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Detroit Red Wings News Around the Net

By Nate Francis

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Detroit Red Wings News and Notes around the blogosphere and media

VOTE! VOTE! VOTE! 

It’s down to the final two for TSN’s Play of the Year. Red Wings fans need to get out and vote for Gustav Nyquist’s amazing goal against Ottawa wayyyyy back in December. Gus is up 56% – 44% with two days of voting left. In case you forgot, here it is:

Everyone likes Goose more than a Duck.

Help Wanted on Defense: Not hiring from within?

An interesting tidbit from Elliotte Friedman:

"5. Hearing Detroit is looking for a defenceman who can take some of the physical responsibility from Niklas Kronwall. While the Red Wings like their prospects, they see too many similarities to what is already there. Wanted: someone with a bit of mean."

There isn’t much else about the Red Wings in the story, but this may lend some credence as to why the Dion Phaneuf rumors refuse to die. Sprinkle in a bit about Anthony Mantha being available and there may be some smoke to that Red Wings-are-shopping fire. More telling is that they “see too many similarities to what is already there.” This is confounding. Here’s why: The Red Wings clearly have their draft strategy of taking puck moving, smart defensemen that play responsible hockey at the back end. But for an organization that harps on developing from within, why would they want to contradict their own success? A little bit of mean sounds an awful lot like a turnover prone, penalty taking captain skating in Ontario’s capital.

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Who was the mean defenseman on the ’98, 2002, or 2008 teams that won the Cup? I’ll wait. There were none. They were in the mold of what they’ve been developing within. To say they’re looking for someone mean to suddenly put them over seems goofy. The Chicago Blackhawks (as much as it absolutely pains me to admit this) do not have that “mean” d-man. So why would the Wings?

Again, I believe this is more speculation than truth. While I don’t doubt that they are positioning themselves to acquire from the outside, I see an elite puck moving defensemen arriving in Motown before a physical specimen in the mold of Phaneuf.

More on Mantha

Helene St. James examines the idea of moving Mantha for that elite defenseman the Red Wings are apparently seeking. St. James makes an excellent point regarding his step up to the AHL:

"At no point did Mantha look like the dominating forward he was playing junior hockey in the Quebec league, where he was a 50-goal scorer who made something happen every time he stepped on the ice. However, it’s hardly unusual for rookies to struggle as they go from playing with teenagers to playing among men.Jeff Blashill, who coached Mantha in Grand Rapids and now is the head coach in Detroit, knows Mantha better than anyone in the organization. He has said it’s a matter of Mantha figuring out how he needs to skate in order to be successful as a pro."

Kenny speaks

From Ansar Khan at MLive, the Red Wing General Manager discusses the Wings strategy going forward. In only Kenny’s way of speak:

"“We’re probably in a better position to explore trades than we were at any point in time because of the depth of our organization,” Holland said. “But I don’t want anyone to think ‘They’re making trades’ because the trades have got to make sense.”"

Committing to a trade without committing to a trade. Pure Holland.

Finally….

The NHL 16 trailer is expected to debut sometime this afternoon at the E3 Expo. The EA Sports team has recently confirmed that authentic goal songs and music will be included for specific arenas. Oh how I’d like to hear Don’t Stop Believin’ after an empty net goal at the Joe. To see a teaser trailer before the rest is unveiled today, click below.

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