Minnesota Wild (36-12-6) 78pts 1st in the Central
3.30 Goals For Per Game (4th in the NHL)
2.30 Goals Against Per Game (2nd in the NHL)
20.5% Power Play (13th in the NHL)
82.3% Penalty Kill (11th in the NHL)
Top 5 Scorers:
1. #64 Mikael Granlund ~ 15G 34A = 49pts
2. #12 Eric Staal ~ 16G 27A = 43pts
3. #3 Charlie Coyle ~ 13G 29A = 42pts
4. #22 Nino Niederreiter ~ 18G 23A = 41pts
5. #16 Jason Zucker ~ 16G 22A = 38pts
Top 3 PIM’s:
1. #7 Chris Stewart ~ 58 PIM’s
2. #24 Mathew Dumba ~ 43 PIM’s
3. #3 Charlie Coyle ~ 32 PIM’s
Top Goaltenders:
1. #40 Devan Dubnyk (30-9-3) 1.96GAA .934%SP 5SO
2. #35 Darcy Kuemper (6-3-3) 3.22GAA .904%SP
Vs.
Detroit Red Wings (22-23-10) 54pts 8th in the Atlantic
2.40 Goals For Per Game (26th in the NHL)
2.96 Goals Against Per Game (26th in the NHL)
12.1% Power Play (30th in the NHL)
81.1% Penalty Kill (16th in the NHL)
Top 5 Scorers:
1. #40 Henrik Zetterberg ~ 12G 28A = 40pts
2. #62 Thomas Vanek ~ 14G 22A = 36pts
3. #14 Gustav Nyquist ~ 7G 21A = 28pts
4. #39 Anthony Mantha ~ 12G 15A = 27pts
5. #21 Tomas Tatar ~ 12G 14A = 26pts
Top 3 PIM’s:
1. #52 Jonathan Ericsson ~ 63 PIM’s
2. #29 Steve Ott ~ 56 PIM’s
3. #61 Xavier Ouellet ~ 40 PIM’s
Top Goaltenders:
1. #34 Petr Mrazek (12-14-6) 3.10GAA .899%SP 1SO
2. #31 Jared Coreau (5-2-3) 3.01GAA .901%SP 2SO
Lines:
Detroit Red Wings
Nyquist~Zetterberg~Mantha
Tatar~Nielsen~Larkin
Athanasiou~Helm~Vanek
Sheahan~Glendening~Abdelkader
DeKeyeser~Green
Ericsson~Ouellet
Kronwall~Jensen
Coreau
Mrazek
Minnesota Wild
Niederreiter~Staal~Coyle
Zucker~Koivu~Granlund
Parise~Haula~Pominville
Stewart~Graovac~Schroeder
Suter~Spurgeon
Scandella~Dumba
Prosser / Folin~Olofsson
Dubnyk
Kuemper
Well, this season is certainly a different one. If a hockey great that has passed like Jean Beliveau or Maurice Richard were to come back from the dead, they would take a look at the standings and wonder if they came back to life in some sort of alternate universe. First off, the two most recent expansion teams (that are actually playing) are near the top of the league standings, with Minnesota leading the Western Conference and the Columbus Blue Jackets sitting in second place in the Eastern Conference. Then if that wasn’t crazy enough, there’s the spot in the standings for today’s opponent. I know for myself, I haven’t paid much attention to the Eastern Conference as there’s been so much happening for Minnesota. I knew Detroit wasn’t having a great season, but I had no idea just how bad things were going. For many, we’ve become so used to either Buffalo or Toronto sitting at the bottom of the standings. Well, the Sabres are still pretty bad, but they’re two spots ahead of the Red Wings and the Maple Leafs, well they’re currently in possession of the last wild card spot in the Western Conference. Unless some absolute miracle were to happen, this season will be the first one since the 1989-90 season that Detroit missed the playoffs. Trust me, that factoid doesn’t break my heart one bit.
Another little factoid that kind of makes me shake my head, is the fact of their number two scorer. I have to chuckle a bit to see that Thomas Vanek is in that number 2 spot. Considering that fans considered Vanek to be a bit of a “number 2” in a facetious junior high kind of trolling. Yes, Thomas “Prince Valium” Vanek is being relied on for Detroit’s anemic offense. That makes me snort in sarcastic disbelief. You know life is bad for a team when Prince Valium is an essential part of your success. But considering it’s more likely lack of success. But I can’t say that either. If Vanek wasn’t in the top five for scoring for Detroit, then I could definitely call him out. What it should say about Detroit is that there are plenty of other players on the team that aren’t pulling their weight and dragging the team to the bottom of the Eastern Conference Standings. Out of curiosity, I pulled up all of the team stats for Detroit. I’m seeing names like Justin Abdelkader, Darren Helm, Danny DeKeyer, and Niklas Kronwall that are essentially MIA for Detroit. All of these players, with the exception of Kronwall are signed for at least four more seasons after this one. Then with the exception of DeKeyser, they all have no trade clauses. So these are pieces that are hard to move even if another team had interest. And if that wasn’t bad enough, not only are Red Wings hurting in the standings, they also have the least amount of salary cap space. Essentially they have none.
If this season hasn’t been enough of a blow to the Red Wings and their fans, they received another just this week. On Friday, it was announced that Mike Ilitch, the owner of the Red Wings and the Detroit Tigers of Major League Baseball as well as the founder or Little Caesar’s Pizza passed away. If you read any of the stories, you would see countless ones talking about him being an American success story. His parents immigrated from Macedonia in 1924. As a first generation American, Ilitch had to make his way in this country, thankfully he was a star athlete as well as a U.S. Marine which helped with his connections. Between those connections and his hard work, he was able to build his financial empire. For a man who came from nothing and worked his way up in the world, one of his goals would not come fully to fruition in his lifetime. The Red Wings have needed a new arena for many years, and finally they were able to break ground on a replacement for the iconic Joe Louis Arena. Currently under construction in downtown Detroit is Little Caesar’s Arena. The new home of the Red Wings and the Detroit Pistons of the National Basketball Association will open this fall. At least with the name, Ilitch’s legacy will live on, at least until it gets renamed with some other corporate sponsor years down the road. However with the Red Wings, they cling to tradition so perhaps Little Caesar’s Arena will remain the name for the life of the building.
For many years, the Wild have pretty much played with a sense of awe when facing the Red Wings. Well this is not an awe-worthy Detroit Red Wings. Time to close that book and remind Detroit they’re no longer the kings of a castle.
