Detroit Red Wings are Men on Fire

Well, it’s nice to be back to regularly scheduled Red Wing programming.  Remember that 9-7-1 start?  Yeah…I don’t either.  Since then, the Wings have a 21-8 record.  Work that out over the course of the entire season and Detroit would be roughly 60-22.  I’d say that’s righting the ship.  Plus, they haven’t lost at home since November 3rd.  That was 2 and a half months ago.  Are you kidding me?

Now lets see if we can do something about that road record.  The Wings are one game below .500.  That’s quite uncommon for them.  Granted, the rest of the league would be thrilled with that, but we have higher standards around here.  It’s only happened once in the last handful of years they didn’t end above .500.  Granted, they have half their road schedule still ahead of them to fix it, but why put off until tomorrow they can improve upon over their next stretch of games.

The Wings have been better because of the production throughout their roster.  Not all that long ago, I gave you my thoughts on Jimmy Howard.  He is still one (the main?) reason the Wings have been so good.  He’s still in the top ten in the league in wins, save percentage, goals against average, and shut outs.  That goals against average ist still under 2.  Considering he’s played in 38 games, that’s something special.

The other guy I’ve talked about in the past was Jiri Hudler.  Last time I talked about him, I was saying how I really thought him, Abs, and Helmer were the line of the future.  Then he got paired with Val and Hank.  Those three are the second, fourth, and fifth leading scorers on the team.

Meanwhile, one and three have been pretty great also.  Pav and Johan Franzen have been rock solid together.  Pavs now leads the team in assists and is third in the League.  Franzen should be the first Wing with 20 goals.  They also helped Todd Bertuzzi jump into the Fountain of Youth.  Bert is +22 on the year.  After 1 goal in his first twenty, he has 8 in his last 24.  Shocking that a player would take off by being paired with Pavel Datsuyk.

Let’s not forget about the Red Wing Defense.  The unit has 96 points so far this season divided by the players that have suited up.  They are led by the Nicks who each have 9 goals.  The unit is also plus 85.

But let’s face it, one of the reasons the Wings have been so good the last twenty years is the depth they have on their roster.  This team is no different.  Cleary has 21 points and 10 goals.  Holmstrom, Helm, Abs, and Miller all have double digit points this season.  It’s not impossible that they will all have double digit goals before everything is said and done.

The Red Wings are a dangerous team when things are going well for most.  They are almost unbeatable when everyone is going.  I’m pretty sure, that’s what we are seeing right now.  I think the best example is the line combinations.  Usually Mike Babcock is always tinkering.  The top two have been together for over a month now.  When you are rolling right, you are rolling right.