We’ve partnered with On Goal Analysis to bring you a team-by-team preview of the upcoming NHL season. (Just scroll down on the OGA website and hit the calendar.) Here is the preview for the Detroit Red Wings…

Team Play: ISSUE – Filling in the blanks. The Wings enter the 2009-10 campaign facing several issues, of which the most critical is filling the holes left in the lineup by departing players. Gone are: Marian Hossa, Jiri Hudler, Mikael Samuelsson and Tomas Kopecky (and let us not forget Chris Chelios, who has finally taken his rightful place in the Smithsonian). Between them, they accounted for 88 of Detroit’s 295 goals last season (that’s 29.8%, for those of you keeping score at home). The Wings plan to fill those gaps with the likes of Ville Leino, Jason Williams, Todd Bertuzzi and…Patrick Eaves? Barring a disaster of epic proportions, Detroit will make the playoffs again in 2009-10. The play of the four “replacements”, however, will be a major factor in determining whether the Red Wings finish as a top-three seed or open the playoffs on the road.

Click here to read the rest of the preview (which includes the site’s unique Playoff Qualifying Curve and fantasy information) at the On Goal Analysis site.

Here’s reaction from local columnist and national writers after the Pittsburgh Penguins upset the Detroit Red Wings to win the 2009 Stanley Cup.

- Ron Cook of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette writes that the Penguins earned the right to be called champions after beating the Wings on Detroit’s home ice.

- After lacing it up for the Penguins in the 2007-08 season, Marian Hossa has no regrets about joining the Red Wings this past year writes NHL.com’s Dave Lozo.

- Drew Sharp of the Detroit Free Press writes that fans and pundits can’t blame goalie Chris Osgood for the Wings’ loss.

- After winning his first Cup, Bucky Gleason notes that “Sid Kid” Sidney Crosby isn’t a kid anymore – he’s a bona fide champ.

- Helene St. James of the Detroit Free Press writes that the Wings leave the 2009 season with a quiet, empty feeling.

- Gene Collier of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette notes that gritty Max Talbot turned things around.

- DEADSPIN discusses the unfortunate ambushing of blogger Jerod Morris, who is catching massive criticism for his piece about Phillies’ outfielder Raul Ibanez-steroids piece. For TSR’s take on the situation, click here.

- UNCOACHED groups together a photo gallery of the most noteworthy Yahoo! baseball profile pictures.

- SPORTSbyBROOKS says that Japanese fans really want manager Bobby Valentine back.

- As the Penguins get ready to take on the Red Wings in Game 7 of the Stanley Cup Finals tonight, THE LOVE OF SPORTS ranks the top 10 “road warriors” in Game 7s.

- TONY BLOGS.NET has video of David Letterman sending Steve Nash to the NBA Finals.

With their 2-1 victory over the Red Wings in Game 6 on Tuesday night, the young Penguins are now one win away from hoisting Lord Stanley’s Cup and pulling off the best NHL upset of the decade.

One problem: They can’t score at Joe Louis Arena and that’s exactly where the decisive Game 7 will be played on Thursday night. In three games at the Joe this postseason, Pittsburgh’s managed to score just two goals and were shut out 5-0 in Game 5.

It’s time for Dan Bylsma to get a little creative with his front line. Why not put Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin (the Pens’ top two scoring threats) together on the same line to increase scoring chances? Some Pittsburgh fans have been clamoring for this to happen since the Pens lost the Cup last year, so why not try it now?

Some might think that it would be unwise to change things up now with only one game left to be played, but now is actually the best time to take a risk like this because Pittsburgh needs to try and overwhelm Detroit they best it can. The Wings play with so much confidence at the Joe, so Byslma needs something to rattle their cage.

Of course, there are two main problems with the idea of putting both Crosby and Malkin together. One is that Pittsburgh has created scoring opportunities in every game this series, but just haven’t executed. Secondly, and this is a biggie, if the Pens put Crosby and Malkin together on the same line then that puts Maxime Talbot, Chris Kunitz, Ruslan Fedotenko together on the third line, which needless to say is a major disadvantage for Pittsburgh.

It’ll be interesting to see what strategies Byslma comes up with (if any) for Game 7. This one is for all the marbles and it’d be a shame if the Pens left scoring opportunities on the ice when there’s only one game left.

The Red Wings took a 3-2 lead in their best of seven Stanley Cup Finals series over the Penguins last night with a convincing 5-0 win and here’s what some local columnist are saying after Detroit’s victory.

- Gene Collier of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette wants to know if the Red Wings were supposed to be tired and won 5-0, how would Detroit look rested?

- Helene St. James of the Detroit Free Press writes that the Wings proved last night that the young Pens still have a lot to learn.

- Ron Cook of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette writes that for a moment, the Penguins actually looked like a good squad. (That must have been a quick moment.)

- Shelly Anderson of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reports that Pavel Datsyuk’s return received high praise in Detroit’s locker room.

This could be a weekend of “firsts.” Calvin Borel could become the first jockey to record a Triple Crown on two separate horses. With “The King of Clay” Rafael Nadal out of the picture, Roger Federer could capture his first Grand Slam championship at the French Open. And Kobe Bryant could be halfway home to his first NBA title without Shaq.

All times ET…

NBA Finals
Sun, 8 PM: Orlando Magic @ Los Angeles Lakers (ABC)

Stanley Cup Finals
Sat, 8 PM: Pittsburgh Penguins @ Detroit Red Wings (NBC)

MLB
Sat, 4:10 PM: Philadelphia Phillies @ Los Angeles Dodgers (FOX)
Sun., 1:30 PM: Texas Rangers @ Boston Red Sox (TBS)
Sun., 8 PM: Philadelphia Phillies @ Los Angeles Dodgers (ESPN)

French Open
Fri, 5 AM: Women’s Semifinals (Tennis Channel)
Fri, 10 AM: Men’s Semifinals (NBC)
Sat, 9 AM: Women’s Finals (NBC)
Sun, 9 AM: Men’s Finals (NBC)

Horse Racing
Sat, 5 PM: The Belmont Stakes at Belmont Park (ABC)

- Mitch Albom of the Detroit Free Press writes that it’s no longer last year anymore as the Penguins’ stars are starting to shine and take over this series.

- Ron Cook of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette boastfully claims that Detroit can’t win without Pavel Datsyuk, who has yet to play in the Cup Finals.

- The Detroit Free Press writes that the Wings played out of character in their Game 4 loss.

- Gene Collier of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette waxes poetically about Jordan Staal, who he says saved the day in Game 4.

- SI.com writes about the Penguins’ second period burst.

With their 4-2 victory over the Red Wings on Tuesday night, the Penguins have cut into Detroit’s lead in the Stanley Cup Finals and now have the chance to tie the series at two games apiece when the series continues on Thursday in Pittsburgh.

Here is what local columnist and beat writers are saying about the Pens’ victory:

- Michael Rosenberg of the Detroit Free Press writes that even though they lost, the Wings look like more of a lock than when the series started.

- Ron Cook of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette says that the Penguins have new life after soundly beating Detroit in Game 3.

- Mitch Albom of the Detroit Free Press writes that if the Wings can’t kill penalties, then they won’t be able to put the Penguins away.

- Michael Farber of SI.com writes that the Penguins’ wounded warrior Sergei Gonchar, who hurt his knee when Alexander Ovechkin of the Capitals knocked into him in Game 4 of Pittsburgh’s series with Washington, delivered when his team needed him the most.

- Scott Burnside of ESPN.com writes that Game 3’s defining moment was when Matt Cooke drew a penalty that lead to the Pens’ winning goal.

Since moving to Los Angeles from Michigan, I’ve found it increasingly difficult to watch my Red Wings without buying a cable package I wouldn’t be using otherwise. As such, I’ve had to find all possible venues for watching hockey in downtown LA. BTW, to show some love, Far Bar in Little Tokyo totally hooked me up with Game 1 of the Cup Finals.

Even though it was only on NBC, it should be noted that my quest for comfortable settings for watching the Wings is not going to get any easier this week or even next season. Apparently, NBC bumped (to the Versus channel) the Stanley Cup Finals for every weeknight in order to maintain its week-long coverage of I’m a Celebrity, Get Me Out of Here! (A television program I’m sure we will be talking about for years to come) and the start of the new Conan O’Brien show. Back home, folks aren’t particularly happy about the move. Here’s what Michael Zuidema of The Grand Rapids Press had to say as posted on MLive:

Granted, hockey hasn’t consistently pulled the strongest ratings numbers throughout the years, but it doesn’t deserve to be treated like a second-class citizen or an afterthought. Not when you have a matchup pitting Hockeytown against hockey’s poster boy, Sidney Crosby.

The buzz already is there, build on it. Or is Conan O’Brien that much more important? (Never mind, we already know the answer.)

For all NBC does right with hockey — and its coverage of the Winter Classic stands out as a huge plus — the sport still doesn’t feel like a priority, even during the Winter Olympics.

And Versus may be fighting for its niche in the sports world, but it still isn’t a destination point for casual fans. It’s not even available in every home. Nonetheless, it will carry the NHL through the 2010-11 season.

I like Conan O’Brien, and people watch him more than hockey. I’m not debating the numbers here. Nor am I about to tell everyone in Los Angeles to start liking a sport they can’t actually play without all sorts of technology. I suppose what I would like to say, and this kind of echoes Mr. Zuidema, is that despite its relative lack of mainstream appeal, hockey is still one of the great sports in America. Where it’s popular, it’s VERY popular.

I wish there was some easier way to get around all this, some way to bring hockey back to a more profitable level in order to justify it preempting something else instead of vice versa, but there isn’t. Either you like hockey or you don’t. But come on, hockey is sweet. In that vein here’s another article to check out: 10 Reasons Why You Should Be A Hockey Fan.

Hockey fans rejoice!

The conference finals were a big yawn, but the Stanley Cup offers an intriguing matchup. Sid the Kid looks to dethrone Hockeytown and spoil the back-to-back title party being planned in the Motor City. The Pittsburgh Penguins and Detroit Red Wings were the preseason favorites to meet once again in the Cup finals, and both encountered a rough road back to this anticipated rematch.

Oh, and the Lakers and Magic look to close out their respective series this weekend.

All times ET…

NBA Playoffs
Fri, 9 PM: Los Angeles Lakers @ Denver Nuggets (ESPN)
Sat, 8:30 PM: Cleveland Cavaliers @ Orlando Magic (TNT)
Sun, 8:30 PM: Denver Nuggets @ Los Angeles Lakers *if necessary (ABC)

Stanley Cup Finals
Sat, 8 PM: Pittsburgh Penguins @ Detroit Red Wings (NBC)
Sun, TBD: Pittsburgh Penguins @ Detroit Red Wings (NBC)

MLB
Sat, 4:10 PM: Minnesota Twins @ Tampa Bay Rays (FOX)
Sun., 12:40 PM: New York Yankees @ Cleveland Indians (TBS)
Sun., 8 PM: Los Angeles Dodgers @ Chicago Cubs (ESPN)

French Open
Fri, 5 AM: Opening Round Matches (Tennis Channel)
Fri, 12 PM: Opening Round Matches (ESPN2)
Sat, 5 AM: Opening Round Matches (Tennis Channel)
Sat, 1:30 PM: Opening Round Matches (NBC)
Sun, 5 AM: Round of 16 (Tennis Channel)
Sun, 3 PM: Round of 16 (NBC)