Taking a Look at the Defense
It seems like Lidstrom’s retirement was over a year ago. Hard to believe Kyle Quincey has only played maybe ¼ of a season with us since being acquired in a trade. We didn’t get Suter, but did you remember that we did sign Colaiacovo? Lockouts will do that to you, but it’s over now and we have to sort through the rubble of the offseason to see what we’ve got for the rest of this year.
Full player review after the jump:
Niklas Kronwall: He’s our best defenseman now, so he’ll be playing the top minutes. In all honesty, he seemed to be out there the most last season anyways. Obviously, whichever pairing had Lidstrom was considered the “top pairing” but the combination of Kronwall and Stuart played harder minutes. Aaaaand Stuart is gone. Kronwall will likely play with White since the two of them will probably be on the top power play unit.
Look, with Lidstrom’s retirement, our blueline was going to be a downgrade whether we got Suter or not, so even if Kronwall has his best season ever, Howard will be… tested.
Ian White: Early on last season I wondered why he had such a hard time sticking with a team, but towards the end he didn’t seem to be all that good. However, he’s right-handed which makes him Duke Nukem at the end of Land of the Babes. White isn’t the best guy to have back there at any given time, but in the salary cap era, he’s good enough.
Jonathan Ericsson: Okay, this is a tough one. Early in the season I wanted Big Rig benched in favor of Commodore. Kindl was better than Ericsson for about 8 weeks. After that, he stopped screwing up and started to live up to his contract. We need 2009 and 2012 Ericsson to show up from now on, but certainly for the rest of this year.
Jakub Kindl: Like I said earlier, Kindl started last season playing pretty well and was probably our #5 d-man, but by the time the season ended he was only playing because there were no other options. In 27 games with HC ČSOB Pojišťovna Pardubice, he has 1G 10A, which is fine, but he’s -7 which isn’t. Maybe he’s playing alongside the Czech version of Brett Lebda?
Kyle Quincey: Remember when we got this guy back? I was sitting in the chair at the dentist office waiting for the torture to begin, so I gave Twitter a quick glance and saw that we had gotten him from Tampa Bay. It went something like this:
Me: Oh, cool, we got Quincey back. That will make our blueline super deep! I wonder what we gave up?
*checks to see what we gave up*
Me: What!? No… No! Noooooo! The pain! The agony! Nooooooooo!
I like to imagine some little kid in the waiting area heard me and a fear of the dentist was born. You’re welcome, kid.
It sucked to lose a 1st round pick for Quincey because the first round of this draft was loaded with talent and we didn’t get any of it. Still, at the time of the trade, the Wings were the best team in hockey and it looked like we had just gotten better. Quincey scored in his first game back and everyone was happy. Unfortunately, that’s when the injuries started. We went from having depth on the blueline to wondering if the Griffins had enough guys for us to steal. Anyways, Quincey is kind of supposed to replace Stuart, I guess. I think he’ll be good for us. He’s got some good offensive potential and the further removed he is from Colorado, the better he’s likely to get.
Carlo Colaiacovo: Ah yes, a blogger’s nightmare. We hope he does well, but every time he does something worth writing about I have to look up how to spell his name. Nothing quite like working on a post about penalty kill strategy for a couple of hours and the first comment is “Trololo! There’s two P’s in Filppula, not one!” Whatever.
Funny how teams like Nashville and St Louis, who are now supposed to be better than us, both lost players to us. Anyway, if you have not heard, he’s injured, so we won’t see him in action for a few weeks.
Brendan Smith: Probably our best defensive prospect since Kronwall and he’ll be playing full-time in the NHL this season. Last year, during the injury epidemic, he showed flashes of brilliance mixed in with a couple rookie mistakes. No matter how this season ends and no matter how the blueline performs, if Smith can take big steps towards being the PP QB we all expect him to be, I’ll call it a win.
Some Guy: Now that the cap is set for this year and next year, I expect Ken Holland to find another guy to be able to call up in the event of an injury. Won’t be anyone remarkable, I’m sure, but maybe they’ll have a cool Twitter account? I miss Commie…
It’s hard to believe that Lidstrom is gone. It’s hard to believe we haven’t seen a Red Wings game since April 2012. Those are bad. What’s good is we’re getting younger. As of right now, Kronwall is our only defenseman over 30. That tells me that no matter how bad our blueline is this year, and I do think it will struggle; it’s only going to get better, right?
I'm certain we'll see Kronwall and White on the first PP unit, but after that, I'm not entriely sure. If I had to make an educated guess, it will be Quincey and Smith. As for the PK, Ericsson, for sure and Kronwall. Colaiacovo and probably Quincey, unless he's in the box, then Smith. That's what I'd do, anyways.
Thoughts on this season's blueline?
Statler: This Red Wing blueline is terrific!
Waldorf: It's the best!
Statler: The greatest ever!
Waldorf: Well, it's not that good.
Statler: No, it's actually kind of bad!
Waldorf: They're terrible! Boo!
Statler: Boo!
Waldorf: Boo!
Well, so far, Howie has been our best defenceman. I knew we'd lost a lot with Nik and Stuey leaving, but I didn't think I'd be anxiously waiting for Kindl to get healthy! Huskins looked okay, and that Lashoff kid is going to be very good with some more experience. Hopefully, they find their stride soon!
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Guys....hey guys...guys, we are talking about hockey. real hockey! not politics, not hate, not even contracts but actual puck on stick hockey. I missed this something fierce.
On that note I would say our defense is rife with potential but where that potential goes is a 50/50 shot. Kronwall is our keystone, I look forward to big minutes and big hits. Big Rig needs to prove his contract is more genious on Kenny's part. Smith has great potential but we have to refrain from lofty expectations. Let him show us what he can do, we don't need to push him to be the next Perfect Human. Kindl wants playtime and I think he wants it bad enough to have a great season. He has shown flashes of great play and he is in his break out or bust season. Coliaca...cole...Colieauo.......Carlo has been pretty solid for St. Louis, the only problem is he is made of glass. and in the sport of hockey being made of glass tends to be a negative thing. If he can stay healthy he won't be our big go to guy but he will provide some solid defense. Also this is him and this makes me laugh: http://imgur.com/gallery/xglyi
All that being said, this year will be a year in which Jimmy Howard proves the Redwings are good because of him, not the other way around. Every goalie in the Winged wheel get the "yeah but he plays for the Wings so..." argument. Those days are over and i think Jimmah will shut a lot of mouths this short season.
Damn it feels good to talk hockey.
P.S. Tech wrecked the GLI! Go Huskies!!
@JOHNxJOHN i read somewhere that some guy said said he thinks smith will be paired with kronwall, so he can get the experience from a season guy and if he does make the odd rookie mistake or two niklas can be there to hopefully sort it or calm the sitcho down. think thats sounds right? im unsure. im still think maybe ericsson?
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"Maybe he’s playing alongside the Czech version of Brett Lebda?"
Ohhhhh... you must mean Breczt Lejbdka
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@craterburnsyou he's a forward, though. and this isn't 2009. i'm hoping we have useful players on the PP this year.
@Twig Yeah... but we know Babs.. Sammy will be there. I mean shit, he played Huds there last season.
I cant remember how colaiacovo game? try to look him up on youtube but most of its him fighting... but from what i gather he brakes alot when he get bumped around. but he looks like he can read and join a rush pretty good. was he on the blues PP?
Might be paired with quincy, so that'll be ericsson and smith, i mean its gota be better then kindl huh?
