “I’ll stick to that plan and negotiate after that.’’

By negotiate, he meant discuss with doctors and management when he should be activated.

“I don’t know what’s going to happen. I have to stick to the 14-day plan first,” Lilja said. “It feels pretty good.’’

He said he doesn’t know when he’ll play.

“It’ll be up to the coach,” Lilja said. “I feel pretty ready, so we’ll see.’’

Not to take anything away from Kronwall’s imminent return because that’s also really important, but Lilja being able to resume his career is huge, to me.  I know a lot of people don’t care for him and can’t let go of that turnover in the 2007 playoffs, but he was turning to a great stay at home defenseman and PK specialist before he got hurt.  Besides, look at me with a straight face and tell me that you’d rather see Meech and Lebda out there over Lilja.  Try me.

Finally, good news.