The HBO 24/7 cameras have already taken shop inside the dressing rooms of the Detroit Red Wings and the Toronto Maple Leafs. Here are some predictions for what to expect from the Red Wings.
Note: Leafs predictions will come out on Saturday.
Jonas Gustavsson will be really cool
Back in the day, many of his teammates gave him the title of “The Most Interesting Man in The World”. Granted that came from the 2011-2012 Maple Leafs, so it’s safe to assume that Gustavsson was dominating those ping-pong games against a bunch of losers, but I’m willing to bet The Monster’s able to show some sort of talent for the cameras even if he’s no longer in such a small pond so to speak.
Joakim Andersson will get a surprising amount of talking head time
Look at those eyes. Granted, being a team full of Swedes it’s safe to say the HBO crew will have plenty of options here, but I’m putting my money on Andersson.
Danny DeKeyser will show us how fun he is
Not only is he actually from Michigan, but he’s also just two years removed from Western Michigan University. If anyone’s gonna get caught drunk off their ass it’s him. That or we’ll be stuck watching him give us a tour of lovely Michigan. Guess which one I’m rooting for.
You will gain a new-found love for someone on the coaching/training staff
He could be comforting an injured player, or tearing him a new one because of a missed coverage, but at some point you’ll notice someone who you never really knew existed and you’ll want to give him a high five. I’m going to go with Piet Van Zant, but that’s purely based on how great it is to say his name (he’s the athletic trainer). Keep an eye out for Paul Boyer — equipment managers are always cool and maybe we’ll get a segment where he talks about each player’s preference for sticks, gloves or whatever.
Todd Bertuzzi will swear the most
Because he’s Todd Bertuzzi. He might even be too injured to appear in the first episode or so but I’m willing to assume he’ll make it up somehow.
Alfredsson addresses the boos he’ll face
At least I hope so. There’s going to be a ton of Leaf fans in Ann Arbor who will be very excited to boo the former captain of their provincial rival. He already got it pretty good in the pre-season so I see no reason why it won’t continue. They face each other on the 21st in Toronto so the HBO cameras are sure to pick up on the booing and hopefully we get a nice response from Alfie on how he’s used to it by now. Yeah, that doesn’t sound that exciting, but Alfredsson’s not one for controversy.
Pavel Datsyuk practicing will be surprisingly entertaining
This is assuming he recovers from his concussion, but if they do decide to show a clip of Datsyuk playing keep away a là Kovalev, it’ll be glorious. Just glorious. And yes, I know it’s already out there, sort of. But I don’t want to see Datsyuk dangle some media type, I’m talking about going through real NHLers and making them look silly. If he can get a teammate accidentally Kronwalled (without injury) while he’s at it, even better.
Darren Helm will get almost no time on camera
Not by design, I just don’t think the HBO guys will be fast enough to catch him.
i hope darren helm gets a hat trick in their first game on 24/7