Krys Kolanos appears to be finished with the Griffins (and thus the Wings as well…). According to Joe Conklin of the Grand Rapids Press, Kolanos is not practicing with the team and the Wings seem to be working on trading him. This is unfortunate news, as Kolanos’s play has been one of few bright spots on a struggling Griffins team and he was probably a likely candidate to be called up in the future. His twelve points in 17 games were good enough for second on the team (tied with Langfeld). Without him, the already limited scoring will become practically non-existent. I guess Kolanos couldn’t beat his reputation. Hopefully the Wings can get someone of similar talents in return for him.
Archive for November, 2006
Goodbye Kolanos
GameDay: vs. Vancouver (10-10-1, 21 Pts) 7:30 ET
Update (1:07 PM): Helene St. James reports that Holmstrom had a successful morning skate and that he will be in the lineup tonight. I’m not sure I’ll believe her until I see him out there, though. - Matt
Tonight is the third of four meetings between these two teams this season. So far, they’ve split the series, with the Canucks winning the first game 3-1 on October 5th and the Wings getting revenge last week in Vancouver with a 3-2 win on the 15th.
Since losing to the Wings, the Canucks have won two games, both of which came over Central Division opponents St. Louis and Chicago. The win over the Hawks ended a six game homestand where they went 3-3-0. Tonight’s game kicks off a three-game road trip that will take them to Nashville for a game tomorrow night and to Colorado Saturday night.
The Wings haven’t been quite so successful since beating the Canucks, going 0-1-1 to finish up their Western Canada trip. They dropped a game to Calgary on the 17th (3-1) but earned a point in Edmonton the next night by forcing overtime with just over 3 seconds left in the game, eventually losing in a shootout.
Niklas Kronwall is still going to be out with a groin injury, despite the fact that the media reports just about every day that he’ll be back for the next game.
Tomas Holmstrom should be back tonight unless he had a Kronwall-esque setback during the morning skate.
Chris Osgood will not dress, meaning Joey MacDonald will back up Dominik Hasek instead.
The News reports that there will be a ribbon-cutting ceremony today at 4:30 for the new Gordie Howe entrance to JLA and for the new-spangled LED scoreboard. I’d heard about the scoreboard but missed the bit about a new entrance.
The Wings need to pick up where they left off on Saturday and have another dominating performance. This time, however, they need to win. Putting the puck in the Canucks’ net would help, as would keeping it out of their own. They seem to have forgotten that in Edmonton.
Admin note: I’m on Thanksgiving Break at the moment and will be until Sunday afternoon/evening. That means I won’t have a 24-hour connection to the internet so timely updates will be a bit hit-or-miss. I’ll still be posting the daily posts (notes, previews, summaries – though I may not have one on Friday’s game), but updates throughout the day will be fewer and further between than usual. I think it’s safe to say that goes for the other writers here, as well.
links for 2006-11-22
Khan: Kronwall out Wednesday
Apparently, Niklas Kronwall has had a setback and will not be returning to the ice Wednesday after all, Ansar Khan reports. He may be back as soon as Friday when the Blues come to town, though, but, “the Wings aren’t going to take any chances.”
According to Khan, Holmstrom is still on track to return tomorrow night, unless he has a set back himself during the morning skate.
Khan also has a little more on Chris Osgood’s injury and the goaltending situation. He thinks the Wings will stick with the plan Holland articulated yesterday: Hasek will back up Joey MacDonald when the latter starts.
This policy stands in contrast to the team’s practice of just this past weekend, when Stefan Liv was promoted and joined the team in Edmonton in order to back up MacDonald against the Oilers the night after Hasek played in Calgary.
The Wings haven’t totally given up on the idea of preventing Dom going into games cold, however:
Babcock said if Hasek has to relieve MacDonald, they’ll try to do between periods, when Hasek will have some time to stretch and get loose. But it sounds like, if it comes to it, they would just ride MacDonald, no matter how badly he was getting shelled, rather than take a chance on inserting Hasek. The only problem would be if MacDonald is injured.
Khan doesn’t see MacDonald starting very often (the actual likely number would be two or three times, Ansar, depending on whether Osgood is early or late coming back) and so doesn’t see the Wings bringing up Liv.
This whole thing makes me nervous. Get better soon, Osgood!
A year ago today
Update (1:14 PM): George Malik has a great piece up at Kukla’s Korner on what happened then and what’s happened since. - Matt
It was a year ago today that Jiri Fischer collapsed on the bench during the first game between the Predators and the Wings last season. Isn’t that hard to believe? I remember watching it live in the apartment building lounge, in shock, and barely responsive to the questioning of my friends.
A couple weeks from now is the anniversary of the emotional press conference in which Jiri talked about what had happened and what his life was going to be like from then on. Since then, there has been surprisingly little new information in the media, which is no doubt, at least in part, due to the fact that doctors apparently are still mystified.
That said, the media coverage of the story has been shamefully slight, as IwoCPO, always quick to point out the shortcomings of the Detroit hockey writers clique, discusses today.
I had forgotten myself today was the anniversary, but there’s no excuse for the papers not saying a thing about it.
Iwo’s right, it is a miracle Jiri’s still alive today.
God bless, Jiri, hope you’re doing well.
11/21 Notes
Update (6:50 AM): Ansar Khan reports that Chris Osgood has a fractured left wrist and will be out for 3-4 weeks. Apparently, they’re not calling anyone up at this time.
“My feeling is we’ll go with the two goalies and Dom will be on the bench when he doesn’t start,” Holland said. “But, that could change between now and (today).”
There are back-to-back games this Friday and Saturday, against St. Louis and Nashville. If they don’t call up Liv again, this would force Hasek to back up Joey, probably against St. Louis. It’s possible that they’ll call someone up later in the week, to prevent this. If not…well, let’s hope Joey doesn’t need to be pulled. -Megan
… Helene St. James profiles the Markov-Lidstrom pairing in the Freep today. Among other things, she points out that Markov’s reliability has meant that the Wings have not had to rely so heavily on Lidstrom, who isn’t averaging the near-30 minutes a game he usually plays.
It’s a good piece, but there is one gaffee on her part:
Markov, 30, plays bigger than his slender 6-foot-1 frame; last month, for example, he delivered a crushing open-ice hit on Edmonton’s Ethan Moreau, who is 6-2, 220 pounds. Moreau, who hasn’t played since, coughed up the puck on the hit, and the play led to a goal for the Wings.
It’s the same mistake John Wawrow made a little less than a month ago. I’m not exactly sure why it’s so easy to confuse Moreau and Jarret Stoll.
… Ted Kulfan of the News looks at Jason Williams and his concerns over physical contact in his first game back (Saturday). Apparently, they were unfounded, as there “definitely no shying away from anyone,” on Williams’ part.
Good to hear. So, you’re going to become a hitter now, Jason?
… The Freep’s Steve Schrader looks at the names of the NHL’s trophies and has some suggestions in light of the Cold-FX Mark Messier Award:
But what about the Gordie Howe Trophy, maybe for most Gordie Howe hat tricks?
Or the Wayne Gretzky Award for the top playmaker? The Mario Lemieux Trophy for the top-scoring owner?
Or the Scotty Bowman, for most creative line combinations.
Well, maybe they could rename one award. Instead of the Lady Byng, call it the Claude Lemieux Trophy, just to show a little sense of irony
Don’t forget to tack corporate sponsors to the front, Steve.
… Both papers report that Tomas Holmstrom and Niklas Kronwall are ready to return from groin injuries. “Babcock is confident,” they’ll be back Wednesday for the Canucks game.
As for Chris Osgood’s left wrist:
“I don’t think it’s broken,” he said. “I’ve had broken hands before and it’s not the same thing. It’s something different. It’s just that it’s where I catch the puck all the time, so I have to get it looked at. Hopefully I’ll be back sooner than later.”
Yes, hopefully. There may be more news on Ozzie later today since he was supposed to get his wrist looked at yesterday afternoon.