After 50 games, the Red Wings are sitting where they have sat for the vast majority of the past 20 years, above 29 other teams. Many competitors have risen and fallen within this time and it was believed the Wings would start to fall as soon as other teams in the Central began to rise.
Fast forward to 2012 and those pundits were only half right. Chicago, Nashville, and St.Louis have all stepped up to the plate and want a piece of the Central Division Title. Unfortunately for them, the Detroit Red Wings have continued there excellence in staying amongst the Elite teams in the NHL once again.
5 Second Half Predictions:
1 • Pavel Datsyuk will contend for the Hart Trophy (Top 3). He will also win the Selke and if the Wings go deep, win the Conn Smythe.
2 • Zetterberg, after a slow start, will notch 60 points and reach 20 goals. (His Shooting % is currently 5.9%, you have to believe that isn't going to stick.)
3 • Ty Conklin will get 7 starts, nearly doubling his 10 in the first 50.
4 • Despite only getting 25 starts, Jimmy Howard will tie Martin Brodeurs Wins Record at 48. He currently sits at 30 Wins and needs an 18-7 record to achieve this.
5 • Ken Holland will pull the trigger and bring in a top-six forward at the deadline. Rumors have the Red Wings poking around the Oilers and Ales Hemsky. We'll see.
Looking back at my predictions for the team at the start of the season:
101 Points
1st in Central
3rd in Conference
(I wish I took a stab at the Wins column at the beginning of the year...)
Currently the Wings are on pace for 110 points on the season. I may have over estimated individual points, but, I underestimated the teams overall points.
The Red Wings have, to some extent, surprised me a bit. I believed they would be a challenger but I didn't expect them to be sitting at the top of the standings at the All-Star break. It's a pleasant surprise.
The biggest challenge for the Wings to stay on the top is the competition within the Central. I don't think Chicago will continue there success based on there defensive and goaltending struggles but it's always possible there offense keeps them chugging. I see them finishing in the 4-6 spot. Nashville is Nashville, always good, never great. St.Louis is my biggest fear. They are good up and down the lineup and with the help of Ken Hitchcock, look to push us to the limits for the Central crown. I feel a new rivalry brewing.
Oh, and then there is Columbus...
I don't believe we will win the Presidents Trophy with Vancouver picking on the youngin's in the Northeast and Boston and New York dominating the entire Eastern Conference. I do, however, see us sitting in a 1-4 spot at seasons end and having first round home ice advantage.
Let's get this second half over with and be ready for the real season to begin!
Showing posts with label Predictions. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Predictions. Show all posts
Tuesday, January 31, 2012
Monday, January 16, 2012
It's Miller Time
Drew Miller came to the Red Wings via Waivers from Tampa Bay during the 09' season. He was averaging around 13-14 minutes and eating up PK time for the Lightning but there was interest in bringing up a Right-Handed shot from within there own prospect pool which forced Miller to be placed on Waivers. It was thought Miller wouldn't last too long as a full-time NHLer at this point.
Fast forward to the 2011-12 season, Drew Miller has become a mainstay on one of the top rosters in the league.
Playing on the top line, and some nights carrying it, Miller has shown the hands of Pavel Datsyuk and the speed of Darren Helm. His smarts almost rival that of Nick Lidstroms. He has developed into a bona fide superstar. Miller has truly become one of our many "diamonds in the rough" and fits the bill of "Project player turned Red Wings star".
Okay that's not exactly how things turned out for Miller, but wouldn't it be wonderful?
Here are Drew Miller's 2011-12 stats:
GP • 42
G • 7
A • 7
P • 14
My Predictions:
GP • 50
G • 8
A • 10
P • 18
I truly didn't think Miller would solidify a spot in the lineup like he has. Moving above Eaves and sometimes, although rarely, getting ice time in the Top 6. My pace was relatively close, in terms of points to games ratio but it looks like Miller will see 75+ games barring some sort of injury.
I wasn't exactly happy with the re-signing of Miller during the off-season. Hoping the Wings Brass would give some youngsters a chance or sign a Vet who hasn't won the cup and wants to leave everything out on the ice. When I found out we signed him I started thinking the Wings would expose Miller to Waivers at some point with high number of NHL quality forwards the Wings had.
Now, more than half way through the season, I've been wrong on both fronts. Not only was I wrong, but I've been extremely happy with the game Miller has brought night in and night out.
Are there better options on the market? Sure. Are there better options in our own system? Definitely. But Miller brings something not many do, and that's a relatively mistake free defensive game. He's a bottom liner you don't have to be afraid to put out on the ice. When the playoffs roll around, that is exactly what you want and what you need.
Past Predictions&Portraits:
FilppulaZetterberg
Lidstrom
Kronwall
Ericsson
Datsyuk
Holmstrom
Hudler
Franzen
Bertuzzi
Player Predictions (No portraits, yet!)
Red Wings Season Prediction
Thursday, January 12, 2012
Cleary
Dan Cleary has almost single-handily planted a label within the Detroit Red Wings organization that is thrown around quite often. A label that has ground to stand on with former Wings like Kris Draper and Mikael Samuelsson. The "Always able to get the most out of a Project-Player" label.
Cleary was the 13th Overall pick in the 1997 Draft and was highly regarded upon entering the league. Unfortunetely, for teams like the Oilers and Blackhawks, they were never able to get the most out of the quickly slipping Newfoundlander. Then Ken Holland came calling. After a quiet first season Cleary broke out, potting 20 Goals and 40 Points and making his doubters pay close attention.
Dan Cleary's 2011-12 Stats:
GP • 42
G • 10
A • 9
P • 19
GP • 70
G • 25
A • 20P • 45
I think it's fair to say I was a bit optimistic after Cleary had a career year last season. He started off the year extremely slow which may have been due to the always mysterious "Upper-Body Injury" (Correct me if I'm wrong, I believe it was Broken Ribs.) and even though he played through the pain, he looked like he was playing through the pain. Cleary started as a top 6 forward and quickly slipped down the ranks to his current but not cemented 3rd line role.
I believe Cleary is more fitted for this role and, outside of injuries, I hope he sticks to the grinding and defensive game he is known for. He does have a knack for the net and scores the occasional timely goal, but outside of good puck protection on the boards, he doesn't have the puck-possession and offensive smarts that a true top 6 forward should have at this stage in his career.
I love his "Give it All, Leave Nothing on the Ice" game and Cleary elevates himself during the playoffs. He has become an "All-Situations" player and can fill roles in the PK and the PP if needed. Dan Cleary is our swiss army knife and we are glad to have him in the Red and White.
I missed this game due to my graduation date conveniently landing on the same night. Fortunately I was able to sneak away with my Dad and listen to it in his Michigan-made Van while everyone else was enjoying there graduation and families. Listening to Cleary score over the radio was something else, and as much as I would have enjoyed seeing this happen, visualizing this as it broke out as well as the evening in general left this as one of my top memories as a Red Wing fan.
Here is a list of past Predictions&Portraits:
FilppulaZetterberg
Lidstrom
Kronwall
Ericsson
Datsyuk
Holmstrom
Hudler
Franzen
Bertuzzi
Player Predictions (No portraits, yet!)
Red Wings Season Prediction
Wednesday, January 11, 2012
Ian White
Ian White wasn't the most sought after defenseman last summer, with guys like Ehrhoff and Wisniewski on the market. I would argue he has been the most rewarding though. After being thrown around the league like Sean Avery's sloppy seconds Ian White signed a 2 year deal with our beloved Red Wings. It's a move that, to date, has proved to be rewarding.
Here is a look at Ian White's current stats:
GP • 37
G • 5
A • 15
P • 20
And for comparisons sake, here are my season predictions:
GP • 82
G • 8
A • 30
P • 38
White has been nothing short of fantastic to start the year, already tying his totals from last year. Deemed a "Rafalski Replacemnt" by many (I was not one as I was convinced Kronwall would fill that void and other guys would step up below) a lot of people were doubting the signing by the Wings. He may not be the offensive dynamo Rafalski was, but White has given a smooth transition in light of Raffy's his retirement. Ian White makes up for Rafalski's high-end offensive game with extremely solid two-way play.
White is prone to making a few occasional defensive gaffs and the same can be said in the offensive zone when, at times, he wants to do a bit too much with the puck. Overall, the mistakes are few and far between and his positives outweigh his minor negatives sevenfold.
Ian White is near the top of league in terms of bang for your buck when comparing to the rest of the off-seasons Free Agent signings and could be argued as the best. It makes the Eric$$on signing a bit easier to swallow.
Oh, and he has the ability to stop goals with his face.
Here is a list of past Predictions&Portraits:
FilppulaZetterberg
Lidstrom
Kronwall
Ericsson
Datsyuk
Holmstrom
Hudler
Franzen
Bertuzzi
Player Predictions (No portraits, yet!)
Red Wings Season Prediction
Tuesday, October 4, 2011
Predictions
With the season beginning on Friday, and not enough time to Illustrate pictures for everyone's prediction, I'm going to jump the gun and lay out the rest of the players season predictions in one post. I'll get around to finishing out the rosters portraits eventually, but want to have my predictions set in stone before the regular season begins.
Here is a list of the past Predictions&Portraits:
Zetterberg
Lidstrom
Kronwall
Ericsson
Datsyuk
Holmstrom
Hudler
Franzen
Bertuzzi
Red Wings Season Prediction
The Rest of the Team:
Forwards
Valtteri Filppula:
82 GP
17 G
35 A
52 P
Dan Cleary:
70 GP
25 G
20 A
45 P
Darren Helm:
82 GP
16 G
23 A
39 P
Patrick Eaves:
65 GP
17 G
8 A
25 P
Justin Abdelkader:
82 GP
9 G
12 A
21 P
Drew Miller:
50 GP
8 G
10 A
18 P
Fabion Brunnstrom:
40 GP
6 G
13 A
19 P
Corey Emmerton:
45 GP
5 G
15 A
20 P
Defense
Jakub Kindl:
55 GP
3 G
6 A
9 P
Brad Stuart:
75 GP
4 G
15 A
19 P
Ian White:
82 GP
8 G
30 A
38 P
Mike Commodore:
45 GP
2 G
8 A
10 P
Goaltenders
Jimmy Howard:
65 GP
35 W
3 SO
2.69 GAA
.908 SV%
Ty Conklin:
14 GP
10 W
0 SO
2.45 GAA
.918 SV%
Joey MacDonald:
3 GP
1 W
0 SO
3.10 GAA
.897 SV%
Disclaimer: I know most of these predictions may wind up being overly optimistic. I'm going more on potential upside and the ol' "If everything goes right for everyone" logic.
Keep an eye out for individual round-ups and portraits throughout the season.
Here is a list of the past Predictions&Portraits:
Zetterberg
Lidstrom
Kronwall
Ericsson
Datsyuk
Holmstrom
Hudler
Franzen
Bertuzzi
Red Wings Season Prediction
The Rest of the Team:
Forwards
Valtteri Filppula:
82 GP
17 G
35 A
52 P
Dan Cleary:
70 GP
25 G
20 A
45 P
Darren Helm:
82 GP
16 G
23 A
39 P
Patrick Eaves:
65 GP
17 G
8 A
25 P
Justin Abdelkader:
82 GP
9 G
12 A
21 P
Drew Miller:
50 GP
8 G
10 A
18 P
Fabion Brunnstrom:
40 GP
6 G
13 A
19 P
Corey Emmerton:
45 GP
5 G
15 A
20 P
Defense
Jakub Kindl:
55 GP
3 G
6 A
9 P
Brad Stuart:
75 GP
4 G
15 A
19 P
Ian White:
82 GP
8 G
30 A
38 P
Mike Commodore:
45 GP
2 G
8 A
10 P
Goaltenders
Jimmy Howard:
65 GP
35 W
3 SO
2.69 GAA
.908 SV%
Ty Conklin:
14 GP
10 W
0 SO
2.45 GAA
.918 SV%
Joey MacDonald:
3 GP
1 W
0 SO
3.10 GAA
.897 SV%
Disclaimer: I know most of these predictions may wind up being overly optimistic. I'm going more on potential upside and the ol' "If everything goes right for everyone" logic.
Keep an eye out for individual round-ups and portraits throughout the season.
Thursday, August 18, 2011
Predictions!
Looking ahead to the 2011-2012 season.
With Training Camp looming, I want to take a quick look ahead to the upcoming season. I'll refrain from speaking about individuals as much as possible and try to look at the team as a whole because I plan on writing about specific players in the near future.
If I was going to try and sum up what I'm hoping for next season, it would look something like this: "Please, for the love of god, try to keep the injuries to a minimum!". And I know all the naysayers want to be the first to jump at the "Too old" argument because without having an inch of knowledge of our past injuries, that might be the first thing that comes to mind. It wouldn't be that we had a good number of freak accidents. Stuarts shattered jaw, Datsyuks broken wrist, Osgoods old, stretched out groin... Okay so there were a couple age-related injuries. That said, we have been on the wrong side of the coin the past couple of season and hopefully our fortunes change as the team gets a bit younger and some of the older members move on to the next stages of there lives.
Changes
Who's in? Commodore, White, Mursak, Emmerton, Conklin
Who's out? Rafalski, Draper, Modano, Osgood, Salei
We also made some under the radar changes in the coaching department as Brad McCrimmon and Paul MacLean have moved on to bigger things and Jeff Blashill and Bill Peters find themselves working alongside Mike Babcock. I can't say I know a whole lot about the way either guy coaches but this should bring a bit of new life into an old system as well as some fresh voices. It was a change which I saw as necessary and might make a bigger impact than we initially think.
Another thing to look at is the Improvement of other teams within the conference and division. Teams like Los Angeles and San Jose look to have made strives to improve there teams, along with Vancouver which for the most part stayed steady with there President Trophy winning team from last year. There is plenty of high-end competition for the Red Wings this season.
In the Central it looks to be an even tougher year than we have seen in the past. Starting with the Blues, whom have a young core of players that are always tough to go up against. Notably I'm a fan of Pietrangelo, Halak, and Oshie. They also picked up the up-and-coming power forward Chris Stewart and defenseman Shattenkirk in there late season trade with Colorado last year. Columbus made some nice additions to there top 6 adding Jeff Carter and along the blue line they added James Wiesniewski. I'm convinced there season really relies on what version of Steve Mason we see though. Nashville, always bringing a "blue-collar" style of play to the arena, never an easy game, especially with the brick wall they have built up from the net out. Suter, Weber, Rinne are all players to watch. They may be an underdog(when are they not?) to fight for the Central crown this season. Then there is Chicago, our little brothers. They blew apart there Stanely Cup winning team from 2 years ago and looked like a shell of themselves last season. I don't believe they added much quality outside of Brunette but that is off-set by the loss of Campbell. That said, they are always dangerous with there young and improving core. Watch for them and Nashville to battle with us for the top in the Central.
As for the Red Wings, I have high hopes. I'm a firm believer that when the trade deadline comes around we will be looking to add a piece to the puzzle, whether it works or not remains to be seen. For now, I think a top 6 winger would be ideal, but who knows who steps up or falls back as the season begins to unfold. Maybe we find ourselves with a higher quality version of Hudler this season instead of the black hole that wore the number 26 last season. Maybe Ericsson somehow lives up to the astronomically high contract he signed. Wishful thinking, I know. But at least we know even our dead weight has much higher potential than we have seen as of late.
Our blue line is the biggest question mark heading into the season, with the retiring of Rafalski. We will be looking for Kronwall to step up and fill that void and White or Ericsson to fill the spot left by Kronwall. A lot of "what-if's". The 6-7 spots will be a dog fight between Commodore, Kindl, and Smith. I'm a firm believer that Smith will be playing a full season in the AHL with limited call-ups if injuries begin to pile up. Our nucleus is still among the best, and our core has been playing together for a number of years. The largest adjustment will be seen in the coaching changes and the players reacting to a new system.
Prediction: 101 Pts. First in Central and 3rd in Conference.
The quality of competition in the Central rises as the quality in the Pacific drops. Points are hard to come by but we continue our consecutive 100+ point seasons to 12 and our playoff appearances to 21.
Be excited, hockey is just around the corner!
With Training Camp looming, I want to take a quick look ahead to the upcoming season. I'll refrain from speaking about individuals as much as possible and try to look at the team as a whole because I plan on writing about specific players in the near future.
If I was going to try and sum up what I'm hoping for next season, it would look something like this: "Please, for the love of god, try to keep the injuries to a minimum!". And I know all the naysayers want to be the first to jump at the "Too old" argument because without having an inch of knowledge of our past injuries, that might be the first thing that comes to mind. It wouldn't be that we had a good number of freak accidents. Stuarts shattered jaw, Datsyuks broken wrist, Osgoods old, stretched out groin... Okay so there were a couple age-related injuries. That said, we have been on the wrong side of the coin the past couple of season and hopefully our fortunes change as the team gets a bit younger and some of the older members move on to the next stages of there lives.
Changes
Who's in? Commodore, White, Mursak, Emmerton, Conklin
Who's out? Rafalski, Draper, Modano, Osgood, Salei
We also made some under the radar changes in the coaching department as Brad McCrimmon and Paul MacLean have moved on to bigger things and Jeff Blashill and Bill Peters find themselves working alongside Mike Babcock. I can't say I know a whole lot about the way either guy coaches but this should bring a bit of new life into an old system as well as some fresh voices. It was a change which I saw as necessary and might make a bigger impact than we initially think.
Another thing to look at is the Improvement of other teams within the conference and division. Teams like Los Angeles and San Jose look to have made strives to improve there teams, along with Vancouver which for the most part stayed steady with there President Trophy winning team from last year. There is plenty of high-end competition for the Red Wings this season.
In the Central it looks to be an even tougher year than we have seen in the past. Starting with the Blues, whom have a young core of players that are always tough to go up against. Notably I'm a fan of Pietrangelo, Halak, and Oshie. They also picked up the up-and-coming power forward Chris Stewart and defenseman Shattenkirk in there late season trade with Colorado last year. Columbus made some nice additions to there top 6 adding Jeff Carter and along the blue line they added James Wiesniewski. I'm convinced there season really relies on what version of Steve Mason we see though. Nashville, always bringing a "blue-collar" style of play to the arena, never an easy game, especially with the brick wall they have built up from the net out. Suter, Weber, Rinne are all players to watch. They may be an underdog(when are they not?) to fight for the Central crown this season. Then there is Chicago, our little brothers. They blew apart there Stanely Cup winning team from 2 years ago and looked like a shell of themselves last season. I don't believe they added much quality outside of Brunette but that is off-set by the loss of Campbell. That said, they are always dangerous with there young and improving core. Watch for them and Nashville to battle with us for the top in the Central.
As for the Red Wings, I have high hopes. I'm a firm believer that when the trade deadline comes around we will be looking to add a piece to the puzzle, whether it works or not remains to be seen. For now, I think a top 6 winger would be ideal, but who knows who steps up or falls back as the season begins to unfold. Maybe we find ourselves with a higher quality version of Hudler this season instead of the black hole that wore the number 26 last season. Maybe Ericsson somehow lives up to the astronomically high contract he signed. Wishful thinking, I know. But at least we know even our dead weight has much higher potential than we have seen as of late.
Our blue line is the biggest question mark heading into the season, with the retiring of Rafalski. We will be looking for Kronwall to step up and fill that void and White or Ericsson to fill the spot left by Kronwall. A lot of "what-if's". The 6-7 spots will be a dog fight between Commodore, Kindl, and Smith. I'm a firm believer that Smith will be playing a full season in the AHL with limited call-ups if injuries begin to pile up. Our nucleus is still among the best, and our core has been playing together for a number of years. The largest adjustment will be seen in the coaching changes and the players reacting to a new system.
Prediction: 101 Pts. First in Central and 3rd in Conference.
The quality of competition in the Central rises as the quality in the Pacific drops. Points are hard to come by but we continue our consecutive 100+ point seasons to 12 and our playoff appearances to 21.
Be excited, hockey is just around the corner!
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