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
Was Laraque’s hit on Kronwall dirty and does he deserve a suspension?
| Definitely! He deserves a suspension! | 193 |
| Yes, but that’s just hockey-no suspension | 19 |
| No, a hockey play and that’s it | 5 |
| On the fence | 4 |
