Some higher expectations likely got the best of Red Wings forward Jiri Hudler on Saturday night, as he was a healthy scratch for Detroit, as they took on the Predators. Hudler rejoined the Wings after playing in Europe last season and there was a lot of excitement surrounding his return. Unfortunately, he has yet to live up to that early season hype thus far.
In the first eight games of the season, Hudler has only managed to pick up 3 assists and is a horrifying -6 in the plus/minus column. Those kind of numbers are definitely worthy of being a healthy scratch for, but will that message be read loud and clear going forward? In a post-game interview, Hudler was not happy about being a scratch, but knew that the coach has to make those kind of decisions. The Red Wings will definitely hope that this lights a fire underneath Hudler, rather than feel left out and alienated. I suppose only time will tell now.
This scratching pretty well just capped off a pretty bad week for Kristy and Don, who had five players hit the news page and miss some time with their NHL clubs. Since it is only the end of Week Four, there should be plenty of time to make up for these small losses, but coming back is far harder than sitting on a lead. Kristy and Don dropped down from 4th place at the start of the week to 10th (unofficially) in the standings, thanks to their poor week and they will have a fairly long climb back up.
Link to the Injury/News Page
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