Count me in for some NHL viewing tonight. OK, so I do that every night (much to my wife's chagrin), but seriously, there's a pair of real compelling matchups tonight with Detroit at San Jose and Montreal at Minnesota.
The road to the Cup goes back through Detroit and the Sharks know that. So I love what they did last summer when they plucked their head coach from the Wings staff in Todd McLellan.
"I thank them for giving Todd the opportunity," Sharks GM Doug Wilson told ESPN.com Wednesday.
As expected, the Wings and Sharks already top the Western Conference standings. It's only late October, but you know these kinds of games are important for a San Jose team trying to finally break through after four seasons of contending.
"I think it's always good when good teams play each other," said Wilson. "We know we've got a lot of work ahead of us. They're the defending Cup champions and they deserve that title. People call these games a measuring stick, and I don't know if one game is going to decide where we're at, but we enjoy playing good teams because it forces you to play better. There's nothing wrong with that at all."
The Sharks have roared out of the gates at 8-2-0 (including 5-0-0 at home), and I have to think that's a major relief for McLellan, who is trying to prove Wilson made the right move in giving him his first NHL head coaching job.
"We're starting to play the way our coaching staff wanted us to play," said Wilson. "We knew it would take a little while for it to become all ingrained and more automatic, but it's coming. We're getting there.
"We've still got some work ahead of us, but the last couple of games were pretty good games."
Before we hung up the phone, I told Wilson that for a third straight year I picked his team to win the Cup. "Going back to the well until I get it right," I said.
"I'd rather be picked as a favorite than not be on the radar at all," Wilson countered.
The Wings and Sharks will just be ready for puck drop when the Canadiens and Wild near the end of their game tonight. Montreal so far is living up to the pre-season hype in their 100th anniversary season, a solid 6-1-1 start. But it's the Wild that have surprised.
I thought for sure they would struggle early on as they adjusted to the offseason losses of Brian Rolston and Pavol Demitra, but they haven't at all. A 4-2 defeat last night in Dallas was Minnesota's first regulation loss this season, the last team in the NHL to lose the donut in the loss column. Still impressive at 6-1-1.
"I have to say that the changes have been good," Wild GM Doug Risebrough told ESPN.com Wednesday, reflecting on his team's start. "That's not a reflection of the people that we've changed, I just think when you get a new energy of people that are coming in for the first time, even if that's a veteran, I would say they're listening and they want to do well. I think some of the younger guys want to do well, it's their first opportunity.
"I'd say our collective team game has been really good, and I'd say our goaltending has been good. Why is our team game good? I think it's probably more guys trying to deliver exactly what we needed to do under the tough circumstances of injuries."
The Wild were banged up early on although most of their players are back now. Still out is star winger Marian Gaborik, the subject of trade rumors.
"We're hoping he's going to get back for the road trip (four-gamer that starts Saturday at Phoenix). He's close, but we're trying to make sure he's 100 percent, and I think he is too," said Risebrough.
Gaborik's injury was another man's opportunity.
"We've had a good fit with Mikko Koivu, Antti Miettinen and Andrew Brunette," said Risebrough. "We were expecting Gabby to be on the right side, but it turns out now Miettinen has been there and they've been a real good compliment. That's what you're hoping will happen when you give someone an opportunity."
Pierre LeBrun
