2009-2010 Red Wings News

Posted: 1:44 p.m. Oct. 9, 2009 | Updated: 12:25 a.m. today
Wings' Johan Franzen out 4 months

By GEORGE SIPPLE
FREE PRESS SPORTS WRITER


The Detroit Red Wings found out today that forward Johan Franzen will be out at least four months after suffering a torn anterior cruciate ligament in his left knee during Thursday’s 3-2 victory over the Chicago Blackhawks.

General manager Ken Holland said he did not know when Franzen suffered the injury.

Franzen scored what proved to be the winning goal at 17:49 of the second period and finished the game. Holland said Franzen came to the rink today with fluid in the knee and had trouble walking, so he was sent for tests. An MRI exam revealed the damage.

Holland said Franzen likely will have surgery in a couple of weeks, after the swelling subsides.

Franzen set career highs with 34 goals, 25 assists and 59 points in 71 regular-season games last year and signed an 11-year, $43-million contract extension. He added 12 goals and 11 assists in 23 playoff games.

Losing Franzen is a serious hit to a team that already had lost Marian Hossa (40 goals) and Mikael Samuelsson (19 goals) to free agency and Jiri Hudler (23 goals) to Russia.

Holland said there’s no 30-goal scorer mysteriously unsigned. No team is going to offer one for nothing in a trade, so the Wings will have to find answers internally.

“No one is feeling sorry for us,” Holland said. “We just gotta continue to stick to the program and need everyone to contribute a little more.

“We gotta find ways to win games. Somebody goes down, there’s an opportunity for somebody else to step up and have a bigger role on our hockey club. I don’t think it is one person. It’s a cap world. The system is designed to distribute the talent to 30 teams. So when you lose a power forward that’s a 30-to-40-goal scorer, I’m certainly not looking at one person. I’m looking up and down our lineup.”

Don’t expect the Wings to throw in the towel.

“We can either fold up the tent and go home — and we’re not going to do that,” Holland said. “It’s no different than it was three months ago, when I told you we lost 90 goals. Now we’ve lost 125 goals. We’ve gotta be better defensively. We’ve gotta find ways to win hockey games.”

NOTEBOOK: Defenseman Jonathan Ericsson was back at practice today. Ericsson was hit in his left knee while blocking a shot during Thursday’s 3-2 victory over the Chicago Blackhawks. “I’m feeling a lot better today,” Ericsson said today after practice. “Just kind of had a dead leg out there after I got hit. It’s getting better. It’s sore but not a big deal.” ... Darren Helm, who injured his clavicle three weeks ago, said he’s hoping to play his first game of the season Tuesday, when the Wings visit the Buffalo Sabres. “Tuesday’s the goal right now,” Helm said. “The chances are pretty good I’ll be going Tuesday.” ... After learning about Franzen’s injury, the Wings recalled forward Justin Abdelkader from Grand Rapids (AHL).

Contact GEORGE SIPPLE: 313-223-4796 or gsipple@freepress.com. Check out his Red Wings blog at freep.com/section/blog09.

Last Updated: October 27. 2009 12:22PM
Wings' goalies crash victims
Chris McCosky / The Detroit News

Vancouver, British Columbia --You want to start a good debate in the Red Wings' locker room, bring up the hot-button topic of crease crashing.

The Wings were victims of it on a tying goal by the Coyotes' Petr Prucha last week, but goalies across the league are being crashed into, pile-driven and run over by hard-charging forwards with alarming regularity.

The problem isn't only the unfair advantage the attacking forward has and all the ugly goals the tactic has produced, it's also goalie safety. Goalies, especially elite-level ones, are a high-priced and irreplaceable commodity and owners don't like it when their assets are put at risk.

"You can compare us to a quarterback," Wings goalie Chris Osgood said. "We are pretty vulnerable sometimes. When you are looking down and making a save, you get in awkward positions sometimes. And for guys to come crashing in and falling on top of you, that's when guys start to get injured.

"It's a good time to address it because if it continues and guys know they can do it, it will get worse and worse and somebody will get hurt. And then it will be too late to make any changes. I don't necessarily think it's out of hand right now, but if it continues on this path, it will become that."

Buffalo coach Lindy Ruff, who lost his goalie Ryan Miller for two months last season on such a play, told the Buffalo News earlier this year he thought some coaches around the league were using crease crashing as a tactic to get goalies riled up and off their game. If you look on YouTube or other hockey Web sites, there are scads of clips showing goalies getting violently run.

Forwards are getting crafty with it, too. Knowing they can't hit the goalie directly, they often run the defenseman into the goalie -- putting two players at risk.

"Three years ago they changed the rules so that the defensemen can no longer use their stick (to clear traffic in the crease or impede charging forwards)," Wings goaltender coach Jim Bedard said. "These guys have figured out that the (defensemen) can't use their sticks so they are going to the net without any fear. They know they are either going to get a glorious scoring chance on a rebound or a dirty goal on the second or third whack, or they are going to draw a penalty."

Defensemen are particularly helpless against it. As Bedard said, all they can do is try to box guys out and clear rebounds as quickly as possible.

"It's just the way the game is played now," defenseman Niklas Kronwall said. "It's all about positioning. You can't use your stick as much, but you have to put your body on them and hold your ice. It's hard than it used to be, for sure."

Kronwall and Osgood both said it was typically more an issue early in the season than late, because once the playoffs roll around, the referees tend to give defensemen more leeway with their stick and with clutching and grabbing in front of the net.

"We all want to see the skill players shine," Bedard said. "We don't mind guys getting to the net. What we don't like is the running into the net, the pile-driving. You can't be running guys over. It's charging or it's interference. They should make it a double-minor for running the goalie, anything to deter them from doing it. Because right now, what's the worst thing that can happen, they get a glove in the face?"

Said Osgood: "It's vague from one ref to another, so as a goalie, I am not even sure what the rule is. It should be cut and dry. If you lose sight of the puck, blow the whistle right away and eliminate the crease crashing."

This topic will be discussed at the general manager's meetings next month, but that doesn't mean anything will be changed. Because as adamantly opposed to crease crashing as the goalies and defensemen are, there is another segment just as opposed to changing rules.

"I disagree with that," coach Mike Babcock said when asked if he thought crease crashing was a problem. "I don't think that's an issue at all. Goalies are so good, unless you get to the net, you can't score."

Babcock also scoffed at the notion forwards have an unfair advantage, and the rules needed to be altered.

"They can still box out and use their body instead of their stick," he said. "I think we better be very careful how we change this game. The last time we changed the game, we moved the blue lines out and wound up with five people down in front of the net -- nobody thought about that. And in my opinion, taking the red line out, all that's done is move the trap back to the blue line. So, let's be careful how we change this game."