Jonathan Ericsson has grown into his spot on the Wings’ top blue line pair

DETROIT – Detroit defenseman Jonathan Ericsson thought for a moment about all the blue liners he had been paired up with over his six seasons with the Wings.

And there are a lot of them, which is why it’s understandable how he feels as stable as ever with whom he’s paired with now … Niklas Kronwall.

“I’m fortunate to play with him,” Ericsson said after the Wings’ morning skate at Joe Louis Arena Monday. “He’s our best defenseman by far. He’s always doing a good job for us every night. He makes it easy for me. We have a good way of communicating out there and we feed off each other and he makes things more comfortable for me out there.

“The more you play with each other the more comfortable you get,” Ericsson added. “When you keep switching it takes some time, but you learn. Maybe it doesn’t come right away, but it does.”

Ericsson compares his fellow Swede to one of the best to ever play in the NHL, Nicklas Lidstrom, who retired this past offseason.

“He’s really close, that’s why we call him Nick junior,” Ericsson said. “This year I played with everyone at the beginning of the season and then we got stable and stuck with the three pairs. Everyone is different. They all have different roles. It’s just sticking with whatever role that is and you just have to play your game too.”

Ericsson is 6-foot-4 and was the last player taken in the 2002 NHL Entry Draft. And like most of the Wings’ prospects they had him spend a number seasons overseas before bringing him to Grand Rapids.

“They always had a good D corps here so it just took a while to get in,” Ericsson said. “That’s how they develop all the players here and I think they’ve done a good job. When you get up here most players are ready to stay up and not be up and down. You have to be patient. Everything doesn’t come all at one, you just have to work your way in.”

Ericsson raised his own bar high after his second short stint in Detroit and carried that over to a strong run in the 2009 playoffs.

But then came some very inconsistent play over the next few seasons as Ericsson found himself in the Wings’ final pairing on D most of the nights.

“It took him some time,” Wings coach Mike Babcock said. “He was a forward growing up. It took him awhile to learn the differences in the game. He played in the five-six pair, or third pair, for a number of years and played well for us. And he just kept getting better. He’s a real good person, works hard. He can make the pass, shoot the puck. He’s a big body, can fight well. We like him.”

Now with departure of a number of top four defensemen over the last few seasons, Ericsson, 29, is on the top pairing in charge of shutting down the opponent’s top units.

“With just the responsibilities that have come with that role, I think he’s been great,” Kronwall said. “Everybody in this organization knew that he could do it. They’ve known that for a few years, ever since he came in and played that great series, I think it was against Columbus, his first playoff. I think he’s really come into his own.

“(He’s) made the transition real smooth, easy,” Kronwall added. “He’s always one of those guys who wants the puck and talks a lot out there and makes it easy for you.”

Ericsson also has played a main role on the Wings’ penalty kill. Averaging over 18 minutes of ice time in the playoffs, 3:20 of it has come killing penalties.

“I don’t know how to put it in words how much he means to this club,” Kronwall said. “He’s out there playing big minutes, 5-on-5, a shut-down guy and plays obvious heavy minutes on the PK. He means a lot to this team and we’re really happy that he’s playing so well.”

Quenneville has never beaten the Wings in a playoff series as a head coach

Inside the numbers

This is the 16th playoff series between Detroit and Chicago. On nine other occasions, the team that won the series advanced to the Cup final, but lost.

Blackhawks coach Joel Quenneville has never beaten the Wings in a playoff series as a head coach. The Wings advanced to the Cup final every year after beating Quenneville’s team, winning every time except for 2009, when the Wings lost in seven to Pittsburgh.

Henrik Zetterberg is now tied for third all-time in franchise playoff goal-scoring (54) with Nicklas Lidstrom. Steve Yzerman (70) and Gordie Howe (67) top the list.

Quote of the day … Teemu Selanne

Ducks forward Teemu Selanne on playing against the Wings without Nicklas Lidstrom.

“Obviously it’s way easier to play now that Lidstrom’s not in the lineup,” Selanne said. “In the past they have had experience. But they are tough still. You have to play 60 minutes if you want to beat those guys.”

Babcock on Smith: “I just wanted the puck looked after better.”

DETROIT – Red Wings’ defenseman Brendan Smith said he didn’t see it coming.

With 11 games left in the regular season, Smith found himself a healthy scratch along the blue line. He was back watching from the sideline a game later.

“I think I’ve been playing pretty well, so it gets a little frustrating when you’re not in the lineup,” Smith said after practice Wednesday at Joe Louis Arena. “We’re all competitive players, competitive people, so we want to be in the lineup, but for sure I want to be there, and I thought I’ve been playing pretty well. There are things that I have to work on, obviously. There are things that everybody’s got to work on, but for myself as a young player, there’s a lot more, so there are things that I have to do it if I’m in the lineup (Thursday) and make sure I stay there, but it definitely caught me off guard.”

Smith will return to the lineup Thursday in the Wings’ home game against the San Jose Sharks.

Prior to his benching, Smith was a minus-5 over his last five games, going a minus-1 in each of those contests.

“I just wanted the puck looked after better,” Wings coach Mike Babcock said. “He’s a better player than that. He’s had a few days to watch and think about it. I think Smitty is an ultra-competitive guy, who has a huge upside, but he’s just got to take care of the puck better.”

In 26 games this season, Smith has five assists and is a minus-1.

“I think things have to get better, just making my game a little more simple and I guess playing the Nicklas Lidstrom way – see the first pass, make it – so just working hard and try to keep positive and get myself in the lineup again,” Smith said.

Smith said he thinks this was the first time he was a healthy scratch in his playing days.

After overcoming a rash of injuries, the Wings’ blue line is suddenly crowded with nine healthy defensemen.

“It’s really competitive and we have great D, so there wasn’t much of an explanation, but, so you’ve just got to back away from the game and kind of see what you have to do to get better and then do that in the practice and then once you get the chance keep yourself in the lineup,” Smith said. “So if they throw me into the lineup against San Jose I’m just going to play my best and play hard and try to do what I can do to so I can stay in the lineup.”

Smith, who’s averaging just under 19 minutes of ice time per game this season, will replace Ian White in the lineup.

Wings would rather keep first round picks rather than obtain a rental player

DETROIT – Eight trades occurred Tuesday in the NHL, a few that involved some big names, but none of the deals involved the Detroit Red Wings.

“We made some competitive offers on a couple of players,” Wings general manager Ken Holland said Tuesday night. “We will continue to explore until the deadline.”

The trade deadline is 3 p.m., Wednesday.

The Wings also weren’t able to get in the mix on some players.

The biggest name that moved Tuesday, who the Wings had interest in, was forward Jaromir Jagr, who was dealt from Dallas to Boston.

The Wings tried to sign Jagr two years ago, but lost out to Philadelphia.

The Stars’ asking price was too high for Jagr. The Bruins gave up two prospects and a conditional second-round pick to get him.

Jagr’s contract expires at the end of the season.

“I don’t know that there’s a lot (left) out there,” Holland said. “We’ll see what happens tonight and tomorrow. I think it’s been a pretty busy marketplace until now.”

The one thing the Wings seem unwilling to part with in a deal for any kind of rental player is a first-round pick.

“We traded a first-rounder last year,” Holland said. “We were going for it last year. You can’t do that every year.”
The Wings dealt a first-round pick at the trade deadline last year to Tampa Bay to re-acquire defenseman Kyle Quincey.

“We were concerned about losing (Nicklas) Lidstrom and (Brad) Stuart,” Holland said. “You can’t trade your first-round pick every year. You have to pick and choose when you go for it.”

The Wings wound up falling to Nashville in the first round of the playoffs last season and then lost Lidstrom (retirement) and Stuart (trade) in the offseason.

Also on Tuesday, San Jose sent forward Ryan Clowe to the New York Rangers for a second and third round pick in 2013 and a conditional second rounder in 2014.

The Stars also sent forward Derek Roy to Vancouver for a prospect and a second-round pick.

Lidstrom helps seal the deal with DeKeyser

DETROIT – The Detroit Red Wings had what no other team courting prized free-agent defenseman Danny DeKeyser had in their back pocket … Nicklas Lidstrom.

The soon-to-be NHL Hall of Famer, gave DeKeyser a call Saturday prior to the Western Michigan defenseman announcing his decision of which team had won the sweepstakes for his services and it seemed to be just what the Wings needed.

“He called me the other day when I was going through the decision process and talked to me for a few minutes,” DeKeyser said after taking part in his first practice with the Wings Saturday at Joe Louis Arena. “Then I got to meet him here today. So it was pretty special. That helped in my decision definitely.

“He just told me about the organization and how special of a place it is to play,” DeKeyser added. “They have a great management team and a locker room full of great guys. He said it would be a fun place to play so I took his word for it.”

Lidstrom said the call seemed to take DeKeyser by surprise.

“Kenny (Holland) handed him the phone and told him it was me,” Lidstrom recalled. “We had a good little chat. I just told him about the positive things I’ve seen and learned over the years here with the team.

“I don’t think he was ready for my call,” Lidstrom continued. “I don’t think he was expecting me to call him. It was more listening to what I had to say. He had a lot of teams that were asking for him and had meetings with a lot of teams so I’m sure it wasn’t an easy decision for him. We’re very happy to have him here.”

Lidstrom is in town for a few days before a family vacation to Florida.

DeKeyser, 23, was one of the NHL’s most sought-after free agents last year before deciding to stay at WMU.

That again was the case this year where DeKeyser’s representatives met with a number of teams over this past week, including Toronto, Anaheim, St. Louis, Edmonton, Philadelphia, Ottawa and Nashville.

DeKeyser wore No. 5 in college, the same number Lidstrom had in Detroit.

He’ll be No. 65 with the Wings.

“I definitely grew up a big Wings fan and to have a chance to play for you hometown team is definitely something special so it’s definitely a good opportunity for me,” said DeKeyser, who grew up in Macomb County and graduated from De La Salle. “I’m going to come in, get my feet wet a little bit, practice here this week and just take it from there.

“It was tough decision,” DeKeyser added. “I could have picked a lot of reasons to go to any of those teams, but ultimately in the end I thought this was the best choice for me. I just looked at what some of the best places would be like to play for and what they had one the blue line and where I would fit in. Here there are quite a few young guys and a good group of veterans. I thought it would be a good fit for me.”

It’s not known when DeKeyser will get his chance to play, but it won’t be Sunday against Chicago.

“I want to be a big part of the team here,” DeKeyser said. “I just have to work hard and that’s all I can do then we’ll see what happens from there. I need to get adjusted to the next level. Guys are a little bit bigger and stronger and quicker so that’s going to be a little bit of an adjustment there for me, but I think and can come in here and be fine.”

In three seasons at WMU, DeKeyser, who was undrafted, appeared in 118 games and had 12 goals, 37 assists and 107 penalty minutes.

“He’s obviously good, good,” Wings coach Mike Babcock said. “At his level he’s been a dominant player there for the last two years and we’re excited to have him. He hasn’t practiced since Tuesday, so that will take him a little bit. He’ll watch tomorrow. We’ll probably put him in warm-up tomorrow, or whatever, and just go from there.”

DeKeyser skated with Kyle Quincey in practice.

“You see a guy play at one level and he’s a dominant player,” Babcock said. “Now he’s got to be able to turn that from there into being a dominant player at this level. There’s a process there. The other thing about it is we started the year with no depth on D and then suddenly we’ve got all of these guys on D.

Lidstrom coming back to Joe Louis Arena

DETROIT – Wings fans may get a chance Wednesday or at least by Friday to thank Nicklas Lidstrom one last time for this service in Detroit.

Lidstrom will arrive in Detroit sometime Wednesday to attend this weekend’s Fourth Annual Detroit SportsFest on Saturday at the Suburban Collection Showcase in Novi.

It’s not known whether if he’ll arrive in time for Wednesday’s game with the Blues, but he will be there Friday against Anaheim where he may drop a ceremonial first puck.

Tom Renney focused on getting Wings’ power play back on top

PLYMOUTH – The Wings’ power play last season can be summed up in one word … dreadful.

By season’s end the unit converted just 16.1 percent with the man advantage, which ranked 22nd in the league.

And that was with Nicklas Lidstrom manning the blue line and Tomas Holmstrom providing his net-front presence. Both have since retired.

“We’ve got people capable of filling those holes,” said Wings assistant coach Tom Renney, who has been put in charge of the power play by coach Mike Babcock. “As much as Nick is a Hall of Famer I don’t think you dwell on that. I think you look at who’s here and what they have to offer and play off those strengths. From first looks I think we have what we need to have an effective power play.”

Last year’s power play conversion rate was the Wings’ worst since the 2006-07 season when it was just 17.1 percent.

“The bottom line is whatever we do on the power play five guys have to be connected both mentally and through their level of skill,” Renney said. “From what I see we have both.”

The Wings have had much success on the power play the four seasons prior to last, ranking in the top five in three of those seasons and ninth in one.

Renney resurrected the power play in Edmonton in his second season behind the bench.

“I think we had the right sticks, not necessarily the personnel, but we did have some pretty good ponies,” Renney recalled of his time behind the Oilers bench. “Speaking of pedigree, they were very hungry to score on the power play for starters.

“I think we really made the net the focal point,” Renney added. “You can over pass the puck on the power play to the point where you have diminishing returns. Our objective was to get it to the net as quickly as we could, create chaos at the net and really come in hard for rebounds.”

Renney’s first year with the Oilers the power play ranked 27th and then jumped to third overall his second season.
“What I find interesting is how your skill can take over when you start taking that approach,” Renney said. “Then you’ve got guys that can do some pretty significant things when they do start attacking the net.”

The Wings power play started off red hot last season and tapered off considerably as the season wore on.

“I don’t think that’s to unusual for our league, let’s face it, on a good day it’s going to be 25 percent so we’re going to watch our power play be unsuccessful about 75 percent, at least 75 percent of the time,” Renney said. “How we choose to chronicle that, not just you people, but us as coaches we to take that with a grain of salt.

“The bottom line a good power play has to sustain itself,” Renney said. “If you’re getting a power play goal a game in this league it’s probably pretty good. I don’t want to suggest that the power play percentages are insignificant, they’re not, but they tell a story. What we want to do is make sure, at the very least, is our power play isn’t sucking the life out of our offensive team play. It can’t prevent momentum it’s got to entice it.”

The plan this season is for Johan Franzen to take over from Holmstrom in front of the net and adding newcomer Damien Brunner on the blue line or Mikael Samuelsson, who played the point on the power play his first stint in Detroit.

“What I prefer is two defensemen back there if I can because what that likely means is we have two really good units,” Renney said. “Because that one forward is either up front on the first unit or has the same value playing on the second unit. We’ll do what we have to do. What it’ll come down to is the shots. Do we need a lefty or a righty? Where are our one timers, who are they and can they handle and that’s what we’re going to have to determine with Damien.”

Renney said Niklas Kronwall will be an important part on the power play.

“We’re still a puck-possession team and we want to try to get the puck to the net a lot of times and not try to play too much around,” Kronwall said. “So hopefully we can keep shooting the puck and Mule’s going to do a good job in front and so is Bear or whoever is in that spot. The rest of us just have to find ways to get the puck to the net and find ways to make something happen.”

During Tuesday night’s Red and White scrimmage there was power play goals scored on four chances.

“There’s a point in time when you give a different horse the bit,” Renney said. “These guys are pretty good. They were top 10 in the league for a good chunk of last year. I’m not sure I’m going to come in here and reinvent the wheel, I don’t intend to, but I certainly want to make sure based on the principles of a good power play I’ll certainly pay attention to that.”

Danny Cleary on Henrik Zetterberg being named Wings next captain, “It’s a great choice.”

PLYMOUTH – The choice was almost too obvious.

And today at Compuware Arena it becomes official when the Wings name Henrik Zetterberg as their 36th captain, replacing fellow Swede Nicklas Lidstrom, who retired after last season.

“It’s a great choice,” Danny Cleary said Monday after the second day of training camp. “He would be a unanimous vote in here.”

“I think Hank’s been groomed to be our captain for many, many years now,” Niklas Kronwall said. “Ever since he got in here, he sat beside Stevie (Yzerman) and learned a lot from him. Hank, he’s been a captain for many years even though he hasn’t had the ‘C.’ Of course we had Nick but Hank is just as good a leader and he brings it every night. That’s what you want from your leader.”

“No question, he’s going to be a great leader for us,” Jonathan Ericsson said.

Zetteberg, who has been wearing an “A” as an alternate captain since 2006, will be just the Wings’ third captain since 1986.

He was the odds on favorite after Lidstrom retired after last season.

“I think Hank, the biggest thing for me is that he’s so unselfish,” Cleary said. “He’s such a personable guy. He’s a star. He’s got great talent on the ice, but he’s very respectful off the ice and he’s vocal when he needs to be and he leads by example.”

This offseason, Wings general manager Ken Holland said the next captain would come from one of last season’s alternate captains – Zetterberg, Kronwall or Pavel Datsyuk.

“You need to speak at the right moment and know when to shut up at the right moment,” Zetterberg said. “It’s not just one guy who’s got to do it; everyone has to do it together. You got to sense the feeling around the locker room, how the mood is.”

Zetterberg, 32, is well respected in the locker room and fits the mold of previous captains in Detroit, like Lidstrom and Yzerman.

“It’s hard to make comparisons when Nick was unique,” Cleary said. “Even like Stevie, they led by example on and off the ice with their work ethic and their play. When something needed to be said, they said it. They weren’t huge rah-rah type players like (Kris Draper) was. So you have different personalities but certainly they were well-respected.

“I think as a captain, you look for the players to respect you and you lead by example, by working hard and by being an honest player and treating people with respect,” Cleary continued. “That’s what Stevie did, that’s what Nick did and I know Hank will.”

The biggest difference between Zetterberg and Lidstrom in the locker room is all about being vocal.

“Z’s definitely going to be more vocal than Nick,” Jimmy Howard said. “Nick spoke when he needed to and led by example. Z is more vocal throughout the room.

“You can’t go wrong with either or,” Howard continued. “Nick was probably one of the best ever to play the game at his position and Z has been a leader now for years so I think he’s going to transition very easily.”

As for his relationship with Wings coach Mike Babcock, the two of them share something in common.

“He and I have a relationship where he doesn’t mind getting mad at me and I don’t mind getting mad at him,” Babcock said. “I don’t have any problem with that. He doesn’t mind telling me what defense the team needs to do, which I think is very important.

“He doesn’t mind standing up for the guys and telling you want he thinks,” Babcock continued. “And I think that’s so important for us. The other thing is nobody ever wants the team to not be as good on their watch, believe me.”

Kronwall and Datsyuk will continue to serve as alternate captains.

For the past several seasons, the Wings have had three alternating captains, rotating it on game day since only two can wear the “A”.

Johan Franzen has been anointed to replace Tomas Holmstrom on Detroit’s first power play unit

PLYMOUTH – The Wings think they’ve found their new net-front presence on the power play.

Johan Franzen has been anointed to replace Tomas Holmstrom on Detroit’s first power play unit.

“Mule has been waiting to be out on the first unit since he got here,” Wings coach Mike Babcock said after day two of training camp at Compuware Arena in Plymouth. “He thinks he should be. We think he should be too. So it’s a natural fit.”

Holmstrom, who will have his retirement officially announced at a press conference Thursday or Friday at Joe Louis Arena, spent 15 seasons providing that service with the Wings.

Detroit is also dealing with the retirement of the power play’s quarterback, Nicklas Lidstrom.

“Homer was a star at what he did,” Babcock said. “He was the best in the National Hockey League in my opinion. And Nick Lidstrom was the best defenseman, so you’re not getting Homer and you’re not getting Nick. But Mule, net-front, is as good as anybody. Now I’m telling you, Kronner is a hell of a player, but I’m not trying to tell you that he’s Nick Lidstrom. So I don’t know what we do about that.”