Niklas Kronwall out 4-8 weeks

by Casey Richey on Nov 22, 2009 4:27 PM CST in News

Following a leg to leg collision with Georges Laraque, a Montreal enforcer, Niklas Kronwall is expected to be out of the line up anywhere from four to eight weeks. The official word is that it is a strained ligament in his left knee. Detroit has already seen two leg injuries this year as Johan Franzen tore his ACL and Jason Williams broke his fibula.

The injury likely means that Derek Meech will come into the line up and play alongside Brett Lebda, with Jonathan Ericsson moving to Brad Stuart's side. My guess is Doug Janik will be called up again to serve as a 7th defenseman.

Kronwall, who usually dishes out the pain, went to the ice immediately following the collision. Earlier in the shift Laraque had high-sticked Darren Helm on a careless swing of his stick and then continued to play recklessly at the other end of the ice when he stuck his leg out in front of Kronwall.

To me, this is a dirty play by Laraque and he should be punished by the league for it. Before others argue that Kronwall constantly has questionable hits, his hits are legal and aren't with the intention of injuring another player. Laraque, however, has a history of gooning it up on the ice and hitting players high, high-sticking, or just flat out playing dirty. What makes this a dirty play in my mind is that Laraque makes NO ATTEMPT at using his stick to play the puck but just goes for a knee on knee.

I've posted the video below for your own viewing in case you missed it

Poll

Was Laraque's hit on Kronwall dirty and does he deserve a suspension?

Definitely! He deserves a suspension!

193 votes

Yes, but that's just hockey-no suspension

19 votes

No, a hockey play and that's it

5 votes

On the fence

4 votes

221 votes | Poll has closed

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Comments

Lebda-Meech

Either the top 4 guys are going to average 25 minutes each or Kindl is coming up. I’m going to just keep my eyes shut when Meech and Lebda are out there.

I hope we completely change D lines.

Lidstom – Ericsson
Stuart – Kindl
Rafalski – Lebda/Meech

by Kman23 on Nov 22, 2009 9:35 PM CST reply actions

Ovechkin’s knee-on-knee on Gonchar got him a 2 minute minor and no suspension, so this was definitely consistent. Obviously, Ovi would practically have to kill someone to get a suspension (and I get the impression the league already does not like Laraque), but it shouldn’t be any different. Whether that’s the right call is an entirely different matter. But the league did agree to do something about head shots, so we can hope…

I’m going to just keep my eyes shut when Meech and Lebda are out there.

And Stuart and Ericsson unless they both become more defensively responsible over night.

by bleep bloop on Nov 22, 2009 9:38 PM CST reply actions

i was so happy to see we won on the road yesterday

then when i see Kronwall potentially out a long time i was pretty pissed and now i find out he is not potentially out he is definitely out a long time…very very furious i hope that piece of crap gets suspended…Go Wings!

we seem to have gotten over that HURDLE

thanks for a great season Rockies!

LETS GO WINGS!

by TuLoRocks2008 on Nov 22, 2009 10:10 PM CST reply actions

I am amazed at all those out there who are saying that Kronwall deserves it and that he is a dirty player. To accuse a player of leaving his feet on open ice hits just doesn’t make sense. A hit is going to be way less effective when your skates aren’t pushing off the ice. All of the force from the hit is from leg drive, not jumping in the air. If you jump, then you will lose all momentum and bounce off the player.

Anyways… this really sucks. I’m sure the Wings can fight through this, but the crappy thing is that the Wings now have 4 pretty exciting players to watch sitting on the sidelines. Kronwall has played very well lately and to see him go down on a reckless play like that is just maddening. I don’t care what anyone says, rarely is a knee on knee hit like that not intentional. Not that he tried to injure, but he was doing everything in his power to get in his way. Doesn’t Laraque understand that he’s just a pylon out there, and that’s it?? Besides, what the heck is Laraque doing on that play anyways? Why would you be skating like that unless it was intentional It just shows how crappy of a player Laraque is. Like it was stated in the blog, look at his stick and body language. He wasn’t going for an open ice hit, he wasn’t trying to defend with his stick… there was no reason to skate to the bench as it would be asanine to leave the d-zone on a delayed call. His ONLY attempt to stop Kronwall was to stick his leg out.

IMO that was one of the most reckless shifts by one hockey player that I have ever seen. The slash to Helm’s face is nearly suspension worthy also. His stick was nowhere near doing anything but to make contact with Helm… Try playing the puck once you worthless goon.

If the NHL doesn’t do something here, then I have lost all trust in them. The refs blew it by not calling a 5 for kneeing. Also on a side note… why wasn’t that a 5 on 3 anyways?? I don’t know the rule for sure but if that was two different players getting the penalties, then it would have been a 5 on 3. Why is it different in that case??

by dewman8810 on Nov 23, 2009 8:19 AM CST reply actions

Personally, I want to see Lidstrom and Ericsson on the top line and let Rafalski play with Stuart. Ericsson having more time on ice with Lidstrom can only help his development.

by Apocalyptic0n3 on Nov 23, 2009 9:56 AM CST reply actions

Habs fans want him suspended for the season.

Hockey blogging can't get any flatter.

by saskhab on Nov 23, 2009 11:26 AM CST reply actions

Sadly, Laraque is their biggest forward

Space Weed Says Telling it like it is without a care about the mainstream's feelings
"DO NOT get stuck behind Kyle Wellwood in the buffet line. This isn't really etiquette, but it will prevent you from starving to death"- Down Goes Brown on Etiquette for Jason Spezza's wedding

by Kevin Sellathamby on Nov 23, 2009 5:47 PM CST up reply actions