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The Detroit Red Wings provided a glimpse this weekend on what they feel will be their opening day lineup with some roster moves made on Sunday. The Wings assigned forwards
Tomas Nosek and
Teemu Pulkkinen and defensemen
Nick Jensen and
Alexey Marchenko to Grand Rapids. Those four players were exempt from having to clear waivers. Meanwhile, the club waived forwards
Mitch Callahan,
Landon Ferraro and
Kevin Porter. This trio went unclaimed while on waivers and can now be returned to Grand Rapids.
The Wings are now down to 26 players following the release of D
Aaron Rome and F
Jeff Hoggan from their professional tryout. That number is further reduced by one with
Pavel Datsyuk being on the team’s short-term injury reserve list.
To get down to the necessary number of 23 prior to Tuesday afternoon's roster deadline at 5:00 p.m. EST, one goalie has to be moved out. In all likelihood, although stranger things have happened,
Petr Mrazek will likely begin his final campaign as the starter in Grand Rapids despite having had a fantastic training camp, to make way for one more season of
Jonas Gustavsson as Jimmy Howard’s backup.
With the roster count now down to 24, the Red Wings may look to move/waive either
Jakub Kindl or
Brian Lashoff to make room for younster
Xavier Ouellet full-time. You have to believe that if Ouellet is kept in Detroit, he will play...he will not sit as the team’s 7th rearguard. Bottom line is he needs to play, which likely ensures him a trip back to Grand Rapids since he is waiver exempt and extensive playing time in the AHL,
until a trade or injury takes place with the big club.
As for Nestrasil, if he stays in Detroit, his time might be short-lived as
Pavel Datsyuk continued to practice this morning, shedding the grey “no-contact” jersey and playing on a line alongside
Henrik Zetterberg and
Justin Abdelkader. Although, #13 might not be ready for the season opener, he seems to be closer to returning than originally anticipated. However, Nestrasil has often been overlooked when one examined Detroit’s prospect pool despite being selected in the third round of the 2009 NHL Entry Draft (75th overall). A strong training camp and preseason showing off good wheels and a bit of a scoring touch followed up a strong campaign last season in Grand Rapids.
Helene St. James of the Detroit Free Press suggested this interesting possibility if/when Datsyuk returns and another forward does not get hurt to spare Nestrasil being waived and possibly claimed before going back down to Grand Rapids:
The roster overflow was exacerbated by the off-season decision to re-sign Daniel Cleary, a move made because of a promise dating to a year ago when the Wings brought Cleary in at the last minute on Babcock's urging.
Cleary looks healthy, but he had one point and was minus-3 after four exhibition games this autumn. It's unlikely the Wings would send him to the minors, but it wouldn't be shocking to see him on long-term IR, with or without a genuine injury.
Forward
Tomas Tatar, kneed in the head by a linesman in Thursday's game, has been cleared by doctors to play. Never say never, but it appears evident that
Tomas Jurco has made the roster, too, much to Mike Babcock’s delight, after the original concern this summer he might get “Nyquisted” down to Grand Rapids after the
Daniel Cleary signing. Holland himself was quoted on Toronto sports radio late last week insinuating Jurco is one of several young Detroit players that “earned” a job last season with their play.
So what do we see when Detroit hosts Boston on Thursday night? Based on the lines and pairings at practice this morning, it could be the following:
Zetterberg - Weiss (in place of the injured Datsyuk) - Abdelkader
Tatar - Sheahan - Jurco
Nyquist - Helm - Franzen
Miller - Glendening - Andersson
Nestrasil (scratch)
Cleary (scratch)
Datsyuk (Short Term IR)
Ericsson - Kronwall
DeKeyser - Smith
Ouellet (Kindl) - Quincey
Lashoff (scratch)
Howard
(Gustavsson)
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Previous Posts
Dress rehearsal #1
Nick Jensen...the forgotten man amongst the Wings rearguard prospects
Datsyuk out 4-5 weeks with second degree shoulder sprain
Injuries begin in earnest for the Red Wings
The Anthony Mantha Experience on hold
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