ESPN.com - Rest of West may grow wary of Red Wings

ESPN.com: NHL

Friday, March 14, 2003
Rest of West may grow wary of Red Wings

By Mike Heika
Special to ESPN.com

So when is one player worth four? When you're loaded with prospects and want to take a run at the Stanley Cup, that's when.

CHIRPIN'

"I always believed in myself, that I can play at this level. Basically, I just tried to take advantage of the playing time and did what I thought I had to do to get back into the league where I thought I belonged."

-- Minnesota goalie Dwayne Roloson, on his one-year stay in the minors in 2000-01. Roloson is one of 30 nominees for the Bill Masterton Trophy, given to the player who displays the qualities of perseverance, dedication and sportsmanship.

THE NUMBER

Home wins for the Oilers this season. That's the same number as the wins they have on the road. Well, at least that's some consolation when you consider they'll be a road team if they make the playoffs.

WHO'S HOT

He's baaack &Colorado goalie Patrick Roy has struggled at times this season, but anybody who thinks he won't be tough to beat in the playoffs hasn't watch the last five games. Roy has a 1.18 GAA and a .953 save percentage in that span, making him the hottest goalie in the league.

WHO'S NOT

Commend him for his leadership and presence, but don't expect consistency from Trevor Linden in the scoring department. The longtime fan favorite in Vancouver has found a way to go pointless and finish a minus-4 in the past five games, despite the Canucks scoring 15 goals in that span.

THIS WEEK'S SIGN ...

It helps to read the fine print: Calgary might have to sit out Dean McAmmond for the rest of the season because of a little-known rule concerning trying to hide players from the waiver draft. Isn't the NHL smart enough to see nobody was trying to break this rule?

The Detroit Red Wings really, really, really wanted Phoenix defenseman Teppo Numminen to waive his no-trade clause and join their top-heavy defense corps. When they couldn't make that happen, they had a very smart safety valve in the L.A. Kings' Mathieu Schneider.

Now, to make that plan work, the Red Wings had to give up a first-round draft pick, a second-round draft pick, gritty forward Sean Avery and big defenseman Maxim Kuznetsov -- and that seemed like a mighty high price at the time. But the way the Wings see it is they have plenty of forward grit that is young enough with Kris Draper (31), Kirk Maltby (31) and Tomas Holmstrom (30) and didn't want to give up any of their young skill. So in their eyes, they have added a top-notch puck-moving defenseman and kept Henrik Zetterberg, Pavel Datsyuk, and Igor Grigorenko -- and that's a win-win proposition.

Which, basically, is what the Red Wings have come to expect these last few years. Need a goalie? Get Dominik Hasek. Lose a legendary coach? Hand the reins over to Dave Lewis. Need another goalie? Get Curtis Joseph. Want a defenseman? Get Mathieu Schneider.

It's funny, but if you look at some of the deals that GM Ken Holland has made, there is room for criticism. How could he get nothing for Chris Osgood? Have the free-agent signings of Luc Robitaille and Boyd Devereaux been disappointments? Did he give up too much for Schneider? But the thing is, Holland has allowed himself the room to take a few chances because the organization has such depth and such calm.

It trickles down to the players and allows them to handle a nervous fan base, which was panicking earlier in the season when the Red Wings seemed to be falling behind the Stars, Canucks and Blues.

But just as Holland calmly waited on Numminen and aligned Plans B, C and D, the Red Wings calmly waited out the transitions of Lewis and Joseph, as well as injuries to Steve Yzerman and Jiri Fischer.

Now, Lewis has the complete confidence of the team, Joseph seems to have found a groove, and Yzerman and Fischer are working their way back to playoff health. That's one reason the Red Wings have been able to take 27 of the last 30 points and come storming up on the Stars and Canucks for first place in the Western Conference. Detroit can make a huge statement this weekend when it plays host to Colorado on Saturday and Ottawa on Sunday.

If the Red Wings win both, the West will once again have to be wary.

Yes, there are still questions about whether Yzerman or Fischer or Chris Chelios will be healthy. Yes, there are still questions about whether Joseph can handle the pressure. Yes, there is still the lingering question of whether or not the team will be able to sign Sergei Fedorov before July 1.

Yet nobody seems worried. The team has a way of making things work out. Consider this: Before last August, the Red Wings didn't have Brett Hull and didn't know what to expect from Datsyuk or Zetterberg. Now those three make up Detroit's best line.

That's the way it is in the self-proclaimed burg of Hockeytown. Things have a way of working out.

Escape from Chitown
Count Steve Thomas as a player who was happy to get out of Chicago.

"I wish them all the best, but I'm pretty happy where I am," he said after a trade to the Mighty Ducks.

Thomas said the Blackhawks' inner problems created an environment that made it tough to concentrate on winning.

"It's just one of those stretches where you can't get over that hump," Thomas told the Daily Herald. "Whenever something happens, it's usually negative. When I was there, I didn't know what to do either. Everything was said. It was just a matter of trying to build a wall separating yourself from the bad and going on from the good. We couldn't find the bricks to build that wall."

Cure-all from Carolina?
Maybe they can call it the BSR line & or is that RSB? & SRB?

OK, so there's no catchy way to highlight Bates Battaglia's new line, but that doesn't mean it won't be better than the BBC line he played on in Carolina.

Put on a line with Joe Sakic and Steve Reinprecht, Battaglia watched Sakic put on a clinic Thursday, scoring three goals in a 5-1 win over Columbus. Battaglia had an assist and was plus-3, but more importantly, he gives Sakic a linemate who isn't named Hejduk, Tanguay or Forsberg. If the BSR line can keep humming, then Colorado doesn't have to disrupt what has been the hottest line in hockey.

"It's only one game, but it's going to be great," Sakic said of his new linemates. "The three of us will cycle the puck."

Depth chart

Stars GM Doug Armstrong flew up to Windsor, Ontario, to meet with prospect Trevor Daley on Thursday just to make sure Daley was OK returning to the Soo Greyhounds after coach and GM John Vanbiesbrouck used a racial slur in referring to Daley, who is black. Vanbiesbrouck quit and sold his share of the team, and Daley returned. The Stars are very protective of the skilled defenseman, taken 43rd overall in the 2002 draft. He is fast becoming one of their top three prospects.

If you want to see a dogfight, check out Nashville at Minnesota on the dish Friday night. The Wild are trying to solidify their hold on a playoff spot, while the Predators are trying to get in. The Predators are 1-1-2-1 in their last five games and need to step it up if they hop to catch Edmonton. The Wild is coming off a 4-2 win over Dallas.

The Blues had a problem with Brad May's hit on Keith Tkachuk on Thursday night. May, playing in his return debut with Vancouver, hit Tkachuk a few seconds after Tkachuk made a pass. While the hit didn't involve a stick or elbow, Blues coach Joel Quenneville thought it should be reviewed. "It was a late hit, a high hit," Quenneville said. "It was a dangerous hit." May did not receive a penalty on the play. Tkachuk, who left the game with a wrist injury, is expected to be reexamined Friday.

Jerry Moyes, the trucking executive who is the main investor in the Phoenix Coyotes, will take a little more visual role in running the team, The Arizona Republic reported. As part of the plan to replace team president Jim Lites (who moved back to Dallas), Moyes has named his right-hand man Jim Miller as co-CEO with Steve Ellman, who has served as the front man for the Coyotes' ownership group. The move shouldn't change how the team is run, but it does bring Moyes out of the shadows a little.

Teemu Selanne must tell the Sharks within seven days of the end of their season if he wants to invoke a contract clause that will give him another year at $6.5 million. Selanne told reporters he's not ready to do that right now. He said he will wait until the end of the season to make that decision.

Mike Heika of the Dallas Morning News is a regular contributor to ESPN.com.