Red Wing Injuries

[Old School Hockey]

I read today that Miller is out 4-6 months with an ACL and Kronwall is 2-4 weeks with a knee scope.

 

So who fills the Kronwall void?  Marchenko, Ouelette or Kindl?

[yave1964]

I put a couple of pics in for ya, hope you don't mind.

  They had a stat on the other day, when Miller is healthy the Wings P/K is 17 percent better than when he is out. He will be difficult to replace. As an UFA and getting up there in years he might have played his last game as a Wing.

  As for Kronner, the nice thing is the five day all star break is soon to be here, essentially giving us a free pass for a week while he heals. Green needs to step up his game and Dekeyser gets a chance to plug into the point on either the first or second power play. Personally I would like to see us run 4 forwards and Green on the first team PP and Danny Dekeyser and Smith on the second team with three forwards.

  As to the penalty kill which has been problematic especially without Miller is in need of a fix, Nosek was okay but nothing special when recalled, Joakim Anderssen has proven himself to be a zero. Dylan Larkin is killing penalties right now which is problematic, using the teams leading scorer in a non offensive role is not a good move, IMHO.

  Datsyuk has come on after a slow start, 1 point in 8 games, since then he is a point a game player and is our best forward right now.

Tatar, Nyquist, Abby, Pulkinnen, Richards and Jurco are all out of their l;eague in the P/K. That leaves Sheahan, Helm, Glendening and one of either Datsyuk/Z/Larkin.

 Persoanlly I recall Athanasiou, he plays well at both ends of the ice. It would allow the big three to concentrate on 5 on 5 and the power play.

[WingNut722]

This could explain Kronner's sub-par play.  Apparantly this is a nagging issue for him, and they just now scheduled the surgery in conjunction with the All-Star break to specifically minimize the games missed.  Looks like Marchenko will get the go-ahead and expect DeKeyser to see more power play time.  Bummer about Miller though.  This season is in tatters for him, and he never really got going either.  

Agree with you @yave1964 regarding Larkin on the PK.  Not a good idea, and vastly increases the chances he'll be smacked with the puck.  

[SpikeDDS]

Who is this @WingNut722 person? (Nice to see you back, WN.)

Agree on all of this. Miller's injury didn't change the fact that he was gonna be gone after this season anyway, even as much as he means for the PK. But the transition was coming whether we like it or not, so we might as well move it forward in earnest, and give AA some experience in the role. With his offensive talent, if he can seize his PK role well enough, he will be a far more valuable asset in time. It is a shame that it must end this way for Miller. He has played his role very well for the RWs, and he will be missed...for a while.

What hurts with the Kronner situation in my mind is the fact that Mike Green has NOT really stepped up to fill the void that Kronner has left with his lowered level of play--whether it's due to injury, age, or both. I've been pretty disappointed that his production has been as low as it has been so far, and while I have been somewhat surprised by his defensive play--he hasn't been as much of a liability as I thought he would be--in my mind, it doesn't make up for his lack of replacing Kronner's production with his own.

I will give Brendan Smith some credit for doing what Mike Green has not done. Smith HAS stepped up his offensive game, and lately here so has DK. But Green is getting paid big $, and he's not yet earning his keep. Until Kronner is able to return to the level of player that he had been in previous seasons, Green needs to step up and return to the player he has been in past seasons.

[WingNut722]

@SpikeDDS

Good to see you too Spike!  With Wings' west coast road trip recently, and the fact I have a three year old who is currently obsessed with watching Bubble Guppies before she goes to bed, I haven't been able to watch a whole lot of Red Wing hockey lately, and thus, have not had much in the way of quality input.  I've been lurking though!  :-)

Agree with you that Smith has been stepping up his game.  Not sure what sparked him this season but I like it.  Green has been okay, not bad, just not exceptional, and I certainly see room for his improvement.  He's got a couple years to do it before the contract runs out, but I don't see him as a bad investment...yet.  

The trouble I'm seeing is that they keep going with Joaquim Andersson for some unknown reason.  I don't see any special talent with this guy except he has NHL experience.  Doesn't make since to me in using him when we could just as easily be tempering some new talent in Grand Rapids.  I was hoping he'd be picked up off waivers, but apparently the other 29 GMs in the league think the same way I do.  I imagine he'll be picked up somewhere else as a free agent this summer.