The Medal Round / Kirk Maltby

Then there were 4. A usual hockey never ceases to surprise and amaze me. I would've thought Sweden would be preparing to repeat Olympic Gold, or that Russian might have knocked off Team Canada, or at least put up a strong fight. Out of the series of Quarter Final games played yesterday the only one that lived up to the hype was Slovakia vs. Sweden. The Swedes lost 4-3 and just lacked some of their familiar power play prowess. In fact that really decided the game. Slovakia scored 4 PP Goals and Sweden was blanked. I enjoyed former Wings Tomas Kopecky scoring the game winner. Hossa and Gaborik put on a passing clinic and Slovakia provided the big upset of The Olympics so far. I was pulling for Team Sweden given the 4 Red Wings on board, and it just seemed like they lacked the usual smoothness in their game. It unfortunately continued a trend of the last year. Lidstrom is no longer Superman.

Let me preface my explanation by sharing the widely held belief that Lidstrom will retire as one of the Top 3 if not the best defense men in hockey history. His dominance, passing, and hockey smarts have raised the standard of defense in the NHL, for nearly 20 years he has been the backbone of The Wings & Team Sweden to the result of championships. The man is entitled to slow down a bit. The real problem evident in last nights game is that Sweden became used to him controlling the game and nullifying the best players of their opponent. He was on the ice for 26 minutes last night. There was no overtime. 26 minutes! He was -2 and two of the game changing passes went right past him. The quickness in Lidstrom's game has definitely fallen off and it merely revealed how average the rest of The Swedish Defense was. Same situation with The Wings this year. Lidstrom is in the mix for Norris Trophy candidate this year because he has not dominated the league. That just means that he is in the Top Ten and not the best defense man anymore. He is still the best guy you can have out there on The Penalty Kill and on the Power Play, but his slight slow down merely reveals how average the rest of The Wings defensive lines are. It is too bad the rest of The Swedish skaters could not elevate their game a little but just like in Detroit we are used to Lidstrom instantly nullifying another teams offense.

The huge disappointment from yesterday was Team Russia. They just folded. They played uninspired hockey, Ovechkin didn't like it when Team Canada hit back, Coach Bykov gave up on the team very fast and they were rude to the media by refusing interviews. I give full marks to Canada. It seems they were just warming up last week. They looked like a scoring machine with Perry, Iginla, Crosby, Nash and Weber all firing on all cylinders. This was the dream team the hockey world wanted to see. I don't think they were fully tested yesterday though. Russia put up no more of a fight than Germany the night before. I was really excited to come home and watch the DVR of that game and ended up fast forwarding half way through. I suppose that can happen with 1 game elimination rules but that game did not live up to the hype. Also, Coach Bykov should be strapped to a goal and have 100 pucks fired at him for leaving Nabakov in the game after giving up 4 goals in the first period. His career numbers are amazing but this is a continuation of a pattern for Nabby. Sometimes he vanishes in big games. I submit the Sharks vs. Wings series in 07, Dallas in 08, and The Ducks last year. I know Joe Thornton gets most of the blame for The Sharks collapsing every year but Nabby has folded to soft goals and pressure repeatedly in big games. Last night he should have been pulled quickly. That might have made for a closer game.

Finland played stellar defense and goal tending over The Czech Team, 2-0, but I was falling asleep to be honest. Not very exciting hockey. Team USA dodged the tight checking of The Swiss and Jonas Hiller on their way to the Medal Round. These last 4 games should be stellar. A rematch of USA vs. Canada in the Gold Medal game would be fantastic but I'm not going to rule out the ability of Finland or Slovakia to play spoiler. Two games tomorrow, the bronze medal game on Saturday, and the Gold Medal game at 3:15 EST on Sunday.


KIRK MALTBY

On the Wings front, Kirk Maltby has decided to undergo surgery and will be out for the rest of the season, playoffs questionable. This is his final year on contract but he may play out one more year at a minimum price. This of course means that a trade is no longer necessary to make room for Andreas Lilja. It still may happen, but is unlikely. The trade deadline is March 3rd, and The Wings resume play vs. Colorado on Monday night, 9pm. Normally, I would expect The Grand Rapids Griffins to take the ice but given our position in the standings we may see the Olympians a lot sooner.