The first time Stephen Weiss came back from injury this season, it was as if he’d never been away.
The Detroit Red Wings forward produced 4-6-10 totals in 11 games and was plus-four until he suffered a shoulder injury Dec. 12 against the Florida Panthers.
Since Weiss came back from that ailment for Detroit’s Dec. 23 game against the Buffalo Sabres, the results are a mirror image of that previous performance. Weiss has garnered a goal and an assist in nine games and is minus-five.
As the Wings readied to face the St. Louis Blues Thursday at the Scottrade Center, Detroit coach Mike Babcock saw no cause for concern with Weiss’ numbers.
“I don’t think he’s off-footed,… Babcock said. “I think the puck went in for him (the first time back). When you look at the piece of paper (since then) and whether he scored or not, he didn’t score. So I think all players go through that.
“It goes in ebbs and flows. Does he need to get better? Absolutely. Is he getting better? For sure. He’s skating not bad. I think he’s done some good things for us. He just hasn’t gotten points for us. He has to keep working.…
Receiving that apparent vote of confidence from the coaching staff is something that Weiss appreciates, insisting he’s heard little in the way of complaint about his efforts from anyone on Detroit’s staff.
“Not much at all, which is maybe a good thing,… Weiss said. “It’s a really hard league to score in. There’s no doubt about it. Sometimes, if the power play is not scoring it’s real hard to score 5 on 5.
“In this league, to score you have to bang in rebounds. It’s hard to get quality chances, so you have to be in front of the net. It’s a real struggle to get chances. It will come.…
He may look to be running hot and cold on the stats sheet, but there’s less concern about the temperature gauge on Weiss’ overall performance.
“Sometimes you have a streak where it’s going in and sometimes you don’t,… Weiss said. “You’ve just got to stick with it and hopefully you get a bounce here or there and the next thing you know you’re on a run for a few games and you try to get that to run for as long as you can.
“I don’t focus on stats, really. I’m just concerned about playing solid and helping the team get two points as much as possible.…
D3 Gets All A’s Since his latest arrival from Grand Rapids of the AHL, Xavier Ouellet has teamed with Brendan Smith to form a very solid and reliable third defensive pairing for the Wings.
“I think they’ve played well together,… Babcock said. “To me, the bottom line is I’m not concerned. I feel safe when they’re on the ice. X really moves the puck well and he seems to do good things on the offensive blue line.…
As for Smith, in his third full NHL season he’s maturing into a steadying presence on Detroit’s back end who’s understanding and reading the game much better than when he first reached this level.
“I think he’s learning to pick his spots when to jump and when not to jump,… Detroit defenseman Niklas Kronwall said of Smith. “He’s still a work in progress, but he’s making some strides.…
The Wings have shown plenty of patience with 2007 first-round draft pick Smith, comparing him to a wild stallion that once broken possessed the potential to develop into a thoroughbred.
“Smitty is one of those guys, he’s an ultra-competitive kid,… Babcock said. “He skates real well. He’s got a good skill set. I think he’s really settled down here of late.…
Babcock has witnessed a steady evolution in Smith’s performance.
“Like most pros, I think it’s consistency,… Babcock listed as Smith’s most significant area of growth. “The biggest thing for most pros, unless you’re a super star, is you’re trying to get a bigger chunk of cheese all the time. The coach doesn’t give you more, you take more.
“So by playing good and doing good things, you get more and more. He’d like to have more ice time and I’d like to give him more ice time. You’ve just got to earn it.…
Performing steadily, Ouellet and Smith are making life easier for both Babcock and the team’s top two defensive pairings of Kronwall and Jonathan Ericsson and Danny DeKeyser with Kyle Quincey.
“Him and X give us a real good pair,… Babcock said. “You don’t have to worry about who they’re on the ice against. You just play them and so what you do is you play your top four less, which I think is so important because when you’re yanking them off because you’re so scared to have them out for D zone faceoffs, your top four play too much and you wear your team out.…
Kronwall feels the lessened workload is helping him to stay fresh.
“I think so,… Kronwall said. “Anytime you can have as good depth as possible you don’t have to worry about matchups and things like that.
“Smitty playing with X has been a good pairing for us.…
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