For those of us eager to forget opening weekend in Sweden, tonight is opening night (but not really) for our Red Wings. Marian Hossa is sidelined after making one of his patented timely decisions to have shoulder surgery eleven minutes after signing a massive contract that contributed to his then-GM getting fired (oh, I’m sorry… “promoted”).
BUT! All is not lost. We’ll get to re-acquaint ourselves with the immobile uselessness that is Tomas Kopecky, who has been running his mouth, which is a nice thing for a guy made out of glass to do.
It’ll be fun, and more fun when we beat them
Big words for a guy who didn’t play in the last two playoff rounds because he had his face broken by a Frenchman. Perhaps you goon-loving types will have been onto something if Brad May suits up tonight and destroys Kopecky in his first shift — something that Red Wings fans are somewhat familiar with.
Anyway, it’s well-documented that Brett Lebda is coming out of the lineup, with Derek Meech taking his place. Justin Abdelkader has been sent down to Grand Rapids, but it remains to be seen if Patrick Eaves makes his regular season Red Wings debut — or if Brad May does the same. Something tells me it’ll be May. This is a good game to dress a face-puncher.
Franzen — Datsyuk — Holmstrom
Bertuzzi — Zetterberg — Cleary
Leino — Filppula — Williams
Maltby — Draper — May/Eaves
Lidstrom — Rafalski
Kronwall — Stuart
Ericsson — Meech
Osgood / Howard
Scratched For Sure: Brett “Turnover” Lebda
Injured Reserve: Andreas “Also Has Broken Face” Lilja, Darren “Please Hurry Back” Helm