According to Bruce MacCleod, Niklas Kronwall (groin) will return to the lineup tomorrow night against Columbus. Derek Meech will be back in the press box, unless Mike Babcock has been impressed enough with him to sit someone else, such as Andreas Lilja. Also, the status of Tomas Kopecky, Dallas Drake, Aaron Downey, and Matt Ellis will be determined at the morning skate tomorrow.
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Update (13. Sep, 12:22AM): Bruce MacLeod has posted a look at the situation and it’s a good read. He writes that the competition is between Sopel and Meech, not Lilja. At the onset, that’s exactly how it will be, but MacLeod admits that “[Sopel] could force
What problems? Well, if Grigorenko has a strong enough camp to make the team, and if the Wings want to keep Matt Ellis (a heart-and-soul player in GR ready to be one in Detroit), they’d need to carry 14 forwards (those two, plus Datsyuk, Zetterberg, Holmstrom, Filppula, Cleary, Samuelsson, Franzen, Maltby, Draper, Drake, Hudler, Kopecky). 14 forwards plus 2 goalies plus 8 defensemen equals 24 players, one man over the limit of 23.
So, as already looked at by IwoCPO, if both Sopel and Grigorenko turn out to be good enough to make the team, someone’s on their way out. It’s going to be interesting to see how this all shakes out. Maybe Sopel will be a flop and all they’ll have to worry about is what to do with Igor and Ellis. - Matt
Ansar Khan has a blog post up with a few Babcock quotes on various topics, but one of the most interesting is this one on Brent Sopel, one of the Wings’ free agent camp invitees:
“… I’ve known him since he was a kid, we have a real good feel for him and think he’s a top-four NHL defenseman. Now, just because we think it doesn’t mean anything, he’s got to relax and let his skill come to the forefront and show us what he brings (though the preseason).”
Sopel’s entry into the top four would upset the current projections of the group, which is generally considered to be Nick Lidstrom, Brian Rafalski, Niklas Kronwall, and Andreas Lilja. The first two are locks for the top pairing (or at least, the top four, in Rafalski’s case) and the team isn’t paying Kronwall $3 million to play in the third pairing, or, for that matter, to sit on the bench. And speaking of the third pairing, Chris Chelios and Brett Lebda play too well together to break that up. So, that leaves Andreas Lilja. If Sopel cracks the lineup, it seems to me that Lilja would be the odd man out.
That wouldn’t be a new situation for old Andreas, whose had an up-and-down career in Detroit, ranging from Nick Lidstrom’s defensive partner in 05-06, to seventh defenseman and odd-man out to Niklas Kronwall and Brett Lebda last year. He had a surprisingly good playoffs and still brings the most physical presence of any Red Wings defenseman (relatively speaking), but even in the Mike Babcock era, offensive defensemen win out in Detroit.
Obviously, Sopel is no lock for a contract with the Wings, but the possibility is intriguing.
I realize I’m a little late to chime in on this topic. Others have said their piece already and made some great points. See Abel to Yzerman, Gorilla Crouch, and yzerman is god.
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.
Update (25. Feb, 1:53 PM): Joffrey Lupul has been quoted in the Edmonton Sun as saying he thought the Kronwall hit was borderline dirty, but said he wasn’t going to complain. By contrast, his head coach, Craig McTavish told the paper,
“People have long memories at this level and it’s not something we’ll quickly forget. He’s got a history of that. When you blindside guys like that viciously, that says something and we’ll remember it.”
“He’s got a history of that”? When, pray tell, has Kronwall given a guy a concussion with a shoulder-to-head hit before, McTavish? It was not vicious, it was just unfortunate timing and placement. If you want a suspension because it was a headshot, say that, but don’t spew that kind of whining crap. - Matt
Update (9:47 PM): I’m obviously not the only one who wants the League to rethink their policy on hits to the head, but I think this is the first time a person in authority has spoken out against it.
The recent Senators/Sabres conflagration was kick started by a headshot on Chris Drury by Ottawa’s Chris Neil. Drury is out with a serious concussion now and Buffalo’s owner has written a letter to the NHL asking for change.
Neil’s hit was far more malicious than Kronwall’s hit, so the fact that he went unpunished is far more telling than the fact that Nik didn’t for his check, which didn’t demonstrate an intent to injure. - Matt
Someone has YouTubed a video of Niklas Kronwall’s hit on Joffrey Lupul. Dirty or not dirty? See for yourself.
Call me biased all you want, but I say more ill-advised than dirty. It was all shoulder and, though he did power through it with his legs, it wasn’t malicious and it would have just been a big open ice hit had Lupul not just dished off the puck and looked away.
Still, at the risk of being called a Red Wings heretic (but I’d rather be wrongly accused of being a heretic than rightly accused of being a hypocrite), I will say that it was not a safe hit or a smart hit, and almost certainly one deserving of a suspension as a head-shot. However, the League doesn’t punish hits to the head because of an irrational and ridiculous fear that it would make the game less physical. Like I wrote in November, I think it’s criminal of the League not to police hits like that more, regardless of whether or not a Red Wing is delivering them, and regardless of intent. Hits to the head should not go unpunished, period.
Update (4:00 PM): Taking a page from James Mirtle’s book, I’ve added a section the sidebar (”Other reading”) that will display links to hockey-related items of interest that don’t get blogged here (or that I haven’t yet had time to mention). It’s through Google Reader and is something I’ve wanted to do for a while, but it wasn’t very easy to implement on WordPress blogs until recently. - Matt
… Chuck Gormley continued his “Forsberg watch” for the Courier Post yesterday with another installment. Nothing very new, though Gormley expands on his idea that Forsberg would like to come to Detroit, saying that it’s because
“two of the Red Wings’ top four scorers, defenseman Nicklas Lidstrom and left wing Tomas Holmstrom, are from Sweden.”
I see your point, Mr. Gormley, but three of their top four scorers are from Sweden. Not sure how you missed Henrik Zetterberg.
Anyway, he goes on to say that the Wings may be interested in dealing either Andreas Lilja or Niklas Kronwall as part of the package. Personally, I think that if the Flyers are dumb enough to take a Lilja package (perhaps with Williams), it wouldn’t be such a bad deal. But if they demand someone like Kronwall or Hudler, I’d hope they’d say “no.” There is little use in throwing away two key pieces of the future for a player who may only be with the team until July 1st.
The story that was being reported earlier in this saga was that the Wings would demand that Forsberg sign a contract with them as part of any deal, and that may still be one of their stipulations. However, it doesn’t look like Forsberg would be willing to do so, as there is talk that he’d look to return to Philadelphia after a playoff run with another team. The Wings may decide Forsberg is worth the short-term benefit and hope that they could convince him to stay afterwards, but I think it would be foolish to give away one or more of their future stars in exchange for a player that could retire (if he does sign a long term contract) or bolt (if he doesn’t) at any moment.
Peter Forsberg certainly has the ability, if healthy, to make a huge impact on the team, as Nick Lidstrom told Ted Kulfan yesterday, but, given the likely asking price, it doesn’t seem to me that the Wings have the organizational depth to pursue a deal without really hurting their future.* Now, if Forsberg works out some kind of Hasek-like deal with Philly (”Don’t take too much from them, I want to be able to win.”) or the Flyers get conned into taking Lilja and Williams, it’d be worth it, if he were healthy. That’s a pretty big “if,” in my mind, even though he seems to have found a solution. My question is: will it last or will it be like the other “solutions”?
… George Sipple reports that Joey MacDonald will get another start in the coming back-to-back series. It will almost certainly be Monday night in Philadelphia as Dominik Hasek ough to be in net tomorrow against Calgary. Joey is still looking for his first NHL win and hopefully his teammates will show up to play this time around. He’s played extremely well in almost all his games this season, but hasn’t gotten the support he deserves from the skaters.
… Sipple also says that the Wings are concerned about their slow starts in the last nine games. I am too, though I have been impressed by their comeback ability and determination not to give up. Still, they’ll have a much harder time pulling off such comebacks in the playoffs, so hopefully they’ll find motivation to play hard from the first drop of the puck to the buzzer at the end.
… There is some variety to the reports on the nature of Danny Markov’s injury: The Freep calls it a “contusion in his middle back” and claims Piet Van Zant’s authority; the News calls it a “sore shoulder, ribs”; and TSN just calls it a shoulder injury. All three say he’s listed as day-to-day.
*There are those fans who dislike Niklas Kronwall, Jiri Hudler and even Valtteri Filppula for mistakes they make and for their lack of production. This is because we were spoiled by Pavel Datsyuk and Henrik Zetterberg making an immediate impact. We have forgotten that most young players need years to develop and that they aren’t likely to be stars right off the bat. Kronwall, Hudler, and Filppula are very likely to be big names in the League in years to come, but they aren’t going to be that immediately, though I personally think they’re pretty good even now. So, that’s why I say the Wings would be mortgaging their future if they trade any of them away, even though they might not seem so valuble now.
Via Ansar Khan:
… Mikael Samuelsson’s right foot was broken Saturday night in Denver when he blocked a shot during the third period (I assume, based on the shift chart). It’s the first I’ve heard of it and apparently, the Wings themselves didn’t know until he had an X-ray taken today. The Wings will be without Mikael’s services for at least two weeks, Khan says, but have called up Josh Langfeld to fill in for now. It can’t be a very serious break if it took them this long to find out there was one and if the recovery time is so short.
… It looks like the inflammation and pain in Henrik Zetterberg’s wrist has subsided enough for him to forego another cortisone shot. The rest has done him a lot of good, apparently, and that’s great news for the Wings.
… Mathieu Schneider practiced today but will miss at least two more games. That puts his return at Tuesday night in Long Island, at the earliest. The Wings could use him back, but it won’t do them any good to rush it so I’m glad they’re taking their time.
… Neither Robert Lang nor Kris Draper practiced today due to the flu and Khan suggests that the Wings may call someone else up to cover for them in the game tomorrow night. I’ll keep an eye on the AHL transaction page in case they do.
… Lastly, as reported earlier this week, Niklas Kronwall will play tomorrow night, but will have a cage protecting his face, and could wear it as long as 2 months. He has a whopping 25 stiches in the cut across his nose from Marek Svatos’ skate and may want to consider wearing the visor a little lower once he drops the cage.
… Ansar Khan reports that Pavel Datsyuk did not practice today due to stiffness. Apparently, it’s nothing big, though it’s not certain whether or not he’ll play tomorrow night in Chicago. Babcock wouldn’t tell what exactly the issue was, so it could be anything.
Hopefully Pavel won’t have to sit tomorrow, as he seems to be hitting his stride and doesn’t need to have that disrupted.
… Khan also reports that Johan Franzen will definitely be back tomorrow night. He says nothing about Niklas Kronwall, however. Nik’s injury problems are beginning to be a bit frustrating, I have to say.
Update (09. Dec, 12:38 AM): Paul Kukla has a screencap of the hit that will give you a good idea of what happened, if you didn’t see it. I still haven’t seen a replay online yet but I’ll post the link if I find one. - Matt
Looks like Babcock got his way: the NHL reviewed the hit on Brett Lebda last night and has suspended the former Red Wing for two games. He’ll forfeit $26,829.26 in salary.
Good to see justice finally being meted out, though it would have been even better had they done it on the other headshots we’ve seen this season. It was the only one of the three not to result in an injury, though. I guess since the boards were involved, it’s a bigger deal than an open ice hit.
Maybe Babcock needs to speak up more often.
Also, both Helene St. James and Ansar Khan report on the two injured Swedes. Apparently, Johan Franzen is another week away from returning, while Kronwall won’t be back until Tuesday at the earliest. Great.
Both Helene St. James and Ansar Khan report that Chris Osgood has had a setback in his recovery from a broken wrist. He had the cast taken off today, but had to have another one put on as his wrist is not yet healed. It will be on until Saturday at the earliest, making it highly unlikely he’ll return before the Wings’ December 14th game in Chicago.
Well, I guess that means the edginess about the goaltending among the Hockeytown citizenry will persist for another couple weeks. If you’re worried (we’re not) that Joey MacDonald might see time in the net, rest easy: we don’t have any more back-to-back series until December 22nd-23rd, a week or so after Osgood is due back.
Khan and St. James also write on Johan Franzen and Niklas Kronwall, though they have slightly different takes on the former. St. James says Franzen will be out another week, while Khan says he won’t play in either of the two St. Louis games this week. Both say Kronwall will try to skate tomorrow, though Khan is of the opinion that Nik will be out another week. Nik, is it too much to ask for you to get healthy and stay that way? Sheesh.
One final note: they both think Pavel Datsyuk and Henrik Zetterberg could be reunited soon. Apparently, they’ve been practicing on a line together with Mikael Samuelsson and could play together tomorrow night in St. Louis. That’d be a good way to get both of them going consistently, though it spreads the offense thin elsewhere.
Well, the Wings may not be getting any closer to an agreement with Pavel Datsyuk, but they just locked up one of their many potential free agents. TSN reports that Niklas Kronwall has agreed to a 5-year, $15 million dollar contract extension. He would have been a restricted free agent this summer.
Kronwall, who has played just 63 games in the National Hockey League, will make $1.5 million in 07-08, $3 million in 08-09, $3.25 million in 09-10, $3.5 million in 2010-2011, and $3.75 million in 2011-2012, for a salary cap average of $3 million and a free agency value of closer to $3.5 million. Unquestionably, it’s a gamble for both the player and the team based on the length of the term.
Yes, a bit of a gamble given his injury history, however I think it will prove to be a good investment. He hasn’t exactly been astounding offensively this year, but who has on this team? He’s pretty sound defensively, won’t shy away from a hit and he’s only going to get better. With Lang, Datsyuk, Schneider, Markov, Maltby and Holmstrom (to name a few…) all up for free agency this summer, it’s nice to have one less guy to worry about. Now if we could just get him back in the lineup…
