Archive for the 'Tomas Holmstrom' CategoryPage 3 of 3

3/3 Notes

Published
by
Matt Saler
on March 3, 2007
in Blackhawks, Chris Osgood, Dominik Hasek, Game Reports, Hockey Bloggers, Injuries, Jason Williams, Jiri Hudler, Mikael Samuelsson, Nick Lidstrom, Robert Lang and Tomas Holmstrom
. 2 Comments

Update (10:43 PM): Just a clarification on my last update: Holmstrom’s last shift ended around the 14 minute mark of the third period. I apologize for wording it so ambiguously before. Thanks to Justin for pointing that out.

Also, Ansar Khan informed me via email that neither Robert Lang nor Tomas Holmstrom practiced today. Mike Babcock told him there were no injuries during the game against the Hawks, however. - Matt

Update (6:35 PM): I just remembered something I’d meant to mention earlier: Tomas Holmstrom left the game around the 14 minute mark and didn’t return, as pointed out by the FSN crew, who had noticed he wasn’t on the bench.

I haven’t seen anything indicating he has an injury, so it may have just been a case of Mike Babcock resting his top line, as neither Pavel Datsyuk nor Valtteri Filppula took any shifts from about 16:00 on, after they had helped kill of a penalty with Danny Markov and Nicklas Lidstrom. (via the shift chart) - Matt

So, I got home on the Detroit side of the state last night (for “Spring Break”) at around 2:30 AM after watching the game in Holland, thanks to terrible weather until around Lansing. Then I slept about four hours longer than I meant to, and now I’m way behind the eightball on the day. So, some links to people more on top of things than me, with a little commentary:

… The Wings won last night, 6-2 over Chicago. I watched the game but don’t have a heck of a lot to say about it, except that it’s nice to see the Wings can produce offense without Henrik Zetterberg in the lineup. However, as Dave at Gorilla Crouch has pointed out today, the Blackhawks aren’t exactly a Grade “A” opponent, so the jury’s still out.

For a reaction to the game from someone who was there, see Steph’s report at No Pun Intended.

… Jason Williams scored twice on his former team, prompting Mike Babcock to give the quote of the year:

“It’s good to see him score, too. What the heck.”

(via. Abel to Yzerman)

… It looks like the Wings having taken such a vested interest in rejuvenating the second line has awakened Robert Lang, who had four-point night and was as involved in the offense as he’s been all season. The Free Press wins the award for most lame headline today, with their story on the game: “Lang time coming: Center leads Wings past Hawks.”

… Nicklas Lidstrom scored his 200th career goal (finally) in the third period, and Christy Hammond of Behind the Jersey was there to cheer him for it.

… The FSN crew made a big deal out of the fact that Jiri Hudler came out for warmups wearing his red helmet last night. Apparently, he was thrown off by the fact that the Wings usually wear red at home, but were wearing white so that the Hawks could use their black jerseys. Ansar Khan reports that Robert Lang finally told him, after the whole team had a good laugh. Jiri scored a nice breakaway goal later in the game, making that the most memorable thing he did last night, rather than than the helmet thing.

… It looks like Chris Osgood will get another start, as Dominik Hasek will not be able to return tomorrow against the Avalanche, according to Ansar Khan. The Wings, needless to say, are taking every precaution with Dom and will not be rushing him back. Khan also says that Chris Chelios will be a game-time decision tomorrow.

… The Free Press reports that Mikael Samuelsson skated yesterday, though not with the team. He’ll still take some time to get back into game-shape so don’t expect to see him too soon.

… Lastly, non-Wings related: James Mirtle has been blogging about the Cam Janssen elbow on Tomas Kaberle last night, a vicious hit which knocked Kaberle unconscious and out of the game. Janssen has been suspended for three games, a verdict with which I wholly agree, as those kinds of hits should have no place in the game. However, it’d be nice if the League were more consistent in dealing out such penalties for those types of hits. A shoulder to the head is about as bad as an elbow, NHL.

Aftonbladet article on Zetterberg in translation

Published
by
Matt Saler
on February 22, 2007
in Henrik Zetterberg, Hockey Bloggers, Hockey Media, Links, Pavel Datsyuk and Tomas Holmstrom
. 0 Comments

Paul Kukla has a very rough translation of the Aftonbladet article that includes the picture that had the lockerroom laughing yesterday. As is usually the case with these machine translations from Swedish, it can get pretty humorous.

2/10 Notes

Published
by
Matt Saler
on February 10, 2007
in Danny Markov, Dominik Hasek, Flyers, Henrik Zetterberg, Jiri Hudler, Joey MacDonald, Nick Lidstrom, Niklas Kronwall, Pavel Datsyuk, Peter Forsberg, Tomas Holmstrom, Trade Rumors and Valtteri Filppula
. 2 Comments

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.

11/21 Notes

Published
by
Matt Saler
on November 21, 2006
in Chris Osgood, Danny Markov, Injuries, Jason Williams, NHL, Nick Lidstrom, Niklas Kronwall, Notes and Tomas Holmstrom
. 3 Comments

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.

11/20 Notes

Published
by
Matt Saler
on November 20, 2006
in Henrik Zetterberg, Niklas Kronwall, Notes and Tomas Holmstrom
. 0 Comments

Update (2:17 PM): … Ansar Khan has an injury update for us:

Goaltender Chris Osgood practiced Monday for the first time in eight days but said his sore left wrist didn’t feel good. He will have it looked at by doctors on Tuesday and said he doesn’t know when he’ll return to the lineup.

Osgood said he doesn’t think the wrist is broken, but X-rays in Vancouver were inconclusive because of the swelling. He hurt it in practice last Sunday, getting hit by a shot.

A possible broken wrist? Great. If it does turn out to be broken, our goaltending got kinda thin real fast.

Also, Josh Langfeld and Stefan Liv are back in GR since Holmstrom is returning Wednesday and the team no longer needs someone to back up the temporary backup. - Matt

… Henrik Zetterberg is signing autographs at Hockeytown Authentics tonight beginning at 6:00 ET. It’s only one item per person and I believe you need to have a smoke detector to donate. If Christy, posting at LGW Forums, is right, you also need to have a wristband to get in. Click here for directions, if you need them.

… Both papers report that Tomas Holmstrom will return Wednesday* against the Canucks. As for Niklas Kronwall, the situation isn’t so sure:

“He flies around a hundred miles an hour — I don’t know (why he isn’t ready), that’s why we have therapists,” Babcock said.

Kronwall himself believes he’ll be back for the game and is hoping to “skate full-out” today.

… Greg Wyshynski has a piece up covering The Hockey Recap, a site I’ve praised before. Definitely worth a read.

… Not a ton Wings-related out there this morning, which is okay since I’m up early to study anyway. I’ll most likely have an update for this post later.

*I had entered the game incorrectly in my calendar, which is what I’ve been going on, hence my repeatedly saying the next game is tomorrow instead of the next day.

11/16 Injury Update

Published
by
Matt Saler
on November 16, 2006
in Chris Osgood, Injuries, Jason Williams, Niklas Kronwall and Tomas Holmstrom
. 3 Comments

Update (10:45 PM): Helene St. James elaborates on Khan’s information in a blog post of her own.

She says what might keep Williams out is his neck, which is still sore.

Apparently, Kronwall feels fully healthy again, as he went through the whole practice and even stayed after. Sounds like he’ll be back against the Flames.

She confirms that Holmstrom will not play tomorrow night.

She then points out a bit of a dilemma for Mike Babcock: with Chris Osgood unavailable (he hasn’t practiced all week and therefore most likely wouldn’t play even if he suddenly became healthy), he can play Hasek both Friday and Saturday, or he could start MacDonald in Edmonton with Hasek backing up. The second scenario would seem more likely except for the fact that the Wings’ plan is to never put Hasek into a game cold due to a risk for injury if MacDonald were to get shelled and need to be pulled.

Babcock apparently doesn’t know what he’ll do yet, but I’m guessing they may just play Dom two nights in a row and hope Osgood is ready to start on Tuesday against the Canucks so Dom can watch the game from the lockerroom or wherever he goes when not in the lineup. - Matt

Ansar Khan reports that Jason Williams has joined his teammates in Calgary and feels good after practicing today. He won’t know whether or not he’s playing tomorrow night against the Flames until after the morning skate. If Williams does sit again, three of the four team rookies, at least, will be in the lineup.*

Khans goes on to say that Tomas Holmstrom is not ready to return from a groin injury. Apparently, he left practice early today and will not play this weekend. Niklas “Konwall,” however, could return from his groin injury tomorrow night. If not, both Brett Lebda and Andreas Lilja will be in the lineup rather than just one of them.

Chris Osgood will not dress tomorrow night or Saturday since his hand is still bothering him. Joey MacDonald may get some NHL action on Saturday if Babcock decides to give Hasek the night off.

Link

*Langfeld has previous NHL experience and therefore isn’t technically a rookie - hence the term “team rookies.”

A shortened bench

Published
by
Matt Saler
on February 27, 2006
in 2005-2006, Brett Lebda, Henrik Zetterberg, Jamie Rivers, Mark Mowers, Mikael Samuelsson, Nick Lidstrom, Niklas Kronwall, Roster Moves, Tomas Holmstrom and Tomas Kopecky
. 0 Comments

The Freep reports that the five Swedish Wings will be participating in celebrations in Stockholm and will not be back in time for tomorrow night’s game in San Jose. They will be back for the Anaheim game the following night, however.

Filling in for Samuelsson, Lidstrom, Kronwall, Zetterberg and Holmstrom will be Jamie Rivers, Mark Mowers, Brett Lebda and Tomas Kopecky, who was called up from Grand Rapids. They’re all capable players but they can’t quite fill the holes left by the Swedes.

According to A2Y, all of the other Olympian Red Wings have returned, except Pavel Datsyuk, who is having some issues relating to travel (and so, I’ve read, is Evgeni Nabokov, the Sharks’ goalie.)

TSN reports that players who have not returned could face loss in pay for the number of days they are gone. The NHL expects all Olympians to return no later than tonight and have not made any allowances for the Swedish players, despite the Swedish Ice Hockey Federation reportedly making a special request for an exception.

I don’t mind our guys going to a celebration in Stockholm; they earned the right to kick back a little bit and bask in their nation’s glory. Still, tomorrow’s game against the Sharks isn’t a blow-off match and the Wings may be hard pressed to pull out a win with such a depleted roster.

I expect the Swedes to be ready to play (they have nothing if they don’t have momentum now) when they get back because this is the most important stretch of the season. Let’s hope the final standings don’t come down to two points. The point will be moot if the Swede-less Wings just win tomorrow night but that remains to be seen.

Maybe we ought to blame the security at the Games for keeping those guys away. Helene St. James reports that the team wanted to hop right on the plane and fly to Stockholm last night but the airport was closed for security reasons and so it didn’t work out.

Also, IwoCPO has a depressing outlook on what may be the results of Sweden’s triumph here.

And, I just noticed mLive.com has a more standard Red Wings blog to complement Ansar Khan’s blog-like thing. Looks like it’s been around for a few months. Welcome anyway, George Malik!

Holmstrom going to Turino after all

Published
by
Matt Saler
on February 2, 2006
in Links, Markus Naslund, Olympics, Sweden and Tomas Holmstrom
. 0 Comments

He’ll replace Markus Naslund on Sweden’s roster (via A2Y, Kukla)

Link

Update (3:54): Ansar Khan has more here.

Freep: How Swede It Is

Published
by
Matt Saler
on December 21, 2005
in Andreas Lilja, Henrik Zetterberg, Hockey Media, Johan Franzen, Links, Mikael Samuelsson, Nick Lidstrom, Niklas Kronwall and Tomas Holmstrom
. 0 Comments

Helene St. James takes a look at the Wings’ seven Swedish players

Link

Another one down……

Published
by
Matt Saler
on December 9, 2003
in Chris Chelios, Darren McCarty, Derian Hatcher, Henrik Zetterberg, Injuries, Ray Whitney, Steve Thomas and Tomas Holmstrom
. 2 Comments

….and another one down, another one bites the dust….

I think the Queen song “Another One Bites the Dust” would be a perfect theme song for the Wings this year. Maybe they should start playing it at their games…..

The Wings’ Season from Hell continued today when Steve Thomas was placed on the injured reserve list and Jiri Hudler was called up from the Grand Rapids Griffins. Thomas will undergo arthroscopic surgery on his left knee on Thursday and is expected to be out of the lineup for five to six weeks. I have no idea when the injury even occured and I was completely shocked when I heard the news. Thomas is yet another player the Wings can ill afford to lose, especially since he was brought in to replace an injured player. I just hope that when he returns, he’ll have the same jump as he’s had since joining the team and that he wasn’t just flying high from being signed.

There’s more: Manny Legace sprained his knee yesterday in practice and is listed as day-to-day. Who’s supposed to be Dominik’s backup, I don’t know. Everyone pray that Dominik does not re-injure his groin.

The Wings now have four of the Griffin’s top five scorers in their roster. Nathan Robinson, who was sent down today, is the only one no longer with the Wings.

Here’s the complete Red Wings injury status list:
Derian Hatcher - Knee (10/16) I.R., Out four-to-six months
Steve Yzerman - Groin Day-to-day
Chris Chelios - Knee (12/8) I.R., Out four-to-six weeks
Darren McCarty - Back (11/8) I.R., Out indefinitely
Steve Thomas - Knee (12/8) I.R., Out five-to-six weeks
Manny Legace - Knee (12/8) Day-to-day
Henrik Zetterberg - Leg (11/4) I.R., Out four-to-six weeks
Ray Whitney - Groin Day-to-day
Tomas Holmstrom - Shoulder (11/26) I.R., Out four-to-six weeks