|
 |   |
|
EVENTS Fantasy Central Inside Game Multimedia Central Statitudes Your Turn Message Boards Email Newsletters Golf Guide Cities Work in Sports
CNNSI.com GROUP
COMMERCE |  |
Red Wings in their usual rut
Posted: Thursday February 03, 2000 08:25 PM
Is it just the lull before the "get serious" portion of the schedule or are the Detroit Red Wings in trouble? The "old" vs. "experienced" argument always comes to the forefront whenever the Red Wings are in a little slump, but a recent stretch where the team went 2-5-2 has the "old" advocates belting out I-told-you-so's. In that stretch, the Wings lost 6-1 to Calgary Flames, the fifth consecutive regular-season loss to the young but pesky Calgary squad. That hasn't happened since a young Patrick Roy regularly had the Wings' number way back in the 1991-93 season when the Canadiens won the Stanley Cup. Detroit also allowed the lowly Vancouver Canucks and its near dead-last power play to equal a team record with three power-play goals in the first period of a 3-3 tie. Goaltender Chris Osgood has been getting most of the blame and with a 1-5-2 with a 3.73 goals-against average since returning from a hairline fracture in his right hand Jan. 2, it's understandable. Osgood, never thought of as one of the league's elite despite a Stanley Cup ring on his finger, has allowed 28 goals on 206 shots in that time. Still, he's not the whole problem. Skilled but aging defenseman Larry Murphy recently put two goals into his own net. Defenseman Nicklas Lidstrom, normally a rock of consistency, has also struggled. "I'm not down," Osgood said in response to mounting criticism. "It's more frustrating than anything to get to where you were. [It's] a lot of weird goals. It's not really long goals or bad goals. "It just seems I'll be going good for a while and something will happen or it'll hit somebody ... it's one thing after another." Sources maintain that the "another" is continuing pain in his right hand. It's said to be a reason he seldom leaves the net to play the puck. Osgood admits he may have come back just a touch too early and that resuming a regular workload may have retarded the healing process. Still there is concern in the Motor City. The Red Wings still have four western road swings on their schedule. That's the sort of thing that can make an experienced team look old mighty darn quick. Look for the Wings to freshen themselves at the trade deadline either with a little more defensive depth or perhaps a major move in the nets. Rising injuries raising concernThe seemingly endless run of injuries in the NHL has prompted some concern among sports doctors, but hasn't yet commanded the attention of NHL authorities, who see business as usual in the hitting department. Peter Forsberg, Pierre Turgeon and, apparently, Dominik Hasek, have been added to the list of players who will miss the 50th NHL All-Star game in Toronto. Also out hurting are stars like St. Louis defenseman Al MacInnis (collapsed lung) and a slew of NHL regulars, including Montreal's Trent McCLeary, who recently suffered a near-death injury when his larynx was crushed. Earlier this season, Eric Lindros suffered his third concussion in 22 months. Dallas Stars center Mike Modano also had concussion problems and a serious neck injury after he was checked head first into the boards. Brian Savage, then with the Montreal Canadiens, suffered a broken neck early in the season and Calgary's Steve Smith is looking at the possible end of his career (and certainly offseason surgery) after he suffered a bruised spinal cord and a serious neck injury. Dr. Willem Meeuwisse, the chief physician for the Calgary Flames and chairman of the NHL's injury committee, is plenty concerned. He and his NHL counterparts will meet with representatives from the NHL and the NHL Players Association regarding the problems. Not much is expected to come of the meetings given that hitting is a part of the game and a part that the NHL likes to sell. But, according to Meeuwisse's calculations (available at his websitewww.hockeyinjuries.com), there have been 76 recorded leg and knee injuries, 68 to the hip and groin, 45 to the wrist and hand, 25 to the chest and ribs and 70 to the head and neck. Of those 70 head and neck injuries, 36 have been concussions, an area of increasing concern. "We've definitely seen an increase in the number of concussions and we're doing a concussion study," Meeuwisse said. "I've looked at things over the last five years and I don't think the overall injury trend has changed that dramatically. "I think this is an unfortunate situation in that some very serious injuries have come close together. I'm taking notice of it, and others are, too, and I'm sure we'll talk about it this weekend." The issue appears to revolve around the fact that the players are bigger, stronger and faster and that the glass in many NHL arenas is unforgiving. "I could punch the boards and I could punch the glass and I can assure you that I would do more damage to my hand if I punched the glass," said Colorado defenseman Adam Foote. "That stuff just doesn't give." Forsberg suffered his most recent injury being run into the glass. "It seems like right now the stick-work and the blows to the head are increasing," said Colorado coach Bob Hartley. "It's scary. We're going to see a major injury or a real bad incident if this continues." Sadly, these words have been spoken numerous times before. And just as sadly, no one at NHL offices in New York appears to be listening. Chad Kilger, once a darling of the NHL draft and a projected star for Anaheim and Phoenix, has been a healthy scratch for about 15 games this year. He got back in the other night when Edmonton played in Vancouver but was on the ice for two Canucks goals in the first period and didn't play again. Kilger likely would have a ticket to the minors if the Oilers didn't fear losing him in a waiver claim. Insiders there say the Oilers would like to bring up Dan Cleary, their best prospect, and have him replace Kilger, who has just six points in 40 regular-season games going back to last March. Biron playing bigDominik Hasek's return to the NHL is both a success and a question mark. Hasek complained of a great deal of soreness after his first start after missing 40 games with a torn groin muscle. His agent, Rich Winter, then ruled him out of the All-Star game and Hasek was deemed to be too sore to play Feb. 3 vs. the Ottawa Senators. That puts Hasek's long-term health as a question mark and puts Martin Biron back in net as the Sabres' No. 1 netminder. This is not a good thing for Hasek or the Sabres, but it certainly doesn't hurt Biron. The rookie goalie leads the NHL with five shutouts. In his last two starts, he posted a shutout and lost a 1-0 game at Boston. Should Biron continue his strong play, he's a lock for the All-Rookie team and will have a dead-even shot at the Calder Trophy as rookie of the year. New Jersey has Scott Gomez, but he's starting to get tighter checking and isn't scoring at near his early season pace. Biron, meanwhile seems to be improving with every outing and his goals-against average and save percentage are as good as many of the better goalies in the NHL this season. Meanwhile, Hasek is giving no clue as to when he might be strong enough to play again. Officially, his status is day-to-day, but given the amount of silence regarding the issue, there's no telling when or even if Hasek will be playing on a regular basis. Superstar or Supernova?Florida's Pavel Bure became the seventh-fastest player in NHL history to reach the 300-goal plateau (478 games). He also got a running start toward 400 by scoring the winner with 3:29 left in overtime to lift the Panthers to a 4-3 victory over the Boston Bruins last weekend. "Anyone who gets 300 goals nowadays is something special," forward Ray Whitney said. "But even better, he got 301 for us." The Russian Rocket, who scored his third career overtime goal in that game, set two Panthers' records and tied two NHL highs in the process. Bure scored his 33rd and 34th goals in his 39th game, breaking the Panthers' single-season goal total shared by Scott Mellanby and Ray Whitney. Bure has now moved into a scoring race with Pittsburgh's Jaromir Jagr. The two recently were tied for the NHL lead. Bure also notched his eighth game-winning goal, breaking the team record held by Ray Sheppard and Johan Garpenlov. Bure also tied Phoenix's Jeremy Roenick for the NHL lead in game winners. Jim Kelley covers the NHL -- and the Sabres -- for the Buffalo News. His notebook and Rumor Mill appear weekly on CNNSI.com. The opinions expressed here are solely those of the writer.
| ||||||||||||||||
