Well two of the Wings guys suffered major injuries which hurt there development. Those who said Hudler was the biggest steal ever were silly though. Mind you I think Hudler would be doing better on another team (Babs hates him). Kronwall is the Wings number 3 dman and is really starting to come on of late. Every time he would get going in the past he'd get hurt. Grigs well Grigs almost died. The fact that he is even still playing is amazing. The Wings have had some of the worst luck with players and freak injuries. Kozzie, Konstantinov, and Grigs were all in serious car accidents. Fischer almost dies on the ice due to the heart issue, and Kronwall suffers two freak accidents his first two seasons in the NHL. I trully still see something special in Kronwall. If he can stay healthy I won't put being a reg All-Star beyond him.
I agree with your post. With the exception of Hudler (who I still think it's too early to say as this is his first NHL season) it's completely unfair and hasty to say Grigs and Kronwall have done nothing. Grigorenko was given long odds on ever
walking again without pain, and considering what he went through, I think that he's made it back this far is amazing. He almost
died and now he's a productive star in the second best league in the world. His situation is not the same as a guy like Morozov or Kaigorodov. As for Kronwall, he got off to a slow start but this is his first NHL season people! He's not Pitkanen, but I think he has a very promising career ahead of him, and has kept getting better as time goes on. With Grigs and Kronwall the hype was not unwarranted, and because they haven't stepped in and put up big stats for the fantasy kids they're written off as having done "nothing" - mind boggling.
The guys I had the most hope for that haven't really turned out:
Maxim Balmochnyk
Jared Aulin
Jeff Taffe
Jani Rita