DETreport

Offence: A Like previous Red Wing teams, the majority of scoring has come from the top line this year made up of Bertuzzi, Hossa, and Fedorov. Pavel Bure is gone and in his place is the late blooming scoring machine Glen Murray. Overall the "winged wheel" is 4th in goals for in the league, and have had an impressive January leading into the all star break.

Pavel Datsyuk's inspiring play on the 2nd line and power play is huge. After trading away Stu Barnes in the offseason Detroit was banking on Datsyuk to come through. Datsyuk missed 5 games at the end of 2002 but has come back strong to begin 2003. Another bright spot has been the play of Ivan Novoseltzov despit playing only 36 games due to injuries to his hand and back. "Novo" is 4th on the team in goals with 11 and has a chance to be a 20 goal player as he comes back to the lineup after the break.

Kristian Huselius' slow start has followed him most of the season scoring only 4 goals in the first 3 months. But after moving up to the 2nd line following the Bure trade he has doubled that with 8 goals. The Swedish winger has missed 10 games due to injury, and is expected to provid the 3rd element needed for a strong push into the playoffs. Another early season disappointment, Valeri Bure's role on this team has changed dramatically from top line scorer to penalty kill specialist and puck possesion on the 3rd line. Bure still is a threat on the 3rd line with Draper and Novo. Speaking of Draper, the veteran center who mans the "speed line", had a fast start to the year and recently has slowed down a bit. Draper has not spent a great deal of ice time on the penalty kill this month but that is about to change as the penalty killing aspect in Detroit's game will be come more important the 2nd half of the season.

And finally the acquisition of Hnat Domenchelli adds more speed to the 4th line with Stacey Roest and Niklas Hagman. Hagman has been non-exsistant with Timo Parsinnen often filling in for him, but Roest and Domenchelli have been great fill ins for the injured Datsyuk and Novoseltzov and both play a big part in killing penalties.

LOOKING AHEAD: Barring any more injuries, look for Murray to begin getting more involved in the overall attack.

Defence:A- Detroit really built up thier defensive corps this past offseason, and after acquiring veteran Brian Leetch through the Bure trade only built that up more. Sergei Zubov has come along nicely leading defenceman with 18 points after a suprisingly stagnant start. The core of Zubov, Ozolinsh, Mara, and Leetch are a dangerous crew that threaten too score at any moment. But being that this is the Red Wings they leave that to the offence and instead are 6th in the
league for goals allowed.

Brendan Witt has been solid again for the Wings, and newcomer Niclas Havelid shows promise as a budding blue liner. Andy Sutton has been a nice fill in putting another checker into the lineup while Leetch was injured.

LOOKING AHEAD: Sutton will be getting more games to play in but hopefull not b/c of injuries, rather more of a need for his checking presence.

Goaltending:A+ The tandem of Johnson and Grahame has been more than anyone could hope for. Johnson started right out of the gate being in tops of GAA and Save%, while Grahame played like a starter when he backed up BJ. Johnson now has a more than impressive GAA of 2.05 and has recorded 4 shutouts while almost another three letting in late goals to kill it. BJ has been shakey at times but the team will alow it as long as his overall game stays where it's at. The hard part about having Johnson as the teams starter is knwoing when to rest him. Grahame has had an impressive year in the 15 games he has started also recording 4 shutouts of his own. A GAA 1.30 will wet anybody's pallet.

LOOKING AHEAD: Grahame will be gettting more action as the team attempts to try to get BJ in a flow and rotation earlier seen in the season. There is also the possibility of Detroit acquiring another goaltender before the deadline too.

Special Teams:B+ 3rd and 4th for PP% and PK% respectivelly is pretty good aint it? Uh Huh....Detroit's leader in penalties is not the regular goon Brendan Witt but rather Todd Bertuzzi the team's top scorer.....imagine how much more Bertuzzi could add not being the box for thos 100+ minutes? There have been the regular talks about the referees singling him out on anightly basis, however it is the fact that there is a 30% chance he will get into a fight any any given night. And that takes out one of the more menacing players on this team for a full 5 minutes. The bearded one has to get a grip people.

Whats interesting is the fact that Detroit has the two players tied for the most PP goals this season with 6, Fedorov and Murray.

Intangibles: Injuries, and well actually recurring injuries. The weaker bodies have been hit with the injury bug like Nocoseltzov getting hurt twice, played only 2 games in between injuries. But Pavel Datsyuk's injury was the bigger blow. Novo and Leetch have both re-entered the lineup and the team is looking forward to a healthy run into the playoffs.

Biggest Surprise: Goaltending. These guys have been overachieving no doubt, but the likes of BJ has been playing like this since last year after stealing the starting job from Pat Lalime. More than ever ratings for goalie's are not as important as one would think. It is the defensive effort overall, not allowing too many odd-man breaks and leaving it up to the goalies that makes the grade. Paul Mara's 8 goals has also been a pleasant surprise.

Biggest Dissapointment: Well at the 1/4 point report we stated that perfomaces by Val Bure and Sergei Zubov have been the epathy of disappointment. Thankfully these guys have turned things around and they both have settled into thier own roles. If we would have to pin point one thing, it would have to be Sandis Ozolinsh's goal total of 2. One of Hockey's most gifted offensive blue liners has barely piched in let alone "pinching in".