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Ray Flowers

Western Conference Review

June 2, 2009 8:50am CDT

The Red Wings have jumped out to a 2-0 series lead in the Stanley Cup Finals and appear to have a strangle hold on their second straight championship. With it, both Marian Hossa and Ty Conklin are great stories. Why do you ask? Continuing reading to find out.

Detroit Red Wings vs. Pittsburgh Penguins
Detroit Leads Pittsburgh, 2-0
Detroit: 24.7 percent power play / 73.3 percent penalty kill
Pittsburgh: 19.8 percent power play / 84.4 percent penalty kill

* There have been 32 teams who have lost the first two games of a Cup final on the road and only once, in 1971, has that team come back to win the series (Montreal Canadiens).

* The Wings have won all 11 games this playoff season when they entered the third period with the lead.

* The Wings have won both games by the score of 3-1 as they managed to frustrate Evgeni Malkin (he took an instigator major at the end of Game 2), while they have kept Sidney Crosby off the score sheet thanks to the heady two-way play of Henrik Zetterberg.

* Showing yet again just how important depth is, Justin Abdelkader, who has all of four games of regular season work in his young career (he was drafted in the second round in 2005), has scored a goal in each of the two finals games that have been played so far. "It's happening so fast now, two games in two nights, I haven't even had a chance to think about it," Abdelkader said. "Maybe that's a good thing."

* Pavel Datsyuk continues to be sidelined due to his foot injury, and he has now missed five-straight games. The team expects him to play before the end of the series, though he'll need to get healthy quick if the team keeps playing like this as the series could be over quickly.

* Kris Draper continues to work on the side though his groin has not improved enough to allow him to play in a game as he has missed the clubs last four contests. He is day-to-day.

* Jonathan Ericsson continues to impress on the blue line. It has taken the 2002 draft pick a while to find his "game," but he could be in for a nice fantasy season in 2009-10 so keep him in mind when you are searching for that fifth defensemen next year.

* Darren Helm has really stepped up in the absence of Datsyuk with a goal and an assist the past three games. He has averaged nearly 17 minutes of ice time in Games 1 and 2, and though he lacks top end skills, his hard work has endeared him to all. "I think with [head coach Mike Babcock] giving me more ice time I'm putting more pressure on myself to play well and take advantage of this opportunity," Helm said. "Obviously he got confidence in me, and I want to prove him right that I can do the job."

* Tomas Holmstrom had only three assists in his first 18 playoff games. He dished off two in Game 2. He still hasn't scored a goal in 14-straight games, a shocking run of ineffectiveness for a man who has averaged 23 goals a season the past four years despite an average of just 68 games a year.

Marian Hossa, as well as Ty Conklin, could have chosen to sign with Pittsburgh this offseason.
* Marian Hossa had two assists in Game 2 for the Wings. Perhaps he made the right choice to spurn the Penguins and sign with the Red Wings this past offseason? Oh, lost amidst all the Hossa talk is the fact that Ty Conklin pulled the old switch-a-roo to the Red Wings as well.

WESTERN CONFERENCE REVIEW

* The Blackhawks hope to work out a deal to bring back Martin Havlat who becomes an unrestricted free agent on July 1. Havlat, coming off his best NHL season with 77 points, he also led the club with 15 points in the playoffs, skated in 81 games this year, the first time he has appeared in more than 70 games since 2001-02. It will be interesting how much the club will be willing to spend on a talented skater with this much medical baggage. The team also needs to decide what to do with Nikolai Khabibulin (25 wins, 2.33 GAA) who is also an unrestricted free agent. With the team paying Cristobal Huet $16.875 million over the next three seasons, they don't figure to offer the 36-year-old Nikolai anything close to the $6.75 million he was paid this season because of the salary cap. In this day and age its almost impossible to pay your two goalies $10 million, so unless they can trade Huet (unlikely) or convince Khabibulin to take less than market value, he likely will not be back with the club.

* Marian Gaborik is awaiting a resolution to where he will skate in 2009 and beyond. Apparently the Wild aren't willing to make a preemptive strike with their high-scoring winger and instead will await word on what type of offers that other teams will throw at Marian once the free agent periods begin on July 1. Why are the Wild reluctant to hand out a big money deal to their most explosive player (they did extend an offer at the start of the year that Gaborik and his peeps turned down)? Health of course. Marian has scored at least 30 goals in six of the last seven years, but the other two seasons he totaled a combined 31 goals. Did he suddenly forget how to score? Hardly. It's just that he cannot stay healthy. After averaging 77 games his first three seasons, a multitude of injuries have limited the Czech-born skater, one of the most dynamic an exciting talents the league has to offer, to an average of just 54 games the past five years. If it was about talent he would be paid amongst the top-10 skaters in the game. But in the new era of the salary cap teams need to spend their money judiciously. It will be exceedingly interesting to see how this situation will resolve itself, especially if Gaborik goes on to score 40 goals for someone other than the Wild in the coming season.

* Dustin Penner will once again be challenged to provide more on the ice, this time by new coach Pat Quinn. Penner is a sometimes dominating, often missing, massive left wing who posses the skills necessary to be a force in this league. However, the 6-foot-4, 240-pound winger just cannot seem to string together any consistency. Despite all the problems he has still averaged 23 goals in his three full seasons in the league. He could be a 30-goal option if he could put it all together.

* Alexander Radulov continues to mull over a possible return to the Predators. The team is saying that they would take him back if he wanted to return from Russia to fulfill the final year of his contract, but you have to wonder how he would be received in the locker room after he simply bailed on his team this year.

* Teemu Selanne and Scott Niedermayer have not made up their minds about whether or not they will return for one more year with the Ducks. General manager Bob Murray has told both skaters that he needs to know what their intentions are prior to the June 26 Entry draft. Selanne, who has one year left on his contract, produced 27 goals and 54 points in just 65 games this season showing that he has tons left on offense. He was also especially adept at producing points on the power play where he had 28 points (16 goals, 12 assists). He is no longer a top-scoring winger, but he is still plenty valuable on ice, as well as when inserted into a fantasy lineup. As for Niedermayer, he too is coming off a productive season with 14 goals and 45 assists, including 32 points on the power-play. He is still as graceful as ever with his beautiful skating stride, and he can still control a game with the best of cut out to find away to replace the minutes that the two eat up.

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