Dollar Hotdog Power Hour Episode 12

Lots to take about on this episode, including

• Bad luck vs making your own "luck"
• What happened to the Wings' killer instinct
• Who we should and shouldn't re-sign
• Wings talent level
• What makes a #1 defenseman and do we have one
• How much should a coach, gm, and even players tell the media
• Valtteri Filppula
• And so much more 

You can check out Kevin and Mike's blogs for some great Hockey reading.

Hope you enjoy the podcast, and as always, feeback is appreciated.





Link to download the podcast

4/11 Wings vs Sharks Game Day Updates

Game day updates will be a little different from now on. I have joined the Winging it in Motown writing crew and will be posting these updates there. I'll continue to link to them from here, but I encourage everyone to come join the discussion at WiiM.

Game Day Updates.

Let's Go Red Wings!

Dollar Hotdog Power Hour Podcast Episode 11

     Welcome to the Cleary edition of the Dollar Hotdog Power Hour. Much like Cleary's play this year, this podcast is full of frustration, aggravation, shining moments, a lot of going to the dirty areas, and working out collective butts off.  Kevin, Mike and I discuss the Wings performance against the Blues Sunday, vent a little, try to figure out what's wrong with the team right now and a whole lot more. We're also joined by our guest Ty Schalter to discuss the referee system in the NHL and what can be done to improve it. Do we need a coaches challenge system? Would it work? Are the Referees the problem? So many questions, and we have answers.


     You can check out Kevin and Mike's blogs for some great Hockey reading, and Ty writes for Bleacher Report and also his own blog The Lions In Winter.

Hope you enjoy the podcast, and as always, feeback is appreciated.




Link to download the podcast.

4/5 Wings at Avalanche Game Day Updates

The Wings visit the Avalanche tonight at 9:00PM EST.

     There was no morning skate for the Wings today. I like to think that after the dumpster fire last night, Zetterberg shot angry lasers from his eyes and  melted all the ice; then Babcock death stared everyone so hard that the whole Pepsi Center burst into flames and burned to the ground. Maybe there won't be a game tonight after all.

     Last night's "performance" was so bad that immediately after the game Babcock announced that DeKeyser, White, Quincey would all be in tonight. He didn't know who was going to be scratched, but he was sure of the changes.  Lashoff, Colaiacovo, and Kindl (Update: Babcock decided Smith will sit tonight) will be scratched tonight.

Jimmy Howard is starting tonight... again. 

Brunner out indefinitely with hip flexor injury.

     Samuelsson is out indefinitely as well, but it's not just a bruised pec muscle, it's also torn. He said he's "Not lucky at all". I have to concur.

     We'll see the NHL debut of Danny DeKeyser tonight, penalty kill concerns prompted Mike Babcock not to start him last night in Phoenix. Babcock wants to make sure Deke is ready to be thrown into an NHL game, and I'm glad he's taking the time to make sure he's ready. DeKeyser has had a week of practicing with the team, and trying to prepare as best he can, both physically and mentally, for what he'll face in the NHL. Both his parents, and two of his six siblings traveled to Phoenix hoping to see his debut that didn't happen, but they'll also be in Colorado tonight. 

 Red Wings vs. Colorado Avalanche:

Tonight's game is the 113th all-time meeting between DET and COL

This is DET's 57th all-time road game at COL

DET's all-time record vs COL: 61-41-5-5

DET's all-time road record at COL: 27-24-4-1

Last head-to-head game: DET 3, COL 2 on Apr. 1 at Joe Louis Arena

DET is 6-3-1 in its last 10 regular season games vs COL

DET is 3-2-0 in its last 5 regular season road games at COL

DET's PP is 5-21 (23.8%) over the last 6 regular season games vs COL

DET's PK is 11-15 (73.3%) over the last 6 regular season games vs COL

J. Franzen has 8 points (6-2-8) over the last 6 games vs COL

H. Zetterberg has 5 points (1-4-5) over his last 5 games played vs COL

P. Datsyuk has 39 points (13-26-39) in 38 career games vs COL

H. Zetterberg has 24 points (8-16-24) in 33 career games vs COL

J. Howard is 6-2-1 with a 2.59 GAA and .905 SV% in 10 career games vs COL

DET is 6-4-0 vs the Pacific Division this season (14-5-1 in 2011-12)

 Here's the expected lineup:

Forwards
Justin Abdelkader	Pavel Datsyuk	Johan Franzen
Valtteri Filppula	Henrik Zetterberg	Daniel Cleary
Gustav Nyquist	Joakim Andersson	Patrick Eaves
Drew Miller	Cory Emmertom	Jordin Tootoo

Defense
Niklas Kronwall	Jonathan Ericsson
Kyle Quincey	Jakub Kindl
Danny DeKeyser	Ian White

Goalies

Jimmy Howard

Jonas Gustavsson

Healthy Scratch

Carlo Colaiacovo

Brendan Smith

Brian Lashoff

Injured

Todd Bertuzzi (Back)

Damien Brunner (Hip Flexor)

Darren Helm (Back)

Mikael Samuelsson (Torn Pectoral Muscle)

 Let's Go Red Wings!!!

4/4 Wings at Coyotes Game Day Updates

The Red Wings visit the Coyotes tonight, game starts at 10:00 PM EST.


Brunner out- Damien Brunner missed practice yesterday but was said to be "day to day", there wasn't even a "lower, middle, upper" body injury publicized. It was an "undisclosed" injury. Today he said he is bothered by a Hip Flexor, only practiced for 10 minutes, then left the ice. He will not play tonight. He said it's been bothering him for the last couple weeks, but got worse the last couple games. This could help explain his struggle recently. The Hip Flexor muscles are the group of muscles on the inside of your hip and are what allows you to (among other things) pull your knee upwards. Basically, most of the movements you need to be able to do in order to skate, those muscles are responsible for. 

 

DeKeyser out- DeKeyser has been practicing with the team, but won't play tonight. Babcock wants to make sure he's ready before throwing him into a game, especially since he's never player at the NHL level, against NHL competition and with us needing every point we can get right now.

Lashoff in- Lashoff was send down to Grand Rapids after the game last Sunday so that DeKeyser could be added to the roster. Once the roster limit was suspended after the trade deadline yesterday Lashoff was called back up and will play tonight. Which means...

White out- Ian White will once again be a healthy scratch. I"m sure he'll have something to say about it later.

Samuelsson's mysterious injury is a sore pectoral (chest) muscle. He's "day-to-day", but Babcock said it doesn't look like he's playing anytime soon.  

Quincey won't play tonight, but Babcock said he'll play tomorrow night against Colorado. He said his sinuses were still causing him issues as a result of the broken orbital bone. Clearly flying is safe for him, and I'm not sure to what extent/ if at all, the altitude in Colorado will affect him. 

There's been more talk of Todd Bertuzzi recently, but I'm still not expecting him back soon, if at all. It's great to hear that he's making progress, but it sounds like he still has a ways to go. There were a couple tweets that made me smile though. 

Not to get too far ahead, but this longest Todd Bertuzzi has practiced since February. Also, I saw him smile. #RedWings
— Helene St. James (@HeleneStJames) April 3, 2013

Johan Franzen on having Todd Bertuzzi practice again: "He tried to take my spot in front of the net. I told him to beat it." #RedWings
— Helene St. James (@HeleneStJames) April 3, 2013

Not necessarily game related, but this was refreshing to hear from Babcock. 

Babcock " this year has been invigorating for me because there are so many kids and so many projects if that makes any sense"
— Jeff Riger (@riger1984) April 3, 2013

Factoid:

The Wings are up to 203 man games lost this season, and we've only played 36 games. We still lead the league in man games lost. Want to hear something crazy? As of 2 games ago, Boston had lost the fewest man games to injury in the league with... only 22. Detroit has several players who have missed that many or more games on their own. Maybe there's magic healing powers in the water in Boston. 

Detroit vs. Phoenix:

Tonight's game is the 130th all-time meeting between DET and PHX/WPG

This is DET's 65th all-time road game at PHX/WPG

DET's all-time record vs PHX/WPG: 63-40-22-3

DET's all-time road record at PHX/WPG: 28-19-14-2

Last head-to-head game: DET 3, PHX 2 on Mar. 25 at Jobing.com Arena

DET is 6-2-2 in its last 10 regular season games vs PHX

DET is 3-1-1 in its last 5 regular season road games at PHX

DET's PP is 4-21 (19.0%) over the last 5 regular season games vs PHX

DET's PK is 13-16 (81.3%) over the last 5 regular season games vs PHX

J. Franzen has 5 points (3-2-5) over the last 5 games vs PHX

P. Datsyuk has 8 points (1-7-8) over the last 5 games vs PHX

P. Datsyuk has 57 points (14-43-57) in 39 career games vs PHX

H. Zetterberg has 42 points (17-25-42) in 35 career games vs PHX

J. Howard is 7-0-2 with a 2.23 GAA and .928 SV% in 9 career games vs PHX

DET is 6-4-0 vs the Pacific Division this season (14-5-1 in 2011-12)

Here's the expected lineup:

Forwards
Justin Abdelkader	Pavel Datsyuk	Johan Franzen
Valtteri Filppula	Henrik Zetterberg	Daniel Cleary
Drew Miller	Joakim Andersson	Gustav Nyquist
Patrick Eaves	Cory Emmertom	Jordin Tootoo

Defense
Niklas Kronwall	Jonathan Ericsson
Carlo Colaiacovo	Brendan Smith
Jakub Kindl	Brian Lashoff

Goalies

Jimmy Howard

Jonas Gustavsson

Healthy Scratch

Danny Dekeyser

Ian White

Injured

Todd Bertuzzi (Back)

Damien Brunner (Hip Flexor)

Darren Helm (Back)

Mikael Samuelsson (Bruised Pectoral Muscle)

Kyle Quincey (Fractured Cheek)

Let's Go Red Wings!!!