SB Nation - Henrik Zetterberg

December 8 :: Numbers and Awards

mpetrella — Wed, 09 Dec 2009 00:25:56 -0000

More photos » by Paul J. Bereswill - AP

Even in a draft-centric team re-creation, here's your backup goaltender. (AP Photo/Paul J. Bereswill)

Much is made of the Red Wings' ability to built a championship team while never selecting very high in the draft (**cough**Pittsburgh**cough**). People point to Jonathan Ericsson (the 291st and final selection of the 2002 Draft), Henrik Zetterberg (210th in 1999), and Tomas Holmstrom (257th in 1994) are glowing examples of a draft science that has been perfected by the organization. Sometimes, they pick up guys that haven't lived up to their draft pick, like Dan Cleary and Patrick Eaves, but have you ever wondered what the Red Wings would look like if the team was formed -- and the line combinations were made -- based solely on their draft selection? Well, it would look like this:

Cleary (13) -- May (14) -- Bertuzzi (23)
Eaves (29) -- Ferraro (32) -- Emmerton (41)
Abdelkader (42) -- Tatar (60) -- Draper (62)
D. Axelsson (62) -- Maltby (65) -- Nestrasil (75)
TOP CALL-UPS: Joakim Andersson (88), Valtteri Filppula (95), Johan Franzen (97)

Stuart (3) -- Kindl (19)
B. Smith (27) -- Kronwall (29)
Lidstrom (53) -- Lilja (54)
TOP CALL-UPS: Doug Janik (55), Gleason Fournier (90), Max Nicastro (91)

McCollum (30)
Osgood (54)
TOP CALL-UPS: Jimmy Howard (64), Daniel Larsson (92)

AFTER THE JUMP, some more numbers and award updates

Justin Abdelkader is going to get the opportunity to center the second line against the Blues, but he's the only Red Wing faceoff-taker with a percentage below 50 (minimum 100 faceoffs). He's currently winning only 42.8% of his draws.

The Red Wings have only scored the first goal of a game ten times this season, with Tomas Holmstrom and Dan Cleary each netting that goal twice. Henrik Zetterberg, Pavel Datsyuk, Kris Draper, Brad Stuart, Drew Miller, and Justin Abdelkader each have the distinction once.

Kris Draper and Niklas Kronwall co-lead the team in goals against division opponents (3 each). Henrik Zetterberg and Tomas Holmstrom co-lead in goals against opponents from other divisions (9 each). Henrik Zetterberg leads the team in points at home (16) and on the road (14).

The only players to have negative +/- both at home and on the road are Dan Cleary, Derek Meech, Brett Lebda, and Todd Bertuzzi. On the contrary, the only players to be positive both at home and on the road are Kris Draper, Patrick Eaves, Brian Rafalski and Nicklas Lidstrom.

Kirk Maltby is the only Red Wing with a point while shorthanded -- an unassisted goal.

Justin Abdelkader leads the way with 78 hits, followed by Brad Stuart (75), Darren Helm (73), Dan Cleary (50) and Patrick Eaves (50).

CHRIS CHELIOS AWARD Update
*Given at the year's end to the Red Wings defensemen with the fewest goals scored in the most games played. The player must have played in at least 3/4 of the team's games. The award is named for Chris Chelios, who scored 23 goals in his final EXACTLY 600 games as a Red Wing (regular season and playoffs).*
1. Nicklas Lidstrom (1 goal in 29 games)
2. Brett Lebda (1 goal in 26 games)
3. Brad Stuart (2 goals in 29 games)
4. Brian Rafalski (2 goals in 26 games)
5. Jonathan Ericsson (3 goals in 27 games)

DANNY CLEARY "SACRAFICE YOUR FACE" AWARD Update
*Given at the year's end to the Red Wings forward with the most blocked shots. Award is named for Dan Cleary, who is used to becoming synonymous with "black eye" and/or "broken jaw."*
1. Darren Helm (20)
2. Danny Cleary (15)
3. Henrik Zetterberg (14)
4. Pavel Datsyuk (13)
5. Justin Abdelkader (9)

DEREK MEECH AWARD Update
*Given at the year's end to the Red Wing with the most games spent in the press box. Award is named for Derek Meech, who was a healthy scratch 35 times last season.*
1. Derek Meech (15)
2. Brad May (8)
3. Patrick Eaves (7)
4. Kirk Maltby (5)
5. Brett Lebda (3)

GREG STEFAN AWARD Update
*Given at the year's end to the Red Wings goaltender that makes you question how they're in the NHL and you aren't. Award is named for Greg Stefan, who played nine seasons for the Red Wings, but only three that had a goals against average under 4.*
1. Chris Osgood (6-5-4, 2.75, .896)
2. Jimmy Howard (8-5-1, 2.55, .910)

MIKAEL SAMUELSSON AWARD Update
*Given at the year's end to the Red Wings forward with the most shots to miss the net. Award is named for Mikael Samuelsson, who literally must have been aiming for the 11th row.*
1. Henrik Zetterberg (52)
2. Todd Bertuzzi (29)
3. Tomas Holmstrom (28)
4. Ville Leino (27)
5. Pavel Datsyuk (21)

PAST AWARD WINNERS
Patrick Eaves Goodfellas Award: Patrick Eaves (last player to be penalized)
Aaron Downey Award: Derek Meech (last player to score a goal)

Ulf Nilsson Back On Broadway

Eddie "The Mouth" Gieck — Mon, 07 Dec 2009 19:00:36 -0000

This past Saturday I had a chance to talk to one of the best pure passers that the New York Rangers have ever had, Ulf Nilsson. Ulf, who now lives in Sweden, was in Manhattan this weekend as part of a promotion that included 150 of his countrymen, all of whom were Swedish radio contest winners whose prize, in part, was get to see a Ranger game with Ulf.

The entire grand prize included airfare, a weekend in New York City, as well as tickets to attend a Ranger game to see Henrik Lundqvist and Henrik Zetterberg play. Over 40,000 people entered the contest.

Ulf, who average almost a point a game in his four years as a Ranger from 1978-1982, was hampered by injuries most of his time here with the Blueshirts, injuries which still plague him to this day, especially his knees and lower back.

At Age 59, Ulfie is still youthful in his demeanor and remembers his time as a Ranger fondly. I was astonished at his recollection of particular plays where he set up goals, such as one in particular that lead to a Ron Greschner tap in goal directly off a faceoff.

Ulf assured me Ron would remember the play if I asked him about it now thirty years later. I don’t doubt Ulfie for one minute, his memory, his graciousness and mind are as sharp as his passes used to be when skated for the Blueshirts.

Here are some quotes from the nice chat I had with Ulf.

On Fred Shero: "Fred was laid back and was great to me and Anders. He always made sure he put us out on first line ahead of all the other lines, no matter what other Rangers previous status to us coming here, because we never took a shift off, we always gave it our all."

He and Anders Hedberg coming to New York: "We really got the ball rolling with putting fans back in the seats as far as sellouts go at Madison Square Garden back in 1978. It was great to be a part of that. Also, in my four years here we lost to the eventual Stanley Cup champion in the playoffs every year. I played on some very good Ranger teams."

Ulf’s philosophy on and off the ice: " When I was on the ice, it was all about the game, nothing else was in my head. I always took pride in my faceoffs. I wanted to win every faceoff. If I would lose a draw, I didn’t let it get me down. I knew there would be a next time. I took the same approach to my overall game. You can’t change what happened in the past or predict what’s in the future but what you can do is definitely control the present and that’s how I approached the game as well in life."

On John Davidson: "J.D was a great person. He made sure myself and Anders were part of the team off the ice as well. J.D was excellent at bringing the players together for gatherings when we weren’t at the rink. The Ranger teams I played on were a close tight knit family on and off the ice."

On Bobby Hull: "Playing with Bobby in Winnipeg (WHA) was great. He knew how to work the crowd and get them excited. He would stay after games and sign autographs until every fan had one."

Views on Coaching : "You can’t coach through fear, especially young players, if you go that way you have players out there afraid to take chances and play their game because they are scared to make mistakes."

Rangers GameDay: News and Notes, Scouting the Red Wings

Jim Schmiedeberg — Sun, 06 Dec 2009 18:22:26 -0000

More photos » by Don Heupel - AP

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RocNow.com has a great story on Ryan Callahan.

Here is the recap of last night's game in the NY Times, interesting quote from Henrik Lundqvist:

"Technically I’ve been feeling good the last couple weeks, but the focus part felt really good tonight," Lundqvist said. "It’s important that you don’t think too much when you play, and not analyze the game as you play. It’s just focusing on the next shot."

Here are the post-game remarks from Head Coach John Tortorella:

More after the jump.....

Detroit Red Wings: 13-10-5, 3rd Place, Central Division

Head Coach: Mike Babcock

	STATS
28	GP	28
13	W	14
10	L	13
5	OT	1
31	P	29
0.554	P%	0.518
2.75	G/G	2.86
2.79	GA/G	3.04
21.4	PP%	21.0
77.4	PK%	84.3
34.1	S/G	29.1
27.8	SA/G	29.9
52.3	FO%	47.7

Leading Scorer:

Henrik Zetterberg

#40 / Left Wing / Detroit Red Wings

Height: 5-11

Weight: 195

Born: Oct 09, 1980

Notes:

Veteran forwards Tomas Holmstrom and Kris Draper are producing for the Wings. Each has two goals and two assists in his last four games. Holmstrom leads the team with 11 goals after scoring on the power play against the Devils.

Red Wings staying the course despite injuries (The Fourth Period)

Tomas Holstrom scores 200th NHL goal (Freep)

For more on the Red Wings, check out the SBNation home for Detroit: Winging It In Motown

One final thought from me:

Explain to me again why these two Original Six teams meet once a year.

Eurotwins Unite!

MrNorrisTrophy — Sat, 05 Dec 2009 19:16:48 -0000

More photos » by Paul Sancya - AP

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Form of: desperation!

Mike Babcock decided to put Pavel Datsyuk and Henrik Zetterberg on the same line for tonight's game against the New Jersey Devils. Is it a sign of desperation? I think so. But that's not to say that the desperation is necessarily a bad thing. We've all figured out at this point that this team simply cannot compete on the same level as last year's team. So why not put your best players together?

Zetterberg and Datsyuk will join their good ol' pal Tomas Holmstrom. The trio has a combined 26 goals (10 each for Homer/Z) and a total of 62 points this season. Datsyuk and Zetterberg have the most assists on the team so they can feed Holmstrom with passes or each other. The two have an undeniable chemistry and sense for where each other is on the ice so hopefully that will work out tonight.

Other news, Jonathan Ericsson WILL play tonight after the injury that forced him to leave against Edmonton. Jakub Kindl will start again tonight as Brian Rafalski will miss the contest against his former club. Eaves is back in and May is out. Osgood will start and so will Brodeur...gee, who has the advantage there?

Lines below from Ansar Khan of MLive.com:

Zetterberg-Datsyuk-Holmstrom
Leino-Cleary-Bertuzzi
Draper-Helm-Eaves
Miller-Abdelkader-Maltby
Lidstrom-Ericsson
Stuart-Meech
Kindl-Lebda

Game 27 Preview: New Jersey Devils vs. Detroit Red Wings, 12/5/2009

John Fischer — Sat, 05 Dec 2009 06:00:17 -0000

More photos » by Rich Schultz - AP

Martin Brodeur and Andy Greene consider the puck. They consider it a friend that really needs to be placed in it's proper home - behind the opposition's goaltender. Will Greene get to do this for 30 minutes again against Detroit? Will Brodeur even play against Detroit? (AP Photo/Rich Schultz)

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The Time: 7 PM EST

The Broadcasting Info: MSG+ for the TV, 660 AM WFAN for the radio

The Matchup: The New Jersey Devils (18-7-1) vs. the Detroit Red Wings (13-10-4)

The Last Devils Game: The Devils somehow and someway pulled away with a 3-2 win over the Tampa Bay Lightning despite a poor offensive effort from the home team. Jamie Langenbrunner's tip-in of Andy Greene's shot was the difference maker, and, hey, it's a win. I recapped the game just last night (or a few hours ago, really).

The Last Red Wings Game: The Detroit Red Wings hosted the then-worst-in-the-Western Conference Edmonton Oilers prior to traveling to the NJ metropolitan area. As further evidence that Detroit isn't having the best of seasons, the Oilers outplayed and outdid the Red Wings in their own building, going on to win 4-1. Joehass of Winging It in Motown summarized the loss as a poor one. I can't disagree, honestly.

The Goal: Show some aggressive offense. I want to see the Devils do the opposite of what they did against Tampa Bay. I want the Devils to press the issue. I want the Devils to not sit back or let Detroit dictate how the game will go should the Devils take the lead - in fact, I want the Devils to keep attacking until they build a sizeable lead. I want the Devils to continue battling for pucks and forechecking for more than a period. I want to see shots put on net, instead of missing because players want to try and pick out the far post on a shot. Not even the 1995 Stanley Cup Championship Devils team - who is being honored tonight - would have succeeded against Detroit with offensive performances like that. While the Red Wings aren't the powerful force that they have been for much of the last 15 years, I don't see how the Devils can beat these Red Wings if they put up an offensive performance like the one they gave to Tampa Bay.

Read on for further thoughts about the game.

First, there's the line up issue. Now, as reported by Rich Chere on Friday, Johnny Oduya and Jay Pandolfo should be in tonight's lineup. They were kept out of the Tampa Bay game, but Jacques Lemaire said they would be ready this weekend, so by logic, they're in:

"No one is coming back," Lemaire said. "It was either tonight or tomorrow night, so we figured tomorrow night. It's hard to play two games in two nights when you haven't played for a while. The games are so intense. They didn't have a lot of practices."

Now, before last night's game, the Devils would have had to send someone down to Lowell to make space on the roster for both Oduya and Pandolfo to be activated. However, it appears that Colin White is now questionable with "lower body soreness" as both reported by Chere and Gulitti. More information will come out later today, so keep checking Chere and Gulitti for updates on his status and if anyone is sent down. I really hope that it is not a significant injury, in that I hope he won't be out for a significant amount of time.

By the way, Matthew Corrente, Vladimir Zharkov, and Matt Halischuk can all be sent down to Lowell without going through waivers, so I would expect one of those three to be sent down. If it were up to me, I'd move Corrente down. Johnny Oduya can ease back into the lineup on the third pairing and start with limited minutes. Though White's injury may force Lemaire to keep Corrente and send down Zharkov or Halischuk instead. It also leads to this difficult choice. To replace White's minutes, Lemaire may either have to give Andy Greene (who played 30:11 last night and earned deserved praise from the head coach per Gulitti), Mike Mottau (27:21 last night), and Bryce Salvador (22:41 last night) even more minutes; or force Fraser, Corrente, and Oduya to play more minutes. The first option can lead to an already fatigued blueline absolutely gassed by the third period tonight; and the second could lead to some issues in the back that Detroit can exploit.

All the more reason for the Devils offense to step up, in my opinion. Jay Pandolfo won't necessarily do that, but he should be useful in spelling forwards on checking and PK duty. It's not certain who will be the goaltender, but I wouldn't fret if it's Martin Brodeur again. It's not like he was bombarded by the Tampa Bay Lightning, as he only faced 24 shots on Friday. I think he'll get the start and Danis can get starts next week. Of course, it's all a gameday decision. Which should make this guess at the lineup quite incorrect come gametime (I'm assuming White will be OK).

Zach Parise - Travis Zajac - Niclas Bergfors
Brian Rolston - Patrik Elias - Jamie Langenbrunner
Jay Pandolfo - Rob Niedermayer - Matt Halischuk
Dean McAmmond - Rod Pelley - Ilkka Pikkarainen

Andy Greene - Bryce Salvador
Colin White - Mike Mottau
Mark Fraser - Johnny Oduya

Martin Brodeur
Yann Danis

Now, in my view, Detroit has always been a powerhouse. Remember how I keep pointing out that the New Jersey Devils are the second best team across the last 15 seasons? Well, Detroit is the only franchise that can claim superiority. Both in the regular season and in the playoffs. So it's really shocking to me to see them at 13-10-4 and currently 11th in the Western Conference.

I look at the team stats and I'm further confused. The Red Wings are excellent at putting shots on net, as they average 34.2 per game (2nd most in NHL) and a decent power play at 21.1% (12nd in NHL); but they only put in an average of 2.72 goals per game (19th in NHL). The Red Wings have been solid in preventing shots hit the net, allowing only an average of 27.8 per game (6th in NHL); but they aren't so solid in goals against, allowing an average of 2.78 per game (14th in NHL) and awful on the penalty kill with a 76.9% rate of success (26th in the NHL). Is this the fault of the skaters, or the goaltenders? There doesn't seem to be a definitive #1 goaltender, as Jimmy Howard and Chris Osgood have been splitting time. Howard's got a statistical advantage which meant nothing to the Oilers.

	GP	MIN	W	L	GA	GAA	SA	SV	SV%	SO
2009 - Jimmy Howard	14	810	7	5	36	2.67	381	345	.906	0
2009 - Chris Osgood	15	829	6	5	38	2.75	369	331	.897	1

Henrik Zetterberg and Pavel Datsyuk are leading the offense, but the points come from varied sources outside of those two forwards. Was losing Johan Franzen to injury that big of a deal? Perhaps? In fact, Detroit is pretty banged up right now and that could be a source for the muddled set of results they got going. While they'll get Jonathan Ercisson back tonight according to Ken Holland via Helene St. James of the Detroit Free Press; they're still without Niklas Kronwall, Patrick Eaves, Brian Rafalski (questionable per Ansar Kahn at MLive), Valterri Fippula, and Jason Williams.

	GP	G	A	P	+/-	PIM	PPG	SHG	GWG	GTG	SOG	PCT
2009 - Henrik Zetterberg	27	10	17	27	0	6	1	0	4	0	106	9.4
2009 - Pavel Datsyuk	25	6	14	20	3	2	4	0	1	0	69	8.7

Of course, no one can discount a defense led by the brilliant Nicklas Lidstrom or an offense that still features Zetterberg and Datsyuk contributing regularly. At least, I wouldn't. But I'm still surprised that they haven't succeeded more. Not on the road (5-5-2) or overall (13-10-4). Old biases die hard, I suppose. That just makes this game more interesting than that the Devils will honor their 1995 Stanley Cup Championship winning team. Will we see the same Detroit team that thoroughly defeated New Jersey last season; the same Detroit team that has been successful all these years? Will we see the same Detroit team that got beaten decisively by Edmonton in their own building? Will we see a Detroit team somewhere in the middle of those extremes?

I truly do not know and the Devils don't even get the benefit of a full day to fully prepare for what to expect. In my opinion, I think the Devils should expect a difficult opponent regardless of their record (like, say, Vancouver) and should make a point of it to attack early and often. With a likely tired team, including two players returning to hockey after a long period of time after injury, the Devils won't likely benefit from chasing Detroit around. They need to set the tempo. Not just to be quick and constantly rushing forwards up ice, but should the Devils maintain the puck on offense, they can slow it down when necessary and take their time. Aggression isn't always about being intense, it's more about taking initiative and constantly attempting to take control of the puck, and by extension, the game.

I'll be at the game (Sec. 1, Row 16, Seat 5 as usual) and likely with a hoarse voice due to West Virginia coming to the Banks of the Raritan, a.k.a. the Birthplace of College Football to take on the Rutgers Scarlet Knights. Follow that at Protect R Turf and Bleed Scarlet if you support the Block R (like me). Either way, join us in the comments on the GameThread later in the day. If you want to learn more about Detroit, check out Winging it in Motown. If you have something to add - a thought, a question, a concern, some praise for the 1995 Stanley Cup Championship team, some news update from Gulitti/Chere/elsewhere - please share it with the rest of us in the comments. Go Devils!

A look at Anton Lander

JohanBarrander — Thu, 03 Dec 2009 10:00:20 -0000

With the junior world cup around the corner, I thought I'd take a closer look at the two Swedish prospects selected by the Oilers in last years draft. Starting today with Anton Lander

Anton Lander

#51 / Center / Timrå IK

Height: 6-0

Weight: 185

Born: Apr 24, 1991

18 yrs old

Edmonton landed him in the 2nd round (40th overall) in what might turn out to be quite the steal. Having debuted in the Swedish Elite League at just 16, he's already in his 3rd season playing against men.

So what did the scouts say about him before draft? Here's some of the quotes:

Elite prospects:

"A very smart two-way player with excellent hockey sense. Lander reads the game well and makes mature decisions with and without the puck. Plays with some intensity, but his skating needs some improvement. Is a capable playmaker that protects the puck very well and usually comes out with the puck from the corners and along the boards. Defensively aware and with leadership skills"

Bob McKenzie:

"Lander is a two-way checking forward with excellent outside speed. He can make plays at full speed and controls the puck with a lot of confidence. A very unselfish player, Lander is always aware of where his teammates are and makes good crisp passes. He is a hard working forechecker, keeping his feet moving all the time. With a strong quick release wrist shot, he often uses d-men as a screen off the offensive rush. Lander drives the net hard with and without the puck and doesn’t quit on the puck until the whistle goes. Reliable and disciplined, he brings a consistent effort to the rink every game and always improves his team’s chances of winning a game. Will adapt and play any role given by coach."

So what about this season?

Statistics so far:

	GP	G	A	P	+/-	PIM	PPG	SHG	GWG	FO%	SOG	PCT
2009 - Anton Lander	26	4	4	8	-1	8	0	0	2	49	39	10.2

If you just look at the numbers, maybe they're not that impressive. But bear in mind that Timrå as a team is -11 and have had a tough, injury riddled season so far.Last season he had 10 points in 47 games, so barring an injury he's easily topping that. He is the kind of player that does all the little things that doesn't show up in the stat sheets.As the scouts pointed out he's a natural leader with poise beyond his years, something that was proven when he was named an assistant captain at the age of 18, which is basically unheard of. He's one of the leaders on the team in playing time, even pulling double-shifts. Partly as a result of Timrå being hit with the same injury-bug that's plaguing our beloved Oilers, but still it's impressive that he's been given so much responsibility at such a young age.

One of the numbers that really stands out in my mind on that statline is the 2 game winning goals that came in back to back games when Timrå was in danger of really falling behind in the league, the guy was simply clutch. And that's one of the things I really like about his style of play. This is a guy who won't take any shifts off, he gives you his all every game, and he plays smart, always with the good of the team as his first priority.

Offensively he's improving, he's never gonna score 40 goals or tally up any high point totals but he's a good passer, does crash the net hard and is a hard worker on the boards and in the corners. He's also a decent face off taker, and in the games that I watched his percentage was actually higher in pressure situations, once again showing that he rises to the occasion. Something that is rare in swedish athletes, who otherwise almost has made an art out of choking when it really matters.

Where Lander really excels is on defense and on the forecheck. He's an aggressive forechecker, plays smart and works hard on the backcheck. He's almost always in the right position and is becoming more comfortable at directing others. He's also one of the most used players in box play.

What it all boils down to is that Anton may not be one of the the most offensively skilled players, but what he lacks in skill he more than makes up for in hockey IQ and work ethic. The guy is simply a HOCKEYPLAYER, a guy that does all the little things and is team first. He might not become a top 6 player, but he definitely has the makings of a solid NHLer. But he really needs to work on speed and explosiveness, something he's improved upon but he still has a way to go.

Now how ready for the Oilers is he? Well we should get a measure of that in the junior WC, my guess is he'll be playing on the checking line and will get some good playing time against the top players.But in the long run he's probably best served staying at least another year in the SEL, and then being slowly worked into the organization.

My scouting on Lander is mostly based on the last few games, and I thought I'd get a second opinion from someone who's watched a whole lot more games. So I contacted Jimmy Hamrin who runs a really good Timrå blog for Sundsvalls tidning at http://blog.st.nu/tikare/. And he had a lot to say:

"Around the draft a lot of scouts and critics pointed to Anton's skating as his weakness. One club before the draft even said that he "looked like a fat boy on the ice." Anton was far from fat but had spent perhaps a bit too much time in the gym to measure up physically with the older players. Anton then spent the whole summer losing weight and working on his explosiveness. I myself was a witness to him skating around alone in the afternoons on inlines out in the middle of summer heat and running the start and stop, and other various exercises.

Early in the preseason I checked out a lot of practices and it was clear that his speed and effort had improved. But his role on the team was still uncertain and he began the season as a forward on the 4th line. The club has had a tough season and remained at the bottom of the SEL, but Anton has been the one whose really pushed his teammates and shown the most heart. In a vote on the Internet among fans on who they thought was the best forward he won by a landslide (he got 40% and 2nd place Daniel Corso had 15% of the votes). He is also the one who's shown the most frustration with the results, both through body language and comments in the media.

Looking at him in terms of skill there is a lot of things to work on before he is ready to go into the NHL. The speed has improved but there is still more work to do, he has difficulty separating from defenders and taking it to the net. Therefore he has a tendency to end up a bit too much out in the corners. He could also improve in the terms of goals and assists and he can become stronger in the Faceoff Circle.

His strengths, in addition to the mental and leadership on the ice is that he has a strong body and very good balance. There aren't that many defenders who can put him down around the boards. He's also a bit of a playmaker, he's able to be make the difficult passes and has, for his age, a good shot.

I'm certain that this is a player who will end up in the NHL. In what role is still unclear. He might be a new Henrik Zetterberg or he might be a Samuel Påhlsson to use two extreme examples. I think Edmonton would benefit from having some patience with him and letting him develop his game here in Sweden for some years to see how he might fit in best and let the future tell what role he could take and not pigeonhole him too soon."

He's a mainstay on the Penalty Kill but also more and more on the Powerplay, and in the last 10-15 games he's gotten a lot of playing time, he plays roughly 20 minutes a game. He's also one of the teams leaders and is active on the bench, both encouraging and criticising the other players. Something he can do due to the hard work he puts in.

Personally I love the way Anton Lander plays hockey, I stated it before but it really needs to be said again: this kid really is a hockey player and is the kind of player Pat Quinn would love to coach. Hopefully he gets to shine in the juniors and the Oilers gives him the time to develop his game.

-Johan Barrander

Red Wings need a shootout to beat the Blues

mpetrella — Sun, 29 Nov 2009 04:09:47 -0000

More photos » by Bill Boyce - AP

Justin Abdelkader, moments before demolishing the bald guy that plays goal for the Blues. (AP Photo/Bill Boyce)

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Oh, my beloved Detroit Red Wings. Why must you give me chest pains?

It certainly wasn't easy, but the Wings won their first game in their last four tries, defeating the Blues in St. Louis on Saturday night by a score of 4-3. Coming into the game, Detroit was on their worst stretch of the season: shutout in their last two outings (both at home), and going 1-4-1 in their last six.

It was 2-0 Blues after the first period, as the hometown team received goals from David Backes and Roman Polak. Something Mike Babcock said in the intermission must have worked, because the boys came out a little stronger in the second, netting their first goal in nearly nine periods at 2:35 of the second. The powerplay goal was scored by Tomas Holmstrom of an absolutely gorgeous feed from Henrik Zetterberg. All is right with the world.

The third period was a back and forth affair: first, Kris Draper tied the game a little over two minutes into the final frame. It was a sight for sore eyes as the energy line of Draper, Darren Helm, and Patrick Eaves - who had been generating chances all week - finally put one in. And it was a big one.

Six minutes later, the Blues regained the lead, as Brad Boyes scored his sixth of the season. The lead would hold until the final minute of play. With Jimmy Howard on the bench, Henrik Zetterberg took a shot from behind the goal-line that seemed to hit Barrett Jackman's arm and deflect past Blues goaltender Chris Mason. The Red Wings were headed to overtime for the fourth time in November.

The extra frame saw plenty of chances to end it - for both squads - but a shootout was needed to determine the winner. Andy McDonald started the festivities with a goal, as he deked past Howard and roofed one. It was the only goal the Blues would get past Jimmy Howard in the shootout.

Pavel Datsyuk was the first shooter for the Wings, and he converted on a nifty stickhandling play. After misses by Brad Boyes, Henrik Zetterberg, David Perron, Dan Cleary, and T.J. Oshie, Detroit put the game on the stick of Todd Bertuzzi, of all people. After a nice move, Bertuzzi put the puck top shelf, and the Wings would skate away victorious.

Detroit outshot the Blues, but not by their normal 2:1 margin. Chris Mason saw 37 shots, and Jimmy Howard faced 35 from Blues shooters. There were only three penalties called tonight, and the Wings scored 28 seconds into their only opportunity on the power play. In a turn of recent events, the Winged Wheelers went 2/2 on the penalty kill. Huzzah!

PETRELLA'S PLAYER OF THE GAME: Henrik Zetterberg. A goal, an assist, and showing Barret Jackman who deserved the 2003 Calder. That's good enough for first star in my book.

Henrik Zetterberg

#40 / Left Wing / Detroit Red Wings

Height: 5-11

Weight: 195

Born: Oct 09, 1980

Predators Game Day Preview: Detroit @ Nashville

Dirk Hoag — Mon, 23 Nov 2009 15:03:52 -0000

More photos » by NIKLAS LARSSON - AP

The Detroit Red Wings have dominated the Central Division for almost two decades. Is this the year that Nashville can climb past them?

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REMINDER: Tonight's game has a special 6:00 Central start time, due to the national Versus broadcast (well, national except for those of us with DirecTV).

Well folks, the Nashville Predators (12-8-1) have played well over the last few weeks, winning 9 of their last 11 to reverse a woeful start to this 2009-10 season. Tonight, however, in front of a national audience, they face the biggest test of the season so far, their arch-nemesis from Detroit.

The Red Wings have always been the measuring stick for the Predators franchise, but this season, with an 11-6-4 record so far, Detroit has come back to the pack in the Western Conference. Is this a case of a team working the kinks out before tearing up the league in the second half, or is Detroit finally going to finish lower than 1st or 2nd in their division for the first time since the 1990-91 season?

Before diving into the preview after the jump, take a few moments to relive one of the greatest moments in Predators history - the "2 goals in 9 seconds" during the 2008 playoffs, when the Preds quickly took the lead late in Game 3 of the first round, and sent Dominik Hasek into retirement:

Are you ready, Predators fans?

Meet the Enemy

This year's edition of the Red Wings isn't exactly the same as in recent years. Free agent departures like Marian Hossa, Mikael Samuelsson and Jiri Hudler have definitely shortened the talent pool up front, and injuries (most recently to Niklas Kronwall) have hurt as well. The goaltending has been sub-par for the second consecutive regular season.

But it's still Detroit, and thanks to a healthy Shots For & Against margin (34.1 to 27.8 per game) and the #7 offense in the NHL, they're still a very dangerous team. I asked MrNorrisTrophy from Winging It In Motown about how the Big Red Machine is rolling these days:

Detroit's level of play has been anything but consistent so far this season. In large part I chalk that up to the injuries and changes on the roster from the team last year. Originally many felt the team would be fine despite the loss of Hossa, Hudler, Samuelsson, Conklin but as the injuries have piled up to crucial guys like Johan Franzen, Valtteri Filppula and now Niklas Kronwall things might be even harder down the stretch.

The team has had monumental contributions from Henrik Zetterberg and Pavel Datsyuk and the most surprising success is Tomas Holmstrom. Holmstrom at one point looked as if his game was fading but he's found some sort of second wind at this point in his career and is scoring goals left and right. The defense was shaky at best early in the season but has started to gel more-until the Kronwall injury that is-and they're more aware of their responsibilities for rebounds and the like. Jimmy Howard has come on strong despite his slow start and has played a few truly incredible games. Chris Osgood has looked horrible at points this year and with the success of Howard we might be seeing a changing of the guard before the season is done.

The team has found a way to win, mainly with clutch performances and a tightened defensive game. Going forward, I think this team will only get better once Filppula, Franzen, Kronwall, and Williams (if he's able to) return to the line up.

Meet the Good Guys

The Predators are on fire, due mostly to a few key factors - excellent goaltending from Pekka Rinne, steady work by the defense corps to limit dangerous scoring chances, and a power play that has finally woken up. After his senseless "hooking" call against the Blue Jackets, I'm going to guess that Wade Belak goes back to the press box for tonight's game (update: confirmed), leaving the lines as follows:

Forwards

Sullivan - Arnott - Dumont

Erat - Santorelli - Hornqvist

Ward - Legwand - Smithson

Thuresson - Goc - Tootoo

Defense

Suter - Weber

Bouillon - Klein

Hamhuis - Franson

There is a question as to how the Goc and Santorelli lines will shake out; there's been considerable shuffling of the wingers alongside them.

Even Strength Play

	5-on-5 Team Data from Behind the Net
Team	GP	GF	GA	GF/60	Shots For/60	Sht %	GA/60	Shots Ag/60	Save %	+/- per 60
Detroit	21	41	39	2.5	32.2	7.8	2.4	27.4	.913	+0.1
Nashville	21	29	36	1.7	29.4	5.9	2.2	28.5	.924	-0.4

This is as big an indication as any that Detroit's dominance has slipped this season - typically they've been one of the best even-strength teams in the NHL. The Predators continue to be hamstrung by the lowest 5-on-5 shooting percentage in the league; if they had a more typical shooting percentage (around 8%), they'd have about 10 more goals this season, and probably be nipping at Chicago's heels atop the Central Division.

There is a bright side here, however, as Detroit's goaltending in this situation is among the worst in the league, so perhaps the Nashville shooters can break through.

Detroit PP vs. Nashville PK

With guys like Datsyuk, Zetterberg, Holmstrom, Lidstrom and Rafalski on the job, the Red Wings are enjoying their usual success on the power play (5th in the NHL at 23.9%), while the Predators have been steadily climbing through the ranks this month, having reached 16th in penalty killing at 79.7% (they were 30th for a while in the early going). The Red Wings draw a fair number of penalties, too, so discipline will be key for Nashville, which has done an excellent job staying out of the box so far.

Nashville PP vs. Detroit PK

With 2 power play goals against Columbus Saturday night, the Preds have continued a recent hot streak that has provided a badly-needed boost to their overall offensive performance. Having languished under 10% throughout October, the PP has now climbed to 15.7% - only good for 25th in the league, but a fair step higher than just a few weeks ago. Detroit's penalty kill has been a sore point, 26th in the NHL as they've had to rotate a number of forwards through that group.

Goaltending

~~Jimmy Howard has been getting much of the work lately and is expected to get the start tonight for Detroit~~ According to the Detroit Free Press, Chris Osgood will start tonight for the Red Wings:

Chris Osgood

#30 / Goalie / Detroit Red Wings

Height: 5-10

Weight: 180

Born: Nov 26, 1972

	GP	MIN	W	L			GA	GAA	SA	SV	SV%	SO
2009 - Chris Osgood	13	710	6	3			32	2.70	327	295	.902	1

For Nashville, Pekka Rinne has been outstanding, with 5 straight victories and 9 in his last 10 decisions. John Glennon confirms this afternoon that Rinne gets the start tonight:

Pekka Rinne

#35 / Goalie / Nashville Predators

Height: 6-5

Weight: 206

Born: Nov 03, 1982

	GP	MIN	W	L			GA	GAA	SA	SV	SV%	SO
2009 - Pekka Rinne	14	780	9	4			31	2.38	361	330	.914	2

Summary

Can the Predators keep their momentum going and claw past the Red Wings into 3rd place in the Central in front of a national television audience? With Kronwall out of the lineup for Detroit, the key will be to aggressively challenge the Red Wings defense, while watching out for the elite players who will surely carry the burden of extra ice time.

And hey, we can always hope for a repeat of that rollicking good time from February 28 of last season...

Wings down Habs 3-2 in SO

MrNorrisTrophy — Sun, 22 Nov 2009 05:26:31 -0000

More photos » by Graham Hughes - AP

19 days ago: Montreal Canadiens' goaltender Carey Price, right, is scored on by Detroit Red Wings' Pavel Datsyuk, of Russia, during an overtime shootout during an NHL hockey game in Montreal, Saturday, Nov. 21, 2009. (AP Photo/The Canadian Press,Graham Hughes)

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Detroit got back in the win column after a loss to Dallas and an overtime loss to Florida as they beat the Montreal Canadiens 3-2 in a shoot-out.

Brad Stuart started the scoring for both teams on a power-play goal at 12:41 of the first period. Stuart put what seemed to be a rather innocent shot past Montreal netminder Carey Price for a 1-0 Detroit lead. Price was screened by Todd Bertuzzi and his own defender, leaving little chance to find the puck until it was already in the net. Dan Cleary and Brett Lebda assisted on Stuart's second goal of the season. The powerplay resulted after Montreal's George Laraque took six penalty minutes on one shift, including a tripping call that put Niklas Kronwall for the remainder of the game and possibly a long stretch afterwards.

"You know it's something that shouldn't happen in hockey," Red Wings coach Mike Babcock said. "A guy shouldn't hang his leg out there and hurt another guy. It's unacceptable and it's disappointing, obviously. We just lost a good player for a period of time. Our doctors will look at him, but he's out for a chunk for sure."

Pavel Datsyuk would add another Red Wings power-play goal as he tipped a Brian Rafalski shot past Price for a 2-0 Detroit lead, only 2 minutes after the first goal by Stuart. Datsyuk scored his sixth goal of the season as he was camped out to Price's right before Rafalski's shot from the blue line. Datsyuk's goal came on a five-on-three as Laraque was still in the box, now joined by Paul Mara.

Jimmy Howard, starting his 5th game in the past 6 stopped numerous quality chances from Montreal during the second period en route to his 4th win of the year. Howard stopped 16 shots in all as Detroit out-shot Montreal 35-18, making Price work all night and leaving Howard with a much more manageable work load.

Mike Cammalleri scored his tenth and eleventh goals of the season as he lead the Canadiens back to a tie in the third period. Cammalleri's first goal came just nine seconds into the 3rd period as he fired a drop pass from Andrei Kostitsyn into the net behind Jimmy Howard. Cammelleri's second goal was the result of a beautiful pass from Kostitsyn, who blazed the puck across the goal mouth from the sideboards to the tape of Cammelleri's stick; tying the game at 2 with under 9 minutes gone in the 3rd period. Howard has little hope of stopping the shot and the pass was near perfect as the Canadiens capitalized on a rare miscue from Nicklas Lidstrom.

Overtime ended with out any goals being scored so the teams prepared for the shoot-out. Cammelleri was stopped by Howard on the first attempt of the shoot-out. Pavel Datsyuk did one of his patented "Datsyukian dekes" to beat Price and ultimately win the game. Henrik Zetterberg sealed the win with a pretty special move of his own as the team departs Montreal with a 3-2 win and 2 more points in the standings.

Detroit's next game is on Monday against Nashville, a game that will be seen on Versus.

MrNorrisTrophy's Wing of the Game: Pavel Datsyuk. Pavel scored the second goal of the game and had an incredible move to beat Carey Price and win the game. He added 6 shots to his 20:35 of ice time and 81% success rate in the faceoff dot.

Why Per-Game Metrics can't Evaluate the Draft

Hawerchuk — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 14:00:15 -0000

More photos » by John Dunn - AP

5 months ago: New York Islanders John Tavares (91), the No. 1 overall pick in the NHL draft, poses with Islanders center Josh Bailey, left, general manager Garth Snow, second from left, team owner Charles Wang, second from right, and head coach Scott Gordon, right, during a news conference, Wednesday, July 8, 2009, at Nassau Coliseum in Uniondale, N.Y. (AP Photo/John Dunn)

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Earlier this week, I briefly discussed Malcolm Gladwell's assertion that there's no relationship between draft position and a quarterback's performance in the NFL. Gladwell cited a paper that showed that the per-play performance of quarterbacks drafted 100th or later was the same as that of quarterbacks drafted 1-10 overall.

Gladwell's claim is easily-debunked, but I wanted to give you an example of what kind of wrong results you get when you engage in these kinds of shenanigans. Let's look at NHL entry drafts from 1979-99 - the brown line shows the percentage of draft picks who eventually play at least one game in the NHL, while the blue line shows the average number of points scored per NHL game scored by those forwards and defensemen who played in the NHL:

If you look at the per-game performance, you would conclude that beyond the 20th pick or so, there's no difference between the drafted players. 250th picks who played in the NHL scored just as many points-per-game as 25th picks who played in the NHL. Hence, NHL general managers are terrible evaluators of talent outside of the obvious two dozen future stars. Time for me to drop a 'QED' and get my findings published in a reputable academic journal!

The only problem is that most late-round draft picks never play in the NHL. So the average played drafted 25th provides some value to a team at the NHL level, while the average player drafted 250th probably never gets invited to an NHL training camp. So one high-reward pick in the 9th round - say Henrik Zetterberg - makes up 90% of the per-game statistics and makes all of the guys who never played in the NHL look a lot better. (Or as they say of Bill Gates: when he walks into a room, everybody's average net worth goes way up, but the percentage other than him who billionaires did not...)

The correct conclusion is that general managers do a good job of evaluating draft-age talent. Sure, there's some selection bias in our chart - first-round draft picks will get many more chances to establish themselves - but over the course of 20 years, players get drafted in the order of how they'll ultimately perform at their peaks. A monkey at a dart board absolutely would not produce better results.