Detroit Red Wings & the NHL

[Optimus Prime]

US names Dan Bylsma as Head Coach for Team USA in Sochi.

"It's an unbelievable honor to be selected to represent our country," Bylsma said. "Together with our coaching staff and management group, I will do everything I can to prepare our team to be in a position to win gold in Sochi."
Bylsma, who employs a flowing offensive style that could be suited to the international game, will be working closely with team general manager David Poile, the GM of the Nashville Predators, and Brian Burke, director of player personnel.
USA Hockey plans to conduct an orientation camp the last week of August at the Washington Capitals' practice facility for prospective players.

--------------------------

Mickey "Big Chief" Redmond was a 50 goal scorer in the NHL and will always have my respect....very few actually understand how difficult it is to score 50.

Danny Gallavin & Richard Irvin Jr & Sr. are hockey legends and have an incredible knowledge of the game and were broadcasting pioneers, (Hack obviously prefers the term dick), all three Canadians deserve a seat in the Pantheon of Hockey.

[WingsFan]

And Mickey Redmond was a suck up for the Detroit Red Wings, but I don't see his name listed in the HHOF under the broadcasters category. Danny Gallavin and Dick Irvin

I know that and the Mick still is, I personalty didn't like Irvin of all the HNIC. I don't like Doc either, but have no choice as he is #1 over at NBC.


Bieber is in Boston tonight... Smart move by the Bruins :-)

Bruins rope off logo so Justin Bieber can't step on it

http://www.cbssports.com/nhl/blog/eye-on-hockey/22837032/photo-bruins-rope-off-logo-so-justin-bieber-cant-step-on-it

[WingsFan]

frankly I'm a hockey fan and not a Hippidy-hoppidy hommie.

Sure the kid obviously suffers from a gender and cultural identity crisis.... a flippin' rooster-NWA wannabe, ridiculous.

LOL! That's more like the OP I know

[WingsFan]

NBC and NBC Sports Network will air 103 NHL regular season games during the 2013-14 season, with 13 games in NBC and 90 games in NBC Sports Network.

Among the highlights:

The 2014 NHL Winter Classic at Michigan Stadium between the Toronto Maple Leafs and Detroit Red Wings on January 1 at 1 p.m. ET on NBC.

http://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/nhl-puck-daddy/winners-losers-nbc-sports-2013-14-nhl-tv-161433287.html

[Hannibal]

I wonder what percentage of the stadium will be Leafs fans. The team that plays in that stadium will almost certainly be playing in a bowl game at that time.

[Optimus Prime]

"Oh yes, Canada is packed to the gills with superstars, to the point where they're not even running Steven Stamkos and Jonathan Toews down the middle, such is their embarrassment of riches. Other centers subjected to playing on the wing in Canada's world included John Tavares, Eric Staal, and maybe even Patrick Marleau (over Joe Thornton? What a world!)" Puck Daddy July 20th

HOCKEY CANADA INVITES 47 PLAYERS TO OLYMPIC ORIENTATION CAMP

Canadian Press

CALGARY -- Sidney Crosby and Jonathan Toews lead a list of 47 players invited to a summer orientation camp for the Canadian men's Olympic hockey team.


The camp in Calgary runs from Aug. 25 to 28 and will begin the process of selecting the 23 players who will play for Canada at the 2014 Winter Games in Sochi, Russia.

Crosby and Toews are among 15 invitees who helped Canada win gold at the 2010 Olympics in Vancouver.

The others are goalie Roberto Luongo, defencemen Dan Boyle, Drew Doughty, Duncan Keith, Brent Seabrook and Shea Weber, and forwards Patrice Bergeron, Corey Perry, Ryan Getzlaf, Rick Nash, Mike Richards, Eric Staal and Joe Thornton.

The newcomers include young guns like defencemen Alex Pietrangelo and P.K. Subban and forwards Steven Stamkos, Taylor Hall, Jordan Eberle, John Tavares, Claude Giroux and Brad Marchand.

The list includes five goalies, 17 defencemen and 25 forwards.

Most of the coaching staff from Vancouver is back with head coach Mike Babcock and assistants Lindy Ruff and Ken Hitchcock, with Claude Julien replacing Jacques Lemaire.

The Chicago Blackhawks have the most players invited with five, followed by the Pittsburgh Penguins with four and Boston, Los Angeles and Washington with three each.

The goalies are Luongo, who was the starter in the 2010 gold-medal game, as well as Carey Price, Mike Smith, Corey Crawford and Braden Holtby.

The other defencemen are Karl Alzner, Jay Bouwmeester, Mike Green, Dan Hamhuis, Travis Hamonic, Kristopher Letang, Marc Methot, Dion Phaneuf, Marc Staal and Marc-Edouard Vlasic.

The other forwards are Jeff Carter, Logan Couture, Matt Duchene, Chris Kunitz, Andrew Ladd, Milan Lucic, James Neal, Patrick Sharp, Jordan Staal and Martin St.Louis.

Notables not invited include 41-year-old goalie Martin Brodeur, who was at the four Olympics thus far featuring NHL players beginning with Nagano, Japan in 1998, and Jarome Iginla, who skated in the last three Games.

The announcement by Hockey Canada came days after an agreement was reached to have NHL players participate at the Sochi Games.

Canada opens the Games on Feb. 13 against Norway.


Can't believe Francois Beauchemin & Dan Girardi didn't get an invitation?!? What?!? No Jamie Benn?

[Optimus Prime]

Team USA Announced:

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. – USA Hockey today announced that 48 players, representing 24 National Hockey League teams, have been invited to the U.S. Men's National Team Orientation Camp from Aug. 26-27, at Kettler Capitals IcePlex in Arlington, Va.

The camp is designed to assist in preparation for the 2014 Olympic Winter Games, set for Feb. 7-23, 2014, in Sochi, Russia.

Of the 48 players invited to the camp, 16 have previous Olympic experience, including Dustin Brown (Ithaca, N.Y./Los Angeles Kings), Zach Parise (Minneapolis, Minn./Minnesota Wild) and Ryan Suter (Madison, Wis./Minnesota Wild), three of the alternate captains on the 2010 U.S. Olympic Men's Ice Hockey Team that captured the silver medal.

Also highlighting the roster are forward Patrick Kane (Buffalo, N.Y./Chicago Blackhawks) and goaltender Jonathan Quick (Milford, Conn./Los Angeles Kings), the two most recent Conn Smythe Award winners as most valuable player in the Stanley Cup Playoffs; Phil Kessel (Madison, Wis./Toronto Maple Leafs), who finished second behind Kane among U.S.-born skaters with 20 goals and 52 points during the 2012-13 season; and goaltender Jimmy Howard (Syracuse, N.Y./Detroit Red Wings), who tied for the NHL regular-season lead in shutouts with five.

Nine players on the orientation camp roster played for the bronze-medal winning U.S. Men's National Team at the 2013 International Ice Hockey Federation World Championship in Stockholm, Sweden, and Helsinki, Finland, including goaltender John Gibson (Pittsburgh, Pa./Norfolk Admirals); forwards Nick Bjugstad (Minneapolis, Minn./Florida Panthers), Alex Galchenyuk (Milwaukee, Wis./Montreal Canadiens), T.J. Oshie (Warroad, Minn./St. Louis Blues), Craig Smith (Madison, Wis./Nashville Predators) and Paul Stastny (St. Louis, Mo./Colorado Avalanche); and defensemen Justin Faulk (South St. Paul, Minn./Carolina Hurricanes), Erik Johnson (Bloomington, Minn./Colorado Avalanche) and Jacob Trouba (Rochester, Mich./Winnipeg Jets).

The complete orientation camp roster is as follows:

Goaltenders: Craig Anderson, John Gibson, Jimmy Howard, Ryan Miller, Jonathan Quick, Cory Schneider.

Defence: Zach Bogosian, Dustin Byfuglien, John Carlson, Danny DeKeyser, Justin Faulk, Cam Fowler, Jake Gardiner, Erik Johnson, Jack Johnson, Seth Jones, Nick Leddy, Paul Martin, Ryan McDonagh, Brooks Orpik, Kevin Shattenkirk, Ryan Suter, Jacob Trouba, Keith Yandle.

Forwards: Justin Abdelkader, David Backes, Beau Bennett, Nick Bjugstad, Dustin Brown, Ryan Callahan, Alex Galchenyuk, Patrick Kane, Ryan Kesler, Phil Kessel, Trevor Lewis, Kyle Okposo, T.J. Oshie, Max Pacioretty, Kyle Palmieri, Zach Parise, Joe Pavelski, Bobby Ryan, Brandon Saad, Craig Smith, Paul Stastny, Derek Stepan, James van Riemsdyk, Blake Wheeler.

[Optimus Prime]

Team Russia: Line # 1, Ovechkin, Malkin & Kovalchuk, goddamned scary!

It's not Gretzky, Perreault, Lafleur in '81 or Gretzky, Lemieux, Hawerchuk in '87 nor Crosby, Tavares, Stamkos in '14 but pretty damn good.

It's Olympic Monday, apparently, with several of the national teams announcing their head coaches and orientation camp rosters.
The first of the hockey superpowers to release the group of names vying for a spot: Team Russia, who will be led by head coach Zinetula Bilyaletdinov on the bench. On the ice, they'll boast some combination of the following 35 players, to be thinned down to 25 beginning at orientation camp on August 23-24:
Goalkeepers: Konstantin Barulin, Sergei Bobrovsky, Semyon Varlamov, Vasily Koshechkin, Evgeni Nabokov.
Defenders: Evgeny Biryukov, Vyacheslav Voinov, Anton Volchenkov, Sergei Gonchar, Denis Denisov, Alexei Emelin, Andrei Markov, Evgeny Medvedev, Nikita Nikitin, Ilya Nikulin, Eugene Ryasensky, Fedor Tyutin.
Forwards: Artem Anisimov, Michael Varnakov, Pavel Datsyuk, Ilya Kovalchuk, Denis Kokarev, Evgeny Kuznetsov, Nikolai Kulemin, Evgeni Malkin, Alexander Ovechkin, Alexander Perezhogin, Alexander Popov, Alexander Radulov, Alexander Semin, Vladimir Tarasenko, Alexei Tereshchenko, Viktor Tikhonov, Vadim Shipachev, Nail Yakupov.
Not a whole lot of surprises here. Russia is stacked up front with Kovalchuk, Datsyuk, Ovechkin, Malkin, Radulov, and Yakupov, among others.
But there is one huMANgous big omission in this group of 35, and it's among those five goaltenders: Ilyz Bryzgalov is nowhere to be found.

[WingsFan]

That backstabbing Sergaaaaay fedorov tried to talk Dats into leaving the Red Wings to go back to Russia. He is now the GM of HC CSKA.

[Optimus Prime]

Other than Jari Kurri and Peter Forsberg, I say ship them all back.

Fedorov's financial manager from Grosse Pointe screwed him out of 43 M, America giveth & America taketh away I guess. Huge push to get Russian players back in the KHL, especially for the the Olympics. The Russian is expected to rejoin the Kontinental Hockey League, where he captained SKA St. Petersburg during the NHL’s lockout.

17 players of their Olympic orientation camp include KHLers, it's national embarrassment for the their best players to play in the NHL.

Kovalchuk abruptly announced his retirement from the Devils, forgoing the final 12 years of his contract and leaving $77 million on the table to return to his native Russia, where he is expected to play in the KHL as JR Roenick rips Kovalchuk for his betrayal of the NJ Devils.

JR Roenick Tweet
"I am shocked that kovalchuk would do this to the devils and their fan base!!! Devils lose so much w this decision it's scary!!! Selfish !!!!"
4:16 PM - 11 Jul 2013

http://msn.foxsports.com/nhl/story/jeremy-roenick-rips-ilya-kovalchuk-for-retiring-from-new-jersey-devils-to-reportedly-play-in-russia-khl-071113

"This sets Russian players back 50 years," one agent told Sporting News on Thursday. "How do you trust any now?"

http://www.sportingnews.com/nhl/story/2013-07-11/ilya-kovalchuk-khl-contract-retirement-csa-st-petersburg-russian-players-nj-devi

Ken Campbell thinks this all a little too convenient for both Kovy & the Devils, calls it the greatest CAP circumvention in history. Devils in debt $300 million.

http://www.thehockeynews.com/articles/52816-Kovalchuk-retirement-a-little-too-convenient-for-all-involved.html

They struck fear in EVERY NHL team.


Nagano, Japan, '98 Olympics

[Optimus Prime]

Daniel Alfredsson – Ottawa Senators – Age 40, left the Sens to join the Wings in order to develop chemistry with Detroit's aging Swedes in preparation for Sochi...only problem is Alfie didn't get an invitation to play for Sweden?!?

In 2010 Team Ikea, there D were old and slow, now it's their forwards, 8 players 30-35 and in hockey years, that is a lifetime!

Sweden has announced its preliminary roster for the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia.

On the same day that Canada, the United States and Russia also announced preliminary invitations, Sweden announced its 35 player long-list as it looks to avenge its fifth-place showing from the 2010 Olympic Games in Vancouver.

The complete Swedish roster is as follows:

Goaltenders: Jhonas Enroth, Viktor Fasth, Robin Lehner, Henrik Lundqvist.

Defence: Jonas Brodin, Alexander Edler, Oliver Ekman-Larsson, Jonathan Ericsson, Nicklas Grossmann, Erik Gustafsson, Victor Hedman, Niklas Hjalmarsson, Erik Karlsson, Niklas Kronwall, Douglas Murray, Johnny Oduya, Henrik Tallinder.

Forwards: Patrik Berglund, Nicklas Backstrom, Jimmie Ericsson, Loui Eriksson, Johan Franzen, Carl Hagelin, Patric Hornqvist, Marcus Johansson, Marcus Kruger, Gabriel Landeskog, Oscar Lindberg, Joel Lundqvist, Gustav Nyquist, Niklas Persson, Daniel Sedin, Henrik Sedin, Alexander Steen, Henrik Zetterberg.

We are 32 years old and Nooo Stooley Coops.!"
Sedin Sisters.

[Optimus Prime]

Way too early Medal predictions. (We have until December 31st, 2013 to name the final roster of 23).

Canada GOLD over Russia.

Too deep, too fast, too young, too skilled, killer D that plays 200 feet with & without the puck. Devastating spring passes launch the attack.

Shea Weber's point shot, lethal. 6' 4", 240 lbs. and he's now 27 years old.



Remember 2010!?!
[youtube]wRdKNO_JubY[/youtube]
As for Russia, extremely talented, net the SILVER, bad attitude hinders team.

Czech Republic/Finland nets BRONZE.

Sweden forwards too soft = NO MEDAL.

[Mike]

I see it as an Euro final. North America wins on their turf, Euros on theirs.

[Optimus Prime]

Not really Mike. Up to 180 NHL players will participate in Sochi. For every and anyone of the countries that matter, that number represents their best. That means the best players in the world will not be released from their NHL contracts until February 9th (North American time zones).

Olympic Hockey games commence until the 15th, that means most of the best players will be on North American time, so to speak. Gretzky has said, it takes about a game to adjust to international size ice (200 x 100) ft. NHL, 200 x 85, besides most of these guys have plenty of World Jr. Hockey experience in International Ice in Europe as well as IIHC.

Secondly, we've had 4 Olympic games now that the NHL has attended. The first was Nagano Japan, 1998 where Hasek robbed Team Canada of the Gold, 1-0 ShootOut, semi-final (apparently IOC/IIHC can't have sudden-death, overtime settle the match). Anyway, I doubt any team had a "home ice" advantage in Japan.

Last, it seems this will be the last Olympics by our pros, the NHL/NHLPA will return to the Canada/World Cup format, which they will own and market exclusively. Shutting down the NHL League for 2 weeks is pure insanity. Typical format as in years past, players give up a little of their summer, training camp the end of August, Tournament played in early September and the NHL regular season opens, October 1st.

The NHL has bent over backwards to accommodate the IOC and receives NOTHING in return. The NHL is even prohibited from marketing any Olympic Hockey game content on their website or TV broadcasts in NA, the IOC refuses to share any cash.

Besides it will be refreshing to see true amatuer clubs or representative teams compete for another gold, again.

1920 Antwerp -Canada (CAN) Gold - "Winnipeg Falcons"
1924 Chamonix -Canada (CAN) Gold -"Toronto Granites"
1928 St. Moritz -Canada (CAN) Gold - "University of Toronto"
1932 Lake Placid -Canada (CAN) Gold - "The Winnipegs"

[WingsFan]

The Joe's days are numbered.


LANSING — The Michigan Strategic Fund (MSF) board today approved issuing up to $450 million in bonds to finance construction of a $650-million project that will include a new arena for Detroit Red Wings hockey and other events, plus $200 million more in the 45-block area between downtown and Midtown.

Completion of the arena is anticipated in 2017.