Well, that answers that question. Apparently, the Wings did offer Sopel a contract, but it probably wasn’t the $1.5 million he’s reported to have signed for with the Hawks. As others have pointed out, this should mean Meech will be the 7th defenseman, especially given Kyle Quincey’s recent injury.
Archive for the 'Derek Meech' CategoryPage 2 of 2
According to Ted Kulfan, the Wings expect to carry 22 players into the season. Apparently, that means 13 forwards, 7 defensemen, and 2 goalies, though Holland allows for the possibility that another forward could impress in camp, forcing them to carry 14. He doesn’t say the same about the defensemen, so it looks like that logjam will have to be cleared up by camp/pre-season performances. If Meech doesn’t out-perform Sopel, it looks like the Wings will risk losing him on waivers by sending him back to GR. This isn’t the first time the Wings have indicated they’d only like to carry 7 defensemen, so the scenario I posted the other day is looking more and more unlikely. Wishful thinking, I guess.
As for the forwards, the battle for the 13th spot will primarily be between Matt Ellis and Igor Grigorenko. I think Igor’d better watch his back. Ellis is just the kind of player Babcock loves and if Grigs takes so much as a drill off, he’ll fall behind. Obviously, though, the Wings know what their doing in leaving a 13th and a 14th spot open, as it’s likely both players will perform well.
Update (02. Aug, 6:25 PM): IwoCPO takes a look at the same Khan piece and points out the real reason Markov likely won’t be back. It’s not so much about the money as it is about the fact that the Wings have six defensemen already signed. Derek Meech is, as Iwo says, likely more of a lock for the 7th spot than Holland lets on.
So, unless the team is looking to make a trade, the defense will consist of Nick Lidstrom, Brian Rafalski, Niklas Kronwall, Chris Chelios, Brett Lebda, and Andreas Lilja, plus Meech, assuming he signs.
Danny is a good defenseman, but I’d prefer to see the Wings let him go rather than re-sign him and subsequently be forced to trade away someone like Lebda, who is already well on his way to being one of the Wings’ top four. Markov isn’t worth the loss of one of the Wings’ young D-men. - Matt
Ansar Khan has an update on negotiations with Danny Markov and Derek Meech, as well as on the search for a top six forward. Nothing groundbreaking. Basically, it looks like Markov won’t be back; Meech will have to earn the 7th defensive spot or risk being sent down through waivers; and there is no one on the market that is exceptionally interesting to the Wings, so it’s possible they’ll go into camp with the forward corps as is.
I don’t know about you guys, but I’m tired of the off-season. October cannot come fast enough.
Via Snapshots: Kyle Quincey will remain with the Wings through the playoffs so that the team has 7 defensemen ready to go. In case of an injury, Derek Meech is next in line to get the call-up.
Just thought I’d do a little update since I know that Matt is without internet access for the time being…
Yesterday’s game was a such a disappointment. The Wings showed great promise in the first two periods, only to let it all slip away in the last half of the third. It was tragic really. I don’t want to talk about it. It’s too painful. These close ones just kill me, especially when we seem to have the game all locked up early on.
Not only did we lose the game, but we also lost Niklas Kronwall in the first thirty seconds to a broken pelvic bone (Dave from gorilla crouch has a nice diagram if you want specifics…). He was against the boards behind the net fighting for the puck, and Joel Lundqvist barreled in and gave him one heck of a hip check into the boards. Unfortunately I have to say it was clean - I really wish I could blame him (or anyone for that matter…), it’d give me somewhere to direct the venting of my frustrations.
Mickey Redmond lamented the play for quite some time, saying that generally one of your teammates (like the goaltender…) should warn you when someone is flying toward you like that. Though he did admit the possibility that Kronner had been warned, but may not have had the time necessary to react. Honestly it just seemed like a freak play, another unfortunate break for Kronwall. I love the way he plays, but he has yet to make it through a season with the Wings without a major injury. I just wish he could stay healthy! Oh I forgot to mention… he’s out for 6-8 weeks, or about two months. That means that the only way he’s coming back this season is for the Stanley Cup Finals - maybe. As IwoCPO points out, that means we’ll likely be seeing all too much of everyone’s favorite whipping boy, Andreas Lilja. While I do feel that Lils has seemed better of late, he’s still the weakest link on our defense and can be a liability.
To top it all off, our defensive rock, Nicklas Lidstrom, is out with a lower back strain. Lidstrom doesn’t get injured! What is up with that? They’re saying it’s nothing serious - just precautionary, but given the wings’ tendency to downplay injury severity, I can’t help but be a just a little bit concerned. I really, really, really hope they’re right, because there’s no way we’re going anywhere in the playoffs without Nick Lidstrom.
Anyway, the gaps in our depleted defense will be filled by the returning Brett Lebda and call-up Kyle Quincey. Not sure why Quincey got the call over Derek Meech (who has outplayed him all season in GR - when Quincey has been healthy, that is). I like Quincey, but he seems to have a tendency to take bad penalties. Hopefully he’ll be on his best behavior against the Blue Jackets on Sunday.
Real quick:
… Dominik Hasek stole one for the Wings last night: 29 saves, many of which were big time stops.
… Pavel Datsyuk’s pass to Henrik Zetterberg for the first goal was amazing. I had just started yelling at Mikael Samuelsson for turning over the puck at center when Pavel stole it right back and beat two defensemen as he made that behind the back pass to a wide open Zetterberg. I forgot all about the turnover.
… Samuelsson’s goal later in the game was a sniper’s goal. Keep that up and you can be our canon, Sammy.
… Tomas Kopecky has a broken collar bone after going into the boards shoulder first on a rush in the third period. I only saw the replay once but it looked bad enough. He’ll be out for 10-12 weeks. Since the Wings can just insert Jiri Hudler into the lineup, they don’t need to call anyone up, though they might anyway, just in case.
… Derek Meech has been sent back to GR since Niklas Kronwall has finally been cleared to play.
