Nick Norris Back for More...

Well, it's been over a month since I actually bothered writing something here. A lot has happened in the meantime. For example, I recently discovered that the playoffs continued even though the Wings were no longer playing. The League even awarded the Stanley Cup to Boston recently (I hope that didn't spoil the surprise for anybody). At any rate, I've been seriously lacking in motivation to write anything. We reached the point about six weeks ago where stepping outside feels like you're walking through a wall of warm Jell-o, which, I'm not ashamed to admit, saps me of my will do do anything but sit as still as possible in front of the air conditioning vent.

Maybe it was my glorious return home for a few short days—breathing refreshing Michigan air, having my first serious hockey conversation in six months, seeing Wings logos on hats, shirts, and bumper stickers everywhere I went—but I immediately felt back in the groove. That doesn't necessarily mean that I'll be posting regularly throughout the summer, but I do at least have the desire to write something for a change.

Of course, it also helps that I have exciting news to write about. By now, you've all heard that Nick Lidstrom will be returning for another season. It's pretty obvious that he was just waiting for me to come back to Detroit to make the announcement so that I could celebrate it appropriately. You see, in Florida, my roommates and friends think of my love of hockey as kind of a quaint little personality quirk. Nobody there would've understood why I was dancing around my room in my pajamas and grinning madly after being rudely awoken by a text message (side note—you should probably be breaking news as exciting as Lidstrom's contract if you plan on texting or calling me before the clock hits double digits in the morning). They wouldn't have understood my excitement over seeing the cap numbers released or the pre-season schedule announced. Nor would they have understood why rumors about a potential free agent signing could get me all riled up. Life in a hockey wasteland is tough, but it makes me realize and appreciate how spoiled I was growing up in Michigan.

I wasn't just spoiled by being surrounded by hockey growing up. I was surrounded by some unbelievably good hockey. And a lot of that unbelievably good hockey was played buy a guy wearing a #5 jersey. There's not a whole lot to say about his re-signing. This is one we can all agree on, right? There's not really any room for a pro/con debate; there's nothing to argue about. TPH is back with yet another Norris Trophy in tow, and the team remains a contender. End of story.

Now that Lidstrom's all taken care of, we get to relax a bit and sit back as Kenny Holland spends those valuable cap dollars in his usual savvy way. There are still holes in the lineup and questions to be answered, but everything's going to be just fine. We're going to be treated to another season of brilliance from Lidstrom, another chance to send him off the right way, another opportunity to witness perfection on ice. And that, sunshines, is as much as any hockey fan can ask for.

Ritola Claimed Off Waivers...

Mattias Ritola is headed to Tampa Bay after he was claimed off of waivers. This vindicates my decision to skip him in my player profile series. Granted, that decision was made more out of laziness than any actual savvy, but it makes me feel good. I know there are some out there who are really disappointed to see him go, but I guess I don't really care that much.

I think the thing people are hung up on is letting go of Ritola's potential. But that's all it is right now: potential. He's got a lot of it, to be sure, but he failed to develop at the rate the Wings hoped and he was out of options. This pre-season was his chance to earn a spot on the roster, but he wasn't particularly impressive. Ken Holland chose to hang onto Patrick Eaves instead, and I think it's the right decision. It's always hard to give up players who show that potential to develop and you definitely don't want to mortgage the future for the moment (ahem, Toronto), but I think Eaves can be part of the Wings' future. He won over a lot of Wings fans last season with his play and his hustle and you can't deny the chemistry he had with Darren Helm. In a perfect world, I would've loved to have seen Ritola pass through waivers and spend time in Grand Rapids, but that's not the way things work.

2010-2011 Player Profiles: Ruslan Salei...

Hey, kids, guess what? Hockey's almost here. That means it's time for me to get back into this whole blogging thing that I've neglected during the off-season. Since I lack the creativity to come up with a new gimmick, I decided to continue the Player Profiles series I did last year leading up to the season. I'll be taking a look at a different player (almost) every day between now and when hockey starts. By my count, there are 5 days until the Wings open the regular season. Get excited. Today's subject:

Ruslan Salei

2009-2010 Regular Season: 14 GP, 1-5-6, +/- -1, 10 PIM

2010 Playoffs: 1 GP, 0-0-0, +/- 0, 0 PIM

Season Highlight: ?

Season Lowlight: Sitting out most of the season. Also, playing for Colorado.

When I read about Salei's signing, I was kind of meh about it. I didn't really care one way or another. Now, after seeing him at training camp and in the pre-season, I think we're looking at yet another steal by Kenny Holland. He looks solid out there. He's making good decisions with the puck and provides a steady veteran presence on the third pairing that can hopefully counter Jonathan Ericsson's mistakes.

I think he's exactly the kind of guy the Wings need on the third pairing. If he can stay healthy, he's going to turn out to be a good, solid acquisition. He's not flashy and he's not going to dazzle anyone, but that's not his role. He's going to eat up minutes and be a defensive presence that will hopefully rub off on Ericsson or, down the road, Jakub Kindl.

What he needs to do to make me smile: Be smart with the puck.

2010-2011 Player Profiles: Drew Miller...

Hey, kids, guess what? Hockey's almost here. That means it's time for me to get back into this whole blogging thing that I've neglected during the off-season. Since I lack the creativity to come up with a new gimmick, I decided to continue the Player Profiles series I did last year leading up to the season. I'll be taking a look at a different player (almost) every day between now and when hockey starts. By my count, there are 10 days until the Wings open the regular season. Get excited. Today's subject:

Drew Miller

2009-2010 Regular Season: 80 GP, 10-9-19, +/- 2, 12 PIM

2010 Playoffs: 12 GP, 1-1-2, +/- 2, 4 PIM

Season Highlight: His flying goal against Nashville.

Season Lowlight: Getting waived by the Lightning.

Drew Miller wasn't really even on my radar at the beginning of the season last year. He was tucked away in one of the league's hockey wastelands, and didn't seem particularly important. He ended up getting waived by the Lightning, which I would consider vaguely insulting coming from the Lightning (of course, this was in the pre-Steve Yzerman GM days). Ken Holland snagged Miller off of the waiver wire (which seems like a rarity for the Wings in the recent past), and it turned out to be another good find on his part.

I was glad to hear that the Wings re-signed him over the off-season. He's fighting for a spot on the fourth line this season and it's not clear what kind of ice time he's going to be seeing. He endeared himself to me last season with his hard work, but he might have a hard time cracking the lineup unless there are injuries. Also, did you know that Ryan Miller is his brother?  Wowzers.

What he needs to do to make me smile: Keep rocking that salt'n'pepper hair.

Homer Signs for Two More Years...

It's a good thing I saved some lingonberry juice to toast Homer's return for two more years. He comes in with a cap hit of $1.85 million, which is just about perfect. He was my number two priority after Nick Lidstrom, so I'd say this off-season is going about as well as possible. More of my thoughts are over at Chicks.

Now I guess Kenny Holland is going to turn his sights to Todd Bertuzzi. Ugh.

Red Wings 2, Kings 3: Post Game Snipes...

• Another chance for the Wings to climb the standings, another lackluster effort from the boys. Yawn.
• There was apparently a man up in the rafters at some point during the game, so they cleared an entire section of the lower bowl. I’m still confused about this. It was never mentioned on FSD’s broadcast, but I remember seeing a shot of the Wings’ bench during the second period when they were all staring at something up above. I assumed it was something on the big screen, but I guess they were looking at the guy.
• Filppula’s goal was beautiful, but so was the hard work Dan Cleary put in beforehand.
• Bertuzzi’s goal came on a fun deflection off of his knee. I was amused by it.
• After the first period, things were looking good. The last minute of play was dominated by the Kings, but the Wings had a two goal lead and looked like they could stay in control.
• The Wings actually scored on the powerplay. It was a 5-on-3, so there was no excuse not to. The second penalty that the Kings took was brutal.
• And then the rest of the game happened. Just out of curiosity, when was the last time you saw this team play a full 60 minute game? It’s been a while.
• One positive trend that I’m noticing is that the Wings’ defensemen are getting more shots through to the net from the blueline. Earlier in the season, they were passing more or getting them blocked. This will be even more important when Holmstrom returns.
• Stuart made another awesome goal line save that seemed huge at the time. It went to review, but even though the replays clearly showed that it didn’t go in, I held my breath. You never can tell how they’re going to rule anymore. Someone on FSD (I can’t remember who) said, “That was a goal last week against Dallas.” And he was right.
• Meech had a breakaway. There’s nothing else to say about that. I’m sure you can guess how it ended if you don’t already know.
• The Kings’ first goal was ugly. Ericsson made a bad turnover, and then Howard tried to grab the rebound but missed. The rebound itself wasn’t bad, but he should’ve been able to cover it up. He just whiffed on it.
• At one point during the broadcast, Mickey Redmond took it upon himself to announce that Lilja could be back as soon as next week. Everyone was astonished because nothing had been said about his progress recently. Ken Holland (and common sense) refuted that. Part of me wonders if Mick got a little telestrator happy and circled the wrong guy on the graphic FSD had up at the time.
• Mick also jokingly suggested that players use blood capsules a la WWE to draw the extra minor on highsticking calls.
• I really wanted to go down to this game, but I’m glad I didn’t make the trek. I would just be more angry.
  

GP Answers:
1. Can the Wings pull it off today? This game needs to be won, and it needs to be won in regulation. None of that OT/SO nonsense this time around. I don’t care about any of the trivial stuff I usually ask about in these GPs, as long as the Wings come away with two points, and LA gets none.
No. They had a chance to pass LA in the standings and continue working their way into a solid playoff spot, but they couldn’t be bothered to play more than one period of hockey. Again. Wasn’t this team supposed to be angry this season? Weren’t they supposed to have something to prove? I know they’re still missing important guys, but missing talented guys is not an excuse for lack of effort.

Cookies and Cupcakes for Valtteri Filppula
He showed some great hands and patience on his goal to open the scoring. It was a pretty good-looking goal.

An Extra Stick Tap for Brad Stuart
That puck he scooped out of the net was millimeters away from crossing the goal line. It turned out that it didn’t matter much, but it was huge at the time.

Jonathan Ericsson gets the Golden Facepalm
He made the turnover that led to the Kings’ first goal. It was a costly mistake, and he can’t be making turnovers like that in the defensive zone.

What I Learned:
The Wings haven’t really turned a corner after all.

Wings 4, Blues 3 (SO): Post Game Snipes...

• When the Wings finally scored during the second period, I actually yelled “Hallelujah” in my family room. I never thought I’d be that excited about a goal in the regular season.
• The third and fourth lines looked fantastic early in the game. During the first period, they were better than the top two lines by far. I figured it was going to be a long night upon seeing that.
• When the Wings finally scored, it had been 175 minutes since their last goal. That’s almost three whole games. Three.
• Tonight was also the first time in a week that the Wings had scored more than one goal. Getting into the plural was a nice change.
• The first period wasn’t particularly good. Jimmy Howard had to work much too hard. The team woke up for the second half of the game and I actually felt like they were controlling play at times. It was a welcome change.
• It was nice to see the Wings pick up a win in the shootout. Really nice.
• That first goal was a thing of beauty. Datsyuk absolutely threaded a pass to Z who got it to Homer for a perfect tip-in. The boys looked downright relieved to see the puck in the net.
  
• The last-minute goal was fluky to the max, but sometimes you just need those kind of bounces to go your way. FSN awarded the goal to Pav at first, but it was announced at the arena as being Zetterberg's. At that point, I could not have cared less who they credited. All that mattered was that the puck was in the back of the net.
• Is it sad that every time the Wings scored, I was looking at the referee to make sure he wasn't waving the goal off?
• Justin Abdelkader played ridiculously well. He didn't have much to show for it on the stat sheet, but this has to have been his best game of the season.
  

GP Answers:
1. They managed 3 goals tonight, including an “ugly” one to tie the game up with less than a minute left in the third. It was good to see the Wings’ stars score and to see them grind out some goals. Now they just need to maintain it.
2. See above. Mason played well, but the Wings managed to do what they needed to win.
3. This one was a bit sarcastic, but I can’t complain about the officiating tonight. Sure I would’ve liked to have seen the Wings get a few more powerplays, but they were consistent and that’s more than we get on most nights.
4. The first period was a little rough, but I’d say they had a pretty good showing overall. @Mserven said it best on Twitter: “nice to see the Wings playing like they want to win rather than like they should win.”
5. Three goals in fact. Plus a couple in the shootout.

Cookies and Cupcakes for Jimmy Howard
He had entirely too much work to do throughout the game, and made some spectacular saves. I can’t fault him on any of the goals he let in. The second one in particular was an absolutely ridiculous shot. My mom pointed out earlier that I was a little harsh about him at the start of the season, and I’m happy to say that he’s been a pleasant surprise. (She would also like me to state that she liked him the first time she saw him play when we made a family trip to the Joe four years ago.)

An Extra Stick Tap for Todd Bertuzzi
When I saw that he was going in the shootout, I yelled, “Oh Jesus, Bertuzzi?!” While he was taking his long, winding approach, I promised him that I would lay off and give him a free pass for a week if he buried it. He did, and I’ll keep my word. There’ll be nothing negative about Bert on this humble blog until next Saturday. With any luck this’ll give him some confidence and he’ll start producing.

Darren Helm gets the Golden Facepalm
I hate to do this because he actually didn’t play badly, but oh man did he ever miss some glorious opportunities. He’ll probably be having nightmares about those two chances he didn’t bury with a few minutes left in the third. The Wings came back to tie it up, so all is well, but I was pounding my head on my keyboard there for a minute.

What I learned:
That seeing the Wings score a goal feels ridiculously good.

Off-Season Brilliance?...

So I got to thinking the other day about Ken Holland’s off-season work. And I came to a conclusion that I wouldn’t have expected a few months ago: Thank goodness the Wings didn’t re-sign Marian Hossa.

Now, I liked Hossa when he was here. I certainly wasn’t happy with his performance in the payoffs, but I liked him and I liked what he brought to the team. I kind of figured he’d be gone this summer and my only real problem with his departure was that he ended up in Chicago. I was kind of ambivalent about the possibility of re-signing him because while I liked the thought of another year of the kind of offensive firepower he brought, I knew it would be tricky to fill out a full roster with the kind of money it would take to keep him. And you know what? In the pre-lockout world, he would’ve been a Wing for life. And I would’ve been okay with that.

I also wasn’t thrilled with some of the free agent signings this summer, although that had a lot to do with my personal dislike of Bertuzzi and Williams. I questioned why Holland signed three bargain-priced guys instead of going after a bigger name with some scoring touch to replace what had been lost. While I still can’t say that I’ve entirely warmed to all of the new arrivals (Yes, Todd Bertuzzi, I’m looking at you.), we’re lucky that Ken Holland played his hand the way he did.

So far this season, the Wings have been dropping like flies (not to mention the fact that Hossa has yet to play a game), as the injury bug that began in the playoffs last season has blossomed into a full-on epidemic. The Wings’ depth has been tested as much as any point in recent memory, and it’s been an issue of having enough healthy bodies to field a lineup every night. Before picking Drew Miller up off of waivers, the Wings were dressing every healthy NHL forward they had. That includes Justin Abdelkader, who everyone expected to spend the majority of the season developing in Grand Rapids.

If the Wings had gone ahead and signed Hossa, it would’ve prevented them from making those additional signings (whose necessity I admittedly questioned back in August). Even with his salary coming off the books while he’s been on IR, the Wings would’ve had to have made more call-ups from Grand Rapids (none of the options are particularly appealing) or it would’ve forced Holland to make a move that probably wouldn’t have been beneficial to the Wings in the long run.

Anyway, whatever ambivalence I might have had at one time about Hossa’s departure has gone, and I’m just thankful that the Wings were able to sign three bodies with their precious salary-capped dollars. Even though Williams is one of the guys down with a long-term injury and Bertuzzi still makes me want to bang my head on a wall on a regular basis, I think it’s safe to say that Ken Holland made some wise decisions over the summer. I know there’s no way he could’ve foreseen the injury situation, but it’s just another example of why we Wings fans continue to subscribe to the motto “In Kenny We Trust.”