Homer hurt
Tomas Holmstrom left the game in the first period with a left leg injury. He will not return. Hopefully, more information will be available after the game.
Palace off the hook
There are a lot of people over at The Palace of Auburn Hills sighing with great relief today. A buyer has stepped up and purchased the Tampa Bay Lightning. Had that not happened, Palace Sports and Entertainment would have had to eventually resume ownership.
Boston businessman Jeff Vinik, pending league approval (which is all but assured since it was Gary Bettman who helped recruit Vinik), will buy the team and the arena.
A sale price hasn't been released yet.
Category: NHL power rankings
Posted by Dana Wakiji (The Detroit News) on Fri, Feb 5, 2010 at 2:48 AMPower rankings, week 18
Will the Capitals ever lose again? How will the Ilya Kovalchuk trade affect the Devils? Will the Wings start to climb in the standings when they finally get everyone back? These are some of the questions that will be answered in the coming weeks, mostly after the Olympic break. Last week's rankings are in parentheses after this week's.
1. (2) Washington (39-12-6): The Capitals extended their franchise-record win streak to 12 games Thursday.
2. (1) San Jose (37-11-9): The Sharks can't beat the Wings but they're beating everyone else.
3. (3) Chicago (37-15-4): The Blackhawks are the only team in the Central with more goals for than against.
4. (6) Phoenix (34-18-5): The Coyotes needed 10 rounds to win a shootout with Nashville.
5. (5) New Jersey (35-18-2): With the addition of Ilya Kovalchuk, the Devils are probably going to move up next week.
6. (6) Pittsburgh (35-21-1): Whatever you do, don't go to a shootout with the Penguins, who are 7-0 in shootouts.
7. (8) Vancouver (34-20-2): The Canucks have 23 home wins, most in the league.
8. (4) Buffalo (32-16-7): The Sabres might need the Olympic break after going 3-5-2 in their last 10.
9. (14) Ottawa (33-21-4): Their team-record 11-game win streak is overshadowed by the Capitals' 12-gamer.
10. (11) Los Angeles (35-19-3): The Kings are in the midst of a 9-1 stretch.
11. (7) Colorado (31-19-6): The Avs aren't winning at the same pace as they did at the start of the season but they're still in the Northwest race.
12. (10) Nashville (31-21-4): Patric Hornqvist leads the Predators with eight power-play goals.
13. (13) Calgary (28-21-8): It'll be interesting to see how the Flames do after all the trades.
14. (12) Detroit (27-20-10): The Wings welcome back Johan Franzen next Tuesday.
15. (19) Dallas (25-21-11): Stars owner Tom Hicks is exploring selling the team.
16. (18) Anaheim (27-24-7): The Ducks have done well against the Wings but have struggled in the Pacific.
17. (24) Montreal (27-25-6): Canadiens goaltender Jaroslav Halak is 7-0 when facing 40 or more shots.
18. (23) Minnesota (28-25-4): In his NHL debut, goalie Anton Khudobin helped the Wild get their 12th straight home victory over the Oilers.
19. (16) Philadelphia (28-24-3): The Flyers have an impressive 13 more goals scored than allowed.
20. (22) St. Louis (25-23-9): On the road, the Blues have 16 wins. At home, they have nine.
21. (27) Tampa Bay (24-21-11): Martin St. Louis has scored in five straight games.
22. (25) Florida (24-23-9): The Panthers got Detroit native David Booth back last weekend.
23. (17) Boston (23-22-10): The Bruins have just 14 goals in their nine-game losing skid.
24. (15) New York Rangers (25-26-7): Olli Jokinen had two points in his Rangers' home debut.
25. (21) Atlanta (24-23-8): The Thrashers failed to sign Ilya Kovalchuk to a long-term deal so they traded him to the Devils.
26. (24) New York Islanders (23-26-8): Islanders rookie John Tavares has not scored in nine games and has just two goals in his last 26.
27. (27) Columbus (23-27-9): The Blue Jackets' poor play cost Ken Hitchcock his job.
28. (28) Toronto (18-28-11): GM Brian Burke was a busy guy, acquiring Dion Phaneuf, Jean-Sebastien Giguere and others this past week.
29. (29) Carolina (19-30-7): The Hurricanes' 18 losses on the road are most in the East.
30. (20) Edmonton (18-32-6): The Oilers have a league-worst goal differential of minus-46.
Swedish jibber-jabber
OK,full disclosure -- I can't speak or read Swedish. I can sometimes understand Tomas Holmstrom when he speaks English, so I have that going for me. But I don't go out of my way to check out articles in the Swedish press, even though they are often about Red Wings players.
Sometimes, though, bloggers or other media publications will translate something of interest. Case in point, a Swedish newspaper ran this quote from Team Swede manager Mats Naslund about Johan Franzen:
"You can ask yourself the following question: Would he have been back on the team if Detroit would have been first in the conference? Or is it because they're in a tough spot? Surely it's been forced because of the situation the Red Wings are in."
Mats has taken too many sticks to the head. There is no way the Wings would ever rush Franzen back on the ice after his knee surgery. They have $43 million reasons not to. They have given Franzen a lifetime contract so they aren't likely to do anything that would threaten the longevity of his career.
If anything, the Wings have tried to slow Franzen down. They have tried to make him take it easy. But the guy is incredibly strong and determined to get back and be force the second half of the season.
This isn't about the Olympics anymore for Franzen. He's long made his peace about not playing for Team Swede. This is about getting three games in before the Olympic break to work off some rust and then being ready to go for the final two months of the season and into the playoffs.
Pre-game Anaheim
The Red Wings, as you can imagine, are going to be very cautious with Niklas Kronwall's left knee. He's already missed 30 days after he was knee-to-kneed by Georges Laraque, and he's tweaked it twice since he's been back.
Officially, the Wings are calling it day-to-day, but general manager Ken Holland made it clear they won't rush it. He won't play tonight, and his status for Saturday against the Kings will be determined either after practice Friday or pre-game Saturday.
Jimmy Howard will start again tonight, the third time he's started back-to-back games this season. He is 1-1 in the second game of those sets.
The other change for tonight, Brad May replaces Kirk Maltby on the fourth line.
Ville Leino is scratched for the sixth straight game -- a pretty good indication that his days here are numbered. The Wings will have to clear more than $600,000 in salary when Johan Franzen returns on Tuesday. Leino's cap hit is $800,000.
Warm-up San Jose
Here's how Babcock had the lines for warmups. Bertuzzi will skate with Datsyuk and Zetterberg; Cleary with Filppula and Holmstrom. The third line is the same -- Eaves, Draper, Helm. The fourth line, Miller at center between Maltby and Williams.
Pre-game San Jose
Don't read too much into Mike Babcock's decision to scratch Jonathan Ericsson tonight. It's not an indication of any lingering or long-term dissatisfaction with him. It's not a precursor to when Andreas Lilja comes back. There's no way anybody in the Wings' organization is in any way close to giving up the kid.
This is just part of the process for a young, struggling defenseman. Ericsson is like a guy drowning in quicksand right now. The harder he tries to get himself out, the deeper he sinks. The game must seem like it's going at warp speed for him right now.
To sit out and watch a game (or two) might be just what he needs. Let everything calm down a bit. Let him regroup mentally. There isn't anything wrong with him physically. It's all between his ears right now. His confidence is shot. Just call this a mental health break. I am betting he will come through this a better player.
New topic: The Wings game up 95 shots in their last two games, right? Here's some historical perspective on that. The last time they gave up that many shots in two games was back on Dec. 22, 1988 when they gave up 95 to the Blues and Blackhawks.
The last time one goalie faced that many shots in two games -- like Jimmy Howard did -- was 1957. Terry Sawchuk faced 101 shots against Montreal and Boston. Howard gave up three goals on those 95 shots. Sawchuk gave up 10 goals on those 101 shots.
I will file another blog after warmups to see if Babcock is sticking with the lines he had after the morning skate -- which were Datsyuk and Zetterberg together with Cleary; Holmstrom with Filppula and Bertuzzi.
Bertuzzi will try
Todd Bertuzzi had to get his right groin wrapped during the morning skate Friday, then took a bunch of extra treatment on it after.
There was still some doubt whether he would play even after warm-ups, but word just came that he would at least start the game. We will have to see how it holds up.
Ville Leino is scratched, as is extra defenseman Derek Meech.
Category: Red Wings
Posted by Dana Wakiji (The Detroit News) on Fri, Jan 29, 2010 at 5:44 AMJust when you thought JLA was old
Uniondale, N.Y. -- This is a youthful team the Islanders have but the same can't be said for their rink, the Nassau Coliseum. There are a fair number of Wings fans here.
Franzen cleared, Williams ready
Sorry for the delay on this stuff, but my flight didn't get into Minneapolis until 2 p.m. Eastern. Had to play a little catch-up since I was somewhere over Chicago when the Wings had their morning skate.
Here's what we missed: Johan Franzen has been cleared to play. The surgery has held up and there is nothing structurally wrong with the knee. He just needs to get his legs and his lungs back into game condition.
Figure probably two weeks. Franzen wants to get in some games before the Olympic break and make himself available to Team Sweden, should they need to replace an injured player. Not sure yet how Ken Holland and the Wings feel about that.
Jason Williams is also ready to play. He could be back Friday, but that will be coach Mike Babcock's decision.
Tomas Holmstrom, barring any setbacks, looks like he's going to return Sunday in Pittsburgh.
Chris Osgood starts in goal tonight, and Derek Meech replaces Brett Lebda and will start the game paired up with Brad Stuart.
