Brent Sopel out two to four weeks with broken finger

by SCH on Dec 27, 2007 1:00 AM CST

Just saw it towards the bottom of the ESPN recap.

So, not only do we lose Wisniewski for four-to-six weeks, we now have lost possibly our most steady and veteran defenseman until at least mid-January. Andrei Zyuzin will be back in the lineup for sure now, and my guess is that someone like Danny Richmond, Niklas Hjalmarsson or Prestin Ryan is going to be called up from Rockford to fill in for these injuries. These are going to be tough losses for the Hawks to deal with right now. Maybe Dale Tallon will make a deal for a defenseman? Although I don't know who is realistically available, besides someone like Mathieu Schneider, or maybe Danny Markov, who is still an unsigned free agent.

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Comments

Ouch.

These recent injuries do hurt, and I'm a bit apprehensive about their impact(especially with regard to Havlat).

But not all news was bad on that front - it was nice to see Bourque get back in the lineup. Hopefully he'll be able to get his game back in a hurry.

by whw on Dec 27, 2007 5:57 AM CST reply actions

Sopel

The CBH message boards are saying that the news that the AP reported about Sopel is false. It's true that he has a broken finger but he's going to try to play on Sunday. Even if he doesn't, it's not as severe as first thought.

I just heard that they recalled Johansson too. I figured it'd probably be him because Richmond would have had to clear re-entry waivers which it's thought, might not happen.

They wouldn't have gone with Niklas Hjalmarsson because he's playing in the World Juniors for Sweden right now over in the Czech Republic.

I'm pretty much in the dark regarding Prestin Ryan but he's 27 and still in the AHL with a lot of penatly minutes. Sounds like a poor man's Jim Vandermeer. If that's the case, I don't see him doing much past being a very temporary stopgap.

http://mvn.com/nhl-blackhawks/

by antbogey on Dec 27, 2007 12:32 PM CST reply actions