The Fifth Liners

In NHL.com's Five Questions With series, Detroit Red Wings GM Ken Holland admitted be believes that the Wings are not legitimate contenders: "I don't know that there are more than five or six legitimate Stanley Cup contenders; we're probably not in that group." Ken Holland to NHL.com Is this a kick in the teeth for Red Wings fans or a much-needed blast of realism? Is anyone surprised by Holland's words? Probably not. Having been a Red Wing fan for as long as I can remember, I'm under no illusions that the team aren't in the best place for winning Lord Stanley's cup. I'm not even sure we'll make the playoffs. 25 straight playoffs is a solid achievement; but since the Red Wings haven't made it past the Conference Semifinals since the 2008-09 season, that achievement doesn't really count for much as it isn't bringing any silverware home. We haven't made it past the first round in the last three seasons. Let's be hon...

Next month Russia will have a contagious case of Winter Olympic fever as the 2014 games roll into Sochi! While many if us will be routing for the returning Jamaican Bobsled Team or praying that Team GB wins any kind of medal! But to us hockey fans, there us only one event that matters! But which of the great teams on display will take home the gold medal? And more importantly, can the thrill level go beyond the epic Canada v USA final of Vancouver 2010? Here are my main contenders, Gold - Canada: The clear early favourites and my personal pick for the games! Their roster alone gives us goosebumps with the sheer level of quality and with offensive starlets Sidney Crosby, Jonathan Toes and Corey Perry among others on display- they will be a sure bet to rack up the goals and assists. But they have also defensive quality by the bucketful, and although goalie selection has raised a few eyebrows, Carey Price will be a great starter. On paper, this team will be hard to stop! Silver - S...

Today the Olympic Ice Hockey rosters for the upcoming Sochi 2014 games have been officially confirmed, after much speculation surrounding them there has been some interesting selections made and no doubt this will spark furious debate among hockey fans, let's take a look at the main contenders. Canada  The 25 man Canadian squad certainly isn't lacking in depth, and this year they will be the team to beat and 11 of 2010 Gold Medal team will make a return journey! The defensive selection is one I highly commend as they have mixed youth of players like PK Subban along with defensive quality like Jay Bouwmeester. The St Louis pairing of JB along with Pietrangelo could well be a wise selection! Offensively the star count is ridiculously high with Crosby, Toews, Perry, Stamkos and Kunitz among others being featured and Canada will rely on this goal power to see them through! There are few surprise selections with Marc-Andre Fleury missing out in favour of Roberto Luongo and the ...

Boston have been playing well of late, quietly getting on with job. The result of which is a spot at the top of the Eastern Conference. Detroit's troubles this season have been well documented and last night the team had to go without superstar Pavel Datsyuk and dependable first-liner Todd Bertuzzi. On paper, this looked like another win for Boston. The first ten minutes were close, the Bruins looked dangerous when pushing and the Red Wings broke well, recently returned Darren Helm almost opened the scoring with a lightning fast breakaway, only to put the puck wide. Detroit's Johan Franzen then stepped up. The Mule set up the first and only goal of a penalty packed first period when his cross through the blue paint found Justin Abdelkader who tapped in the opener. This came straight after he stepped out of the penalty box after picking up a penalty for high-sticking on Zdeno Mt. Chara. Must have been a really high stick. The second period brought more goals for boys in ...

Musings, observations and general stuff.  Daniel Alfredsson seems to have found his happy place, the veteran forward picked up his first Detroit goal this week and has also grabbed plenty of assists. Alfredsson has nine points so far. Only Datsyuk and Zetterberg have more. Niklas Kronwall's concussion is a real concern. Widely regarded as the cornerstone of the Red Wings' PK unit, it's hard to tell who will step up if he doesn't return soon. Detroit's blueliners haven't been spectacular recently but backup goalie Jonas Gustavsson is playing out of his skin. Last season may have been forgettable for Gustavsson but so far he's .922 for the season. Jimmy Howard is expected back for tonight's game against Phoenix. The goalie has been sat out since bruising his hand in the warm up against Boston.  Darren Helm is expected to be back soon, which is probably bad news for Luke Glendening who was brought up from the Calder Cup winning Grand Ra...

At the start of the fifth game of the season, the Detroit Red Wings were 2/4 and hadn't scored a single powerplay goal. Sure they'd done pretty well on the penalty kill, fending off some serious five on three attacks, but after ten attempts, had not been able to take man advantage and grab some goals. That changed last night when the Red Wings welcomed the Struggling Philadelphia Flyers to the Joe Louis Arena.  Detroit didn't take long to open the scoring when Todd Bertuzzi , promoted to the first line, scored a great wrap-around after Michael Raffl went to the box for hooking. Raffl had been called up to deal with the Flyers' injury woes. The second period brought more goals and more penalties. Luke Schenn 's trip to the box allowed Niklas Kronwall the chance to remind us he's not just there to flatten the opposition. The big Swede opened his scoring account for the season.  Erik Gustafsson immediately decided to emulate his fellow countryman ...

With the time difference between the US and the UK, it's pretty rare I get to watch a live game so today's game is extra awesome. The Detroit Red Wings headed to Chicago hoping to get a win on the board and equalise the series. The Blackhawks had different ideas and hit the Red Wings like a steam time right from the faceoff. Detroit held off well and soon were bringing the game to Chicago. Even killing off a powerplay after Brendan Smith was caught hooking Marian Hossa. The deadlock was broken after 14 minutes when a superb passing play allowed Patrick Kane to score past Jimmy Howard . Detroit will be disappointed with the goal as it looked like something straight from the training rink. No keeper in the league would have saved it though so Howard can't be too unhappy. Detroit came close while shorthanded after a loose puck escaped in center ice but Corey Crawford made himself big to deny Detroit. The visitors finished the period with the shot advantage b...

There's a tradition that comes with the playoffs: beards. The playoff beard, like me has been around since the 80s and now traditional in many sports. It's even become a charity event. As a proud owner of facial foliage I appreciate a good playoff beard. Here's some of the best: Mike Commodore No beard list is complete with the Commodore. Scott Hartnell Love him or hate him, he brought a mighty fine beard to the playoffs. Scott Niedermeyer Some men fear gray hairs. Scott embraced it. Shea Weber Shea's beard looks like it's trying to escape. Zdeno Chara The Bruins captain looks like he's had a beard all his life. Maxime Talbot This beard/hair combo works beautifully. Henrik Zetterberg Just because.

I don't know if ducks can technically sink but writing catchy headlines is tough. Anyway. After twice being behind in the series, those plucky Detroit Red Wings have managed to bring it back twice to equalize and forced the Anaheim Ducks into a final game decider. Detroit Captain (and beard idol) Henrik Zetterberg opened the scoring early in the first period, and goals from Justin Abdelkader and Valtteri Filppula sealed the victory. It wasn't all plain sailing though as Emerson Etem and Francois Beauchemin scored for the Ducks but it wasn't enough to top the Red Wings who now make the 300 mile journey to Illinois for the semi finals where they will meet conference champs the Chicago Blackhawks . Detroit made things difficult, giving Anaheim more powerplays than necessary. Zetterberg took the final powerplay of the game after launching the puck over the glass and receiving an Delay of Play penalty for his troubles. This allowed the Ducks the opportunity to ...

Tense times continue for Detroit Red Wings fans as Henrik Zetterberg's overtime goal means that the series will go to a seventh game decider. Zetterberg has performed well in the series so far but hadn't scored in the previous five games. The Wing's captain obviously wasn't happy with that and netted twice in last night's game at the Joe. The Anaheim Ducks the other hand put in a mediocre performance according to coach Bruce Boudreau who said that his team didn't have the hunger to win the game and started nervously. Allowing Detroit to capitalise. Game seven of the series is tomorrow.

A few weeks ago, the Detroit Red Wings were looking at finishing the season outside of the playoff places for the first time in over 20 years. The team was 10th in the conference with 4 games left. Last night the Red Wings made it 4 out of 4 with a 3-0 win over the Dallas Stars , clinching the 7th spot in the playoffs. This means that Detroit will play the Anaheim Ducks in the first round. This season the Wings are 2-1-0 against the Ducks so this should be a good match-up. 2 goals from Henrik Zetterberg and a 3rd from Jonathan Ericsson were enough to take the game. Pavel Datsyuk assisted on all 3 goals. Full story  here.

Detroit Red Wings #1 goalie Jimmy Howard hasn't had his best season, the team has lost 6 of its last 10 games, with 2 of those being shootouts. The added pressure of the team dropping out of the playoff places made winning last night's game vital. According to  NHL.com , Howard sought advice from former Wings Goalie Chris Osgood, Coach Jim Bedard and Jedi Master Yoda  in his attempt to end the slump. Whatever that advice was, it worked. Howard made 22 saves including breakaways and a mis-hit penalty shot after Bobby Butler was tripped by Jakub Kindl . Helping the Wings to beat the Nashville Predators 3-0. Howard, braced for action.  Howard's performance was so good last night that he earned the 1st star of the game. The two points earned see the Wings jump back into that last playoff place although things are still very tight with a few teams still in contention. Henrik Zetterberg , Johan Franzen and Justin Abdelkader scored for the Wings and new boy Dann...