Is Holmstrom Leaving Home?
By: Jeff Riger
As Detroit waits to find out the future of Nick Lidstrom, there is another longtime Red Wings player with a decision to make. Tomas Holmstrom has been around for all the success Lidstrom has experienced and is also at a crossroad of his career. Homer, like Lidstrom, is asking himself "Do I come back?"
There is no doubt Holmstrom still has something left in the tank, but how much? Sure the vet can play on the fourth line and contribute on the power play as well. But is that enough?
Below are some of the more interesting things that Holmstrom had to say as the Wings cleaned out their lockers earlier this week.
It seems like the big factor with Homer is his body and the question of whether it can hold up for another season with all the abuse he takes. It is no secret Holmstrom takes a beating each and every night lining up in front of the opposing goalie. He gets whacked and knocked over constantly and one would think that at some point he would not be able to take it anymore. "I love the game and I would love to play 3 or 4 more years" said Holmstrom. "It's so much fun to come to the rink but can my body take it one more year or two more years? It's lots of wear and tear on the body."
Even though Homer is constantly banged up, he feels like he has more hockey left in him, so much that if he were to come back the longtime forward would want more playing time. "I would love to play 15 minutes" replied Holmstrom. I'm not asking for 23 minutes but I would like to get the ice time for sure and I think I still can play."
Holmstrom was actually upset about the way he was used this previous season saying, "If I'm going to play next year am I going to play on the 4th line again and get 9 minutes of ice time? It's not that easy to get out there and make stuff happen when you have limited ice time."
Holmstrom also let the media know just how hard last season was for him. "It's been tough," he said. "Right from the get-go there was not much ice time. I tried to do my job, I didn't bitch or anything just played my game and did my thing."
But, when it's all said and done Homer wants to be in Detroit and if he doesn't play for the Wings next season, well then he will just retire instead of playing for another team. "No, I don't think so" said Holmstrom. I've been in Detroit all my career and it's here that I want to retire for sure."
Watch the entire Holmstrom video below and then you decide if #96 will be back at the Joe as a player next season?
