Apologies for nothing on the Edmonton game. I only saw the first half of the game, then I left for my own game. I saw all the goals, so I figured there probably wasn't much worth seeing in the second half.

Three thoughts though, that have stuck with me after the first half of that game.

-- Pavel Datsyuk, where are you?

-- A little frustrated with how some have turned against Jimmy Howard again, already. Do you not remember that he just rattled off all kinds of wins? More importantly, what do you expect? When you've got your own team tipping pucks into you, you've got problems that lie elsewhere. The seconds one that squeaked through his legs looked bad, but c'mon. What was Datsyuk even trying to do? Howard was not good by any stretch, but he was not the problem. It blows my mind how the team can play that bad and some can pin the loss on one guy.

-- Jakub Kindl looked good, despite his -2. First one was Lebda's fault. The second one, Kindl didn't get the puck out of the zone. But as I said on Motown Wings, what are the odds of Zach Stortini beating anyone in a puck battle, Ryan Stone seaming a perfect pass tape-to-tape underneath Abdelkader, then Robert Nilsson, who has had trouble finishing all of his career, absolutely walking Ericsson before pulling a sick backhand-to-forehand move over Howard. And, what are the odds of these three things happening at once. As bad as Ericsson looked, that was just a tic-tac-toe play, sometimes that just happens.

DETROIT NEWS:

-- Kindl made the trip, but Rafalski was expected to play. However, it sounds like Kindl's going to be in for Rafalski again.

-- Ericsson isn't hurt badly enough to not play, he's in.

-- Osgood's starting.

-- Eaves is back in for May, on that ridiculously fast line. Miller is bumped back down with Abdelkader and Maltby.

-- Eurotwins are reunited with Holmstrom, Cleary plays some center for the first time since his first year with Detroit when he centered the 4th line all year. He's centering Leino and Bertuzzi.

NEW JERSEY NEWS:

Expected lineup, I think. Sounds like they have a lot of injuries as well, not sure if anyone here didn't play yesterday against Tampa Bay.

Zach Parise | Travis Zajac | Nicklas Bergfors
Brian Rolston | Patrik Elias | Jamie Langenbrunner
Matt Halischuk | Rob Niedermayer | Vladimir Zharkov
Rod Pelley | Dean McAmmond | Ilkka Pikkarainen

Bryce Salvador | Andy Greene
Colin White | Mike Mottau
Mark Fraser | Matt Corrente

Martin Brodeur
Yann Danis

Spotlight on...

Nicklas Bergfors -- He's been New Jersey's top prospect for a while. He was who I wanted Detroit to draft in 2005, but they took Kindl four picks ahead of him. Bergfors was in a strange situation as he was going to play major junior hockey, but New Jersey signed him and put him in the AHL after he was drafted. He faded off the top prospect radar for a while, but after four years in the AHL, he gives New Jersey this year a strong two-way scoring threat. 51 points is the best he put up in the AHL, but he's showed this season that he has no trouble scoring. He actually started off pretty slow but since being put on the top line, he's caught fire. 18 points in 26 games.

Matt Halischuk -- I'm familiar with him from his OHL days. He always looked like a sure bet to be on the checking line some day, but he's also got a knack for scoring clutch goals. He went on a scoring tear his final year of juniors and was one of the biggest parts of Kitchener getting to the Memorial Cup final. That same year, he scored the overtime winner in the gold medal game of the World Junior Championships. He spent the year in the AHL last season, and then made the Devils out of camp this year. So far, with just two points, his scoring touch has fallen behind. But he's a relentless skater and just one of those guys who's going to have a long NHL career and score a couple huge goals.

Mark Fraser -- I'm not even going to lie and look this guy up and make it sound like I know who this is. I have no idea who this player is. Apparently, he played two years in the OHL, then a couple in the AHL. Played a handful of AHL seasons, then made his NHL debut last season, and has apparently played 18 NHL games this season without me realizing it. That's just what I hear, I have no idea why I didn't know. Good for him I suppose, but I just feel left out for just having no idea who this player is.

Yann Danis -- Easiest job in the world.

Woke up this morning (afternoon) to see a ton of news about the World Junior Championship. I realized.. It must be that time of year. The most wonderful time of year.

Not Christmas, necessarily, but close enough. From December 26 to January 5 every year, it's World Juniors time.

If you're completely confused, you're missing out on some of the best hockey ever. The WJC is an international tournament for players under 20 (this year, meaning 1990 birthdates or younger), and it's without a doubt the best yearly hockey tournament you could think of (besides the NHL playoffs, of course). Since all these guys are 19/20 (mostly), most have been drafted, so it's nice to see them get some additional exposure. It's pretty much just as big of a deal as the Olympics in Canada, they go nuts for it. It's not nearly as big in the United States, but the NHL Network did an incredible job covering the games last year, and even did some original pro-American broadcasts instead of just ripping feeds from TSN.

Canada has run the table recently with five straight gold medals. This was the best game of the tournament from last year, the annual showdown between Canada and the USA on New Year's Eve. With Wings' prospect Thomas McCollum in net, Team USA stormed out to a 3-0 lead on Canadian soil, but Canada stormed back to tie it... before the end of the first period. It was tragic from the perspective that it was McCollum getting lit up. But it was awesome from the perspective that I was practically shaking with how back and forth this game was, even once Canada ran up the score to 7-4. McCollum was the USA's goalie for the whole tournament, and struggled. He bounced back nicely, and I don't fault him as USA's defense last year was just awful.

Here are the highlights. At least watch the first period. If you're not hooked, check your pulse:

Fear not, the USA's had their laughs. This was the deciding goal at the 2004 games (full game highlight here):

There are unbelievable moments every year. One of the stars of last year's tournament was Tomas Tatar -- pretty much bumped him up from a potential late round pick to a legitimate top two round selection. He scored seven goals as Slovakia was the surprise team of the tournament, upsetting the Americans en route to a loss in the bronze medal game.

Detroit sounds like they're going to release Tatar from Grand Rapids for two weeks to play in this tournament again. He's guaranteed to be the go-to guy for Slovakia, so if nothing else, watch the tournament for him.

Other than him, there weren't really any locks for the Americans. I posted this summer when the summer camp roster came out, because I was disappointed that neither Brian Lashoff or Max Nicastro had made the roster. Lashoff is understandable -- sometimes politics get in the way and the USA "overlooks" American players that choose not to play college hockey (see Bobby Ryan, but they've been better on this type of thing recently), and Lashoff is not a highly touted prospect to begin with, as he was never drafted and you don't hear too much fawning over him. Nicastro I was more surprised about. I didn't think he would make the team, but I thought he deserved to be among the 20 or so defensemen they had on the initial roster, especially considering he starred last season for the World Junior A Challenge, where the Americans won gold. I was disappointed, but knew that they could play their way onto the roster.

I knew that they could, but I didn't expect them to. USA widdled down their roster today from 20 or so to to 11 defensemen -- including both Lashoff and Nicastro. Here's the roster (it's a .doc file). If Nicastro and Lashoff ever wanted to start playing exceptional hockey, now would be the time. The final roster will most likely consist of seven defensemen, so four cuts. Of that list, I would say that John Carlson, Jake Gardiner, Cam Fowler, and John Moore are definitely 100% safe, no fear of being cut.

For the final three spots, I'd say David Warsofsky has an advantage, but if Team USA feels they already have enough offensive defensemen in that top 4, they could look to the defensive puck-mover Lashoff or the two-way Nicastro over Warsofsky. Jon Merrill and Justin Faulk are on the roster, but as 1992 birthdays for a tournament of '90s, don't have much of a shot. Could only be at the camp just to get experience to play big parts in the next two years. The other two are John Ramage (Brendan Smith's defensive partner at Wisconsin), who is a '91, and Matt Donovan, who I haven't heard of but could make the team as the US loves to take one random "who is this guy" defensive defenseman, which is what Donovan sounds like.

So the chances are pretty good for at least one Wing on the blueline. Tatar is an 150% lock. The only other player with a chance at competing is Andrej Nestrasil for the Czech Republic, as the Czechs haven't released their roster. As a '91, he's a lock for next year's team, but could force his way onto this year's team with his better than point-per-game clip early in the QMJHL season. The Wings' two long shots in Brent Raedeke and Willie Coetzee didn't make Canada's 36-man roster, but if you're a fan of local hockey players, the Plymouth Whalers' Matt Hackett (nephew of Jeff), and Tyler Seguin (potential #1 overall pick in 2010) did make it.

Final rosters will most likely be towards the second or third week of this month. I advise all of you to watch this tournament, but if you don't.. expect coverage here.

Quick recap since it's late. But it's important anyway.

I used to dislike the Ken/Mick duo. I still yearn for the days of Dave Strader, but Ken Daniels has grown on me. Sure, he insists on using really specific "I heard someone else say it so I'm saying it too" hockey terminology like "kickplate" all the time, and every Wings fan knows that there is no "Ryan Kesler" or "James Wisniewski" in the league, but there is"Livonia-native Ryan Kesler" and "Canton-native James Wisniewski" (alternatively, former Plymouth Whaler James Wisniewski).

But as much as those little things wear on me over a season, once the playoffs start and there's a heated series (Detroit/Anaheim for example), I appreciate the Wings homers holding me telling me that everything's going to be alright. Versus was a nightmare in that series. Also, CBC is a nightmare with any Detroit series involving a Canadian team. So they have their flaws, but I appreciate them.

However, man they kill me when they start with the composite sticks. They've been around for nearly a full decade now and neither of these guys understand just how they break. Every time a stick just snaps in half, they talk for the next five minutes about how ridiculous these sticks are. Really though, then numbers are out there, the average player doesn't go through that many more composites than they did with wood. But they don't just snap, that's not how it happens. There are two breaks on composite sticks. The stick really breaks under heavy contact (a slash, sometimes a big shot), but they don't always snap in half. They'll crack, and if they crack in the right spot, pretty much any contact after that is going to break it. Sometimes that's a pass, sometimes it's just receiving a pass, so yeah, it looks a lot worse than a wood stick. I don't know if Ken and Mick know this. Maybe they do and just don't mention it, but when something happens like yesterday when Datsyuk broke his stick basically doing nothing, you just hear the groans.

They make a big deal about guys like Jason Spezza going back to wood sticks. Here's the thing though, Spezza's the only guy who is. Wood stick guys are just down to a handful.. ever think that's because they work? Even Sidney Crosby switched to composite this year and all everyone's talking about is how he's taking slapshots and looks like he's going to shatter his personal goal totals.

Here's the thing: Mickey Redmond uses a composite stick. Maybe. Back when I worked at a hockey rink about three years ago, we had the Wings' alumni team in to play the Oakland County Police or something. Redmond was using an old broken Easton Synergy stick that he rigged with a wooden blade (they're one-pieces, but if you cut the blade off you can take the plug out of the other end and play that way. He's never mentioned that. Of course, I saw pictures of another alumni game more recently where he had the wood. So maybe it was just one time. But for the sake of a better story, it wasn't.

Anyway, there's my rant on that. I get it, it's frustrating. I've fallen on my face taking a slapshot when my $200 RBK 9K snapped right at the blade. And I'm not a pro NHLer that goes to the bench and gets one of a dozen backup sticks of equal or greater value. But I wouldn't use them if I was confident my shot wasn't better with them. It's been so long since they've been around -- everyone's seen a dozen embarrassing and inopportune stick breaks. But it's been nearly a decade, so Ken/Mick, I think it's time to can the wood stick lectures because that day has passed.

Now, onto the game:

• There's nothing more satisfying as a blogger than taking a shot at a player before a big game and not having it come back to bite you. I was so hesitant to write anything about Turco in my preview because I don't like eating my words and he's beaten Detroit before. It doesn't make him any less overrated, it just means that everyone has their day once in a while. Luckily, Turco is pretty consistent, so it's a lot easier and more fun to take shots at him without fear of consequences. Thanks, Marty. And thanks Marc Crawford for not starting Alex Auld -- he's much scarier.
  
• Loved the stat FSN had with career winning percentages against Detroit. Guy Hebert had the lowest of all time. I don't remember second place, but Turco was 6th. The active goalies beating him: Evgeni Nabokov and Tomas Vokoun. Vokoun was the goalie for most of the years that Nashville was really awful and has since been moved out of conference so it's difficult for him to improve on that. What's your excuse, Evgeni?
• That goal couldn't have come at a better time for Darren Helm, given the dozen or so goals he should have had against St. Louis. Good to bust that slump right away, even if he had a whole net open and still shot it right into Turco. Thanks, Marty.
• That goal couldn't have come at a better time for Todd Bertuzzi, given that he's wildly inconsistent. I was happy he got the SO winner against St. Louis, but I was worried that since it came off a nice move he was going to try to dangle even more against Dallas. Luckily, I thought his game was actually simpler, and he was rewarded for doing what he should have been doing all season -- throwing the puck at the net. Thanks, Marty. His accuracy is quite good despite what a lot of people think. This one was a deflection goal but I hope it'll lead to a little more of that and a little less spinny dangling stuff. He'll be so much more effective that way.
• I don't say enough that Kris Draper is playing his best hockey post-lockout. Loving the boost he's found playing with Eaves/Miller and Helm. Virtually no finish at all between the four of them, but they're proving game in and game out that if you suck enough at finishing, you'll eventually get a lucky goal. And I love that.
• Mike Babcock reads this blog and loves to confuse me. The Wings get shut out back to back and he doesn't change lines. I suggest swapping Leino and Holmstrom. The Wings get offense against St. Louis, and in the Dallas game, but mid-second period Leino and Holmstrom are randomly swapped. I appreciate you listening to me, Mike, but why did you wait until the team was winning?
• Howard's won six of his past eight starts, and his WGI (Weak Goal Index -- a stat I made up, and don't actually keep track of, but I use to make my assertions sound more impressive) is five full points above Chris Osgood's. I don't think we have a goaltending controversy, because Osgood isn't letting in too many goals like last year, but the Wings just aren't winning in front of him. The Wings have another busy month with 15 games in December -- I say why not ride Howard? Keep Osgood fresh for the playoffs, see what Howard's made of. I'll admit, even coming from a big defender he's exceeding my own expectations. His RRP (Ridiculous Rebound Percentage -- see above) has fallen 650% since October, which makes everyone a little more comfortable. He's still not looking like starter material, yet, but I'm wavering on whether or not he's a career backup, or maybe, just maybe, a solid and cheap 1B guy.

That should suffice for now. It was nice to have end November on a high note. An ugly month towards the end, but overall much improved on October. I think we can all take a deep breath, enjoy the beautiful Michigan weather, and ritualistically sacrifice something to the hockey gods so we don't have any more injuries.

Edmonton on Thursday. More than a day off in between games? No way.

I briefly mentioned in my last post that I came up with an idea for a game preview thing I could do. Well, consider this the debut. I feel that a ton of other blogs cover the Wings side of things thoroughly, and then some, so I decided it might be a good idea to look at things from the other perspective. For the same reason I focus heavily on prospects on this blog (because there's just too much information scattered around the 'nets), I'll regularly put up game previews where we take a look at recently graduated Stars prospects just to help familiarize people with names they're seeing, but don't necessarily know where they've come from. I realize preview stuff doesn't get a whole lot of comments out there, but drop me a comment if this is something you think is interesting and you might want to see more in the future.

DETROIT NEWS:

-- One anonymous Red Wings player (Khan suggests Patrick Eaves) is a game-time decision. Kirk Maltby will play if they can't go. No other changes in lines to note.

-- Jimmy Howard gets the start, a reward for getting a win.

-- People hate Todd Bertuzzi less right now, so this would be a good time for him to explode for two or three goals. I can hope, right?

DALLAS NEWS:

-- Marty Turco, the Red Wings' favorite goalie, gets the start tonight.

Stars expected lineup:

James Neal | Brad Richards | Loui Eriksson
Brenden Morrow | Mike Modano | Jamie Benn
Toby Petersen | Mike Ribeiro | Fabian Brunnstrom
Steve Ott | Tom Wandell | Jere Lehtinen

Trevor Daley | Stephane Robidas
Karlis Skrastins | Nicklas Grossman
Mark Fistric | Matt Niskanen

Marty Turco

Spotlight on ...

James Neal -- You likely know who James Neal is, given that he's on the scoresheet almost nightly. Neal needs to be recognized because I think he's one of the most underrated players in the league... Or at least I thought that, until Pierre McGuire put him on his Canadian Olympic team. That is a little stretch, but Neal's still an incredible player. I had the chance to watch him for three full seasons with the Plymouth Whalers (something Ken Daniels is contractually obligated to mention about a dozen times, no doubt) and I knew he'd be a player at the next level.

On the 2006-07 team that won the OHL championship, he looked like one of the best in the league, although he didn't get that kind of recognition. Neal can skate like the wind, he can hit, and obviously, he can score. At 22, while the Olympics are likely out of reach for him right now, it doesn't look like an impossibility down the road.

Jamie Benn -- As much as I like Neal, I do not like Jamie Benn. He became on of the most overhyped prospects ever last season for reasons I don't understand. He was on the big stage last year with appearences at the World Junior Championships for Canada (one of the lowest drafted players on the team) and at the Memorial Cup for Kelowna. To his credit, he delivered, with four goals at the WJC and a four-goal game at the Memorial Cup, in a game in which he iced the puck several times towards an empty net, with a two-goal lead, looking for his record-tying fifth.

But Benn is an example to me of where stats don't tell the whole story.He knows where to be around the net, but he gets lucky -- which is a skill, no doubt. I've never been that blown away with his skills and I don't think he works as hard as people claim. I was pretty shocked to see that he made Dallas out of camp, as I expected he would need AHL time. However, he landed on the top line and produced a fair bit. Now off the top line, his production is starting to slide (though he does have points in four of his past six). Sometimes I think he's just a guy who's always going to prove me wrong, the rare breed who can make a career of just being in the right spot, but when I watch a Dallas game, I just don't see a guy who's going to make a long NHL career.

Fabian Brunnstrom -- In one of the most overplayed stories of all time, Brunnstrom was labeled by the media as "the next Daniel Alfredsson" en route to becoming one of the most overhyped prospects of all time. After playing in the lower Swedish leagues, Brunnstrom broke out in the SEL, with 37 points in 54 games (good for a guy who hadn't been playing a high level of hockey). He was courted by several teams over a three-month span that got way too much media exposure. Reportedly, two of his final four teams were Dallas and Detroit, with Detroit the media-frontrunner for being so Swedish. After attending a ton of Wings games including, if memory serves, Detroit's Game 4 8-2 win over Colorado in 2008, Brunnstrom signed with Dallas, citing his desire to not have to play in the AHL.

Less than a week later, under much less media hype, Detroit signed the MVP of the Finnish League in Ville Leino. Brunnstrom had a hat trick in his first NHL game, but overall an underwhelming rookie season in which a lot of people (including myself) realized he was pretty much doomed to fail based on the ridiculous expectations of what was just a good, not great, NHL prospect. Meanwhile, Detroit fans were pretty happy with Leino, the top offensive player on Grand Rapids. A year and a half after all the hype, Brunnstrom is rumored to be on the trading block and Dallas is not happy with his development. Meanwhile, Ville Leino is not on the block yet, but he's well on his way if he doesn't get his offensive production going soon.

How to beat Dallas: Take a ton of shots at Marty Turco and don't give him any time to handle the puck. It's a time tested strategy to take down Dallas, as Detroit's proven many times through Turco's career.

Such a great night, and such a nice long recap. Then, trying to fact-check ONE (!) final thing, I accidentally click a bookmark on my toolbar and get sent to a new page. Unfortunately, the new blog doesn't have my much-needed idiot filter (aka auto-save), so when I click off the page, I lose everything. I'm so heart-broken that you're just going to have to deal with bullet form of the points I wanted to bring up. Sorry. Note to self: start drafting posts in Word or something.

• It was a full week in between goals for Detroit that a) counted and b) weren't scored by Drew Miller. The win is just the cherry on top of that.
• Wings were lazy in the first, but hats off to the Abdelkader line for being the only line who looked like they wanted to score. May was great (and somehow ended up on Datsyuk's wing -- I was convinced Babcock did not want to win), but Abdelkader really took his game to a new level tonight.
• It doesn't take a genius to figure out that Darren Helm was upset with how snake-bitten he is, but a professional hockey player has got have a better backhand than Helm did in the third. To make matters worse, he basically fired the rebound straight up in the air, still staring at an open net. Kris Draper was heard saying, "maybe I'm not such a bad finisher after all," and Todd Bertuzzi said "what was that all about?"
• Anyone surprised by Bertuzzi's shootout move sorely disappoints me. That's patented, vintage Bertuzzi. He burned Detroit on that at least five times while he was a Canuck. I've probably seen him score on that two dozen times in his career. It's his bread and butter. Props to him for having a much better effort than he'd had recently, and for making the most of (what I hope will be) a rare shootout opportunity.
• Howard was huge tonight. And shockingly, now that he's got a few under his belt, he's actually a competent shootout goalie. Even though it's a recipe for disaster, I wonder if the Wings would ever consider putting him in cold over Osgood for a shootout. I'm a big Osgood fan, but he's seems to struggle in the shootout, and really any non-playoff breakaway situation.
• Barely noticed Ville Leino. I said I wouldn't miss Hudler because I expected Leino would put up points. He's not a good enough all-around player to not put up points. Patience is running thin.
• Speaking of hockey players who don't really play hockey, six Red Wings played more minutes individually than Meech/Lebda did combined. That's sad. Makes you wonder what Detroit's plan is with Kindl. What better time than now to give him a fwe games, given that Kronwall's a month away and Lilja's breakthrough didn't really change
  
• What was lost in all my whining about Detroit's losing and having goals called back was that Jonathan Ericsson is playing really solid hockey now, virtually mistake-free of the past few weeks. He played a team-high 28:20 tonight. The fact that you probably didn't know that means he's keeping it simple and making his minutes count. To put that into perspective, only five times all season he played more than 20 minutes, and he was near 30 tonight. Let's hope he was just a slow starter.
• This win was big for two reasons. First, Hossa's back in Chicago and they were red hot to begin with. If Detroit doesn't start winning now, kiss the division goodbye. But in the short-term, a regulation loss for Detroit would have given them sole possession of the Central's cellar. Detroit's not a team that's going to sulk over their position in the standings, but that distinction definitely wouldn't help their confidence. Good for them for getting a little breathing room.

Man. Spent. Watching that game took too much out of me to really even discuss it. What's the point? Just read Wednesday's and sub Kiprusoff's name for Pavelec. Throw in a generic line about how it's not Bertuzzi's fault, but he's not really helping either. Mention that the defense played well but lapsed and that's all it took. Question whether or not Kirk Maltby belongs in the NHL. Casually bring about the fact that Tomas Tatar scored another goal. Insert hockey cliche #1. Read the Nashville recap, switch LaRue's name for Chris what's-his-face, throw in a cleverly worded zingers about NHL officiating and eye sight. Subtly hint at a conspiracy but back off so you don't get labeled as a whiny Wings fan. Ask why the lines are hardly shaken up. Insert hockey cliche #2, something to do with percentages this time. Find some obscure statistic that shows how this the worst thing that's happened since some random date in 1993. Touch on Datsyuk and Zetterberg being good even though you know they should be better. Give credit to Calgary to show that you're a good sport, but you watched Detroit dismantle Calgary a few weeks ago and you're wondering what happened to that team, and not wondering if Calgary really got any better. Ask if everyone else thought Mickey Redmond was drunk. Think about questioning Mike Babcock. Roll your eyes at Brett Lebda and Derek Meech. Evade any other issues with the injury card. Move on to tomorrow night.

Blegh.

This blog's starting to sound like a broken record.. mostly because the team keeps making the same mistakes.

But seriously, when will this team catch a break? Goalies play out of their skulls against Detroit. A lot of people probably aren't familiar with Ondrej Pavelec, but I remember the '05 draft like yesterday. Always been a highly regarded prospect, no surprise at all he's succeeding. I think I threw it out there in the offseason when I was running through ideas to trade Hudler's rights that maybe they should target a young goalie like Pavelec or Josh Harding. Unfortunately, with Kari Lehtonen out long-term, I don't think Pavelec is in Detroit's price range anymore.

But anyway, too many freakish performances by goalies. Too many blocked shots. But it wasn't like Atlanta was always "hitting both bumpers" (for those who play NHL 10). Shots were tipping off sticks, passes just hitting shins. I'd say half their blocks were accidental. After a while, it got to be painful. I called the shutout with 11 minutes left in the 3rd. Just because it was that type of game.

Think the early reviews on the game are too harsh. While they didn't necessarily play well enough to win, I don't think Detroit deserved to be shutout. They controlled the first period and most of the second. They didn't really put on the gas in the third like they could have. Naturally, Bertuzzi is being blamed. If anyone could tell me something he did that was stupid besides that one misfired pass (because no one else misfired tonight), that'd be great. I just want to see the same game the rest of you are seeing, I feel like I'm missing out.

Lines need to drastically be shaken. Top two lines aren't doing anything, third line is exciting to watch, but when you break it down, Eaves, Helm, and Draper all have the same problem -- they're spazzes, always flying and generating chances, never finishing. Spread them out throughout the lineup. And you know what's great about a May/Abdelkader/Maltby line? It's a great time to get up and get a snack or something, because you just know that line has no threat of scoring. Abdelkader's excused because he's far too young to have that kind of offensive pressure placed entirely on him. If you want to talk useless, look at May and Maltby tonight. I've seen guys skate harder at open skate. Eaves can't come back in for one of these guys soon enough.

And Lebda/Meech.. It's cute, but I want Jakub Kindl. What? He took a shot off the foot at practice and didn't play tonight? Fantastic. Anyone for Delmore? Ugh. Tatar has two goals and four assists in his past three games.

Sidenote: This guy's on waivers. I have really no idea how he's done in Denver or why they're exposing him to waivers. But I watched him at Michigan and I know he can put up points in this league. We're still low in the standings, why not give him a shot? If he's useless, he'll fit right in.

Happy Thanksgiving!

This was just one of those games that assures you of two things: the Wings don't have the depth to play like last year, and the Wings can beat anyone when they decide to apply themselves.

Detroit got outskated, outworked, outcoached, outplayed, and out-everything-else in the first 40 minutes of this game. Nashville has a solid club. Not the most talented they've ever had, but one of the hardest-working. It would be a shame if they missed the playoffs again. They did what they needed to do and completely walked all over Detroit. Detroit's offense looked dangerous in the 3rd, but they had Rinne to answer to. Also, the Predators likely backed off a tad, so it was hardly all Detroit.

Obviously, Drew Miller had his best game as a Wing and was rewarded with a goal. He probably would have had two if Zetterberg didn't try to make that move around the defenseman on that 2-on-1. Or maybe the defenseman would have broken it up and I'd be talking about how he should have tried to make a move around him. Who knows? Whatever the case, especially if Pekka Rinne intended to dive out at the pass, if it got to Miller he would have been looking at an open net. I've been really impressed with his play.

Todd Bertuzzi definitely didn't do a good job proving me right after I came to his defense earlier this week, with a below-average effort (fits in with the rest of the team through 40 minutes) and no real scoring chances. Two offensive zone penalties, one deserved. People seem to be really hung up on that. Holmstrom took two offensive zone penalties -- both deserved, but who talked about that? It's cool, I get it. Don't let the facts get in the way of a good story. Mike Babcock's calling him out for more goals -- Bert feels like he should have six or seven and I completely agree. He's played well enough to earn that, and I think if he had it he wouldn't be taking so much heat for his play. I'm only giving him a few more weeks. Solid play, but it means nothing if he can't start putting them in more regularly.

That said, if Ville Leino's flying all over the ice and Bert is looking disinterested, why take Leino off Zetterberg's line for Miller? Leino is struggling to put up points as well (still think he and Homer should switch spots in the top six), but he had a few really good shifts last night. Most of them were with Abdelkader (his Griffins' linemate from last season), but still. The offense is sputtering right now, yet the only change from game-to-game is whether or not Kris Draper is on the Helm/Eaves line. That line really isn't the problem right now, it's the other three.

Derek Meech looked pretty solid for not having played in a while. I thought this was Jonathan Ericsson's best game of the season. Still not like he was in the playoffs, but he showed some confidence with a beautiful end-to-end rush that he flubbed in the first period, and was nearly-mistake free in his own zone.

Pretty typical game from Osgood. Spectacular saves, for most of the night, but two weak goals. No chance on the powerplay goal, but those Erat shots have got to be stopped. Well-placed shots for sure, but those are ones that Osgood can handle.

Next up: Atlanta. Howard's getting the start against a surprisingly potent offense. There's a very real possibility that Howard could get lit up by Ilya Kovalchuk, so let's just hope he can limit him to just one or two goals.

I suppose the logical place to start is by updating on the status of Laraque and Kronwall. Laraque is facing a disciplinary hearing tomorrow for his knee-on-knee hit on Kronwall (video below). Kronwall was initially diagnosed as out for two to four weeks with an MCL sprain, but is now out for "at least a month." It seems like Detroit does this every year, where a player's injury status gradually gets longer and longer until they miss two or three months. Hopefully I'm just wrong here, and hopefully Laraque gets a lengthy suspension based on the precedence set by the NHL of not suspending star players but consistently making examples out of goons. Refer to Down Goes Brown's handy suspension chart to figure out how many games Laraque will get.

Lame.

It appears Detroit isn't going to call anyone up either, so it could be Meech/Lebda for a month. With Williams out, it really hurts the powerplay and it showed in that game. I called Kronwall out earlier this year, but he's been very strong of late, was playing with a lot of confidence on the powerplay. When he went down, Detroit finally put the 100 mph+ shooting Jonathan Ericsson on the point, and he looked okay. But Detroit ran out of fresh guys on their nearly 20 minute powerplay in the first period. Abdelkader, Eaves, and Draper all got powerplay time. Stuart, who probably played his best game of the season and led the team with ten shots, looked very good on the point even when he had to hold onto the puck. But it seemed like by the end of the period, the Wings top two units were really worn out. Every player was passing up shots they should have taken.

Jimmy Howard's been looking really good lately, sadly I think Osgood getting sick was the best possible thing to happen to him. He got a ton of starts all in a short amount of time and he seems to be much more comfortable in net. If he was getting a start every two weeks, he'd probably still be fighting the puck. More than he already does, anyway. Anyone else still wish we got rid of him after his third start? I don't mean to gloat about being right, because I fully expect Howard will have another handful of terrible outings. I just hope people realize now that patience is required when dealing with a rookie goaltender. But I think Howard getting this chunk of starts will really reduce the amount of shaky outings he'll have. He's got some wins now, probably feels like he belongs in the league. That's big for a goalie.

Lastly, I've had it with Todd Bertuzzi. Not his play, but the whining about him. He makes stupid plays, I agree. If you expected early 2000s Vancouver Bertuzzi, you were severely misled. But he plays fine for a few games, and then makes one stupid play -- like that bad powerplay giveaway -- and all of a sudden he's "useless." Yawn. Seriously? I wasn't aware that players who play a sound two-way game and generate a handful of scoring chances every game are "useless." He's never been a two-way player and his commitment to that side of the puck really reflects on his commitment to this team.

Let me ask, does anyone who doesn't have a personal problem with Todd Bertuzzi find him useless? I'm frustrated he's not scoring, but I can live with the extra three to five chances per game. I expected more points from him, but I also expected he would be a defensive liability. That hasn't been the case, at all. I think he's right on the edge of putting up the kind of points I expected from him, too. It's only been a month and a half. He's been improving. He's not going to regain his old scoring touch, ever, so yes, he will flub glorious chances from time to time. But I find it a little funny that with a team that lost second line to free agency and then another second line to injury, that people are complaining about the guy generating the most chances on the team behind Datsyuk and Zetterberg. Spoiled much?

If his name wasn't Todd Bertuzzi, this wouldn't be an issue. A player at $1.5 million who plays at both ends of the ice? Sign me up. I think it's time to stop living in the past and open your eyes to a guy that's playing pretty solid hockey. Or you could look at that one turnover and act like it's the end of the world. Because when you look at Zetterberg, Datsyuk, Malkin, and Ovechkin, you never, ever see them turn the puck over when trying to make a play with the puck. Your call.

That said, I think there is a problem within the top two lines. Both lines. And I think it's obvious, and I'm a little shocked a switch hasn't been made yet, since the team has struggled scoring since the Columbus and Anaheim games. I don't know if Datsyuk has the ability to play with both Holmstrom and Bertuzzi. I'm defending Bertuzzi, but he's not a playmaker. I don't like to two of them together, because Bertuzzi should be doing less spins along the boards and more play in front of the net. Meanwhile, Zetterberg and Cleary are red hot, but Leino isn't getting any points. He's been better than at the beginning of the season, and gets chances, but isn't scoring (yet no one drops the "useless" card on him). So why not try a little of this:

Ville Leino | Pavel Datsyuk | Todd Bertuzzi
Dan Cleary | Henrik Zetterberg | Tomas Holmstrom

Thoughts? Leino's flashy, he and Datsyuk could do some damage. Bertuzzi can make plays, but he probably should be playing more around the net. Meanwhile, after a hot start Holmstrom's cooled down, and he's had success in the past with Zetterberg. I'm much more worried about getting Leino going because I had him as the team's top prospect before the season, and a Calder hopeful. I think, given the recent lull in offense, this would be a worthwhile move. Leino's last chance to stick on the top two lines before the likes of Filppula and Williams come back. Any thoughts on that?

Wings are in action again Monday against Nashville. Game is on Versus, and Darren McCarty will make his debut as a Versus analyst. Should be fun to watch, but hopefully the game will be a little less stressful than last night's.

Excuse the lack of updates recently. If you follow my Twitter, you'll know that I didn't watch the Detroit/Florida game because I was at the Griffins game on Friday. I intended to come home and catch the midnight replay, but I happened to catch the goal that won it in overtime and decided I really had no interest in watching Bryan McCabe beat Osgood with a soft shot from a low percentage area. However, after finding out today that Detroit really controlled the play and Darren Helm had eight shots, I might just watch it down the road when it's archived on NHL Gamecenter. But that's irrelevent, because by then no one will have interest in reading about that game, so I'm not going to write about it.

I'll write about the Montreal game tomorrow. Tonight I just wanted to post some thoughts on the Griffins game I took in on Friday while they're still fresh. Grand Rapids beat Texas 4-1. Despite the lack of really top-caliber prospects, Texas was actually tops in the league before coming in. I figured it would be a good test for Grand Rapids, one of the hottest teams in the league, to play them. It's also interesting how the teams are composed. Texas is good because they have mostly older players, 26-30ish, who are in their primes but just never got good enough for the NHL. Grand Rapids is mostly young Wings' prospects with a few of those types to fill out the roster.

So everything went pretty much as expected. Texas was much stronger, but Grand Rapids controlled much of the play with their talent and speed. The Griffins came out especially hard in the first period, and really took control of the first ten minutes. The rest of the game was really back and forth, but Grand Rapids capitalized on some powerplays and Daniel Larsson made the saves he needed to make. But anyway, here's the deal. In the last game I attended, I wrote about everyone who played because I was just looking for impressions. Friday, I was just looking for a handful of players, so I'm going to focus on fewer guys, but anyone else who caught my eye will be mentioned.

Jakub Kindl -- Kindl's a good place to start, considering the news today that Niklas Kronwall is out 2-3 weeks. Detroit's said that they're not calling anyone up, but I'm not convinced Kronwall is only out for two weeks. If it's longer, I don't know if Detroit's ready for two full months of Meech. Anyway, I was really watching Kindl, and it was one of the better performances I've seen from him. His NHL readiness is always in question, but I'd like to remind people that Jonny Ericsson and Brett Lebda are our current third paring -- he wouldn't be much worse. He's like Ericsson with a lot of the stick poking defensively, but he's a better skater and he does lay on the body from time to time. But his game is definitely puck-moving, and the problem I've had with him is he doesn't always look fluid with the puck. He made the right decisions all game and looked very confident. And that confidence was probably helped out by him scoring a late goal in this game -- his first of the year. Tonight, he had three assists in a 6-3 win over Toronto. Hopefully the start to him regaining his AHL All-Star form from the first half of last season.

Cory Emmerton -- Probably the most NHL ready looking forward, great for him, but bad for the last player to have that distinction in Mattias Ritola, who I barely noticed. Emmerton was all over, centering the second/third line with powerplay and penalty kill time. Strong on faceoffs. He's really tenacious on the puck and looks like an entirely different player from the goal-scoring, playmaking Emmerton that the Wings drafted three years ago. He still has offensive talent though, and he's been on a scoring tear lately. No points for him on this night, but he did lead the team with five shots. Much, much better than opening night, just needs a little strength as he got manhandled a few times when trying to beat defensemen to the outside.

Dick Axelsson -- Depresses me to say that he looked really disinterested. This is terrible news is he told a Swedish newspaper that he's feeling homesick. Didn't express any interest in going back to Sweden, but there's definitely some thoughts swirling in his head. He mentioned the Griffins' crowds, which are strong on dollar beer Fridays, but not throughout the week. I think he's going through a bit of a culture shock with playing in front of smaller and less interested crowds than professional hockey in Sweden. Axelsson showed bursts of skill and almost scored a spectacular goal early in the first period where he drove hard to the net, cut across the crease, and put the puck just wide of the post while falling. That was his only chance though. Late in the game he was slow getting off the ice and he lost the puck a few times overhandling it. Visibly frustrated. Finished the game, but did not play today against Toronto. That either means he was hurt or a healthy scratch. It's not great to say, but given his uncertain culture shock thing, at this point you gotta hope that he's hurt a little. Note: Just read that he limped off the ice and went down the tunnel for a few shifts. Came back, though. So it sounds like he's hurt, so as long as it's not serious, it's better news than the coaches turning against him.

Jan Mursak -- I wasn't watching for him specifically, but he stood out. He's great on a line with Tatar because he has a high level of skill. Mursak is really simplifying his game though, he's more physical and he's really aggressive on the puck. And hey, his hard work was rewarded and he scored his fifth goal of the year.

Francis Pare -- Was hurt/sick for the home opener, so this was my first look at him. Another guy who is just puck hungry and his size is absolutely not an issue at this level of play. He's an interesting prospect as he has nothing that stands out about him, but he's a smart player and is overall very good. It's hard to say where he fits in at the NHL level, but in all the times I've seen him he's looked like a strong player at the AHL level. He'll need a taste at the NHL eventually, maybe next month, maybe next year. But he's a strong player and a fun guy to watch.

Tomas Tatar -- He looked great. Playing with an incredible amount of confidence -- far and away the most offensively skilled player on the ice. He had a few shifts where he was just dominant, at the heart of the cycle, dishing the puck off, getting it back, burning around defensemen. Played on the powerplay and was mostly the centerpiece of that. Got himself two assists -- after just three points in his first ten. Better yet, he had a goal and two assists tonight, giving him five points in two games. He looks like he could easily be a big producer at this level, so hopefully his performance on this night was the beginning of things to come.

Daniel Larsson -- All those trips across I-96 didn't wear on him at all, virtually perfect. He had no chance on the goal he let up. Not incredibly busy overall, but he made some huge saves. I'm a Howard fan, as readers of this blog know, but I think McCollum and Larsson are better bets to be the long-term solution. Howard gets the job done, but looks ugly doing so. Larsson and McCollum are not in that same boat. I really hope that Larsson gets an NHL start or two before the season's over. We shall see.

If you want to hear about anyone else, just drop a line in the comments. Really wanted to just look at the big names, but nobody else stood out that much. Hoping to get out to more than one game a month though, so hopefully posts like these will be more frequent.