Update: Wings (don't) recall Ville Leino

[Drake_Marcus 890]

I'd say the fact that the Griffins put up that press release indicates that there was some talk about it between the wings and the griffens management and someone jumped the gun. They wouldn't have pulled it out of thin air... so the Wings probably said they planed to bringing up Leino or something of that nature and the Griffins assumed that it was a fact instead of the loose plan.

Regardless, Leino had another huge game today... and so did Abdelkader!

[GROwl 5]

I just got home from the Griffins game a little while ago. It didn't appear that Leino had gotten a call. He just finished another fine game - was the game's second star. Abdelkader was #1 star with a hat trick!

Darren Helm also had a good game. Final score 6-3.

[Arde16 0]

Yes, its true. Leino has indeed been called up and this is from 100% trustable source. It was in the finnish sports news this morning

In his last ahl game he had 3 assists, ending up with 9 points (4+5) in 5 games. He leads the GR with points and has 2nd best +/- with +5. Still one of the best things about Leino, he had 0 pim.

And its also true that he was good in PK which suprised me too. In the finnish elite league he didnt play PK becose of his poor defensive abilities. But when i watched grand rapids game he was always defending when the puck was in their zone. He is also good in PP.

He is expected to play tomorrow against the Kings.

And please guys dont expect 3 goals from him like brunnstrom did. I doubt that Leino gets a chance to play with Z or datsyuk to make that happen, and i doubt he will have as much luck as brunnstrom did Anyways if he gets to the 2nd or 3rd line i'd expect something

Nice to see this happen though.

Edited October 27, 2008 by Arde16

[stormboy 47]

wait, so what the f***. he is being called up? jesus, i can't keep up. if so, it'll be nice to see him play...v.s l.a. might be a good place for him to start. plus, we'll see kyle, correct? i hope he gets a hat trick against us. oh the irony. we'll still win the game 5-4, of course. but i can't imagine the tirades that would go on here if that happened.

[RedStormRising 7]

Wow, interesting to say the least.

[Jedi 1,865]

Still nothing out there to substantiate the claim the Leino has been called up. Though the thread title will be changed gladly if he does get the callup.

There's really only 2 ways that Leino would get called up...

1 - Putting Franzen on long term IR, which means he has to sit out 10 games/24 days. Or...

2 - Sending McCarty back down to GR.

Doing either of those would clear up the cap space to bring in Leino. Though, they gain nothing in the end by sending Mac down (since they'll still only have 12 forwards on the road trip). At this point, Detroit's wanting to wait to see the true extent of the Stein's knee before making any decisions on calling anyone up.

From Mlive...

Holland said they will see how Franzen's knee responds in the next couple of days before making any player moves.

If Franzen shows improvement, and there is a chance he might return sooner, he won't be placed on long-term injured reserve, which would require him to sit a minimum of 10 games or 24 days and would give the club salary cap relief -- players on short-term IR still count against the cap.

"We don't want to put him on long-term IR if he can return sooner," Holland said. "The first 48-72 hours give an indication of how severe it is. If there's not a lot of progress, we'll assume it's a 3-4 week injury. No doubt it's 10 days minimum, up to four weeks."

Holland said forward Ville Leino has not yet been recalled from Grand Rapids, as the Griffins mistakenly announced Sunday. The Red Wings would need to clear some salary cap space by putting Franzen on long-term IR before anybody is recalled. That could happen in the next day or two if the club determines Franzen will be out closer to four weeks.

[Arde16 0]

Still nothing out there to substantiate the claim the Leino has been called up. Though the thread title will be changed gladly if he does get the callup.

There's really only 2 ways that Leino would get called up...

1 - Putting Franzen on long term IR, which means he has to sit out 10 games/24 days. Or...

He is out for a month.

[Jedi 1,865]

He's out 3-4 weeks, that's what Kenny Holland has been saying, and all the media outlets are saying the same. And that's just an early guesstimate based on the initial diagnoses of the "Grade 2" sprain on the knee.

Franzen went back to Detroit after the team left for L.A. He's going to let the swelling go down (takes a couple of days), and then they'll reevaluate where he is at. If he shows improvement, he might be back in sooner than the 3-4 weeks stated earlier. If it looks like it will take the expected amount of time, then they'll place him on LTIR and call up Leino.

Holland's doing it right, IMO. No harm done at all in waiting to see what (if any) improvement that Franzen shows. We still have 12 forwards with us, so we're not going into any game shorthanded.

[b.shanafan14 733]

I think either way, we're better served to call up Leino. Right now we do have 12 forwards, but we have 4 fourth line checkers and we just lost a big offensive threat in Franzen. As unfortunate as it is, this is the perfect time to give Leino a shot at the NHL, much like Filppula a few years back.

We all know what we are going to get with Mac (not much), but if we call up Leino and give him 3rd line minutes with Huds (or Sammy) and Val, it'll give him a chance to prove himself during regular season play (start him off easy against the Kings and a struggling Ducks team, before heading to San Jose) and we show him this organization didn't sign him to play in the minors, confidence boost all around, make him hungrier.

The lineup is more skilled and balanced if you add Leino and send down one of our 4 checkers (Mac).

[Drake_Marcus 890]

He's out 3-4 weeks, that's what Kenny Holland has been saying, and all the media outlets are saying the same. And that's just an early guesstimate based on the initial diagnoses of the "Grade 2" sprain on the knee.

Franzen went back to Detroit after the team left for L.A. He's going to let the swelling go down (takes a couple of days), and then they'll reevaluate where he is at. If he shows improvement, he might be back in sooner than the 3-4 weeks stated earlier. If it looks like it will take the expected amount of time, then they'll place him on LTIR and call up Leino.

Holland's doing it right, IMO. No harm done at all in waiting to see what (if any) improvement that Franzen shows. We still have 12 forwards with us, so we're not going into any game shorthanded.

Makes sense. No point in holding Franzen out for longer than he needs to be out if they can take the decision a bit slower and make sure it is a 3-4 week injury.

Sucks that Ville won't be playing vs the Kings, but I've got my fingers crossed that he'll be here for the Sharks/Ducks back to back games.

The Wings should reward Ville for his stellar work so far, so it'd be nice if they did by bringing him up at least for the coming back to back games.

[ben_usmc 253]

Can someone please tell Kenny that Samuellson needs to be traded for a bag of pucks, an 32 round draft pick, and some oil fields in texas? Then we can actually call people who arent a waste up.

What are you talking about? Sammy has been playing great on Z's line. Blind hate is just stupid.

[Slave 31]

aye sammy looked good gainst the hawks, great play at the offensive blueline that sticks out in my head

[Opie 308]

What are you talking about? Sammy has been playing great on Z's line. Blind hate is just stupid.

Ben,

Obviously that post was so well thought out that the poster had to include salary cap hit, position, level of play, BLAHHH AHAHAHAHAHA sorry I couldn't keep going.

Seriously the amount of thoughtless posts that have nothing resembling realistic feasible options have hit a record high here!!!

Back to the topic at hand:

Holland is hamstrung right now, and Sammy may be traded to clear cap space (doubt it), Lilja may be traded to clear cap space (a little more likely), however I really think Holland is going to need to trade a player making at least 1 mil some time soon. He has basically no cushion to deal with injuries.

Here is a name that not a lot of people have mentioned in possible trades (with good reason, but follow my logic):

Cleary, at this point in time he is underused on this team, granted he is not complaining nor do I think he is playing badly. He could step in on most 2nd lines in the league and would clear a bunch of space.

Don't get me wrong I really like having Cleary on the team, but he would garner a pretty nice pick in return, or at least a good prospect.

I just can't see Holland and Co being this hamstrung by the cap all season.

[Son of a Wing 1,644]

Ben,

Obviously that post was so well thought out that the poster had to include salary cap hit, position, level of play, BLAHHH AHAHAHAHAHA sorry I couldn't keep going.

Seriously the amount of thoughtless posts that have nothing resembling realistic feasible options have hit a record high here!!!

Back to the topic at hand:

Holland is hamstrung right now, and Sammy may be traded to clear cap space (doubt it), Lilja may be traded to clear cap space (a little more likely), however I really think Holland is going to need to trade a player making at least 1 mil some time soon. He has basically no cushion to deal with injuries.

Here is a name that not a lot of people have mentioned in possible trades (with good reason, but follow my logic):

Cleary, at this point in time he is underused on this team, granted he is not complaining nor do I think he is playing badly. He could step in on most 2nd lines in the league and would clear a bunch of space.

Don't get me wrong I really like having Cleary on the team, but he would garner a pretty nice pick in return, or at least a good prospect.

I just can't see Holland and Co being this hamstrung by the cap all season.

Doesn't Cleary have a no-trade clause for the first couple years of his contract? I don't know the exact details but I do remember half his contract having a no-trade clause.

edit: no-trade clause for the first three years of his contract.

Edited October 27, 2008 by Son of a Wing

[Opie 308]

Doesn't Cleary have a no-trade clause for the first couple years of his contract? I don't know the exact details but I do remember half his contract having a no-trade clause.

edit: no-trade clause for the first three years of his contract.

Well that would explain me being the only person to bring up his name!!!!

D'oh!!!!!!!!

Crap so really the only options for trade are Sammy and Lilja!

[Mark THS 2]

The lineup is more skilled and balanced if you add Leino and send down one of our 4 checkers (Mac).

Skilled? Yes. Balanced? Not a chance.

What exactly are you compensating for and balancing by adding a skilled, finesse forward?

[b.shanafan14 733]

Skilled? Yes. Balanced? Not a chance.

What exactly are you compensating for and balancing by adding a skilled, finesse forward?

If we go with forwards as they are now, we have Draper centering two of Kopecky, Maltby, and Mac, three players who have much to be made about any of them in the roster at all. I personally don't have a problem with Kopecky, but Maltby and Mac are both interchangeable now subpar checking forwards, either way, one is plenty on the team and it bumps one of those three to the 3rd line. We lost a scoring forward, we should replace him with someone with that potential and we get the added bonus of testing Leino in the big leagues and boosting his confidence. Whats to gain by keeping a player in Mac who would have been sent down to begin the season if he wasn't on IR?

I think its simple math: Lose offense, add offense.