"He's a guy we want to build around and we feel that between Henrik and Pavel (Datsyuk), we have two of the best two-way forwards in the game. He's in his prime, he's won a Stanley Cup and a Conn Smythe Trophy. He plays at both ends of the rink and goes to all the hard areas. He can play left wing and score and play the middle and be just as effective. He gives us flexibility and is a leader, a guy who, when Nick Lidstrom retires, is certainly someone we'll have to consider as the next captain for the Red Wings."
- Detroit Red Wings GM Ken Holland praising the many talents of Henrik Zetterberg after signing him to a 12 year, $72 million contract extension on Wednesday.
The Detroit Red Wings and Dallas Stars put on quite a show Monday night, with the Stars surprisingly winning 5-4 in overtime. Ooooooooh-vahtime! Sorry, I just like saying it like that.
The game featured quite a few highlight reel saves and goals. Too many in fact for me to talk about them seperately. If I did pinpoint each and everyone of them, I'd be here all day. And I have a manicure/pedicure appointment to go to. It's ok to pamper yourself, it doesn't make you any less of a man. Right?...
“I count myself very lucky. There’s not a guy in this league who wouldn’t like to play in these games. I’ve had the opportunity to play in three of them.”
- Detroit Red Wings goalie Ty Conklin, after getting the win over the Blackhawks in the 2009 Winter Classic. He now sports a 2-1 record in outdoor games.
The NHL scored some big ratings for Tuesday night's game between the Detroit Red Wings and the Pittsburgh Penguins.
In the first rematch between the two clubs since last year's Cup final, Versus scored a .5 national HH rating (364,645 households), matching the best rating for a regular-season NHL game ever on the network. Just imagine the type of ratings the game would have got if it were on a network that most people actually get.
Locally, Pittsburgh received a 5.8 HH rating and Detroit delivered a 3.3 HH rating, making Versus the #1 rated cable network in both markets for the 7:00-9:45 p.m. ET period.
Here in Canada the game was aired on TSN2 which is still unavailable on most television providers' lineup. So because of that I was unable to watch. Didn't really bother me though, because it was Tuesday and that's the night I stare into my mirror and practice my pick up lines I'll use at the bar. You can never be too prepared.
Things aren't going so well in the Motor City these days. The auto industry is losing hundreds of millions of dollars and is pleading for a government bailout, and the Detroit Red Wings awful third period collapse Tuesday night only adds to the misery in Motown. Perhaps the Wings could use a bailout of their own.
Detroit was leading 4-2 going into the third period and even scored two more goals in the third, but it wasn't enough and still managed to let it all fell apart.
Penguins center Jordan Staal scored a hat trick in the third period and then Pittsburgh went on to win it in overtime.
Hey at least Detroit gets a point for making it to overtime. It's kind of like getting a participation medal, but hey at least it's something.
For blowing a two goal lead going into the third, and for giving a guy on the opposing team a hat trick in the third period alone, the Detroit Red Wings are awarded the Morning After Meltdown.
Ticket info for the upcoming Winter Classic on January 1st in Chi-town have finally been released, and for those select few who aren't a Blackhawks season ticket holder, you'll have to wait for a few days to fight for the leftovers.
According to the electronic mail, which commoners refer to as an e-mail, sent to season ticket holders, the ticket purchasing priority is based on "status" and "seat location," with emphasis that "renewing season ticketholders will have the first opportunity to make a purchase."
The ticket prices start out at $75, then skyrocket to $225, and then top out at $325.
Details of when specifically the tickets go on sale are hard to find, but TSN is reporting that season ticket holders will have a crack at tickets starting on Thursday, but they will become available to the general public on Monday, November 3rd.
So hold on, you mean I can pay $325 to sit out in the freezing cold and nurse my inevitable new year's eve hangover? Where do I sign up?
No, Wings at the White House is not some sort of delicious promotion where you can eat chicken wings at the White House.
Defending Stanley Cup Champions, the Detroit Red Wings, paid a visit to George W. Bush at the White House on Tuesday, handing him a Wings jersey which I'm sure he'll never wear and a Stanley Cup replica which I'm sure will go into a box and be stored away in a basement.
This was a somewhat historic visit as it will be the last NHL team to come and visit President Bush, as this time next year whoever wins the Cup will be visiting either a President Obama or a President McCain. If McCain wins, it would probably actually be Sarah Palin who they visit with. Got to keep on appealing to those hockey moms and Joe Sixpacks.
This one last go around with President Bush was all you could want and more. Lots of lame jokes, awkward pauses, and jumbled wording. Just what you've come to expect from Bush over the past eight years.
Welcome to a brand new feature here on The Power Play. It's called Morning After Meltdown and will be where I highlight the biggest loser, disappointment, team and/or player who stunk up the place the most from the previous night.
Well brace yourselves because the first ever Morning After Meltdown goes to the Detroit Red Wings.
It should have been a glorious night for the Wings and their fans. They raised their Stanley Cup Championship banner and were playing against the Toronto Maple Leafs, who have been predicted by many to finish around the bottom of the league. It should have been a guaranteed, money in the bank win.
Instead, the Red Wings roster, with the exception of Tomas Holmstrom who scored both goals, looked bored and put in a weak effort, resulting in a 3-2 loss to start the season.
Congratulations Detroit Red Wings! Out of everyone in the entire NHL, you sucked the most last night to win the Morning After Meltdown.
Technically the regular season started last weekend when the Rangers, Pens, Sens, and Bolts played some games in Europe. But tonight is when we start playing for keeps!
Yes, tonight the regular season gets underway here in North America when the Detroit Red Wings host the Toronto Maple Leafs at 7pm et on CBC in Canada, and Versus in the US and A.
It's always nice to finally have the season start but tonight it will be especially sweet to see the Red Wings raise their 2007-08 Stanley Cup banner in front of all those Leaf fans who made the treck from Southern Ontario down to the Motor City. At least it will remind Leaf fans what it's like to see one of those raised. You sometimes forget certain events after 41 years.
If the writers at Sports Illustrated are right, hockey fans may wonder if they've entered a time machine and gone back to June of 2007.
That's because in their just released issue, SI predicts that the Detroit Red Wings will defeat the Pittsburgh Penguins in the 2008-09 Stanley Cup Final, just like they did last year.
Marian Hossa, who defected from the Pens to the Wings in the off season appears on the cover of that issue. Now hold on before you go and say holy crap, SI actually put a hockey player on their cover! Hossa will only appear on issues in Michigan and Canada. The rest of the issues have Manny Ramirez of the LA Dodgers sliding into home plate. That's more like it SI! Completely shun hockey yet again!
I'm surprised SI was even able to do a hockey season prediction. Does anybody at SI actually watch hockey? Because when I read their magazines, most of it's filled with college sports, football, baseball, soccer, hell anything but hockey.
I mean they completely ignore hockey so much that I believe and respect their opinions about hockey as much as I do the crazy homeless guy I walk by every day who yells at me about the end of the world. At least he's consistent.
Update: Except for SI.com writer Sarah Kwak, who linked back to one of my posts in a recent article of hers. She's good people. And yes, I am swayed that easily.
For a brief moment Friday morning, Detroit Red Wings fans must have thought they were still in bed and dreaming.
That's because the Red Wings' text-message service, Red Wings Mobile News, sent out messages to fans about Steve Yzerman making a comeback.
"Breaking news," the message read. "Steve Yzerman will come out of retirement and return to the ice in Mid November. Come to the Joe to catch the action!"
Steve Violetta, Red Wings' senior vice president of business affairs, said a third-party vendor handles the text-message system for the club and was trying to get to the bottom of the hoax.
One possibility is they were testing the system and made an error, another is that the system got hacked.
"I promise you, he's not coming out of retirement." Violetta said chuckling.
So there you have it. Imagine if he did return though! With the team they already have, the addition of Yzerman would be a guaranteed Stanley Cup victory. You might as well not even play the season and just let them keep the Cup from last year.
Detroit Red Wings forward Kris Draper revealed to the Detroit Free Press during the weekend, that his diaperless baby, Kamryn, did a number on the Cup last month. A number two that is.
"A week after we won it, I had my newborn daughter in there, and she pooped in the Cup," Draper said. "That was something. We had a pretty good laugh."
You know, I always used to dream about drinking out of the Stanley Cup, but now not so much. Thanks for ruining my dream Kris Draper's baby, thanks a lot.
If you have any questions, suggestions, feedback, or just want to tell me how dreamy I am, write me by firing off an email to kenbeckett@thepowerplay.net
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"He's a guy we want to build around and we feel that between Henrik and Pavel (Datsyuk), we have two of the best two-way forwards in the game. He's in his prime, he's won a Stanley Cup and a Conn Smythe Trophy. He plays at both ends of the rink and goes to all the hard areas. He can play left wing and score and play the middle and be just as effective. He gives us flexibility and is a leader, a guy who, when Nick Lidstrom retires, is certainly someone we'll have to consider as the next captain for the Red Wings."
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