Self-serving Red Wing Fans Guide to the Rest of the Playoffs

So, now that my team has gone so meekly into the night, it's time to pick up the pieces and figure out who to cheer for as the playoffs continue. To be clear, it's not an option for me to watch hockey passively and cheer for a good match. So here's a look at the current series, who I'll be pulling for, and my reasoning.

Panthers v. Devils

This series may well be a preview to round two of the playoffs. With so many high-skill teams being eliminated in round one, the conference semi-finals will feature a lot of match-ups about as compelling as this one. So who do I want to move on? On the one hand the Panthers are in Miami, have about seven fans and should probably be moved to Canada. They pretty much represent the boondoggle of Gary Bettman's over-expansion that diluted the talent in the league and lead to a canceled season. On the other hand there is the squad from New Jersey, a franchise that won three titles over the past 17 years and was once considered a power house club. This one is a no-brainer: the Panthers. Yes, they've been a laughing-stock for more than a decade and if they win it's possible no one will notice. (Though Miami does flock to a winner). The problem is, I will never forgive the Devils for sweeping the Wings in 1995 and, more importantly, leading the clutching-and-grabbing charge. Also, I figure, the earlier the Devils go out, the better the chances that Zach Parise stays healthy and bolts for free agency.

Bruins v. Capitals

The defending champions against the chronic underachievers. This one is easy. I've always been a big fan of "enigmatic" Russians. Also, the Bruins are just not very likable. Tim Thomas' act has worn thin and it would be nice to see him beat by rookie netminder. But I think the Caps may have blown their chance to advance with the OT loss in game six.

Rangers v. Senators

This is also an easy one. This is hockey and Canada should have a team in the playoffs for as long as possible. And James Dolan owns the Rangers. Let's go Senators!

Blues v. Kings

As I once heard on a radio broadcast of a Blues game, defense isn't just something you put around your house. Of the 16 teams in the playoffs, these two teams gave up the fewest (Blues: 165) and the second fewest (Kings: 179) goals in the regular season. And when it comes to offense, neither team will be confused for the 1980s Oilers. The Blues scored 210 goals in the regular season (14th among playoff teams) and the Kings were not only last among playoff teams with 194 goals, but only one other team in the entire NHL scored fewer goals this season. So this is a long way of saying that this one is likely to be one of those series where first team to one wins. These games are going to be three-hour long heart attacks for fans of these two teams. I do not envy them. Still, I know a few Blues fans ans strangely, I'm actually kind of glad this team is good again. St. Louis is an actual hockey town with passionate, knowledgeable sports fans. So Blues it is.

 Coyotes v. Predators

Phoenix will have home ice, but Nashville might be the favorite to come out of the Western conference now. Nashville has balanced scoring, two of the best defenders in the league and a monster of a goalie. They also do all the minor league hockey crap that I can't stand; cheerleaders, ice girls, chanting a players name followed by "you suck," the list goes on. On the other side is a team owned by the NHL, winding down the clock until it's eventually relocated. Still, out of pure self-interest, I have to pull for the Coyotes. The earlier the Preds exit, the less money they make, meaning it's more likely the team cuts back payroll, increasing the odds that Suter or Weber eventually walks to free agency.

Hockey justice

When things started to get serious with my fiance, Amy, I had to explain something. The playoffs were starting soon and the friendly, attentive guy she knew was about to disappear and be replaced with playoff Adam. The silent, angry, sports fan who lived and died with each goal or penalty kill. Gradually we made adjustments (well, Amy made adjustments) and got into a routine. I'd watch the games and as she worked on her new hobby, knitting. She would sit near me, but not close enough to be in the blast radius of any possible explosions on my part. It was a long two months and it ended with the Red Wings raising the Stanley Cup.

That was the fourth time in a decade that Detroit won the title and it was the last time I cared so deeply about the outcome. I've been thinking a lot about that lately. With each passing year, Detroit has lost earlier and earlier in the playoffs. In 2009, they were two goals short and a Brad Stuart turnover away from winning the cup. In 2010 and 2011, they came up short in the second round, losing by a goal each time. Now it's 2012 and it looks like they will be going home before things have really even gotten started. At this rate, you'd think they could be struggling just to make the playoffs next season.

But strangely, I'm not as upset as I would have been in the past. I remember in 2007, when a few fluke injuries to the defense and some poorly timed broken sticks made the difference for the Ducks, who put Detroit out one round before the finals. I was so angry. I'd been watching hockey all my life, and Pavel Datsyuk and Henrik Zetterberg were playing at as high a level as I'd ever seen. But everything I watched and read was about Sidney Crosby and Alex Ovechkin. I was convinced that Detroit had the two best forwards in the league and had drafted them at a time when they were winning titles, not picking first overall. I wanted Detroit to win so the hockey world would have to admit those guys were the best.

That off-season the Red Wings signed Brian Rafalski and continued their dominant ways. But still, you'd hear commentators dismiss the team. They were too old. They'd lost too many players from the championship years. Pierre McGuirre made sure to point out that in his opinion a team whose top three players were Europeans just wasn't tough enough to truly contend in the playoffs. In reality, Detroit was in the middle of a three-year run that few modern teams could match. A bounce here and there and they could have won three consecutive titles. In 2007, before they'd won anything, I believed they were that good. So when they lost, it felt unfair, as if some kind of cruel force had intervened to take what was rightfully theirs.

That's one thing Amy learned about playoff Adam. I have a strong desire for "hockey justice." This is not a reference to the hockey code or player conduct, or any of that jazz. (Though I have strong feelings about that too.) When I say hockey justice, I mean the idea that the team that played better for longer, should win the game. If I cheer for a team and watch them outclass their opponent and yet they still come out on the short end, there is a bitter taste in my mouth that cannot easily be cleansed. But, if my team is outplayed, outworked, and just out-passioned, then I can accept their defeat as a just result.

And for the last few years, that's how I've started to feel. In 2010, San Jose had a huge advantage in power plays on some terrible calls and were still only able to scratch and claw to one-goal victories. Last year, Detroit should have been ready for revenge, but instead allowed San Jose to once again win the first three games of the series. Detroit fought back to force a game seven, and it was statistically the closest seven game playoff series in history. It was some of the fastest, high skill hockey I'd seen in years. But in the end there could be no doubt, San Jose was the better team.

Now it's the 2012 playoffs and Nick Lidstrom is 41 and may be finally ready to retire. The Wings have often looked the same, out-shooting Nashville by huge margins, killing off key penalties. But some thing's not right. Yes, they've run into hot goalies before, and trap-heavy defensive teams. In the past, it felt like it was just a matter of time before the goals started to go in. Game 4 did not feel that way. Yes, Detroit carried the play, but they didn't seem poised. They had 41 shots to Nashville's 17. But rarely did those shots seem intended to beat Rinne, as opposed to some soft slap-pass that then got redirected meekly into his pads. Nashville on the other hand seems cool and collected. Just waiting to slip another soft goal past Howard. Their best players have been their best. The entire team is chipping in. Somehow, even though statistically Detroit should have been the better ream in the last few games, it doesn't feel like they were. So when the Red Wings eventually lose game No. 4, I'll be sad to see another season end without a cup. I'll be disappointed that they finished the season with $5 million in unused salary cap. It sure seems like they could use $5 million more in players right now. But I won't be outraged or even all that surprised. It will just be hockey justice.

I apparently doodled this little hockey dude in a meeting a few weeks ago.

Little Ronnie Franchise

Jaromir Jagr has been something of the Joe Biden of the Flyers this season: vastly experienced, more lovable with age and a reporter's delight. He's generous with praise for teammates and thoughtful about what he says, too. After game 2 against the Pens, he compared Sean Couturier to Ron Francis, and I wanted to see how they stacked up. It's really only fair to Couturier to compare their rookie seasons, but I'll indulge in some wild and baseless speculation at the end anyway.

Pre-Draft

Both were somewhat unwanted; the Whalers had professed their love for Bobby Carpenter, whom the Caps took a pick ahead; they settled for Francis.
Couturier had been a glittering prospect. But leading up to the draft, scouts backed off of his size - he'd gotten mono and lost weight - and, of all things, his defensive ability - the QMJHL isn't known for producing strong defensive prospects. He fell to Philadelphia at No. 8, with a lot to prove.

Play

Numbers are of limited use here. Francis played in the pre-OG lockout, go-go '80s; Couturier is a defensive center first on the fourth line of a deep offense. Still, Philly's system is built for scoring; witness the increased production of new Flyers Wayne Simmons or Max Talbot (and, conversely, the decrease for, say, Mike Richards.)
So what can numbers tell us?
Francis had 68 points in 59 games as a rookie, good enough to crack the top 80. (Gretzky had 212 points that year. The Flyers as a team scored 268 goals this season. Good night!) In 2011-12, he'd have been 25th in points.
Couturier had 27 points this year, but much more impressively, was plus-18 to Francis' minus-13.
Couturier obviously benefits from playing on a much better team than Francis. The Flyers finished third in points in the conference; the Whale of '81-'82 failed to even make the playoffs. Still, though, a lot of it is Couturier's own doing. His plus-minus, second-best on the team, came while he skated against the league's top scorers most of the season.

Smarts 

Couturier has shown poise; I remember half-watching an end-of-game, empty-net faceoff in the defensive zone sometime around Christmas and being surprised to see Couturier take it. He won it, of course; he always seems to. He turned 19 in December; sometimes I think about what dumb things I was doing at 18, or, very unfairly, what my 18-year-old niece is up to. (Sample tweet: "Why does the school hallway always smell like fart?")
Couturier, meanwhile, is containing the beast that is Malkin, attacking again and again. Never mind this very painful spear he took a couple months ago:



Now, I'd be a bit gunshy about going after the guy who did that to me. But that is why I don't play in the NHL. (That and I can't skate. Those are the only two things, though.)

Francis also quickly showed how smart he played. He is often described as "a quiet superstar," if there is such a thing, because of the very traits Couturier is noticed for: level-headed play, consistency, two-way play.

Other important comparisons

Hair

Couturier may moonlight in a Canadian boy band, I don't know for sure because America just steals Canada's best pop culture and repackages it as its own.










Francis, well, it was the '80s:

Teeth

OK, Couturier is definitely not in a boy band:


Advantage: Francis

Nicknames

Cooter is the worst nickname I've heard for anyone, ever, and that includes a college friend who endured the childhood taunt Vagina Crust. It is worse than Boner. (When did Kirk Cameron find religion, anyway? "Boner" seems like something he'd object to.) Perhaps this will grow stale with age, and his teammates can start calling him, I dunno, Ol' Toothy, or Stringbean.

Francis had the standard hockey deviation nicknames: Ronnie, Franny, Ronnie Franchise. Perhaps Couturier's best shot is to marry a lady with a last name that lends itself to an -er or -ee nickname and be a progressive dude who takes her name.

Bottom line

Jagr wasn't even talking about rookie Ron Francis when he made the comparison. He was talking about the Cup winner, franchis center, fourth-leading scorer all-time. And that guy, by the way, started his career on a struggling team. Couturier gets all the benefits of playing on a winner early on. They say he's playing beyond his years. Will he get better? Of course. Does he have to? Well, what comes after stopping the league MVP and getting a hatty in the same playoff game? A Selke or four?

Sources: Hockey Hall of Fame, hockey-reference.com

What the hell is happening?

By Adam

Before the playoffs started, pretty much every preview I read circled two must-watch series: the Nashville v. Detroit series, and the Pittsburgh v. Philadelphia series. So of course the NHL would schedule the games to be at the exact same time. As a result, I've only been able to watch bits and pieces of the Pennsylvania Powder Keg (registered trademark). That's too bad, because I would love to watch that series. Yeah, I guess I could record the game and watch it later, but thankfully, I'm not that far off the hockey deep end.

But in the short times I've been able to watch the Pens-Flyers, a strange thing has happened. I've found myself cheering for the Flyers. How is that possible? Philly has been on my short list of hated teams for pretty much as long as I can remember (OK, it's more like a moderate to long list). But for some reason, I find myself pulling for them. I'm not someone who can watch a game and just sit unbiased. I have to choose sides. We'll, I've never tried watching Rangers-Pens, that might do the trick.

The weird thing is, I've gotten over my Crosby hate. I can no longer look past the singular skill and deep passion with which he plays the game. Yeah, he bitches a lot. Yeah, he takes cheap shots. Yeah, he'll do anything to win. But you know who used to bitch at the refs and slash and bend the rules from time to time? Steve Yzerman. But Yzerman was just being competitive and showing leadership, right? I honestly don't see much difference. I know those last few sentences have probably just gotten me excommunicated from the Church of the Winged Wheel. But it's the truth. Who was Crosby's favorite player growing up? Gretzky? Lemieux? No way. Steve Yzerman.

What I don't like is that the NHL has a double standard with Crosby and the Pens. He gets away with more. He gets on TV more. The broadcast teams all fawn over him as this "aw-shucks, I'm just here to play 110 percent" hockey idol. And that's hard to take when you've got two eyes that see the way he actually plays the game. The Pens play a dirty style. They're the type of team that has to "send a message" when the game is out of reach. And I just don't respect that.

Of course, isn't that exactly the kind of team Philadelphia has been known to be pretty much since they joined the NHL? Well, sort of. Now when I watch them play, I see a highly skilled squad that will take the body, but they can pick you apart like a surgeon too. They have so much skill and youthful exuberance and just plain likable players. They've got Giroux, they've got Jagr. And they've got insane Bryzgalov. And maybe craziest of all, I find I like Scott Hartnell. That dude busts his ass. He's a classic unattractive hockey player whose hair choices only make things worse. Plus, he pulled out the best taunt of the season after that big brawl a couple weeks ago against the Penguins.

So yeah, I guess I'm pulling for the Flyers. What the hell is happening?

Suspending Disbelief

By Adam

"On all plays we deem to be illegal there are varying degrees that escalate from one level to the next," said Shanahan in a statement. "I didn't like this hit, and I expressed that to Shea Weber. I feel it was an illegal hit. I would like to see less force in that situation and that is why he's being fined."

- Brendand Shanahan, NHL director of player safety

“I play the game hard. I finished my check. I do not think that I would have done anything differently. I didn’t even think it was a penalty.”

-Shea Weber, best defenseman in the NHL

Well, as you can see from the above, Shea Weber has a history of questionable decision making and a total lack of remorse. That would be the statements following this hit from Weber in October.

So it's really no surprise that the lesson Weber learned was that he can get away with dirty stuff that would get other players suspended. He hits a guy right in the numbers from behind into the boards with the puck nowhere close. He gets a fine for $2,500 of his $7.5 million salary. Here he is doing the old turnbuckle routine with Hank Zetterberg's head and the glass last night.

Again, he gets a fine for $2,500, oh, and a 2 minute minor penalty as time expired in the game. But just in case you think Shanahan has gone soft after all those 5-10 game suspensions at the start of the season, he made clear this fine would be taken into consideration in the future. I'm sure it will, just like the first one wasn't. Honestly, I can't say I was surprised. This is the same league that fined Claude Lemieux $1,000 and suspended him for two games for nearly killing Kris Draper.

That's just how things work. I don't care how many concussions Crosby gets, this is the playoffs and that's just how it works. Well, unless your name is Byron Bitz. In a consistent, just NHL Weber would have sat a game. But here's what's great about the NHL, the players still play the games and still answer to each other. The Red Wings get at least three more games to find satisfaction with Weber. And if they play to their potential they will send him packing before May.

The Greatest Game

By Adam

I love hockey. I mean, I really love hockey. It is irrational how much I love this game. I consider myself to be a pretty level-headed person in most aspects of my life. But something about hockey is different for me. There are certain joys, certain heartaches that only hockey can bring. I've loved hockey in all forms for as long as I can remember, and actually longer than that. What memories do you have from when you were two? I don't really have any, but I'm told as soon as I could stand (and maybe even before) I was waving around a hockey stick, working on my slapshot.

I've loved hockey in every form ever since. I spent hours in the driveway with my brothers, taking turns playing goalie. We'd invent entire NHL playoff brackets, each taking turns "playing" as each team, picking our own players to pretend to be. I was always partial to players named Adam (Oates) or Gerard (Gallant), my first and middle names.

Table top rod hockey? Loved it. I spent way too many quarters on those bubble top games pitting the USA against the USSR (the '80s were awesome). I actually dream of living in a bigger place one day, just so I'd have a place to put one of those giant machines.

Sure, I enjoyed Super Mario Bros., but I spent the most time on my Nintendo playing Ice Hockey and Blades of Steel. I still love that you could get into a fight in Blades of Steel and only the player losing the fight would be sent to the penalty box. NHL Hockey on Sega? Edit roster, insert Nick Lidstrom.

But most of all, I've loved watching hockey. It's probably sad how much of my life I've devoted to this. I remember nights, flipping between ESPN, CBC, and the local sports station during the playoffs. Three games was not enough though, as I stayed up to watch the late double header games, refusing to yield to sleep as Dallas and Edmonton went into a second overtime.

Early on, I was a front-runner, but who isn't at the age of five? Wayne Gretzky and the Edmonton Oilers were my team. I even had a Great One action figure. But soon, my allegiance would turn local to the Detroit Red Wings and their young captain Steve Yzerman.

So with the start of a new playoffs season, I've decided to start writing down my thoughts about hockey. Mostly because I know my friends would rather I get it out this way then try to talk to them about it. As I've gotten older, I found that somehow I'm even more interested in hockey. My hope is this blog will help me connect with other people who feel the same way, people who are also captivated by the greatest tournament in all of sports.