RED WINGS SIGN DEFENSEMAN BRENDAN SMITH TO THREE-YEAR ENTRY LEVEL DEAL

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RED WINGS SIGN DEFENSEMAN BRENDAN SMITH

...Hobey Baker Finalist Inks Three-Year Entry Level Deal With Detroit…

Detroit, MI... Detroit Red Wings General Manager Ken Holland announced today that the club has signed defenseman Brendan Smith to a three-year entry level contract. In accordance with team policy, additional terms of the deal were not disclosed.

Smith, 21, was Detroit’s first round draft pick (27th overall) in the 2007 National Hockey League Entry Draft. The Mimico, ONT native spent the past three seasons playing for the Wisconsin Badgers of the Western Collegiate Hockey Association under the watch of head coach Mike Eaves, the father of Red Wings forward, Patrick Eaves.

“Brendan improved tremendously in each of his three seasons at Wisconsin,” said Holland. “He was a dominant player at the collegiate level, in particular at his position, and we feel he is ready to take the next step in his career at the professional level. We look forward to having him at training camp in Traverse City in September.”

Smith enjoyed a stellar junior season at Wisconsin in 2009-10, leading the nation in defense scoring with 15 goals and 52 points. He was one of ten finalists for the Hobey Baker Award, given annually to the nation’s top collegiate hockey player. The 6’2” 190-pound blue-liner was named to the All-WCHA First Team and also took home honors as the WCHA Defensive Player of the Year. Smith became the first Badger defenseman to record 50 points in a season since 1989-90 and the first to post at least 10 power-play goals in a season since 1979-80. In three seasons at Wisconsin, Smith collected 87 points (26-61-87) and 177 PIM.

Brendan Smith, Defense
Born Feb 8 1989 -- Mimico, ONT
Height 6.02 -- Weight 190 -- Shoots L

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Statement from Marian & Michael Ilitch on Steve Yzerman leaving the Red Wings

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"Today is a difficult day for us, just as we know it is for Red Wings fans everywhere. It's hard to imagine Steve Yzerman in anything other than the red and white Winged Wheel as he has been synonymous with the Red Wings and Hockeytown for as long as most of us can remember! We want to congratulate Steve on his new position with the Tampa Bay Lightning. This is an exciting and well-deserved opportunity for him and his family, and we know he will do a terrific job in this next chapter of his life. Yet, this is not easy -- we're having a difficult time, frankly, because Stevie's been with us from the start and we consider him part of our family. We drafted him as a young and shy 18 year old -- just a year after we bought the team -- and he has been part of it all: the ups and downs, highs and lows, the Cups, the celebrations, really everything Red Wings over the last 27 years. We watched him grow and develop over the years into a Hall of Fame player, a wonderful husband and father and now, a very capable executive. We appreciate all Stevie has done for us, our organization and this community, and we wish him all the best. Stevie Y will always be a Red Wing and he'll always be in our hearts."

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Red Wings VP Steve Yzerman Named GM of Tampa Bay

By AJ Petronzi
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After 27 years as a player and Vice President for the Detroit Red Wings, Steve Yzerman will leave Hockeytown to take the General Manager position for the Tampa Bay Lightning, as was announced by the Lightning at a press conference on Tuesday.

Tampa Bay hasn’t made the playoffs since the 2006-2007 season, since then they’ve finished a league worst 30th place in 2008, 29th in 2009, and 25th for 2010.

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Chicago Sweeps San Jose – Hossa Gets Third Attempt At Cup

By AJ Petronzi
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Chicago sweeped San Jose with a 4-2 win Sunday to send Marian Hossa to his third straight Stanley Cup final, all with different teams.

Can the determination of Blackhawks like Dustin Byfuglien and Duncan Keith overcome the Hossa curse? Byfuglien netted three game winning goals in the San Jose series and Keith returned to the Chicago blueline last night after loosing seven teeth when the puck hit him in the face midway through the second period.

Hossa has two goals and nine assists in 16 playoffs games this season. The Hawks scoring leader is Jonathan Toews who has contributed 26 points, also in 16 games.

With the loss, San Jose becomes the first team to eliminate the Red Wings from the playoffs and not make the Stanley Cup Finals since the Los Angeles Kings in 2001.

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Best of Bob Probert & Joey Kocur

By Denny McLainIn Play on Facebook

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RED WINGS SIGN MATTIAS RITOLA TO THREE-YEAR DEAL

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...Swedish Forward Will Vie For Roster Spot In 2010-11 …

Detroit, MI... Detroit Red Wings General Manager Ken Holland announced today that the club has signed forward Mattias Ritola to a three-year contract. In accordance with team policy, additional terms of the deal were not disclosed.

Ritola, 23, was Detroit’s fourth round pick (103rd overall) in the 2005 National Hockey League Entry Draft. The Borlange, Sweden native has spent the past three seasons with the Grand Rapids Griffins of the American Hockey League. In 2009-10, he scored a career-high 19 goals and tied a career high with 42 points. In 211 career games with the Griffins, he has 106 points (41-65-106) and 144 penalty minutes.

“Mattias showed steady improvement in each of his three years in the American Hockey League’” said Holland. “We look forward to having him come into training camp this September ready to take the next step and compete for a job on our roster.”

Ritola has played in seven career NHL games with Detroit. He recorded his first career point when he assisted on a Tomas Kopecky goal on March 16, 2008 at Columbus. Ritola appeared in five regular season games with the Red Wings in 2009-10, averaging 11:41 of ice time and made his Stanley Cup Playoffs debut on May 6, 2010 in Detroit’s 7-1 win over the San Jose Sharks in Game Four of the Western Conference Semifinals.

Mattias Ritola, Left Wing
Born Mar 14 1987 -- Borlange, Sweden
Height 5.11 -- Weight 205 -- Shoots L
Selected by Detroit Red Wings in 4th Round (#103 overall) of 2005 NHL Entry Draft

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Flyers Make NHL History – Conference Finals Set

By AJ Petronzi
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After the Detroit media made such a big deal about the Red Wings having the chance to become the third team in NHL history to recover from being down three games to none in a best of seven series, the Philadelphia Flyers eliminated the Boston Bruins last night to take that honor.

Even more amazing was that the Flyers also become the third team in NHL history to overcome a three goal deficit in a game seven. In what was a microcosm of the series, Boston stepped out to a three goal advantage before Philadelphia came back and scored four unanswered goals. They then held Boston off the board, Boston's best scoring opportunity coming on two six on fives, the first of which they’d neglected to pull their goalie on.

The Flyers, the East’s seventh seed, will face Montreal, the East’s eight seed and the team which has eliminated both Washington and Pittsburgh from the playoffs, on Sunday in the conference finals. San Jose, the West’s first seed, will face on Sunday the West’s number two seed, the Chicago Blackhawks.

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RED WINGS SIGN RIGHT WING MITCHELL CALLAHAN

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...Physical Forward Inks Three-Year Entry Level Deal…

Detroit, MI... The Detroit Red Wings announced today that the club has signed forward Mitchell Callahan to a three-year entry level contract. In accordance with team policy, additional terms of the deal were not disclosed.

Callahan, 18, was Detroit’s sixth round draft pick (180th overall) in the 2009 National Hockey League Entry Draft. The Whittier, California native spent the past two seasons playing with the Kelowna Rockets of the Western Hockey League. In 2009-10, he posted 47 points (20-27-47) in 72 games for the Rockets, while registering 165 penalty minutes.

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RED WINGS' SEASON ENDS WITH 2-1 LOSS IN SAN JOSE

By AJ Petronzi
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Despite scoring the opening goal, the Detroit Red Wings were dropped 2-1 by the San Jose Sharks to be eliminated 4-1 in the Western Conference Semi-Finals.

Brian Rafalski broke open the score sheet tonight before Joe Thornton tied the game up a couple minutes later. Jimmy Howard stopped Joe Pavelski on a penalty shot but after a no-call on a high hit on Franzen, Patrick Marleau scored the season ender for the Red Wings.

This game featured the same questionable calls, going both ways, as every other game this series, but there is no way to look past San Jose’s domination of the first and third period. Detroit couldn’t get any meaningful pressure in those two periods, but Evgeni Nabokov kept the game tied when Detroit had all the control in the second. San Jose should put to rest what everyone has said about them choking in the playoffs with their domination of this series. Going forward for San Jose is the fact that the last team to eliminate Detroit from the playoffs, but not make the Stanley Cup Finals, was the Las Angeles Kings in 2001.

In Play! Man of the Game: Joe Thornton. Thornton had a slow start to the series, but after Pavelski was shut down, Thornton stepped up and got the job done. He finished tonight with the tying goal and the only assist on the game winner.

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Red Wings Win 7-1 and Force Game 5

By AJ Petronzi
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The Detroit Red Wings have forced game five with San Jose and now is down 3-1 in the series with a dominating win in Detroit.

Todd Bertuzzi scored first tonight after Johan Franzen bounced the puck off him into the net. Franzen then broke loose with a natural hat-trick, all before the 12 minute mark of the game. Valtteri Filppula scored to make the game 5-0 before the end of the first. Brian Rafalski tore open the wound even further before Danny Heatley netted San Jose’s only marker. Franzen scored again in the third to close the night.

The Wings brought the game hard to San Jose early, just as they did in game three. However, Johan Franzen was devastating in the opening period and buried San Jose single handedly. When San Jose tried to get back into the game, Jimmy Howard shut the door and the Wings kept throwing pucks into the net. The Sharks backup goalie, Thomas Greiss, put up a great performance in the third to keep Detroit from running away any further. After the game, Todd McLellan likened the Wings' attack to a hurricane.

In Play! Man of the Game: Johan Franzen. Franzen scored four goals tonight and took the shot that lead to the deflection on the first goal. Franzen’s hat-trick, scored over a time frame of 3:36 in the first, was the second fastest in NHL playoff history, only two seconds slower than Tim Kerr’s scored in 1985.

ADDED BONUS:
POST GAME INTERVIEWS WITH JOHAN FRANZEN, TODD BERTUZZI, HENRIK ZETTERBERG, NICKLAS LIDSTROM AND JUSTIN ABDELKADER.



POST GAME AUDIO WITH MIKE BABCOCK




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Johan Franzen Opens Game 4 With Hat-Trick

By AJ Petronzi
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Johan Franzen opened tonight’s game four with four goals. While his first goal has been credited to Todd Bertuzzi since, Franzen did manage a natural hat-trick to follow the effort. Brad Stuart is doubtful to return tonight after suffering a lower body injury.

The game is still in progress but Detroit leads 5-0 after the First Period.

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Red Wings Fall In OT, Down 3-0 In Series

By AJ Petronzi
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After having an early goal called back, The Detroit Red Wings fell 4-3 in overtime to the San Jose Sharks to go down 0-3 in the series.

Henrik Zetterberg netted the first goal tonight, but the goal was stripped away. Tomas Holmstrom and Dan Cleary scored next before Devin Setoguchi cut into the lead. Zetterberg responded with another goal, but Joe Thornton and Logan Couture tied the game. Patrick Marleau scored the overtime game winner.

Detroit outplayed San Jose for the first 40 minutes tonight before the Sharks pushed back. Refereeing was not as large of an issue tonight, still there was a goal called back and Detroit’s second goal was also reviewed. Penalties in this game still favored San Jose, but the calls were much better merited. San Jose’s step up player these playoffs, Joe Pavelski, was held to only an assist tonight.

In Play! Man of the Game: Joe Thornton. Thornton scored a goal tonight and set up the overtime winner.

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Red Wings Drop Game Two 4-3

By AJ Petronzi
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In one of the worst displays of refereeing in NHL history, the Detroit Red Wings lost to the San Jose Sharks 4-3 to go down 2-0 in the second round of the playoffs.

Pavel Datsyuk opened the score sheet tonight with an unassisted effort before Joe Pavelski and Ryane Clowe put San Jose up a goal. Tomas Holmstrom and Nick Lidstrom answered to give Detroit the one goal lead, but Pavelski and Joe Thornton scored to give San Jose the victory.

Tonight’s first period went to San Jose, but Detroit commandingly dominated the second period. The third period tonight went to the officials, however. Detroit wasn’t able to do anything without taking a penalty while San Jose wasn’t held to that same standard. Pavelski’s tying goal came from two bad calls that led to a 5 on 3, yet when the goal was scored, Detroit’s goalie Jimmy Howard was being held out of the crease by San Jose's Danny Heatley. Detroit has outplayed San Jose in both games this series, but has just been out officiated down the stretch.

In Play! Men of the Game: Kevin Pollock and Brad Watson. Watson and Pollock combined for possibly the worst display of officiating in NHL history. The pair called two questionable calls against San Jose, but followed those with eight even more questionable calls against Detroit.

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