In Red Wings Land
Notes: Gagner practices with Wings, ready to play Thursday | DetroitRedWings.com
During practice, Gagner was on a line with Tyler Bertuzzi and Valtteri Filppula but coach Jeff Blashill did not say whether that is where he would definitely be Thursday against the Minnesota Wild.
”I’ve heard great things about him as a person and as a teammate and competitor,” Blashill said. “I knew him as a young player but I don’t really know him. My message is be a great pro, No. 1. We need great pros around here. No. 2, you’re going to get opportunity. There’s opportunity to be had, certainly on the power play. We don’t have any right-shot power-play forwards.
Let’s see what the Sam Gagner can do.
He’s definitely going to get some ice time. Maybe he’ll be a fun addition for the last few weeks of the season.
Detroit Red Wings’ Robby Fabbri after knee scare: ‘Going to have to … play without fear’ | Freep
“We think he’s going to be OK overall,” coach Jeff Blashill said, adding, “I don’t like the hit. He went to kind of take a run at Fabs and you are responsible for your body and it was knee-on-knee.”
Glad to know that Robby Fabbri is likely going to to be okay. The sooner he’s back the better.
Around the League
31 Thoughts: Could Joe Thornton’s next destination be Toronto? | Sportsnet
ICYMI in yesterday’s Quick Hits comment section… there were a couple Red Wings-related ‘Thoughts’ this week:
10. They lost in overtime Tuesday night in Anaheim, but Oilers fans were having a collective Twitter orgasm over the two-goal, six-point even-strength night for Andreas Athanasiou, Tyler Ennis and Connor McDavid. Steve Yzerman tried for a first-rounder for Athanasiou, but Ken Holland held firm.
This doesn’t surprise me. Holland probably didn’t want to get fleeced by Yzerman and his former franchise and refused to give up that first-rounder. I would have loved for the Wings to have gotten it, but two second-rounders does seems fair to me.
25. One other Detroit player who had legit interest: Luke Glendening.
“(Yzerman) wasn’t making it easy,” one exec said.
Now that Mike Babcock is no longer with the Maple Leafs and influencing their player personnel decisions, I wonder which teams were after Glendening?
