Detroit Red Wings & the NHL

[Mike]

I don't know if I'd say pathetic but he has looked mortal. Brodeur has outplayed him the last two games for sure. It's still LA's series, though. NJ has to be kicking themselves for not splitting the two OT games in NJ to start the series as they could easily be up 3-2 right now. At any rate... go Devils (I just threw up in my mouth a little).

[Optimus Prime]

I'd much rather see LA win the Cup over NJ and if LA brings its powerforward game at home for game six, this series should end after all, only the 1942 Leafs have ever comeback from being down 3-0 in the SCF.

Game 4 is the toughest to win and LA has carried the balance of play in games 4 & 5 IMO, butfor hitting the iron 5 or 6 times over the last two games, the series would be over. The shooter will tell you he had the goalie beaten but the shot was wide by a mm or two, as for the goaltender, he claims that was all the room he gave the shooter.


Wings traded Brad Stuart to San Jose today for Andrew Murray.

SHARKS ACQUIRE STUART

SAN JOSE, Calif. -- The San Jose Sharks are bringing back former high draft pick Brad Stuart in a deal with the Detroit Red Wings.

The Sharks announced Sunday they acquired the defenceman from Detroit for forward Andrew Murray and a conditional 2014 draft pick.

Stuart is eligible to become an unrestricted free agent July 1. Sharks general manager Doug Wilson says he is hopeful he can sign Stuart to a new contract later this month, which would mean the Red Wings would receive a seventh round draft pick in 2014.

Stuart was drafted third overall by San Jose in 1998 before being traded to Boston in 2005 as part of a package for Joe Thornton. Stuart later played for Calgary, Los Angeles and Detroit, winning a Stanley Cup with the Red Wings in 2008.

The 32-year-old Stuart had six goals and 15 assists in 81 games last season.

[Optimus Prime]

LA must get Drew Doughty out against NJ's top line and with last line change at home it should be the case.

Frankly Devils' assistant coach Larry Robinson has been putting on a line-changing clinic with his defence corps in the Stanley Cup Final. And because he’s Larry Robinson, he gets away with more than he should when he doesn’t have last change, watch him closely in game # 6.

[Mike]

I just keep rooting for one more hockey game.

[geo weidl]

Quick is the difference maker for me. Should have been 1-0 LA last night.

[Mike]

Wasn't much he could do on the game-winner that went in off Voynov's arm. The first one was all Quick but he's been nearly perfect this playoffs and will be the run-away winner of the Conn Smythe.

[DennisT]

Middle of June, yup it's hockey season alright.

[Optimus Prime]

The "KLM" Line, one of the best that ever was is no more. I will never forget, the 1984 Canada Cup the entire Soviet Team shot left, what a machine.

Vladimir Krutov, Wing for Soviet Hockey Teams in the ’80s, Dies at 52
Vladimir Krutov, a husky Russian hockey player who combined speed, strength and lightning-quick wrists to become a critical component of the superb Soviet teams of the 1980s, earning the nickname the Tank, died on Wednesday in Moscow. He was 52.

The ITAR-Tass news agency said Krutov had been hospitalized for a bleeding stomach but did not give a specific cause of death.

Krutov, who also played a single disappointing season in the National Hockey League, was the left wing of the Soviet team that dominated international hockey in the 1980s. He played on teams that won gold medals in the 1984 and 1988 Olympics and a silver medal in 1980, when the United States hockey team defeated the Soviets at the Winter Games in Lake Placid, N.Y.

The game, forever known as the Miracle on Ice, shocked the world. Just 12 days earlier, the seemingly invincible Soviet team, nicknamed the Red Machine, had routed the Americans, 10-3, in an exhibition at Madison Square Garden. Krutov had led the way, scoring three goals.

In the Olympic showdown, on Feb. 22, Krutov scored the first goal, at 9 minutes 12 seconds of the first period — his only goal of the game — before the Americans battled back to win, 4-3, setting off a nationwide outpouring of pride.

Krutov’s comrades on his offensive line were Igor Larionov and Sergei Makarov; together they were called the KLM line. The defensive players Viacheslav Fetisov and Alexei Kasatonov completed the unit, which was often referred to as the green line, for the green practice jerseys they wore.

The Russian national team, with the green line as anchors, won five world championships and the 1981 Canada Cup. The group skated for the Central Red Army team that won the Soviet national title 12 times.

At 5 feet 9 inches and 194 pounds, Krutov, who shot left-handed, was a cannonball of a player, skating low to the ice and generating explosive speed from a standing start. He was most effective along the walls and in corners. He was the Soviet Union’s player of the year in 1987 and made a number of international all-star teams.

Speaking after Krutov’s death, Vladislav Tretiak, the great goaltender who is now president of the Ice Hockey Federation of Russia, said Krutov was “such a dependable and steadfast man that I would have gone anywhere with him — to war, to espionage, into peril.”

Vladimir Putin, the Russian president, called Krutov “a true hero for our nation of fans.”

Vladimir Yevgenyevich Krutov was born in Moscow on June 1, 1960. The Red Army Team drafted him into the military, as it did with many talented young hockey players. The team practiced 11 months a year, two or three times a day, and often confined men to a training camp even if they were married. Krutov was part of junior world championship teams in 1978, 1979 and 1980.

In 1989 the Soviet Union, in its final years as a Communist state, began to let Russian hockey players sign with N.H.L. teams. Krutov was granted a discharge from the army and signed a three-year contract to play with the Vancouver Canucks for $2.1 million a year.

His stay was unhappy and unproductive. Lacking Red Army discipline, he became overweight. He was homesick. He scored 34 points in 61 games — not bad for a rookie, but embarrassing for an international star. The Canucks did not make the playoffs, angering fans, and Krutov left after one season.

His coach, Bob McCammon, said Krutov could not discipline himself. “His usual routine was to stop at a 7-Eleven store and order two hot dogs, a bag of chips and a soft drink,” he was widely quoted as saying. “After practice, he would return for a second order.”

Krutov later played for lower-league teams in Switzerland and Sweden and was an assistant coach with his old Red Army team. He was director of a sports school, and was inducted into the International Ice Hockey Hall of Fame.

Krutov is survived by his wife, Nina, and his sons, Denis and Alexei.

Many fans consider the final three games of the 1987 Canada Cup between Canada and the Soviet Union, won by Canada, the best exhibition of hockey in history. It was the only time Wayne Gretzky and Mario Lemieux, the most dominant N.H.L. players of the last part of the 20th century, played forward together in a meaningful contest.

Those two, and Krutov, were named to the three forward positions on the tournament’s all-star team.

[Ghengis Jon]

Brad Stuart has been traded to San Jose for a forward and a conditional draft pick.

[Optimus Prime]

Wonder if Holland takes the bait? Alexander Semin scored 40 goals in 2009-10, but managed only 49 in two years combined since, the quintessential floater, lazy with a bad attitude the CAPs are happy to part with him.

Is Detroit a fit for Semin?

CBC’s Elliotte Friedman noted Washington Capitals right winger Alexander Semin enjoyed playing with Detroit Red Wings center Pavel Datsyuk at the recent World Championship.

Friedman wondered if Semin, an unrestricted free agent July 1, would be willing to accept less money to sign with the Red Wings and if he’d get along with coach Mike Babcock.

It’s believed the Wings, who’ll have more than $26 million in cap space if they spend toward next season’s projected $70.3-million cap, will pursue New Jersey’s Zach Parise if he becomes a free agent.

Semin, however, would be a viable Plan B if they lose out in the Parise sweepstakes.

Semin has drawn criticism for a perceived unwillingness to play a two-way style and inability to rise to the occasion in the playoffs.

Still, Babcock has the ability to get the most out of his players and playing with Datsyuk and Henrik Zetterberg could also inspire Semin to be more defensively responsible.

Then again, he may get a lucrative offer from Kontinental League team SKA St. Petersburg and be taken off the NHL free agent market entirely.

[Hannibal]

Semin sounds like a good fit for a team that struggles to make the playoffs, but I wouldn't want him on the Red Wings. We in Detroit have a lot of experience with talented guys who disappear in April.

[THE_WIZARD_]

and a silver medal in 1980

I thought the Soviets ended up with the Bronze in 1980? Didn't we beat them in the semis?

[Optimus Prime]

The Tournament then had a round-robin medal round, mercifully that mental retardation was done away with and now the Gold Medal game receives the GOLD medal while the loser receives the Silver. In 1980 the US had to play Finland in their final game to clinch Gold, USSR beat Sweden to capture the Silver.

The top two teams from each group play the top two teams from the other group once. Points from previous games against their own group carry over, excluding teams who failed to make the medal round. First place team wins gold, second silver and third bronze.
Team GP W L T GF GA Pts
United States 3 2 0 1 10 7 5
Soviet Union 3 2 1 0 16 8 4
Sweden 3 0 1 2 7 14 2
Finland 3 0 2 1 7 11 1

[Mike]

I have LA winning tonight 1-0 or 2-1. They'll play close to the vest. This should be hockey at it's most intense as both teams are desperate now.

[geo weidl]

Mike have you bought your LA King Stanley Cup Champs t-shirt yet?