HSJ’s mailbag: on the logjam on defense

Among the Free Press’s Helene St. James’ mailbag questions and answers:

HSJ: When I spoke to him at locker clean out day (April 10), Niklas Kronwall sounded like a guy eager to return. He missed the first three games of 2017-18, but played every game after that. He’ll turn 38 midway through next season, and he’s got hard miles on his body, but he is still a smart player, and a team leader. So barring some offseason setback, I see him playing out the last year of his contract.

That said, I’d still expect there to be an opening — there are six regulars under contract for next season, but that includes Xavier Ouellet, who no longer seems to fit into the Wings’ plans. So I do think there there will be at least one fresh young face on the next season’s defense.

St. James continues…

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George Malik

My name is George Malik, and I'm the Malik Report's editor/blogger/poster. I have been blogging about the Red Wings since 2006, and have worked with MLive and Kukla's Korner. Thank you for reading!

8 thoughts on “HSJ’s mailbag: on the logjam on defense”

  1. I would think that more people would understand that you can’t arbitrarily decide to put a player on LTIR just because that player has a nagging medical issue. Those same knees that played 79 consecutive games last season surely won’t qualify him for LTIR in 2018-19.

      1. The CBA states that a player must be declared unfit by the team physician to play for a minimum of 24 calender days and 10 regular season games. Kronwall doesn’t meet the criteria.

  2. HSJ has repeatedly speculated that Kenny is interested in signing Mike Green. So even if Ouellet is trade/waived…then if we sign Green that’s 6 again. So where is the room for 2 of the 3 youngsters she mentioned – Cholowski, Hronek, Hicketts? Especially when the organization doesn’t want a kid sitting as the 7th guy. Her message continues to be inconsistent.

    If it was me, I wouldn’t even talk to Mike Green. Trade Ouellet at the draft for whatever you can. And I’d designate Jensen as my #7 since I don’t see his career going anywhere.

    So now I have two roster spots, and two spots in the actual lineup for young players. Those 3 kids can fight for it, along with Sulak and whoever else may surprise us. Could look something like this:

    Dekeyser-Daley
    Ericsson-Hronek
    Kronwall-Hicketts/Cholowski

    1. “HSJ has repeatedly speculated that Kenny is interested in signing Mike Green.”

      Sorry. I didn’t see where Green was mentioned in this article?

  3. Bottom line, they’re planning on rolling out the same garbage on D as last year. Brilliant extensions for everyone.

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