There were some who thought that when Detroit Red Wings goaltender Jimmy Howard—who has arguably been their best all-around player thus far—was put on the shelf after suffering a broken finger in a shootout win against the Vancouver Canucks on Feb. 2 that the Wings would start to slide in the standings.
Much to the chagrin of the rest of the league, the opposite has happened.
The NHL’s Winter Classic is a hockey spectacle that has grown bigger each season of its five-year existence.
It won’t get much bigger than 2013.
The NHL announced Thursday that the next stop for the Jan. 1 outdoor game will be at Michigan Stadium, home of the Michigan Wolverines, with an incredible 115,000 tickets that will be available for fans.
Adding to the mystique of the New Year’s Day game at “The Big House” will be the two Original Six franchises participating in the game—the Toronto Maple Leafs and the Detroit Red Wings.
At first, the broken finger that Detroit Red Wings goalie Jimmy Howard suffered on his right hand during Thursday’s 4-3 shootout win over the Vancouver Canucks didn’t seem like a big deal.
However, the Wings are 0-2 in his absence, and he will still be out for at least another week.
Conklin was supposed to be the starter for both games, but after Saturday’s game in Edmonton—where Conklin gave up two goals in the first six minutes and three in the first 20 before getting pulled in favor of MacDonald, who held on as Detroit eventually lost 5-4 in a shootout—head coach Mike Babcock decided to give rookie Joey MacDonald the start in Phoenix.
Professional sports leagues, with the exception of the NFL the Pro Bowl, typically frown upon the idea of having their star players miss their respective All-Star games.
The NHL is no different.
Back in 2009, Detroit Red Wings stars Nicklas Lidstrom and Pavel Datsyuk were given a one-game “suspension” for skipping out on the All-Star Game in Montreal because of a League mandate that excused injury only if a player missed the game immediately preceding the All-Star break. While the punishment may seem a bit extreme, you can’t blame the league for wanting to promote its star players.
With the first quarter of the 2011-12 NHL season now in the books, there have been plenty of surprises. However, there are a fair share of players who have had great starts to the season that have yet to be recognized for their contributions to their respective teams.
Here are the five most underrated players of the season thus far.
Of the four men who were inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame Monday night, there is one common theme that ran consistently throughout each of their careers: perseverance.
Yes, Ed Belfour, Doug Gilmour, Joe Nieuwendyk and Mark Howe were all NHL superstars in their time, but each of them had their own hills to climb in order to one day be immortalized in that wonderful building in Downtown Toronto.
Belfour, who was often considered eccentric—even for a goaltender—went undrafted after playing collegiate hockey for the University of North Dakota. He then would have to cut his teeth in the IHL before finally being given the chance to start for the Chicago Blackhawks.
It’s no secret that the Boston Bruins and Buffalo Sabres aren’t the best of friends.
However, with Milan Lucic’s hit (which was either intentional or unintentional depending on what city you are from) on Ryan Miller in Saturday night’s game at TD Garden, the two now seem to be sworn enemies for life.
The incident occurred as Lucic was chasing down a loose puck that got away from him on a potential breakaway. Miller thought he could beat Lucic to the puck, so he came out of the crease to clear it away. Lucic ended up crashing into Miller, with his arms up, knocking off Miller’s mask, practically decapitating him in the process.
After coming out of the gates red hot, both the Detroit Red Wings and Anaheim Ducks have struggled to find answers for their offensive woes.
With just 23 goals tallied overall and just five in their last five games, the Wings are off to their worst offensive start through the first 10 games of the season since they registered a paltry 18 goals through the first 10 games of the 1975-76 season.
In order to reverse their fortunes, head coach Mike Babcock has decided to break up the dynamic scoring duo of Pavel Datsyuk and Henrik Zetterberg, who have been anything but dynamic so far.
Three losses in a row was troubling. Four was like a bad joke. But the Detroit Red Wings’ fifth loss in a row was down right disturbing.
Just when it seemed like the Wings were finally going to get back into the win column, they had settle for a point for the first time in five games after a stunning 2-1 loss to the Minnesota Wild on Monday night at Joe Louis Arena.
Just when it seemed like the Detroit Red Wings might finally not be able to put out a team that meets Hockeytown standards (i.e, contend for the Cup), the 41-year-old Nicklas Lidstrom announced that he would be coming back for his 20th NHL season.
Even though the Red Wings witnessed three key veterans go off into retirement (Brian Rafalski, Kris Draper and Chris Osgood), their best veteran, and their captain, decided to sign a one-year deal and instantly catapulted the Red Wings back up to the front of the pack in the Western Conference.
Keep up to date with your favorite NHL team via our team Twitter accounts
Detroit Red Wings
Philadelphia Flyers
Nashville Predators
Columbus Bluejackets
Carolina Hurricanes
Buffalo Sabres
Calgary Flames
New York Rangers
Tampa Bay Lightning
St. Louis Blues
Washington Capitals
Phoenix Coyotes
Edmonton Oilers
Chicago Blackhawks
