Big Citrus

"Coach Mike Babcock joked Henrik Zetterberg probably hurt his back from hauling all that money to the bank, but regardless Zetterberg won't play tonight against Dallas."
-from kulfan at detnews.com

haha ...
that's funny.

let me start out by saying i was excited as all get out when The Contract was announced. i still am, really.
but now it's on game two. two games after signing the biggest Contract in detroit history, zetterberg has yet to play a shift. i wouldn't be worried if he didn't have a history of back problems, but he does.
now, i'm not going to try to be rational about this. i can't be. it's not my way. i'm going to be honest and tell you that my biggest fear right now, other than what the wings having the 12th worst GAA (2.9) means in three months time, how we would cope with the loss of franzen and hossa and live with their replacements hudler and sameulsson, and how the wings general inability to do anything that makes me happy may one day give me a heart attack, is whether or not this 12-yr pact with hank will turn into a lemon.
i have all the respect in the world for z and holland and the agents involved for crafting such a well-thought out and reasoned Contract that should benefit all sides. i think it demonstrates a lot of hard work and determination. i am a huge fan of zetterberg, and in no way is any of what i'm going to say meant as a comment on his character, or abilities. i just hope that this Contract doesn't come back to bite us in the ass if he ever goes down longer, or more frequently, than anyone really anticipates. in fact, it's the frequency that could do the most harm. if henrik is unable to string together some games without missing many, than will this Contract really be worth it? would we want to pay this much money for a part time player? would we be stuck paying good money for a car that only runs three days out of seven?

unfortunately, i don't think there is a lemon law in the nhl.