Power Post: When there are so many things worth writing a short post about, throw them all together. Let's roll.

OLYMPIC CONNECTIONS

The big news today was that a ton of Olympic rosters came out. I'm a few days behind on that, as the only thing I wrote about was that Sergei Kolosov being left off the Belarussian roster. I just wanted to take a second to break down each team based on connections to the Red Wings, and then direct you to the new poll question on the right hand side of the page.

BELARUS: Like I just said, Kolosov didn't make the roster, but I did leave out that Belarus' assistant coach Dave Lewis (yep) is going to be personally scouting Kolosov over the next month and will make a decision as to whether or not he's on the roster. Why that's likely not going to work out can be seen a few sections from here.

CANADA: No surprise, but Detroit's only camp attendee, Dan Cleary, was not selected to the final roster. But Detroit still has a big hand in this team, as Steve Yzerman selected the roster -- with some help from Ken Holland, and Mike Babcock will be coaching the team.

CZECH REPUBLIC: A couple connections on this team, though no actual Wings. Probably the biggest deal is that Jiri Hudler was not selected. This is not a total surprise, as I recall the Czech Federation of Whatever was not to happy with the way Hudler left for the KHL. Given that the forward core includes two Czech league players and two KHLers, Hudler was likely a snub. Also, while I don't consider him a prospect because he's 27, the Wings technically still hold the exclusive rights to Miroslav Blatak, the lone non-NHLer on the blueline. I recall about four years ago the Wings still said they liked him, but felt he was too weak. Maybe a strong Olympic tournament could re-ignite Detroit's interest in him. Lastly, the prospect Detroit traded for Bob Lang (not on the roster) made the team, Tomas Fleischmann. And I suppose also of note was that Dominik Hasek is not on the roster. Dom wanted to play in these games but he's been hurt this year.

FINLAND: One Red Wing in Valtteri Filppula. NHL.com wants you to know that Red Wings' speedster Ville Leino was not named to the team.

GERMANY: Nada.

LATVIA: Negative, but it is pretty funny that of the three Latvian NHLers, only two made the team. Ouch, Raitis Ivanans.

NORWAY: Obviously no, but if you happen to be bored and feel like scouting, commenter Robert brought to my attention a rumor that Detroit is apparently scouting Mats Zuccarello Aasen. Like Blatak, maybe a good tournament against NHL competition will turn some heads.

RUSSIA: Pavel Datsyuk was named to the team, and the prospect of him centering either Alex Ovechkin or Ilya Kovalchuk (who is a free agent this summer, FYI) is pretty awesome. Sergei Fedorov, now in the KHL, is on the team, as is Dmitri Kalinin, who obviously never played for Detroit. But he's a player I love because, as the story goes, Detroit was actually scouting him when they found Datsyuk. Kalinin was a first round pick and is now back in the KHL.

SLOVAKIA: Ex-Wings in Marian Hossa and Tomas Kopecky, who NHL.com identified as a Red Wing in this article yesterday. It's understandable, because he's making about the same impact in Detroit this year as he did last year. Unfortunately, my plan to hype Tomas Tatar into the Olympics didn't work, as the likes of Lubos Bartecko and the still-living Ziggy Palffy grabbed up the last spots over Tatar.

SWEDEN: Very Wing-heavy in Nicklas Lidstrom, Niklas Kronwall, Tomas Holmstrom, and Henrik Zetterberg. They didn't even bother naming Johan Franzen to the roster, and some outlets are calling that a snub, perhaps feeling that he's coming back around the Olympics. Yeah... even if he was, there's no way Detroit would let him go -- we need him 100% for the last two months of the season. Former prospect Stefan Liv got the nod over the likes of current NHLers Johan Hedberg and Erik Ersberg, as well as current prospect Daniel Larsson. Jonathan Ericsson was by no means a lock, with New Jersey's minute-muncher Johnny Oduya and failed NHLer Magnus Johansson getting the final two spots. Mikael Samuelsson was snubbed and told the Swedish management to "eff themselves" -- no joke. Samuelsson has been red hot lately, scoring one goal in his past 15 games.

SWITZERLAND: No Wings, but I'd recommend looking at the roster anyway to marvel at some of these first names: Goran, Severin, Raffaele, Roman (x2), Tobias, Ivo, Thibaut, Thierry, Sandy, and HNAT DOMENICHELLI, who is somehow breaking the rules by playing for Switzerland despite having played for Canada in the past.

UNITED STATES: The only roster to not have been released yet. Obviously, Brian Rafalski is a near lock, and lately the hype-train for Jimmy Howard has been starting to roll. Excellent Blues' writer Andy Strickland reported today that the US is calling players today to tell them they did not make the team, and one of those players was Ty Conklin. That narrows down the battle for the 3rd string to Jim, Craig Anderson, Brent Johnson, Jonathan Quick, Scott Clemmensen, and Brian Boucher. I'd say it's really only down to Howard, Anderson, and Quick. I always thought that the Kings were good in spite of Quick, but the last time I said that, fellow Bloguinite at The Royal Half was quick to argue that it hasn't been the case this year. Anderson seems like the front-runner, but he hasn't been as good since October. For the record, the only two American goalies with a better save percentage than Howard are Conklin and Ryan Miller.

So with representation on most rosters, my question is -- who do you cheer for? I know a majority of the regulars (but not all, by any means) are American, but I also know that Rafalski and Howard aren't necessarily everyone's favorite Wings. Sweden is very loaded with well-liked Red Wings, and I know I'm not the only one excited to see if Russia's lineup can jump-start Datsyuk's offensive game. Rooting for Canada is also very valid, as the opinions of the Wings' brass could either be cemented as gods amongst men or be tarnished completely if Canada can't win the gold on home ice. Or, maybe you're strange and are rooting for something else entirely. But let me know on the poll to the right, and maybe leave a comment if you're rooting for anyone for reasons I didn't mention.

Moving on.

RUMOR TIME

Who is that? Is that-- it couldn't be -- is it?

Yes, Mathieu Schneider is on the market. Rumors with no real legitimate sources have been flying today that Detroit might be interested in just time-traveling back to 2007 entirely and picking up Schneider. Vancouver has made it clear that they're through with him. They put him on waivers, and he cleared this morning. The likely next step will be Schneider being placed on re-entry waivers, where any NHL team can grab him for half of his salary. That's 2.75 this season (assuming that contract bonuses count towards cap hit if the player is claimed by another team on waivers -- maybe one of the capologists around here might know for sure). Half of that is $1.375, but since contracts are pro-rated, he'd only count about $700,000 to Detroit.

I was actually talking to commenter Zach about this yesterday, and I kind of groaned and shot him down when he brought it up. After giving it some thought -- I'm in. I was not a big fan of Schneider when he left Detroit, but that's mainly because he was the team's #2 defenseman. If we could get him back as a #6/#7, I think I might enjoy him much more. He is 40 now, so obviously I'm not expecting 50-point Schneider that we parted with in 06/07. But the guy did score nine goals and 32 points last year -- 17 of those in just 23 games with Montreal.

Unfortunately, since we parted with him he's missed time with the following injuries: left ankle, hip, sprained wrist, hip flexor, "upper body," "upper body" again, and shoulder surgery. You might remember that the last time we saw him in red and white he was skating off the ice with a broken wrist against San Jose. He had trouble passing his physical to sign with Vancouver in the first place -- so there's no guarantee that Schneider doesn't just come back and join the League of Injured. Also of note, when the Wings get healthy they're way over the 23 man roster limit, so it would likely mean unloading a defenseman in his place. Jim Nill said noted this when he said the team did not enter a claim for Schneider, but who knows what they do when he hits re-entry waivers.

However, due to my increasing indifference to Brett Lebda and my recent feelings that Derek Meech still isn't really an NHL player, I'm willing to take a chance. I think Detroit would be looking for a #6 defenseman at the deadline, and getting one with upside like Schneider for free might be a worthwhile risk. He's affordable, he knows (and has succeeded in) the system, and he's fairly reliable. He's not going to kill you at even strength, like Mebdeech (I'm tired of referring to Lebda and Meech separately for playing almost identical games), and his puck-moving skills and bomb from the blueline make him a viable second unit powerplay guy -- something seriously lacking firepower this year. It also likely takes Jason Williams, still technically a Red Wing, off the point of that second unit. Even as a Williams semi-supporter, I don't like him in that spot.

In a strange note, I've been noticing a lot of people referring to getting off "the schneid" lately. I think it's a baseball term, and I've always known what it meant. I'm just not sure why it's popping up so much in relation to hockey, or maybe it's always been popular and I just haven't noticed it as much. But anyway, every time I hear it I think of this guy misplaying a puck at the blueline. But maybe it's been a sign all along -- can Lidstrom get off the schneid by bringing back The Schneid?

Kenny, you have my blessing.

INJURIES?

That "anti-injury" thing that happened with Valtteri Filppula last week might happen to some other Red Wings this week. H-he.. HEALTHY! I knew there was a word for it.

According to The Ansar this morning, the Wings potentially have three players getting set to return over the five-game road trip that kicks off Saturday against Phoenix. Henrik Zetterberg is targeting "the end" of the trip, which seems to only refer to the four games out west, even though Detroit has a road game against the Islanders before playing at home in 2010 (twenty-ten). He could be back as early as January 7. Dan Cleary is also targeting either the 5th or 7th. Jonathan Ericsson, who supposedly had a setback as his knee kept filling with fluid, seems to be improving and would like to return on the trip.

Comically, Jason Williams was not mentioned in this article despite the fact that he's been skating and should be on track to return over the road trip as well -- unless that means they're not going to bring him. Niklas Kronwall might also be on pace to return over the trip, or at least the week after Detroit gets home. Awesome.

But don't start celebrating yet, because Patrick Eaves has the flu and didn't practice today. Like we did in this week's podcast, the blame can be squarely placed on Brian Rafalski, his lack of hair, and his weak immune system.

WORLD JUNIOR CHAMPIONSHIP

It's actually been a few years since Detroit had a prospect dominate the WJC, but this year they actually have three prospects performing quite well. With one day of round robin games to go, here's how Detroit's have fared.

Tomas Tatar: He didn't factor into Slovakia's 7-3 loss to the United States on opening night, but he definitely looked like the most dangerous Slovakian every night, with a couple of dominant shifts and other scattered pretty moves. He found the scoresheet against Latvia with two goals and an assist, but was pretty invisible against Canada in the 8-2 loss. That's alright though, because most Slovakians were invisible, and I expect that most Americans will be as Canada takes on the United States in the battle of the unbeatens on New Year's Eve. Slovakia wraps up tomorrow against Switzerland, another chance for Tatar to put up some big numbers.

Brian Lashoff: He's coming along. Since you can dress seven defenseman in this tournament, it looked like Lashoff was in the first game against Slovakia. But actually he's moved up into the regular third pairing with John Ramage, with Jake Gardiner rotating in and out. The United States has had a problem in the past few years with too many offensive defenseman, and the two-way Lashoff has assumed a defensive role. He looked really good against Switzerland, and he picked up two assists in a 12-1 win against Latvia. He's playing more and more each game, but his defensive chops will be fully tested tomorrow (today) against Canada.

Andrej Nestrasil: Continuing to really be a surprise to me. I didn't expect him to play much as he's a '91, and traditionally in this tournament underage players have a harder time producing (meaning '90s tend to dominate). He seems to be one of the go to Czech forwards, quarterbacking the powerplay, killing some penalties, and frequently leading the rush. After a 10-1 dismantling by Sweden, he picked up an assist in a 4-3 loss to Finland, and a goal and two assists in a 7-1 win over Austria. He's also only a -2 on a team with no plus players. Very impressive.

GRIFFINS

Have sucked since the Christmas break. I don't update too often on them in the blog, but I generally try to keep up with their scores every night over Twitter, which is hopefully something people aren't annoyed with. They've dropped six of seven, losing 7-4, 5-1, and 5-2 since the break. Injuries are taking their toll. In addition to Mattias Ritola and Doug Janik still being in Detroit, Jakub Kindl brought the injury bug down to the AHL, as he and the red hot Jan Mursak are now out of the lineup and Grand Rapids is forced to sign players to tryouts just to field a full lineup.

Mursak's injury means that the Rangers-contracted Patrick Rissmiller is Grand Rapids' only all-star this season. Despite only being hot recently, Mursak and Tatar would have also been good choices, and Kindl and Daniel Larsson were also supposedly in the running. Rissmiller wasn't impressive to me at all the first time I saw him, but he's been very good lately, along with frequent linemates Mursak and Tatar.

BIG MOVE

Prospect Brent Raedeke is on the move from Edmonton to Brandon. I usually wouldn't make a big deal about a trade involving a prospect, but this one's pretty significant. Raedeke was a free agent find by Detroit, earning a contract after several productive seasons (relative to the rest of his teammates) on the expansion Edmonton Oil Kings. As Raedeke is a good bet to turn pro next season, he was rumored to be on the block. Brandon is hosting the Memorial Cup this season, meaning they're guaranteed a bid in it. As is the nature of the WHL, this means Brandon is loading up on talent -- so while Raedeke likely won't be the #1 center and captain anymore, he will be playing with more talented players.

I saw Raedeke play a few weeks ago and his game has really improved from the player I saw at his first camp two years ago. He's blazing fast, great positionally, and has a heavy shot. I'm excited to see what he can do on a team not fighting for a bottom five draft pick.

Thus concludes Power Post III. What a journey.

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