Detroit Red Wings: 10 Things We've Learned After 10 Wins On The Season
In what has become the ultra-competitive Central Division, the race to the top, for each team who's been there, has been anything but easy, and their hold on the No. 1 position, anything but safe.
We've already seen a three-way tie for the division lead this season so far, and often, the difference between first and last place has been a matter of just two or three points.
Still, for all the parity that we see in the central division there is one team that has emerged as the first to reach double-digits in the win column.
The Detroit Red Wings currently lead the Central Division with a 10-3-1 record.
Though they are tied in points with the St. Louis Blues (21), it is their additional win that has put them in sole possession of first place...at least for now.
Given this achievement, now seems as good a time as any to look back over the first few weeks of the season and see what we've learned about the Detroit Red Wings over their first 14 games.
Most of what we've seen is good. Hell, most of what we've seen is great. Some things need to get better, others need to stay just as they are.
Good, great or otherwise, here's a look at 10 things we've learned about the Red Wings so far this season.
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Nicklas Lidstrom Is Not a Human Being
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Earlier this week, Greg Eno wrote a fantastic piece on Lidstrom that posited he was likely some kind of advanced android, rather than a mortal man.
I have no reason to believe Greg is wrong about this.
What is so amazing about Lidstrom's start to date is not only that he's still frighteningly effective at 40-years-old, or that he's leading all defensemen in the NHL in points, but that he's actually a better player this season than he was last year.
For any who might have thought that signing Lidstrom to a one-year, $6.2 million dollar contract over the summer was more a result of nostalgia than a carefully considered investment, Lidstrom's performance to date proves they were as wrong as they could be.
Big Bert Is a Big Deal
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Some, including yours truly, liked the idea of Bertuzzi coming back after last season, but wondered if giving him a raise and a two-year deal was a wise choice given the fact the big winger will turn 36 in February.
Excuse me while I slap my own face for doubting Ken Holland.
Todd Bertuzzi has 12 points through 14 games played, and is a team-best plus-10.
He is on pace to reach the 60 point mark, and has looked more comfortable and confident on the ice than he has in years.
Bertuzzi provides additional evidence that, somewhere stashed away in the home locker-room of Joe Louis Arena, one will find the Wings have the Fountain of Youth on tap.
Motor City Modano Stalled Getting Out of The Garage
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First, to be fair, Mike Modano has looked much more comfortable over the past few games, and his production, and that of his teammates, reflects that.
However, what was supposed to be an uplifting homecoming for the 40-year-old Michigan-native, started out as some kind of Halloween prank on ice, what with the corpse of Mike Modano centering the third-line and all.
Modano scored in his first period as a Red Wing but promptly went on to do very little, and scoref not a single point in his following six games.
The third-line shakeup that saw Jiri Hudler get bounced in favor of Justin Abdelkader has jump started Modano's production and energy level on the ice.
Let's hope this is a permanent change for the good for Motor City Mike, instead of a flash of false hope.
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Jiri Whodler? No, Jiri Hudler
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As it turns out, the KHL isn't as comparable to the NHL as those sly Russian's would have you believe.
If it was, the season-long slump Jiri Hudler has been in since his return from his KHL stint last year would likely not be a reality.
Hudler has struggled to keep up with the speed and physicality of a league in which he seemed quite comfortable in just two seasons ago.
Head coach Mike Babcock thought Hudler could be good for around 70 points this season. Instead, he's on pace for about 26.
Hudler's talent is undeniable, and all the logic in the world dictates that he will get his ship righted this season. However, the chances for him to do that are becoming scarce as the rest of his team is doing much more with the ice time they get than he does.
Euro Twins Power Activate, From Of, a Big Ol Can Of Offensive Whup Ass
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As Chris Minniti pointed out earlier this week, The Euro Twins, better known as Henrik Zetterberg and Pavel Datsyuk, are back, and in a big way.
After a lack-luster year in 2009-10, both players are on pace to eclipse the 90-point mark this season.
Having these two world-class, two-way players on the same line is a rare luxury, even in Detroit.
Provided Detroit's other three lines continue to perform as they have, there's no reason to think No. 40 and No. 13 won't finish the season as they've started it, as two entities sharing one brain.
That's great news for the Red Wings, and miserable news for the rest of the league.
Too Much Of a Good Thing, Is a Very Good Thing
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Last season, the Wings couldn't stay healthy if their playoff lives depended on it, and, for a while at least, it did.
However, this year the Wings have the unique and wonderful problem of having too-many healthy, productive and motivated players to go around.
Still, though the Wings should hopefully, mercifully steer clear of the swarm of injury bugs that descended upon them last year; an injury is bound to pop up sooner or later and, like teeth in a shark's jaw, another player will be there to take his place.
Mike Babcock has already sat healthy and effective players like Patrick Eaves and Drew Miller to give Jiri Hudler a chance to play, and a few more equally undeserving players will undoubtedly feel the sting of the healthy scratch over the next few weeks.
Given the nightmare of last season, the Wings will take that all day long.
Sorry, Folks, Jimmy Howard Is Really For Real
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You heard them over the summer.
The haters, the naysayers, the worry-warts, the hand-wringers.
Be it hope or worry, the fact that Jimmy Howard could very well suffer a sophomore slump got quite a lot of digital ink as season predictions started rolling in as the season approached.
From the die-hard Wings fan who woke up in cold sweats, fearing that Howard would crumble under the pressure of being a starter, leaving Chris Osgood as our only hope in net, to the spiteful Blackhawks fan who hoped and prayed to whatever God he believed in, that this would in fact happen, we've yet to see this become a reality.
Honestly, we're not going to either.
Howard has picked-up right where he left off last season and is playing as every bit the No. 1 goal-tender he's supposed to be.
The confidence he has in himself, and the confidence his teammates have in him, is made more evident with each passing game.
Sorry haters, Jimmy's the real-deal.
Power Play Problems Persist, Proves Perplexing
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The Red Wings finished with the best power-play in the league in 2008-09.
Last season, they ended as the 10th most effective unit in the NHL, connecting at a 19.2 percent rate.
This season, they sit just this side of mediocre with a 17.5 success-rate, good for 14th in the league.
Given that 90% of their power-play personnel in 2008-09 remain intact today, the fact that the Wings have yet to unleash their once fearsome power-play is perplexing.
Hopefully, they'll be able to fix whatever is wrong sooner, rather than later. If they continue to hover around the mid to low point of the NHL power-play rankings;however, that could be a serious problem come playoff time.
Brad Stuart Is Freakin' Awesome
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When he speaks, his voice is barely above a whisper. But, when you play as loud as Brad Stuart does, you don't need words to do your talking for you.
Stuart proved to be a fantastic addition when he came to Detroit at the trade-deadline in 2008, finishing the year with a seven point, plus-15 playoff performance (oh yeah, and a Stanley Cup).
After a so-so follow up season in 2009, and a very solid, yet statistically unimpressive season last year, Brad Stuart is on pace for a career year and, after Nicklas Lidstrom has easily been Motown's most important d-man so far this season.
From laying on a crowd-pleasing, bone-crunching hit, to bailing out his goalies with goal-saving stick work, to setting up goals for his teammates, Brad Stuart has done all the little things that result in big wins for his team.
No wonder Mike Ilitch loans Stuart the "Red Wings One" (the team's private plane) on occasion to visit his family in San Jose, CA.
Those RFA's Are A-OK
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Last season, Justin Abdelkader, Drew Miller, Patrick Eaves and Darren Helm all entered restricted-free agency.
One by one, GM Ken Holland signed them back on, and so far, one by one, they're proving their worth.
Locking up four young, fast, hard-working forwards with scoring upside to assemble your fourth line, and penalty-kill unit for $3.1 million per year, has got to be one of the best bargains of the year.
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