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Abel to Yzerman

Here Come The Diggers

by IwoCPO on 04/30/09 at 02:14 PM ET
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Yes, yes, yes. I know.  I know that if details of Kris Draper’s injury are being kept close-hold, that it’s a necessary thing.  I got that.  You guys have picked on me about that enough. 

But for the love of SBJ.  Somebody at least tell me they’ve asked the question.

Khan(!)

Update from Thursday’s practice: Center Kris Draper saw the doctor today and was ruled out for Games 1 and 2 against Anaheim. He’ll be re-evaluated on Sunday afternoon before a decision is made on whether he can play Games 3 and 4 in Anaheim.

Draper has missed the last six games with an upper-body injury but continues to practice and work out off-ice.

More…

“I honestly thought I was going to get some good news today, real disappointed,’’ Draper said. “Just keep doing what I’m doing. Skate with the guys, take warm-up. Unfortunately when the puck drops I have to turn into a fan and keep cheering the guys on. It’s tough. This time of year it’s not fun (sitting). I’m just going to do everything I can to keep the guys going and continue to do what I’m doing.’‘

Mandingo, I think, pointed out below that he thinks it’s a cracked vertebrae.  Last week I said I thought it was a concussion but you guys jumped all over that and made me feel dumb when you correctly pointed out that he wouldn’t even be skating.

You know what I want from the Diggers on this? I just want them to come out and say, “we’ve asked and nobody’s telling.”  Better? I want this:  “We know what the injury is and we’re not saying squat because if we did we’d (a) lose our access to the team or (2) jeopardize the health of the player when he does come back and scumbag Chris Pronger takes a run at him, targeting that injury.”

Oh and Lilja? You’ve read that he skated today?  No?  We get this from Helene St. James.  This is just funny.  She tells us she has “big news.”  And then, next paragraph explains that, well, it’s not really that big afterall.

Big news from Joe Louis Arena today: Defenseman Andreas Lilja is practicing for the first time since February.

Your reaction?  Awesome.  Man. One practice today, then tomorrow, maybe he plays on…Sunday?  Outstanding. 

Woops.  Umm. Not really.

And here we go.  Here comes the standard from Helene….say it with me….

I just talked to general manager Ken Holland, and he told me Lilja “is not symptom free. What he’s doing is a little exertion - he’s no better, no worse. He skated on his own a couple of days ago, felt fine, and today he asked Piet (trainer Piet Van Zant) if he could go on the ice, and Piet said sure.”

We’re not seeing Lilja this postseason folks.  That’s the big news. 

And another thing.  Check out Teddy Kulfan today.

Still, it was Ovechkin’s teammate, Alexander Semin, who inflamed the situation.

Semin told reporters Crosby was “nothing special” and said Crosby whines too much.

“What’s so special about (Crosby)? I don’t see anything special there,” Semin said through a translator this season. “Yes, he does skate well, has a good head, good pass. But there’s nothing else. Even if you compare him to Patrick Kane from Chicago ... (Kane) is a much more interesting player. The way he moves, his deking abilities, his thinking on the ice and his anticipation of the play is so superb.”

Here’s the thing.  Here’s why the MSM and bloggers are just never going to be able to go along or get along.  Semin didn’t say that “to reporters.”  It was on Puck Daddy, the place that gets all the good Russian interviews because Wyshynski has cultivated some amazing sources who know hockey, know how to conduct an interview, and have senses of humor.  The reason the interviews are so good? Because Semin (and Datsyuk...twice) spoke in Russian, to a Russian journalist writing for Puck Daddy; not “through a translator.”

Since Kulfan’s story was about the Crosby, Malkin, Ovechkin bitch fest?  He would have been smart to point you to about five articles written by Dmitry Chesnokov, who has rapidly become the expert on this whole thing.  But because Chesnokov works for a blogger?  Kulfan’s attribution is: “Semin told reporters.” 

Whatever.  Just more Deep Digger laziness, especially when you compare it to the work of Wyshynski and Chesnokov.  Good job Ted.

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