Good Morning Hockeytown! Top Headlines: *Tatar and Datsyuk Return to Practice, No Word on Datsyuks Return *Jim Howard Looking to Put Last Years Disappointment Behind Him *Callahan and Ferraro Clear Waivers, Other Roster News ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Im on my way, says Pavel Datsyuk, still no timeline for return, Tatar update Pavel Datsyuk was back on the ice yesterday skating on a line with Henrik Zetterberg and Justin Abdelkader in practice. He told reporters that hes feeling better but there is still no firm timeline for his return to the lineup. Datsyuk suffered a separated shoulder during a preseason game back on the 22d of Septembre, the prognosis at the time was that hed miss at least four weeks, its been two so far. He hasnt been cleared for contact so it is certain he will not be in the lineup when the puck drops on the season this Thursday. Here are some things Datsyuk had to say about his situation to mlive yesterday: Im on my way. Dont say its too close, but a good feeling. I need to skate more and see how I feel. I need more contact and see how it feels from contact. After two weeks I feel good. Hopefully on my schedule and Ill just be ready to go early. Hard to say. First time Ive had this injury. Henrik Zetterberg offered his analysis of Datsyuk to mlive: Pav looks good, he skates better and better. Handles the puck well. Hes not in battle mode yet. It hasnt been four weeks. I think its a plus side he was skating on a line today. I dont think were going to get our hopes up that hell be in the lineup Thursday. Coach Babcock had this to say about Datsyuk via mlive: It was nice to see him out there. I dont know if hes ready to play or not ready to play. Well see. Tomas Tatar was back on the ice for practice yesterday as well, hes been out of the lineup since last Thursday when he fell and hit his head on a referees knee after being checked. He has been following the concussion protocol and has just one more test to pass today before being cleared to play. Here is some of what he had to say about his situation to mlive: It should be good. There is nothing (no symptoms). I had full practice with team and felt pretty good. You got to pass the test first but I dont think it should be a problem. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Last year was a huge disappointment, says Howard, Looking for Redemption Jim Howard is hoping to get back into his form from a couple of seasons ago after what was a decidedly poor showing last season. He says hes feeling better than he has in some time and is eager for the season to begin so he can prove his worth to the team. Last season was without a doubt not one of Jim Howards better ones, he struggled early on and missed several games due to injury. He dealt with hand and knee injuries and struggled through a seven game winless streak that began in Novembre. From the 12th of Novembre up to the Winter Classic he went 1-5-6 and was out of the line up for a couple weeks because of his knee. Last season Howards GAA was 2.66 after being 2.12 and 2.13 in the two seasons previous to that. His save percentage was down to .910 from .923 in 2013, it was just .895 in March before he started a bit of a hot streak. It seemed this past season that the Wings went as Jim Howard did, or vice versa. Both Howard and the Wings overall had a better latter part of the season. Leading into the playoffs Howard was 7-3-1 and he recorded a shut out in game one of the series against the Bruins. Unfortunately neither could hold the edge through the series leading to an early exit for the Wings. The Wings need Howard to back in his form of a couple years ago, while the defence made progress as last season went on it still isnt invincible and will need Howard. He wont be able to win the games for the team but the Wings will need him to steal some this season. Howard talked about the situation to mlive: The previous two years I set the bar pretty high for myself. I keep reaching for that bar and pushing it a little bit higher. So last year was a huge disappointment, not having the consistency night in and night out. Cant do anything about it now. I can just look forward to the future and I cant wait for (the season to begin). Howard says he didnt make any major changes to his off season routine but he did try a few things that he hopes will make a difference this season. We did a lot more corrective exercises this summer with my trainer (Joe Neal at 2SP Sports Performance in Madison Heights) -- pulling my shoulders back, trying to get everything corrected alignment so my body moves more efficiently on the ice. Over the course of the season your body can get pretty out of whack just basically the way youre standing out there. If you see me walking around in February or March, my knees are inward, my shoulders are forward. So we just basically tried to pull everything back so Im more efficient on the ice. Just the inconsistency night in and night out. It wasnt up to my standards. Ive played a lot of hockey over the last several years, so theres been a lot of wear and tear. Ive been able to get healthy over the summertime. I feel really good. Again, its the best Ive felt in years. Coach Babcock had this to say about Howard via mlive: Hes trained real hard this summer. Hes given himself an opportunity. You earn the right to feel good about yourself through your training, your work ethic, your eating habits. Through all those things you got a way better chance for success. Like all players, if you can get off to a good start it builds confidence for you. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Callahan, Ferraro and Porter Clear Waivers, Re-assigned to Griffins Some good news for the Wings came at noon yesterday when Mitch Callahan, Landon Ferraro and Kevin Porter went unclaimed by waivers and were able to be re-assigned to the Griffins. These prospects showed some good things at camp and the Wings will be able to keep them in the fold a little longer while they work hard to earn a roster spot. The Wings still have a roster of 26 which has to be down to 23 by 5pm et today. Petr Mrazek, Xavier Ouellet and Andrej Nestrasil remain with the team for the time being. None have to go through waivers to be reassigned to the Griffins. It is widely expected that Mrazek will be re-assigned to the Griffins, the Wings want him to continue playing and gaining experience rather than sitting as Howards backup. Mrazek had a particularly good camp allowing only four goals out of four games with a 2-0-1 record. He also had one shutout in the preseason and recorded a 1.43 GAA. Ouellet recorded two goals out of a total three points in five preseason games. He rated a combined +3 and registered 16 shots, teams highs. Nestrasil had four points, two of them goals, and was just behind Riley Sheahan for team high in preseason points. Its also likely that Ouellet and Nestrasil will be headed to Grand Rapids, but not entirely certain. With it not looking likely that Pavel Datsyuk will available when the puck drops on the season this Thursday Nestrasil could very well be in the line up. However a spot would have to cleared for Ouellet, Tomas Jurco could be re-assigned with out clearing waivers but Coach Babcock has said that he want Jurco in the line up. Coach Babcock would not offer any information on any pending moves or anything on the opening day lineup. He did offer a breif analysis of how training camp went and what expects when the season opens to redwings.nhl: “There are some things that I’ve really liked. I liked the way our young D played at camp. I think Mrazek has had a fantastic camp. I thought we had good push from our forwards; I think we’ve got real good depth up front. We’re going to have to be a by-committee team, so in other words, a depth team. “The key for our success is depth up front and getting after the other team and really skating and competing. We do that I think we’re going to have a chance.” LINES & D-PAIRINGS: The Red Wings practiced with the following line combinations and defensive pairings today at Joe Louis Arena (via redwings.nhl): LINES Henrik Zetterberg-Pavel Datsyuk-Justin Abdelkader Gustav Nyquist-Darren Helm-Johan Franzen Tomas Tatar-Riley Sheahan-Tomas Jurco Drew Miller-Luke Glendening-Joakim Andersson Andrej Nestrasil-Stephen Weiss-Daniel Cleary (gray jerseys) D-PAIRINGS Jonathan Ericsson-Niklas Kronwall Xavier Ouellet-Kyle Quincey Danny DeKeyser-Brendan Smith Brian Lashoff-Jakub Kindl GOALIES Jimmy Howard Jonas Gustavsson Petr Mrazek ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Information from mlive and redwings.nhl was used in compiling this post. BELEIVE! ~~Red
Posted on: Tue, 07 Oct 2014 11:00:00 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015