Will this series be worth the staying up late when the Wings play at the Shark's home in San Jose?  It will be for this first reason to see how the Red Wings are going to defend Joe Thornton and Jonathan Cheechoo.  This series will have great defense against tremendous offensive skills and puck possession.  The test on the road for the Red Wings will be to generate offense from the defense.  Now this will not assume that the Wings will not score on their chances around the net of San Jose look at Dan Cleary and Henrik Zetterberg after the face off.  These two Red WINGS are good enough without defensive take aways.  The first reason as to why the Red Wings and SHARKS will be good watching is to see how the Wings will matchup and contain the first two lines throughout the seven game series.  Doing this on the road is a must for Detroit.  Otherwise it could out of hand and the Red Wings will have to win all four at home.  This will be another reason for the Shakrs and Wings being a series you will not want to miss.

      The second reason to turn on the television and watch this series is that I think the Sharks will take one when they are the Joe.  I am not going to give away the strategies that I think each team will use to win games on the road, I am not a coach.  But the team who wins two or more games on the road will win the series.  Propelling the team closer to the Stanley Cup.  Now after that I think that the Sharks are tough to beat and the Wings proved that they are to when they they had to better than good against the goalie in the last series against the Calgary Flames.  San Jose will not be shooting at a Red Wings net with Manny Legace but Dominik Hasek.  This is the second reason why hockey fans will want to watch the Sharks in Detroit, for them they will have to play better than good on the road.

     The third reason is to see when Todd Bertuzzi is going to have his game breaking goals and hits.  The other player on the Wings is Dan Cleary.  He shows up, plays tough and he moves the puck to score and that is it plain and simple he is a play maker.  Disagree? Tell me why.  But he was the best Red Wing in the series in Calgary, he is one reason why the Wings closed the series with a win on the road.  And if the Sharks think all they have to do is to take care of Dan that would be only be a small start.  But like Red Wings being tested in reason one the Sharks defense will be tested with four lines who shoot the puck and are not afraid of getting angry around the opponents net.

      Game on and watch Thursday.  It will be worth staying up late for.

Guidelines used:

  I used the following guidelines--they are of course open to debate and if you disagree with these guidelines and my decision that  this must be inclusive from all eras of hockey let me know an opinion why. The integral part of the guidelines of selections had to do with-- leadership, capable skating, passing and shooting on the breakaway-- and athleticism, playing through pain and to keep the momentum on the side of their team.  That is what defines athleticism.  Other guidelines of the thought process had to with overall awareness of where to go through the defense to score on the opposition.  

  So with out further delay here is the top 10 list......

10. Joe Thornton

9. Steve Yzerman

8. Frank Mahovlich

7. Guy Lafleur

6. Mark Messier

5. Maurice Richard

4. Gordie Howe

3. Wayne Gretzky

2. Mario Lemieux

1. Bobby Orr

    The other article left off with Ales Hemsky and rightfully so he is worthy of mention twice. Now we will pick up with the theme of offensive prowess once again with three more players who will be players to watch during the regular season and should be proven leaders by the playoffs of 2007.  Before commencing I will write about each team and its player to watch, the NHL is the best and fun to write about.

  Does everyone know who Sidney Crosby is?  Penguins Hockey 101; they are not moving from Pittsburgh and Mario Lemieux drafted perhaps one of the best athletes in the franchises history aside from Lemieux of course.  Sidney Crosby will be only be better this year, he scored alot of points last year and assited on alot of others goals, Sidney Crosby is a team player.  He came to the NHL as the Superstar last year he lived up to the billing and while doing so he made others on his team better.  In 2006-07 he has Mark Recchi on his team, who played with John LeClair while with the Flyers.  So the Penguins are shaping up the bench and the locker room with veteran players who are used to winning and have a fun attitude while losing a few games.  Sidney Crosby is a player to watch during NHL 2006-07 as he is ready to do more and his leadership will show up; he is the type of athlete that does not allow "sophomore slump" to be in his game.  He is the best under pressure and around the net he slips into coverage only to bury the puck while the defense is just catching up only to look over their shoulders to see the red light on. He has great balance while skating and can hit as well.  He is all around one of the best players in the new NHL.  Sidney Crosby might treat Penguins hockey fans to playoff hockey this year.

  Eric Staal of the Carolina Hurricanes is heading to the second season of his NHL career a winner, winner of a Stanley Cup and on a winning team in a new audience the NHL is hoping grows--in southern United States-- if people in the Carolinas would buy tickets and sell out games; which I hope they will so they can watch Eric Staal play a sport to its finest.  He can pass, shoot with accuracy, lead (this in the rookie season of his NHL career) and skate around his power play like a hornet waiting for an opportunity to sting the opposition and this Red Wings fan.  He is a player to watch this season his leadership among the core of the NHL's youth is the best because of the Grail and if the Canes reach the playoffs again fans in the Carolina's will mention his name in the same breath with Ron Francis.  While watching Eric Staal this season what should be amazing to watch is for the fan to pay attention to how Eric Staal will elude the big hits from Eastern Confrence defenses; as you can expect for teams in the NHL to key in on him for this year, this will test his leadership, attitude and his prowess as a major offensive contributor for his team, when Erick Cole returns he will help take some of the pressure off Eric Staal, look for Staal to excel in the assist column so he can better set up his team to win and then he will reap the rewards in the goals scored column of his 2006-07 stats.

  Joe Thornton is a proven leader and the management in the San Jose Sharks organization traded for one of my favorite players, he is big but hard to bring down.  He can  pass the puck with finesse but his shot is not only a canon but a cannonade, meaning he can score from over 60 feet away from the goal.  He is the best player and leader in the league right now because of Steve Yzreman's retirement.  After thinking about the Sharks and the players they have to watch like Jonathan Cheechoo and Patrick Marleau, the decision to pick only one playre to watch from the San Jose Shark team was hard.  What finally made the decision easier is remembering that one player San Jose needed last year; and the answer is Joe Thornton, why? Jonathan Cheehcoo was the beneficiary of Joe Thornton assists and Patrick Marleau accpeted the challenges that Joe Thornton gave him during the intermissions in the locker room discussions.  So to sum it up Joe Thornton  makes this team better and he is the player to watch in NHL 2006-07.  And the Sharks are one of the  teams to watch.  Joe Thornton would make any team better.  He is now that player in the NHL that can be called the player who is "the complete package."

What do goaltenders do when they prepare to stare down Joe Thornton, Jonathan Cheechoo and the rest of the Sharks? Keep doing the same thing as always and have fun doing it.  Manny Legace has earned the responsibility of playoff goaltender for the Red Wings.  Mike Babcock did give him two days off last week and it was needed to refocus Manny Legace.  Two five goal games against heading into the playoffs so Manny dealt with it and did make the best use of that time. He saw Chris Osgood play winning goaltending and make the big crucial saves.

"Chris Osgood would have been that goaltender Vancouver or Edmonton needed on deadline day" and Manny recieved that message loud and clear.  Manny shut down an eventual playoff opponent and the NHL's number two leading scorer last night,  Joe Thornton.  Sure this was another moment this season for the Red Wings defining team play and Manny was the backstop again making the crucial saves.

2005-06 shutout number 6 for Manny Legace came against a energetic San Jose Sharks team.  The Detroit Red Wings energized, focused, ready, and the "winged wheelers" have great goaltending, team play and coaching heading into the playoffs for the Lord Stanley Cup.

-_X_ LGRW