Getting your player ready...
Tomas Holmstrom gets Christmas wish lists from his Red Wings teammates. They figure that because he’s from northern Sweden, he’s close enough to the North Pole to have pull with Santa Claus. “Usually this time of year all the guys say, ‘Homer, can you take this Christmas list and give it to Santa?’ ” Holmstrom said. “And I do that.” Holmstrom comes from Pitea, a city less than 200 miles from the Arctic Circle. After years of watching Holmstrom endure crosschecks, teammate Kris Draper thinks he has an explanation for his toughness: “Seal skin. Homer’s got seal skin.” Detroit Free Press
