Thursday, September 9, 2010

Peepin' Foes Preview Edition: Detroit Red Wings

Ah, one of our fine Original Six foes. Detroit has set the bar of success in the NHL over the last 15 years - one the Rangers are so far below they can hardly see it. The Red Wings have an owner who cares, a GM who is a genius and a head coach who puts them in a position to win. Can you imagine? No, I can't either.

Familiar Foes: One of the oldest teams in the NHL, the Wings have a lot of guys who have been around for a while: Datsyuk, Zetterberg, Lidstrom, Franzen, Holmstrom, Kronwall, Draper, Maltby, Rafalski, Stuart, Bertuzzi, Cleary, Osgood ... just look at all that talent, it really is unfair. Although, it should be said that Ozzy has lost his starting job to Jimmy Howard - the bridesmaid of the Detroit goaltenders who finally became the bride last season.

N00bz: Ken Holland decided to tweak his roster by adding a few veteran pieces instead of plugging in more of their capable kids. But those veteran pieces are nothing to frown on: future Hall of Famer Mike Modano and Olympian Ruslan Salei were signed and greedy former Wing Jiri Hudler was allowed to come back from his Russian vacation. Those additions and the extensions of some of the other long-time Detroit landmarks means that blue chip prospects Joakim Andersson, Tomas Tatar, Jakub Kindl, Brendan Smith, Daniel Larsson and Thomas McCollum will all have to wait their turn ... it really is an embarrassment of riches in the rusting city on the Detroit River.

Last Year: Sunday, December 6th, 3-1 Ranger loss.

This Year: Sunday, Sept 26th in Detroit & Wednesday, Sept 29th @ MSG in the preseason; Monday, February 7th in Detroit.

What They Mean To Blue: The Rangers play the middle two of their six preseason games against the Wings to it should be make or break for the borderline Blueshirts - ya figure the first two games will see everyone get a shot and the last two will be Tortorella throwing darts at a board to find line combinations/chemistry. The one regular season matchup will be a Monday night Versus game, which makes it pretty much meaningless and hard to watch but far more listenable than the usual MSG faire as it will be without Micheletti. (Yep, still grindin' that ax.)

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