Quick update on the injury front. Detroit got what I am taking to be pretty good news on Jonathan Ericsson. He has a "deep bone bruise" and will be out for a minimum of two weeks. Obviously, you'd like to hear that he could go as soon as possible, but I was thinking more along the lines of an ACL tear, out for a minimum of four months. This is good news.

Ken Holland says that Detroit will recall Doug Janik from Grand Rapids for Thursday's game. I called for Jakub Kindl last night, but I didn't really think that all the way through. Brian Rafalski, Brett Lebda, Derek Meech, Jakub Kindl... who's going to kill penalties? Is it bad when a team has significantly more penalty killing forwards than defensemen? Janik will be up to kill penalties, Holland says. Hopefully they're comfortable with Kindl in the NHL full-time next season with just two games of NHL experience.

Finally, that Detroit News article reports that Darren Helm should be good to go for Thursday. It's been nice knowing you, Kris Newbury, but I hope you never have to don a Wings' jersey again.

[11:16 PM] Is the sky not falling anymore?!?! -- I just read over at Snapshots a different translation of the article than I'd seen, one that maybe.. makes things a little bit better? The translation over there leaves in this pretty important blurb:

"Dick has asked if he could train with us the next week and we have said yes, "says Färjestads sports manager Thomas Rundqvist to the club's website.

Axelsson has left for Karlstad and will train with the club during its training camp over the Christmas and national holidays. However, it is not clear whether he will play for the club when Elitserien kicks off again.

But if he will, Dick must first have his agent make it clear to Detroit, says Rundqvist.

So it sounds like.. he just wants to practice with the team for a few weeks? Seems strange that he just wants to take a break, but obviously considering some of the things said about him today, it's going to make a lot of fans a lot happier if he is truly willing to stick with Grand Rapids. Sounds like he might be trying to sneak his way out, but who knows... maybe he's homesick, and he's just fixing the problem by getting an early start on Christmas break? We'll see.

Original Post:
The great news just keeps on coming. Maybe not all of you will care about this, but anyone who follows prospects is likely not going to like this.

Via HFBoards, I've just learned that Dick Axelsson has left Grand Rapids and bolted back to Sweden.

Detroit player Dick Axelsson, 22, will practice with Färjestad BK the coming week.
After 17 games with Grand Rapids Griffins of the AHL Axelsson had enough and left the U.S. on Saturday.
- Dick has asked if he could practice with us during next week and we have said yes, but anything beyond that Dick and his agent has to clear things up with Detroit, says Färjestads sporting director Thomas Rundqvist

Axelsson left Färjestad after SM-gold in the spring for the Detroit Red Wings, who he already had a signed contract with.
He found himself not really comfortable in the AHL-team Grand Rapids Griffins, where he landed.
After 17 games (2 +3) Axelsson chose to return home to Sweden and contacted Färjestad himself.

- "If it were possible to solve the situation with Detroit, we of course welcome him. We follow the developments closely and hope for a positive decision" says Rundqvist emphasizing again that before the situation is solved between Axelsson and Detroit, no transfer can be done or started.

Axelsson will be on Färjestads training camp this week, starting on Tuesday morning.

Hat Trick Dick's been unhappy in Grand Rapids and has dropped a few hints to the Swedish media, so it's not a total surprise. Axelsson has been a healthy scratch a few times in the past few games, for the likes of Paul Crosty, Grand Rapids' goon, who also plays defense. He started the season on the top line and has a goal in his first game, but has only had one goal in four points since then. As I mentioned in my previous post, I watched two Grand Rapids games. In one, he looked completely checked out. In the other, he was a healthy scratch.

Not sure if this has anything to do with Michael Nylander coming back, but as I wrote in that post, that likely means more press box for Axelsson.

A lot of people got on Johan Ryno's case for leaving Grand Rapids and then refusing to report last season. But just hear me out. Axelsson was a second line winger in the SEL and had a great season last year. After being kicked off one team for poor training (despite being productive), he produced even more with Farjestad and won the SEL title.

Then he comes over to Grand Rapids, a new city in a new country, with frankly, not a whole lot to do around it (I'm a spoiled east-sider) with Grand Rapids' inconsistent crowds, and gradually starts to get benched in favor of a goon. Sure, he's slumping. But I've been very disappointed lately with Curt Fraser's patience with him, as in every game I've seen Axelsson has done some wonderful things. He is among the most talented on the team, and he was at his best this season when he was with Michael Nylander.

These were Dick's comments to the Swedish media from Mid-November, courtesty of Snapshots:

Last winter Farjestads hit the mark in acquiring  him from Djurgården in the middle of the season and he became a gold hero in the playoffs.
But today, Dick Axelsson, 22, not having quite as much fun at the hockey rink.
"Right now, I'm just sinking my teeth in/biting the bullet, but it is definitely an option to move home to Farjestad, if they have room for me," he says.

Detroit sent the Stockholm native to the farm team Grand Rapids Griffins, and Dick has now played 13 games. He has two goals and three assists. "It started well after that, it has become miserable. My game does not work [here] at all, "says Dick.
It appears that he simply can't find motivation in this environment ...
"We don't have many people at home games.  Around 1,000 on weekdays.  There are a bit more for the weekend games,

How do you like it?
"Well, everything is not exactly fun here.
"If you could choose, would you return to [Farjestads BK] immediately?
"It's not impossible. But right now it just feels like there's a war on and I will see what happens in the future."
Have you or your agent been in contact with FBK?
No, not in this situation."
Would it benefit your development to return to the Eliteserien?
"Game-wise, it would probably be better, but Detroit wants to me to adapt to the smaller rinks here," replies Dick.

And here are Jim Nill's responses to those comments:

-"We have talked to Dick and we want him to stay in Grand Rapids, "said Jim Nill, assistant general manager Detroit Red Wings to Sportbladet.
Dick Axelsson has repeated on several occasions that he thinks it is difficult in the farm league in North America and was open to a comeback in Farjestad, where he became Swedish [Eliteserien] champion this past summer.

Last night Sportbladet had a chat with Jim Nill, assistant general manager for the Detroit Red Wings.
"Dick is frustrated and it's been a big change for him, both on the ice and off the ice. We've talked to him often about what is happening," said Jim Nill to Sportbladet.

Detroit will not lend Dick Axelsson to Sweden, as they did with Johan Ryno. Or, as Detroit did with Axelsson last year.
"No, we are happy that he is in Grand Rapids. He has to go through this. And every time you meet a difficulty or face resistance in life you can not give up so easily, it's not that simple "said Nill.

Axelsson has played 16 games for Grand Rapids and has five points (2 goals + 3 assists). It has now gone almost two months since he scored his last in the AHL.
"Dick will grow if he continues to fight," said Nill.

No comment on the last quote. That was about two weeks ago. The only thing that could save this situation is, according to Dick, he tried to contact Detroit but couldn't get through, so he just left. Maybe if Detroit sits him down and makes sure he understands what this means, he'll come back. I wish he didn't make this decision as it really hurts his stock as a prospect, but at the same time it's important to realize he wasn't playing much, and he's a star over in Sweden. So I expect some will be saying "good riddance" the way they did with Ryno, but here's the difference:

• In 07/08, Ryno was playing a ton, and leading Detroit prospects in scoring.
• In 08/09, Ryno made it clear from the get go that he would like to stay in Sweden and Detroit agreed.
• In 09/10, Ryno came to camp saying it was the NHL or Sweden for him, Dick at least gave the AHL a shot.
  

Axelsson is in the second of his three year deal. Detroit let him stay in Sweden last season, but made it clear he needed to stay in the AHL this season. I will keep this updated if Detroit says anything about it.

I don't understand karma. What did I say to make this happen? I was dedicated today too. I got up and knew I should be studying, so I cracked open the books and started reading instead of jumping right online to get distracted for two hours. And the second I step online, I read the headline.

Wings' Helm sidelined with wrist injury

Are you kidding me? Great. I remember Helm wincing after a shift, but I obviously he finished the game and looked rather good doing so. Hopefully since he finished the game it just means it's sore and he might miss a week, but knowing Detroit's luck, he's going to need surgury and he'll be out 12-14 months.

To make matters worse, Kris Newbury was recalled. Ugh. If you thought Justin Abdelkader or Todd Bertuzzi took stupid penalties, wait until Newbury gets in the lineup. 95 PIM in 27 games, and that's right around his average for the AHL. He is Detroit's next most NHL experienced forward, having played in 44 games with Toronto over the past three seasons, with six points.

The timing of this is ridiculous, as I watched two Griffins games last night. I commented to myself that Newbury even looked awful in the AHL because he's a grinder who tries to do a lot with the puck. But Babcock said the other night we're "just not blessed with natural scorers." It's good we called Newbury in, because maybe a guy with finish like Kris Draper will start to look like a natural scorer by comparison. I decided that I would rather see the Wings call up any of the following before Newbury:

• Tomas Tatar (who's unavailable now as he's left for the World Junior Championships)
• Cory Emmerton (2nd round pick in 2006 still isn't ready for a taste of the NHL?)
• Evan McGrath (slumping right now, but four years in the AHL)
• Jan Mursak (absolutely red hot right now, 10 goals on the season over two last year)
• Francis Pare (20+ goals as a rookie, scored his first of the year last week and now has three)
• Mattias Ritola (remember how he played two games in 07-08? How great is this for his confidence?

All of those players have a better scoring touch than Newbury, and make more sense to call up given that we don't need any more fourth liners right now. Not happening, however. The Detroit News posted what will be the bottom two lines, so I'm guessing at the top two.

Ville Leino | Pavel Datsyuk | Todd Bertuzzi
Patrick Eaves | Henrik Zetterberg | Tomas Holmstrom
Drew Miller | Justin Abdelkader | Kris Draper
Brad May | Kris Newbury | Kirk Maltby

Outstanding.

For starters, apologies for the flaky posting. I'm sure some of you know I'm a college student, and as the college world, it's finals time. Exams are next week, but this week was my big week since I had five considerably large papers due. Hence, no time for game previews, and I skipped over the St. Louis game entirely. I'm sure I didn't upset any of you terribly, but I just wanted to let it be known that I wasn't just being lazy. I wish nothing else that I could have written a Wings/Blues recap on Wednesday instead of writing a 10 pager on alcohol abuse, a 6 pager comparing religious ideals in Robinson Crusoe to the that of the Narrative of Frederick Douglass, and an 800 word article for journalism. Trust me.

To recap, I didn't actually think Detroit was as bad against St. Louis as most people felt. I think they had the chances, and they played well enough to win. Ty Conklin was pretty sensational. 42 shots.. what else do you want? Conklin didn't have any particularly difficult highlight reel saves, but he was pretty in control of his rebounds.. unlike about half of his games with Detroit, where rebounds were at a premium for those who staked out in the slot. I'm still convinced that Conklin doesn't know how to move laterally, but I suppose I can't rip on him because he shut out Detroit.

But this weekend isn't so bad, so here's a nice little game recap for ya.

For starters: I'd like to fight Corey Perry. I just want to let that be known. Who can I get in contact with to arrange this? I'm a pretty famous blogger now (sarcasm), there must be some contact out there I could use. By no means is this some macho declaration here; I'm a pretty weak dude. I'm tall and scrawny. I don't think I have a high pain tolerance; I was honestly pretty convinced last night that I was dying of some rare stomach disease because I had a bad stomach ache. I wear glasses, thick-rimmed black ones to boot. Hardly the image of masculinity. But I'm fairly confident I could beat up Corey Perry. I'll fight him on ice too -- and my ice skating isn't nearly as proficient as my inline skating because I've played roller hockey all my life. And I've never fought. But Corey Perry is a bitch, and I'm confident I could tear him apart. Seriously. If there's anyone out there who wants to call my bluff; be my guest. Arrange it, and I'll fight him.

In other news, what a strange game. I only caught bits and pieces of the second, as I saw Invictus tonight and then went to Buffalo Wild Wings to catch part of the Wings game, before I caught the FSN replay at midnight. I don't think the Wings particularly deserved to win, but I'm certainly content to take points from that miserable Anaheim club. The Wings defense made more big saves than Jimmy Howard, and Detroit still competed offensively despite the fact that I'm pretty sure Pavel Datsyuk and Henrik Zetterberg missed every decent shot they had. So how did they win?

Todd Bertuzzi. I won't harp on it, trust me. He hasn't been anywhere close to where I want him to be, but today was a big step in the right direction. To clarify; I support him. I've gone after Michael at TPL more than a few times and most likely irritated him in doing so, for taking shots at Bert -- and I think what bothered me most was that he raised so many good points. I just don't think he's been as bad as most make him out to be, and tonight was finally some concrete proof of why. Before, I was defending him for "trying" for the big plays. Tonight, for the first time all season, he connected on those plays. He's tried that behind the net bank pass a hundred times and seen it cleared straight out of the zone about 50 times. And he's tried that close range elevation play a hundred times and has shot it right into the goalies' chest about 99 times. I didn't think he was too bad because not too many guys have the ability to try those plays like he does. But just when I was losing faith that even he didn't have those hands anymore, he finally pulled it off. I thought he had a strong game even before those goals -- and was even really good against St. Louis. But the Bertuzzi saga is by no means over. Hopefully this will lead to some more offense, but I don't expect we've got the early 2000s Canucks' Bertuzzi back.

The thing I liked most about the Bertuzzi goals was the celebration after. I've noticed that every time that Bert (infrequently) scores, the rest of the team seems to be really thrilled for him. Tonight, Bertuzzi looked like a rookie after scoring his goals. Trevor Thompson, apparently unconcerned for his own safety, phrased this as "looking like a pre-teen" in front of Bertuzzi in the post-game interview, but I knew what he meant. You had the double fist pump after the first goal, and then the classic "running" goal celebration on the OT winner. To me, it's really inspiring to see a usually pissed-off looking Bert acting like that on the ice. He's 35, and has hardly been living up to expectations. But he looked tonight like he was having a lot of fun out there, which will hopefully inspire him to start scoring with a little more regularity.

Other game notes, that no-goal call in the first was just exceptionally strange, to the point where I was pretty sure that they were going to call it a goal because that's how Detroit gets screwed over. To recap, despite having his stick held by Howard, Corey "I'm thuper tough" Perry, got the puck past Howard and Ericsson kept it out. Well, actually, Ericsson shot it into the net, and it hit Derek Meech's stick on the line and rocketed out of the net. The funny part was, Meech kept it out by falling on his face, which historically this season has not been working out well for him.

The ref signaled no goal, but for fun the Ducks celebrated a minute after the whistle blew anyway. But really, there was no goal and Anaheim had taken a penalty. I can't help but think though, that Anaheim may have known this and was celebrating for taking a penalty, because they seem content in taking stupid penalties all game and not changing their game plan. On a team like Detroit, that should kill them, but as much as I hate them, they're great at even strength. Plus, as Detroit's penalty kill is getting better (maybe because as guys get hurt, more and more grinders are coming in), their powerplay is getting worse.

So that was all strange. Those are the major thoughts, here are the minor ones:

-- Drew Miller, Patrick Eaves, and Darren Helm all have contracts up this summer, and I'm about ready for them to be locked up as the next Grind Line. I don't think they've played together, but they've all been exceptional in my eyes. I don't think Detroit would give long deals to Eaves/Miller, but if the season ended today (that would be nice, eh?) then I think they would have earned at least one more contract. Helm is looking like a Wing for life, whether it's this contract or next, but Eaves and Miller are each 25, and play limited yet very effective minutes. Would love to see either at 3/4 years for a low enough term -- neither contribute offensively now so they can't demand huge bucks, but both are young enough where they'll put up better numbers at 29.

-- Brad Stuart has been the team's best defenseman this year. All respect to Nick, who has been nearly perfect this year, but Stuart has been exceeding expectations and not enough people are talking about him. He's third on the team in saves behind Howard and Osgood.

-- I swear, ever since I went on my "Kenny and Mick don't understand wood sticks" rant, Datsyuk's has been snapping at every possible opportunity. I still stand by my statement, but Datsyuk needs to find a new stick. Zetterberg does too -- his doesn't break, but it's failing him where it shouldn't be. Detroit could have played this same way and won 6-2 with the chances these guys had.

-- Dan Keniels also made my mental notes tonight, as he called Scott Niedermayer "feisty." This is the way that most announcers call him dirty. I cannot stand Niedermayer. Pronger overshadowed him as dirtier in my mind, but I think that while both are overrated as defensemen, Pronger blows Niedermayer out of the water. Niedermayer sucks. Good skater, sure, but he is all that is wrong with considering the PIM total as an indication of toughness. Niedermayer racks up 70-90 PIM per year of mostly lazy hooking and tripping penalties. Daniels called him "feisty" twice tonight -- which usually means he's being cheap and getting away with it. Die young, please, Nieds.

-- To revist my offer to Corey Perry to throw some hands with me, as I was writing this, Kris from Snipe Snipe, Dangle Dangle provided some "excellent" Ducks broadcast footage of the Abdelkader/Perry fight, as FSN-D didn't ever show a good view of it. A few absolutely hilarious things about this fight if you care to revisit it. After a not-quite-intentional-but-not-unintentional elbow by Perry on Leino, Abdelkader rocked Pansy Perry with a solid open ice hit. Pretty Perry took exception. First, Punchless Perry threw Abdelkader (PS, great reading of the pronunciation guide, Anaheim color commentator), but Abdelkader actually landed more punches, both in number and quality. Hardly the ass-kicking that Perry deserves, but still a definite win. Then the Anaheim guys talk about how tough Perry is for a while, and deal this gem of a line: "Easier for the Red Wing player, hello, he's got that visor that comes well below his nose."

WHAT?!? How does that guy keep his job? While it's not a Niklas "why do you even wear one if all you're protecting is your forehead?" Kronwall-style visor, Abdelkader's visor does not come down past his nose, and in fact, it may be the same style that Perry himself wears. SECONDLY, Corey Perry is possible the most famous player in his league for not dropping his visor while fighting. Take Detroit for example -- a team that you may argue, does not fight often. Well, Perry has fought two different Wings: Dallas Drake and Jonathan Ericsson. In both of those fights Perry makes an effort to keep his visor on to protect that unfortunate-looking moneymaker of his. He does the same thing in about 75% of his fights on YouTube, if you'd like more proof. So yeah, Anaheim color man. Get a clue, and find a new career path, hack.

Well everyone, take care. No game preview tomorrow, most likely, as my Grand Valley will be on ESPN2 (that means you should watch) in the D-2 National Championship game against good old Northwest Missouri State University (NWMOSU, just rolls right off the tongue), who have lost five straight years in the National Championship game. It's likely head coach Chuck Martin's last game at GVSU before he joins ex-GVSU coach Brian Kelly at Notre Dame as the defensive coordinator, so I'd like one more game of success before I decide to hiss and boo Martin and Kelly for the rest of their lives and wish them nothing but failure at Fighting Irish U.

And Corey, baby, I'm waiting.

A confession: I was never much for watching the standings. I think a lot of it has to do with being spoiled. I'm usually aware of who's in the playoff picture and who isn't, of course, but things like exact points usually stump me. My friends know me as the hockey information guy, but it's usually the most common "small talk" hockey question that stumps me: "what's Detroit's record?" I never know. I can usually get the wins within five or so. The reason I don't know is because it's never mattered. It's been a while since Detroit hasn't had a comfortable division lead at this point in the season. That kind of thing makes things like memorizing the standings meaningless to me. All I've ever needed to tell people is they've got a comfortable division lead. Chasing San Jose recently has been fun, but the Wings have proven countless times that winning the conference means nothing. So as long as we have the division, I'm not too stressed out about how many wins Detroit has. They'll hit 50, eventually. That's how it's been since I've been following hockey.

But.. this season I've been doing a lot of standings-watching, and it doesn't feel right. My home page is TSN's NHL page, but according to my history, the standings page is the most common page accessed from TSN.ca. Without even looking, I can tell you that Detroit's in 9th, one point back of Nashville, and six back of Chicago, but Chicago has a game in hand. Still, they're only four points up on cellar-dwelling St. Louis, making Wednesday's game crucial because St. Louis has two games in hand. It's disgusting. I've never felt the need to know that. But I do, because I check a couple times a day. It's habitual.

Additionally, when I watch other NHL games, I find myself still rooting for Detroit. By this, I mean that I'm rooting for the team that betters Detroit in the standings. I've never felt a strong hatred towards most of Detroit's division rivals. When I watch Columbus, for example, play someone else, I usually root for them, because I'm a Rick Nash fan and I like Columbus' NHL prospects. But now, even against the likes of a-hole Anaheim, I'm rooting for Anaheim because I don't want any Central Division teams pulling away from Detroit. I realize, this is what fans of 29 other teams deal with on a regular basis. But I've never done it. I've never cared if Columbus beats Anaheim in December, and I've never groaned if the game went into overtime because three points are being given away. But now that Detroit needs every single point, I'm agonizing over the numbers. It makes the regular season so much more stressful. I'm not sure if I like this NHL thing anymore.

Still, with a lineup that includes a lot more Meech, Miller, May, and Maltby than anticipated when I boldly predicted the Wings would still win the division this year, Detroit is only six points back of Chicago. Manageable. That makes this month, December 2009, one of the biggest in my time as a Wings' fan. Detroit plays another busy month with 15 games. It's not a rough month. They travel to Dallas, but other than that, the only road games are against Central Division foes. That makes them important, but it makes for an easy travel month for a team with so many injuries. And Mike Babcock's quote before the Rangers game really stuck with me. This isn't just the "injury replacement lineup." This is "the lineup that needs to get Detroit into the playoffs." With this month, the Wings can either secure a spot back among the West's top four teams, or make the last three months of the season a living hell for them as they claw their way towards the 7th or 8th seed.

Holland said earlier this week that they expect Filppula back around Christmas or early January, and Kronwall around the same period, but more than likely closer to the latter. He didn't say anything about Williams, but it's about the same time period. Franzen's later. Lilja sounds like he might be out of the picture completely. Those guys are all going to make this team a lot better. Even Williams, who I know a lot of people aren't a huge fan of, is going to be better than Meech on the second powerplay. At least give him that.

That has... absolutely nothing to do with the Rangers game. But that's all been floating around my head for a while, and I wanted to write it down. Is this where everyone else's head is at? Or has everyone been here, and I'm just late to the party? Or.. am I making a big deal about nothing? (Yes.)

Anyway, the Rangers' game was much better than the Devils' game in my mind. The win helps, obviously, but as a whole the Wings looked like a team that wanted to win, unlike yesterday.

To revisit my thoughts yesterday about the three best players on this team needing to be better, I'll give it a 2.5 out of 3. Zetterberg was just on tonight, and seemed to have some kind of anger towards Henrik Lundqvist that he took out in the form of hard shots from all over the ice. No goals, but his pass on the Cleary goal was exceptional. Datsyuk, on the other hand, finally scored, and like all goals that end slumps, it was hideous. However, to me he still looked off. He's regressed his play three or four years. He's passing up shots that he was taking the past couple years. That one awful powerplay in the second period, he was responsible for killing about 40 seconds of just from not moving his feet through the neutral zone and then firing lazy passes to no one in particular. Still needs to be better, but it beats his effort on Saturday. And Lidstrom, what can you say. Still needs to score, but two assists, and a big fat zero on the stat sheet for Marian Gaborik in terms of points and shots. First time all season he hasn't had a shot, and you better believe it was Lidstrom's doing.

I'm not sure what was eating Bertuzzi tonight, but he sure doesn't like Sean Avery. Bertuzzi was feistier tonight than he's been so far as a Wing, even throwing a big hit or two. Avery said something to him early in the game and Bertuzzi looked like he was going to take exception. You better believe it was a personal shot, I'd wager Steve Moore-related. Not a great game for Avery though, but a pretty legendary dive on the Zetterberg trip. What goes through a ref's head when he sees Avery writhing in pain with Zetterberg skating away from him. "Oh that Zetterberg, king of all cheapshots, must have struck again." Why even bother calling anything on Avery?

Howard got bailed out by Avery being terrible, and Kotalik also missing an open net, but he was great tonight. One of his best games as a Wing in terms of big, timely saves. Penalty shot stop was pretty much the definition of clutch, and then he had a big breakaway stop to boot. He still makes me nervous with a couple rebounds each game, but not like Ty "goalies can move laterally?" Conklin did last year. He's making the difficult stops right now, with the likes of Meech and Lebda in front of him.

I'm getting tired of this "penalty kill or powerplay: pick one" stuff we're seeing. It's always one of the other. Penalty kill was alarmingly solid, they actually didn't have trouble clearing the puck, but meanwhile the Wings were downright anemic tonight with the extra man. That needs to change.

In roster news, Leino was finally a healthy scratch again, and from the way the 4th line is playing, I hope he gets used to it. I don't care if Leino does play the "I'll go back to Finland card" or not, right now he is not making this team better. Kindl will probably go back down because Rafalski is back (but in my mind, he looked to be laboring a bit in the 3rd), but it probably wouldn't hurt to put Ericsson in the press box for an awful first 40 minutes. Other than that, no complaints with effort from anyone else.

St. Louis on Wednesday.

DETROIT NEWS:

-- There's really no pre-game confirmation on any changes. But it's probably a good bet that Howard starts and that May comes in for Maltby. Kindl will come out if Rafalski can go.

-- Detroit has recently dominated New York, 10-1 since 1999.

NEW YORK NEWS:

-- Henrik Lundqvist has never beaten Detroit.

-- Wade Redden, Brandon Dubinsky, and Donald Brashear are all out with injuries.

-- Marian Gaborik is ridiculously good this season.

-- Rangers have a lot of new faces this season, and they keep changing. They just picked Erik Christensen off waivers from Anaheim. They waived he-man sized goaltender Stephen Valliquette and sent him to the AHL, and called up Chad Ochocin.. er, Johnson, who was one of the best collegiate goalies over the past few seasons.

Projected lines:

Vinny Prospal | Artem Anisimov | Marian Gaborik
Sean Avery | Chris Drury | Ryan Callahan
Chris Higgins | Erik Christensen | Ales Kotalik
Enver Lisin | Brian Boyle | P-A Parenteau

Marc Staal | Michael Roszival
Michael Del Zotto | Daniel Girardi
Ilkka Heikkenen | Matt Gilroy

Henrik Lundqvist
Chad Johnson

Spotlight on...

Artem Anisimov -- This is a deep year for Ranger rookies, and Anisimov leads the charge up front. He was drafted in the 2nd round, 2006 as a big skilled Russian in the middle of all the questions about whether or not Russian players will keep coming to North America. Well, Anisimov did, and really raised his stock as a prospect with 81 points in 80 games last season in the AHL. He scored a handful of great goals in the pre-season, like this one, and made the Rangers out of camp. He started the season on the third line, as he's also a really good defensive player, but due to injuries and slumps, finds himself centering the top line tonight.

Michael Del Zotto -- The Rangers have a ton of great young talent on the blueline, and nobody really expected Del Zotto, a 2008 first round pick, to be able to step in and contribute this quickly. He has, though, playing on the top powerplay unit with 17 points in 28 games so far. He was red hot in October, but really slowed down in November. Del Zotto was the 20th overall pick in 2008, out of Oshawa in the OHL. He averaged close to a point per game in three years in the OHL -- all of them with John Tavares, as they were even traded together from Oshawa to London. He always struck me as a no-defense type of player in the OHL, and while that's still his weakness, he's come a long way since my first viewings on him.

Matt Gilroy - A third rookie defenseman suiting up for the Rangers on a regular basis (Heikkenen is the third), Gilroy won the Hobey Baker last season as the top collegiate player. He had offers to come out of college as a junior, but stayed his senior season and won a national championship with Boston University. This past offseason he was the prize of what was a very deep group of free agent college players sought after by a number of NHL teams. There were said to be 20-25 NHL offers for him, and he chose New York's one-way contract. He played a very unique game in college, as a solid defensive player, but also somewhat of a rover when he had the puck, not at all afraid to take it all the way down the ice. He's been up and down so far this season, learning to play better positionally but still scoring four goals.

I'd like to thank the bottom two lines for showing up. Why aren't they playing 20 minutes a night?

I don't care if Datsyuk is playing with Bertuzzi and Leino, I'm sick of people making excuses for him. He has not been up to snuff at all this season. He's on pace for 64 points. Ick. Sure, he needs wingers to start finishing on the chances he creates, but what happened to all the highlight reel stuff that he's capable of by himself. He's been money in the shootout, which is good when you have a team like New Jersey playing Rob Niedermayer and Jay Pandolfo for half an overtime (playing for the shootout) but he's been invisible lately and it's hard to stomach.

Zetterberg was carrying this team on his back for a few games about two weeks ago. He got tired apparently, because I've seen very little effort since then. We know what he's capable of. We know what Lidstrom's capable of. We know what Datsyuk's capable of. We know we're not seeing that, but we're blaming the Meeches, the Howards, and the Leinoes. Yawn.

Second line didn't mesh at all. I barely noticed Cleary, Leino did all the wrong things tonight, and Bertuzzi just did his own thing. It's time to do something drastic and start spreading guys who want to try around the lineup. Why not try four balanced lines? Separate the checkers from the scorers -- because if you've noticed, the checkers are actually producing all the offense these days, while the scorers are just skating leisurely around the ice. Why not try something like this?

Holmstrom - Datsyuk - Eaves
Miller - Zetterberg - Draper
Abdelkader - Helm - Bertuzzi
Leino - Cleary - Maltby

I put basically zero thought into those lines. I just wrote names down. But I like it, because it's different. The "same" lines, no matter whether or not the Eurotwins are together, are just not cutting it. Those are some awful looking wingers with Zetterberg (for scoring purposes).. but keep in mind, Zetterberg's played with basically everyone else. He's had nothing to show for it, and his wingers have had nothing to show for it.

I don't want to hear about Jimmy Howard anymore when Osgood's letting in goals like the second and third he let up tonight. Osgood's the playoff guy, and he's experienced, sure, but those were a pitiful pair of goals. Just hold the goalies to the same standards, maybe, the standards of an NHL goaltender, please.

Not happy tonight. The third period was the Detroit team we know taking over and really laying it on the Devils -- shots were 11-3. When are we going to get that for a full sixty minutes? Brodeur's a solid goalie, but I'm tired of having an excuse to fall back on every night. "Bad effort, but a hot goalie." "Didn't have the goaltending tonight." "Would have won if not for Bertuzzi. It's Bertuzzi's fault that Datsyuk and Zetterberg are doing absolutely nothing." Right? Boring. Team is underacheiving as a whole and has not had all cylinders firing for a few weeks. They can. We've seen it.

And I miss it.