The Wings' season hasn't officially started yet, and I'm already stressing about injuries. This is not a good sign. It's entirely too early for us to be worrying about Henrik Zetterberg and his groin. Seriously. According to The Detroit News (and many other reports), Z won't be in the lineup tonight (or tomorrow) because of that nagging groin injury. Which is lovely, because it's exactly the way I had envisioned this season starting. Probably the only good thing about this report is the picture that accompanied it. Look at Mike Babcock's eyes. I'm a little bit intimidated just looking at the picture.
In other Zetterberg news, the Free Press reported that he's looking forward to having Todd Bertuzzi on his wing this season:
"It's going to be fun to play with Bert," Zetterberg said Thursday. "He's a great player. I've played against him many times, and he's strong with the puck and is really skilled and a big guy. Most of the time with Todd, when he gets the opportunity he puts it away."Which is nice, but really, what else was he supposed to say? "Yeah, it's really going to suck playing with Bert, but I'm going to try to make the best of things and cover for his defensive lapses whenever possible?" I'm not saying that that's how he feels or anything, but I'm cynical and kind of a jerk, so those are the things that I think whenever I read quotes like that. If you're looking for a more optomistic take on things, The Production Line has an excellent post called "What if Hank is Right?"
What if he is? If that's the case, Kenny Holland will be invited to join Mensa, if he hasn't already. I'm on the record as being very anti-Bertuzzi, but if he can perform, it won't take much to get me to back his signing. I'm not saying I'll ever be his biggest fan or like him personally, but performing well in a Wings uniform is a really good way to get me on your side. He may just turn out to be a great pick up for the team, and as I said before, I would love nothing more than to spend some time next summer writing about how his season was one of the great redemption stories in the NHL.
In one final bit of news, Tomas Tatar has signed a three-year deal with the team. At the moment, it's not clear whether he'll end up in Grand Rapids or Plymouth, but having him in North America will be a good thing. From what I've read, he had a great prospects tournament and pre-season, and I'm looking forward to seeing him play. It sounds like he's got the right skill set and attitude to fit in well on the Wings. But really the real reason that I'm posting this little bit of info is because I'm taking a Russian history class right now, and one of the important factors in the formation of their empire was a group of people called the Tatars. And every time my textbook mentions the Tatars, I get distracted thinking about hockey. In the chapter I'm currently working my way through, this happens approximately every two paragraphs. This doesn't bode well for the rest of the semester.
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