Gorilla Crouch

This is part of an ongoing series where I offer my opinion on guys who have been mentioned as possible replacements for Matt Millen to guide the most inept franchise in professional sports: the Detroit Lions.

Jason Whitlock made the case for Mayhew in this article. Here is what he had to say:

Last week I was at the same college football game as the best general manager in professional football, Indy’s Bill Polian. At halftime of the Kansas State-Louisville game, I picked Polian’s brain about young GM prospects. To my great surprise he was extremely high on Mayhew, who was just promoted to assistant GM in Detroit.

Polian is convinced that Mayhew has a deep understanding of personnel and a tremendous work ethic. Mayhew was one of only four guys Polian identified as a future GM.

If you don’t know, Polian built the Buffalo Bills Super Bowl teams, the Carolina Panthers team that advanced to the Super Bowl and, of course, the Indianapolis Colts squad that won it all. He knows what it takes to build a winner.

Mayhew might be worth hanging onto for a year or two.

I’m not sure what role Mayhew played in the deal to send Roy Williams to Dallas but if he was involved it was one positive sign amongst an absolute train wreck of a franchise.

The one problem with Mayhew? He fits the Lions perfectly as this is a franchise that has a way of taking talent and mangling it to the point where it is unrecognizable after a couple seasons in Allen Park.

Sure the Lions gave up on Charles Rogers and Mike Williams, but every NFL franchise had a chance to take those guys and resurrect them into middling professional talents. Every single franchise took a pass. That’s just Detroit’s m.o. They even killed the will of the greatest running back in football history and forced him to retire prematurely.

Like all things Lions I Want To Believe that Mayhew will burst forth from the brow of Zeus and be an excellent football executive right off the bat. Heck, he has more experience right now than Matt Millen had when he was hired to “lead” the franchise.

But this franchise is in a precarious place right now. They have an excellent shot at finishing with a perfect 0-16 record this season. The first one in NFL history. They’ve been such an embarrassment during their traditional Thanksgiving Day game that there is talk of taking the game from the franchise.

My opinion is that Whitlock has the right idea when it comes to keeping Mayhew around. I think the Leos could position themselves to end their decade-long hibernation by bringing in an older, proven GM to get the franchise to pull out of its death spiral. Then they could hand the reigns over to Mayhew at some point in the future, say 3-5 years.

That would replenish the talent level that was decimated by Matt Millen, it would allow Mayhew to continue to develop alongside a manager who has plenty of experience, and would then put Mayhew in a position to succeed if he eventually ascended to the top spot in the franchise.

Lions

December 2nd, 2008
Categories: Lions . Author: Dave . Comments: No Comments

Let me preface this by saying I am still very bullish on Michigan’s head football coach even after a very rough first season. I think Rich Rodriguez is going to produce a very exciting offense and will give Michigan a great shot at winning a BCS championship in the next 3-5 years. The one thing that could hold him back might be his defense as first year coordinator Scott Shafer was complete and utter FAIL this season despite having a pretty decent amount of talent.

I was pimping Brian Kelly to replace Lloyd Carr mostly because I didn’t think the U of M athletic department would pay top dollar to hire a proven BCS coach. Kelly could obviously be had for pennies on the dollar due to the fact he wasn’t a truly proven coach at that point. His success had come at division II Grand Valley State and in the MAC.

Today Kelly’s Bearcats won the Big East title and will play in the Orange Bowl. It will be Cinci’s first appearance in a BCS game.

It isn’t just Kelly’s spread offense that makes him successful. The Bearcats had the #18 rush defense and #30 scoring defense. Kelly was considered for Michigan State’s head coaching job before Mark Dantonio was hired and there were rumors suggesting he was on a “blacklist” of sorts that meant he was never considered for Michigan’s head coaching position.

I don’t know what those rumors are all about and I did a bit of searching to try and find out what the issue was. I couldn’t find anything so I can’t comment on that. There shouldn’t be any doubt the guy is a great coach as he’s won national championships at the division II level and conference championships at Central Michigan and Cincinnati.

If Michigan hadn’t gotten a proven coach like Rich Rodriguez who is potentially capable of coaching the Wolverines for 10-15 years I’d be pretty bummed out about not getting Kelly as head coach. He’s going to do very well whenever he gets snapped up by a major college football program.

Michigan Football Other Sports

November 29th, 2008
Categories: Michigan Football, Other Sports . Author: Dave . Comments: 1 Comment

I saw this article linked by Brian over at MGoBlog. Here is the key quote from Gladwell:

I’ll say this: if you could put together a team of guys who were thought to be too small for their role in the NBA, you’d have a pretty amazing team.

That’s a pretty good realization by Gladwell; but he’s about 10 years behind Holland, the Red Wings’ general manager. Detroit is a franchise that has consistently ranked skill ahead of measurables like size. It’s resulted in three Stanley Cup championships since Holland took over the helm as the team’s GM. Jim Nill is the guy in the front office who is responsible for the draft and the team has found a large number of steals late in the draft [Pavel Datsyuk, Henrik Zetterberg, Tomas Holmstrom, Jonathan Ericsson].

I haven’t read Gladwell’s book yet but it’d be interesting to have him take a look at the Red Wings because they clearly fit what he espouses in the interview: develop a system, draft talent that fits the system, then be patient and let the talent develop. Niklas Kronwall is about four years older than Dion Phaneuf but his stats to date are pretty similar.

Behind the Net ratings:

Even strength
Phaneuf: -0.33
Kronwall: 2.11

Short-handed
Phaneuf: -3.01
Kronwall: -2.83

Power-play
Phaneuf: 5.96
Kronwall: 2.11

The one area where Phaneuf dominates Kronwall is with the man advantage, but he plays 6.11 per 60 mins and alongside Calgary’s top offensive weapons. Kronner only plays 2.48 and generally plays with Detroit’s second PP unit.

Phaneuf is younger and still has plenty of upside; but he also makes $7 million this season. Kronwall by comparison makes $3 million this year.

Red Wings

November 29th, 2008
Categories: Red Wings . Author: Dave . Comments: No Comments

Yesterday I took a look at the forwards. Today I’ll grade the defensemen and netminders.

Defensemen

Nicklas Lidstrom: A-

The captain isn’t the point producer that Brian Rafalski has become in Detroit, but he’s still very good at keeping the puck out of his net. While Lidstrom is still an excellent defenseman while facing the toughest competition, the team has made an effort to reduce his ice time night in and night out.

But that reduction in ice time hasn’t come at the expense of his time on the specialty teams. Lidstrom leads all d-men in points per 60 mins with the man advantage. And the top PK pairing of Lidstrom and Andreas Lilja have allowed the lowest goals against per 60 mins amongst Detroit’s d-men while typically facing the toughest competition.

Car: BMW 7 series. BMW has coined their cars as being “the ultimate driving machine”. Norris is the ultimate d-man.

Brian Rafalski: C

Rafalski has been a brilliant offensive defenseman in Detroit. He currently leads all defensemen in goals, assists and points. However he’s been on the ice at even strength for the highest number of goals against and is the one d-man playing big minutes who allows over 3 goals per 60 mins at even-strength. So there’s definitely room to improve while playing in his own end.

Rafalski is not a significant contributor on the PK but is a mainstay on the top power play unit alongside Nick Lidstrom. He’s more likely to score the goal while on the power play while Lidstrom generates a higher number of helpers.

Car: VW Touareg. They are small but quick SUVs, just like Rafalski is a small but productive d-man. But SUVs have trouble with tipping and Rafi has struggled playing sound defensive hockey in his own end.

Niklas Kronwall: B-

Kronner is starting to pick up some of the slack that resulted from Lidstrom playing fewer minutes at even strength. As a result he logs the most minutes per night at even strength. There are some good signs - Kronner trails only Rafalski in points generated per 60 minutes - and bad signs - Kronwall only allows fewer goals per 60 mins amongst Detroit’s top 4 d-men than Rafalski.

Kronwall is obviously a mainstay on both of Detroit’s specialty teams units. He’s third in ice time amongst blueliners on the power play and ranks 2nd in points generated per 60 mins. The second PK unit of Kronwall and Stuart has struggled, allowing the most goals against per 60 minutes - and by a large margin. That’s one area where Kronwall will need to continue to improve.

Car: Audi A5. While the Audi is a nameplate that tends to fly under the radar the A5 has started to make a name for itself, much like Kronwall did during last year’s playoffs.

Brad Stuart: C+

Stuart signed with the Wings following a short stay last season that resulted in the franchise’s 11th championship. Stuart played alongside Niklas Kronwall and the two formed a sandpaper second defensive pairing. While Kronwall is more likely to announce his presence with an open-ice hit, Stuart’s work is done mostly along the boards, in scrums, and in front of the net. He leads the team in hits by a large margin.

Coming into the league as an offfensive-defenseman, Stuart has found his niche as more of a defensive defenseman while in Detroit. He’s been on the ice for the fewest goals against at even strength amongst the top 4 defensemen.

Stuart doesn’t contribute much on the power play but is a fixture on the PK. This is the one area where both Stuart and his defensive partner Niklas Kronwall can show the most improvement. They have allowed the highest goals against total per 60 mins while playing short-handed.

Car: Dodge Ram pickup truck. There’s nothing flashy about Stuart and his physical play perfectly compliments a big pickup truck like the Ram.

Andreas Lilja: B

Lilja is the player most likely to join Mikael Samuelsson in the doghouse when it comes to Red Wings fans. Lilja proved his worth when Chris Chelios was lost once again to injuy. Cheli has served as Nick Lidstrom’s defensive partner while short-handed but with him out of he lineup Lilja has capably filled in and done a solid job on the PK. He leads the team in blocked shots. Most of those occur while on the PK. Lilja has also displayed an offensive flair when he tallied two assists in a win against Calgary.

Car: Dodge Sprinter van. It’s big, it’s ugly, but it’s also good at what it’s designed to do.

Brett Lebda: C-

Lebda is up there with Kirk Maltby as one of the guys I routinely criticize. It’s not like I have anything against the guy; it’s just that both guys have very limited, specific roles and if they struggle they get killed when it comes to grading them.

Lebda was removed from the lineup when he had a team-worst plus-minus rating. He was generating no offense which is understandable when you play on the third pairing - but you have to keep the puck out of your own net.

Lebda doesn’t play much on the specialty teams, so if he struggles at even strength he gets a bad grade. The good news is he’s looked better since he rejoined the lineup and is starting to chip in some offense.

Car: Mazda 3. Small, nimble and quick, but not very powerful.

Goaltenders

Chris Osgood: D

Ozzie has benefited from having one of the league’s most potent offenses playing in front of him. His goals against average and save percentage are absolutely pedestrian. He’s only had three games thus far where he’s allowed less than 3 goals.

A team typically needs to average 3 goals per game to win a playoff series. Right now there’s no reason to believe Osgood could hold an opponent beneath that threshold. If we’re lucky and the playoffs follow the regular season and turn into an orgy of goal-scoring then the Wings are as much of a threat as anyone to win the Cup this year. That never happens though. The three goal average almost always ends up being the difference between the team that wins the series and the team that loses the series.

There’s still plenty of time for Osgood to round into shape but it’s clear he’s nowhere near where he needs to be right now.

Car: VW Beetle. The Beetle was a big hit with chicks like Bill Gates back when it was re-introduced in 1998. Ozzie has always been incredibly popular with the puck bunnies.

Ty Conklin: B+

Conklin was the top backup netminder available via free agency and he’s lived up to that billing in Detroit. He has a respectable goal against average [2.41] and save percentage [.918]. Only three of his starts resulted in him allowing 3 or more goals.

Right now Conklin is starting a third of the games for Detroit which is a good rotation. That should help to keep Osgood sharp without overworking him. He’s done a fine job given his role and his lone loss came in a game against the San Jose Sharks.

Car: Honda Accord. The Accord always wins reliability awards and to date Conklin has been safe as houses [not the best analogy given the housing market I guess] for the Red Wings as their backup netminder.

Happy Thanksgiving and Let’s go Red Wings.

Red Wings

November 26th, 2008
Categories: Red Wings . Author: Dave . Comments: No Comments

The Red Wings have reached the 1/4 mark of the season. Overall things are going relatively well as the team has the second-highest point total in the NHL. But the defense and goaltending from Chris Osgood haven’t been as good as you’d like to see. Here are my grades for each player thus far. And since the Big Three as we know them might not be around after the new year, I’ll compare each player to a car.

First Line

Pavel Datsyuk: A

Datsyuk has been superb while playing on a line alongside Tomas Holmstrom and Marian Hossa. He is tied for the team lead with 13 assists and is +7. He’s right behind Hossa for highest goals for total while on the ice [even-strength] and has the lowest goals against at even strength amongst the forwards who actually log time against tough competition.

As far as specialty teams go, Pavs is 3rd when it comes to points and primary assists per 60 mins while on the power play. Datsyuk is also playing big minutes on the PK but isn’t facing the toughest competition while short-handed.

Car: Porsche. Pavs is slick and nimble…and small.

Marian Hossa: A

Hossa obviously knew he’d be a good match for Detroit’s style of play and he’s fit in seamlessly. Hossa leads the team in scoring and in goals scored per 60 minutes at even strength.

He’s also leading the team in Goals For per 60 mins while on the ice on the power play and is generally out there facing the toughest competition while playing on the PK.

Car: Ferrari. Fast, dangerous…and looks great in Red.

Tomas Holmstrom: A-

At the beginning of the year I thought it would be a good idea to move Homer off the top line. That’s clearly not the case as he’s held his own playing alongside Hossa and Datsyuk. Holmstrom’s on pace to score 30 goals this season and leads the team in goals per 60 mins while playing on the power play.

Car: Ford pickup truck. Can take a beating and still get the job done.

Second Line

Henrik Zetterberg: B+

Hank has seen his productivity drop off a bit now that he’s been put on a line with Johan Franzen and the rotating winger. Jiri Hudler, Dan Cleary and Mikael Samuelsson have all played on the second line. Z is still a solid goal producer, as he’s fourth on the team in goals scored per 60 EV and 2nd in points produced per 60.

The area where his game seems to have dropped off is goals allowed while his line is on the ice. This is one case where plus-minus can be misleading as Jiri Hudler started out on the second line but was dropped down from a scoring line. His two most common linemates early on - Mule and Hudler - rank right behind Kris Draper for the most even-strength goals allowed per 60 minutes. Dan Cleary has also been out of the lineup for a while and he would no doubt help to cut down on the EV strength goals allowed.

When it comes to the PK Hank has been out there facing the toughest competition. Z has been excellent with the man advantage as he’s 3rd for most goals scored per 60 mins.

Car: Corvette.

Johan Franzen: B

The Mule has been an offensive force. At one point he’d scored 37 goals in 44 games dating back to last season. The budding power forward is behind only Marian Hossa when it comes to goals scored per 60 mins at EV strength. And he’s right behind Homer when it comes to goals scored per 60 mins while on the power play.

The Mule made the team based on his solid two-way play but right now it’s his offensive prowess that makes him stand out. He isn’t a big contributor on the PK and his line has struggled a bit at even-strength.

Car: Hummer. The guy isn’t glitzy at all, he’s just big and good at what he does and is very difficult to contain.

Mikael Samuelsson: B

Samuelsson is the one player forward Wings fans love to hate. Not being nearly as offensively dangerous as most of Detroit’s scoring line forwards, he nonetheless finds himself on a scoring line due to his two-way play an an injury to Dan Cleary. Sammy has taken the spot on the second line and performed reasonably well.

He’s fourth on the team in points generated and has a decent 2.55 goals allowed average per 60 mins of EV strength ice-time.

Car: He’s the Volvo of Detroit’s scoring line forwards: bland and uninspiring but also reliable and dependable.

Third Line

Valterri Filppula: B

Filppula centered the third line at the start of the season. His line has been juggled with Dan Cleary moving out of the lineup due to an injury and Mikael Samuelsson being bumped up to the second line, but he’s fared pretty well. His scoring at even strength is middling which is to be expected but he’s been one of Detroit’s better PK’ing forwards when it comes to the quality of competition he faces while short-handed.

Car: Saab. He’s got some nice moves and solid speed but he’s not quite a sports car. Oh, and he’s really safe given his excellent two-way play.

Dan Cleary: C

Cleary has been out of the lineup with an eye injury, so it’s tough to give him a grade given his limited ice time. But he was being outscored at EV strength while playing with some pretty high-quality teammates. Hopefully he’ll perform better when his eye is completely healed, as seeing clearly is kinda important.

Car: Ford Mustang.

Jiri Hudler: B+

Huds started the season on the second line but was booted from a scoring line spot as he struggled to generate points and saw his plus-minus plummet. Once he saw his minutes decrease and the competition level ease up he started producing points again.

It’s pretty clear that Hudler is at his best playing on the 3rd and 4th line while contributing on the power play. He’s generated 11 points during the month of November, putting him over a point a game for the month. That makes him 4th in points produced at EV strength per 60 mins.

But where he really shines is with the man advantage. Hudler leads all Detroit forwards in points per 60 mins while on the power play. His fans insist this means he should be playing on a scoring line. This didn’t work out so well earlier this season but with his excellent production playing softer minutes he is sure to get more shots at a scoring line spot when the opportunity arises.

Car: Smart Car. Their devotees love them but there are plenty of people who think the car is really just a glorified golf cart.

Fourth Line

Kris Draper: C-
Kris Draper has gotten off to a really slow start. He has a team-worst -8 plus-minus rating and isn’t generating any offense at all. He had a nice block to prevent a goal against Calgary but overall it hasn’t been pretty.

He’s still a solid faceoff guy and logs solid ice time while short-handed but he’s really starting to struggle while playing at even-strength.

Car: Ford Taurus. Wildly popular and successful over the past 20 years.

Darren McCarty: C

D-Mac is this year’s version of Aaron Downey. But McCarty has much better hockey sense than Downey so he’s able to contribute in other ways than simply using his fists. To be sure McCarty has thrown down plenty this season and has more or less held his own [2-2-1 to date].

Car: A Camaro that was once up on cinder blocks but now has a new set of tires and a rebuilt engine.

Kirk Maltby: B-

I have to give Maltby credit as I’ve been pretty harsh on him during these report cards over the years. He’s even in plus-minus and he’s even generating some offense. Two goals and one assist thus far…nice work. The most important thing is that he’s kept the goals against low while playing at even strength. He isn’t much of a PK’er anymore but he still gets some ice time.

Car: Jeep Wrangler. Designed for off-road dirty work. Not stylish but effective.

I’ll grade the d-men and netminders in another post.

Red Wings

November 25th, 2008
Categories: Red Wings . Author: Dave . Comments: 1 Comment

The best thing about the 2008 University of Michigan football season? It’s over. I hoped the team could squeak out a 7-5 record to keep their bowl streak intact, but it’s probably best that the season is over and the team can regroup to prepare for the 2009 season. This season is now in the record book officially as the worst season in the history of the program.

While the record was the biggest disappointment it was closely followed by the defense. I expected much more from first year defensive coordinator Scott Shafer, particularly given the talent on that side of the football. The most maddening game was clearly the 48-42 loss to Purdue, where Shafer’s defense made the Boilermakers’ 3rd string quarterback look like Troy Smith.

While the offense was terrible that was to be expected given the attrition that followed the 2007 campaign, and there are actually some positive stats to build upon. This year’s team averaged 0.1 fewer yards per carry than the 2007 squad that featured Jake Long, Adam Kraus, Chad Henne and Mike Hart. Heck, this year’s squad only rushed for 17 fewer yards per game and had 3 fewer rushing TDs despite playing one fewer game.

That’s with an entirely new offensive line, a walkon QB taking nearly half the offense’s snaps, and a stable of running backs that had trouble staying healthy or staying in the lineup for other reasons. The one thing you should have expected from Rich Rodriguez is that he’d find a way to run the football successfully. If he could nearly duplicate the 2007 squad’s offensive rushing production this year just imagine what he’ll do when he further stocks the roster with talent and the entire offensive unit gets more and more experience under its collective belt.

With that being said I have serious questions about Scott Shafer’s ability to produce a championship-caliber defense in Ann Arbor. The Wolverines needed to rely on their defense this season and for most of the games this season the defense was as much of a liability as the offense. That’s obviously not a good sign. Rich Rodriguez has defended Shafer and said that much like his offense it will take some time for the defense to get up to speed to playing Shafer’s defense. That and obviously some better linebacker and safety play I’m guessing. I hope that’s the truth because far too often I could have sworn I was watching Jim Hermann’s three-man rush and Stevie Wonder-esque safety play this past season.

The special teams were god-awful but I like what I saw from Boubacar Cissoko on kick returns - when he could actually hold on to the football. I hope the team can find a better punt returner than Martavious Odoms, who didn’t seem very dangerous to anyone other than the Wolverines when he was back fielding punts.

So yeah - that sucked. Let’s not do that again. Once every 129 years will suffice I guess. But it could be worse: we could have Charlie Weis attempting to lead us to glory.

Go Blue. Always.

Michigan Football

November 23rd, 2008
Categories: Michigan Football . Author: Dave . Comments: No Comments

That 34.2% success rate with the man advantage? Let’s enjoy it while it lasts, because it’s likely to disappear come playoff time. But the power play has been so successful that Tomas Kopecky is scoring goals with the man advantage. The teams last night each scored one even-strength goal but the Wings won the special teams battle to the tune of 3-2 and won the game. The Wings demonstrated the impressive depth they have with Hudler and Kopecky scoring 3 of the team’s 4 goals.

The good news is Chris Osgood was solid in net, as he faced 34 shots and had a .911 save percentage. He can still play better, but at least he played reasonably well having a decent workload.

Also congratulations to the University of Michigan basketball team, which knocked off the #4 UCLA Bruins last night. That was the first big win for John Beilein at Michigan and hopefully it’s a sign that the team will be able to compete for an NCAA Tournament appearance this season.

Michigan Basketball Red Wings

November 21st, 2008
Categories: Red Wings, Michigan Basketball . Author: Dave . Comments: No Comments

With Chris Osgood’s less-than inspiring play, it’s a great sign that Ty Conklin is picking up where he left off last season in Pittsburgh. Edmonton fans have yet another reason to hate their former backup as he blanked the Oil last night 4-0. Detroit’s defense helped him out by only allowing 21 shots on goal.

Johan Franzen has been a force, scoring 37 goals in his last 44 games. Ken Holland better sign him in a hurry or he’s going to be far outside Detroit’s price range.

Red Wings

November 18th, 2008
Categories: Red Wings . Author: Dave . Comments: No Comments

The Red Wings are leaning heavily on the pairing of Niklas Kronwall and Brad Stuart. They are Detroit’s top pairing in terms of even-strength minutes per game according to Behind the Net.

The two went a combined -4 last night, although Chris Osgood certainly didn’t do them any favors. Osgood is simply not playing at a level that will get the Red Wings out of the first round of the playoffs.

I like the decision to lean heavily on Kronwall and Stuart right now. The team needs to develop Kronwall into a top pairing d-man so it’s better to do so now early in the season. That way you can keep Lidstrom fresh by playing him fewer minutes and if Kronner doesn’t grow into the #1 role by late in the season you can boost Lidstrom’s minutes.

It might make sense to also give Ty Conklin a heavier rotation of starts to see if he’d be a capable replacement if Osgood looks as bad as Dom Hasek looked last year during the playoffs.

Red Wings

November 14th, 2008
Categories: Red Wings . Author: Dave . Comments: No Comments

After a nice little roadie to the left coast the Wings will be back in action tomorrow facing the Martin Brodeur-less New Jersey Devils. The big story of course is that Marian Hossa is achieving Shiva the Destroyer status. Brett Lebda is rumored to be a healthy scratch which certainly makes sense when you boast one of the worst +/- ratings in the NHL. So don’t go suggest to Mike Babcock that plus/minus is a meaningless stat.

Hopefully you got in on the Winter Classic drawing over at the Blackhawks’ website. Those lucky winners will be able to purchase their tickets next month.

That’s it for me for now. I’ll have some more commentary after tomorrow’s game.

Let’s Go Red Wings

Red Wings

November 7th, 2008
Categories: Red Wings . Author: Dave . Comments: 1 Comment