The Wings open there pre-season with thrashing of Minnesota 6-1. Franzen with 2 goals and an assist, Datsyuk with 1+2, Chelios with 1+1, and Homer with 3 assists. Grigorenko had an assist and Sopel, who is on tryout basis scored for the Wings. Good beginning. If we get points from Franzen, Grigorenko, and Chelios on reguar basis - watch out the rest of the NHL.
Wings lose to Minnesota in their second preseason game 3-2 on strength of Wild's 3 powerplay goals. Hasek played half of the game and looked good. Wings mostly played second-tier players who are not expected to make the team.
Chelios scores in the overtime and Wings go to 2-1 in the pre-season after beating Pittsburgh 1-0. Ozzie played first two periods and stopped all 18 shots. Jimmy Howard played the 3rd and overtime and had to face only 3 shots which he stopped. Wings defense has been stingy so far. Note: Rafalski missed the game with hip flexor.
Red Wings are 4-2 in the exhibition season so far. It is difficult to read much into it, especially considering the fact that teams don't bring their full squads for the road games due to quantity of games played over the short period of time. It was clear in the last game when Rangers brought less than full team to Detroit and Wings beat up on them 6-1. What I do like, however, is that Babcock split up Zetterberg and Datsyuk and so far they both have been productive. Franzen has been a regular contributor throughout the pre-season which is good news since Red Wings are going to count on him to provide scoring. So far the possible lines for the Wings for the season look like: Forwards: Zetterberg-Samuelsson-Hudler Datsyuk-Holmstrom-Franzen Grigorenko/Ellis-Filppula-Draper Drake-Kopecky-Maltby Defensemen: Lidstrom-Rafalski Kronwall-Lilja Lebda-Chelios and Sopel or Meech Obviously, those are subject to change, but I would say that for the most part that's what the Wings are probably going to go with, at least in the beginning of the year.
He said he's going to stay in US. From what I'm reading from US sources - he's a disappointment so far. Babcock is not going to mess around. This is a contending team and he won't leave any lose ends. It is a possibility they may sign or trade for someone experienced. They have excess on the blue line, so look for them to try to move someone, possibly Meech, especially if Sopel sticks around. Anyway, coming back to Grigorenko - according to the Russian news he said that he's going to do whatever it takes to stay in NHL. According to his words it is now or never. Correspondent also mentions that he spoke to Scotty about Igor, and Scotty said that he has tools and experience playing the game, but he needs to get used to the pace of the NHL games and he needs to gain experience playing in North America. Scotty also mentioned that there is noticeable improvement in Grigorenko's game comparatively to when the training camp opened, and that the team has high hopes for him. In my mind, Wings have some leeway in their division, especially since the rest of the teams is weaker. Maybe, that is an opportunity for them to throw the guy in and see what he's made of and how he adjusts. Or maybe give him a couple of weeks at Kalamazoo and see if he gets better and is ready for promotion. Otherwise, if he's still in minors, he's going to have a very difficult decision - he would make a lot more money playing for the Russian team and he has an out clause.
Hey, Roscoe, here's another piece worth reading on Grigorenko: KuklasKorner : Abel to Yzerman : Diggers Divided: The Grigorenko Dilemma
WE'RE OFF!!! WELL!!! The new season is off and running, and already Roscoe is in the dumper. My boy Cammalleri (sp, I guess I'll need to learn how to spell his name) had 2 PP goals yesterday in London. We're moving on up!!
Grigorenko is sent down to GR to get some playing time. If he'd stay with Wings, he'd be in the suit on the game nights. The team is planning on bringing him up in about 3 weeks.
The Red Wings set their roster Monday. Forward lines • Johan Franzen-Pavel Datsyuk-Tomas Holmstrom • Jiri Hudler-Henrik Zetterberg-Mikael Samuelsson • Dan Cleary-Valtteri Filppula-Kris Draper • Dallas Drake-Tomas Kopecky-Kirk Maltby Defensive pairings • Nicklas Lidstrom-Brian Rafalski • Niklas Kronwall-Andreas Lilja • Brett Lebda-Chris Chelios Goaltending • Dominik Hasek • Chris Osgood DEPTH • On defense, Derek Meech • Up front, Matt Ellis and Aaron Downey
