The Sheet Blog: Could Todd McLellan use secret weapon to change Red Wings’ identity?

As Todd McLellan takes over the Detroit Red Wings bench, I can’t help but think of his first stint with them as an assistant to Mike Babcock. The one thing I would always marvel about with that team: casual picks. The Wings were the masters of it. Not as obvious as in basketball where it’s a prominent feature of the sport, but in hockey nobody ran pick plays better than the Wings. Sure, it helps when you have Pavel Datsyuk, Henrik Zetterberg, Tomas Holmstrom, Johan Franzen and on and on, but Detroit made creating time and space in the offensive zone this way an art. Ever wonder how those Wings teams were always able to find ice, get open and create? Casual skating picks. It was so well done, and it walked the fine line between interference and being so subtle that an official would hesitate to call it. Jay Woodcroft was the video coach of that Wings team, and years later he referred to these picks as ‘the one-minute penalty,’ never really rising to the level where it deserved a full two-minute call. It was almost a penalty but not quite. And Detroit dined out on it.

I asked McLellan about those pick plays on the 32 pod a few years ago, and he brought up how that Wings team would talk a lot about working into position. Not just what you do when you have the puck, but what you do to get there, adding those skating picks or extra three strides, can set you up for offense. Bluntly, it was one of the Detroit’s ways to open up ice coming out of the ’05 lockout when hooking and holding left the game (and the Wings had 461 power plays and led the league with a PP percentage of 22.13%. McLellan ran the PP).

I’m sure McLellan has a priority of list of what he wants to do with the Wings, and not sure if it’ll be a focal point of this team, but maybe just something to watch out for.

Latvia laps up the praise

Major stick taps to the few dozen Canadian hockey fans who stuck around Friday night at Canadian Tire Centre to applaud the Latvian players doing a victory lap after the shootout win against Canada. Was great to see that many Canadian hockey sweaters around the glass with a show of respect for what the Latvian kids had accomplished.

Sticking with Latvia, Washington Capitals prospect Eriks Mateiko has made a name for himself on the international stage. Firing the final dagger against Canada will do that. He plays in the QMJHL for the Saint John Sea Dogs but perhaps not for much longer. He’s rumoured to be on the move for a very steep price tag. When Timo Meier was moved from the Halifax Mooseheads to the Rouyn-Noranda Huskies, the price was a first, second and fourth round pick. Could Mateiko go for more? The Rimouski Oceanic could be the destination here.

Speaking of excellent Latvian performances, how about the shot blocking clinic the 5-foot-9, 17-year-old draft eligible Daniels Serkins put on Saturday afternoon against the U.S.? Many of these off the stick of New York Islanders prospect Cole Eiserman who boasts the best/hardest shot in the tournament.

New kid on the block

I was reminded of one of my favorite shot blocking stories the other day involving former NHL first-round defenseman David Cooper.

In 1999, he’s playing in the DEL with the Kassel Huskies and legendarily stern, no-nonsense head coach Hans ‘the Volcano of the Alps’ Zach who didn’t put up with anything from players. As Cooper skates out for his first practice, Zach sends him off to see the trainer. When Cooper asks why, Zach tells him he needs bigger shin pads to block shots with, to which Cooper whips back around with, “Why? Don’t we have goalies on this team?”

Priceless.

Hans Zach

Zach was an interesting coach. He never held a practice before 5:00 pm, feeling his team plays at night so they should practice at night. I’ve long agreed with this. As an athlete you’re in the process of training your body to peak at times of the day when you compete, so it just makes sense to practice at the same time you play while using your mornings to rest and recover.

Top international women’s competition coming to Canada

It sounds like Canada will be hosting a significant number of IIHF women’s events soon.  Look for an official announcement soon.

Preds prospect attracting major trade interest in The Dub

Perhaps the most interesting/ biggest name across the CHL at trade deadline is Saskatoon Blades defenseman and Nashville Predators prospect Tanner Molendyk, who is currently playing with Canada at the World Juniors. It doesn’t sound like anything is close at this point  but teams are very interested in the defenseman, who has 40 games of WHL playoff experience including three Game 7’s. The Blades are first place in their conference and could use him for the playoffs, but if they decide to re-load he’ll command a high price.

A memorably cheesy World Junior caper

I had a fun time on The Sheet last Friday telling the story of the missing 1994 World Junior Championship plate which turned up under the bed of coach Danny Flynn’s son Brad, who is now an assistant with the Kitchener Rangers. And as always, when you put a story like that out, people reach out to fill in some of the blanks.

So, it was Hockey Canada, not the Hall of Fame, who came looking for the plate, and it was months later, not years. Brad had been eating grilled cheese sandwiches off it and, when he found out his parents were looking for it, hid it under the bed to not get found out. When his mom Elaine finally found the plate, it was a mess, and she had it sent to get professionally cleaned since ketchup on the plate had hardened.

Here’s a fun sidebar to the story – The Flynns at that time lived on Carlbert Street in Sault St Marie, Ont., and since dad was a highly successful coach, they would host street hockey games and compete for, you guessed it, some of the biggest trophies in hockey that Danny took home. It was not uncommon for people driving by the Flynns’ to see the Spengler Cup, a cleaned-up World Junior plate or the Memorial Cup sitting on the family’s front lawn while local kids played for the right to raise one of these trophies.

Marsblade’s mission

And finally, I’ve always been a hockey gear geek, and one of things I’ve always kept tabs on is how many players at each level are starting to use Marsblade skate blade holders created by legendary Swedish hockey inventor Per Mars whom you may know better as the creator of the Marsblade inline skates. Luca Pinelli of team Canada is using them now (there’s something like 10 players from his Ottawa 67’s team on them), and on the pro side Boston Bruins defenseman Brandon Carlo, Utah’s Kevin Stenlund and Jack Drury of the Carolina Hurricanes are all not only using them but have become investors in the company as well.

Check Sam Gagner out at the Spengler Cup; he’s on them too, along with Toronto Maple Leafs prospect Ben Danford.

Mars now has 30 NHLers and AHLers using his blade holders.

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