The BFG by Roald Dahl was a favorite story of mine growing up, but in this case, I choose to change what the acronym stands for from Big Friendly Giant to Big Fancy Guy in honor of Elmer Söderblom.
He’s just so fancy fresh at times. Add in his strength and wicked shot to get a fantastic player.
I scratched the surface in a recent post about how impressive Söderblom has been. I’ve been outspoken about my support of Söderblom this season: why his call-up matters, that he was calling Yzerman to let him know he was ready back on December 8, and on January 20, I talked about how he would help the team win immediately. Safe to say that this season, I’m a Söderblom stan.
Söderblom’s path to the National Hockey League (NHL) is an intriguing one. He’s a great reminder that young players, even ones who come out of the gate red hot and falter, need time. When we make up our ideas of who a player is or his worth in a team, we do him and ourselves an injustice. Letting players like Söderblom traverse their own paths is key to the success of any team. Thankfully, our general manager, Steve Yzerman, provides stability and patience with his Detroit Red Wings prospects that too man fans would not afford if given the same opportunity.
Something is really bothering me about Söderblom playing in the NHL.
Detroit Red Wings Elmer Söderblom continues to suffer at the hands of the NHL, and it needs to change
The officiating in the NHL has never been great, but this season, it’s taken on a whole new life of its own.
From four referees staring straight at Trevor Zegras assaulting Michael Rasmussen but claiming that they saw nothing to trips against Lucas Raymond that are going to be called, then wiped clean as a result of offsetting minor penalties to other players not involved in the tripping infraction (whether responsible for the trip or on the receiving end).
However, I have seen too many times in the past two games where Söderblom is selected as tribute and sent to the sin bin.
First, a high stick was called on Söderblom. While there was a high stick offense on the play, it wasn’t Söderblom. The guilty party was one Joseph Veleno.
Second, there was a phantom call for when a guy went down near Söderblom. Our Söderblom didn’t touch the guy in any capacity, yet he was sent to the box under the penalty of tripping.
I’m not saying Söderblom is perfect; all I’m saying is that the referees feel awfully comfortable sending Söderblom to the penalty box for being nothing more than the first guy they see. Maybe one could argue these phantom calls were made-up calls that referees do when they know they missed or messed up a previous call.
It’s not only disappointing that this keeps happening, but it’s also concerning. How many more penalties is Söderblom going to take that aren’t his own doing?
He’s played 13 games this season in the NHL. While there have only been two penalties called for a total of four penalty minutes, the fact that they’ve happened two games in a row seems like officials are getting confident in calling out the big guy. Likely only for the fact that he’s so big. That’s where everyone’s eyes and brains jump to when they see someone on the ice or clutching their face.
I’m hoping this trend doesn’t continue, but I’m ready to fight the good fight if it does.
There are plenty of infractions that take place during an NHL game. Endless opportunities to send players to the box. Honest mistakes happen, but when referees make it a habit to send a player to the box who didn’t do anything, it becomes a problem.
We’ve seen this pattern with Moritz Seider, too, where he’s called for a phantom infraction.
Referees tend to have a bias where they just go with the biggest guy on the ice and send him to the box. If they’re wrong, they don’t care as there’s no accountability (unless they’re caught on a hot mic saying the thing aloud they weren’t supposed to say that everyone already knows about anyway).
To this trend, I say no more! Whether it’s invain or something that will help remains to be seen, but I’ll keep the fight going for Söderblom.
#FreeElmerSöderblom