Injuries start to pile up
You can tell that it’s playoff hockey when the injuries start to pile up.
1) Tomas Holmstrom will miss game one for sure. After getting accidentally high sticked in the eye/face in the last game of the series against Calgary, Homer is out with blood in the eye. That certainly doesn’t sound pleasant.
2) Brett Lebda will also miss game one due to a sprained ankle and symptoms from a concussion he suffered as a result of a suckerpunch by Calgary’s Langkow in game five of that series.
3) Mikael Samuelsson is apparently playing with a broken hand (according to Toronto radio).
4) Kyle Calder is also playing with a broken hand (according to Toronto radio).
5) Henrik Zetterberg did not practice today or yesterday and was seen with a heat pad on his back. Head coach Mike Babcock says that with his age (he’s 26 by the way), he needs some rest. I bet he’ll still play, but that back is definitely still bothering him and that’s definitely not good.
6) Niklas Kronwall is out with a broken sacrum and missed the first round. He could potentially return if the Wings win this series, but I don’t see Babcock putting him in the lineup after Andreas Lilja has been playing so solid (which is such a weird thing to say). And as much as I love Kronner, he can be a turnover king so it probably wouldn’t be a fantastic idea to bring him back after he’s missed so much time.
Ansar Khan has the latest injury news at his blog on MLive.com:
Update from practice Wednesday: Coach Mike Babcock officially declared that Tomas Holmstrom (eye) and Brett Lebda (ankle) won’t play in Game 1 vs. San Jose Thursday, but he didn’t rule them out for Game 2. Henrik Zetterberg didn’t practice, apparently giving his sore back a rest, but Babcock said it’s not a concern and he’ll be ready to play in the opener. Babcock wouldn’t say who’ll replace Holmstrom on the top line with Zetterberg and Pavel Datsyuk, but indicated he’d like to keep the No. 2 line intact with Johan Franzen, Robert Lang and Todd Bertuzzi. Mikael Samuelsson seems the likely candidate. The Sharks, incidentally, have no injuries among their regulars.
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4 Responses to “Injuries start to pile up”
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April 26th, 2007 at 9:44 am
“Brett Lebda will also miss game one due to a sprained headache”
A sprained headache? LOL
April 26th, 2007 at 10:07 am
Haha. Thanks Paul for catching that. Just so you know, a sprained headache is the most serious headache possible. Anyways, I changed it to “sprained ankle.” Thanks again for letting me know about that typo!
April 26th, 2007 at 11:42 am
Ugh, injuries are mounting. Thanks for the great update. I too can not watch the Wings game live as my daughter has a concert this evening. Thank goodness for TiVo!
April 27th, 2007 at 9:34 am
[…] Christy notes that the injuries are starting to pile up in this years’ playoffs, especially for the Red Wings. […]