When Valtteri Filppula signed with the Tampa Bay Lightning this summer one thing it did for the Detroit Red Wings was take away one player’s best friend.
Filppula went for a final pre-training camp skate in Detroit before heading to Florida with his old Wings teammates and Niklas Kronwall tells Helene St. James of the Detroit Free Press he’s going to miss his buddy Filppula.
“You lose some friends each and every year, but it’s just how it goes. Fil, I’m going to miss him. We spent a lot of time together over these seven years. I’d say, 90% of the time we’re on the road, we go to dinner together. We’ve just spent a lot of time together. So I’ll miss having him around.”
It’s like having the credits roll at the end of a buddy comedy.
When it comes to hockey, however, the Red Wings were able to replace Filppula just fine after signing former Panthers center Stephen
Weiss. As for Filppula, he’s excited to get started in Tampa and who wouldn’t when you’ve got Steven Stamkos and Martin St. Louis there waiting for you.