Rangers 5, Panthers 0
On Sunday evening, I had the pleasure of watching the NY Rangers defeat the Florida Panthers, 5-0, at Madison Square Garden. Despite the fact that my luggage was stolen (in part due to my stupidity, but let’s not dwell on that), I had a fantastic time in NYC. I got to see a variety of things including the Rangers game and take a tour of MSG on Monday. I also stopped by the NHL Store earlier today.
Here are a few photos from my weekend in NYC…
I will be out of town until Saturday evening so unless something huge happens concerning the Wings tomorrow morning before I leave, I will be unable to post any trade deadline news until I get back. Sorry!
Out of town until March 2nd
I am leaving for NYC tomorrow morning and will not return until late Monday evening. I then am volunteering in Detroit with my church through Saturday evening. I may check my email and the news a couple times while in New York, but I can’t make any guarantees. I will try to update BTJ on Tuesday morning before I leave for Detroit if there were any important signings (ie. Darren McCarty) or trades relevant to the Wings. Otherwise, you will sadly have to look elsewhere for your trade deadline information. I highly suggest checking out Paul @ Kukla’s Korner and Lyle @ Spector’s Hockey for the latest hockey news and credible trade rumors.
If you haven’t already, be sure to check out my game day thread for this western Canada road trip @ Winging It In Motown and the other BTJ posts that I have published this week:
Detroit Red Wings roundup
Kings pick Ellis off of waivers
Harmless speculation about a rumor
Wings to offer McCarty a contract?
Lidstrom hurts knee in game
Darren McCarty scores hat trick in GR
DRW injury roundup
As you likely know, the Detroit Red Wings have had some injury trouble of late and I’m here to make sure you know who’s hurt, with what, when they expect to be back, and how the Wings are filling those extra roster spots.
Nicklas Lidstrom
On Monday in the Wings game against Colorado, Ian Laperriere checked Nicklas Lidstrom into the boards. Lidstrom fell to the ice and awkwardly got up. While trying to skate to the bench, he looked like a little calf trying to walk for his first time. They immediately tested him for a concussion, and he passed. They then examined his knee and determined he should not return to the game. We finally got the results back from the MRI today and fortunately there is no tear in Lidstrom’s MCL, which is great news. Since he did sprain his MCL, he will be out for three weeks and is resting his knee this week by limiting himself to upper body workouts.
“Very relieved it wasn’t a tear or anything more major than what it is now,” Lidstrom said. “At least that’s good.”
Lidstrom said he’ll probably have the second test to determine if he suffered a concussion next week.
Lidstrom is the only DRW player who will not make it on the three game road trip to Calgary, Vancouver, and Edmonton.
Brian Rafalski
Detroit’s number two defenseman is out with a sore groin and has missed the last three games. Rafalski skated Wednesday, but isn’t ready to see any playing time just yet. The Wings do not know when he will return. To make room for some of the Grand Rapids call-ups, Rafalski was placed on injured reserve.
“I haven’t gotten to top speed yet. It’s better than yesterday. I went 20 minutes yesterday and 40 minutes today.”
Niklas Kronwall
Detroit’s number three defenseman and BTJ favorite hopes to return to play this weekend in the game against Vancouver after suffering a sprained clavicle injury back on January 30th. Initially, he was expected to return within ten days, but has now missed ten games.
“It feels good; The last couple of days have been really good,” said Kronwall. “Obviously, I hope for Friday, but they might have a different agenda. Like I said before, we don’t want to take any chances.”
A day after Kronner gave that quote to Bruce MacLeod, he told Ansar Khan that he will not play in Friday’s game, but possibly Saturday’s game against Vancouver.
Dominik Hasek
Detroit’s starting goaltender is out with inflammation of his hip-flexor and has been since February 11th. What was supposed to be a minor setback and precautionary time out has turned into a longer recovery than originally anticipated. Head coach Mike Babcock hopes that Hasek will start skating soon, possibly even while he’s with the team on their western Canada road trip. The Wings do not have a time frame for when he might be ready to play in a game.
Dan Cleary
The gritty forward suffered a fractured jaw in multiple spots after a puck shot by teammate Mikael Samuelsson hit him during the game against Toronto on February 9th. He opted for surgery and a shorter recovery time. The surgery required three metal plates and 12-15 screws. Cleary will miss 6-8 weeks of action so he should return right before the start of playoffs.
The Roster Fillers
Jimmy Howard was called up after Hasek’s injury appeared. Twice, starter Chris Osgood allowed three goals in the first period and in both games, Howard had to step in afterwards to try and give the team a boost. He then started the game against Dallas and allowed just one goal. He will actually start Saturday’s game against the Canucks since Chris Osgood is starting on Friday.
Kyle Quincey was called up last Friday after Rafalski hurt his groin. Derek Meech, who has been a healthy scratch for a fair amount of games this season, really stepped up when Nicklas Lidstrom went down on Monday. He finished the game with a +2 after notching a goal and an assist.
On Friday, we will get to see the NHL debut of defensive prospect Jonathan Ericsson, who is so big that the team had to take some time to find a jersey that would actually fit him.
“I’ve had a lot of help along the way,” Ericsson said. “You have to have some luck your way, too.”
Ericsson has seven goals and 18 assists, with a plus-4 rating, in 54 games with the Grand Rapids Griffins this season.
“I was very pumped,” Ericsson said about how he felt when he heard of his promotion to the Wings. “I’ll be a little bit nervous (Friday), but that’ll be a positive for me.”
Babcock is looking forward to seeing how Chris Chelios handles the young players and how Ericsson performs in the big league.
“It’s a great opportunity for us, as an organization, to see all these young ‘D’,” Babcock said. “We are calling up Ericsson as of now. It’ll be a good opportunity for Cheli to drive the bus and the rest of them to figure it out.”
Forward Mark Hartigan was also called up now that Matt Ellis was picked off of waivers by LA.
Kings pick Ellis off of waivers
Yesterday, the Red Wings sent forward Matt Ellis to Grand Rapids so that he could get some more playing time. Unfortunately, he had to be placed on waivers before making it to GR and the LA Kings picked him off of waivers earlier today.
Ellis was a fan favorite in GR and a former team captain of the Grand Rapids Griffins so there are some Wings fans who are not too pleased with Holland’s decision to place Ellis on waivers. One fan is Matt @ On the Wings:
Ellis was a real asset to this organization, much more so than Hartigan, and I’m sorry to see him go. The guy built a reputation as one of the hardest-working players in the system and the reward he gets is being cast off. If the Wings did this as a favor to help him get to a team that could use him more, that’s nice, I suppose. You still hate to see the guy have to uproot his young family and move 3/4 the way across the country.
Ansar Khan @ MLive.com got a quote from veteran Kris Draper about Ellis:
“You can’t say enough about him, great personality, great work ethic,” Wings center Kris Draper said of Ellis. “It was tough on him not being able to play as much as he would have liked, but anything that the coaches asked of him, he did. He came to the rink every day with a smile. Those are the kind of guys you love having around. You hope he gets an opportunity and makes the most of it.”
IwoCPO @ Abel to Yzerman is a bit suspicious with how this all played out:
Was Matt Ellis a difference maker? Nope. Was he going to be? Probably not. But this whole thing’s curious, the timing of it, the selection of Hartigan–not the best guy in the room from what I’ve read–over Ellis, the McCarty thing and the deadline all wrapped up in a nice little bundle of confusion.
I’m going to say we hold off on judgment until the 27th. I’d like to see how this all pans out.
Head coach Mike Babcock said that it was fair to Ellis to place him on waivers for a chance to get more playing time since he wasn’t getting it from Babcock. Ellis played just four games in the last 19.
“(Ellis) was in a situation where I wasn’t using him,” Babcock said. “He wasn’t fitting in on a regular basis. He’ll play in the NHL for a long time because he’s so determined. (But) he was getting less and less opportunity here.”
What do I think about all this? I am surprised that Holland didn’t use the two week conditioning stint that he did with Derek Meech earlier this season. Why put Ellis on waivers when the odds are that a character guy like that will get picked up? I just don’t know. Perhaps Holland felt that we have other players similar to Ellis’ style of play and that he wouldn’t be as missed as a player like Aaron Downey (hypothetically speaking). Another possibility is that Holland knew he might have to make room for some player on the roster by the trade deadline and didn’t quite see Ellis fitting his plans for next season and decided to risk it on the waivers. Who knows…
Harmless speculation about a rumor
Like most college students, I am a Facebook user. So when a friend told me that a legit looking Valtteri Filppula profile updated his status with “traded to Atlanta…”, I had to take a look myself. It is probably the most legit looking hockey player Facebook profile I’ve seen, but that still doesn’t mean I believe it. I just think it’s fun to speculate a trade where GM Ken Holland sends Filppula to Atlanta in return for Hossa, who would have to sign an extension for Holland to do this (I’d believe at least).
Here’s a small screencap of Filppula’s profile as of 11:06pm EST:
By 11:14pm, “Filppula” had removed his status and the portion on the profile thanking Wings fans:
If it’s not legit and it’s just some random guy who pretended to be Filppula and got over 125 Finnish friends and is now laughing at us, I will be quite impressed with the effort. Than again, I’m not saying I believe this is the real Filppula. But it is fun to speculate…
Update: As of 12am, you can no longer view his wall. By 12:15am, the profile picture changed to what you see below:
Yep it’s official, I’m a Facebook stalker but it’s my job to keep readers updated so that’s my excuse.
Update - 11am on Wednesday: After I went to sleep, his profile was apparently deleted. But right before it was, “there was a caption on a pic of him and Hudler that said “Me and this midget are going to win a Cup in Atlanta.” For more information and some fans who have done their googling homework, read the comments below this post.
On one hand, this could make sense because Hossa could command the price of a Filppula and Hudler type player and we may not have heard anything because GM Ken Holland is trying to sign Hossa to a longer term contract before the trade goes through.
On the other hand, if this was actually true I feel we might have heard about it through some other avenue and why would Filppula know already?
If I had to pick a side, I would say it’s not true, but the guy behind the profile is a genius with waay too much time on his hand and actually knows Filppula a bit too well. But apparently since everyone has an opinion on this facebook trade, it’s quite an interesting topic to speculate and even if nothing comes of it like I suspect, it’s been fun.
Update - 12:40pm on Wednesday: Thanks to Bruce MacLeod at Red Wings Corner, we know that Valtteri Filppula is at the Wings practice right now.
Valtteri Filppula is on the ice at Joe Louis Arena right now, practicing with the rest of the Red Wings. That means that the intriguing facebook find posted on Behind The Jersey — a Filppula facebook page saying that he had been traded to Atlanta — isn’t valid.
As I said before, I posted this because there was a small chance it was legit (but an unlikely one) and I just thought it was fun to speculate the possibilities of a big trade going down like that. Unlike certain websites, I am not one to talk a lot about rumors, but this was a hard one to pass up. And the many LetsGoWings.com forum members who have commented on this 23 page thread regarding this very topic will agree with me.
Update - 3:30pm on Wednesday
Bruce MacLeod talked to Filppula after practice today and he says it isn’t his Facebook account.
I talked with Filppula after practice. That’s not his facebook account.
Facebook Filppula is now back up and he’s apparently single now. Here’s a screencap:
Now I just wish I knew who the brains behind this operation was because this was certainly impressive to say the least.
Update - 6pm on Thursday:
In conclusion, this rumor will be laid to rest. It was fun to speculate, which is why I kept updating this post (plus it was a nice break from homework and exams). Both Kevin Allen @ USA Today and Craig Custance @ Atlanta Journal-Constitution briefly addressed the Facebook Filppula rumor in articles today:
You know that the hockey world has entered the 21st century when the Atlanta Thrashers and Detroit Red Wings had to deny a rumor that appeared on a bogus Valtteri Filppula Facebook page earlier this week.
Myth: Valtteri Filppula said on his Facebook page that he’d been traded from Detroit to Atlanta in a deal for Marian Hossa.
Truth: It was a fake. Filppula has contacted the Red Wings front office to alert them that somebody is using his name on Facebook. Actually, it’s fairly common for people to do that, which is pretty scary. More than one of the Thrashers has said people have used their names online, and had conversations with friends and families posing as them. Hey, that’s a story.
In the comment section of Craig’s article, a reader asked how he knows which rumors to look into and which one to ignore. Craig’s response:
You look at the source. But even something like the Facebook rumor, I made some calls/texts/emails because in this day in age it wouldn’t be surprising if that’s how a story like this broke.
While the guy or girl behind the Facebook Filppula profile probably had a good laugh at us Wings fans speculating a trade of this magnitude, it looks like Filppula has actually talked to the Wings front office about the fake profile so I wonder if any action will be taken.
Thanks to the many readers for visiting Behind the Jersey over the last 48 hours. BTJ usually does not address rumors, but I hope you still find it a good source for Red Wings news and opinions and decide to visit again!
Wings to offer McCarty a contract?
According to a Scott Burnside column on ESPN.com, GM Ken Holland believes the team will offer Darren McCarty a contract by next Tuesday.
Detroit GM Ken Holland told ESPN.com Tuesday the team is expected to offer erstwhile Grind Line member Darren McCarty a contract before Tuesday, the deadline for players to sign with teams and be eligible to play in the playoffs.
Holland said McCarty isn’t yet in NHL shape, but thinks McCarty may add some gritty depth to a Wings team that will enter the playoffs as one of the top Stanley Cup contenders.
Thoughts?
Update - Wednesday:
Ansar Khan @ MLive.com has direct quotes from Holland supporting Burnside’s column.
“We’ll very likely make him a contract offer,” Red Wings general manager Ken Holland said on Tuesday. “We’ll make a final assessment in the next day or two.”
Holland said he was waiting to get a report from assistant GM Jim Nill and team vice president Steve Yzerman, who watched McCarty play Tuesday for the Grand Rapids Griffins, in their game against San Antonio.
By the way, McCarty scored a goal in that game and appears to be be playing much better in Grand Rapids than he did in Flint.
Darren McCarty netted his fourth goal of the season just 41 seconds into the third to make it a 5-3 contest. Ritola’s shot deflected off a Rampage stick right to McCarty, who roofed the puck over Tordjman’s glove from the bottom of the right circle. He also had an assist on the night, giving him seven points (4-3—7) in six games as a Griffin.
As Holland later said in the article by Khan, they would likely sign him before the trade deadline and then have him stay in Grand Rapids to continue his conditioning because they don’t believe he is ready for the NHL level of play just yet.
Lidstrom hurts knee in game
Team captain (and all that is Detroit) Nicklas Lidstrom injured his knee after being checked by Ian Laperriere during the first period of the Wings-Avs game. It all looked bad and it looked like he may have even hit his head on the boards too. Lidstrom has missed about 22 games in his entire career, but he didn’t look good after the hit. He will not return to tonight’s game.
If Nicklas Lidstrom is seriously hurt, I may actually cry because he is the lifeblood of this team and we cannot afford injuries to our top three freaking defenseman. I’ll update this post with more information when I have more to share.
I can bet you that GM Ken Holland is a bit stressed at the moment and you can bet that his trading deadline plans will for sure change if Lidstrom’s knee injury is at all serious.
Update: It appears the injury is not as bad as I had feared, but head coach Mike Babcock isn’t known for his accuracy on recovery times for sport injuries.
Team spokesman John Hahn said that the initial report was that Lidstrom’s injury wasn’t serious, but he was being held out the rest of the game as a precaution.
POST-GAME UPDATE: Coach Mike Babcock said that the extent of Lidstrom’s injury isn’t known yet, but that he might be out a week to 10 days.
“He’s going to be fine,” said Babcock of Lidstrom. “I don’t know if he’s going to be out a week or 10 days or what. He’s got something mild in the inside of his knee. I don’t know what the technical term is, but it just means that he’s not playing right away.”
Update - Wednesday: Lidstrom had personal commitments on Tuesday, a day the team was given off, so he is having his MRI sometime today. Hopefully, the MRI can confirm what Babcock has said about the extent of the injury. As it stands right now, Lidstrom has been diagnosed with a minor MCL sprain, but we’ll know for sure after the MRI.
“I’d say he’ll be out a week and then we’ll reassess,” Holland said.”It’s one of the first times Nick has been hurt, so when you see it, it’s a concern.”
Lidstrom was injured six minutes into Monday’s 4-0 victory in Colorado on a hit from Ian Laperriere, who checked Lidstrom into the glass and drove a forearm/elbow into the defenseman’s chin.
“Our first concern was his head, which appears to be OK,” Holland said.
McCarty scores hat trick in GR
Former Detroit Red Wings forward Darren McCarty scored a hat trick on Friday evening in his home debut with the Grand Rapids Griffins. Not only did he play a solid two-way game, the Griffins were selling $1 hot dogs and Labatt beer. Not too shabby.
Steph @ No Pun Intended got to see the game firsthand and you can view her photographs here including the one below.
Photo taken by Steph @ No Pun Intended
Here’s what she had to say about Darren’s play:
As it turns out, we were in for a surprise. The 35 year old trying to break back into the NHL decided to put on a show, scoring 5:53 into the first period, 2:17 into the second and 2:45 into the third for a hat trick that had the arena louder that I’ve ever heard it. Along with hats, a whole lot of $1 hot dogs made their way onto the ice, as did, at one point, a shoe. McCarty seemed extremely fit and conditioned, looked good all night long, and was obviously a huge factor in the game. Aside from the hat trick, he also added an assist, to record his first career four point night, and was named the first star of the game. The Griffins as a whole had a spectacular evening, in particular Adam Berkhoel in net and Jamie Tardif with a great first period fight, and they went on to win 6-3 over the Lake Erie Monsters.
The Grand Rapids Press wouldn’t be surprised to see McCarty on the Wings’ roster before the trade deadline. The article also reported that other NHL teams have expressed interest in McCarty.
Even before his homecoming weekend — after his hat trick Friday he was held scoreless in a 6-4 loss the Milwaukee Admirals on Saturday but did record his first fight — McCarty was standing out on the Griffins.
He still looks a step slow at times — even McCarty will acknowledge that his conditioning needs a little more work — but he’s always in the right spot on the ice. He rarely makes a dumb play and still possesses the soft hands that helped him score 126 career NHL goals.
Suddenly, McCarty looks like a pretty good late-season addition for the Red Wings, especially if the team doesn’t make a trade before the Feb. 26 deadline.
I haven’t personally seen McCarty play since his return to hockey so I can’t say with any personal knowledge what the Wings should do. If he truly hasn’t lost his step and he would be a better defensive alternative to Aaron Downey, then I would be fine with the Wings signing McCarty. I’m a big McCarty fan and I’d love to see him back in the Detroit uniform. But before this losing streak, I would’ve passed on him this season. However, it wouldn’t hurt to put some more grit in the lineup at least until Dan Cleary can return from his fractured jaw injury. I am also a big Aaron Downey fan, who is a younger alternative, so I don’t want to see him lose his hard earned roster spot unless McCarty truly would be a better player for the team. I don’t want Downey to lose his roster spot because McCarty was a Detroit fan favorite back in the day.
What happened?
On Wednesday before I left for work and then a weekend in Chicago, things were looking a bit worrisome. Dan Cleary out with a fracture jaw. Dominik Hasek injures his hip. Niklas Kronwall was still out with a sprained clavicle. And we had lost four straight. Nothing impressive, right?
Well, I get back Saturday night from a great weekend in Chicago to hear the following:
1) Brian Rafalski is now out with a sore groin so we now are missing two of our top defenseman AND our starting goaltender AND one of our top grittier forwards. Fortunately, Rafalski’s injury is just day-to-day, but we all know groin injuries take forever to heal and we don’t seem to have a lot of luck with them.
2) The Wings lost 5-1 on Friday evening. At home. To Columbus. It was their fifth straight loss. Chris Osgood was pulled for a second time after allowing three goals in the first period.
3) Due to Ozzie’s play of late (and the fact he isn’t getting the help from defense that he needs in part due to injuries), head coach Mike Babcock has decided to start Jimmy Howard today in goal.
Like I said, this is the lowest Wings have felt this season.
IwoCPO @ Abel to Yzerman:
So you’ve lost five in a row. You’re playing the hottest team in the West. Your goalie’s been pulled the last two games and the defense looks slower than six Hatchers. You’re starting a kid even though your starter’s owned Dallas his whole career. You can’t score even strength and your coach is playing Scrabble in the sauna.
But don’t fret. There’s always Turco.
But that’s not going to be enough. I’m thinking we’re looking at 6.
Each weekend I leave, I come back to find more bad news. I just hope the trend doesn’t continue when I visit NYC this next weekend.
Yzerman inducted into MSHOF
Last night, former Red Wings captain Steve Yzerman was inducted into the Michigan Sports Hall of Fame. Unfortunately, I was not able to watch the live stream online due to some stupid group meetings and right now I can’t seem to get his induction speech to play all the way through on WingsTV. It goes through about four and a half minutes of introduction/video and then Yzerman says about two sentences worth before it cuts off. Is this happening to anyone else or is it just me?
I have updated the audio and gallery pages on my Behind the Jersey: No. 19 website with the clips and photos from last night.
George @ Snapshots has already done a great roundup of what went on last night so I’m just going to reiterate some of the things said.
Bob Wojnowski of the Detroit News did a brief two minute video interview with Steve Yzerman yesterday. You can view the clip here. Below are some of the remarks he made in the interview.
I don’t really have a particular allegiance to either school [U of M and MSU] so I’m pretty free to jump on whatever bandwagon is hot at the time. …
I’m starting to get comfortable in a suit. I don’t make a lot of decisions. I’m certainly welcome to give my input…I enjoy being part of the process and participating in all of the conversations and discussions on all aspects of the team and really learning a lot in the process. …
In my opinion, it was more than my time to retire.
The Detroit News also had a video montage with interview audio excerpts from the different inductees, which you can check out here. Wings owner Mike Ilitch had a few things to say about Yzerman:
Jimmy D and I knew he was going to be good, but we had no idea he’d be a Hall of Famer and win three Cups for us. He’s been the face of our team for 20-something years. It’s a big thrill for me to see him recognized. He loves this city. The fans adore him and he knows that and he adores them. It’s a big love affair.
Don Shane, the sports anchor for Channel 7, interviewed Yzerman at Max S. Fisher hall and here are a couple snippets of what he had to say:
I always take notice of the Michigan athletes and you kind of quietly root for them and almost adopt them as your own whether it be team or an individual athlete.
When national pride is on the line, it really was an emotional victory. I really cherish that [winning the Olympic gold medal in 2002]. It was a once in a lifetime opportunity for me.
The Detroit Free Press had a few quotes from Yzerman about being inducted into the MSHOF as well as making the transition from player to management.
“What really strikes me is that Michigan continues to produce great athletes year after year in all facets of sports,” he said. “You start to read up on some of these athletes and you realize how many tremendous athletes there are out there.”
The former Red Wings captain is now an assistant general manager who works closely with Holland. He said he was surprised how much he still enjoys being around the game.
“I really enjoy being in hockey. I’ve found it a pleasant surprise, whether it be an NHL game, which I watch very closely, college games, or the occasional junior game.”
He said he is getting a chance to learn a lot without being in the spotlight “or having to make the final decision. It’s been a great transition.”
Even when the Wings lose a tough game, as they did Sunday to burgeoning rival Anaheim, it’s much easier to lose now than it was as a player, he said. That is, until the playoffs.
“Then it is nerve-racking,” he said. “Sudden death. Lose and go home? That’s tough. But in the regular season? It’s easier. I like watching and looking for specific things.”
On a frigid Michigan winter evening, Yzerman stopped to sign autographs for the fans waiting outside along the red carpet (and without a coat!).
“This is a great evening, and it has a special Michigan touch,” the longtime Red Wings captain said before Monday’s ceremony at the Max Fisher Music Center. “There’s a red carpet on a zero-degree night.”
Yzerman was one of 11 inductees, and said that it was a perfect complement to his recent induction into the Ottawa Sports Hall of Fame.
“These are two places with special meaning to me – Ottawa is my hometown, and Michigan is now my home,” said Yzerman, who retired in 2006 after a 22-season career. “I came here in 1983, and I’ve never left.”
Yzerman is now a member of the Red Wings’ front office, and he says he’s been too busy to think about his playing days.
“I have some memorabilia, but I never look at it,” he said. “I’ve had the perfect transition into a new career. To my surprise, I even discovered that I like to go to hockey games.”
Yzerman also drew a crowd inside the Max M. Fisher Center.
U-M alums Rice and Howard attracted crowds during the reception, but Yzerman drew a throng. Everywhere he was stopped and asked to sign something or to pose for pictures.
Red Wings general manager Ken Holland wasn’t surprised. “He’s one of the two greatest Red Wings ever,” said Holland, who was there to watch Yzerman get inducted, of Yzerman and Gordie Howe. “Steve’s legacy is twofold: his offensive prowess and his commitment to winning. He went from a great offensive player to a great two-way player. He was about team and sacrifice.”
And if you missed the Detroit News column published yesterday, be sure to check it out.
He said he has no plans to leave the only NHL team he has known, in the city that has become home. There’s no lessening of his loyalty to the Wings, just a growing itch.
“At some point, I definitely want to do more,” Yzerman said. “But I’d be very, very careful about going somewhere else. I don’t want to say ‘no,’ I definitely wouldn’t do that (or) I’m here forever, because I can’t say that for certain.
“I fully understand the time commitment these general managers put in. To me, it’s very exciting. But I’m not sitting around and waiting to replace Ken Holland. I’m trying to help this organization any way I can. I also don’t want it perceived that I’m just kind of floating through life here, killing time. I’m very motivated to do well in this business. Things will evolve, and it’ll all work out fine.”