Archive for the 'Dominik Hasek' CategoryPage 4 of 7

Free Agent Update

Published
by
Matt Saler
on July 1, 2007
in Brian Rafalski, Danny Markov, Dominik Hasek, Mathieu Schneider and Todd Bertuzzi
. 1 Comment

Ansar Khan has an update on the status of the Wings’ free agent situation.

In summary:

… Hasek should sign within a day or two, having told the Wings he’d rather wait until after the first day of free agency to make a deal

… Todd Bertuzzi is shopping himself around the market, looking for a longer-term deal than the Wings are willing to give him. So, his return may not be all that likely. The Wings are looking for a “second-tier free-agent forward,” to, I assume, replace Bertuzzi in the event he doesn’t re-sign.

… The Wings are looking to spend their remaining $8 million on “Hasek, a forward, and a depth defenseman.” Quite frankly, I don’t really understand the need for a depth defenseman when the team’s blueline corps now stands at Nick Lidstrom, Brian Rafalski, Niklas Kronwall, Andreas Lilja, Chris Chelios, Brett Lebda, and, likely, Derek Meech. Seems pretty solid to me.

… Danny Markov turned down the Wings’ last offer, so he’s looking less and less likely to re-sign. Not much of a surprise there.

… The Wings apparently didn’t offer Schneider the kind of money they offered Rafalski (as in up to $2 million less per year). So, it seems that all along they were more intent on pursuing the younger Rafalski than on keeping the older Schneider. That’s surprising, given how re-signing #23 was listed as a priority all along.

Everybody panic?

Published
by
Matt Saler
on June 30, 2007
in Dominik Hasek, Mathieu Schneider and Todd Bertuzzi
. 7 Comments

Bruce MacLeod has a post not calculated to raise the hopes of Wings fans here. For a slightly more measured take on the situation (particularly the part about negotiations between the Wings and Hasek), see this CP report. With Hasek no longer a sure thing, Schneider on the verge of finding out his market value, and Todd Bertuzzi wanting job security the Wings aren’t willing to give him, it looks like Danny Markov could end up being the most likely to return, after everyone wrote him off.

The Wings would be okay if they couldn’t reach a deal with Hasek. The alternatives on the market aren’t that appealing, but Chris Osgood is more than capable of backstopping the Wings to the Conference Finals, especially if they bring a similarly solid defense to the table. If pressed, they could sign one of the UFA goalies and try a rotation. Not an ideal situation, but a workable one.

But the defense is the big question: what will it look like? It could be significantly different. The thought of Mathieu Schneider bolting began growing in the back of my mind and it now seems to be the most likely outcome. He has his critics in Detroit and around the League, but Schneider’s value to the Wings is widely underappreciated, as anyone who watched the team’s last playoff run can tell you. Losing him to free agency wouldn’t be quite like losing Nick Lidstrom, but the impact would be huge. I don’t think Andreas Lilja and Brett Lebda are capable of together stepping into Schneider’s shoes. The Wings can bring back Danny Markov and count on Niklas Kronwall being healthy, but they’ll still miss Schneider’s outlet pass, his booming shot, and his underrated ability on the power play, not to mention his defensive capabilities. There’s a reason people referred to Lidstrom and Schneider as the Wings’ 1A and 1B defensemen. There is no immediate replacement for #23, if he should decide to take the money and run.

As for Bertuzzi, I would be more disappointed than upset were the Wings unable to reach a deal. I want to see what he can do with a full season under his belt, but it wouldn’t be a great loss if he didn’t re-sign. It would certainly open up some space for another acquisition by Holland, perhaps Slava Kozlov or even Ryan Smyth. Even if the Wings don’t sign a forward, whether Bertuzzi or someone else, I think they’re in pretty good shape up front anyway. They’ve got a good youth corps looking to step it up and begging for the ice time to do it, so maybe it’s right to give it to them.

So, the outlook may seem a bit bleak, but that’s just because nothing has happened yet. I still think Hasek will sign, so the Osgood haters probably won’t have to worry about watching him play more than 30 games. Schneider could very well re-sign and for a reasonable price, and the Wings are likely to sign Bertuzzi and/or another UFA. Those three points would ensure that last year’s team largely stays the same and would offer the best hope of a return to the Conference Finals. 3-out-of-3 may not be too likely, but 1- or 2-out-of-3 wouldn’t be too bad. And really, even the worst-case scenario (Hasek, Schneider, Bertuzzi gone; no UFAs) wouldn’t be awful, because of the team’s youth depth. It’d just make repeating last year’s success that much tougher for the team and stressful for the fans.

The fun days of refreshing TSN and hoping to see news of Wings UFAs’ re-signing, rather than news of their departures, begin tomorrow. Woo hoo.

Bad news: Wings UFAs have high expectations

Published
by
Matt Saler
on June 22, 2007
in Danny Markov, Dominik Hasek, Mathieu Schneider, Roster Moves and Todd Bertuzzi
. 3 Comments

Apparently, Ken Holland has hit a bit of a roadblock with Dominik Hasek, Todd Bertuzzi, Mathieu Schneider, and Danny Markov. It seems they all want the kind of money other teams around the league have been throwing at players of similar talents (Anaheim, Philadelphia). Ansar Khan says Dom is still a lock, though his demands have taken the Wings aback, but as for the others, he quotes Ken Holland as saying, “It appears one or two are not going to be in Detroit.”

That sucks, but I guess it shouldn’t be much of a surprise. I’d hoped everyone would put winning ahead of money and keep together a team that could be right back where it was this past season. Idealistic, I know.

If only two of the four will be back, let’s hope it’s Hasek and Schneider.

Dom will return

Published
by
Matt Saler
on June 13, 2007
in Dominik Hasek and Roster Moves
. 3 Comments

The good news keeps coming: Dominik Hasek has told the Wings that he will come back for another year. They haven’t reached a deal yet, but they’re in talks and there won’t be any problems there. You can expect he’ll get more than the $750,000 in base salary he got last year. I’m with George Malik in saying, “Now go re-sign Schneider and Bertuzzi, Mr. Holland!” (thanks Jordan)

5/26 Notes

Published
by
Matt Saler
on May 26, 2007
in Chris Chelios, Dominik Hasek, Kyle Calder, Mathieu Schneider and Robert Lang
. 3 Comments

… Bruce MacLeod has graded the Wings individual performances for the playoffs and posted the results on his blog. MacLeod is an astute observer of the game and his grades reflect that. Not much to disagree with there.

… MacLeod also was the first (that I saw) to post Chris Chelios’ comments on why he skipped the post-series handshake. Basically, he was overcome with emotion and couldn’t think straight for the final 20 or so seconds of the game, as he knew the team was going to be eliminated on the brink of going to the Finals for what could have been his last time. I totally understand Cheli’s excuse and I think Teemu Selanne’s comments (where he derisively said it just showed Chelios’ true character) were way out of line. George Malik has more from Chelios.

… Ansar Khan writes on Dominik Hasek, saying he’s a “good bet to return,” noting that he’s wanted back by the organization from the front office to the players and that he wants to be back himself. Mike Babcock, apparently, will look to convince him to stay.

Personally, I don’t have any problem with Hasek coming back, except for those nagging concerns over his health in the back of my mind. Of course, they handled him so well this season that it was just about a non-issue. Still, that doesn’t mean they’ll necessarily be as fortunate on another go-around. If Dom is capable of repeating his performance, it’d be great: bring him back. It wouldn’t be any different (except that he’ll be older) than this past season and it worked out fine. It’s just that it’s another roll of the dice.

That said, I wouldn’t be opposed to the team trying the open market or just going with Chris Osgood, with Jimmy Howard doing “enhanced backup” (I made that up) duties. Maybe Jimmy’s not ready for that, though.

All things considered, since Dom’s about the most economic option and provides the best bang for the buck when healthy, I’d be fine with them going with him again if they decide pursuing someone like JS Giguere isn’t worth it.

… Khan goes on to say that Todd Bertuzzi wants to stick around (see his comments here at Red Wings Corner). I’d probably like him to. I think a full season would do wonders for the guy. We definitely never saw what he can really do. I seriously doubt he’ll ever be back to his peak, but I know he can be more effective than he was and giving him a real role on the team would be a great way to get him going again.

… Khan also thinks Mathieu Schneider will resign re-sign. I hope so! Losing him was probably the single biggest reason the Wings won’t be playing hockey Monday night. He’s huge for this team and I hope they can find a way to work out a deal. Last time his contract was up, things didn’t go so smoothly, but I’m pretty confident they will this time around.

… Khan finishes with the unsurprising comment that and that Robert Lang is definitely gone. What is surprising, to me, anyway, is his assertion that Kyle Calder won’t be back either. I guess it’s not such a big surprise given his awful performance in the playoffs, but unless it was due to something other than an injury, I thought his regular season performance was enough to earn him a spot. I guess we’ll hear more about that soon.

Game 2: Wings 3, Sharks 2

Published
by
Sarah Baker
on April 29, 2007
in 2006-2007, Chris Chelios, Dominik Hasek, Game Reports, Jiri Hudler, Joe Thornton, Playoffs and Sharks
. 5 Comments

There was a lot of talk before this game about the importance of getting a good start to the game, coming out with energy right away. We were expecting the Wings to do just that. Instead they came out completely flat. I don’t think you could come out any flatter if you tried. The Wings gave up a goal only 36 seconds into the game. I’m not entirely sure what happened here, as I hadn’t even settled down in my seat before the horn was blaring. It looked like a deflection, so I don’t blame Dom. The Sharks clearly had more jump. The Wings then followed up with a seemingly endless stretch of stale, listless play.

At least Hasek looked sharp…well until about 4:17, when he apparently decided that San Jose needed another goal. He went behind the net for the puck and passed it directly to the stick of a waiting Shark, Milan Michalek. He passed to his buddy Big Joe, who, using his magnificent skill, lobbed it into the open net. Aside from that single lapse in judgment however, Hasek was playing great and kept the Wings from sinking any farther behind.

Bit by bit, the Wings regained their composure, starting with the PK. At 5:29, Draper took an inexcusable offensive zone holding penalty, and the Sharks were on their first power play, which is always scary. The first unit out was Zetterberg, Franzen, Lidstrom and Chelios. All four worked really hard to contain the powerplay. Chelios, in particular, was impressive. They successfully killed it off and, in doing so, gained a little bit of confidence. However, they still failed to generate any offensive pressure. About 11 minutes into the first, the announcers shared a depressing stat - the Wings had no shots. Zero. Zip. Nada. Not one single save for Nabokov to make. The Wings were losing and their prospects of a comeback were looking extremely dim. At that point, we realized that if the Wings could not get it together, and fast, they were gonna get swept.

Slowly, they started putting their game back together. Patrick Marleau took a hooking penalty at 11:35, but the Wings could not capitalize on the powerplay. Thornton took a slashing penalty at 13:59, and the Wings powerplay was once again fruitless. They had some chances, but no goal. Around 17:30, Zetterberg passed the puck to Datsyuk, who was just inside the blueline. He turned around and passed it back to Zetter, who was racing down the boards. Hank threw a bad-angle shot on net, and it somehow ended up in the net. Nabokov was in a horrible position to make the save. It almost looked like he expected Hank to take it behind the net. It was a weak goal for him to give up.

San Jose has only one player under 6 feet (backup goaltender Vesa Toskala), but Jiri Hudler’s not scared of a single one of them. He had a really impressive effort in this game. Hopefully Mike Babcock noticed too… He was dealing hits, fighting for the puck, and backchecking. It was a very good game for Jiri. At 17:46, our littlest forward took a boarding penalty. Who knew Jiri even had the strength to knock somebody over? After this impressive and unexpected hit, we noticed little Jiri’s ice time go up (once again diminishing in the third). Watch out Sharks, you may have big scary guys, but we have Jiri Hudler!!!

The Wings came out with a lot more energy in the second period. They had another good penalty kill at 3:08 after Bertuzzi was slapped with an interference penalty. We saw a lot of good things out of the Wings in this period. The defense was joining the rush, with both Chelios and Lidstrom joining the action on separate occasions. Hasek made a number of key saves including one huge one on a 3 on 2. Hudler continued to make the most of his limited ice time, bringing energy to every shift.

The Wings kept up their play in the third and were rewarded with a goal at 1:23. Dan Cleary pounced on a turnover by Christian Erhoff (a turnover which was caused by the aggressive play of Kirk Maltby) to even up the score at 2-2. The Joe Louis Arena crowd came alive, with octupi flying onto the ice. At this point it felt like the Wings had taken control of the game. The momentum was in their favor. They were playing exactly the way they needed to be. They played a very agressive PK when Bertuzzi took a hooking penalty at 12:50. Basically the entire third period from the point at which the Wings tied it was an intense waiting game. For awhile it looked like we might be suffering through an overtime or two. It was a huge relief when Pavel Datsyuk scored the game winning goal with 1:24 left in the period. Zetterberg made another great play on this goal. He took the puck around the back of the net, and then passed it up to Samuelsson. Sammy took a good, hard shot, but Nabokov was there. Datsyuk picked up the rebound (something they had trouble doing all game) and took it to the other side of the net, where he roofed it.

The first 15 minutes aside, the Wings played much better than game 1. Once they settled down, played a sound defensive game and put on a lot of offensive pressure. It would really help offensively if they could work on getting the rebounds. Nabokov isn’t often beaten on the first shot, but he doesn’t suck up the puck like a lot of other goaltenders do. If the Wings can drive the net and start taking advantage of those rebounds, they should be able to score with ease. Hasek continues to be solid, he just needs to be careful not to have any more momentarily lapses like he did on the Sharks’ second goal. Chelios plays like he’s 30 and Hudler plays like he’s 7 feet tall -now if we could only get the whole team on board. Lang’s effortless and careless play continues, which resulted in only two shifts during the third for the Czech. So much for Babs’ denial of his being demoted. Also, what happend to first-round Lilja? I was starting to like that guy.

For game three, the Wings need to come out with some energy. I know, it’s starting to sound an awful lot like a broken record, but it’s two games in a row that they’ve given up two goals in the first five minutes of play. With a team like San Jose, that just isn’t going to work. We came back once, we didn’t the other. It’s not a risk I’m willing to take every game. Also, keep Lang on the fourth line, but move Jiri up. He brings energy that the team desperately needs, and he’s proven that his size is not a liability. The Wings have the ability and the talent to beat this team…they just have to use it.

Cheaptshots 101: Brought to You by the Calgary Goons…er, Flames

Published
by
Megan Hirdes
on April 21, 2007
in Brett Lebda, Dominik Hasek, Flames, Johan Franzen, Mathieu Schneider, Nick Lidstrom, Opinion, Playoffs and Suspensions
. 31 Comments

This is another joint post by Sarah and Megan.

If you missed this game, you missed one of the most exciting and at the same time bizarre games in recent history. In this series, as well as in the regular season, games in Detroit have followed a pattern. The Wings score first, and Calgary loses their composure. This is what we expected tonight, and Calgary did not disappoint. In fact, they went further than anyone expected. The Wings resolved their special team woes in the second period, with two shorthanded goals and a PP goal. This did not sit well with the Calgary Flames. So they went into the locker room and devised a master plan: Take out everyone in a Red Wings jersey, and then win the came by forfeit. As least, that’s the way it kind of seemed. The unraveling really began with an encounter between Lebda and Langkow. Lebda delivered a low hipcheck to Langkow, which caused Langkow to flip over Brett’s back, sending both of them to the ice. Langkow rolled over, lifted up Brett by the back of his jersey and sucker punched Lebda in the face. This was not a weak little love tap. He pulled back and hit Lebda with all the force he could muster. It was reminiscent of Tootoo’s gloved punch to Robidas. Lebda suffered a concussion as a result of the cheapshot, and was also assessed a minor penalty for clipping. When the camera first went back to the play, Langkow looked seriously injured. Upon replay, we see that he was able to lift Lebda up, punch him, and hold on to him before he curled up in the fetal position. Also, Langkow finished the game and did not receive a penalty for the play. If there is any justice in this league whatsoever, Langkow will be suspended for this disgusting display of cowardice and goonery.

Langkow was not the only Flame worthy of suspension. In fact, the most worthy candidate played only 18 seconds in the game. The Wings scored their fifth goal at 15:42. At this point, we were wondering why they wouldn’t just pull Kipper to give the guy a break. After all, he does have to play tomorrow and he had just given up five goals. In fact, they left Kipper in for another minute, until Primeau took a slashing penalty. Apparently, they weren’t pleased with Primeau’s technique, so the sent out McLennan to show us all how the pros do it. As soon as the first unsuspecting Red Wing (Franzen) was within reach, he began slashing. He delivered two slashes to the back of Franzen’s legs, for which the Referee immediately signaled a delayed penalty. As soon as the whistle blew, he slapped at the puck in anger, and then delivered a nasty two-hander to Franzen’s midsection as he coasted by.

“It doesn’t belong in hockey,” said Franzen, who said the slash shocked him more than it hurt. (via AP)

Franzen fell to the ice as the jaws of the entire audience (including us) collectively dropped. McLennan was given the original two minutes for slashing, five minutes for intent to injure, and a game misconduct. Pretty impressive for 18 seconds of play. We’ve all heard of sending out the goons in the closing minutes of a losing game. We never expected this goon to come in the form of a back-up goaltender. There is little question in our mind that McLennan will receive a suspension. When you look at the situation, he kind of looks like a fall guy. Whether he sits on the bench or not really has no impact on the Flames. So why not send him out as the goon? This whole move is very suspicious. If they were gonna pull Kipper after the fifth goal, why didn’t they do it right away? Why did they wait a full minute, until they had handed the Wings another PP? It seems to be the consensus among Wings fans, as well as hockey media, that McLennan was sent out there with a mission. We are told that he was out there to send a message to the Wings to stay out of their crease. If this is the case, he should have gone after his own defensemen. Apparently the Flames are blind to the fact that every time a Wing was in the crease or made contact with Kipper, it was because he had been shoved there by a Flames defenseman. Case in point: Maltby. Kirk was avoiding the goaltender, then got sandwiched between two Flames who pushed him into their goaltender. Matlby was slapped with goaltender interference and a goal was wiped out. Luckily, we scored a lot more, so this incident kind of fades into the background.

If you thought the madness was over once McLennan was thrown out, you were sorely mistaken. No way is the Flames fearless leader gonna be shown up by some backup goaltender. He also picked out the nearest man in a Winged Wheel. Iginla slashed Mathieu Schneider in the Wings defensive zone. He then followed Schneider up to center ice, where he proceeded to spear him with the butt of his stick. This did not cause Schneider to fall over, nor did it slow him down at all. So, Iggy had to take more drastic measures. How about a cross check to the lower back? Yup, that sounds like Iginla. Here’s where we would like to point out that Schneider was nowhere near the puck, nor was he involved in the play. His crime was apparently skating on the ice, which apparently belongs to Iginla. Jarome was assessed a hooking minor and a cross-checking minor.

It’s no wonder Calgary is so quick to lose their composure. And it’s no wonder they are so immature, given that they are lead by Jarome Iginla. Apparently Mr. Iginla subscribes to the Slapshot version of hockey. After game four, there was already a question of Iginla’s integrity. At the end of this game, and in his comments after the game, he showed his true colors. He was left on the ice purely and admittedly to start fights.

“It was really about getting some fights going at that point to keep our energy up and carry some anger into the next game,” Iginla said with several new stitches over his left eye. “We’re not going away.” (via TSN)

He is actually proud of the fact that his team made fools of themselves on national television. Sound like someone you want leading your team? This right here is proof that the whole thing was premeditated. Going out and trying to injure guys or just fighting just because you’re losing sends only one message: this is a team of cowards. Rather than save some dignity, they would prefer to “take some anger” into game six. Really, the only people they’ve succeeded in making angry are their own fans. Wings fans are just laughing, and Babcock is probably still trying to make sense of the whole thing. Franzen hit it on the nose when he said that this kind of play has no place in hockey.

After a display like this, the league should punish the offenders. Will they? Most likely not. At least not all of them. They will suspend McClennan if they have any sense. This is too close to the Chris Simon incident and too blatant to ignore. The popular number here is ten games, and that sounds about right to us. Langkow really, really should be suspended for at least two games. Whether or not he will be is up in the air. Iginla deserves a game in the press box because of the stick-butting and the bad cross check. It is very likely that he will not be suspended. On top of these suspensions, Playfair should be getting a hefty fine.

Overall, it was a wild game. The Wings showed that they are not only the better team, they are by far the classier team. The Wings refused to allow Calgary’s late-game antics get under their skin and kept their composure like the veterans they are. The difference between the two clubs is clearly displayed in their leadership. Lidstrom’s class and Iginla’s lack thereof. Hasek’s comment really sums it up:

“I was really disappointed. Not a little, but a lot,” Hasek said. “Their goalie, what he did and Iginla, he’s the captain of the team and should be in charge.” (via TSN)

4/7 Notes

Published
by
Matt Saler
on April 7, 2007
in 2006-2007, Avalanche, Blackhawks, Chris Osgood, Dominik Hasek, Ducks, Flames, GameDay, Henrik Zetterberg, Nick Lidstrom, Pavel Datsyuk and Todd Bertuzzi
. 2 Comments

… Since we’re seeing Chicago for the second time in a row, there isn’t much need for a full preview. As far as the things covered in the preview for Thursday’s game, not much has changed, except for the obvious things like the season record (6-0-1 Wings) and the Hawks’ win streak (4 games), etc. Other than that, much is the same, such as Chris Osgood’s status. He’ll be starting, apparently, as Dominik Hasek will sit out with a sore thigh.

The biggest situational difference is the Wings’ place in the standings, which was frozen with Anaheim’s shootout loss to Dallas last night. The Wings will take first place in the West no matter what happens today and tomorrow. The only questions now are who they will play in the first round and whether they’ll claim the top spot overall.

The first question can be answered tonight if the Flames beat Edmonton, which would give them the 8th seed and the opportunity to play the Wings in the first round. If they lose and Colorado beats Nashville in Denver, a major showdown will be setup for tomorrow when the Avs and Calgary make up the game which was canceled due to the blizzard earlier this season. In that case, the winner of that game would take 8th.

As for the second question, it looks like the answer is “no.” The Sabres have two more games and both are against non-playoff teams, as Ansar Khan points out, though they are on the road (Washington and Philadelphia). The Wings can max out at 113 points, but Buffalo can finish as high as 115. In the event of a points tie, Buffalo would win because they’ll have more wins than the Wings in any case. So, forget about the President’s Trophy if you haven’t already. I can’t say I’m disappointed.

The most important thing for the Wings today in this essentially meaningless game is to keep their focus. It would be great for them if they could end the season on a high note and go into the playoffs well, rather than on a losing streak. They don’t seem to flourish in afternoon games, but I’d like to see them show up to play a full game today so that they can get out of the rut they’ve been in lately.

… Helene St. James has some updates on the injuries:

Nick Lidstrom (back) and Todd Bertuzzi (neck) are listed as questionable (”may play”) for today, though they both practiced yesterday. Ted Kulfan, by the way, is a little more positive about Nick and Todd’s chances, saying both are “expected to play.”

Both Dominik Hasek (thigh) and Henrik Zetterberg (back) practiced, and she says they “should be ready for playoffs.” I’d like a little more certainty there, but whatever.

… St. James also has a piece about the Datsyuk signing, which goes over much of what was said at the press conference yesterday and focuses on Steve Yzerman’s role in the whole thing. Lastly, IwoCPO has something to say about that role.

4/6 Notes

Published
by
Matt Saler
on April 6, 2007
in Blackhawks, Dominik Hasek, Pavel Datsyuk, Predators and Todd Bertuzzi
. 0 Comments

… The Wings’ shootout loss to Chicago last night gave them the necessary point to clinch the Central Division. I guess that’s why it doesn’t feel like they lost.

If you look at the boxscore and see that they had 58 shots, don’t be too impressed. They didn’t play all that great and most of those shots were of the low-percentage long-distance or bad-angle variety. They still haven’t hit their A-game stride and they only have one game left to do so.

Another point (or a Ducks loss) and they’re Western Conference champs, by the way.

… <gloating id=”snark”>I wonder if the Predators Central Division championship banner will show up on eBay now. And I almost regret the fact that we won’t get to see just how low the turnout would have been for the parade. Oh well. </gloating>

… Bad news of the night: Todd Bertuzzi strained his neck, probably in a big collision with Chris Osgood as he tried to get back and prevent the Blackhawks’ first goal. He took off his helmet and I got a bad feeling, but he finished the period and was involved in some physical play.

During the second period, just as I noticed I hadn’t seen him in a while, Ken Daniels observed he hadn’t had the opportunity to say Todd’s name in a while and Mickey Redmond did a head count. Later on, they were told he had strained his neck and would not return.

Helene St. James reports today that he is day-to-day. I’m sure this is the Wings being cautious, as they want to be careful with any injury that comes up.

… The Hasek story continues. I would swear this blog post has been changed from its original iteration, because I definitely would remember this part:

Babcock at first laughed and joked (presumably) Hasek was out because, “he’s got a huge groin pull and might not play again” - a reference to the fact Hasek hasn’t finished his previous two NHL seasons because of groin injuries.

That’s a heck of a way to talk, Babcock. If St. James added that in response to worrying Wings fans, it doesn’t help. “Presumably”?!

Oh, and apparently, he is out because of an injury, as she writes in a run-down of the various “known” Wings injuries. It’s that same thigh problem that kept him out of three games in March.

… Possible good news: Pavel Datsyuk may be close to signing. Still, I’m not getting my hopes up yet. (via Gorilla Crouch).

Liv in; Hasek-Not so Much

Published
by
Megan Hirdes
on April 5, 2007
in AHL, Dominik Hasek, Roster Moves and Stefan Liv
. 1 Comment

Update (3:40 PM, Matt): Helene St. James has another update: apparently, Hasek may not play in the final game of the season on Saturday, though Mike Babcock wouldn’t give a reason. I think it’s more likely it’d be for rest purposes than because of an injury, but I don’t really know, obviously.

Also, Nick Lidstrom skated today, but he isn’t going to play tonight because the team decided his back is too stiff. Babcock is still saying it’s not a big deal, but it is a little worrisome that Nick’s missing these games, if this isn’t just the usual late-season smoke-and-mirrors aimed at getting stars rest. I guess Mikael Samuelsson will get some more time on the blueline while on the power play. - Matt

Update (12:30 PM, Matt): Helene St. James has a little more. Basically, the Wings still don’t like the idea of Hasek entering a game cold and without his day-long warmup regimine. Keeping Dom healthy has become more important than ever now that the playoffs are a week away and available injury recovery time is nil. - Matt

According to the Griffins newsletter and Griffinscentral, the Red Wings have called up Stefan Liv to back up Chris Osgood tonight. They must be giving Hasek a full rest tonight. That seems to be something they’re doing with quite a few players lately…