Wings Getting Ready For Training Camp
By: Jeff Riger
Friday at Troy Sports Center the Red Wings held another voluntary workout as the team grows closer to training camp. The dates are still sketchy as the CBA still needs to be ratified by the players, but everybody seems in great spirits knowing there will definitely be hockey this season.
Below are some of the more interesting quotes from media availability after the skate ...
Does Niklas Kronwall feel more pressure on the blue line following the departure of Nick Lidstrom and Brad Stuart?
"You try not to think too much about it. I think it all comes down to hard work and just doing what you do. Obviously I'm one of those guys that take it upon myself to have a little more responsibility but at the same time there are 6 other guys on the blue line that need to do the same thing. We all have to do this together; it is not about one guy. If this is going to go anywhere we have to do this together."
Brendan Smith will be counted on as one of the guys to replace the irreplaceable Lidstrom and Stuart.
"You can't replace Lidstrom, nobody in the NHL can" said Smith. "We are just going to do what we can to try to get there and it's definitely going to be motivation. We don't want to be hearing that you have lost Nick, you lost Stuart and this is the reason. I think we have a good D core."
I did have a chance to ask Johan Franzen about Henrik Zetterberg and how his leadership will be different than that of Lidstrom. Franzen replied "more dinners." I then asked Franzen if that was his way of calling Lidstrom cheap. He said "no" and that was that. Franzen did clarify at the end of the interview that he was not saying that Lidstrom never bought dinner, instead he just wanted to make it known that he wants Zetterberg to buy a lot of them in the upcoming seasons.
Watch the interviews with Brendan Smith, Nick Kronwall and Johan Franzen below. Smith talks about his love of video games while Kronwall breaks down this year's Oscar nominations.
