Holmer Returns, Wings Win, Ericsson Sits

By Adam W Parks

Tuesday, February 2, 2010 Red Wings 4 @ Sharks 2

The Sharks bit first, and second, but they were merely flesh wounds as the Wings rallied from a 0-2 deficit for a big win Tuesday night. If the regular season ended immediately after that game, the Wings would probably not be too upset with where they ended up in the playoff picture.

On a hockey night that saw the four teams in front of Detroit earn at least a point, the Wings took two away from the league's top team to move ahead of Calgary and into the eighth seed. If the playoffs were to start now, the Wings would face San Jose at the HP Pavilion where they are 2-0 this season; they are 3-0 against the Sharks overall.

Babs, Adam Parks from Lamp The Light, what's the deal with completely owning the best team in the NHL and struggling against everyone else?

“If you can do it against good teams, why can’t you do it every night?"

Right...

Detroit's first victory on San Jose's ice came in a 4-1 trouncing back on January 9 which, ironically enough, was the Sharks' last loss in regulation before Tuesday night. The Wings have limped through January despite seeing several injured players return during the month. Hopefully, in these handful of games in February before the Winter Olympics break, we will see a healthy, consistent, and confident group of Red Wings gain some momentum heading into the final 20 or so games of the season.

Good Things Come In Pairs

Two reasons why the Wings were able to overcome a two-goal deficit on Tuesday are a pair players who have recently returned from injury: Valtteri Filppula and Tomas Holmstrom. Each assisted on a pair of goals against the Sharks.

Holmstrom is the most recent damaged Wing to heal and return and contribute, as this was his first game since breaking a foot during practice on January 6. He made his presence known instantly by getting helpers on both of the Wings' first period goals. He also registered six shots on Evgeni Nabokov.

Despite missing nearly an entire month, Holmstrom still leads his team in goals (15, tied with Todd Bertuzzi). He looked quick and aggressive along the boards, and the power play appeared normal again with him parked in front of the crease. Detroit's offense is just not the same without him antagonizing defensemen and annoying goaltenders. Welcome back Holmer, you weren't gone long, but you were missed.

Filppula returned from injury in late December and has been a rare bright spot for the Wings in an otherwise dismal month worth of games.

He may only have four goals and 20 points on the season, but half of Val's goals and 12 of his 16 assists have come post-broken wrist. Filp beefs up the second power play line and provides some much-needed flexibility and play-making ability to Babcock's top two lines.

With Filppula and Holmstrom and everyone else back, Ken Holland had to make the tough but inevitable decision to send Justin Abdelkader West to Grand Rapids. When Franzen comes back (Tuesday in St. Louis), Holland will face a larger dilemma: how to cut $1.5M from the roster. Brad May? Ville Leino? Brett Lebda? Derek Meech? Dare I say...Brian Rafalski?

(There will be more to come on salary cap restrictions, possible trades and waiver moves here on Lamp The Light real soon.)

Rotating D: Ericsson Out, Meech In, Kronwall Out, Meech Scores, Ericsson Back In

Detroit's D has not been very tenacious all season long. Sure they have shored things up, somewhat, with the turnovers and sloppy outlet passes in their own zone. They have even managed to get into the NHL's top ten for team goals-against average (2.55). But how many times do you still see defenders out of position and/or handing the puck over to the opposition on a game-by-game basis?

Jonathan Ericsson has become Babcock's scapegoat, and deservedly so. With lofty expectations following an errorless playoff run, the Big E has looked like the Big Rook-E this season. Even with all that size, 6' 4"/220, Ericsson has looked dainty and tentative in the defensive zone (even before he missed time with the knee injury).

Here are his stats on the season through 41 games, let's start with the positive: three goals and ten points. Not too bad for a guy who sees very limited, if any, power play time (Brad Stuart has two goals, eleven points in 56 games and plenty of PP time).

Now the negative. Ericsson has 39 giveaways this season, averaging nearly one per game. That is not the worst on the Wings roster (Rafalski--53 in 52 games), but his minus-12 rating is. Following E on the horrible plus/minus list are Abdelkader (-11), who is wearing a Griffins jersey right now, and Ville Leino (-10), who will likely be waived or traded for a late draft pick to clear cap space because he has been an even bigger turd-disappointment than Ericsson.

Did I mention that Ericsson is gigantic? He is tied with Kris Draper and Drew Miller with 68 hits on the season. Need more perspective? Abdelkader leads the Wings with 152. Darren Helm (113) and Patrick Eaves (100) are third and fourth respectively. Kirk Maltby, who is in a constant battle for playing time on the fourth line, has 81. Granted, all these players have played more games, and they are all gritty guys getting after it with the forecheck, but none of them are quite as gigantic as Ericsson.

Babs drew a line on the ice and scratched the healthy, young defender and gave him a seat next to Holland to watch Tuesday's game.

“We’ve talked over and over and over again, he’s known this has been coming,” Babcock said. “We think he’s a good player. We like what he’s done in the past. We like his size and his talent. It hasn’t gone (well) for him, for whatever reason. He’s got to get that fixed."

Babcock took a breath and then continued talking about Ericsson, as if he had not talked enough:

"We’ve talked enough now. He’s got to decide that he wants to be in the lineup each and every night. Maybe sitting (Tuesday) is what he needs."

Babs, Adam Parks from Lamp The Light, would you say that Ericsson has been 'rolled up' with his problems as the season has progressed and that he has been unable to find a response to said problems?

“This has snowballed on him and he hasn’t been able to respond. By all the meetings and all the help we provided, we’ve really tried to be supportive, and it hasn’t worked.”

WOW WOW WEE WAA! First Leino, then Osgood, now Ericsson. Babcock has a sharp and calculating tongue when it comes to discussing his troubled players with the media. Is it fair? Who cares, these are grown men making a lot of money to play the same game that I work to pay to play in my spare time. There are a lot of guys busting their asses for ice time, getting hurt, playing through pain. I love it--two thumbs up for Babcock--if it does not motivate the individual it is sure to motivate the rest.

With E out, Meech got the nod. Me like Meech. It is unlikely we will see him much more this season, especially if Andreas Lilja, who is playing in his first game in nearly a year as I type, does well in his conditioning stint in Grand Rapids and returns to the Wings roster. Anyway, back to Meech. Remember Kyle Quincey? He's been killing it in Colorado this year. His 22 points (five goals) is second most amongst Avalanche defensemen. The Wings chose Meech over Qincey. Oh well. Me still like Meech, especially when he does things like this:



He wasn't even supposed to be out there on that power play. Niklas Kronwall and Jason Williams own the blue line for the second PP unit, but Kronner tweaked his knee, er ankle, er knee, during the game. The injury is not serious, but he will miss at least one game, opening the door for Ericsson to step back in and show what he has learned and prove he belongs on the ice. Kronwall is confident 'Johnny' will be just fine:

“I went through the same thing. It’s not easy, but at the same time you try not to be too hard on yourself. Just try to keep it simple. Johnny’s just going to improve even more after this. He’s going to get back and be even better for us in the long run. Sometimes this is what you need.”

BTW, FYI, WTF, I hate phrase abbreviations, and Meech's goal was his second of the season--both were game winners. Me like Meech.

Peace.