My take of last night 9/20

[stevkrause 1,247]

the Derek Meech experiment needs to come to an end, let him go through waivers, if someone claims him, fine. He looked good and can completely understand why the Wings wanted to give him a shot, showing glimpses of almost brilliance, but he simply IS NOT THERE. He will not be there for probably at least another 2 years either, he had some huge mental collapses, bad positioning and made some very bad decisions.

Brad Ference - slow, out of place, I think he needs to be in the next set of cuts, or sent straight to GR, he looked HORRIBLE.

Mattias Ritola - in a couple years (maybe even next year) he'll be ready for a full time slot, the kid looked solid, smart and quick, looked right at home with NHL talent

Evan McGrath - wins the title for most improved camps - he looked solid, smart and right at place (for those of you that remember last years preseason, he wasd HORRIBLE in camp), not ready for a slot with the big club, but should have a great year in GR and be ready shortly.

Matt Ellis - In a solid fight with Mark Hartigan for the last forward slot on the big team roster. He looks solid, comfortable and shows flashes of brilliance, with the potential of even developing into a 20 goal scoring crasher... if only he fought

Mark Hartigan - see above. Yet again, love his intensity, never looks out of position, has great hockey sense and a GREAT attitude - I'm really interested to see what will wash out between the fight for the slot between Ellis and Hartigan.

Jimmy Howard - looked a little slow warming up, but looked great once he got going, I'm very comfortable with him being the full tiome guy for the Wings in the near future.

All and all, we rolled out a half NHL/half minors squad against a full NHL squad and gave them a game

I would still LOVE to see another physical presence, but not at the cost of the guys we have in camp... I'm still angry we didn't get Laraque at the deadline last year... anyways, all and all I like what I see this far.

Here's my impression on what I THINK lines should be for the season by the way:

Holmstrom - Datsyuk - Franzen

Filipula - Zetterberg - Hudler

Maltby - Draper - Cleary

Drake - Kopecky - Samuelsson

Ellis

Lidstrom - Lilja

Kronwall - Rafalski

Lebda - Chelios

Quincy

Edited September 21, 2007 by stevkrause

[Aussie_Wing 354]

Thanks for the recap, much appreciated by those not able to see the game.

[stactum 4]

any word on Grigoreknko?

[WhiteLightning91 105]

any word on Grigoreknko?

He didn't play in last nights game. He will play in the next game for sure though.

[stevkrause 1,247]

He didn't play in last nights game. He will play in the next game for sure though.

from the sounds of it, the lackluster effort he's shown in camp, he'll get limited minutes and will likely be on the outside looking in at the end of the preseason anyways, I think he'll be playing another year at least in Russia...

[redwingfan19 293]

Thought, Krownwall looked awful last night, gave the puck away skated poorly and wasn't very physical. I thought Quincey played a good game last night he was physical, in position and set up a goal. I know I will get flamed for this but Lilja looked good also, strong defensively played a physical game and had a few nice hit an broke up a few plays. Hartigan and ellis were also very noticeable. Hudler looked good out there too, had a ton of chances.

[stevkrause 1,247]

Thought, Krownwall looked awful last night, gave the puck away skated poorly and wasn't very physical. I thought Quincey played a good game last night he was physical, in position and set up a goal. I know I will get flamed for this but Lilja looked good also, strong defensively played a physical game and had a few nice hit an broke up a few plays. Hartigan and ellis were also very noticeable. Hudler looked good out there too, had a ton of chances.

I agree with all of that - Kronwall will get better, his preseason time is all about getting back to GAME shape, I'm not worried about him... I think Lilja turned a corner at the end of last season, and I think he deserves the time he's getting, there are still a lot of Lilja haters out there, but he's proving himself and as long as he keeps playing the way he has since about the all-star break last year, he'll have his best year of his career... Quincy looked pretty solid too and I personally think he has earned the spot as our 7th d-man....

[Dominator2005 558]

the Derek Meech experiment needs to come to an end, let him go through waivers, if someone claims him, fine. He looked good and can completely understand why the Wings wanted to give him a shot, showing glimpses of almost brilliance, but he simply IS NOT THERE. He will not be there for probably at least another 2 years either, he had some huge mental collapses, bad positioning and made some very bad decisions.

Brad Ference - slow, out of place, I think he needs to be in the next set of cuts, or sent straight to GR, he looked HORRIBLE.

Mattias Ritola - in a couple years (maybe even next year) he'll be ready for a full time slot, the kid looked solid, smart and quick, looked right at home with NHL talent

Evan McGrath - wins the title for most improved camps - he looked solid, smart and right at place (for those of you that remember last years preseason, he wasd HORRIBLE in camp), not ready for a slot with the big club, but should have a great year in GR and be ready shortly.

Matt Ellis - In a solid fight with Mark Hartigan for the last forward slot on the big team roster. He looks solid, comfortable and shows flashes of brilliance, with the potential of even developing into a 20 goal scoring crasher... if only he fought

Mark Hartigan - see above. Yet again, love his intensity, never looks out of position, has great hockey sense and a GREAT attitude - I'm really interested to see what will wash out between the fight for the slot between Ellis and Hartigan.

Jimmy Howard - looked a little slow warming up, but looked great once he got going, I'm very comfortable with him being the full tiome guy for the Wings in the near future.

All and all, we rolled out a half NHL/half minors squad against a full NHL squad and gave them a game

I would still LOVE to see another physical presence, but not at the cost of the guys we have in camp... I'm still angry we didn't get Laraque at the deadline last year... anyways, all and all I like what I see this far.

Here's my impression on what I THINK lines should be for the season by the way:

Holmstrom - Datsyuk - Franzen

Filipula - Zetterberg - Hudler

Maltby - Draper - Cleary

Drake - Kopecky - Samuelsson

Ellis

Lidstrom - Lilja

Kronwall - Rafalski

Lebda - Chelios

Quincy

I agree

ADDITION - Sammy isn't 2nd line player - he was (is) AWFUL last night

[redwingfan19 293]

I agree with all of that - Kronwall will get better, his preseason time is all about getting back to GAME shape, I'm not worried about him... I think Lilja turned a corner at the end of last season, and I think he deserves the time he's getting, there are still a lot of Lilja haters out there, but he's proving himself and as long as he keeps playing the way he has since about the all-star break last year, he'll have his best year of his career... Quincy looked pretty solid too and I personally think he has earned the spot as our 7th d-man....

Yes, it was Nick jr first game back from injury and I know he will be ready for the season but the turnovers still concern me. I also think Lilja has something to prove and will continue to be a solid defensive defensman guy. Quincey I think has a bright future here. He is the most NHL ready defensman in the system IMO and should be given some minutes this year. I actually like him a lot more than Meech and think he is the better of the two. I like the D this year tho but i don't like the pairings Kronwall and Lilja together is a disaster as they are both prone to turnovers. This is how I would like to see the D

Lidstom/Kronwall

Rafalski/Lillja

Chelios/Lebda

Quincey

[Feldmarschall 9]

Meech and Sammy were the worst players on the ice for either squad. Quincey looked OK but had a bad defensive lapse that resulted in the second Minnesota goal, if memory serves. Left his man alone streaking in because he got caught watching the play. Kronwall was mediocre, Lilja was great. Ellis' skating really HAS improved, it's not just hot air. He looked fantastic, wonderful defensive play. Hartigan was solid all around, I can't believe this guy didn't have regular icetime on a squad like Columbus.

[ben_usmc 253]

Sammy def. wasn't playing to good last night

[skacore 2]

I thought Ellis and Hartigan both played GREAT, they showed they would have no trouble playing at the NHL level and taking a regular shift. They were both hustling all over the ice and chipping the puck outta our end and forechecking hard in the opposition's end. Ellis is naturally better suited for the defensive forward role because he's bigger and he's used to it, although Hartigan did a great job adjusting I think he would be much better suited in a scoring role, which we don't really have available. If Ellis continues to forecheck hard and maybe starts to finish his checks with a little more authority, he could be a great checking line forward for this team. Engelhardt was the other forward on thier line and he had an alright game, at times he was on pace with his linemates but at other times he seemed a step behind. Appartently he had 5 shots but I didn't see him create much offense.

The Hudler - Zetterberg - Samuelsson line seemed awkward, the skill is obviously there and they created chances but they couldn't finish it and whenever they got a nice flow going it was interupted by an off pass or someone mishandling the puck. Zetterberg seemed a little more shaky than usual, maybe it had something to do with his day-to-day injury, not soemthing I am concerned about.

Cleary - Filppula - Draper, I can't really say I noticed them to be honest. I saw them out there on occassions and I know Cleary didn't finish the game, but I didn't see them produce much in the early part of the game.

Ritola - McGrath - Neil, As a line I can't say much because I didn't notice them all that much, but from what I saw McGrath was the best of the 3, he had the most jump and seemed really aggressive for the puck which is good. Ritola seems like he is almost more comfortable with the puck and he had a nice goal off a quick release which I think was deflected. Neil I didn't notice at all, there was a scrum and I know he grabbed someone and talked some smack to him but that's all I really noticed from him, at the same time I didn't notice him make any horrible decisions or plays.

For D, Lidstrom was great.

Lilja looked really confident, he was playing physical and actually connecting with his hits (last year he missed a lot), was good infront of his net and corners, and he even made a couple Lidstrom-like plays to get the puck outta his own end up to a forward, it was great to see.

Quincey was solid, there's really nothing else to say about him... he played like he did in the playoffs, good positioning, good break outs, strong along the boards.

Meech I wasn't too impressed with, early in the game he had a few horrible give aways and resulted in good scoring opportunities and whenever he did jump into the play and was given an opportunity to score, he missed the net. He did improve over the course of the game though, he made a couple solid defensive plays when he settled down and played a more simple game. He had a nice 1 on 1 with Gaborik.

Ference, unfortunately, looked slow, weak, and like an AHL calibre defenseman. I was really hoping he would come out flying and give our defense core some bite as the 7th D but I don't think that is the case. He is appartently 6'3 210? He looked more like 6'3 170, and he wore a visor (no big deal, just weird for his style of play). He was active in a scrum but other than that he wasn't overly physical and he didn't seem like a hard D to play against.

Kronwall had an alright game, nothing amazing though. He had good positioning and played pretty smart overall but he did fan on a couple passes and messed up a couple of easy looking plays.

For goalies...

Hasek looked really shaky and uncomfortable, I'm not really worried about him but he just didn't have a good game. He wandered out of his net on a few occassions that almost cost us, almost shot the puck into his own net one time (hit the post I think), and wasn't the dominating goalie he can be, but no worries.

Howard looked alright, I wasn't really paying attention to him like I was in game 1 when he was fantastic but he made average stops and kept us in the game

[Detroit # 1 Fan 2,204]

Samuelson is dirt. I dont care how many points he scores this year, he's s*** and could score a hell of a lot more if he wasent a lazy player who makes bad decisions. I definately know who is gonna replace Langer this season (except I LIKED Lang).

Howard was great, Kronwall didnt play well at all. Z and Hudler looked good, so did Drapes and Flip, Cleary looked good for the time he was playing. Nick is always good. I disagree about Meecher, I thought he looked alright, Lilja was ok, but Cullimore was better then other night then Lilja tonight.

[The Enforcer 13]

Unless somebody steps up, They need to pick up another scorer / big body to balance the team out. That's why I thought Bertuzzi would have worked out. I don't see anybody ready to compliment Dats or Z yet.