Is Jonathan Ericsson going to be in the Red Wings lineup?
If you’re someone who avidly follows Red Wings draft picks - and given Detroit’s history of success drafting players why wouldn’t you be? - then inveterate link hound and sleuth George James Malik has quite a nice little find. He posted the audio from a Ken Holland interview with Stoney and WoJo and it sounds like the general manager thinks there’s a good chance defenseman prospect Jonathan Ericsson will make the Red Wings lineup next season.
Lilja’s an insurance policy. If [the younger defensemen are] not quite ready, he can play; if they are ready, then we’ll have to make some decisions on, everybody’s looking for defense. We’re not gonna have any problem if we want to make a trade in training camp. You know, on the defense, we’re talking about, they all make, you know, Lilja’s the highest-paid player at a million-and-a-quarter, everybody and lower, I don’t see that we’re going to have any problem making a deal. Let’s get to training camp, let’s evaluate where we’re at with those kids, and we’re basically, I guess, we’ve deferred to make that decision in September instead of in June.
What does the coach think? Well Malik’s got that link and audio as well. The coach has made it clear he’s a big fan of Ericsson’s play. So if he can win a spot in the lineup there’s a chance another defenseman get’s moved to make room for the Big Rig.
The only word of caution so people like Pete don’t get their hopes up only to have them dashed was that Jakub Kindl purportedly nearly made the team prior to the 2006-07 season. He was sent to Kitchener instead and followed that up with a really rough rookie season in Grand Rapids.
But to heck with that. Stewie can take Lilja’s PK minutes which was the main reason for keeping Lilja in the mix in case Stuart didn’t re-up. If Mike Babcock thinks Ericsson is ready he’ll be in the lineup, likely as a third pairing d-man. If Ericsson only signs a one year deal with the Wings he’ll need to play the lion’s share of the games in Detroit or he’ll become an unrestricted free agent. Reading the tea leaves I think he’ll make the team so long as he wins that spot in training camp.
George has confessed to being an Eagles of Death Metal fan so this Cherry Cola via You Tube’s for you Mr. Malik. And hey, check out Larry Bud Melmen on lead guitar!
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