Red Wings first round three stars

April 24, 12:28 AMDetroit Red Wings ExaminerMike Mouat

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Johan Franzen 

Make no mistake, when a team sweeps past an opponent, as the Detroit Red Wings did to the Columbus Blue Jackets with a wild 6-5 win on Thursday night, a lot of players deserve to be stars, in fact you could argue they all deserve consideration. Whether it be Darren Helm who led the team in hits with 17 in the series and provided energy everytime he was on the ice, or Jonathan Ericsson who displayed poise beyond his games played figure or the entire third line who were the best line on the ice through the first two games, eveyone contributed within their role.

First Star - Johan Franzen

Franzen shot into prominence at the end of last season and continued to score at an unexpected rate in the playoffs. And he has continued that roll through the first round with two goals, including the series winning goal with just 47 seconds left in game four. He also added four assists for six points and recorded at least one point in every game. His game winning goal in game four was his eighth game winning goal in the playoffs which moves him into a tie for fifth place in Red Wings history with Brendan Shanahan.

Dan Cleary

Second star - Dan Cleary

Cleary, as per the norm absorbed a beating in front of the Blue Jackets net, but dished out 16 hits of his own (second highest total on Detroit), scored a pair of goals in the final two games and led the Red Wings in plus-minus in the four game set with a plus-6 rating. He finished second in team scoring with five points, four of them coming in the final two games on the road in Columbus.

Niklas Kronwall 

 Third star - Niklas Kronwall

This was a difficult choice between the two top scoring defensemen, Nicklas Lidstrom and Kronwall. Kronwall led all defenseman in scoring last year in the playoffs with 15 points, and he is off to a quick start this year as well with a goal and three assists. Kronwall played an equal number of shifts per game as Lidstrom and averaged slightly fewer minutes in total through the four games. Kronwall led the team with nine blocked shots in the first round.

Nicklas Lidstrom

Lidstrom finalist for Norris Trophy

Lidstrom has again been selected by the Professional Hockey Writers Association as a finalist forthe James Norris Trophy as the NHL's best defenseman. Lidstrom has won the award six of the past seven seasons and has been a runner-up three times previously. The other finalists are Zdeno Chara of the Boston Bruins and Mike Green of the Washington Capitals. The NHL awards are scheduled for June 18 in Las Vegas.

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For more info: For the NHL announcement of the Norris Trophy finalists, please click here: Will Chara, Green derail Lidstrom's bid for 7th Norris?