Injury Updates

Our few broken Wings should be making their returns soon! Here's the scoop:

• Mike Modano is scheduled to come back on Saturday when the Wings play the Sabres in Buffalo. Modano suffered a terrible lacerated wrist back in November. It will be nice to have one of the hometown heroes back out on the ice!

• Valtteri Filppula who had a sprained knee may be returning tomorrow night against Dallas. Fil has been day to day, but is practicing.

• Chris Osgood should be in shape to return next week too after having sports hernia surgery. Ozzie has been facing shots in practice.

• In last night's game against the Sharks, Patrick Eaves left in the second period and didn't return for the third. It was reported that Eaves had a "lower body injury" which seems to be an injury with his leg. Eaves is out of the line up tomorrow night. The Wings called up Jan Mursak to fill in.

Check out The Hockeytown Rundown tomorrow for the Warm-Up and The Rundown for the game against the Stars.


GO WINGS!

More Clipped Wings

Tomas Holmstrom and goaltender Jimmy Howard added their names to the Wings injured list. Both Wings incurred an injury during the January 14^th game at Columbus against the Blue Jackets.

Jimmy Howard

Howard bruised his knee during the first period of the game. The injury likely occurred while he was trying to block Derick Brassard’s shot on goal. He did not return for the rest of the night. Howard is expected to only be out for one game.

Tomas Holmstrom

Holmstrom broke his right hand late into the third period.  RJ Umberger took a shot at the net which hit Holmstrom directly in the hand. He won’t need surgery to fix the break but he is likely to be out three to four weeks.

In the end, the Wings lost the game 3-2 in a shootout.

Jaw Breaking Check on Stuart

Brad Stuart, the man who usually dishes out destructive checks, is now out 6-8 weeks with a broken jaw.

During the Wings game against the Calgary Flames that took place on January ^7th,  Stuart took a blindsided hit to the face by Tom Kostopoulos.

As we know, the NHL has been trying to eliminate blindside hits because they can result in very serious injuries much like this one.

Kostopoulos’s hit left Stuart bleeding on the ground. He was rushed off the ice by the medics. After receiving medical attention, they reported that Stuart’s jaw was broken, however he does not need surgery.

The NHL announced that Kostopoulos’s hit earned him a 6 game suspension. The suspension has led to a lot of controversy of whether the suspension was long enough or if he should have been suspended at all.

Blindside Hits: Are they legal or are they illegal?

It would be the first time in NHL history if the ref’s didn’t call penalties one sided. But the truth is that often penalties will be called against one team but later in the game the same penalty wont be called against the other team.

In many cases the ref just didn’t see it the second time around or perhaps he did see it but for some reason the penalty didn’t meet the same criteria as the first one did. Whatever the case may be this happens in the NHL all the time.

Recently a penalty more commonly known as a blindside hit has started to surface early on this season. Known to the NHL as an illegal check to the head is defined in the NHL rulebook as a lateral or blind side hit to an opponent where the head is targeted and/or the principle point of contact is not permitted.(http://www.nhl.com/ice/page.htm?id=27011)

A blindside hit is a serious penalty because it can cause a player to be seriously injured especially because many times they do not see the hit coming. This penalty also has some serious consequences ranging from a two minute minor and a four minute major to a ten minute game misconduct and even fines and suspension. The NHL is in the process of completely eliminating blindside hits and could go a step further by eliminating any hits to the head.

Niklas Kronwall a Red Wing defenseman is known for his big hits. A couple weeks ago in the October 23^rd game against the Anaheim Ducks, Kronwall made a hit to the head of Teemu Selanne that has caused some controversy. Kronwall was not penalized for his hit. The hit can be seen here in this video:

According to a Detroit Free Press article, even Coach Mike Babcock was pleased with Kronwall’s hit claiming that he always plays within the rules and yet is still a dangerous guy. Kronwall’s hit was ruled a clean hit but if the NHL was to instate a rule where it allows no hits to the head, that would be a different story. (http://www.freep.com/article/20101025/SPORTS05/101025024/1053/Babcock-likes-that-Kronwall-is-dangerous)

Compare this to a hit much like Kronwall’s but was actually ruled a blindside hit. In the game between Minnesota Wild and the Los Angeles Kings that took place on October 25, just two days after the Kronwall hit, Dustin Brown makes a blindside hit on Antti Miettien. The video can be seen here:

Instating a no hits to the head rule would be a smart thing for the NHL to do. It would prevent serious injuries and it wouldn't take away from the physical action in the game. It may take a serious head injury for the NHL to come to this conclusion, but perhaps they need Kronwall or Brown to knock some sense into them.

Another Year of Broken Wings?

The Red Wings haven’t even made it through the preseason before incurring multiple injuries.

First on the casualty list is Kris Draper, a Wings veteran who suffered from a groin injury during training camp in Traverse City. Draper’s injury isn’t severe but is enough to keep him off the ice temporarily. He has been regularly seeing the Red Wing’s athletic therapist who determined it was only a contact injury. But Draper isn’t taking any chances getting back on the ice until he is sure that his health and skating is where he wants it to be.

Jiri Hudler was the next fallen Wing who bruised his left foot in the last scrimmage match at training camp when he used his foot to block a shot. Hudler’s x-rays showed no fracture and he was listed as day-to-day. His injury caused him to miss the preseason opener against Pittsburgh, but he has since returned.

While Hudler returned for the pre-season opener, two of his fellow Wing-mates, Johan Franzen and Derek Meech, sustained injuries. While chasing the puck down, Franzen took a knee-on-knee hit with a Pittsburgh defensemen. Although the hit could have caused a serious injury, it was a charley horse that was Franzen’s major complaint. Franzen returned back to the ice for yesterday’s game.

Also injured during the Wing’s pre-season opener was Derek Meech. Meech suffered a concussion in the first period of the game. He has since been determined to be indefinitely out for the season and released on waivers.

Practice yesterday morning got the better of Mike Modano who left early with some concern of tightness in his groin. Modano is expected to play in tomorrow’s game against Toronto.

Goalie Chris Osgood added his name to the injury list this past Saturday in a game against Chicago. Osgood endured a charley horse that has kept him off the ice. He is also expected to return tomorrow.

The freshest injury belongs to Patrick Eaves. He hurt his ankle during practice yesterday morning and was supposed to be re-evaluated earlier today.

That’s a total of 7 Red Wings to be injured before the regular season has even started. Is anyone else having a bad case of déjà vu?