Detroit Red Wings fans, in recent times, have been spoiled when it comes to retaining their stars. Their top two players over the past four decades, Steve Yzerman and Nick Lidstrom, never wore another NHL jersey except the one with the Winged Wheel.

Can you imagine seeing Steve Yzerman wearing a Pittsburgh Penguins jersey? How about Nicklas Lidstrom decked out in Montreal threads?

Detroit fans were fortunate that their stars wanted to play their entire careers with one organization, like Patrice Bergeron recently did with the Boston Bruins.

The post The Five: Ex-Red Wings Who Looked Odd in Rival Jersey (+) appeared first on Detroit Hockey Now.

It’s been a disappointing second half of the season for the Detroit Red Wings to say the least. But they do have a chance to boast a league leader at the end of the campaign.

Right winger Givani Smith is currently sitting second overall in the NHL with 108 penalty minutes. He’s trailing only Nashville Predators defenseman Mark Borowiecki (114 PIM).

Anotha member of the 100 Pims Club! Welcome future Trasher Givani Smith to the #100PIMS Club! #FutureTrasher pic.twitter.com/203coXoqVS

— Danbury Trashers Fight Club (@DanburyTrasherz) March 23, 2022

Unfortunately, currently sidetracking Smith’s pursuit of the title is an undisclosed injury that’s keeping him out of the lineup. He’s been missing the past two games. Smith is showing as day-to-day as the Wings are preparing to to clash with the Pittsburgh Penguins on Sunday (5 p.m. ET) at PPG Paints Arena.

Smith is the first Red Wings player to hit the century mark in PIM since Justin Abdelkader (120) in 2015-16.

Learning On The Job

In his first full NHL season, he was playing perhaps his best hockey of the season when Smith was injured.

“He’s growing into his game,” Red Wings teammate and sometimes Smith linemate Sam Gagner said. “He understands what’s expected of him. I think he’s starting to create a little offense and he’s been good on the forecheck and hunting pucks back and making plays.

“He continues to get better and he works hard at it.”

With his toughness and willingness to mix it up with opponents, the 6-foot-2, 215-pound Smith certainly brings a presence to the Detroit lineup that few others on the roster are capable of delivering.

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“Whatever your role is, you gotta find a way to make an impact,” Gagner said. “Not every guy can be a 20-minute-a-night guy, play on special teams, play big minutes. You still have to find a way to have an impact.

“I think Smitty’s done that. He gets under opponent’s skins, he’s been really good at getting in on the forecheck and creating havoc for teams trying to break the puck out. In his opportunities I really think he’s done a great job.”

Smith Enthusiastic About Dropping The Mitts

Another factor that Smith is providing to the Detroit lineup is a willingness to answer the bell and drop the gloves. It could be when he’s of the opinon that teammates are being wrongfully victimized, or if he senses a need to be creating a momentum shift in a game.

He’s been a willing combatant with several NHL heavyweights. Smith has fought Philadelphia’s Zach MacEwen and Calgary’s Milan Lucic twice each. He’s also tangled with Borowiecki, as well as Minnesota’s Nicolas Deslauriers and Jacob Middleton.

“He obviously brings a different element in the fact that he’s such a good fighter,” Gagner said. “He’s done a great job there every time he’s answered the bell.”

With nine fights this season, Smith is on the brink of becoming the first Red Wings player with 10 fights in a season since Brad May in 2009-10. The last Red Wings player to fight 11 times in a single season was Darren McCarty in 1997-98.

Smith Could End 34-Year Red Wings Drought

You have to go back to the days of the Bruise Brothers to locate a Red Wings player leading the NHL in penalty minutes. It was Bob Probert who did so in 1987-88. collecting a club-record 398 PIM in the process. Two seasons earlier in 1985-86, Joe Kocur (377 PIM) also topped the league.

Bob probert pic.twitter.com/adOU8xvqWf

— Terry K (@terrykack23) March 20, 2022

Howie Young in 1962-63 (273 PIM), Jack Stewart in 1945-46 (73 PIM), Jimmy Orlando in 1942-43 (89 PIM) and 1940-41 (99 PIM) and Harvey Rockburn in 1930-31 (118 PIM) are other Detroit players to have finished an NHL season leading the league in penalty minutes.

The post Red Wings Smith A Contender To Lead NHL In PIM appeared first on Detroit Hockey Now.

For  Bob Probert and Brendan Shanahan fans out there, please note that today is the 25th anniversary of the Brendan Shanahan vs. Probert fight.

Some of you may not even know that the two legendary Red Wings once fought. The bout occurred on Dec. 12, 1996 when Probert was playing for the Blackhawks and Shanny was wearing the Winged Wheel.

Probert ignited it by taking a swing at Detroit goalie Chris Osgood. Shanahan went after Probert to protect Osgood. This video will take you down memory lane.

Bob Probert vs Brendan Shanahan, Blackhawks at Red Wings Dec 12, 1996 https://t.co/h16f21REGe

— hockeyfights (@hockeyfights) December 12, 2015

Here is what is happening in the NHL today:

Rumor of the Day

Elliotte Friedman reports that the early candidates for the Vancouver Canucks vacant GM position include Seattle Kraken assistant GM Jason Botterill. He worked under Jim Rutherford in Pittsburgh. Friedman said Pittsburgh’s AGM Patrik Allvin  is a “dark horse candidate.”

Around the NHL

Detroit: Evander Kane made his season debut, and the Red Wings were one of six teams with a scout in attendance. 

Boston: The Bruins climbed into the Easten Conference second wild-card position with a big win Saturday night. 

Buffalo: The lowly Sabres thought they tied a game against the New York Rangers Friday. However, the goal was reviewed and waved off. Now, the NHL admits that the reviewers made an error. The goal should have stood, but the Sabres lost. 

Calgary: Hockey Now’s Steve Macfarland asks whether Jake DeBrusk is the next Sam Bennett? After Calgary traded Bennett, he had a breakthrough season with Florda. Will DeBrusk do the same? Are the Flames interested?

Dallas: The city’s Morning News reported  that after working for more than a year to recover from a serious knee injury Ben Bishop retired and will remain on LTIR.

Pittsburgh: How did the Penguins contain Anaheim? Which Penguins lines were worthy of extra praise? You can watch the postgame wrap-up here. 

Washington: Defenseman Martin Fehervary was able to play Saturday after surviving a significant hit by Brock McGinn against the Penguins on Friday night. However, Tom Wilson didn’t travel with the Capitals because of his injury

Montreal: Cole Caufield is slumping this season. Are the Canadiens failing Caufield?

San Jose: Fans banged on the glass behind Sharks goalie James Reimer and wouldn’t stop. They were trying to get Reimer’s attention. Here is what the Sharks fans noticed. 

The post The Daily: Probie and Shanny Fought 25 Years Ago Today appeared first on Detroit Hockey Now.

Tyler Bertuzzi will miss nine Detroit Red Wings games because he is the NHL’s lone non-vaccinated player.

But Bertuzzi isn’t the first Red Wing prohibited from playing in Canada.

The U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service barred Bob Probert, a Canadian citizen, from leaving the United States after he pleaded guilty to importing cocaine in 1989. Had Probert left the United States he would not have been allowed to return.

The late Probert went 1,461 days between games in Canada. He played Dec. 10, 1988, scoring a goal in an 8-2 win at Toronto. His next game in Canada was on December 9, 1992, a 5-3 loss at Toronto.

The Red Wings haven’t played as well without Tyler Bertuzzi, going 0-2 in Canada. They have given up 11 goals in the losses to Toronto and Montreal. They play the Canadiens again tonight in Montreal without Bertuzzi.

Hard Winning Without Tyler Bertuzzi

Back when Probert couldn’t enter Canada, the Red Wings also have trouble winning without him.
The Wings were 14-26-9 without Probert in Canada. They didn’t win a single game at Montreal or Vancouver during that time. They had a losing record in every Canadian city except Edmonton and Quebec.

When Tyler Bertuzzi isn’t in the lineup, the Red Wings don’t seem to have the same jump. He is a high energy player and the Red Wings feed off the energy. When Probert wasn’t in the lineup, the Red Wings weren’t as tough. The team’s offensive players were more vulnerable and had a little less room on the ice.

Probert served a three-month sentence in a correctional facility in Rochester, Minn., and three months in a rehabilitation center near Detroit. The NHL suspended Probert March 4, 1989, and reinstated him March 9, 1990.

In December, 1992, the INS lifted Probert’s travel band, saying the player had fulfilled his sentence requirements after his conviction.  Those included giving anti-substance abuse lectures to children and submitting to regular drug testing.

The post Red Wings Had Canada Ban with Probie Before Tyler Bertuzzi Was Born appeared first on Detroit Hockey Now.

June 7, 1997, saw the Detroit Red Wings winning the Stanley Cup for the first time since 1955. On that occasion, I was the one deemed with the task of selecting the game’s three stars. My name is right there on the official scoresheet, on the same page as Nicklas Lidstrom, Steve Yzerman, and Darren McCarty, scorer of the Cup-winning goal. 

I began covering the Wings for the Windsor Star in 1988. In 1991, the same year that rookies Lidstrom and Vladimir Konstantinov were joining the club’s defense, saw me gaining promotion to be the main beat writer covering the team. 

Over three decades, I’ve been witness to plenty of triumph and tragedy. I covered the last games that Konstantinov and Jiri Fischer played. I was there for the first in Wings history for Dylan Larkin and McCarty. I’ve covered six coaches and three GMs, four Stanley Cup final triumphs and two heartbreaking losses. 

Perhaps it was destiny that I’d one day cover this team. As a youngster growing up in Toronto, my absolute favorite NHL player was Terry Sawchuk. 

Advice From The Dominator

Years later, Dominik Hasek, another legendary Wings netminder, discovered I was also a goaltender. Hasek would happily sit and talk goalie stuff with me as if I was his equal in terms of puckstopping (I am not). In my late 40s, one day I allowed to Hasek that I was considering hanging up my pads. He asked if my game was suffering. Informing him that in fact, I was actually playing quite well, The Dominator fixed a serious glance toward me. Sternly he remarked, “Then you must play.” I kept playing.

In high school, Murray Howe, Gordie’s youngest son, was my 12th-grade chemistry lab partner. He was in Toronto playing junior B for the Seneca Nats. It would prove to be the first of many wonderful encounters with the Howe family.

My first full-time newspaper gig was in Saskatoon. The first home I ever purchased was a stone’s throw from Floral. That’s the tiny Saskatchewan town where Mr. Hockey was born. 

While in Saskatoon I was offered the job in Windsor that led to my chance to cover the team. 

Telling Their Tales

Over the years while covering the team, I’ve been blessed with the opportunity to write official biographies with many Wings legends. Howe, Yzerman, Ted Lindsay, Lidstrom, Bob Probert, Joe Kocur and Marcel Pronovost are all among that group. I worked with Budd Lynch and Ken Daniels, Wings broadcasters of different eras, on their books. I also wrote the History of Hockeytown, the authorized history of the team.

I’ve interviewed Pete Palangio, who played for the 1927-28 Detroit Cougars, and Pete Kelly, who scored Detroit’s first-ever Stanley Cup-winning goal. In three decades, the games have piled up to the point where I long ago lost count. The opportunity, desire and excitement to tell stories has never waned, though. 

No matter the era, there are always compelling stories. Detroit Hockey Now offers a new opportunity to share them with you. I hope you’ll join us for the ride.

And please subscribe to DHN+, where we will share our deeper analysis, feature stories and exclusive news. Support hard-hitting, in-depth coverage of the Detroit Red Wings. Join us here. 

The post Duff: I’m Back With More Detroit Red Wings Stories To Tell appeared first on Detroit Hockey Now.