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.

Round 2 is history and The Nightmare on Helm Street is still alive...

We're getting down to the nitty gritty, people.

Get over to NHL Arena and help decide who will be their "official representitive" for the Detroit Red Wings.

5 remain...

Abel to Yzerman

Nightmare on Helm Street

Snipe Snipe, Dangle Dangle

The Production Line

The Triple Deke

3 move on.

Here's the link... http://thenhlarena.com/index.php?showtopic=120219

Category #1: Your Put Your Nickname on Your Jersey?

 Tampa Bay:  Took a page out of the Ottawa “Sens” playbook and came out this…

Detroit:  Once again takes the high road.  And because putting “Greatest Team in All of Professional Sports” wouldn’t really fit on a jersey.

Winner: Detroit

Category # 2:  We Employed Barry Melrose

Tampa Bay:  On June 23, ESPN reported that Barry Melrose had been chosen to be the next head coach of the Tampa Bay Lightning for 2008-2009 season which was confirmed by club next officially the following day.  After getting off to 5-7-4 start, Melrose was fired after losing to the Red Wings (a game that Chris and I watched in a bar across from Fenway Park in Boston).  Melrose went on to say that he hoped the team didn’t win another game all season after getting the boot.  They would, but only 19 of their final 66 games.

Detroit: Melrose played 35 games for the Red Wings between the 1983-1984 and 1985-1986 season he managed to register 1 assist in those games.  It was rumored that Melrose wanted the coaching gig in Detroit in 1993…we decided to go with Scotty Bowman instead.

Winner: Detroit…canning any new coach after 16 games is ludicrous, even if it is Barry Melrose

Category #3: I’d Like to buy a Vowel, Please

 Tampa Bay: Paul Szczechura

 Sizza-shoora?   Siz-check-hura?  What the hell?

Detroit: Andreas Lilja 

 You know…the j that sounds like a y.

 Winner: Tampa Bay

 Category #4: Drew Miller in 2009

Tampa Bay: 14 Games Played, 0 G, 0 A, 0 Pts, -3

Detroit: 17 Games Played, 3 G, 2 A, 5 Pts, +5

Winner: Detroit

 Prediction: It’s really not a prediction, more of a desperate plea.  Please, please win this game.  I’m not used to seeing you guys lose.  I suffered through the farce against Dallas, the Florida frustration fest, and the shutouts of Calgary and St. Louis.  Please win this one for me.  I don’t care what the score is…really.

Poor Buddha.  He just simply did not know what was coming to him by posting an un-provoked call-out of the Chief at A2Y yesterday.  I'm guessing that our poor, misguided, pinky ring brandishing, Molson drinking, Judge Smails hat-wearing friend was going to have yet another post that flew under the radar like most of his substandard writing. 

What he got was an epic comment driven beatdown.

I think it’s quite telling of just how badly we got to this guy by his next post.  Apparently, it's getting quite chilly in the Hockey Wilderness.

He has resorted to this:

“Again, never said I was unhappy with your readers, nor your fans. I did say they are conspiracy theorists, but your readers seem to be proud of that. It likely comes from all of those years working at the Ford plant. Oh wait, that closed? Sad. Maybe the GM plant, then. That closed too? Oh. Well maybe it is from the fumes of dead bodies laying around in parking ramps for weeks at a time.”

This was posted just days after claiming that someone else was dragging down the accolades of “professional bloggers” like he claimed to be.  Pathetic.  That has to be one of the most un-professional things to joke about in economic situation that many of us have to deal with on a day-to-day basis. 

If he does have credentials, if he does have access, I seriously am considering submitting that quote to someone in the Wild organ-i-zation to see that they get revoked post haste.

I know we usually don't support boosting hit counts for such things, but I again encourage all of you to go over there and give him what for.

Make fun of the Red Wings?  Fine.  Make fun of the Chief?  Not cool.  Resort to Pittsburgh troll-like insults when you're up against the ropes and make light of the hardship facing the place of my birth?  It's on now, mother-effer.