Every sports team, at every level, has a list of goals they set for themselves throughout a season. For a team like the Blackhawks, they probably have, shockingly, more than “One Goal,” but rather a list of goals that start with simple, broad goals like having a winning record each month, improving their power play scoring, winning faceoffs, and playing strong defense. As the calendar moves along, though, there begin to come specific goals. Professional athletes generally won’t say they focus on one team or week on the calendar, but any Blackhawks player has had this week circled since July.
Twice, in one week before Christmas, the Blackhawks get to play the hated Detroit Red Wings for the first time since early October. Sunday will be the first time the Wings come to Chicago this year.
For decades, the Blackhawks have watched as the Red Wings won the Stanley Cup. Painfully, Chicago fans watched as Chris Chelios raised the Cup over his head in the hated Detroit sweater. These are two Original Six franchises, the only two in the Western Conference, who have hated each other for as long the franchises have existed. Indeed, seconds after the National Anthem ends on Sunday night, you’ll know exactly how Blackhawks fans feel about the visiting Wings.
In the 2008-09 season, for the first time in 15 years, the Blackhawks got close to challenging the Red Wings’ stranglehold on the Central Division. The up and coming Blackhawks, in the first playoff appearance for most of the players on the youngest roster in the NHL, streaked all the way to the Western Conference Finals as the fourth seed, knocking off heavyweights from Calgary and Vancouver along the way.
But in the Conference Finals, it was Detroit. Big Brother was waiting, and the youth of the Hawks finally failed as the deep, experienced Red Wings eliminated Chicago.
In July, however, Detroit found themselves in a strange position. Their leading goal scorer, Marian Hossa, left for greener pastures… in Chicago. So did Tomas Kopecky. Goalie Ty Conklin left for St. Louis, and Jiri Hudler made the biggest move, heading to Russia for the year. Detroit wasn’t as deep any more.
Meanwhile, the Little Brother in Chicago added Hossa, Kopecky and veteran center John Madden to an already-stacked offense. Could the balance of power in the Central Division be headed south and west a few hours?
Back on Oct. 8, the Hawks lost in Detroit 3-2 in the first of a string of poor performances from Cristobal Huet. With Hossa in street clothes after summer shoulder surgery, the veteran Red Wings dominated the Hawks in a game that looked too familiar for comfort.
Which is why, on Sunday, the red hot Blackhawks host the Red Wings in a game that is absolutely a must win.
Detroit is a tough team to break down because they keep winning games despite their inability to stay healthy. They will be without a list of players that sounds more like a Western Conference All Star lineup than an injury report: Johan Franzen, Henrik Zetterberg, Valterri Filppula, Dan Cleary, Jason Williams, Niklas Kronwall, Jonathan Ericsson and Andreas Lilja will all be in street clothes.
And yet the Wings had won four in a row before losing to Dallas on Saturday night. In that game, the Wings got some help back from the IR, as Darren Helm returned from a wrist injury to play 19 minutes.
The Blackhawks come into Sunday night’s game in first place, at the top of the Western Conference, with a Huet playing exceptionally well in the net and an offense starting to click with a healthy Hossa scoring as regularly as his salary would indicate he should. They’re 6-2-0 in December, and have only allowed more than two goals in three of the eight games.
What makes Sunday a must win for the Blackhawks is simple: just like Michael Jordan’s Bulls needed to step on Isaiah Thomas’ Pistons and make a statement, so now the Blackhawks of Jonathan Toews, Patrick Kane and Hossa must take the next step in their maturation with an emphatic victory.
Yes, the Red Wings are the most injury-plagued roster in the NHL. But that’s precisely why the Hawks must handle their business. Allowing a team without nine of their top players to sneak out of the United Center with a victory would do as much to perpetuate Detroit’s stamp on the division as it would keep the the Big Brother-Little Brother mentality in the two locker rooms.
The Blackhawks must take care of Detroit at home on Sunday.
Already dealing with most of their stars being hurt, the Detroit Red Wings lost another top player on Monday night. Defenseman Jonathan Ericsson hurt his knee in a collission with Phoenix’s Shane Doan in the first period Monday, and Detroit GM Ken Holland confirmed that he’ll be out at least two weeks.
This injury weakens an already-thin blue line for Detroit, who has been without Niklas Kronwall since November 21. The Red Wings are also skating without injured forwards Johan Franzen, Valterri Filppula, Jason Williams and Dan Cleary, and are in third place, four point behind Chicago in the Central Division.
Because there were so many injuries to key players early in the season, and the big names continue to fall, the beginning of December is a good time to look back, and forward, at when some of the top players in the Western Conference could return.
Central Division
Chicago:
Dave Bolland – had back surgery on November 10. Is expected to return in 12-16 weeks. ETA: post-Olympics?
Adam Burish – torn ACL in late September should cost him approximately six months. ETA: playoffs at best, likely 2010-11
Detroit:
Niklas Kronwall – sprained MCL on November 21 is expected to cost him two weeks. ETA: Dec. 7
Jason Williams – broke a fibula in early November and is expected to miss eight weeks. ETA: Christmas
Valterri Filppula – broken right wrist at the end of October expected to keep him out six to eight weeks. ETA: mid- to late-December
Johan Franzen – had surgery to repair torn ACL on October 16, beginning a six month recovery. ETA: maybe playoffs, more likely 2010-11
Columbus:
Rostislav Klesla – doctors discovered a torn groin and torn stomach muscle on Dec. 2, which could keep him out more than six weeks. ETA: at least mid-January
Nashville:
none
St. Louis:
DJ King – could have pins removed from his hand this week. ETA: soon?
Eric Brewer – lower body injury. ETA: this weekend?
Northwest Division
Calgary:
Colorado:
David Jones - tore his left ACL in late November, which should cost him roughly six months. ETA: playoffs at best, likely 2010-11.
Vancouver:
Pavol Demitra – has been recovering from summer shoulder surgery, and doesn’t have a firm timetable for return. ETA: after Christmas.
Edmonton:
Nikolai Khabibulin – is listed as day-to-day with back issues. He has missed a few games because of the injury. No ETA, but injury could be an ongoing concern.
Ales Hemsky – suffered a shoulder injury that required season-ending surgery. ETA: 2010-11.
Mike Comrie – diagnosed with mono on Nov. 16. ETA: TBD
Minnesota:
Martin Havlat – was retroactively put on the disabled list last week because of hamstring issues. Hopes to play Dec. 2.
Brent Burns – hasn’t played since Nov. 18 because of a concussion. ETA: TBD
Petr Sykora – hasn’t played since Nov. 7 because of a concussion. ETA: TBD
Pierre-Marc Bouchard – has only played in one game because of concussion-like symptoms. ETA: TBD
Pacific Division
San Jose:
Jody Shelley – hasn’t played since Nov. 7 because of “general soreness” and was placed on the disabled list on Nov. 30. ETA: TBD
Los Angeles:
Rob Scuderi – hasn’t played since Nov. 14 because of a lower body injury. ETA: soon? Did not play Dec. 1.
Ryan Smyth - has been out since Nov. 16 with an upper body injury, but has been cleared to skate with the team. ETA: soon.
Phoenix:
Peter Mueller - left Friday’s game with an injury and did not play Sunday. Status is still being determined.
Vernon Fiddler - left Friday’s game with an injury and did not play Sunday. Status is still being determined.
Ed Jovanovski - left Friday’s game with an injury and did not play Sunday. Status is still being determined.
Kurt Sauer – hasn’t played since the season opener because of head issues. ETA: TBD.
Dallas:
Anaheim:
Joffrey Lupul – was placed on the disabled list retroactively after missing five games with back spasms. ETA: TBD.
Kyle Calder – took a puck to the eye Nov. 28 and is expected to miss between two and four weeks. ETA: Christmas.
Ryan Carter – hasn’t played since Nov. 11 because of a foot injury. He’s expected to miss at least two more week. ETA: late-December.
Reports out of Detroit on Sunday are that the Red Wings have lost another key player to injury.
Niklas Kronwall sprained the MCL in his left knee in an open-ice collision with Georges Laraque in Montreal on Saturday, and will reportedly miss the next four to eight weeks.
This news hits the Wings at a terrible time, as they have a busy schedule against good offensive teams coming up. This week, Detroit travels to Nashville on Monday before hosting high-scoring Atlanta on Wednesday and Calgary on Friday. The Predators sit just one point behind the Wings for third in the Central Division entering Monday night’s contest.
Kronwall, 28, is arguably Detroit’s most physical player. He has scored 13 points (5 G, 8 A) through Saturday’s game.
Kronwall joins Johan Franzen, Jason Williams and Valterri Filppula on the bench for the Wings.
Detroit right wing Jason Williams has a broken fibula.
After Saturday night’s 5-1 loss in Toronto, Detroit Red Wings forward Jason Williams revealed that he has a fractured fibula in his right leg. If he doesn’t need surgery, the best case scenario, he should be out 6-8 weeks. He has not yet consulted with doctors for a recommendation, though.
Williams joins Johan Franzen (torn ACL), Valtteri Filppula(broken wrist) and Andreas Lilja (concussion) on Detroit’s growing injured list.
After the game, Detroit coach Mike Babcock said about Williams’ injury: “Losing Willy was a blow to us. He was playing way more minutes than we expected. There is no sense worrying about the guys who aren’t available. We have to dig in.”
The Red Wings had won three straight and four out of five before Saturday night’s loss to the struggling Maple Leafs. They have climbed back to third place in the Central Division, just one point behind the Blackhawks. Detroit and Chicago have both played 15 games, while division-leading Columbus has played 16 and leads Chicago by two points.
October’s in the books, and now November begins with even more questions than answers in the NHL’s Western Conference. So many injuries have hit the rosters that it’s beginning to raise concerns that some teams, like Vancouver, might not be able to withstand the losses of players and games early in the year.
Other teams, like Colorado and Los Angeles, have jumped out of the gates with a stronger showing than expected. Anze Kopitar leads the league in scoring, and Craig Anderson in Denver has been phenomenal (former Hawks prospect, too).
So let’s put it on paper. How do the teams in the West stack up after one month of the season, and how do they project moving forward.
15. Minnesota (5-9-0 10 pts)
The Wild thought adding injury plagued players like Martin Havlat would help them compete for a playoff spot this year, but the chance they took with those checkered pasts has come to haunt them. They’ve been outscored 42-31 through 14 games. Injuries and sloppy play have left Minnesota the lowest scoring team in the league.
14. Anaheim (4-6-2 10 pts)
The Ducks aren’t so mighty right now, and have fallen well behind the Kings in their annual competition to be southern California’s best insignificant team. Ryan Getzlaf has only scored one goal in 12 games, and the team’s third leading scorer is James Wisniewski. If not for Corey Perry and Getzlaf, the team’s 34-42 point differential would look a lot worse.
13. St. Louis (5-6-1 11 pts)
They definitely have the Blues in St. Louis right now, as they’ve only been able to muster a 2-5-0 record at home so far. Their offense has disappeared, climaxing with consecutive shutouts to end the month of October. Not a single Blues player has reached double digits in points yet, and Chris Mason is allowing 2.74 goals per game.
12. Nashville (6-6-1 13 points)
Until their last three games, the Predators weren’t living up to their name. They’ve been outscored 38-28, the worst differential in the Western Conference, and have had issues settling on a goalie. Their last three games, though, have been exceptional and they may have not only found a goalie, but their offense has come alive. Pekka Rinne appears to have established himself as the top goalie, benefiting from a 10-5 scoring differential in those three games (including a shutout of the Blackhawks).
11. Detroit Red Wings (5-4-3 13 pts)
They’ve struggled to stay healthy so far this year, already missing key components from last year’s conference championship team from free agency. With two of their top three centers out for between eight weeks and four months, the Wings are desperately seeking defense. They’ve come out of the gate averaging 3.50 goals per game, but are allowing nearly four. If there’s anything to the rumors that Detroit’s going to make a strong play to add Peter Forsberg, they could be a dangerous team.
10. Edmonton (7-7-1 15 pts)
The Oilers paid a lot of money for the 2008-09 Nikolai Khabibulin, but have seen the goalie that was regularly booed in Chicago the two previous seasons. The Bulin Wall has allowed 3.12 goals per game so far, and the offense has skated hard to keep pace. They’re very much an average team that will struggle to break into the top eight spots this spring for the playoffs without a trade.
9. Vancouver (8-7-0 16 pts)
What happens when you take Daniel Sedin, Sami Salo, Pavol Demitra and Roberto Luongo out of multiple games? That’s just to mention a few of the Canucks’ injury concerns to start this season, and they’re understandably struggling to stay above .500 through a tough early schedule. Sedin and Salo are both expected to miss most of November, so the ice will stay thin for the Canucks.
8. Dallas (6-3-5 17 pts)
If only they faced Cristobal Huet every night! Their inability to get it done in regulation has killed a team trying to get much-needed early wins without Mike Modano. They’re only converting 17.7 percent of their power play opportunities, perhaps the biggest impact of Modano’s absence. If they can get healthy and play defense (3.25 goals against per game), they could be a playoff team.
7. Columbus (7-5-1 15 pts)
The Jackets are in second place in the Central behind a strong start from Rick Nash, but are being outscored after a month of action (42-46). They’re going to need to step up their defense to allow their strong offense to shine. Obviously, getting Jan Hejda back off injured reserve should improve their defense, and that could happen as soon as Wednesday. They just lost Andrew Murray for four weeks, though. Like many teams, health is an ongoing issue.
6. Calgary (7-4-1 15 pts)
The Flames have the best converting power play in the conference (27.8 percent), but they’re allowing 3.5 goals per game. They’re an older, veteran squad that hasn’t received what they had hoped for from Mikka Kiprusoff in goal, but have been pleasantly surprised by former Blackhawks wing Rene Borque, who leads Calgary in scoring to date.
5. Phoenix (9-5-0 18 pts)
The Coyotes, unlike Edmonton, haven’t missed Wayne Gretzky for one second and have admirably played through their off-ice distractions to have a solid start. They’re third in the Pacific Division, and have held opponents to just over two goals per game. The NHL might have bought the best goalie in hockey in bankruptcy court, too, in Ilya Bryzgalov; he’s allowing only 1.78 goals per night and has sprinted out to an 8-3-0 record.
4. Los Angeles (9-4-2 20 pts)
Their offense, led by Kopitar, is as good as it gets in the league (51 goals through 15 games), but they’re not doing a lot of the little things right to jump into the top spot in the Pacific. The Kings are only killing 74.1 percent of power plays, and are only 5-3-2 in their last ten games. They’ll need to allow fewer than their current three goals per game to win their division, much less the conference.
3. Chicago (8-4-1 17 pts)
The Blackhawks are certainly talented enough to end the regular season in the top spot in the West, but haven’t jumped to that spot yet. Missing Jonathan Toews for two weeks hasn’t help a strikingly unproductive power play (17.3 percent), but their defense has been good around Cristobal Huet’s roller coaster season. Once they get Toews, Eager and Hossa back, watch out.
2. Colorado (10-3-2 22 pts)
The Avalanche have followed Anderson’s lead between the pipes and sprinted to an early lead in the Northwest, and could expand their six-point lead on a banged up Vancouver team. The perfect storm might have landed in Denver to begin this season, as the Avalanche are playing well while the rest of their division gets hurt and plays poorly. They could run away with their division before the Olympics.
1. San Jose (10-4-1 21 pts)
They took the huge gamble this summer in adding Dany Heatley to their roster, and it’s payed off on paper so far. They’ve scored almost a full goal per game more than their opponents, have the second ranked power play in the conference (25 percent) and third-best power play killing unit in the conference (85 percent). Chemistry will be a theme to watch as this season progresses, though… Heatley has never been known for making friends.
Is All Star center Peter Forsberg on his way back to the NHL?
A number of sources are reporting that 36-year old center Peter Forsberg, currently playing with Team Sweden in the Karjala Cup, is trying to make a comeback to the NHL. Reports are that he’s as healthy as he’s been in at least three years, and is skating well enough to draw interest from a number of NHL clubs.
Among the teams that reportedly have scouts watching Forsberg are a couple of his former teams, the Philadelphia Flyers and Colorado Avalanche, as well as the Montreal Canadiens, Washington Capitals, Detroit Red Wings and Chicago Blackhawks.
Perhaps the hottest rumor surrounds the Red Wings, who are playing without two of their top three centers because of injury. Johan Franzen is out for most of the season with a torn ACL, and Valterri Filppula is expected to miss up to eight weeks with a broken wrist.
The Blackhawks potentially scouting another center raises at least my eye brows for a number of reasons. When healthy, the Blackhawks have three solid centers in captain Jonathan Toews, Dave Bolland and John Madden. Whether or not Forsberg, who has scored 885 points in 706 career NHL games, would want to return as a third or fourth line center is questionable.
But my eyebrows stay in an upright position considering the health of the Hawks centers. Toews has now been out over two weeks with concussion-like symptoms, and Bolland has been dealing with a bad back for the entire season. The Hawks are currently playing well, but have been mixing up their centers on the third and fourth lines every night because of injuries. Andrew Ebbett, Colin Fraser, Tomas Kopecky and Jake Dowell have all spent time in the faceoff circle, and even Jordan Hendry has been asked to play forward because of the injuries.
How, when, and where Forsberg returns to the NHL will be interesting. If it’s in Chicago or Detroit, the balance of power in the Central Division could shift with his arrival.
Detroit C Valterri Filppula broke his wrist and will miss 6-8 weeks.
Various media outlets are reporting early Friday morning that the Detroit Red Wings have lost center Valterri Filppula for between six and eight weeks.
Filppula broke his right wrist in Thursday night’s shootout loss at Edmonton. He had five points (two goals, three assists) and was averaging 18:24 in ice time in ten games before the injury. Filppula was third among Detroit centers in average ice time, behind only Pavel Datysuk and Johan Franzen.
Franzen, however, is out for the next four months with a torn ACL.
Detroit is now down two of their top centers, and were already dealing with summer losses of Marian Hossa and Jiri Hudler. The Red Wings loss to the Oilers on Thursday drops their season record to 4-4-3 (11 points), which ties them with Nashville and St. Louis for last place in the Central Division.
Yes, there are only five teams in the Central, and three are tied for last with 11 points (four behind the first place Blackhawks), but there’s just something about saying it that sounds so good.
The Detroit Red Wings are tied for last place in the division.
Edmonton Oilers D Sheldon Souray joins a growing list of Western Conference studs headed to the Injured Reserve. Souray has a concussion.
On Monday, another Western Conference team placed a key player in injured reserve. The Edmonton Oilers will be without blue line stud Sheldon Souray for an undetermined amount of time because of a concussion. Oilers head coach Pat Quinn’s tone when speaking about Souray’s injury has not been favorable, either.
Edmonton lost to the Blackhawks 4-3 in Chicago on Wednesday night, and are currently third place in the Northwest Division, behind Colorado and Calgary.
Injuries are attacking every roster in the Western Conference right now, with players like Johan Franzen, Jan Hejda, Daniel Sedin and Sami Salo all heading to the IR for what appears to be a decent amount of time. The Blackhawks have not been immune, either, as Marian Hossa continues to miss time and Ben Eager is on the IR with concussion-like symptoms as well.
After three home games this season, the Blackhawks have made a powerful statement to the rest of the league: they’re for real, and a force to be reckoned with in the coming months.
The 2009-10 NHL season is set up so that the first few months of the season will go a long way in determining playoff positioning at the end of April.
Because of the Olympics in February, the schedule is front-loaded with significant games against conference and divisional rivals because, with a two week break in the middle of the season, there just isn’t enough time to spread the games out.
The front-loaded schedule brings this season into focus now especially because of the injuries hitting the rest of the Western Conference.
Detroit lost Johan Franzen last week, Columbus announced they’ll be without Jan Hejdafor the next few weeks on Wednesday, and the Vancouver Canucks announced that they’re going to be without both Sami Salo and Daniel Sedin for over a month as well. The Blackhawks, of course, are starting their season without Marian Hossa and won’t get him into the lineup until mid-November.
As key players continue to drop like flies all over rosters in the Western Conference, the Blackhawks have the luxury of getting their young nucleus off to a strong start before adding Hossa to the mix. And they’ve done just that, starting the season 4-1-1.
But what’s equally important is that the Hawks are beating good teams they’ll face in important games later in the season as well. After a tough loss in Detroit’s home opener, the Blackhawks came home to Chicago and scored the maximum six points in defeating Colorado, Calgary and Edmonton.
Even without Hossa, the Blackhawks have started the season in a statistically dominating fashion.
They rank second in the Western Conference in goals per game on offense, are second in the NHL in fewest penalty minutes per game and are second in the league in shots on goal per game. They are averaging ten more shots on goal per game than their opponents through six games as well.
Patrick Sharp and Patrick Kane have already scored seven points each, while Kris Versteeg has six, all ranking among the top ten scorers in the Western Conference. Meanwhile, Brent Seabrook’s five points and Brian Campbell’s four rank among the top ten for defensivemen in the West as well. Seabrook also ranks third among Western Conference blue liners to date in average time on ice and hits.
On Thursday, the Blackhawks will place Cristobal Huet back in net against a struggling Nashville team that has only scored seven goals in their first five games. Antti Niemi improved to 3-0-0 on Wednesday, putting additional pressure on the expensive Huet to have a strong performance against the Predators.
