News from Khan(!) about the Big Rig...

Apparently, Johnny had fluid drained from his injured knee.  It's so bad, that he's going to have it drained again within the next few days barring any setback.

"My whole leg from my knee down to my ankle is pretty swollen.  I don't have that much motion right now. Got to work to get the swelling down and go from there.  Doctor told me it's a guess to say when we think you're going to be back; these things are so different from case to case.  They said two-to-four weeks, probably."

Not much to be happy about right now in Detroit.  I'm not discussing what happened this weekend anymore.  I've said all I think I need to say about the matter below.  Right now, we are just sitting around and waiting for our guys to get healthy.

Since work is going to be pretty dead this week, I'm probably going to spend some time trying to beef up this site.  So, I'm opening up the floor for any suggestions and ask you to bear with me while some changes are being made around here. 

Since this site is for you, the readers, any and all feedback will be greatly appreciated and taken into serious consideration.

Thanks.

-Drew

Zero points in 2 games played...so-freaking-what?

Don't listen to whatever you might be hearing from all the bandwagon Chicago fans out there.  Last night proved absolutely nothing.  An "improved" Chicago Blackhawks team beat Detroit?  No.  A Chicago team plus one extra heartless mercenary beat up on a team made up of half of our farm system.  Big whoop.

Guess what, Chicago?  Huet is still a chump.  We made it look easy for him.  He won't win you a Cup.

So we're out Zetterberg, Franzen, Cleary, Filppula, Williams, Kronwall, Ericsson, and Lilja.  You were missing Adam Burrish and Dave Bolland.

Let's see how the game would have gone if you were missing Patrick Sharp, "Twenty Cent" Patrick Kane, Andrew Ladd, John Madden, Chris Versteeg, Niklas Hjalmarsson, Cam Barker, and Brent Sopel.  (Those are pretty much matches on the depth chart.)  Think that game would have been a little different?  I think we pretty much showed what a full roster could do the new "it" team back in October.  And that game was played in front of fans who have been watching for years before their team became relevant again.

Still think there's a "changing of the guard" in the Central Division?  That's a joke.  You have one team who is completely playing for this year because they have enough cap space to ice about 12 guys come this off-season.  And you have one team who has been completely decimated by injuries.  It's nothing but blind, stupid, do-dah clueless luck for Chicago.  And their time will come.

Let everyone think that Chicago is the new powerhouse of the West.  Hell, let them take the #1 seed.  Because if Detroit sits at #8 in the Conference come play-off time?  Oh baby, get ready for the first round of a lifetime.  And not all of the speared groins and battered 60 year old cab drivers in the world would stop Detroit from smashing Chicago's little dreams of glory and watching it go up in smoke as that bandwagon goes full speed into that brick wall called Li'l Gary's Salary Cap.  Do the math, it doesn't add up.

Did I mention that I would rather have Chris Osgood OR Jimmy Howard over Cristobel Huet in a play-off series?

So here's a note to everyone; forget this weekend.  It doesn't mean diddly squat that the Grand Rapids Griffins with Bertuzzi, Datsyuk, and Holmstrom, couldn't beat Dallas or Chicago.  We got a few boys who are working their butts off to get healthy and get back out and help this team.  And when they do?  You better believe that they'll hit the ground running.  If you think you're frustrated, just think about how Mule, Cleary, Kronwall, and Zata feel sitting by and watching that farce of a weekend knowing that it would be different if they were on the ice.

And they will start returning.  All of our waiting will be paid off in full when we get to see the Winged Wheel play play-off caliber hockey from the end of Olympics to the first round of the Western Conference Semi-final.. Not just because they'll have to, but because they'll want to.   Make no mistake, my friends, we're going to see a side of this team not seen in the regular season in a dog's age...possibly ever.

So forget this weekend.  If you DVR'd any of the games and plan to watch them later, delete that crap right now.  Save yourself the frustration.  Just remember that Gary's Baby Boys who won the Cup last year were out of a play-off spot until February last season.  We won't need any coaching changes.  We won't need any trades to bring in some real leadership either.  We just need to get healthy.  And we will.

Forget.This.Weekend.

I just wanted to throw a quick link up here to something that is pretty impressive happening over at the king of Detroit blogs, A2Y.

Herm, owner of redwingsbrasil.blogspot.com, is a huge Red Wings fan, obviously located in hockey-mad Brazil.  He's a constant participant over at A2Y and on many Wings blogs and has a consistent following on his blog.  I'm guessing he's the only Wings blogger writing in Portuguese.  But he lives and dies for the Wings just like the rest of us.  Here's a interview with him over at Snipe Snipe Dangle Dangle.  My favorite part of the interview:

"The best moment is probably the empty-netter by Brendan Shanahan, and him and Steve Yzerman copulating on the ice after it. Awesome. Awesome."

But there is a few things he hasn't experienced.  He's never been to a Wings game.  He's never been to the United States.  He's never even met another Red Wings fan.  But the folks over at A2Y are trying to change that.  They've started a donation pool to bring him to the US for a weekend and get him to a game.

So you can say Wings fans are arrogant, you can say we are profane, you can say a lot of things, but you can't say that that Wings fans aren't some of the best people around.  So head to A2Y and donate here.

The Wings should really pick this up themselves and promote the hell out of it.  Strangers helping a total stranger fulfill a dream of seeing a Wings game...it is a hell of story.

Khan(!) finally woke up today and has the lines for tomorrow...

Bertuzzi-Datsyuk-Holmstrom
Leino-Abdelkader-Eaves
Draper-Helm-Miller
May-Newbury-Maltby

Defense is going to be whatever the situation calls for, but will probably start:

Lidstrom-Meech
Janik-Rafalski
Lebda-Stuart

Howard (starting)
Osgood

That's right baby, The Namesake is back.  And thank God, because we are almost fresh out of centers.  To put it in perspective, we thought Abdelkader might be better served staying in Grand Rapids for one more season.  Now, he's our second line center...cripes.  I'm hoping Zata will be ready for when I invade Jobbing.com Arena on the 3rd for the game against the 'Yotes.

There is never a "good time" for an injury to occur, but this latest injury that will have Zetterberg sidelined is just sickening...

You knew something was going to happen to one of them, whether it was Zetterberg, Lidstrom, or Datsyuk.  Ericsson is partly to blame for the jinx  This is what he told the Free Press on Wednesday:

“It just feels like it’s got to be enough now.  We’ve had some unlucky injuries, and it just keeps going. Now it’s got to be a stop for it.”

We're currently sitting in 8th place in the Western Conference with two huge games to be played on Saturday and Sunday.  Saturday's game is out in Dallas, against the very team we're trying to hold off for that last play-off spot.  And then Sunday we fly right back to face-off against the hated Chicago Blackhawks in the United Center where they boast a 14-3-1 record.

So once again this team is going to be tested.  Another call-up is going to have to happen.  Jeremy Williams?  He and Newbury seemed to have chemistry in Grand Rapids, maybe that's your 4th line with Maltby on the Wing.  We are now without 3 great centers; Zetterberg, Filppula, and Helm (maybe).

But if the Wings can somehow find a way to win both games this weekend?  We're looking at some much needed breathing room as far as where we sit in the standings.  4 points could possibly put us 6 points ahead of 9th place and maybe even get us to 6th in the Conference.  Normally, that is something we would be livid about in Hockeytown, USA.  But these are not normal times.

As the body count rises, so too does my blood pressure.  But maybe, just maybe the Wings can keep this run going and put some space between us and the play-off bubble.

In Jimmy we trust?  Is it official that he's your starter?

We obviously didn't pray hard enough.  This from Craig Custance...

The Detroit Red Wings will be without forward Henrik Zetterberg for a minimum of two weeks. An NHL source told Sporting News that the MRI results revealed that the forward suffered a slight shoulder separation.

Un.Be.Lievable.

So congratulations to James Howard on his first ever goose egg.  That game got a little boring at times didn't it?  Maybe the secret to winning for Detroit is to only get 22 shots a night?

How good do you think Drew Miller felt about scoring that first one?  The depth players keep contributing in the stead of our injured stars.  Speaking of injuries...I don't wear my red #43 jersey because The Namesake is hurt.  So I wear my Zetterberg jersey (1 of 2 that I possess) and then he gets hurt.  WTF mate?  He drove himself to the hospital, which I guess is a good sign.

Bertuzzi keeps rolling and Patrick Eaves chips in another one.  There should be two nice contract extensions waiting for these two if they don't go all "Mikael Samuelsson" on us, get their dollars up and bolt. (You see what I did there, with the quotation marks?)

I'm heading down to the Joe in a couple minutes to play some puck, regular posting will re-commence once I get to the office.

Pray for Hank.  Our very Friday depends on it...the amount of which we can enjoy it, anyway.

From detnews.com ...

"I'm not sure what my role will be.  I've just got to go out there whenever they use me, try to the best job I can, keep my game simple and help the team.  I played a couple years there in Tampa.  It's pretty much a new team now from when I was there but I know a few guys, so it'll be exciting."--Doug Janik

So Drew Miller won't be the only ex-Bolt out there this evening.  However, Miller was waived early on in the season.  Janik, on the other hand, chose to leave Tampa and signed elsewhere as a free agent after the 2007-2008 season.  Think Drew Miller wants a crack at the team that waived him?  I bet he's growing more pre-mature gray hair today just thinking about it.

But anyway, back D.J... apparently making the transition from Grand Rapids to Detroit isn't the Herculian task some might have though it to be:

"Everyone here is so nice, they're very welcoming.  We play a similar system there in Grand Rapids so it's a pretty easy transition. I just try to play steady, take care of defense first and move the puck out. That's what I've been doing down there and that's what I'll try to do here."

King Lidas has another idea on how to use D.J.  We'll call it Operation Human Shield:

"I think he can help us defensively, especially on the PK (penalty kill).  He can be out there killing penalties and being in shooting lanes. We need guys that can play steady defense, too, back there."

That's it Doug get in that shooting lane.  Good.  Great work, Doug.  Now get back up.  Skate that one off, Doug.  Here comes another one...quick slide head first if you have to,  Doug.

From Khan(!) at mLive...

Well...The Namesake is missing another game tonight.  That certainly settles my inner-turmoil about whether to wear my Zetterberg "white A" Winter Classic Jersey or my new red #43.

*Sigh...oh well.  Here are the lines/pairings that skated together this morning:

Bertuzzi-Datsyuk-Holmstrom
Leino-Zetterberg-Eaves
Draper-Abdelkader-Miller
May-Newbury-Maltby

Lidstrom-Meech
Janik-Rafalski
Lebda-Stuart

Howard (starting)
Osgood

Now remember that D-pairings almost never stay that way throughout the whole game, so don't throw anything at the computer when you see that Meech is paired with King Lidas.

Chris Osgood is 17-0-0 against Tampa Bay in his career so I'm a little puzzled as to why he isn't starting.  Howie has been good, but it isn't as if Osgood has been bad.  My guess is that Babcock is using the "Holmstrom motivation technique" in which you poke and prod one of your better players until he's frothing at the mouth.  Maybe that's what it's going to take to get STFU Ozzie to come out and play earlier this year.