SCF ratings continue to drop
Game #5 of the Stanley Cup Finals had another drop in TV ratings both in the US and Canada.
Canadian viewers seemed to give up on the Ottawa Senators before the fifth game of the Stanley Cup final was played on Wednesday. The deciding game of the series drew only 2.163 million viewers, the smallest CBC audience of the final. …
The CBC averaged 2.502 million viewers over the five games (Senators-Anaheim Ducks), down 18 per cent and 33 per cent, respectively, from last year’s final (Edmonton Oilers-Carolina Hurricanes, 3.042 million) and the 2004 final (Calgary Flames-Tampa Bay Lighting, 3.735 million). …
The French-language Réseau des Sports averaged 624,000 viewers over the five games, up 12 per cent from last year.
In the United States, NBC’s three telecasts earned the smallest ratings (percentage of households tuned in) for the championship series since 1994, when the NHL started airing games on U.S. network television.
NBC had a national rating of 1.8 for the fifth game, down 28 per cent from the fifth game last year. Over three telecasts, NBC averaged a 1.6, 20 per cent below the 2.0 for the first three telecasts last year and 30 per cent below the 2.3 for the five telecasts in 2006.
NBC’s 2006 ratings ranked as the smallest since 1994.
While this certainly isn’t good news, the NBA has also been experiencing a drop in TV ratings during their postseason as well. Unfortunately, the NHL had lower ratings to begin with so they can’t afford a drop in ratings quite as much as the NBA can. The league is hoping that 22-year-old LeBron James can boost the ratings for the 2007 NBA Finals (Cleveland Cavaliers vs. San Antonio Spurs).
The arrival of James in the championship series raises hopes that the league can begin to reverse the 54 percent decline in television ratings it has suffered since Michael Jordan last appeared in the NBA Finals in 1998.
“It definitely bodes well because now normal people are talking about the NBA Finals,” ESPN basketball analyst and former NBA guard Mark Jackson said. “People now want to see if this guy can raise the stakes and take it to the next level.”
Niedermayer is “In the Crease”
After Ducks’ captain Scott Niedermayer was named MVP, I decided to honor his award and fourth Stanley Cup video with a couple videos. The first one was sent to me from the “In the Crease” producer, who I interviewed back in January. You can also view my review of the DVD here. This documentary featured interviews from numerous NHL stars including Scott Niedermayer.
This next video was made during the All-Star balloting race when defenseman Rory Fitzpatrick almost made the All-Star team.
Giguere celebrates with newborn son
Source: AP Photo
Anaheim Ducks’ goaltender JS Giguere celebrated winning his first Stanley Cup with his wife Kristen and two month old newborn son, Maxime. Giguere actually missed the last three games in the regular season and four in the first round of the postseason due to his baby son’s poor health. Maxime was born on April 4th with a deformed right eye. The doctors were initially worried that Giguere’s son might also be blind in his left eye. After further medical testing, the doctors were able to tell Giguere that his son will be able to see out of his left eye.
Giguere’s concerns subsided considerably days after Maxime’s birth when a specialist told the couple their son does have vision in his left eye.
“It was a great relief,” said Giguere. “It’s when they checked the second eye [a preliminary exam] that we kind of fell apart.
“Knowing that his left eye is good really put things in perspective. I think he’ll be able to do whatever he sets his goal to do in life. He may have some challenges in front of him, but not even close to what it would be if both his eyes were bad.”
Source: Getty Images
If that photo doesn’t melt your heart after hearing his story, I don’t know what will.
Ducks 6, Senators 2
The Anaheim Ducks won their first Stanley Cup as a franchise. Actually, Scott Niedermayer is the only player (or coach) on the team to actually win the Cup before tonight. This is his fourth victory. Obviously, the Ducks deserved to win this series as they really outplayed Ottawa for most of this series.
I was surprised that S.Niedermayer actually won the Conn Smythe. I’m not saying he doesn’t deserve it as he is a great defender and team leader, but I thought a couple other players would’ve been better selections.
I always enjoy watching the Stanley Cup celebrations. Aside from seeing Pronger raise the Cup, seeing all these happy hockey players is definitely fun to watch for me. Did anyone else see how emotional Teemu Selanne was after the victory? My favorite part of the celebration was seeing Selanne deservingly raise that Cup over his head.
It’s now the offseason and no more hockey games until October. That seems so far away from now. The NHL Awards ceremony is in 8 days and the NHL Draft is in 15 days so the offseason has just started.
Update:
Earl Sleek @ The Battle of California has his postgame reactions and to say he’s happy would be an understatement. I really enjoyed reading Earl’s writings over this postseason (and the regular season) between his great wit and his way with stats. Even though I have taken Stats 350 at UM, I try to stay away from too many numbers. Anyways, congrats to the Ducks and all the hockey crazy fans like Earl who are enjoying the Ducks’ first Stanley Cup.
James Mirtle has a post with a collection of newspaper covers from around the US and Canada. It was enjoyable to see how different cities chose which pictures. The Edmonton Journal has Chris Pronger raising the Stanley Cup on their cover. Ouch.
Ducks 3, Senators 2
I watched the entire game while studying for my German exam tomorrow morning (yes I have one pretty much every week) so there won’t be any postgame comments until tomorrow afternoon at the earliest. Just a few quick comments…
First thing I thought of after the Ducks won? The thought of Chris Pronger raising the Stanley Cup over his head makes me want to throw up. What is the verb for vomit in German? I just happened to learn it this week. It’s “sich übergeben.” I knew my German class would come in handy someday.
Was anyone else disappointed with Ottawa’s captain Daniel Alfredsson shooting the puck at Niedermayer at the end of the second? Seemed pretty classless to me.
I guess if Anaheim is going to win the Cup, I hope they can do it at home with their fans. But I’d still prefer the Senators to win for the mere fact that I despise Chris Pronger.
Pronger suspended again
For the second time in two consecutive series, Anaheim Ducks’ defenseman Chris Pronger will serve a one game suspension due to elbowing an opponent in the head. He was not given a penalty for the hit in the game. Last night’s victim? Dean McAmmond, who scored the game winning goal, did not return to the ice following the injury and may not play in Game #4. He has a history of concussions and may have suffered another last night between Pronger’s elbow and his head hitting the ice when he fell.
Anaheim Ducks defenseman Chris Pronger has been suspended for Game 4 of the Stanley Cup Final for a blow to the head of Ottawa Senators center Dean McAmmond Saturday night.
The incident occurred at 2:01 of the third period. No penalty was assessed.
“A variety of factors were considered in reaching this decision,” said NHL Senior Executive Vice President and Director of Hockey Operations Colin Campbell. “Mr. Pronger used his forearm to deliver a forceful hit to the head of his opponent. Also, his actions caused injury to his opponent.”
McAmmond did lose consciousness after the hit, but it has not been announced if he suffered a concussion. This suspension is Pronger’s sixth of his career.
“This one took a lot of thought,” Colin Campbell, the NHL’s executive vice-president and director of hockey operations, said at a news conference. “It wasn’t an easy one. It didn’t jump out at us right away.
McAmmond left Saturday’s game with a head injury and is doubtful for Game 4 on Monday. “McAmmond doesn’t look promising,” Senators coach Bryan Murray said.
Anaheim leads the NHL championship series 2-1.
“We accept the league’s decision,” said Ducks coach Randy Carlyle. “We feel that the player did not attempt to hurt Dean McAmmond. We have to live by the league’s decision.”
While I do not believe last night’s hit was as bad as the one on Tomas Holmstrom in the WCF, it was nice to see the NHL come down on a repeat offender. I’m interested to hear what excuse he throws out this time around. In the last series, Pronger blamed the Canadian media for putting pressure on the NHL and he also said it was just the law of physics.
Last night was definitely not one of Pronger’s best games.
It was a forgettable night for Pronger as he also kicked a puck into the Ducks’ net.
The Senators won the game 5-3 and cut the Ducks’ series lead to 2-1.
Pronger was suspended for Game 4 of the Western Conference final against the Detroit Red Wings after he received a one-game suspension for a hit to the head of Tomas Holmstrom.
Game #3: Sens 5, Ducks 3
I’m currently flipping back and forth between the Detroit Pistons game (they could possibly be eliminated tonight by the Cleveland Cavaliers) and the Anaheim Ducks-Ottawa Senators Stanley Cup Finals Game #3. I find myself watching more of the hockey game then the Pistons game even though it’s a Detroit sports team facing elimination.
I’m not dissing Ducks’ fans at all, but the Ottawa crowd is loud! The Ducks didn’t have a full arena at the start of their game due to it beginning at 5pm on a weekday. With an 8pm start in Ottawa, their arena was filled to capacity at the start and rocking.
At the end of the first period, the score is 1-1 with the Ducks getting on the board first.
NBC had Sidney Crosby on during the intermission and he talked about being named captain during the past week, “I can still lead no matter how old I am.”
The following is a paraphrase of some of the comments Crosby made and it could be slightly off as I was trying to type it as he was talking:
Basically, I’m going to get a little more responsibility which will motivate me to be a better player.
You don’t play for the individual awards. It’s something that comes about working hard for your team.
I’m here to play for the Stanley Cup.
Eric McErlain of Off Wing Opinion is liveblogging the game by himself for the AOL FanHouse so be sure to stop by and say hi.
Second Period
Jason Seppza has had a wardrobe malfunction. The Ducks’ Samuel Pahlsson ripped Spezza’s jersey. The two were given a penalty. Mike Comrie had to go into the box to serve the penalty because Spezza didn’t have a jersey. During a stoppage in play, Spezza switched with Comrie but Spezza is wearing Eaves’ No. 44 jersey. Where is Spezza’s jersey? You would think at home ice it would be easily accessible to grab one because they have to bring an extra jersey for each player - right? According to the NBC broadcasters, they had to go up and grab a jersey from one of the stands in the concourse. Oops!
Corey Perry looks like he’s going to pass the puck back to Ryan Getzlaf, but he shoots and scores himself 5:20 into the second. It was Perry’s fifth goal of the playoffs (and he’s only 22). Ducks up, 2-1. The broadcasters said that the Senators’ player who should’ve covered Perry in the corner, “He feels shame over in the corner.” Anyone else immediately think of that clip from Slapshot?
Someone forgets that he’s supposed to be on the ice and they do a face-off in the Ducks’ end with only four players on the ice. Getzlaf jumps over the bench, but doesn’t make it to his end before the goal is scored. The Senators were able to capitalize on the Ducks’ error with a goal by Mike Fisher who deflected Anton Volchenkov’s slapshot from just inside the blue line. The great thing is that the Sens were able to quickly score after the Ducks’ goal to get back in the game (the goal came only 27 seconds after the Ducks’ second goal).
Ryan Getzlaf scores a beauty off of a huge rebound given up by Ray Emery. Emery really didn’t have much of a chance on the second shot that came 7:38 into the second.
Big hit on Andy McDonald by Chris Neil. Nice!
Five seconds before a Ducks’ penalty expires (and a weak call if you ask me), they receive another penalty for cross-checking (a good call). The Sens need to capitalize on these back-to-back power plays.
Daniel Alfredsson was trying to stop, the puck hits his ankle, and he then makes a flick with his skate (and thus looking like a kicking motion) after the puck already leaves the skate. The play is under review. The crowd is chanting “Goal, Goal, Goal.” The goal is given the okay by the referee and they drop the puck. By the way, that goal came while on that cross-checking penalty.
It’s only the second period and the game is tied at three - this is some great hockey!
With 1:26 left in the second, Oleg Saprykin does a great job with the forecheck in the corner and passes it to Christoph Schubert, who then gives it to Dean McAmmond who shoots the puck. Puck goes off of Chris Pronger’s stick and into the net (I enjoyed watching that!).
Senators have outshot Anaheim, 22-19.
End of Second Period: Sens 4, Ducks 3
The NBC crew believes that the Alfredsson goal should not have counted based on past decisions. Brett Hull said, “He tried to score the goal with his foot.” The most interesting thing was that it originally was ruled as a no goal. So the video judges had to believe they had enough evidence to overturn that call. It’d be one thing if the referees had called it a goal and they felt the kicking motion was obvious enough, but that wasn’t the case.
Did anyone else just catch Hull call them the Anaheim Mighty Ducks?
Third Period
Only one minute into the third, NBC informed viewers that the Ducks have not had a single shot in the last seven minutes. Wow.
Chris Pronger makes his presence known with an elbow in Dean McAmmond’s head after he had just shot the puck. He is still lying motionless on the ice after hitting his head pretty hard on the ice from the fall.
Okay, he’s sitting up and talking to the trainers. And he’s now being helped off by two other players and a trainer. I believe NBC said he has had concussion problems before so that doesn’t bode well for the team if he suffered another one in that hit and consequent fall to the ice.
Pronger was not given a penalty for the hit to the head. While I don’t think that it was as bad as the dirty hit on Tomas Holmstrom in the WCF, it definitely seemed worth of a penalty and he very well may get a one-game suspension (since he’s done that twice in five games for Pronger). It also reminded me why I hate Pronger.
We now have a scrum going on in front of the Ducks’ bench. You definitely usually don’t see this in the Stanley Cup Finals. Pierre McGuire said that the Senators on the bench were cheering on their teammates. Both teams have three players in their respective boxes. The Senators will have a two minute penalty because Ryan Getzlaf had been given a penalty before the scuffles broke out (well, his penalty led to the scuffles).
Anaheim was able to successfully kill off that power play, but the Ducks’ Brad May received a penalty soon after the team killed off the past one. It’s hard to tie up a game if you keep sending your players to the box.
11:38 left in the third and the Senators score their third unanswered goal. Nice goal by Anton Volchenkov over JS Giguere’s left glove. I wonder if they’ll pull Giguere since there still is over half a period left and they’re down by two.
With 6:30 to go, the Ducks have only had two shots on Emery in the past 19 minutes of play. Yikes.
Giguere heads to the bench with 1:33 left for an extra attacker.
10.5 seconds to go and Ottawa’s Phillips heads to the box.
Kelly - Vermette - Neil were the action line of the game as determined by NBC. They had one goal and three assists tonight.
End of Third Period: Sens 5, Ducks 3
As you may have noticed, I watched the second and third periods of the Sens-Ducks game and only watched the Pistons’ game during commercials. I won’t have any postgame reactions up until after the Pistons’ game (they’re down 76-67 with 10 minutes left in the possible series eliminating game). If they lose, they’re out of the playoffs. Go Pistons!
Update: Here’s some reaction from bloggers and newspapers alike…
SCF game #3 is Saturday
Game #3 of the Stanley Cup Finals is Saturday at 8pm on NBC. The Ottawa Senators look to earn their first victory of the series at home, while the Anaheim Ducks hope to win and go up 3-0 in the series on the road. I’ve only been able to watch the second half of both games, but the first one especially was a fantastic game to watch. I look forward to watching Saturday’s game and not having any stress about the outcome of the game really lets you enjoy it on a different level.
Unfortunately, the US ratings for the first two games have been disappointing.
Paul @ Kukla’s Korner provided his readers with a snippet from Sports Business Daily:
Versus earned a 0.62 overnight Nielsen cable rating for Game One of the Senators-Ducks Stanley Cup Finals on Monday night, down 28.7% from a 0.87 for Oilers-Hurricanes Game One last season. The net earned a 1.7 rating in L.A. on Monday, its best mark ever in the market. The three top local markets were Buffalo (3.9), Denver (2.2) and Pittsburgh.
Game #2 was watched by less than half a million households (in the US) for a game in the SCF. That sucks.
CBC ratings were down slightly for Game #1, but up by a little for Game #2. Their overall average has dropped.
On Versus in the U.S., Game 2 got a 0.6 cable rating and was watched in just 446,000 homes. That was down 33 per cent from last year’s second game, which received a 0.9 cable rating (600,000 homes) on OLN, as the same network was known then. This year’s Game 1 was watched in just 523,000 households in the United States.
Through two games, the Stanley Cup final has averaged a 0.7 rating in the U.S., down 22 per cent from last year’s 0.9, and households are down 20 per cent, to 485,000 from 606,000 last year.
…
Overall, the Canadian ratings are down slightly as Games 1 and 2 have averaged 2.493 million viewers, a five per cent dip compared to the first two games last year.
Early in this SCF series, Ducks’ goaltender JS Giguere seems to be the early favorite for the Conn Smyth hardware.
Giguere, who had five shutouts in the 2003 playoffs, has long since established himself as one of the NHL’s top postseason goalies and is only burnishing his reputation in this series. Through two games, Giguere has stopped 34 of 36 shots, and both Ottawa goals came on the power play.
“I’m feeling pretty good on the ice,” Giguere said. “But this is a totally different season (from 2003). We have a totally different team. Our team is a lot more talented. We have a lot more offensive power and a lot more size. It just makes my job easier. I just have to go out and give our team a chance to win.”
Two more victories are still needed, but if they come, Giguere is almost certain to be playoff MVP for the second time in four seasons. Giguere’s playoff GAA fell to 1.76 with the shutout.
Giguere didn’t need to be at his best in Game 2. For the most part, the Ducks did an excellent job of keeping the speedy Senators out of their zone and kept the traffic in front of Giguere to a minimum.
Spector posted a pre-game look at the two teams this afternoon at Fox Sports:
Why Anaheim will win: Their size, strength and aggressive forechecking have thus far proven too much for the Senators to contain. They’ll continue to out-muscle the Senators defense with their forecheck, forcing turnovers and winning the battles for loose pucks, as well as break up Ottawa’s transition game. They’ll try to score early to take the Ottawa crowd out of the game.
Their blueline corps had a more disciplined effort in Game 2, shutting down the Senators offense, which should carry over into Game 3. The Ducks will try harder to get their power play working against the Senators penalty killers. Goaltender J.S. Giguere has maintained top form despite a limited workload in this series.
Why Ottawa will win: They cannot afford to fall behind 0-3 in this series thus they’ll be forced to play more aggressively. The Senators should also get a big emotional lift playing on their home ice for the first time in this series. Head coach Bryan Murray has the last change on home ice and will try to use it to keep his top line away from the Ducks checking lines.
They need Daniel Alfredsson, Jason Spezza and Dany Heatley to score if they’re to win this game. The Senators got more physical in Game 2 and will try to do the same in this game. Their defense corps must outwork the Ducks forecheckers and do a better job clearing their zone. Ray Emery has been outstanding between the pipes for the Senators in this series and will give them a chance to win Game 3.
Sens in 6
This will be very brief, but I wanted to put my prediction for the SCF out there before the first game.
Sens in 6.
Go Sens!
The Good, The Bad, & The Ugly
I made a list of the good, the bad, and the ugly after last year’s disappointing playoff exit and decided to go with the same format again this year for my postseason wrap up. There is definitely a lot more good points this year than what you saw after the 2006 playoff exit. I know this is a lengthy post, but I wanted to make sure I did this wrap up justice. I also realize that I did not mention every single Red Wings player. The post would have been much longer had I done so.
I encourage you guys to leave a comment with your own the good, the bad, and the ugly list regarding the Red Wings’ regular season and playoffs. Feel free to disagree with me, but please explain why you do in your comment!
The Good
No. 5 - Nick Lidstrom. The new captain of the Red Wings stepped up this year leading the team into the Western Conference Finals for the first time since the 2001-2002 season. He played great defensive hockey all year and really piled on the minutes in the playoffs after Mathieu Schneider and Brett Lebda were injured. Lidstrom averaged 30:37 minutes per game to lead the team. Schneider came in second with 23:35. He even led the team in offensive points with 18 (4 goals, 14 assists). I think that whenever he retires, the Wings are going to have a huge hole to fill defensively that it’ll probably take a couple years to bounce back from that. Hopefully, we can take advantage of his presence in the lineup next season.
No. 3 - Andreas Lilja. Yes, he had a horrendous turnover that significantly contributed to our loss in Game #5. However, he completely shocked me with his play this postseason. Last year, I shuddered every time he and Jason Williams had the puck in the playoffs. I had that same fear this year, but Lilja really stepped up. I was really impressed and hope to see him get a roster spot for the entire regular season (instead of being the healthy scratch a lot of the time) plus he got his first career playoff goal in Game #5. He also surprised me with his character. After that bad turnover, he sat in the locker room answering every question from the reporters staying there after 15 minutes of questions when all but two other players had left.
The physical play. A lot of people didn’t believe the Wings could stand up to the big physical teams this postseason. Well, we defeated Calgary and San Jose in 6 games. We lost to the physical Ducks in a close WCF. I was just impressed with how physical the team did play compare to our regular season performances. It was a pleasant surprise and an encouraging sight to see because you knew that this team was different from last year and had a shot in the playoffs. What was even better? Even when we were losing, we didn’t play dirty and try to hurt any other player. For that, I’m pleased that the Wings stayed classy (think Anchorman).
No. 45 - Kyle Quincey. When Brett Lebda injured his ankle, the Wings called up Kyle Quincey from Grand Rapids. He played in his first NHL playoff game and continued to impress throughout the playoffs. Even though Lebda was able to return, Quincey then stepped in for Mathieu Schneider who fractured his wrist in multiple spots. I saw Quincey as a stay at home defenseman who didn’t turn the puck over much or make a lot of stupid mistakes. He only had one penalty in the two series he played in. I liked how calm and collected he was in his first postseason. You could tell he was getting more comfortable in his role on the team when he started getting some scoring chances. I hope we see a lot more of him in the red and white next season.
No. 39 - Dominik Hasek. (aka the Skeletor) GM Ken Holland knew he was taking a risk when he signed Hasek to a low one year contract with plenty of bonus incentives. Much to my delight, Hasek was able to stay healthy throughout the entire regular season and played a big role in the playoffs for us. Yes, he allowed some stupid goals. Sometimes he was the crazy Czech who frustrated the opponent and won the game for us. Other times, he was the insane old man throwing his stick, wandering out into the wide open ice, and flopping like a fish trying to draw a penalty. Don’t get me wrong, I hope he returns for another year because prospect Jimmy Howard is not yet ready for the NHL, but I sometimes found myself yelling at the TV because of Hasek’s antics. Admittedly, these same antics also make him the crazy good goalie that he is so I shouldn’t complain too much.
Game #3 vs. Anaheim. Yes, the glorious 5-0 victory over the Ducks. We saw Tomas Holmstom get up from a nasty hit and consequent cut from Chris Pronger and Rob Niedermayer. We saw plenty of goals. We saw a frustrated Anaheim squad. It was the most enjoyable game of the postseason for me.
No. 96 - Tomas Holmstrom. He really showed people his prowess in front of the opponent’s net this postseason with his great play on the top line. Did anyone else notice that Homer didn’t seem himself after that Pronger/Niedermayer hit? I wonder if he had a problem bouncing back after that hit. Anyways, he is one of the biggest bargains on the team and I’m happy that he’s sticking around for awhile. He had five goals and three assists in the post season. Homer was only behind the Eurotwins in terms of leading scorers this postseason.
No. 11 - Dan Cleary. He had some big goals this postseason. He was gritty and hustled around the ice. I think he impressed a lot of people with his play. Cleary scored four goals and notched eight assists. After the Calgary series, I probably would’ve named him team MVP. He’s “Dan the Man.”
Proving the critics wrong. Did the Wings win the Stanley Cup? No. Is there room for improvement? Yes. But pretty much no one in the mass media predicted the Wings to do this well and come close to winning the WCF. The Wings were underdogs in each series they played in and they won the first two and that’s an accomplishment in itself. I just hope the team can improve on it in the upcoming season and take it a step further in the playoffs.
No. 24 - Chris Chelios. He stepped up in terms of ice time and veteran leadership this postseason. With an injured Mathieu Schneider, he filled in on the power play. He might not be the player he once was, but it was nice to see him out there paired with a younger defenseman. It gave me some confidence knowing that Cheli was there in case things started to go wrong. He finished the postseason with a +7 (second best on the team). Lidstrom had a +/- of zero to give you an indication of how Cheli performed. GM Ken Holland has expressed a desire to re-sign Chelios this summer and I agree. With his low salary and great health, I don’t see how you could turn him down.
No. 51 - Valtteri Filppula. I really didn’t have any expectations for him this postseason. As a rookie, he wasn’t expected to get a ton of ice time and I would’ve been happy if he had just played some simple hockey. He definitely played a lot better than I ever would have predicted. Filppula had three goals and two assists. He could’ve had a lot more if he would’ve finished some of his stupendous moves. I look forward to watching him grow and mature over the next season and hopefully he’ll capitalize on his skillful stickwork in the 2008 playoffs.
No. 93 - Johan Franzen. He led the team with a +8 rating. He scored three goals and notched four assists including one overtime goal and two game winners. So Franzen definitely showed up when it counted and was certainly a clutch player. It was only his second year in the postseason so I expect great things from him in the future!
No. 30 - Chris Osgood. I know he didn’t have a minute of ice time during the postseason, but he did a great job in his role. He supported, pushed, and encouraged Hasek, but did not cause any awkwardness or hold any disdain toward Hasek. Plus, I think he did a lot to welcome Todd Bertuzzi to the team. I heard numerous instances where Ozzie had joked around with Bertuzzi to lighten the mood in the locker room (ie. placing his gear in Bertuzzi’s locker stall because he couldn’t get to his due to reporters). I remember seeing Bertuzzi throw a stuffed animal (that rally purple octopus) at Osgood at the end of a game during the SJ series (I believe).
The Bad
Injuries. Considering all the injuries we had, I’m impressed we were that close to heading to the SCF. I’m not trying to use injuries as an excuse for the loss as clearly the Anaheim Ducks had a reason for our series loss. But what other team would’ve played as well as we did with the loss of two of their top four defensemen? We lost Niklas Kronwall before the playoffs began to a broken sacrum and we lost veteran Mathieu Schneider in the San Jose series to a broken wrist. We were fortunate that Brett Lebda was able to come back when he did from his ankle injury. I remember reading a quote somewhere that said if it had been the regular season, he probably would’ve missed a month or so of action. Instead, he missed only a couple games. Todd Bertuzzi missed the first two games from concussion symptoms and then almost missed the last game due to back spasms. Tomas Holmstrom missed some time due to an accidental high stick in the Calgary series. It’s been rumored that Kyle Calder has a broken hand and that Nicklas Lidstrom and Henrik Zetterberg’s has been bothering them during the playoff run. Obviously, every team has those little injuries that are hidden until the end of the postseason, but the Wings obviously weren’t close to 100% in terms of health.
No. 20 - Robert Lang. Yes, he had a couple huge goals. But for the most part, he seemed non-existent. In the past, I have cut Lang some slack for his mediocre play in the regular season because he’d bring it in the postseason. Not so much this year. I hope that GM Ken Holland does not re-sign Lang this summer. I don’t think his attitude meshes well with head coach Mike Babcock’s attitude.
No. 44 - Todd Bertuzzi. Unlike Lang, I want to see Holland re-sign Big Bert for one more year at a much lower salary because I think once he regains health, he can have a nice supportive and physical role on the team. Unfortunately, his back has not completely healed yet and he suffered a concussion right before the playoffs. Since he wasn’t 100%, we didn’t see the Big Bert I had hoped for. While it wasn’t a complete loss, I thought it took him awhile to get comfortable on the ice and turned the puck over numerous times (including a key one near the start of Game #4 vs. Anaheim).
Lack of conversion on opportunities. Whether it was the many power plays given to us against Anaheim or the suspension of Chris Pronger, it was definitely frustrating to see the Wings fail to capitalize on these various opportunities. I would also include the failing to hold off the Ducks in Game #5 when the team held a 1-0 lead for a lot of the game.
The Ugly
Dirty play. I know fans of the Calgary Flames and Anaheim Ducks may disagree with me, but I didn’t like that two dirty plays that took place against the Wings earned a lot of TV time when the hockey game itself did not. In Game #5 of the series against the Flames, backup goaltender Jamie McLennan came in for 18 seconds and then slashed Johan Franzen in his midsection. He was given a five game suspension. During that game, there was also a questionable butt-end motion by Jarome Iginla on Schneider and a suckerpunch to Brett Lebda’s head from Daymond Langkow. Against Anaheim, Chris Pronger and Rob Niedermayer hit Tomas Holmstrom at about the same time. Pronger’s hit was (in my mind) a nasty hit. The NHL agreed and gave him a one game suspension. Unfortunately for Detroit, they could not capitalize on his absence.
Brett Hull’s comments. When Hull was on the Wings, I liked the guy. I liked his big mouth because it made for entertaining quotes and sound bites on TV. I obviously liked the sniper-like edge he brought to the 2001-2002 team. Unfortunately, I did not appreciate his big mouth of late as a member of the NBC broadcast team. Before the start of the playoffs, he remarked that Datsyuk would not re-sign with the Wings. He was wrong as GM Ken Holland announced that same week Datsyuk had signed a seven year deal worth $46.9 million. Oops! Then during the Anaheim series, he really didn’t give much credit to the Ducks and gave them some ammunition and motivation to prove Hull wrong.
Slow starts. It has been a team problem throughout the entire postseason. A slow start by the team gives the opposing squad either an early lead or at the very least, plenty of scoring chances. Sometimes the team couldn’t come back and other times they were able to overcome early deficits later in the game. It definitely made it a lot harder on the team to win a game.
No. 17 - Kyle Calder. I don’t know if Calder has a broken hand. He has not confirmed that injury, but it has been widely rumored. He averaged only 8:18 per game and was pulled during the Anaheim series. Before Calder was benched, he was only playing five minutes or less per game. He had one assist, eight penalty minutes, and only 13 shots in the 13 games he played. If he was playing injured, I’ll cut him some slack. If he wasn’t, I’d be okay with letting him go this summer. I still am pleased with acquiring him at the trade deadline because we got rid of Jason Williams who had another year left in his contract. I’m in favor of giving a prospect Calder’s roster spot if he’s going to get so little ice time anyways.
and the Mediocre…
Penalty kill. The Wings were 8th out of the 16 playoff teams in terms of penalty kill success. They had an 86.8% success rate. It was better than San Jose, equal to Calgary, and slightly worse than Anaheim’s. It wasn’t the reason for the Wings’ series loss to Anaheim, but they allowed some unfortunate goals that came at bad times.
No. 95 - Danny Markov. He had a few rough moments during the postseason, but overall I was pleased with his play. He was physical, but so much that it hurt his defensive play. He was a -2 during the 18 playoff games, but I felt he was more good than he was bad. But I wouldn’t say he was outstanding. Markov only had a one year contract and unless we can grab a better physical defenseman this offseason, I would go with re-signing Markov.
No. 40 - Henrik Zetterberg. Now don’t get me wrong, Hank played well this postseason and will become a great leader for this team. No doubt. I was just disappointed with his play on the road. It wasn’t until the Wings’ last period of the postseason that Zetterberg scored his first goal on the road. Not so good when you go missing for 8 road games. It probably wouldn’t have been so bad if Datsyuk hadn’t had the same offensive problem on the road. Hank had 14 points in 18 games (6 goals and 8 assists).
No. 13 - Pavel Datsyuk. I’m putting him in the “mediocre” category for the same reason as Hank. Where was he on the road? He did excellent at home, but we missed him in 8 of our 9 away games and it noticeably hurt our team when your two offensive leaders (excluding Lidstrom) weren’t putting the puck in the net on the road. Datsyuk had eight goals and eight assists in 18 games. Two of those goals were game winners and four came while the team was on the power play. He scored two goals on the road in the last game of the playoffs.
No. 37 - Mikael Samuelsson. I felt Sammy’s play improved as the playoffs went on. He averaged 15:26 minutes of ice time per game and finished the playoffs with 11 points (3 goals and 8 assists). Sammy had one game winning goal and was a +2.
Coaching. Don’t get me wrong, I like what head coach Mike Babcock has done with the team. No one predicted the Wings going as far as they did and you have to give a lot of credit to the different coaching style (compared to Dave Lewis’ style). We all saw how his line changing resulted in a 5-0 win over Anaheim. Unfortunately, he struggled to get the team to start off the game on the right foot especially in the series eliminating game and that hurt the team. I do believe he is the right coach for the team.
Overall
I definitely enjoyed this season and our postseason run. I’m proud of the team and the success they had in the playoffs despite the many key injuries on the team. Obviously, I had hoped and dreamed of a Stanley Cup victory, but they definitely helped distract us Michiganders from our economical worries. I look forward to another successful season for the red and white.
Go Wings!