Here are a few statistical tidbits provided by Detroit News...

One = Shorthanded goals allowed by the Red Wings.  They lead all NHL teams in this department.

Philadelphia is worst in the NHL with 6 SHA.  Now, I’m guessing many of you thought that our number would be worse than this at the start of the season with Jason Williams manning the blue line on the second power-play unit.  Well even though he’s been injured with a broken leg, the time that J-Willz did spend on the PP was much improved from his first stint.  It will be nice to have him and the others back out there as strong second option to the Flying Circus.

25:01= how much the time The Perfect Human spends on the ice (average) each game. King Lidas is eighth in the NHL.

His on-ice numbers were down when the number of healthy core defensemen was up.  Now with the loss of Kronwall and Ericsson, it’s no surprise that the aging superstar is seeing an increase in minutes.  Hopefully, #55 and #52 will return and let St. Nick get some rest.  We don’t want him worn out come play-off time should he choose to participate in Vancouver for Team Sweden.

231 = The number of games won by Detroit with Mike Babcock behind the bench as coach.

This ranks him fifth on Detroit’s all-time list.  A few fans were ready to jump down his throat during the start of this regular season when the team struggled.  Now, they seem to be backing off, if only because the injuries provide a sufficient excuse for cutting him some slack.  He was smart not to spur the horse too hard last season when they hit their slump, can he motivate the team through the hardships and keep Detroit’s play-off appearance streak alive?

33.333% = Percent that Joe Louis Arena makes up of NHL venues without corporate names.

Only the two New York arenas, Madison Square Garden and Nassau Coliseum have remained along with Joe Louis Arena.  As discussed several weeks ago, people are open to the idea of a new rink, though it may be at least five years away.

Like my sis always claims when drawing her stick people, "I'm no artist".  Nor do I have photoshop capabilities while at work.  But in an ever-present struggle to be doing something during such a dead week at work, I thought it would be fun to play around with some pics of The Namesake and quotes from Freddy Krueger.  Here's what I came up with...

"I'm your boyfriend now, Nancy."

"Might be your dream, but it's my RULES!"

"You wanna know the secret of pain? If you just stop feeling it, you can start using it."

"What's with kids today, huh? No respect. "

If anyone can do better, go ahead and shoot us an e-mail at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. ...I know there's photoshop buffs out there.  I'd love to see what you guys can do over the holidays.

Thanks to our Seafood friends from San Jose beating Dallas 4-2 last night, Detroit is still currently occupying a play-off spot...

The Red Wings have 4 games at or near home before embarking on another grinding West Coast trip.  Tomorrow we play bandwagon favorite Chicago, and then a home and home against the struggling Columbus Blue Jackets before facing the Avalanche at home. 

Hopefully, by the time the team heads to Phoenix on the second day of 2010, we'll have Filppula, Zetterberg, Cleary, and maybe even Williams back in the lineup.  Until then, it's point-preservation mode.  Anything we get with the lineup we're icing is a bonus.

How sweet would it taste to steal one from the "high and mighty" Blackhawks tomorrow?  That would shut up all the bandwagon buffoons and send them back scurrying under the fridge.

The Red Wings need to score more goals.  We've been shut out 4 times already this season.  Khan(!), in his infinite wisdom, thought it would be a good to ask two defenseman (combined for three goals) and a goalie about how we might generate some more offense.  Not exactly what I would call the most reliable source of offensive information, but what-the-hay, let's give them a chance to speak their minds...

“We got to find a way to generate more offense. That’s not always skill. A lot of it can be determination.  We just have to make sure we’re sticking with the guys we got, and the guys that are out there have to be more determined.”--Brad Stuart

Stuey is certainly getting a lot more press time this year.  And why not?  He's been our best d-man so far...there I said it.  King Lidas has been getting beat, and not just by speed to the outside, but Kandy Kane put a deke on him Sunday and went around him on the inside...very un-Lidstrom like.  The captain is still world class, but he appears to be slowing down quicker than some had anticipated.  But we'll save that for another time.  Right now, let's see what he had to say about the offense:

“I think we seen that in the last few games, we can’t rely on scoring on the rush, we have to grind it in the offensive zone, take it to the net and create scoring chances that way.  We can’t be trading scoring chances and opening ourselves up defensively. We got to stay patient and play well in our own zone and wait for opportunities on the offensive end.”

Now who could argue with that?  Granted, we have guys like Helm, Draper, Datsyuk and even Bertuzzi working hard to get back.  But it can be extremely taxing skating full tilt from end to end and then expecting to have any gas left in the tank to make a safe clear out of the D-zone without icing the puck.  You follow me?

Next, we talk to Chris Osgood who will probably be seeing a lot of the bench in the short run should Howard catch fire again:

“We got to grind it out, play good defense, give ourselves a chance to win every game, try to pull some games out and get as many points as we can and just hang in there."

So you heard if from the horses' mouths, people.  The mindset in the locker room seems to be this; play a grinding, determined game until our skilled guys can get healthy and we can get back to Red Wings Hockey.

Speaking of a skilled guy...word is that Valterri Filppula saw a hand specialist and is on track to return on Saturday.  This will certainly make the girlfriend happy (and probably yours too, if you have one).  We know that Ville Leino is certainly tapping his toe, waiting for Wally to get back out there so he can get on the scoresheet again.

I'm going to keep preaching it: patience, patience, patience.

Anyone who read about Abel to Yzerman's quest to get Guilherme from Red Wing's Brazil to Hockeytown, you might want to check here.

Looks like "Herm" better start thinking about what to pack, because it only took "The 19" just over a day to donate more than $1,000 in an attempt to get some kid from South America to his very first Detroit Red Wings game.

Pass this story along to anyone, but most importantly to those who say they hate Detroit Red Wings fans.

Way to go, gang.

From the Detroit News...

Kris Newbury has be sent back down to the Grand Rapids Griffins and the Red Wings have re-called Mattias Ritola to the big club.

"We've lost two in a row, and we liked what we saw from Ritola in training camp this year.  Newbury gave us a good little push there, but you know, we are going to try something else -- shake it up a little." --Ken Holland

Ritola (another Swede) at 6'0 and 192 lbs, has an awesome sounding name and has shown some promise over the past few seasons. The Red Wings' fourth round pick in 2005 has 14 points in 31 games played with Grand Rapids so far this season.  He played in two regular season games with the big club in 2007-2008 and registered one assist.

So the Free Press invaded the home of our own St. Nick and snapped some photos of his holiday decor.

Most of the pictures showcase Lidstrom's beautiful home, blonde children, and extravagant holiday decorations like this...

But when we take a closer look at the fire place, we come into contact with something truly bizzare and quite frankly, a little scary...

Now I'm not expert, but these must be the Swedish Christmas Gnomes that are fabled to attack little yellow-haired children that have been naughty all year.  Imagine finding one of these guys in your closet.  No wonder most Swedes are mild mannered and humble.

Even King Lidas looks a little creeped out by these things...

So is this relevant to hockey?  Not really.  But all I'm reading today is the predictable "Chicago blanks Detroit" crap.  When I find some intelligent Red Wings related news, I'll post it.  But I'm not talking about this past weekend anymore, I already told you that.

Besides, who could ever get sick of looking at Lidstrom's ridiculous house?

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.