Jakub Kindl may play tomorrow

by Casey Richey on Dec 2, 2009 2:22 PM CST in News Comment 17 comments

Grand Rapid Griffins defenseman Jakub Kindl may play tomorrow night for Detroit in the spot of Brian Rafalski. Rafalski is suffering from a sore back and is questionable for tomorrow's game against the Edmonton Oilers. If Rafalski is out, the Wings would be short one defenseman and need to fill it quickly or play with only 5 defenders.

From mlive.com's Ansar Khan:

Rafalski's back stiffened up on him 10 minutes into practice, forcing him to leave.

Already without Niklas Kronwall and Andreas Lilja, the Wings are thin on the blue line and have had to call on Brett Lebda and Derek Meech for a lot of minutes each game. Kindl could be called on from Grand Rapids to fill the spot for a game. Kindl has been talked about a lot as being a future anchor on the Detroit blue line but will have to wait until there is a vacancy. More on this as it develops.

There's also mention that Patrick Eaves will miss the game because of sore right ankle. Brad May and Kirk Maltby will both play with Eaves out.

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ugh no more injuries!

stop itt…let Rafalski sit out before it gets worse i can deal without him for a few days rather than him going on IR

we seem to have gotten over that HURDLE

thanks for a great season Rockies!

LETS GO WINGS!

by TuLoRocks2008 on Dec 2, 2009 2:29 PM CST reply actions

agreed

I think this is mainly a preventative measure.

Winging It In Motown

by Casey Richey on Dec 2, 2009 4:04 PM CST via mobile up reply actions

FA

Are there any FA defenseman out there not named Chelios?

If not, are there any forwards that can move back to D? I’d think someone like Helm could pull a Federov and play back there for 5-10 games. Its a worse case scenario but it’s better than having 3 D that shouldn’t be starting playing the same night.

by Kman23 on Dec 2, 2009 9:40 PM CST reply actions

Shea Weber

I know this kid will cost us tons of prospects and picks but I’d love to make a move on him.

He’s 24, he has 6 goals and 9 assists this year and he’s a big guy at 6’3.

I know he’d cost us a fortune. I was thinking he’d cost us a 1 and 2 plus Nyquist, B. Smith, Ferraro, and Lashoff but I’d make the move in a second. He’s making 4.5 million this year and next year and then becomes a FA. Nashville’s ownership is a mess and there is no way they won’t deal him off like they’ve done with every other good player. I was worried about cap space this year but salaries are pro-rated and Franzen’s is off the books until March. Next year tons of cap space will open up (Holmstom, Bertuzzi, Williams, Maltby, May, Lidstom, Lilja, Lebda, Meech, and Janik all are FA) which will let us lock him up for a couple of years.

If we traded for Weber our post season defensive pairings would look something like this:

Lidstrom – Weber
Rafalski – Stuart
Ericsson – Kronwall

To me, that skill 6 deep would make us the best defensive team in the league. In many ways Weber would cancel out Hossa’s loss. I think we should be willing to part with any player in GR (minus Kindl, Tatar, McCollum, Larsson, and Axelsson).

Is that too much? Is there any chance Nashville deals Weber to a team in the division?

by Kman23 on Dec 2, 2009 10:26 PM CST reply actions

I think we are giving up too much for one guy in that. The Wings have been drafting really well in the higher rounds lately (not something they usually do), so I think we would be better off keeping those picks. And I really like Ferraro. Obviously the Wings do, too. The scouting report I read about him said they expect him to be a better player in the long run than his dad ever was. Hasn’t done so well in Grand Rapids yet, but I really have hope for the kid.

by Apocalyptic0n3 on Dec 3, 2009 8:55 AM CST up reply actions

Ferrraro

Ferraro wasn’t even the best player picked by Detroit in round 2. He is struggling in the WHL without his former line mates. He is a talented major junior player but I don’t think he’ll ever be anything special in the pros. Look, we can wait 5 years to see what he’ll become (this year in WHL, 3 in AHL, 1 in NHL) or we can go get someone.

If we keep up the good drafting then trading some prospects for Weber makes even more sense. If we can reload in GR then we’re getting Weber for even less. Almost all of our elite prospects are goalies and forwards. We have 2 D who might make it to the NHL in Kindl and Smith. Kindl is coming up soon and Smith is still in Wisconsin (and is getting outplayed by Freshman). We have no depth at D. We have 2 old D (Lidstrom and Rafalksi), 2 middle aged D who hit and could have their career ruined in one second (Stuart and Kronwall) and 2 D that shouldn’t be a starter in the NHL (Lebda and Meech). I don’t think having just Ericsson and Kindl is good enough. Lidstrom has 2-3 years left in his career, same with Rafalski. I wouldn’t be surprised if either Kronwall or Stuart end their career due to an injury in the next 4 years. We need D. We don’t need another small forward who’s 4 years from helping the Wings.

by Kman23 on Dec 3, 2009 5:17 PM CST up reply actions

i highly doubt the predators

would trade away Shea Weber but it is a nice idea and i would love to see it happen

we seem to have gotten over that HURDLE

thanks for a great season Rockies!

LETS GO WINGS!

by TuLoRocks2008 on Dec 3, 2009 11:18 AM CST up reply actions

Trade

I think the Predators will trade Shea Weber soon. The question is to which team. Nashville sells off good players when they get expensive. If Detroit approaches Nashville with the guys I mentioned then Nashville will make a deal. I think the hesitation would come from Detroit because of the cost.

Truthfully, I’d much rather have a known quantity then 4 prospects. Prospects succeed 50% of the time and Weber is an elite D (something that we don’t have in our system). So 2 successful prospects for a #1 D…. I think that makes sense.

by Kman23 on Dec 3, 2009 5:11 PM CST up reply actions

As much as I covet Weber

I would rather keep what we would have to trade away to get him. Nonetheless to a fellow Central Division opponent. If we’re going to give up our talented youths, i’d prefer its to Eastern Conference.

Also, I’d love to see Andreas Lilja in the lineup come playoff time (ironic since Weber put him on IR) because Ericsson Lilja is a mean and big third pairing.

Winging It In Motown

by Casey Richey on Dec 3, 2009 12:14 PM CST up reply actions

Lilja

I think we need to come to the realization that Lilja is done in the NHL. The Wings will not put him on the ice with the risk he comes with. They won’t put him on the ice purely for his safety but also because if he gets hurt again they will be liable. If he’s having headaches 9 months after the incident he shouldn’t go out there anytime soon. I think Lilja is going to retire following this season.

by Kman23 on Dec 3, 2009 5:07 PM CST up reply actions

If this keeps up...

We’ll have to figure out how to fill the Griffins roster. Geez…

One positive takeaway from all this injury garbage is that our younger guys are getting some more minutes, and that may boost their development. An extended stay for Abs, Meech, and Kindl might not be the worst thing for us in the long run. Though certainly we’ve had some tumultuous times recently.

At least Howard is turning his game up. We’ll keep weathering this storm.

By the way, I just spent a couple hours I don’t have to watch the Wings game four win in ’97. Beautiful. One of the best days I can remember. Check it out here if you want to catch a bit of it: http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=689393449622542129#

by Brobz on Dec 3, 2009 11:05 AM CST reply actions

haha i was wondering the same thing

I was wondering how deep the Griffins reserve list is. Like you said it is a lot of experience for the next wave of Wings players which is as good as anything right now.

Winging It In Motown

by Casey Richey on Dec 3, 2009 12:10 PM CST up reply actions

GR Depth

Grand Rapids is ultra deep. They can’t play some of the prospects because they are being scratched every night. GR can sign players independent of Detroit anytime to fill roster slots. Don’t worry about GR. They have basically 2 teams there (Detroit’s minor league and GR’s AHL team).

by Kman23 on Dec 3, 2009 5:19 PM CST up reply actions

Kindl

This is a good time to see Kindly play. The Oilers are an average if not below average team. If Kindl can play well, we may have a new player to bring back for the playoffs.

by maksohockey on Dec 3, 2009 12:21 PM CST reply actions