Father deceives Yzerman and DRW
Last year on January 3, I linked to an article by ESPN the Magazine senior writer Eric Adelson about Steve Yzerman and the Detroit Red Wings reaching out to a little boy named Braxton, who had been diagnosed with cancer. As the big Yzerman fan that I am, I was very touched by the article and even more impressed with how much Yzerman had reached out to Braxton.
Yzerman told the boy to stick around and watch practice. Braxton did, and his eyes locked on the players as they whizzed by. Brendan Shanahan zipped over and handed Braxton a broken stick. Brant gasped, but Braxton hardly raised an eyebrow. “That’s cool,” he said. “But it’s not Steve’s.” Brant grimaced and looked around, hoping no one heard. But behind him, then-goalie Curtis Joseph roared in laughter. The next night, Yzerman invited Braxton to the Detroit locker room.
I enjoyed the piece so much that I emailed the reporter, Eric, with a couple questions. He responded with how he came across this story.
I was actually in town to see my parents last spring, since I grew up in Ann Arbor. I dropped down to The Joe because I wanted to do a story on Yzerman for the Magazine in case he did retire. I always let the beat writers ask all their questions first before butting in, but Yzerman disappeared after only a couple of questions. I waited him out and annoyed media relations guy John Hahn (who is as much behind the Braxton cause as Steve is, by the way). Eventually, the only people in the locker room were John and I and a little kid and his dad. So I asked John who the kid was and he told me. I introduced myself and Brant told me the whole story. I promised myself that I would write the story when they raised Yzerman’s number.
Since that article, I formed a mentor/mentee relationship with Eric so I was disappointed to learn last August that Braxton’s father, Brant, had scammed the Red Wings and Steve Yzerman. Eric felt awful that he had been duped by Brant because as a reporter, he should uncover the truth instead of leading readers astray. He even apologized to me because he felt we met through a story that wasn’t even correct.
He informed me that he would be working on an article to tell the truth about Brant and that Braxton was not sick with cancer. Earlier this week, the second article was finally released uncovering the scam artist that is Brant. The amazing thing is that even after Steve Yzerman invested all this time and money in making a little sick boy happier and being duped in the process, Yzerman says he will reach out to sick kids even more.
A few months after that conversation with Hahn my phone rings. The caller ID reads “BLOCKED.” It’s Yzerman. I tell him the whole story. “Really bizarre,” Yzerman says, without sounding angry or frustrated. In a way, his calm makes sense. Yzerman began his career with one of the worst teams in NHL history. And though he lifted that club into the playoffs, he was nearly shipped to Ottawa, then asked to play second fiddle to a flashy Russian. Over the years he rehabbed from crippling injuries and, by the end of his career, needed to prop himself up on the ice with his stick. But who ever saw Yzerman angry? Who ever saw him give up?
“I’m not going to stop reaching out,” Yzerman says. “Actually, I think I might do it more often.”
And the little boy?
“Braxton is a nice young boy who seems to have been manipulated. I hope he can realize he did something wrong. It’s not too late for him.”
The true story of the hockey hero and the healthy little boy begins now.
Maple Leafs reach out to sick kid
In a similar situation but with a much better outcome, the Toronto Maple Leafs reached out to a little boy Jordan Primeau who has cancer. You can view a great segment done by TSN about Primeau’s trip to a Toronto practice and who he got to meet along the way (including a visit from Alexander Ovechkin).
Marty Henwood, a writer for Hockey.com, compares and contrasts the story of Jordan with Braxton and comes to this conclusion.
Not surprising to those who have followed his career, Yzerman plans to continue a relationship with that kid he once believed faced same obscure future as Jordan Primeau.
A player can always leave the game. Class never retires.
Yzerman may have been duped, yes. But the kid was conned far worse by his own father.
So, maybe, just maybe, the stories of Braxton and Jordan aren’t as different as we think.
1/31 - Quick Links
Since I blogged last week, quite a few things have happened in the hockey world so here are some quick links to these stories.
Wings 3, Coyotes 2
Last night, the Coyotoes grabbed a 2-1 lead, but failed to hold on as the Wings came back to win thanks to captain Nicklas Lidstrom. Unfortunately, defenseman Niklas Kronwall was hurt during the game. According to the new Hockeytown Blog at DRW.com, Kronner had a CT Scan yesterday for his clavicle. It came back negative. He is expected to miss seven to ten days as a result of the injury. While it’s certainly positive to hear that it’s not a serious season-ending injury, it is disappointing to see Kronner make all this progress just to get hurt once again.
An Ode to Nick Lidstrom
Greg @ Out of Bounds wrote a nice post about the Wings captain and why he’s the best player to have ever played at his position. Here’s an excerpt from the post:
The Red Wings have had not only two of the game’s greatest players, but also two of the most humble. In Lidstrom and Steve Yzerman, I don’t know if you could drag a brilliant word about their own play out of them. The new captain is just as gracious and eloquent as his predecessor, conducting himself with the quiet grace that just adds more to his aura. They’re both like Gordie Howe in that way.
Howe, the greatest right winger of all time — and maybe the best player, too — and Yzerman, one of the top five centermen ever, are now joined by Lidstrom, who I’d say became the best defenseman ever about a year or so ago.
This fuddy-duddy, whose memory of watching athletes perform dates back to 1970, is willing to concede that a modern day player is the best, all-time, at what he does. I don’t do that very often. Usually, it kills me to even consider it.
But, as with everything else he does, Nick Lidstrom makes it easy.
Fabian Brunnstrom
Bruce MacLeod @ Red Wings Corner clarifies the whole situation regarding Swedish player Fabian Brunnstrom.
No team can negotiate with Brunnstrom before his Swedish season is complete. That includes any time at the World Championships if he’s chosen to compete there. That means that April or May is the earliest that Brunnstrom can sign a contract with an NHL team.
If I had to pick a team that Brunnstrom will sign with, it’d be the Detroit Red Wings. Correct me if I’m wrong, but it sounds like each team can only offer him an entry-level contract so everyone is pretty much even on that basis. Thus, it’s down to where would he like to play? Hmm. Let’s see. The Red Wings are the top team in the league AND have seven Swedish players on the team. What more could a player want?
Versus picks up contract option
Versus will be showing NHL games for three more years. Now, I don’t mind that Versus is showing NHL games, but that’s only if ESPN comes alongside too. Unfortunately, ESPN dictates a lot about the level of popularity for a sport and if the coverage isn’t there, but on a cable only channel, it’s harder to generate more fans.
Earlier today, I was reading the SportsBusiness Daily roundup regarding Gary Bettman’s 15th anniversary as the commissioner (don’t even get me started on that one) and came across this quote regarding the contract with Versus, which was originally in a Philadelphia Daily article.
“You can’t measure our success whether or not we’re on ESPN. Screw ESPN. Most of our television is local and we do very well in our local markets. We could have gone to ESPN. They offered us bupkus. Then they acted like they had us over a barrel, that we had no place else to go. I never liked the way they treated us.” - Philadelphia Flyers Chair Ed Snider
At a quick glance, it appears that at least one owner likes the attention Versus has given the league and is pleased with that decision. On second note, Ed Snider is also the chairman of Comcast. Versus is a cable channel owned by Comcast. Thus, this quote is completely biased as Snider would want the financial benefit of Versus obtaining the rights to show NHL games instead of a competitor like NHL. Outside of Snider and Comcast, I wonder how many owners truly believe Versus is the right choice in helping the game grow. Obviously, it was a better choice financially speaking for the league as the teams will be splitting $72 million each season for three years, but was it the right choice?
Sports Business Digest argues that the NHL is not making enough money from this deal to make it worthwhile to stick with Versus. Unfortunately, I don’t think the NHL even had a say in the matter as Versus picked up its contract option.
The initial deal between the NHL and Versus only had each team receiving $2 million per team from television revenue. This extension, based on reports, seems to be nothing more than a contract extension with an inflation increase. Seeing as how half of the teams in the NHL currently have an operating income in the red, it seems as though at the very least they should have been seeking a price increase with Versus (they really should had been taking strides to get back on ESPN, but at the very least, get more money from Versus!). I don’t really understand how this doesn’t put the NHL in a disadvantageous position for the next three years. Yes, they’ve seen revenue increases recently, but this is based mostly on an increase in ticket prices, and teams are still operating at a loss…so why would you not try to get a more lucrative contract?
Guest Post: A look from One Fan’s Perspective
PB @ One Fan’s Perspective wrote the following post as a preview so us Wings’ fans could learn a bit more about the team he blogs about, the Phoenix Coyotes. The two teams play Wednesday night at 7:30pm in Detroit. If you don’t already read his blog on a daily basis, you’re missing out on some quality posts even if you aren’t a Coyotes’ fan. And now onto PB’s post…
With everyone selecting the Phoenix Coyotes to be in the cellar of the NHL, having them mere points away from the eighth playoff spot is next to remarkable. Of course, picking up a top-flight goaltender doesn’t hurt either.
The Coyotes were never expected to score goals, to stop goals, or to win games. Teams used to be able to count on an easy two points from the Coyotes, especially if they had a losing streak to break and needed a team to help them feel better about themselves. The Coyotes were easy prey for such a game and it became rather expected. However, now, teams have to be ready for a high-energy hockey club that will not quit and as a result are stealing games from teams when it used to be the other way around.
Radim Vrbata was a great off-season acquisition for the Coyotes when they traded Kevyn Adams to Chicago for his services. Vrbata has 21 goals for the year, a career high for him that has eclipsed his earlier career best of 18, and Adams has been on the shelf for Chicago for the better part of the season. Earlier in the summer, Coyotes General Manager Don Maloney put Adams on waivers, but being able to trade for a player to get something in return was a bonus.
Peter Mueller has developed into a solid rookie for Phoenix. He has 13 goals on the season, second only to Jonathan Toews and in front of Patrick Kane. Mueller can be used in virtually any situation as he has become an extremely versatile player. Mueller has been playing on the top line with Shane Doan and the two have developed a chemistry on the ice where when Mueller passes the puck, it ends up on Doan’s stick.
Shane Doan has a ten-game point streak and has a point in twelve games played. He is second on the team in goals scored with 16. Doan’s game has stepped up in intensity as he finds ways to lead his team into new situations and to find ways to win hockey games instead of lose them. He is now the ranking veteran on the young hockey club and as Shane Doan goes, the Phoenix Coyotes go as well.
Obviously, the acquisition of Ilya Bryzgalov has been a catalyst to push the franchise forward in their development faster than expected. The team plays confidently in front of him and are not afraid to make mistakes as Bryzgalov will be there to make the important save. The goaltending position is the most important one in hockey to fill, like the pitcher in baseball, or the quarterback in football, and if the goaltending is not there, the team usually follows suit.
With their record five games above .500 at 26-21-2, and better than average road record of 15-10, the Coyotes begin the next half of their season in their comfort zone starting with a game Tuesday night in Columbus, and Wednesday night against the Red Wings in Detroit.
To say that the Red Wings have owned the Coyotes is a gross understatement. For the past three seasons the Coyotes have only won two games and that was back in the 2005-2006 campaign where the two hockey clubs split their series 2-2. After that, the Red Wings have won seven straight. However, with the last two games, the Coyotes have played their counterparts tough, almost squeaking by with a point in the last contest, except for an ill-fated pass by Steven Reinprecht and then Pavel Datsyuk takes the turnover and does what he does best by scoring timely goals.
Based on the recent success of the Phoenix Coyotes, the home arena in Glendale, Arizona should be full of screaming Coyotes’ fans, right? Unfortunately, it has yet to take place, even though momentum is swinging over some fans who have seen exciting hockey of late. Each time the Red Wings roll into town, the building is jam packed with Red Wings fans, some who are residents that only come out to hockey games when the Red Wings are in town. The marketing staff has taken some creative efforts trying to keep the numbers of Coyotes’ fans higher such as raising ticket prices for only Red Wings games.
The opinions vary greatly as to the success of this marketing endeavor - if one is a transplant Red Wings fan, it is not fair that tickets are higher for those games only - if one is a Coyotes fan that has a difficult time cheering for their team because tickets are easy to come by for the opposition, then the strategy, to them, is a good one.
However, I still state that winning causes these issues to resolve themselves, and the Red Wings, with all of their championships and history, are an easy team to cheer for. Besides, if any fan of the opposing team, Red Wings or otherwise, want to get tickets at or above original face value, there are plenty of places to find them.
The Coyotes have been steadily improving their performances against the Red Wings for each game this season, I don’t expect the last one to be any different. In fact, in many ways, the Coyotes strive to be as successful a franchise as the Red Wings are right now. Head coach Wayne Gretzky feels that from Ken Holland on down that the Red Wings are a classy organization and they win games the right way through hard work and execution.
The Coyotes haven’t quit yet, and I don’t expect that they will against the Red Wings Wednesday night.
Break from Blogging
All but four Red Wings are now on a mini-vacation while the All-Star Game takes place in Atlanta on Sunday after ending their three game road trip with a 2-1 victory over the evil Anaheim Ducks.
I will also be taking a short break from blogging through Sunday’s game as I turn 21 (woo!) on Saturday and will be far away from my computer starting Friday at midnight.
I will watch the All-Star Game and I’ll post a recap of it sometime Sunday night (hopefully), but there will be no posts other than that.
If the NHL was a high school…
HockeyDrunk said that if the NHL was a high school…
Anaheim would be the kid that beats you up and steals your lunch money.
Detroit would be the foreign exchange student.
Nashville would be that kid with the dad in the military. He’s cool, but you don’t want to be best friends with him because you know he’ll be moving soon.
Ottawa would be the kid that breezes through the school year and then blows the final exams.
New York Islanders would be the kid who has his/her whole life planned out already. Or at least the next 14 years.
San Jose would be the kid that always over studies for the finals and ends up bombing them.
St. Louis would be the smooth talking kid who gets you to trade your snack pack to him for half an apple.
For the rest of the entertaining post, be sure to visit HockeyDrunk.
Datsyuk becoming a quote favorite
I don’t know about you all, but recently I find myself consistently laughing at Pavel Datsyuk’s quotes in the paper. I feel like he is more comfortable with English now and is finally opening up (or he has been in awhile and it just hasn’t made it into the papers until late).
Anyways, the team went and participated in a Huntington Beach police simulation with their dads (Henrik Zetterberg sat out from the activity). Here’s Pavel Datsyuk talking about his strategy:
“I with Homer and Fill,” Datsyuk said. “We special KGB group, me and Homey and Fill. We have European style, jump in and everybody shoot. Ask later, who still alive.”
From the other quotes, it sounds like the entire team enjoyed the activity.
In other random news, Red Wings TV is doing a three part series with BTJ favorite Niklas Kronwall at the 2008 Detroit auto show. In the first segment, he looks at a new Rolls-Royce car and even asked if the car came with a driver because he always sees people with drivers in those cars. I’m hoping he looks at a Porsche in one of the next segments and I’ll be happy. You can view the first clip below.
2008 All-Star Game
Versus did a commercial shoot at the Joe a couple weeks back with Nicklas Lidstrom and Henrik Zetterberg. You can view the “behind the scenes” clip here:
Apparently after completion of this shoot, Niklas Kronwall bowed down to Zetterberg in the locker room since he was now a big star.
Unfortunately, Henrik Zetterberg has a sore back (yes, again) and will be unable to play in the All-Star Game. But don’t worry Wings fans, there will still be 4 Wings out there representing the team (head coach Mike Babcock, Nicklas Lidstrom, Chris Osgood, and Pavel Datsyuk).
Holland hopes to re-sign Cleary, Lilja, & Babcock
GM Ken Holland hopes to re-sign forward Dan Cleary, defenseman Andreas Lilja, and head coach Mike Babcock. He would like to get Cleary and Lilja taken care of before the February 27th trade deadline so he knows how much cap room he’ll have next year and if he’d be willing to make a trade.
The Wings can’t afford to give Cleary that much of a raise over the $675,000 he is making this season; ideally, he’ll come in somewhere around $2 million.
“We need to figure out where we’re at with Dan Cleary, because it’s hard to just let players walk out the door,” Holland said. “I’d be uncomfortable to go out and get a potential unrestricted free agent (via trade) and then have all these players leave. Ideally, we’ll have a deal in place with Dan Cleary, and then I know what money I’ll have under the cap, and we can set our sights on other things. If we don’t have a deal, we’ve got some decisions to make.”
Lilja is currently making $1 million and would like to get a raise. The two sides aren’t too far apart, but the Wings aren’t willing to give him a large raise. He could possibly get something for $2.5 million over two seasons. Personally, he’d be the one Wing I’d be content to let go. We have quite a few top defensive prospects that I feel we can afford to “lose” him and save money by allowing a younger player to step in and fill his roster spot. He has been playing better this season, but I still feel like he’s one of the bigger liabilities on the team.
Head coach Mike Babcock’s contract could potentially expire this off-season if he elects not to renew his option year. It doesn’t sound like he will, but that’s because he and Holland will likely sign him to a longer term contract instead of just another option year.
“I basically have told Mike that I want him back next year,” Holland said. “I thought he was a good coach when we got him; I think he’s become an even better coach in his 2 1/2 years here.
“I don’t anticipate he’s going to exercise his option. We’ve talked briefly about that. For no real reason, we haven’t really sat down with him yet. But he’s done a great job for us, he’s been a real important factor in the success we’ve had in the 2 1/2 seasons he’s been here. I think it’s just a matter of him sitting down with us, and I don’t anticipate anything getting in the way of getting a deal done. We’d like to do one with some term, and I think Mike likes it in Detroit and wants that, too.”
Babcock seems content to stay and it’s just a matter of how long the Wings would like him to remain here in Detroit.
“This is what I can tell you,” he said. “Mike Babcock’s dream job is to coach the Red Wings. I’m going to be here as long as they want me to be here. I’ve worked now in this organization really for five years — two in the minors and three here. I would have never left Anaheim if they’d wanted me, and I won’t leave here if they want me. We’ll work stuff out. I’m not concerned about that one bit.”
Now that the team is finally Babcock’s and the players have fully bought into his system, we are reaping the benefits as fans. I am all for keeping Babcock around for another three years.
Zetterberg stars in Room Service
In a recent Detroit Free Press article, it mentioned Henrik Zetterberg and Swedish girlfriend/model Emma Andersson were featured in this show called Room Service last year. Apparently this show helps the individuals remodel a room in their house. The show’s hosts came all the way from Sweden to tape this segment. So what do I do? Search the internet in the hopes of finding said show.
The show is entirely in Swedish, yet I found myself watching the entire hour long show instead of doing my homework. I seemed entranced by their foreign tongue and they seemed to laugh over some really little things so that was entertaining plus I really didn’t want to do my homework so this helped with the whole procrastination deal.
The Free Press article says the show was filmed last year, I think it was the week of October 10th to be exact. Based on how the Joe looked and a couple other factors, I know that it was filmed this season. The game shown was against the Calgary Flames and after the second period, it was 3-2. The game on October 10th was against Calgary and ended 4-2 (but was 3-2 after the second). And the show featured highlights of a Hank goal as well as a Rafalski shot (which was then tipped in by Homer). So I would say 95% sure it happened that week.
What I also found entertaining was as they pulled up to the gated community Zetterberg lives in, I found myself recognizing it. The car then drove up to the security guy who allowed him in and they drove by showing other houses in the neighborhood. I recognized those as well. Apparently a high school friend of mine lives in the same incredibly exclusive neighborhood as Henrik Zetterberg.
They even showed the show’s hosts at the Wings game and two of them rode the zamboni during an intermission.
Overall, if you have time to waste, it’s an entertaining watch (surprisingly) and they got a pretty nice kitchen out of the deal.
Wings defeat Sharks, 6-3
Last night, the Detroit Red Wings started out their father-son three game road trip on the right foot with a 6-3 victory over the San Jose Sharks. Jon @ Sharkspage was taking photographs at last night’s game and you can view his great photo gallery here.
Niklas Kronwall - Photo taken by Jon @ Sharkspage
BTJ favorite defenseman Niklas Kronwall scored his fifth goal of the season last night. Last year Kronner only registered 22 points, he’s already up to 25 offensive points this season. His older brother Mattias came along with Kronwall on the road trip.
But Kronvall put Detroit back on top midway through the second when Ozolinsh deflected his centering pass into the net. Detroit added the two power-play goals from Lidstrom and Holmstrom.
“When they tied it up, they kept coming pretty hard,” said Lidstrom, who added two assists. “Once we got that goal I think that settled them down a little bit and got them back on their heels. It gave us a boost.”
As IwoCPO @ Abel to Yzerman mentioned, the Wings are kind of owning Sharks goaltender Evgeni Nabokov lately. Nabokov is now 0-6-1 against Detroit in his last seven games.
San Jose? You thought the Wings were dancing in Marty Turco’s head? Yeah, but he’s only one guy. The Sharks entire organization is now officially…affected. …
Yeah. You do Nabby. Four straight penalties in the second (even the one resulting from Hasek’s embarrassing tumble to the ice) didn’t help. Look. Hasek’s ours. We appreciate his insanity. It’s grown on us. But there are times you just turn away and pretend thing don’t happen. When Hasek dove, I just kind of started rocking back and forth, thinking of other images that make me happy. Blocks of cheddar, puppies, ships at sea.
And yes, it was a ridiculous tumble. I just laughed and said to myself, “That’s our crazy Czech.” When Hasek is acting insane like that, you know he’s playing in his zone and things are going well.