The Detroit News’s Ted Kulfan engaged in a lengthy question-and-answer session with Red Wings coach Jeff Blashill, and Blashill discussed Henrik Zetterberg’s health (among many other topics):
■ Question: Jeff, certainly there’s a lot of talk right now regarding Henrik Zetterberg. What’s the latest on him? Have you talked to Hank at all, and what do you expect at this point?
■ A: “As you know, Hank wasn’t able to practice for half the year. He was able to gut it out through those last two months where he wasn’t able to practice. There were nights I didn’t think he’d able to play and he did play.
“He’s had a hard summer and I don’t think his back is reacting great. Certainly we’ll know more in a month (at training camp), but as of today, there’s a lot of doubt as to whether his back will be healthy enough to play.”
■ Q: At various times, it has been remarkable the level of pain he’s had to play through. How much of a loss will it be if you don’t have him in the lineup, both on and off the ice?
■ A: “It was unreal, and it speaks to the level of a competitor he is, and honestly, the toughness, to play through what he did. Obviously if Hank isn’t able to play, there’s a lot of areas where it affects your team. Certainly from a leadership standpoint, but he’s still a real good player for us.
“But with that said, I’ve always been a huge believer that you never worry about who is not available, and you worry about who is available. How much it affects your team depends on the growth of other players, and has there been enough growth among other players? Will it or not be a factor? We’ll see.”
Continued, and I don’t expect Zetterberg’s status to be determined until training camp, if not October or November.
that makes z sound very iffy . hopefully he can just get out without a messed up back forever more because this season means nothing anyway . wondering if theres a real talented vet center thats near retiring whom we could get cheap , say for a helm , to come in and mentor kids for a season while playing short minutes in a 3 line role . wouldnt matter if he produced much as his job would be solely mentoring .
jason spezza seems to be near career end in dallas , one more season at 7 mil . so ide figure stars anxious to dump him for cap space to beef up for a play off run . helm would give them a depth center and speed , but we have to obviously add more cap hit . who stars would want i dont know . but we get a center mentor PLUS a good prospect or pick for takin cap hit . helm plus say daley could both improve stars so i think theyd have interest unless they see spezza as getting better this season . if not daley we no doubt have a few more vets they could choose from to help their cause .
No thanks on spezza
or helm , nyquist , wings 3rd and 4th for spezza and stars 1st . then spezza rebounds and we trade him at deadline for a 1st lol
“But when I say jobs, jobs can mean jobs on the power play, jobs could mean on the top line, jobs could mean a job on the team. It’s more competitive, and has to be, because if it’s not, we should expect the same result, and we don’t like the result.
So either guys who have had those jobs play at a higher rate or different guys end up taking those jobs.” Blashill
The last sentence I hope rings true, but not just for the low end players. I mean, the vets who continually do not perform night in and night out. And I am not talking Glenny or FRK or any of the lower level players. Let’s see if Blash can be a man of his words.