Yeah sorry.

The Wings head to training camp today... So, here's my Wings pre-season preveiw.

Well, I said it many times last year, last year's team was likely going to be the best Red Wings team we see in a long, long time. They came up just one game shy of sealing it.

There has been a lot of pissing and moaning in Red Wing land about the off-season, but I am not sure what people expected. The Wings had no cap space. The only way they were going to be able to add any significant talent to this team would have been to cut or trade some established players. Holland said that he would have been willing to do that for a known commodity like Hossa, Samuelsson or Hulder, but not for someone who wasn't already on the team. Losing those three guys will hurt the offense, especially Hossa. He's really a great player (last year's playoffs aside) and was the catalyst for the offense many, many nights. There was no way they were going to be able to replace him. Samuelsson and Hudler are a little more replacable.

As for the guys they signed... I don't mind the Patrick Eaves signing. I don't expect him to blossom into a great, all-around player like Cleary did, but assuming he can stay healthy, he's decent enough and can float between the 2nd - 4th lines. I never loved Jason Williams, but given what was out there at the time, he was fine. He knows the team and the system and is as good a Samuelsson replacement as there was.

Then came Bertuzzi. First, I really don't like him. He has an air of... something distasteful around him. A cloud, if you will. He also takes incredibly bad penalties at the worst times, can't skate, can't play defense and is injury prone. On the other hand, after the 2007 season, I said I wouldn't mind keeping Bertuzzi on the Wings for a reasonable salary. I think $1.5 million is reasonable. He can still score and is still big. The Wings could use a little toughness. It's not like Bertuzzi drops the gloves all the time, but the Wings barely had any fights at all and when they did fight, they got badly hurt (Lilja is still having concussion problems after fighting Shea Webber back in February or March and probably will start the season on the IR and Kopecky got his face crushed and was knocked out of the playoffs by Beauchemin). The Wings needed to make up for some of that lost offense if the choices were among Satan, Sykora, Afinegenov or Bertuzzi... I'd take Bertuzzi.

The Wings are hoping Regular Season Darren Helm plays like Playoff Darren Helm. He played a handful of games during last year's regular season and didn't make near the impact he made in either the 2008 or 2009 playoffs. They are also hoping that Leino will take the place of Hudler. He produced pretty well in the few games he played, but whether he can do so consistently over the course of a season remains to be seen.

It will also be interesting to see what kind of season Holmstrom has. He was awful in the playoffs and really was non existant during the second half of the regular season. Injuries might have played a part in it, but it's possible that he's just wearing down and is going to fade out like, say, John LeClair did back in the day. He's not young and has taken a pounding over the span of his career. He just might be done. Franzen and Cleary can each fill Holmstrom's role in front of the net on the power play (though not quite as well), but Holmstrom's days as a top six forward might be over. Hopefully he still has something left in the tank, but I am bit skeptical.

Hopefully Filppula will take the next step. Like Helm, he played really well in the playoffs in 2007 and 2008, but his performance during the regular season last year was mediocre. The Wings signed him to a prety good contract (for Filppula) and it's about time he started living up to it. With the absence of Hossa, Samuelsson and Hudler, he should see more power play time, which, hopefully, will translate into more points.

Overall, I think the Wings will struggle a bit this year as compared to the last three years. The Central Division all of a sudden became one of the best in the NHL, with 4 out of the 5 teams making the playoffs. The Hawks are really geared up, living in that salary cap sweet spot the Wings had last year. They are likely to over take Detroit in the division. You then add on top of the free agent losses the fact that Detroit starts the season in Sweden (teams really seem to struggle coming back from Europe), the codensed season because of the Olympics, the fact that so many Wings will be playing in the Olympics, all the hockey they've played over the last 3 seasons, and another year on some of the vets like Rafalski, Lidstrom, Osgood, Draper, Holmstrom, and Maltby, the road looks a lot tougher than it did last year.

The Wings were pretty bad defensively last year. Obviously Osgood's sub-par play didn't help, but I think the team was a bit lax defensively mainly because they felt like they could rely on their offense to bail them out. That wont be the case this year, so if they can keep the goals against down a bit, they should still be fine. They still have plenty of offensive weapons.

As for a line-up, it's hard to say, but here's a wild guess...

Holmstrom - Datsyuk - Bertuzzi
Clearly - Zetterberg - Franzen
Leino - Filppula - Eaves
Draper - Helm - Maltby

Lidstrom - Rafalski
Stuart - Kronwall
Lebda - Ericsson

Osgood
Howard

Extras:
Jason Williams
Derek Meech
Justin Abdelkader (most likely in Grand Rapids for most of the season)

I think Stafford will be good not great. The Sabres need to stop overpaying these type of guys simply because they are homegrown.

I don't really like the Red Wings but Darren Helm in the playoffs was just awesome.

He was awesome. He had that one shift on the PK during Game 5 against the Blackhawks that was simply amazing. He killed a minute of the penalty and pinned the Blackhawks inside their own red line pretty much single handedly.

My Red Wings preview (not as good as HB's though) -

A few things. With Bertuzzi, in the past I really didn't like him either, but after doing some research, seeing some interviews with him, and stopping to ponder why I didn't like a guy for something that happened several years ago, I came to realize he isn't that bad of a guy. Really, he isn't. He has only had one incident, and while it had horrific results, it isn't like he does that every year. I would not consider him to be a "dirty" player. While I don't condone what he did to Moore, things happen and I am pretty sure that Bertuzzi wasn't trying to end another player's career. In addition, Moore was quite a douchebag in his own right, with an elbow to the head of Markus Naslund and causing a slight concussion to him.

As for the Wings, I think Eaves was a good pickup. I give Holland the benefit of the doubt for his past moves, and would not be surprised if Eaves turns into a 50 point player with the Wings, maybe earning a contract again. Jason Williams is someone I can take or leave, but considering what else was out there, I will take him over, say, Afinegonov or Satan (both with questionable heart/desire).

If Lilja plays this season, especially early on, someone will need to be traded. Will it be Lilja, Meech, or both? Keeping Lilja and trading Meech won't get the Wings under the cap, so someone else would have to be moved as well.

Look for Osgood to have a better season than last, and a more mobile defense this year with Ericsson around full time and the departure of the gutsy but slower than molasses Chelios. Holmstrom is more than likely on his last legs, and I would be surprised to see him again after this season, and the same goes for Maltby and Draper. A changing of the guard is approaching for the Wings to be sure.

They need to improve the penalty killing in leaps and bounds over last year while maintaining the great powerplay of a year ago (the latter will be more difficult with the loss of offense this season in Hossa and Hudler).

Filppula makes $3mil a year, and he needs to pick up his play during the regular season. A 60-70 point season is not an unrealistic goal for him at this point. Leino and Helm have loads of talent, now they need to translate it into on-ice results. Will a full time gig with the Wings bring out their best, or will the rigors of an 82 game season take a toll on these guys?

As HB said, the games in Europe and the Olympics will really hurt a team like the Wings, whom have already played more man-games in the past dozen years than any other NHL team. They do have an injection of youth with Helm, Leino, and Ericsson, however, so perhaps that will offset some of the fatigue.

I don't see the Blackhawks taking this division, at least not this season. With Hossa on the shelf until December, a defensively challenged Brian Campbell, and suspect goaltending (Huet...really?), they will need a great start of the season to make up for these things or Detroit will take the division again. Of course, the Wings need a good start too. Also, don't forget that Chicago also begins the season in Sweden (against the Panthers).

Finally, my lines shape up as follows:

Zetterberg/Datsyuk/Leino
Franzen/Filpulla/Cleary
Holmstrom/Helm/Bertuzzi
Eaves/Draper/Maltby

Williams and Maltby may share playing time a lot, or whomever is not playing well.

Lidstrom/Rafalski
Stuart/Kronwall
Lebda/Ericsson

Meech may be traded if Lilja comes back. Or, Lilja may be traded (doubtful though).

Abdelkader will play in GR this season, but will be with the Wings next year for sure.

He's good, with the skills to be very good, but he'll show up for 10 games, then be gone the next 10.

I haven't heard what he is asking. However, I wonder what they'll do since they 16 forwards (counting Mair and Stafford) fighting for 12 spots. Same with defense. You got Rivet, Sekera, Montador, Lydman, Tallinder, and Butler back. I wonder who will get the seventh spot (Paetsch, Myers, Weber). Also, do you think those last three could become grab one of the six starting spots? I know Myers is the prospect that is causing waves. Of course, is he NHL-ready?

Penguins

There is really one spot open at this point, a winger for Geno. Talbot had offseason shoulder surgery and will not be ready to start the season.

It's possible one of a few rookies claims the spot:

Eric Tangradi- 20 year old power forward, picked up from Anaheim in the Whitney-Kunitz deal. He suffered a pretty scary injury in the OHL playoffs in the spring where he sliced a tendon in his hand. He is pretty much seen as a bonafide top 6 wing prospect (something Pittsburgh doesn't really have much of) for the 2010-11 season, but could grab the spot.

Luca Caputi - 21 year old homegrown prospect. As a 4th round pick, not much was expected. The season following his draft year, he exploded from 27 goals/65 points to 51 goals/111 points. Same as Tangradi, most expect him to make the team in 2010-11, when both Guerin and Fedotenko's deals expire.

Also, two center prospects who will have to move to wing to make the team in the next 5 years-- Keven Villeux (6'5" goal scorer) or Casey Pierro-Zabotel (former BCHL kid who led the WHL in scoring in his overage season with 115 pts) both also have a chance.

Or, it's possible Tyler Kennedy is given a shot to make the top 6, after playing on the 3rd line with Staal and Cooke most of last season. Kennedy is a poor, poor, poor man's version of Mark Recchi. Nobody expects Kennedy will ever have the same impact in the NHL Recchi has, but both play a similar style. Kennedy has scored 10 (in 55 games) and 15 (in 67 games) in the last two seasons, seeing little to no PP time. The feeling is seeing more ice time playing alongside Malkin, he can reach the 20-25 range.

Along with Kennedy earning his chance, there are enough bottom six players to fill his spot next to Staal.

Kunitz - Crosby - Guerin
Fedotenko - Malkin - Kennedy
Cooke - Staal - Dupuis
Rupp - Adams - Godard

The top 4 on D is pretty much set. After missing most of the regular season last year, Gonchar returns. Mark Eaton was healthy last year and was the solid player he was expected to be when he came over from Nashville a few years back. Letang raised his game in the playoffs and seems ready to breakout in his 3rd season, at only 22 years old.

Rob Scuderi and Hall Gill are gone, replaced by Jay Mckee and Alex Goligoski. Goligoski played 40 games last year in Gonchar's absence, and was actually outscoring Letang at the time he was returned to the AHL. Seen in the mold of a Rafalski, not overly big and needs to be better in his own end, but he adds a puckmover on the 3rd pair, something missing before.


Oprik - Gonchar
Letang - Eaton
Mckee - Goligoski

MA Fleury silenced a shitload of people in June. He's not in the Brodeur - Luongo-Lundqvist discussion yet, but I think he's solidly in that next group from top 6-10 with Kiprusoff, Cam Ward etc.

Brent Johnson was signed for 1 year, and will see competition from John Curry who played a few games last season. In either case, the plan is to limit Fleury to around 60 games, to keep him fresh after back to back seasons of deep playoff runs coupled with injuries in the past 2 regular seasons.

Fleury
Johnson
Curry

Leafs.....



1st round lottery pick 2010

Obama steals Orpik's number, catches Geno texting, and zings Crosby.

Video: Penguins visit the White House

Heatley to San Jose for Cheechoo, Michalek and a 2nd round pick per TSN.

I don't understand why a team would want to acquire a guy like Heatley. Yes, he's a good player but he's hell in the room. http://tsn.ca/nhl/story/?id=290808

worth a try for sj. they werent gonna win with what they had (though i have no idea why)

40-50 goal scorers are a pretty rare thing these and Heatley has done it pretty consistently. The only real asset the Sharks are losing here is Michalek. Cheechoo has been under performing ever since his one 50 goal year and hasn't played up to his salary.

That said, San Jose's problem the last few year hasn't been talent or offense but appears to have been a lack of leadership. This move doesn't help address that issue at all.

I wonder if the idea of Heatley playing with Thornton immediately makes him the 4th best forward in fantasy hockey after Ovechkin, Crosby, and Malkin.

I will still take Datsyuk over him. After all, he did play with Spezza and Alfredsson in Ottawa. Oh, and Kovalchuk in Atlanta.

Really hate seeing this with any professional franchise. Sure glad I am not a Coyotes fan.

Wayne Gretzky not at Phoenix Coyotes practice as training camp opens - ESPN

the good news is that he'll get exposed to some excellent leadership right away...


...since he'll be there on opening night when Sakic's number is retired

and Thornton can help him improve his golf game.

Wow. Given the issue that San Jose has had the last few years(tons of points in the regular season, serious lack of leadership and grit in the playoffs) that's not the trade I would have made, but let's see how it plays out. It's pretty cheap for them, and gives them a pretty sick top line.

You guys want to start up an FOFC fantasy hockey league this year? I had a blast last year. I think Travis won.

I am up for it. I was thinking about joining one on ESPN. I hate Yahoo now that they changed things so damn much with their email and such. Stopped using them a while ago. NHL.com just refers you to Yahoo....anyone up for ESPN hockey?

I would love to be in a fantasy hockey league with this crew. Be nice to compete with guys I know know their shit. Well, except for Suburban, what a fuckin' homer. :D

Oh, and I would do ESPN or Yahoo. Doesn't much matter which to me.

I'd be up for it. I think ESPN is free and their fantasy stuff is pretty good.

I don't have a preference of one over the other. I had problems with ESPN fantasy football a few years ago so I tend to avoid them, that and I find their interface to be too busy, but I'll join whatever league you guys start.

I was thinking this the other day too. I set it up last season (possibly the year before too?) and used Yahoo. But I am open to any option.

I agree with sami, in my experience ESPN seems too "busy".

I will throw out, the sooner we start the better. We tried to do a live draft last year, but only started planning about 1 week before the opener, and ended up using the pre-ranked draft.

A live draft would be great, but yeah, we would need to start it now.

Well with Yahoo, we can schedule a date for live on the site. If everyone can agree on a date within the next 3 weeks, should only take about 2 hours.

Or, and I think this is what you are alluding too, draft here via a dedicated thread. In which case, yes, need to start really soon, depending on number of teams and rounds.

You are correct on both counts.

Possible to do both? Schedule a live draft for three weeks, but start live drafting now. Then if we don't get it done before that draft, we enter the teams we have so far up to the pick to that point and go from there?

Sounds complicated, so probably not, but figured no harm throwing it out there.

I'm in!!

I like the idea of starting a draft here in a thread and then switching to a live draft later if need be. We've done that in the FOFC baseball league and it made the draft much more interesting since it had its own dedicated thread. Basically the commish just input the picks after every round.

I am in for this. We can do a thread draft pretty quick I think if we start soon.

I'm in if we do the draft in the thread, that is a great idea.

If we have space I'm in

SI's Fantasy Baseball drafts are all done in threads, and usually with 12 teams, are finished in like two weeks.

At least for Yahoo, I don't think that is an option

When you set up the league, the choices are - live draft, pre-rank draft, offline draft.

I am all for a draft thread here-- as long as someone would be willing to mail me at work to make picks during the day. I guess I spent too much time at FOFC and it's finally blocked.

If the commish can force picks, though, in a live draft (I don't know, what are commish powers in Yahoo?), they can make sure the live draft follows the thread draft, and then if picks remain, we go from there.

Heck, if we just schedule a draft (live or offline, whatever) for, let's say, a week before the season starts, that is plenty of time for a commish or the league in general to re-organize their players to match whatever we pick here.

In that case we should start the draft in a thread here and have the commish input the results into an offline draft.

I know on Yahoo you can backdate the start, so if we didn't finish by day 1 of the season we could still complete it here, enter it offline, and then have the stats calculate back from day 1.

Cool feature. Thanks.

Interested parties so far...anyone else please speak up, the more the merrier:

FOFC Fantasy Hockey League

1. samifan24
2. RomaGoth
3. DeToxRox
4. Chief Rum
5. Honolulu_Blue
6. bbor
7. Fidatelo
8. bhlloy
9. Travis
10. TurnerONU22
11. Suburban Rhythm
12. boberot (or, as I always think, Bob Errey)

Send a PM to Maple Leafs, too, we need someone to finish last.

I'd like to join, if there is space

Thought maybe he was overlooked...

I would definitely like back in this year please.

We only have one spot left!

Unless you want to go larger than 12 teams, which I'm not sure Yahoo can handle.

How about draft suggestions? We start a draft thread for the league on Wednesday with 12 hour window? I'm coping the FOFC Hardcore baseball draft here but hey, it worked.

I'd like back in -- I was in last year and had a good run of it.

man, I don't know who this Down Goes Brown guy is, but he's a freaking genius.

Nice :D

SI