General manager Ken Holland just confirmed that Chris Chelios has a fractured right tibia (shinbone). Chelios has been told by doctors that he cannot put weight on his right leg for at least three weeks. After three weeks, he'll have another MRI to determine the injury's progress in healing.

Chelios blocked a shot in Tuesday's preseason game in Montreal and left the ice after hobbling back to the bench. He was on crutches, Wednesday, but that day's CT scan showed no fracture. An MRI done today revealed the break.

Chelios is eligible to be put on the long-term injury report, which is a way to exempt his salary from the Red Wings' cap figure. (If a player is out short-term, his salary counts against the cap.) Chelios won't be put on the list until next Wed. (Oct. 8) -- the date that regular-season rosters are finalized and teams must fit under the $56.7 million salary cap.

Chelios' status will impact the Red Wings' roster decisions to a degree in that his salary won't come onto the cap for a few weeks.

The Red Wings will trim their current roster to a number near 30 (they'll keep some players to cover for Chelios and Pavel Datsyuk, who's out with a groin strain) tomorrow morning.

"We have some tough decisions," said Holland. "When we signed Marian Hossa in the summer, and I'm glad we did, when we signed Val Filppula, we knew we'd be up against the cap."

Holland said that the Red Wings will enter the regular season with a roster of 21-23 healthy players. He also said that they'll likely carry eight defensemen, but he doesn't know at this point if that mean seven healthy D-men plus Chelios or eight healthy D-men plus Chelios.

"You guys have to speculate on who'll be on our roster," said Holland. "But we can't tell you much. We don't even know ourselves right now."