September 14, 2005
Training Camp Notebook
Zetterberg's injury 'not a problem'
By
and
Record-Eagle staff writers
TRAVERSE CITY - Henrik Zetterberg scored fast, then left too soon.
The Detroit Red Wings forward dazzled the crowd on the first full day of training camp when he found the net just 10 seconds into Tuesday's scrimmage at Centre ICE.
But the 24-year-old Swede left the ice late in the game with a what head coach Mike Babcock called a hip flexor injury.
Zetterberg said afterward that the injury wasn't serious.
"Just a safety precaution," he said of his exit. "I'll shut it down a couple of days and see what happens.
"It's not a problem."
That's good news to the Wings, who re-signed the restricted free agent just last week to a four-year contract.
"What I said to the guys is, to me it's real simple: You get prepared to come to camp," coach Mike Babcock said. "It's our job to prepare you for the season. Now you've got to judge your own body. All these guys that don't get signed right away, it disrupts their training and these things - we've seen it year after year - these things tend to happen."
Zetterberg didn't waste any time taking advantage of one of the NHL's new rule changes. Ten seconds into the game, Zetterberg broke free behind the defense and turned a long pass into a goal. In previous seasons, the play would have been whistled dead as a two-line pass.
"I do (like the new rule)," Zetterberg said. "It worked out in Europe; it'll work out here, too."
"I think it was clear Henrik Zetterberg was the best player on the ice today," said captain Steve Yzerman.
PLAYER CURFEW: Are the days of Red Wings players closing down Dillinger's done?
Babcock has instituted a curfew of 11:30 p.m. for all players during training camp.
Dillinger's has been a popular hangout for Red Wings for years.
"It applies to everybody," forward Jason Williams said. "All the rules are the same. Usually by that time, you're pretty tired anyway. It's not going to be a big difference for me. Being stuck out at the bar is not what I want to do. I'm here to win a job."
Winger Kirk Maltby echoed those sentiments.
"Everybody here is a pro and we just have to act like it," Maltby said. "We're here for hockey. Everybody's got to be smart and use their heads."
MEDIA SPOTLIGHT: With about a dozen TV cameras pointed at him and even more tape recorders, Babcock was asked if he got as much attention when he was with the Anaheim Mighty Ducks.
"(Just) when we played in the Stanley Cup final, I did," Babcock joked. "The two guys (at Ducks' training camp) were nice guys."
DISTINGUISHED TITLE: Chris Chelios has another title: The NHL's oldest player.
"I thought I was 60," the 43-year-old Chelios said, huffing after getting done with practice.
How did Shanahan feel after a similar workout?
"Not that old," Shanahan joked. "Late 50s."
Chelios became the oldest player in the league when Mark Messier retired on Monday. The ribbing was almost immediate, but slowed down once practice started.
"Everybody's too tired to say anything now, so I'm OK," Chelios said.
In fact, Chelios is older than Babcock, one of the league's younger coaches at age 42.
"They bring age up once in a while, but after a couple years ago and the year I had personally and the year the team had, it kind of silenced everybody," Chelios said. "But I know that's going to be playing against me sooner or later, so I've just got to go out and do what I do."
Chelios had more than one reason to be glad 40-year-old Steve Yzerman is back with the Wings.
"It's good to see him back out on the ice," Chelios said. "I hope he's as dead tired as I am right now."
VISOR VISION: Yzerman wore a tinted visor on his helmet, protecting his surgically-repaired eye from an injury in the 2003-04 playoffs in which he was hit in the eye by a puck.
Shanahan said he could see visors becoming mandatory for players in the future.
"I could see us grandfathering that in so that 10, 15, 20 years down the road, the same way that we don't have any players who don't wear helmets that we won't have players without visors," he said.
See Related Stories:
Babcock brings 'high intensity' to Wings - September 14, 2005
Osgood glad to be back with Wings - September 14, 2005
Datsyuk contract saga not done yet - September 13, 2005
Wings back in TC after 1-year absence - September 13, 2005
|
