Bootland, McGrath and Liv Called up

Update (3:58 PM): Helene St. James confirms the RWC message board postings. The Wings dated the start of Kronwall and Holmstrom’s IR term as being November 10th so they can be activated as soon as tomorrow, while Osgood’s term is dated from 12th, meaning he can come back Monday. She also says none of the call-ups are expected to make it to Calgary in time for the game. Lastly, she believes Liv will back up MacDonald on Saturday, therefore solving the dilemma she articulated last night. - Matt

Update (3:23 PM): The posters at Red Wings Central‘s message board say it’s due to injuries, with roster space being cleared by Kronwall, Holmstrom, and Osgood joining Willaims on IR. - Matt

Update (2:25PM): The more I think about it, the more this seems very curious to me. Bootland has been mysteriously scratched for the last few Griffins games and now all of a sudden he’s getting called up to Detroit? And Stefan Liv has clearly been outplayed by Jimmy Howard thusfar in the season. I guess I can see maybe calling him up because they don’t want Howard to ride the bench, but that still doesn’t explain Bootland… -Sarah

Griffinscentral reports that the Wings have called up Forwards Darryl Bootland and Evan McGrath, as well as Goalie Stefan Liv from the AHL. I’m not sure how the Wings made room for these call-ups given that they were already at the roster limit. I would assume that this at least means that Homer and Ozzie have been placed on IR and that Williams won’t play tonight. Even then, they’d still have to clear one more spot. I would think if Kronwall were going to stay out they’d have called up a defenseman. Perhaps someone else is injured?

3 comments on “Bootland, McGrath and Liv Called up”

Matt Saler on November 17, 2006 at 11:17 am said:

This is weird. My first thought was "injury" but my second was "trade."

But after thinking about it, I just can't really see the Wings trading a couple regulars for a single player and filling in the gap with these guys.

Maybe these three are part of a trade but I don't think the Wings would have to call them up in order to trade them.

That said, it must be due to an injury.

It'll be tough for them to get to Calgary in time, if that's the goal, unless they were called up early this morning, so it probably won't effect tonight.

I suppose this means we'll see Liv backing up MacDonald on Saturday.

Reply ↓
Sarah Baker on November 17, 2006 at 11:55 am said:

You're right Matt, this is really weird. None of these players seem like they ought to have been likely call-ups in any event. Like I said, Bootland has been scratched lately (after posting 5 points in 14 games), McGrath hasn't been particularly outstanding (4 points in 14 games), and Liv has been disappointing at best. Maybe I'm crazy, but don't you usually want to call up the best players?

There are plenty of Griffins who have been performing better than Booter and McGrath. Not to mention the fact that Brad Norton has been skipped over once again… The only one that comes close to making sense is Liv, as that solves Babcock's problem of having someone to back up Joey on Saturday.

At any rate, maybe if we've got Bootland for the Edmonton game, we'll get a little revenge for Willy…

Reply ↓
Matt Saler on November 17, 2006 at 2:54 pm said:

It's even weirder because Kronwall was supposedly healthy and now he's on the IR.

I can understand Liv and I can somewhat understand Bootland in light of the Edmonton game tomorrow (they may want the toughness he brings) but McGrath just seems extraneous and I don't understand putting Kronwall on the IR just to bring him up.

Reply ↓