Ansar Khan has the latest:
- Tomas Holmstrom is out until the blood in his eye clears, which means the team doesn’t have any idea when he’ll play. There’s an outside chance he could be ready for Game 1, but it’s more likely he won’t be.
- Brett Lebda’s headaches are no longer a problem, but his ankle is still bothering him, so his status for Game 1 is uncertain. Babcock is confident that Kyle Quincey will fill in ably.
Khan also makes some suggestions as to what the lines may look like with Holmstrom’s absence. I think Babcock will be loathe to break up either the second or third line, so a Zetterberg-Datsyuk-Filppula top line seems likely. Still, Khan rightly points out it would mean a high concentration of centers on there, but I think he’s wrong to assert it would be at the expense of the fourth line (Calder-Hudler-Samuelsson). Jiri is a capable center and I think he would do fine centering for a game or two.
Lastly, a Sharks blogger has posted a series preview, but the author lost just about all credibility with me when they referred to Valtteri Filppula as “Valeria Flipaburger.” And, the “Wings-are-ancient” meme has grown really, really stale. I could go on, but I’ll restrain myself. Do go read it, though, and learn about the Sharks, a team, I must confess, I don’t know much about. Believe me, I’ll be studying up on them, though! Expect my own preview on Thursday.