Kenneth Rucker, known to Red Wings fans simply as "Orange Hat Guy," passed away at the age of 63 after suffering a heart attack. Rucker, a retired autoworker, had been a Red Wings season ticket holder since 1972. Last night, the Red Wings paid tribute to their loyal fan by draping an orange hat over Rucker's seat, now also orange. The hat will remain on the seat for the rest of the season. [via Kris, @SnipeDangle]

As for the Wings themselves, they rebounded from a sluggish 1st period to beat the Calgary Flames 4-2. Henrik Zetterberg and Nick Lidstrom both scored their first goals of the season, the latter coming just after a ridiculous stick-handling display from Pavel Datsyuk.

Todd Bertuzzi leads the team with 8 points in 6 games and is on pace for 110 points this season. While he probably won't touch that number, you know he's feeling good when he does this.

Check the rest of the highlights here.

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Long-time Red Wings forward and pain in the ass Kirk Maltby will announce his retirement at 5:30 pm today. Maltby was waived by the Red Wings during training camp, but has decided against playing in the minors for the Grand Rapids Griffins of the AHL.

Maltby, a four-time Stanley Cup champion with the Wings, was a member of the original Grind Line that helped the Wings win back-to-back Cups in 1997 and '98.

UPDATE: Malts will join the Red Wings front office as a pro scout. The decision to not fill this position when it was vacated when Pat Verbeek bolted to Tampa (pun intended) this summer seems premeditated now.

Check after the jump for a couple fond Maltby memories. no comments

The Red Wings demoralized the Mighty Mighty Bombay Ducks in their season opener Friday night. And Mike Modano even made another cameo!

The best part of the game had to be Pavel Datsyuk, recording the neat, nitty-gritty Gordie Howe Hat Trick (a goal, assist, and a fight) See for yourself:

We didn't come through with a season preview (my apologies) but all that needs to be said can be said very succinctly: last year was disappointing, and, if the Wings can stay healthy, they'll rule the West again, with Lord Stanley there for the taking. Back to its majority owner.
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Looks like Mike Illitch brought his checkbook to work today. After telling the media he wants to buy the Pistons, he went out and bought a new defenseman for the Red Wings. Specifically, the Wings signed 35-year old defender Ruslan Salei.

UPDATE: The contract is a one-year deal worth $750,000. Incentive bonuses could increase the cap hit up to a max of $1.1 million.

I have absolutely no idea who Salei is. ESPN tells me he's spent most of his career in Anaheim before stints in Florida and Colorado. Youtube tells me he likes to fight.

If Salei is the big, stay-at-home defenseman that Ken Holland wants then I like the move. Just make sure you re-sign Justin Abdelkader, Kenny.

[Winging It In Motown]

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Mike Modano, one of the most prolific, American-born scorers in NHL history, on and off the ice, will be announced as a Detroit Red Wing today. Some stupid Red Wings fans didn't want Modano to sign with his native team because he's old -- not old like the pepperidge farm guy, but old like you might want to take him behind the shed. Frankly, the Red Wings have been the best at getting the most out of outdated players and Modano will only want his career to go out with a bang in his hometown -- sometimes will to win takes over for what the body can or can't give you.

Besides, with Modano signing with the Wings it gives us a chance to see his wife, Willa Ford, around town. Remember her? Her music video "I Wanna Be Bad" was the high time of every 25-year-old's phase through puberty. And look, somebody's already taken the liberty of tat, tat, tatting up her happy place with a Red Wings logo. This alone makes the Modano signing worth it. Thanks, Ken Holland.

 

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C Darren Helm signed a 2-year, $1.825 million contract with the Red Wings today. Helm, already a fan favorite because of his hustle and speed, has performed when it counts. He has 7 career playoff goals in 53 games, including this one that sent the Wings back to the Stanley Cup Finals in 2009.

In other news, Drew doesn't have to change the name of his blog for another 24 months. Good thing too, that shit's a pain in the ass.

[MLive]

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I just spent four days on a lake in Illinois with no internet access and spotty cell phone coverage. I had a blast drinking beer and watching people race boats at 100+ mph, but it's nice to be back to indoor plumbing and ESPN. Imagine my surprise when I came home tonight and saw this headline from the Free Press.

Apparently Ms. St. James was either extremely excited or incredibly frustrated about this news, as you can see with the text "asdfasdf" after the headline. Of course, the red arrow is my addition (There's no way she's as good at MS Paint as I am. I got skillz yo.). As far as Modano actually signing with the Wings? I'll believe it when we see more than a report typed by a Freep writer's cat.

UPDATE: This gets even better. The Freep is basing their entire report on a text message that he sent reading "Big announcement Thursday." If that's the case, I think I see where this is going.

UPDATE 2: It looks like someone at the Freep is drunk and surly tonight. This probably isn't the cause of all of tonight's Modano confusion, but you never know.

[Freep, via @mserven]

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As you may have heard, Red Wings superstar Henrik Zetterberg got married to longtime girlfriend Emma Andersson yesterday. Z's wedding was held in Emma's hometown of Molle, Sweden. Since we love weddings here at D4L, I figured we'd have a look at Henrik and Emma's big day. [Click for larger image]

Why is everyone wearing a striped onesie? Apparently -- because I don't know Swedish and I'm going off of everything George Malik translated -- Z and Emma wanted to poke fun at the region's tradition of public baths as recent as the 19th century. Naturally, it made for some awesome wedding memories.

Click after the jump for more onesie fun... no comments