BtJ has a new home

I will no longer uploading posts to Blogger (http://behindthejersey.blogspot.com), but this will remain up for those who find BtJ via search or from links to this blog that haven't been updated.

Please check out our new home at BehindtheJersey.com. We are still working on some things (like the Gallery), but all the old posts have been transferred and the new design and layout is up!

If your blog/website has a link to BtJ, please update it so it points towards BehindtheJersey.com - thank you for all your support!

Wings re-sign Williams for 2 more years

I went to check the Detroit Red Wings website to see what it had about the Danny Markov signing. I was surprised when the first thing I saw was the announcement that the Wings had re-signed Williams for two more years before heading to arbitration and not Markov's signing.

"We are pleased to reach a deal with Jason before going to arbitration," said [GM Ken] Holland. "He took a big step forward as a NHL player last year and we look forward to even more progress in the future."

Even though I interviewed Willy for 30 minutes or so back in 2004 and he's a really nice guy, I'm not a huge fan of him especially Willy on the power play. That being said, this was his first year playing a ton of games so hopefully he'll just get better. And he is good on the shootout, which will help us in the regular season. Although I only really care about the playoffs and earning a playoff spot.

I would've been a lot happier with a one year contract, but I bet the Wings didn't pay as much as they would've via arbitration. It'll be interesting to see just how much Williams will be making.

Ansar Khan at MLive.com is reporting that Williams will be paid $1.6 million/year, which isn't bad considering how arbitration has gone this offseason.

"(Coach) Mike Babcock gave him the opportunity (last season) and Jason took advantage of it,'' Holland said. "He really established himself as an NHL player. Hopefully, he can continue to build on that confidence.

"I don't want to say what statistics we're expecting from him, but there is an opportunity for someone to take a step forward offensively."

"In the end, we felt if we could avoid (arbitration), we'd both be better served," Holland said. "In the past couple of days, as (arbitration) awards came out, a marketplace began to surface."

Holland has around $6 million to get a goaltender, winger, and to sign Johan Franzen. Ideally, Holland would like to sign Franzen for three or four more years, but it's looking like Franzen will sign a one or two year deal. Franzen will be UFA eligible in 2008.

Wing sign defenseman Danny Markov

The Canadian Press has heard from a source that the Detroit Red Wings have agreed to a deal with defenseman Danny Markov. He played 58 games with Nashville last season where he had 11 assists, +9 rating, and 62 PIM. He missed some games last year due to a strained knee in mid-January and then an ankle injury on March 3rd (but returned on March 28th). Expect an official announcement later this afternoon.

If Markov can stay healthy this season, I'll be very happy with this signing.

Update: Markov agreed to a one year deal worth $2.5 million making me like this signing even more. Based on what people have said and Holland's expectations of Markov, we'll have a nice physical defensemen duo of Kronwall and Markov. I like it.

Sorry that I didn't update earlier, but Blogger was down last night when I tried to update (and this morning). I am working on transferring all my posts and stuff over to my new site so I'll let you all know when you can check it out.

Random Rambling
I went down to Cinci on Tuesday to see my surgeon. Since I can't keep perfect extension (how straight your leg can get - I'm like negative 5 degrees most of the time and you want 0 degrees), they decided to put a cast on me. I only have to wear it at night, but the actual casting process was prolly one of the most painful things I have ever experienced next to shingles pain and 24 hour post-op surgery pain. Why was it so painful? Well, my therapist had to press down on my cast as it was hardening while my ankle was propped up on a sink and my knee was suspended in mid-air. Imagine 50 pounds being pushed on your knee while it has no support and that is what I had to deal with. Yuck. I did get a free t-shirt though for my "hard work."

Wings close to signing top 4 defenseman

In the middle of the Eddie to Florida article in the Detroit Free Press, this little tidbit was thrown in.

The Wings, meanwhile, are close to signing a top-four defenseman. Holland wouldn't reveal a name, but it is someone who can play 20 minutes a night, indicating a shake-up to the rotation that finished last season's playoffs. Since the newcomer wouldn't bump Nicklas Lidstrom, Niklas Kronwall or Mathieu Schneider, presumably Brett Lebda, Andreas Lilja and Chris Chelios would rotate as the odd man out.

The Wings are also in the market for a forward to help amend the loss of Brendan Shanahan. In the past few days Holland has made offers to restricted free agent forwards Johan Franzen and Jason Williams, the latter of whom has an arbitration hearing scheduled for Monday if no deal is reached before then.

Possibilities for this top four defenseman would include Brian Leetch, Sean Hill, and Danny Markov. For Holland to acknowledge that he's almost close to signing this guy, it means that this deal is going to happen.

The Wings are also hoping to reach a deal with Williams before he goes to arbitration because that certainly is an unpleasant experience for both sides and with the way things are going, he could garner a high salary depending on the arbitrator.

Panthers sign Belfour

Psycho Eddie is no longer an option for the Detroit Red Wings, which is excellent news in my opinion. Belfour signed a one year deal with the Florida Panthers for $1.25 million, which was a lot higher than the Wings had even considered with Eddie recovering from back surgery.

"We had some interest in Belfour," Holland said. "Money was always a concern. His lower back was a risk. If we really had wanted to sign him bad enough, we would have moved. If I'd had brought him in, he'd have been intriguing -- but he's intriguing until the back goes."

So as we had previously thought, Holland will be looking for a number one goaltender via trade whether it's before the start of the season or before the trade deadline (similar to the Oilers acquiring Roloson).

Contest winner

I have emailed all of the contest participants informing them of the result and now that I've heard back from the winner, I'm happy to announce that Chad will be receiving a brand new SI Commemorative Edition: Steve Yzerman issue in the mail in the next few days. Thank you to all the entries. A couple of the entrants actually wrote mini-essays so I thought I'd post them here.

Jim:

I first discovered Steve Yzerman when I was watching the Canadiens/Kings Stanley Cup finals in 93. It was my first exposure to hockey (Dallas didn't have a team yet). During one of the intermissions, they had about a 1 minute clip on Yzerman, highlighting his past couple of great statistical seasons. After they finished showing highlights and describing the kind of player and leader he was, I was enthralled.. I thought "now there's a player I can identify with". From that moment on, I've been a hockey fanatic and Red Wings faithful.

Fast forward to 2 years ago, when I was playing an exhibition game at the American Airlines Center and blew out my ACL on a meaningless play and check. Like my idol, I couldn't hang it up if I could still skate.. my team was in the midst of our best season yet, the playoffs were a little over a month away, and I was a key center, Alternate Captain and leader on our team. So I let the swelling go down, strapped on a neoprene sleeve and a full brace every game, wrapped it all in tape, and took to the ice. Once or twice a game, the knee would slip or get hit out of alignment and I'd pick myself up off the ice and hobble to the bench, laying behind it and the other players until the pain subsided. It was painful, real painful. I know how Stevie must have felt, although his injury was a bit different. Battling to get back up on a blown out knee each game, I always visualized Yzerman and what he had done, and it got me through. My memories of his on-ice perseverance literally carried me during those 2 1/2 months of pain. But upon scoring the game-winning, series and Cup-clinching goal in our playoff run, I knew I had done one thing right. I'd appropriately honored the #19 I wore on my back. Stevie's been a big part of my life since that fateful day back in 93. I'm gonna miss him.

Olah:

I think the one that most opitimizes the type of warrior leader Yzerman is came in the 2002 playoffs, in Game 3, in over-time. Set the scene:

It's after midnight. Carolina Vs Detroit. Stanley Cup Finals. The series is tied at 1 game a piece. The score is tied, 2-2. It's over-time, baby!! There are shots ringing off the posts; a quarter of an inch and the Wings are victorious. Hasek is making saves like his life depends on it. Urbe is making saves like he's 2 feet taller than he really is. Then, there's Yzerman. Skating on one leg and still working like a lion to win it for the team, to be the hero that he always is. Personafying the very definitions of leadership, guts, heroism, and sacrifice. He's simply just being himself. Doing what he knows what to do. Just playing and being himself. There it is. Yzerman gets a pass and has an open net. Before his knee buckles underneath him, Urbe makes a supernatural slide and blocks Yzerman's sure thing empty net goal.

Yzerman falls down. Does a back-wards summersault. Looks up at the sky. Swears. And, smiles as he hobbles up on one leg. That smile is my favorite moment. It's like, who else could smile at a moment like that?!? You have basically only one leg. You've played more than one game in a row with the amount of periods on the clock. You just got a sure-thing goal robbed from you. And, you just... SMILE!!! Then, you just get back up on your one leg, hobble-skate away and just go back to work. That's my favorite moment. That smile. Yzerman in a gesture. That will stick out in my head forever, anytime I think about him and his career. The SMILE.

As most Wings fans have realized, the offseason has been pretty slow for us. Posts will start to pick up when the news does. Until that happens, I will be working on transferring this blog to my domain, behindthejersey.com. I am currently waiting for my (hopefully) future host to approve the order and I will be working very hard to get it up and running in the next couple of weeks.

Over the past couple of years, I've used my dad's company's server but it was one of his non-important ones so it went down a lot and would take forever to get back up. Now, I'm hoping no problems with the new hosts and I'll be using Wordpress (no more Blogger) and hopefully add some more interactive features. If you have a suggestion, please leave a comment or drop me an email!

7/20 Notes

Continue to send in entries for the SI Commemorative Edition contest by emailing me or leaving a comment (see the previous 2 posts for rules).

IwoCPO at Abel to Yzerman has an interview with MLive.com / Booth Newspaper writer Ansar Khan and his thoughts on the Wings.

Alanah at Vancouver Canucks Op Ed is participating in a Blogathon where she blogs every 30 minutes for 24 hours for charity. She's doing in on Saturday, July 29th, for the Canucks Place Children's Hospice so be sure to check out her blog and maybe even sponsor her (even a $1 pledge is great)!

It seems that Psycho Eddie may be heading to Florida and that would certainly not disappoint me. I say send him to warm Miami - at least he'll have plenty of bars/clubs to go to in his long offseason. :)

That would leave us with either our current tandem, Ozzie and Jimmy, or for us to acquire a goaltender via trade (ex. Biron).

As I've mentioned before, I've been watching/following the Tour de France although I have to admit I haven't been as diligent as I have been when Lance Armstrong and the Discovery Team were doing well. Anyways between the retirement and doping scandal, Floyd Landis (team = Phonak) was one of the top candidates to win this year's race. He remained in contention and even had the yellow jersey a couple times until yesterday when he tanked and lost 8 minutes and 8 seconds to the #1 guy. That is a huge time difference to make up with the race ending on July 23.

Anyways in today's stage (#17), Landis brokeaway early to win the stage get in the top 3 (after falling to 11th place yesterday). He's now only 30 seconds behind the guy in the yellow jersey. I'm rooting for Landis now that the Discovery team is sucking it up because he will be having a hip replacement right after the Tour. I can't imagine the pain he is fighting right now while racing.

I'm trying to come up with a hockey analogy to help you guys understand how amazing this is. It would be like winning all of the first three rounds of the playoffs either 4-0 or 3-1 and being the expected winner of the Stanley Cup finals. Then, that team loses the first 3 games only to come back and win it all. Granted, Landis hasn't won it yet, but yesterday they were all writing him off and today he could very well win it all. Quite impressive if you ask me...

I would like to apologize for the lack of real updates lately. My parents have been working really long hours lately so I get stuck with driving my brothers everywhere and doing the household responsibilities. Plus, my knee is giving me some trouble so I've been working on therapy stuff a lot and have to go to Cincinnati again next Tuesday. Plus, I'm heading up north again either tonight or tomorrow morning. I promise you that regular updates will return soon and hopefully my domain will get up in the near future as well. I'm also brainstorming new features for the blog. So thanks for your patience and understanding...Go Wings!

718 Notes

Some random notes...

Apparently, interest in my SI Commemorative Edition: Steve Yzerman contest is non-existent. It's probably because none of you have time or want to write a 500 word or less "essay" on No. 19. So to make it easier for you all, email me or leave a comment with your favorite Yzerman moment whether it be the day he was drafted, a specific game, an autograph signing, etc. (plus your name and email address). I will then randomly pick one person's moment and they will win the free copy. If this still doesn't garner interest, I'll put it up on eBay. You can send in an entry through Friday night. Good luck!

I removed some ads and links while adding others including a Wings forum section on the right. I am waiting on my Dad to get my hosting for my server up, which is difficult because his working hours are only increasing. Once the host is up (we're transferring it to our house), I will be hard at work on the behindthejersey.com including some extra sections I hope to have.

Paul at Kukla's Korner has added forums to his website. Definitely check it out for good hockey talk!

IwoCPO at Abel to Yzerman is back from vacation - yay! I missed his humor, which is needed in this incredibly slow offseason for Wings fans.

SI Yzerman Edition Contest

What: No. 19 Contest Where: Behind the Jersey Who: All the BtJ readers Prize: One copy of the Sports Illustrated Commemorative Edition: Steve Yzerman (and free shipping!) How do I enter? Drop me an email or leave a comment with your favorite Yzerman moment. It doesn't have to be longer than a sentence, but if you want to write feel free to go ahead because I'll post them on BtJ. I do need your name and email so I can contact you if you win. Deadline: Midnight on Friday, July 21st. Each person who submits a name will be written up on a slip of paper and then randomly selected. I will contact the person upon winning as well as make a special post on BtJ and list everyone's favorite moments to honor No. 19. Good luck!