Two Filppulas

Valtteri Filppula is my #1 favorite player on the Red Wings, up there with Chris Osgood [and Mule's kicking his way up there, too]. So when I heard that the Wings signed his older brother Ilari, I couldn't really believe it.

Then again, that was about ten minutes ago when I found out, and I am extremely drowsy and not exactly comprehensive right now. Maybe this post could have waited until the morning, but I'm far too excited.

Two Fils on the Red Wings? Sounds like my dream come true. Most of you guys may not know a lot of about Other Fil, aka Ilari. I'm Internet BFFs with Val's biggest fan, so she keeps me up to date on the happenings within the Filppula family.

Most of you probably at least saw this goal of his. Those Filppulas like to score sweet-looking goals. Anyway, back to Ilari. Here's some background info in case you want to know how Filppula II will size up on the team [even if he will probably be a Griffin for most of this year]:

-He plays in Europe [obviously] and is, in fact, Finnish. Which is good, since he's Val's brother and that would pose some strange questions otherwise.
-He won the Jari Kurri trophy for 2010. Other players who have won this trophy: Saku Koivu, Olli Jokinen, Miikka Kiprusoff, and Niklas Backstrom (twice) (the Minnesota goalie, not the Capitals forward).
-This past season, he scored 12 goals, 37 assists for a career high of 49 points in 58 games.

So just think of him as a cheaper Ville Leino that may actually do something when he's called upon to do so. Or, you know, the Philly version of Leino. And he's signed for the league minimum, so I don't think there's anything better you could have done (since Kovalchuk would never sign with us for the league minimum just to be Datsyuk's winger. That's a fading daydream of mine.).

And as a PS, I apologize if this post is crazy. Like I said, I'm a little sleepy.