Ohlund will miss the rest of the Olympics (and beyond) with a rib injury, TSN says. The Swedish head coach, Ben Gustafsson, says he’ll put Kronwall in and pair him with Lidstrom. The Swedes play the Czechs in the semifinals tomorrow at 10:30 AM on MSNBC here in the US and CBC in Canada.

Update (6:38 PM): Helene St. James has more here:

Swedish coach Ben Gustafsson had Kronwall practicing with Lidstrom on Thursday, and afterward explained he liked the two together because one would have to be a raving lunatic not to. Or, as he actually explained it: It’s a good pairing because both are very good at reading plays and knowing when it’s time to jump up and join the rush.

Unsurprisingly, Lidstrom agreed. “Yes.” he said.

Lidstrom elaborated: “I think we’re similar in that aspect, that we both can jump up in the play at different times, we just have to read off one another so we both don’t go up there at the same time.” Lidstrom also allayed any thoughts that it would be hard for a player to jump right into an Olympic semifinal by pointing out that Kronwall did quite all right in his first game back with Detroit on Feb. 1, when he had a big hit on his first shift and two assists.

St. James also reports Nik has had trouble getting his equipment to Torino (mirroring the experience of his fellow Swedish Wings last week). He’s confident it’ll get there in time, though.

What a turnaround, eh? One day he’s watching the Games on TV, the next, he’s on a plane to Torino and not long after that, he’s practicing for the semifinal game against the Czechs. He deserves the chance at gold, after the year he’s had coming back from the knee injury. Good luck, Nik!

Also, head over to Abel to Yzerman, where IwoCPO’s got some comments on the Wings’ goaltending future and has posted what I’ll call the Quote of the Day, from our very own Pavel Datsyuk.