Jimmy Devellano on Red Wings' injury situation

[Guest mindfly]

Red Wings' injury situation 'almost hard to believe'

It started Oct. 8, in the Red Wings' third game, when Johan Franzen tore the anterior cruciate ligament in his left knee. On Dec. 17, Henrik Zetterberg became the eighth Red Wing on injured reserve, suffering a separated shoulder.

They have lost 164 man games to injury, nearly as many as they lost all of last season (187).

"We're just wondering when it's going to stop,'' forward Kirk Maltby said. "We've got to more or less, for lack of a better term, stop the bleeding and start getting everyone healthy.''

BROKEN WINGS

A list of Red Wings on injured reserve:

Feb. 28: D Andreas Lilja (concussion). Punch to the chin by Nashville's Shea Webber. Games missed: 56, plus all of 2009 playoffs. Due back: Unknown.

Oct. 8: F Johan Franzen (torn left ACL). Collision with Chicago's Brent Seabrook. Games missed: 34. Due back: early March.

Oct. 29: F Valtteri Filppula (broken right wrist). Check from Edmonton's Gilbert Brule. Games missed: 26. Due back: Saturday.

Nov. 7: F Jason Williams (broken right fibula). Collision with Toronto's Jeff Finger. Games missed: 22. Due back: mid-January.

Nov. 21: D Niklas Kronwall (sprained left MCL). Knee-on-knee hit from Montreal's Georges Laraque. Games missed: 16. Due back: early January.

Dec. 9: F Dan Cleary (separated shoulder): Open-ice check from St. Louis' Barret Jackman. Games missed: 7. Due back: mid-January.

Dec. 14: D Jonathan Ericsson (bone bruise in left knee): Check from Phoenix's Shane Doan. Games missed: 4. Due back: early January.

Dec. 17: F Henrik Zetterberg (separated left shoulder): Check from Tampa Bay's Mattias Ohlund. Games missed: 3. Due back: mid-January.

Red Wings senior vice president Jimmy Devellano put some historical perspective on this bizarre season.

"Never seen anything quite like this in my 43 years (in the NHL),'' Devellano said. "It's almost hard to believe, really. Our team probably has been hit the worst, but all teams have been hit hard.''

The seven players injured this season (defenseman Andreas Lilja has been out since late last season) combined for 117 goals and 314 points in 2008-09.

"You have your share of injuries through the course of the year, but to get the magnitude of injuries we've gotten to key guys ... the only good thing you can get out of it is that it happened early,'' Maltby said.

Younger players have been thrust into more prominent roles. Veterans have been forced to log more minutes. Despite the adversity, the Red Wings have managed to stay in playoff contention by grinding out some wins in close, low-scoring games.

"The guys playing, we have structure, we have a system, we know what we have to do and we just have to play within that and keep finding ways to grind out games,'' forward Kris Draper said.

The injuries have lowered expectations and forced them to reassess their goals. They will be hard-pressed to extend their streaks of 50-win seasons (four), 100-point campaigns (nine) and Central Division titles (eight). But if they can extend their playoff streak to 19 seasons, they will be delighted.

"I've never been more proud of a Red Wings team than this one,'' Devellano said. "It's unbelievable how well we've played defensively, how hard we work and how hard we check. That's all a real credit to Mike Babcock and the coaching staff.

"But you can't take first- and second-line players out of your lineup and hope to score.''

Center Valtteri Filppula, due back Saturday against Columbus, will be the first of the injured players to return. Franzen, not expected back until early March, will be the last to return. The others -- Zetterberg, Jason Williams, Dan Cleary, Niklas Kronwall and Jonathan Ericsson -- are scheduled to return in January. It is uncertain when or if Lilja will be back.

"I think it's going to give us a boost once we get some of the guys back, but you can't be counting on them to have an impact right away,'' captain Nicklas Lidstrom said. "It might take them a while to get into game tempo and game shape and get their timing back.''

They will have plenty of time before the playoffs to get comfortable.

"I guess the positive for us is it's December and the guys that are injured are going to be back before we really get into the stretch run,'' defenseman Brad Stuart said.

"Guys have missed a lot of games, they should be fresh, should be hungry to get back playing,'' Lidstrom said. "That's going to help us the second half of the year.''

Devellano said he believes the slightly compacted schedule, a result of the two-week Olympic break in February, is partly to blame for the injuries.

"Playing too many games in too few days, it takes a horrendous toll on players,'' Devellano said. "Teams like ours, who've had long runs in the playoffs, that (schedule) makes it more difficult."

His other theory is that players have outgrown the 200-by 85-foot ice surface.

"I think the size of the rinks is too small,'' Devellano said. "Forty-three years ago, a typical player was 5-8, 5-9, 5-10 and 170, 180 pounds. Now a typical player is 6-1, 6-2 and 220 pounds, and yet we never increased the size of the ice surface.''

He said he doesn't believe the NHL necessarily needs Olympic-sized ice (100 feet wide), but feels that increasing the width to 90 feet would reduce contact against the boards and possibly cut down on injuries.

That adjustment probably can't be made at most existing arenas.

"It would be a huge undertaking, but going forward in the new rinks being built I would like to see the ice surfaces expanded,'' Devellano said. "It certainly wouldn't hurt, and it could help.''

What do you think about the last part should they increase the size of the rinks a bit in order to cut down on all the injuries?

[CenterIce 83]

I agree with him on the compacted schedule. It doesn't give the guys enough time to recover.

[Miller Brew 0]

After break it's a brand new season. Hot teams will cool off. Injured teams will nurse back to life. And all teams will be rusty. Brand new season and benefits the Wings down the stretch.

[Hockeytown0001 7,652]

I've never seen anything like it in 10 years of following the Red Wings. Can't wait for the guys to come back.

[Tane 17]

I think Different Rinks should have Different Sized Ice Surfaces.....I always thought it was Cool when you go to the Boston Gardens, and you were playing on the Smaller Surface. Borrow From Baseball and Let each team decide their Dimensions from the Boston Garden Size Rink to Olympic Sized Rinks.

It'll never happen but I'd like to see it......

I think With Bigger Ice Surfaces, you're going to get less scoring. There's Less scoring in the European leagues......More Ice just means more ice away from the net....Like when they shrunk the Neutral zone to make the Offensive zones Bigger.....That just made the Point man Further away from the net on a Power play. If you're constantly closer to the Net, you're going to score more goals.

[Guest mindfly]

I think Different Rinks should have Different Sized Ice Surfaces.....I always thought it was Cool when you go to the Boston Gardens, and you were playing on the Smaller Surface. Borrow From Baseball and Let each team decide their Dimensions from the Boston Garden Size Rink to Olympic Sized Rinks.

It'll never happen but I'd like to see it......

I think With Bigger Ice Surfaces, you're going to get less scoring. There's Less scoring in the European leagues......More Ice just means more ice away from the net....Like when they shrunk the Neutral zone to make the Offensive zones Bigger.....That just made the Point man Further away from the net on a Power play. If you're constantly closer to the Net, you're going to score more goals.

Yeah that would be something cool, in soccer every pitch have different size... Bernabeu (Real madrids arena) is one of the biggest, while craven cottage (fulhams arena) is TINY... teams have to have different gameplans/lineup/strategy depending on which pitch (or in this case, arena) you visit...

[thedisappearer 291]

Like when they shrunk the Neutral zone to make the Offensive zones Bigger.....That just made the Point man Further away from the net on a Power play. If you're constantly closer to the Net, you're going to score more goals.

The powerplay % has risen across the league every year since the lockout. More ice = more space for offense to develop and avoid defenders.

[Echolalia 2,961]

I think larger ice surfaces is a good idea for a number of reasons. Jimmy D is definitely on to something in that more room should correlate with less injuries, but it should also provide more offense. Lately, I've been noticing that the top defensive strategy seems to include having all five defensman between the faceoff circles and the crease blocking shots. If no shots get through to the goalie, then no goals will be scored. If there is a larger surface of ice, there is more room to get open or to find a clearing to the net when sustaining offense. It should theoretically allow for more opportunities to establish the offensive zone as well, because center ice will be more available.

It would be difficult to make this kind of change, though, because at the very least it would require a bit of remodeling from each arena in the NHL.

[Broken 16 381]

I would love to see the size of the rink expanded. I've been hoping for this for a long time. But understanding the logistics of what it would take to expand every NHL rink... I've never even entertained the hope. Also, I think it would be really cool if the NHL did it like soccer. I didn't realize that fields were different size until Mindfly mentioned it. That would be a cool wrinkle.

[dat's sick 1,002]

An ice-surface somewhere between Olympic size and NHL size is optimal imo.. not just for injuries but for entertainment.