"Deke Day" on the Roundtable

We're into day #3 of our Red Wings Bloggers' Roundtable. And today it's The Triple Deke's turn to host. If you don't check this website regularly, you really should. These guys are almost always good for a laugh.

Triple Deke's question:

Take a break, for just a moment, from being a blindly arrogant, elitist, scumbag, Jew-hater of a Wings fan: How worried are you about the team running out of gas again at the end of the year? I've wondered this aloud a few times this summer. If the Wings are to win the 2010 Stanley Cup, it would be a monumental achievement: It would be their 4th consecutive year in the Conference Finals, 3rd in the Cup Finals; and this will be an Olympic year to boot. They've played 68 postseason games since 2007 -- almost a 4th full season sandwiched between the previous three. They certainly have the talent to do it, as you could once again make a case that the Wings boast the deepest forward and defensive units. So is this a legitimate concern, or no?

Click the link to see our answers.

Tough Talk with Wings

Dave Waddell of the Windsor Star felt like trying to open a few old wounds by talking about how the Cup loss lingers with some of our Wings...

"When you win, you're with your friends the whole summer and, when you don't, it kind of tappers off. That was abundantly clear after we lost. Everybody in the media, except the people from here, were in their room. There was no one over here to talk to us whatsoever. We kind of knew what it's like to be on the otherside of that situation. From that, there's some motivation. If you want to win, you want to be prepared to start the season. I feel way healthier and rested than I was last year."--Chris Osgood

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Apparently, while Helene St. James was digging up some feel good stories, Mr. Waddell thought it would be better to stick the mic in there and say "so how did it feel to lose?"

"It was a tough ending for all of us. When you win, people keep telling you how good you are. When you don't win, it's not the same thing. People congratulate you for a good season and it's almost like you get offended. There's nothing but first place. No one counts the second guy. What bothers me the most is I feel we had a great team and we didn't play as good as we could. You have to live with that.""--Nik Kronwall

An angry Kronwall to start the season? Yes, please.

Waddell was nice enough to end with a few encouraging words from Ozzie:

"We had tons of good young players that played in the playoffs and played real well that are going to get the chance to play even more in the regular season. I'm not worried."

Play like you did in the play-offs, Chris, and it's going to be a fun season.

They'll be ready. See you in Stockholm. Is it October yet?

Holmstrom Feeling Better

The talented, wonderful Helene St. James from freep.com reports for us today.

Helene talked to Holmer who was one of the few Wings who skated yesterday evening at City Sports Arena along with Chris Osgood, Dan Cleary, Niklas Kronwall and Valtteri Filppula... oh and Chris Chelios (who is still looking for a team to play for).

"I feel really good. It was a good summer. I was hurt, but I feel good now, my whole body feels good. I've been building up the small muscles around the knee. I've been skating now for a week and a half and feel pretty good. It's been tough for me. I've been hurt two years in a row, missing lots of time during the regular season and then coming into the playoffs -- for sure it's tough, and it wears on you. So hopefully I can be healthy this year and I look forward to a good season."

I'm sure miss St. James was very kind to dear Holmer when writing down his quotes...we all know that English isn't exactly #96's strong point.

Still, I would love to see the reunion of Monty Babcock's Flying Circus and its return to glory. But that only happens with a healthy Holmstrom. Time will tell.

Tuesday Evening's Glorious Clip

Since the Chief at Abel to Yzerman is focusing on the Avs today...I thought I'd follow the leader and post this little diddy...enjoy!



11 more years of this guy. 'Nuff said.

Get Well Soon, George

Well today was George James Malik's kick at the Roundtable can, but it appears that an illness is preventing him from posting today...

George's questions for the ten other Red Wings' bloggers was this:

"If the Red Wings had signed a smallish 20-goal-scorer with an inconsistent work ethic, a power forward on the decline who has bounced around for a few years, if both were familiar to the coaching staff and GM, and their names were not Jason Williams or Todd Bertuzzi, would you feel more comfortable with Ken Holland's work in signing two players who can post 15-20 goals and 40-50 points in "I really wanted to stay with Columbus" Williams, "I have a freight train's worth of baggage and am a divisive force" Bertuzzi, and 10-15 goals and tremendous potential in Patrick Eaves for a sum total of $3.5 million?"

He has all of our answers...but you won't get to see them until he can post an update on Snapshots. Wishing you a speedy recovery, George. Actually, hurry the eff up, you're holding up the show!

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Updated (3:00 PM): George is back...check this out.

Bertuzzi Skating Early

Found this in the London Free Press....

An article centered around Edmonton Oiler, Sam Gagner and his Euro Can Cup experience for the London Pro Knights against Swiss club EV Zug. Guess who one of his teammates was...none other than Big Bert, who got a little blurb in the article which I happily pass on to you:

"I don't skate all summer and usually don't go on the ice for another two weeks so this is early for me. I wasn't in Detroit for very long the first time but I know well enough what kind of organization I'm joining and how they always give themselves the chance to win. They're first-class all the way." --Todd Bertuzzi

Don't skate all summer, eh Todd? No better way to stay in hockey-shape than to not step on the ice for a period of 2-3 months. For those of you who play(ed), you know that no off-ice conditioning compares to actually spending time skating in the rink.

At least he's back on the ice earlier than usual. Oh and the article also had this to say:

Bertuzzi, who looked strong on his skates, won't be a part of that Calgary-Edmonton rivalry this time. The 34-year-old, who has more NHL kilometres on him than tattoo ink on his arms -- and that's saying something -- is back with the Detroit Red Wings.

All tatted up and looking strong on his skates? I'll take any encouraging statements from the Canadian press that I can get at this point...they throw Red Wing-compliments around like manhole covers.

Who's to Blame for Hudler Hold-up

From freep.com this morning...

It appears that we are getting closer to nailing down the why reason Jiri Hudler is not getting the green light to play for Moscow Dynamo in the KHL:

"...the holdup appears to be coming from USA Hockey, which has not signed off on Hudler's transfer overseas -- a move backed by the NHL. The ITC needs signatures from the incoming federation (Russia), the outgoing federation (USA Hockey) and the player. An e-mail from the IIHF communications director Szymon Szemberg said that in these matters the national federation checks with the relevant league, which in this case is the NHL."

So who's to blame here: USA Hockey or the NHL or both?