Detroit Red Wings Clips
August 22, 2014
Detroit Red Wings
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Red Wings' Johan Franzen remains valuable as scorer
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Red Wings outlook: Hard work and grit earned Luke Glendening a spot in
the lineup; can he keep it?
PAGE 5
Regner: Wings coach Babcock earned right to wait and see
Red Wings' Johan Franzen remains valuable as scorer
By Helene St. James
Detroit Free Press Sports Writer
Deep into the NHL off-season, Free Press sports writer Helene St. James takes an
analytical look at individual Red Wings and assesses expectations for the coming
season:
Today’s focal point
Forward Johan Franzen
Looking at numbers: Had 16 goals and 25 assists for 41 points in 56 games. Had two
assists in five playoff games.
Looking at money: Has six years left on contract with an annual cap hit of $3.95 million.
Actual salary for 2014-15 is $5 million.
Looking back: Franzen’s scoring put him on pace for 37 goals. Adjust for being a
streaky scorer like so many others, and it’s still fair to suggest he could have scored
around 25-30 had he been healthy for the whole season. Instead he was dealing with a
concussion, one he is considered to have come back from too soon the first time.
Franzen demonstrated his hot hand coming out of the Olympic break when he scored
six goals in four games, but then had a quiet rest of spring.
Looking ahead: The Wings have not and are not trading Franzen because he scores
goals at a rate very amenable to his salary-cap hit. His health was an issue last season
(as it was in the case of so many of his teammates), but he played 41 of 48 games the
previous year. Franzen became something of a phenomenon after the goals poured in
during the 2008 and 2009 playoffs, after which came near 30-goal seasons in 2010-11
and 2011-12. He hasn’t dominated to that extent since, but he remains a scoring threat
opponents have to honor.
Also, at 6-foot-3, 220-plus pounds, he is the Wings’ biggest forward.
Franzen, 34, is not a fiery guy by nature, leading both teammates and coaches to joke
about how to light a fire under him. Usually if he flares up during a game, it’s because
an opponent manages to get under Franzen’s skin, much to the Wings’ delight. When
he’s on his game, Franzen goes through anyone in his way and scores. He’s streaky
about that, but the bottom line is that he’s a 20-goal scorer on a $4-million cap hit, and
that makes him a good value overall in today’s NHL.
Detroit Free Press LOADED: 08.22.2014
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Red Wings outlook: Hard work and grit earned Luke Glendening a spot in the
lineup; can he keep it?
Ansar Khan | akhan1@mlive.com By Ansar Khan | akhan1@mlive.com
on August 21, 2014 at 6:04 AM, updated August 21, 2014 at 12:20 PM
Luke Glendening
Position: Center
Age: 25
Height/Weight: 5-11/195
2013-14 stats: 56 games, one goal, six assists, seven points, minus-8 rating, 22 penalty
minutes; (playoffs) five games, one goals, no assists, one point, minus-2 rating, no
penalty minutes.
Career stats: Same as 2013-14 stats.
Contract status: Three years remaining at a salary-cap hit of $628,333. He'll be an
unrestricted free agent when the deal expires.
2013-14 in review: Started the season in Grand Rapids and moved back and forth from
the Griffins to the Red Wings five times before earning a permanent spot on the NHL
roster on Dec. 31. ... Centered the fourth line most of the season and was a regular on
the penalty kill, averaging 2:43 per game shorthanded, second on the team among
forwards. ... Ranked fourth on the team in hits (92). ... Won only 48.5 percent of his
faceoffs. ... Scored his lone career goal on April 5 in Montreal, in his 52nd game. It's the
longest a Red Wing has ever gone before scoring his first goal. ... Scored his first
playoff goal in Game 2 vs. Boston. ... Was the only player to appear in the
organization's two outdoor games – for the Griffins on Dec. 30 at Comerica Park and for
the Red Wings in the Jan. 1 Winter Classic at Michigan Stadium. ... Recorded 12 points
(five goals, seven assists) in 18 games for Grand Rapids.
2014-15 outlook: The former Michigan captain quickly became one of coach Mike
Babcock's favorite players because of his grit, determination and work ethic. Glendening
seized an opportunity, due to a rash of injuries, to secure the fourth-line center spot. He
maintained it over Joakim Andersson late in the season when the team got healthier. He
brings a different dimension than most of the other forwards with his physical play and
abrasiveness. He needs to be hard to play against to be effective. Babcock occasionally
matched him up against the opponent's top center. With the team's depth at center
(Pavel Datsyuk, Henrik Zetterberg, Stephen Weiss, Riley Sheahan, Darren Helm,
Joakim Andersson), Glendening could end up playing the wing, where he played much
of collegiate and AHL career, on the fourth line with Helm. He's not counted on for
offense but it helps when your fourth line and contribute some points, so Glendening
must produce more than he did last season. He also needs to improve in the faceoff
circle, if he stays at center.
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Key question: If Glendening, Andersson and Daniel Cleary are competing for one spot
in the lineup, who should win that battle?
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Michigan Live LOADED: 08.22.2014
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Regner: Wings coach Babcock earned right to wait and see
By Art Regner / FOX Sports Detroit
Mike Babcock, a 1986 graduate of McGill University in Quebec, Canada, moved to
Great Britain to become a player-coach with the Whitley Warriors in 1987.
In just 49 games for the Warriors, he had 45 goals and an astounding 127 assists to go
along with 123 penalty minutes. And Babcock's team finished the year two points away
from winning the league title.
It was his first coaching stint, and the following year he left England to become the head
coach at Red Deer College in Alberta, Canada, where he spent three years and won the
Provincial Collegiate championship and coach of the year honors in 1989.
From Red Deer College, Babcock moved on to coach the Moose Jaw Warriors of the
Western Hockey League for two years, spent the next year (1993-94) as the coach at
Lethbridge College in Alberta, Canada, and then returned to the WHL to coach the
Spokane Chiefs, where he spent six seasons (1995-96 through 1999-2000).
His first professional coaching job -- Whitley doesn't count -- was with Anaheim's
American Hockey League affiliate, the Cincinnati Mighty Ducks, where Babcock spent
two season (2000-02) before being named head coach of the Mighty Ducks.
After two seasons at the helm in Anaheim (2002-04), where he came within a game of
winning the 2003 Stanley Cup, Babcock chose not to return to the Mighty Ducks after
the 2004-05 NHL lockout.
Instead, he became Red Wings coach in July 2005 and has been in Detroit ever since.
How much longer Babcock stays here is a question that's been talked about a lot lately
because the upcoming season is the final one on his current contract.
He's roamed Europe, Canada and the United States as a head coach -- from Whitley to
Detroit -- and his teams at each stop have been extremely successful. As a result, his
reputation has also blossomed.
Babcock has worked his tail off to be where he is today -- on the cusp of being a
coveted free agent in 2015.
If I were Babcock, I wouldn't sign an extension with the Wings right now. He owes it to
himself and his family to explore every option that comes his way before he signs
anything.
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Babcock's next deal is a culmination of a lifetime of hard work, and he's about to be paid
back for a nomadic coaching lifestyle that's seen him constantly uproot himself and his
family.
Over the last 27 years, Babcock has lived in England, several Canadian provinces and
four U.S. states.
His ship is about to come in, and he'll dictate his next -- and, in all likelihood, his final -NHL coaching destination.
That's not to say that Babcock is signed, sealed and delivered out of Detroit. He likes it
here and has a good working relationship with Wings GM Ken Holland. And perhaps
last season's forced youth movement has rejuvenated his desire to stay in Detroit.
"I am not overly concerned because of my relationship with Mike Babcock," Holland told
me about Babcock's contract situation. "I'm the manager and he's the coach, but I would
say he's also a friend. We work well together. We have a great relationship.
"It will get done when it gets done. We'll sit down in September and hopefully find a
solution. And if not, Mike and I will have an open, great relationship, and we'll continue
to talk about it as we go along. I'm confident we'll find a solution to keep Mike."
Unfortunately for the Wings, it's not their decision. They want Babcock back, but a lot of
NHL teams will line up to give their sales pitch.
Who knows? Maybe Babcock's nomadic spirit is restless once again.
If we've learned anything about Babcock's coaching career, he isn't afraid to make a
move.
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