Archive for the 'Tomas Kopecky' CategoryPage 2 of 2

Wings re-sign Kopecky

Published
by
Matt Saler
on March 19, 2007
in Injuries and Tomas Kopecky
. 1 Comment

Update (5:45 PM): Ansar Khan has his own angle on the story, saying that the team will evaluate Kopecky around the end of the month and decide whether or not he’ll be able to play.

He also has a few more interesting items from practice:

  • Chris Chelios was sent home early to rest, so he won’t be in the lineup tomorrow. It’s a pre-arranged thing, though, so no worries.
  • Johan Franzen (upper body) may return tomorrow, but Dan Cleary (knee sprain) definitely won’t.
  • Dominik Hasek will start tomorrow, but Chris Osgood will be in net Thursday against Columbus.
  • Apparently, Todd Bertuzzi probably would be ready to play Thursday, but the team may hold off until he can get in another practice since they won’t skate on Wednesday. So, it looks like Saturday, after a Friday practice, is the most likely return date for him.

- Matt
Update (4:47 PM): Helene St. James, using the same Babcock quote she used in another piece (which I borrowed below), now suggests in a blog post that Kopecky could be a regular rather than a reserve player when he returns.

I may just be mis-reading her, but if not, I like her first conclusion, that Kopecky will be in the lineup on “rotation,” rather than as a regular feature. I think the team is too deep up front for him to do much else beyond subbing with one of the other young guns. Unless, of course, he tears it up when he gets back - Matt

Update (3:55 PM): Whoops, forgot the link to the Detroit News blip about the signing. Here it is and now it’s also where it should have been. - Matt

According to the Detroit News, the team has re-signed Tomas Kopecky to a two-year contract. No details on the financial terms yet. The team had signed him to a one-year deal in July 2006 and it was due to expire July 1st, making him an unrestricted free agent, but they’re confident enough in his future to bring him back.

Kopecky has been out since he went shoulder-first into the left wing boards on December 14th in Chicago and broke his collar bone. He’s been skating for a while, however, though he still can’t do full-contact drills (unless it’s with Kirk Maltby, he jokingly told Helene St. James.). He hopes to return before the playoffs, which would make an already bad log jam in the forward corps even worse, which isn’t such a problem, really, since it just means more depth.

He’s with the team on their current road trip and has apparently looked good in practice. Babcock will give him a shot at making the roster, as Kopecky is, “a great big guy who can shoot the puck and take the body. That’s a playoff guy for me.” He looked pretty good in the 26 games he’s played this season and his return will give the Wings yet another weapon to use in their fight to get through the postseason.

3/1 Late Notes

Published
by
Matt Saler
on March 1, 2007
in Brett Lebda, Chris Chelios, Henrik Zetterberg, Lines, Todd Bertuzzi and Tomas Kopecky
. 0 Comments

Sorry about taking all day to post something. It’s pretty much the first chance I’ve had, as my computer has been giving me problems. Just a few interesting tidbits:

… Todd Bertuzzi had his first full practice with the team today, which apparently surprised Mike Babcock, who had told him, “You don’t have to impress us today. You impressed us already, that’s why you’re here and let’s just get you back.” Still, this doesn’t mean he’s going to be coming back any sooner.

The obvious topic choice for the media after the practice was Bertuzzi’s attack on Steve Moore. Understandably, it’s not his favorite topic (I wonder if the Freep picture captures his face as he faced those questions) and he tried to deflect the conversation away from it:

“The only people who talk about and discuss it is usually media and all that. You know, I gotta respect that you guys have a job to do and I understand it.”

Chris Chelios provided some input as well, obviously siding with his new teammate:

“For the most part, all hockey players are good guys. What happens on the ice doesn’t carry on off the ice. I can’t wait to see him play for us.”

He may be a good guy off the ice, but he’s not going to be able to throw off the stigma from what he did. I just hope The Incident doesn’t become central to his time here or else it’s going to be difficult for him to be effective.

Also in the Khan blog post from which the Chelios quote came:

… The lines will remain the same as they were on Tuesday

Holmstrom-Datsyuk-Filppula
Calder-Lang-Franzen
Hudler-Draper-Maltby
Ellis-Hussey-Langfeld

… Brett Lebda did not practice today due to the flu. That may put his status in question for tomorrow night’s game against the Hawks. In the event that he sits out, Andreas Lilja will get another game in the lineup despite Chris Chelios’ return.

… Apparently, Tomas Kopecky also had a full practice today, though the Wings are still decided whether or not he’ll be returning this season. Khan says it seems unlikely, which makes sense both because of the seriousness of his injury and the mere fact that the roster is now packed with guys who will get the ice-time that might otherwise have gone to Kopecky.

… George Sipple elaborates on the interesting story that Owen Nolan chose not to come to Detroit on Deadline Day. Apparently, his wife is pregnant and he does not want to move at this time, which is entirely understandable.
… Lastly, Henrik Zetterberg was the NHL’s #1 Star for February.

12/15 Notes

Published
by
Matt Saler
on December 15, 2006
in 2006-2007, Derek Meech, Dominik Hasek, Game Reports, Henrik Zetterberg, Injuries, Pavel Datsyuk and Tomas Kopecky
. 2 Comments

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.

Wings Sign Kopecky to One Year Deal

Published
by
Brian List
on July 17, 2006
in AHL, Links, Roster Moves and Tomas Kopecky
. 1 Comment

Kopecky, 24, has played for the Grand Rapids Griffins the past four years. He has one NHL game of experience with the Wings - last season on February 28. He had 32 goals and 40 assists last season for the Griffins.

Link

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!