Time to worry?Well recently a point in the season we were all expecting finally occurred…Hasek was injured. To make matters worse, a good portion of the squad will join him on the injured list. So, the question that titles this is then pondered…Is it Time to Worry? Well, to answer it, I will first go through the list of injuries, then make judgment based on that.
This will be based on injury length (also, remember it is hard to give an accurate judgment as everyone heals different, but this is what the news has listed most places):
1. Jiri Fischer: heart, indefinite, possibly career ending
2. Tomas Kopecky: collarbone, indefinitely, possibly season ending
3. Dan Cleary: knee, out until April
4. Mikael Samuelsson: foot, 2-3 weeks
5. Henrik Zetterberg: back, 2-3 weeks
6. Todd Bertuzzi: back, 2-3 weeks
7. Tomas Holmstrom: upper body, 2-3 games
8. Dominik Hasek: thigh, end of the week
9. Chris Chelios: groin, day to day
That is over a 3rd of the roster injured, so it looks fairly bad. The Wings were fairly blessed with the lack of injuries early in the injury, so it was due.The bright spot is that the defense seems to be all together (except Fischer, who has not played since early last season and probably will not again). This is, of course, based on the idea Chelios will be back against Nashville which seems to be the case. If is indeed true, the Red Wings may need to rely on one of the more steady defenses in the league.
Goal is not too bad of an issue. Many people mark down Chris Osgood, but remember, he took Detroit to the Cup not too long ago and still does well in pressure. Another thing to take note of is that every game he is in Detroit, Jimmy Howard gets more and more practice in the NHL and if he gets to play, that is more experience for Detroit’s hopeful Goaltender of the Future.
Now to the worst area, the offense. Zetterberg and Holmstrom are the big hurt here. They are key to the Wings success and it seems that when they do not play, nor does Detroit. The next most important is Sameulsson and (early to say but I think) Bertuzzi. They add more grit to the squad and although both are as easy to break as a porcelain doll, when they are hot, Detroit will get only better. I would say Cleary was important, but he seems to have cooled off and everyone seems to have caught on that he is ready to play. His injury may end up as a blessing if it gives everyone time to look at Bertuzzi and Holmstrom and away from Cleary again. The final injury is Kopecky, who was playing well before a unlucky hit ended his season. He was not playing often as it was, but was starting to show promise. His roster spot was pushed back by Bertuzzi.
So are Hockeytown’s finest in trouble? In my opinion: no. They have the talent to make up for all the losses on the roster, and only have about 6 games until the bulk of the team is back. Yeah, they will not score so much without the rest, but oh well, scoring 1 more goal is all that matters. Depth is Detroit’s friend today, and what a good friend it can be.
