Red Wings

[Malto Marko]

I am pissed!

My place of business is located right next door to a bar. I have known the family that owns the bar for 28 years. Recently, the son purchased the bar from Mom and Dad and I have known him since he was 14. We have talked quite a bit about all kinds of things but, most importantly he is a huge hockey buff. Played the game up until just recently, He has played on 3 Natiional Champion Senior teams and participated in the Nationals 7 times. This year he helped coach the Midget A National Championship team that hailed from Compuware Arena, the same Arena that hosts the Plymouth Whalers of the OHL.

Anyway, he comes in to buy his mom some flowers for Mothers Day and tells me he wishes he had my home phone number. I ask him why? He tells me he had 2 suite tickets a beer vendor gave him for the Game played on Sunday May 3rd and had to go by himself as no one else could go on short notice.

Damn, Sam! I immediately put my cell number on one of my business cards and told him to program it into his cell phone in case there is a next time.

[tdbark]

The Wings are the Anti-Lions... BTW, written by a Ducks writer.....

Anaheim columnist: Wings are the most successful organization in pro sports
By MARK WHICKER ? ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER ? May 12, 2009

ANAHEIM -- You win Stanley Cups in June.

Sometimes before the summer solstice, when the guys in the white gloves bring out the silver, across a carpet on slushy ice.

Sometimes afterward, deep into the debris of the second day of the NHL entry draft, when someone numbly announces that, with the 210th pick overall in 1999, the Detroit Red Wings take Henrik Zetterberg.

That's the same Zetterberg who was the Conn Smythe Award winner in '08 as the most valuable player in the postseason, an Olympic gold medalist for Sweden in 2006.
"I was too little," Zetterberg said Monday, referring to that '99 draft. "I wasn't ready to be drafted high at that point. I hadn't played much internationally. So I was fortunate that somebody saw me and took a chance."

But then when you pick that low, it really isn't much of a chance.

There was not a murmur in the room when the Red Wings got to the 53rd pick in 1989 (Nicklas Lidstrom, six Norris Trophies), or the 210th pick in '99 (Pavel Datsyuk, reigning Selke Trophy winner).

Or the 95th pick in 2002 (Valtteri Filppula, 40 points this season), or the 97th pick in 2004 (Johan Franzen, 34 regular season goals, a league-high 20 goals in the past two postseasons).

Or the 257th pick in 1994 (Tomas Holmstrom, four Stanley Cups, 189 regular-season goals).

Or the 291st pick in 2002. That was the final pick of the whole draft. By then the coffee machines are empty and most teams have already packed away their computers.

Detroit chose that moment to take Jonathan Ericsson, who has played alongside Lidstrom on the top defense pairing in this Western Conference semifinal against the Ducks. At 6-foot-5, the 25-year-old Ericsson might be the league's next significant defenseman.

"The scout came to see another player," he said, "and wound up seeing me. The guy they saw was Andreas Sundin, and the Red Wings drafted him, too. But I had just been moved from forward to defense. Besides, I was a late bloomer ? maybe 6-foot-2 at the time. I had barely reached puberty. It all worked out for the best."

The Red Wings haven't had a first-round pick as high as No. 10 since 1991 (Martin Lapointe). Since then they have had only one Top 20 pick, Jakub Kindl at No. 19 in 2005.

Instead, they count on a steady flow of Swedes and other Europeans, none well known as juniors, each of them seemingly more sturdy and ready than the last.
"This franchise always looks at what you're going to be in the future," Zetterberg said. "The scouts are able to see the things you'll be able to do when you get bigger and stronger."

Or, as General Manager Ken Holland simply said, "We like skill."

That doesn't sound revolutionary, but Holland means the Red Wings will take a chance on size and strength because, after all, kids get bigger and stronger. But you can either handle a puck or you can't.

Holland and assistant general manager Jim Nill lead the most successful organization in the four major pro sports. This is Detroit's 18th consecutive playoff appearance. The San Antonio Spurs are next with 11.

But Hakan Andersson, the Red Wings' director of European scouting, is the one who found Datsyuk in Siberia and who has mined his Swedish and Finnish contacts to assemble a nucleus that will be very nuclear for a long time.

Kronwall is signed through 2012, Filppula through '13, Datsyuk through '14, Franzen through '20 and Zetterberg through '21, by which time all the ice in the world might be indoor.

"Another thing is that we've been lucky enough that we don't have to play these kids before they're ready," Holland said, noting that Ericsson played much of this season at the Wings' Grand Rapids affiliate.

"When they're young they have no rights," Coach Mike Babcock said, speaking of contracts. "Do they like being sent down? They have no choice."

"I thought it was a good idea to go back to Grand Rapids," Ericsson said. "I didn't have a good camp and I needed some work. It's better to wait your turn to play on a team like this one."

Scouting is also networking, not just evaluation.

"When I got drafted Hakan took me to a grocery store and showed me the right things and the wrong things to eat," Kronwall said. "It's something I could use when I played professionally."

"Hakan stays in touch with the players, has dinner with them, wants to know how we're doing," Zetterberg said. "And that's something he can pass along with the younger ones coming."

Yes, more are coming, quietly for now, like championship pods on time-release.

That's how the Red Wings have turned this icy thing into their own Summer Game.

Draft late. Play later.

Sorry, had a computer crash just as I was posting. :(

[Rocky Bleier]

That was so interesting; I could read it twice!

[jaadam4]

You can say that again

[jaadam4]

I always like remembering the $1 trade that brought Drapes as well.

[jaadam4]

and how Hudler is such a liability on D that he'd never make it

[FCRhodes]

"Kronwall is signed through 2012, Filppula through '13, Datsyuk through '14, Franzen through '20 and Zetterberg through '21, by which time all the ice in the world might be indoor."

Great line.

[Panoptes]

MARK WHICKER is a good daily read out here but he's not originally from around here so I've never really pimped his award winning work to others.

[froot loops]

So he's not SC baby?

[Rocky Bleier]

AHL experience does wonders for younger Wings

By Eric Stephens - NHL.com Correspondent

ANAHEIM, Calif. ? Just how do the Detroit Red Wings do it?

That question alone could produce a number of different answers, but in this case it relates to their ability to tap into the minor leagues and bring in young players who are not only comfortable in the tense environment that is the Stanley Cup Playoffs, but also provide a key contribution to the Red Wings' success.

More examples are being played out in this postseason as the defending champions try to eliminate the Anaheim Ducks on Tuesday night when they play Game 6 of their Western Conference semifinal at the Honda Center.

-- Darren Helm, 22, scored the big insurance goal in Sunday's 4-1 Game 5 win, giving the Red Wings a 3-2 series lead. Helm, who had two goals in last season's playoffs, has more experience in the playoffs (27 games) than the regular season (23).

-- Jonathan Ericsson got a game-winning goal in his first NHL playoff game against Columbus and has assists in each of the last two games against the Ducks. Ericsson, 25, has played in just 27 regular-season games.

-- Justin Abdelkader has five games of NHL experience. One of them was Game 5 when he was tabbed to replace Tomas Kopecky, who was injured in a Game 4 fight with Anaheim's Francois Beauchemin. Abdelkader, 22, earned the primary assist on Johan Franzen's goal that opened the scoring.

All of them spent the majority of the regular season at the Red Wings' American Hockey League affiliate in Grand Rapids, Mich. It just might be why the three have fit right in with the established regulars within the Red Wings' dressing room.

"Right off the bat, there's not many guys you can draft and go right away and play for Detroit," Red Wings forward Dan Cleary said. "They're not rushing players. Sometimes you rush a young kid to the NHL because he's a first-round pick. He doesn't score a lot and his confidence falls.

"Then the next year, his game is totally different. You're down in the minors, your game is totally seasoned. You get to learn what it takes to win and be a pro. All those things develop. And then when it's time they come up, they fit right in."

Red Wings coach Mike Babcock said the three-year entry level contracts they sign their young players to allows them to leave them in the minors, where there's less pressure. Looking at Anaheim, he cited how the Ducks were able to allow current stars Ryan Getzlaf and Corey Perry and former players Dustin Penner and Chris Kunitz to develop at their own pace.

"They were very fortunate that there was a NHL lockout," Babcock said. "They became better players in the American League."

Helm has played the last two years in Grand Rapids and had 13 goals and 24 assists in 55 games. Abdelkader, who was first called up in January for a brief two-game stint, had 24 goals and 28 assists in his first season with the Griffins.

In Heim, the Red Wings have an energetic player that can be physical but also play with a lot of speed. But to make an impact with the loaded parent club, it required the St. Andrews, Manitoba native to be patient, continue working and be ready when needed.

"You've just got to deal with it," Helm said. "It's not something that I was really too worried about. Obviously I wanted to play for the Wings and I was part of the team last year. I just tried to play as well as I could in Grand Rapids and show my game.

"When I had the opportunity to come back, I wanted to be as ready as I could be."

In his second AHL season, Ericsson had a big year at Grand Rapids as he put himself on the radar with 10 goals and 24 assists in 69 games. The rangy defender, once a total afterthought as the 291st and final pick of the 2002 Entry Draft, had also began to fill out his present-day 6-foot-5, 205-pound frame.


When it came to training camp in September, Ericsson was essentially in a battle with Derek Meech and Kyle Quincey for a roster spot on defense. Quincey was later put on waivers and claimed by the Los Angeles Kings.

But after a meeting with Babcock, General Manager Ken Holland and assistant GM Jim Nill, it was agreed that Ericsson still needed more seasoning at Grand Rapids.

"I played good last year," Ericsson said. "But then at the beginning of this season, I didn't think I played as well as I should. We had a good discussion. We all thought it was best for me to go down and get a lot of minutes and find my game again and be prepared when I got up here again."

Ericsson wound up appearing in 40 games with the Griffins, scoring two goals and assisting on 13 others while compiling 48 penalty minutes. Still, the Red Wings were in no mood to rush him to the big leagues even though it was clear that he was ready.

In hindsight, the native of Karlskrona, Sweden said he had no problem gaining more experience in the AHL and thought was the right course of action.

"I think this was the absolute best way for me for developing and becoming a better player," Ericsson said. "I wouldn't want to change anything."

Their success only reinforces the Red Wings' policy of easing their youngsters into the nucleus until they eventually become the part of it.

"Right off the bat, there's not many guys you can draft and go right away and play for Detroit. They're not rushing players. Sometimes you rush a young kid to the NHL because he's a first-round pick. He doesn't score a lot and his confidence falls." -- Dan Cleary

Johan Franzen played on the third and fourth lines as a rookie in 2005-06 and is now an offensive focal point. Hard-hitting defenseman Niklas Kronwall used 2004-05 to round out his game at Grand Rapids. Jiri Hudler, who scored in Game 5, starred with the Griffins and has now matured into a skilled third-line scorer, displaying the Wings' vast depth.

"The other thing is when they do come up, they're not put in pressure situations," Cleary said. "They're more to support. Don't worry about scoring. Play your game. Each year they get better and better and then they just evolve.

"Helmer comes in here and it's just, ?Go out, be fast, be physical and play your game.' Now he's playing on the third line and getting more ice time. Hang on to the puck and create a little offense. You see that with Ericsson. He's only going to get better."

[Tom]

I hope both series end tonight. In a work pool I actually picked the Wings and the Canes to make it to the Finals (along with the Caps in the Final 4) and right now it's not looking too bad.

I could make over $100.

[Tom]

I may have screwed myself...

[chemiclord]

That first period seemed very... lethargic; like both teams were hunkering down for the other one to come out fast and furious, and thus neither did.

[VegasLionFan]

Go stick-side and high on Hiller, Wings....stick-side and high!

[chemiclord]

Wings playing very sloppy hockey, and finally the Ducks cash in on the power play.