Wings content to wait it out
George at Snapshots pointed his readers to an article in the Windsor’s Star, which tells us that GM Ken Holland is in British Columbia right now on his annual summer vacation. Management is content with the current roster and is in no rush to sign a forward who could only fit on the third or fourth line. The team has $5 million to spend, but wants to use it on a higher end forward (most of whom have already signed with a team).
“We’d like to add a top-six forward, but in all honesty there’s just not much left in the free agent market that would fit our needs,” Wings senior vice president Jim Devellano said.
“We have about $5-million to spend, but we’re not just going to whittle it away on third- or fourth-line players. We’re content to wait. That’s a lot of money to have available at the trade deadline.”
The only two names left on the market that would intrigue the Wings are Peter Forsberg and Teemu Selanne.
Devellano confirmed the Wings’ brass has given more than casual thought to approaching either player if they decide to play next season.
“They would fit our needs nicely, but only for the short term,” Devellano said. “There has been some discussions about them, but no one knows for sure what they’re going to do yet. But certainly either one would fit our need for a top-six forward.”
On defense, the Wings are quite comfortable with allowing younger defenseman from the Grand Rapids Griffins to come up and grow. The team would love to have Danny Markov return, but only if he takes a salary similar to the one year deal worth $2.5 million that he made last year with the Wings.
Nill talks about Wings’ prospects
John McGourty, an NHL.com staff writer, has a nice article about the Detroit Red Wings’ prospects including thoughts from Assistant GM Jim Nill about Igor Grigorenko, Jan Mursak, Cory Emmerton, Justin Abdelkader, Jakub Kindl, Kyle Quincey, and Jimmy Howard.
Nill’s thoughts on Grigorenko, who signed a one year contract with the Wings this summer:
The Red Wings are thinking that Grigorenko, 24, is as good now as he will ever be and they want to try to reunite him with Datsyuk.
“Igor is coming over in August,” Nill said. “We wanted him to attend our prospects’ camp this month, but he had visa trouble. He’s in training with Ufa. He’s got a one-year, two-way contract, NHL and AHL, but if he’s not on our roster by November, he can go back to Russia. It’s a two-month trial, in effect.
“Igor was a top player, MVP of the World Juniors, but he had an accident the next year and had a rod placed in his femur. Then, he nearly died from a blood clot. It affected his skating. I saw him play about a year ago and his skating is back to 90 percent of what it was. His head and hands have come all the way back, so if the pace of the NHL is no big deal, he’ll be on our team this fall. The pace will be the issue.
“He’ll have a big adjustment anyway with the language and living issues,” Nill continued. “It’s all in how he adapts. We think he’ll be a really good second-line guy that might suit Datsyuk. He has the potential to be a star, but it’s one day at a time to start. For instance, if we want him to go to the minors to catch up with the speed, how does he accept that? It won’t do him any good to struggle up here and not play much. A lot of Europeans don’t respect the AHL, but four weeks in the minors might be the best way to get up to NHL speed.”
Avs’ fan arrested for prostitution
I get home after 7 hours of German to find this amusing article via Deadspin (and yes, I cannot resist the opportunity to make fun of the Avs). It gave me a much needed reason to laugh.
According to the Rocky Mountain News, a 27 year old man named Darren Garcia was arrested for prostitution when he was caught in a police sting. He tried to pass as a female with plenty of makeup and long hair while wearing a Colorado Avalanche jersey. He told the police he has AIDS. This was his sixth prostitution incident with the law.
One of the commenters on Deadspin said, “I see Claude Lemieux got some plastic surgery done.” Another one wrote, “Jose Theodore just posted bail.” Another amusing comment went as follows: “Imagine the guy in Denver reading this and saying to himself, ‘Wait, wasn’t the hooker I picked up yesterday wearing an Avs’ jersey?’”
Update: This blog post has been linked by numerous message boards throughout the web including Red Wings Central and ESPN’s board. I visited these threads to find Wings’ fans insulting the Avs’ fans and it brought a smile to my face. Keep it up guys!
Are the Wings America’s hockey team?
A blogger, Robert Green, conducted his own poll of 700 individuals to determine America’s team in various sports. While the sample size is a decent size, this isn’t a survey that I’m claiming to be accurate because we know nothing of how he went about selecting these individuals, etc. But it’s still interesting to discuss his results.
According to his results, the Wings are America’s hockey team with 37% of the votes. The Red Wings actually held the highest percentage of any team out of their respective sport among the professional leagues. The NY Yankees received 33% for the MLB. The Dallas Cowboys “won” the NFL with 30% of the votes. For the NBA, the LA Lakers came in at 27%.
In college football, Notre Dame tops the popularity poll with 37% (Michigan came in second with 9% of the votes).
Lets Go Wings forum members have been discussing the results on this thread. One member, BlakChamber, noted this stat:
Since the 1989-90 season the Red Wings had 770 wins, 420 losses (including OTL) which equals a .647 winning percentage.
In that same time frame, New Jersey had 711 wins and 477 losses (including OTL) which equals a .594 winning percentage.
Now the Buffalo Sabres did sell the most merchandise this year, but the Wings did come in second without a logo or jersey change. Plus, the Wings have consistently been the top seller or the second top seller for more than a decade. Last year, the Wings dominated the market with 42.3% of the NHL merchandise sales.
If you look at The Sporting News’ NHL section, you will see a fan roster on the left side of the page. The team with the most registered fans? The Red Wings. They have 12,874 registered fans.
1. Detroit Red Wings - 12,874
2. Toronto Maple Leafs - 9,974
3. Boston Bruins - 7,888
4. New York Rangers - 7,462
5. Pittsburgh Penguins - 7,186
6. Philadelphia Flyers - 6,681
7. Colorado Avalanche - 6,389
According to ESPN’s attendance table, the Wings are second in home attendance as they sell out every game during the regular season. Montreal leads the league with the most people in attendance for the entire season and with the highest average per game.
I think the Wings have a pretty convincing argument for being called America’s hockey team. They may be the most loved, but they also are probably one of the more hated teams as well.
Updates
As you may have noticed, hockey news has started to die down and as a result there will be less posting from me. I will continue to post especially if there is anything newsworthy concerning the Wings, but I decided that I deserve a little break from blogging for the next couple of weeks. Basically, you most likely won’t see multiple posts daily or even every other day.
Between my intensive German class and it being the summer, I’ve been staying fairly busy. Plus, I’ve been preparing to interview the Notre Dame, UM, MSU, and Ferris State hockey head coaches for Michigan Hockey (my first two are tomorrow). Just wanted to explain the lower frequency of hockey-related posts…
Review of Hockey: A People’s History
I recently finished reading the book Hockey: A People’s History and wanted to share my thoughts about the book. I interviewed the book’s author, Michael McKinley, back in April and you check it out at this link.
For me personally, the book was not a quick read, but it definitely was an enjoyable one. Between all the reading I do for homework, I had to slowly go through Hockey: A People’s History in order to fully appreciate and take in all of the information. A friend of mine, who is not a hockey fan, saw the book and said it looks like a textbook about hockey. It does resemble a textbook in its size (11.2 x 9.6 x 1.3 inches) and contains 333 pages of comprehensive information.
Anyone who is a history buff and who enjoys the sport of hockey will probably love this book. The pages are of thicker quality with beautiful photographs chronicling the history of the sport. Readers learn about the origin of the sport (both male and female leagues) as well as anecdotes about key players and management. The book also includes how social issues and events impacted the game (ie. In the 1910s, many hockey players were trading in their hockey sweaters for army uniforms - p. 75). Before reading this book, my knowledge of hockey before my lifetime was not very good so I truly learned a lot.
NHL releases 2007-2008 schedule
The NHL released the 2007-2008 schedule early yesterday afternoon. Instead of looking at possible matchups I’d want to catch at the Joe, I was looking at my work schedule (I still get a big smile on my face every time I think about my new internship).
The Wings will open their regular season at home against the defending Stanley Cup champs, the Anaheim Ducks, on October 3. Not only did the Ducks kick us out of the playoffs, but Todd Bertuzzi and Mathieu Schneider left the Winged Wheel this offseason to join the flock.
14 of the last 15 games of the season are against Central Division opponents. Why do we always have to end the season on such a boring note? Seriously.
In mid-October, the Wings go on their first West Coast road trip as they’ll head to LA, Anaheim, San Jose, and Pheonix. Their Western Canada road trip won’t be until mid-February when they’ll go to Dallas, Colorado, Calgary, Vancouver, and Edmonton.
As you know, I am not a fan of the current schedule format by any means. This season, the three Canadian teams in the Western Conference (Northwest Division) will not face their Eastern Conference counterparts (Northeast Division). That’s just wrong. Because of this schedule, the Red Wings will actually be part of the Hockey Day in Canada line-up when they face the Toronto Maple Leafs on the road.
Therefore, the CBC will broadcast four games for its popular Hockey Day in Canada on Feb. 9, beginning with the Detroit Red Wings visiting the Toronto Maple Leafs and ending with Ryan Smyth and the Colorado Avalanche in Vancouver to play the Canucks. In the other matches, the Ottawa Senators will host the Montreal Canadiens, and the Edmonton Oilers will travel south to play the Calgary Flames.
A few concerns for me?
The Wings face the Blackhawks on November 17th at 7pm. My Wolverines face off against the Buckeyes that day in Ann Arbor. Hopefully, it’ll be a noon game and the Wings will let me come in closer to game time as this could be my last home game vs. OSU as a student. The time of the football game has not been released yet.
My finals week for the fall semester is December 13-20. There are four home games during that time period. So I get two weeks off for Christmas vacation and how many home games do we have during that timespan? Two.
Wings still talking with Markov
According to the Detroit Free Press, GM Ken Holland has still been talking with defenseman Danny Markov. The Wings still have interest in re-signing him, but the price Markov is currently asking is still out of our reach.
Holland’s immediate concern is putting together next season’s team. Though it’s largely assembled, Holland confirmed he is in talks with the agent for free-agent defenseman Danny Markov, whose gritty style impressed the team last season. Markov, however, is “looking for more money than we’re prepared to offer right now,” Holland said.
Holland is also perusing the market for another forward, though he has 12 under contract, as well as prospect Igor Grigorenko. Grigorenko didn’t make it to last week’s conditioning camp because of visa problems, but Holland said a visa has been obtained, clearing the path for the Russian to join the team in September.
It had been rumored that the Red Wings were going to be playing in an outdoor game this season much to the delight of many Michigan hockey fans. Unfortunately, that scenario is very unlikely. It currently looks like the Pittsburgh Penguins will be facing the Buffalo Sabres outside.
“Somewhere down the road, we’d be interested,” he said Tuesday, “but I don’t see it in the plans for the upcoming season. But if somebody approached us and we could see the benefit of it and we could make it work, we’re prepared to have further discussions.”
I love the idea of having another outdoor game, but not the date. The likely date is New Year’s Day. Had the game been held in Michigan, I don’t know how crowded it would have been if the game was held on January 1, which is a day for college football. Hockey is probably the furthest from sports’ fans mind on that date.
Detroit Tigers Roundtable
Kurt @ Mack Avenue Tigers kindly asked me to answer a few questions about the Detroit Tigers’ season thus far for his Detroit sports blogger roundtable.
I decided I’d put together an All-Star lineup of Detroit bloggers from all the other major teams in the state of Michigan, as well as my favorite jack-of-all-trades. I joined in as well. Allow me to introduce them:
Christy of Behind the Jersey, a great Red Wings blogger who attends the University of Michigan. She also just found out she’ll be a public relations intern for the Wings this season.
Natalie of Need4Sheed fame. Not only does she do great photoshopping with ‘Sheed and his Pistons teammates, she’s made some DTown swag as well.
Sean of Pride of Detroit, a Detroit Lions blog, and Michigan Sports Center, a U-M blog.
Last, but not least, Big Al of TheWayneFontes Experience, who blogs about all the teams in the state of Michigan.
In other news, I will be interviewing Red Berenson (UM), Rick Comley (MSU), Bob Daniels (Ferris State), Jeff Jackson (Notre Dame) and Mike Vellucci (Plymouth Whalers) for Michigan Hockey’s Coach’s Guide this week and next. Once my interview piece is complete and published in the upcoming issue, I will post the interviews here!
Red Wings sign Christy Hammond
Okay, so the Red Wings really didn’t “sign me,” but I did get a great call this afternoon.
Four weeks ago, I interviewed with the Red Wings for one of five public relations internship positions. I am happy to report that one of my best friends and I both got a position. I start working late next month and I’m incredibly excited about the opportunity!
How will this internship affect BTJ? It shouldn’t. Obviously, I won’t be able to “report” anything I overhear at work as I do want to keep my internship the entire season, but I’ll still post on a consistent basis. I’m aiming to write daily, but it might be every other day considering I’ll work from 4-11 on game nights (after having class from 8-2 plus I have to actually do my homework). The opinions and reactions you find daily on this blog hopefully won’t change at all and I’m looking forward to this internship.
What will I be doing as a PR intern? I will work most game nights, help out at the office on other days (most likely when the Wings are on a road trip), and assist with community relations-type stuff (ie. autograph signings and sending items to charities). It should be a wonderful experience and something I’ve been dreaming of doing for a few years now so I’m very excited!
Update: I’d like to thank everyone who has visited BTJ over the past 48 hours to congratulate me. It was a pleasant surprise to hear from so many individuals. I also want to add that I’m sorry I didn’t say anything after this post for just over a day. I had a big German test this morning and had been focusing my time and efforts on preparing for that. Thanks again everybody and I can’t wait to start next month!
Thanks to Paul @ Kukla’s Korner, Eric @ Off Wing Opinion, Dave @ Gorilla Crouch, Matt @ On the Wings and Beau Dure @ USA Today’s Sports Scope for their kind words and links. My traffic tripled because of this post and the consequent links much to my delight (and surprise).
Christy Hammond, who has blogged about hockey and other topics since she was in high school, will be a PR intern for the Detroit Red Wings. (Via Off Wing Opinion)
We mention it for two reasons:
1. While many bloggers are trying to get into the pressbox, here’s one taking an alternate route.
2. Judging by her resume, we think there’s a good chance she’ll be our boss in a couple of years, so we’re trying to make a good impression.