I was highly critical of a lot of stuff coming out of Detroit after the Peguins won the cup… now it’s time for credit and an appreciation of the injuries this valiant team went through. The list is rather long, and quite frankly, some of what this team went through is nothing short of amazing…

Brian Rafalski had a herniated disk he played through… Dan Cleary had two partial tears in his groin… Kris Draper with a groin injury… Pavel Datsyuk’s deep charley horse… among a few others... ok these happen and these players, for the most part, kept playing, as a lot of hockey players do.

Detroit captain Nik Lidstrom takes the cake though. After taking a stick to the groin in game 3, he tried to keep going, until the pain was too much and he got checked by a doctor. The doctor questioned him on his plans for more children and then told him he needed surgery. There was a chance he would lose a testicle in that surgery.

All came out well but the fact that Lidstrom came back to play just a few days post-surgery is astounding. Especially given the location of the injury… that is beyond tough! And he was not the only Red Wing player to come back very quickly after surgery.

The fact that Lidstrom and Rafalski did such an incredible job on Crosby in the series becomes even more awe-inspiring considering the injury issues.

Congratulations are due… and respect has been earned... again. You may question a lot, but you can’t question the heart of this Red Wing team or this Detroit franchise.

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Martin Gelinas has been named the Director of Player development for the Nashville Predators. I really like this move. A well-respected player in his career, with a wealth of knowledge on what it takes to be an NHL player… the perfect role for him.

This move has been greeted with almost unanimous agreement from Pred Nation… a rarity! Glad to see Marty back with the Predators.

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You are invited to follow me on Twitter. Search for PredPAPaul… Not only will I be updating when I get news or updates… I’ll also be updating during Pred home games in season with information and explanations from the PA box.

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Join Brandon Felder and me for the fastest hour in radio… HockeyBuzz Radio... Wednesday night’s through July 1st. Start time is 6pm on SportsRadio 560 WNSR, you can listen online at www.wnsr.com or you can download the podcast of the show at www.hockeybuzzradio.com

Tonight’s show will feature an interview with former NHL’er and current German Olympic Head Coach Uwe Krupp, NHL analyst and Flyer broadcaster Bill Clement will be joining us and Eklund will be bringing us the hottest rumors leading up to UFA day… so tune in!

Don't forget to check out www.hockeybuzzradio.com for playoff schedules, playoff standings, updates, links to more hockey and Predators information along with our new weekly feature called “On the Mark” featuring opinions on all things hockey from hockey writer Mark McGee.

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