Final Cuts

On By mpetrella

With last night’s win over the Pittsburgh Penguins, the Red Wings ended their North American exhibition season. They play one more pre-season game against Farjestads on Wednesday, in Sweden, before opening the regular season with a pair of games against the Blues in Stockholm.

Immediately following the Penguins game, the final cuts were made and the team that will be traveling to Sweden was set.

With the injuries to Andreas Lilja and Darren Helm, a spot was available for Justin Abdelkader to slide into. Lilja has been added to long-term injured reserve, and Darren Helm is on short-term injured reserve. Both will travel with the team, neither will play.

In addition to the goaltending duo of Chris Osgood and Jimmy Howard, the Red Wings are allowed to bring a third goaltender overseas, in case of an emergency. It’s my understanding that Daniel Larsson will not count against the cap, or the roster limit, and may only be activated if another roster player has been deactivated – which, presumably, would be the injured goaltender necessitating Larsson.

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Your 2009-10 Detroit Red Wings:

Johan Franzen — Pavel Datsyuk — Tomas Holmstrom
Todd Bertuzzi — Henrik Zetterberg — Dan Cleary
Ville Leino — Valtteri Filppula — Jason Williams
Kris Draper — Darren Helm (+)/Justin Abdelkader — Patrick Eaves
Kirk Maltby

Nicklas Lidstrom — Brian Rafalski
Niklas Kronwall — Brad Stuart
Jonathan Ericsson — Andreas Lilja(+)/Brett Lebda
Derek Meech

Chris Osgood
Jimmy Howard
[Daniel Larsson]

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Ryan Oulahen, Dick Axelsson, Cory Emmerton, and Gleason Fournier remain with the team in name only, as you’re not allowed to “cut” or demote injured players. Expect the first three to be assigned to the Griffins as soon as they’re able to be, with Fournier headed back to Rimouski of the Q.
In related news, all the players that were put on waivers cleared and have been assigned to Grand Rapids. Those players were defensemen Andy Delmore and Doug Janik, along with forwards Evan McGrath, Jeremy Williams, and Kris Newbury. Congratulations to McGrath and Williams on going through waivers for the first time!
It remains to be see what will become of Tomas Tatar for this season. The newly signed 18-year-old may play in Grand Rapids, or be assigned to the Plymouth Whalers of the OHL, where everyone expects him to blow the roof off of Juniors.
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As it stands, the Griffins look a little something like this:
Mattias Ritola — Justin Abdelkader (DET) — Jeremy Williams
Kris Newbury — Evan McGrath — Johan Ryno/Tomas Tatar
Dick Axelsson — Francis Pare — John Vigilante (GR ONLY)
Jamie Tardiff — Cory Emmerton (+) — Jan Mursak/Ryan Oulahen
[Walsh-GR ONLY]
Jakub Kindl — Doug Janik
Andy Delmore — Sergei Kolosov
Logan Pyett — Sebastien Piche
Travis Ehrhardt/[DaCosta/Peterson-GR ONLY]
Larsson (DET)
McCollum
Pearce
**Brad May will be joining the team on a professional tryout soon. A decision will be made about offering him a contract when the Red Wings return to North America.