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| 4th January, 2008 - 12:20 pm |  Douglas Benton/RealGM - Welcome to the newest addition to the hockey coverage here at RealGM with our hockey blog called Hockey Talk. Running on Monday, Wednesday and Friday, Hockey Talk will examine player and team trends, as well as take a more in-depth look at the game. This is an interactive project, so feel free to email your opinions to Douglas.Benton@realgm.com and your thoughts may just appear in this space.
January 4
It sounds like a broken record after all these years, but the Detroit Red Wings are once again the class of the NHL. Dominance is a good word to describe them, but I?m not sure it does them justice. Detroit (30-8-3) is second in goals per game, first in goals allowed per game and has a goal differential average of 1.34. The next closet team is the Ottawa Senators at 0.79. They have also outshoot their opponents by 11.4 shots per game, followed next by the New York Rangers at 4.9 shots.
Left winger Henrik Zetterberg (25 goals, 27 assists) is playing at a MVP level, but it is the blue liner combination of Nicklas Lindstrom and Brian Rafalski which is setting the tone. Lindstrom has been a mainstay in Detroit and has continued his all-star play with an incredible +31 this season.
However, the addition of Rafalski from the New Jersey Devils over the summer has proved to be the missing piece. He is third on the team in assists with 28 and has the highest goals per shot percentage amongst defensemen on the team. Also, don?t underestimate the impact his playing for the Devils is having on the Red Wings now and what it will have come playoff time. [READ] |
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