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Up-to-the minute updates and insights from the Red Wings locker room at home and on the road. By Chuck Pleiness of The Macomb Daily.

Sunday, October 5, 2008

Red Wings cut four

After tonight's preseason win over Buffalo, the Red Wings assigned four prospects to Grand Rapids -- forwards Justin Abdelkader, Cory Emmerton, Jan Mursak and Mattias Ritola.

Abdelkader, Emmerton and Mursak are starting their first full season as pros. Ritola was a rookie last winter.

That leaves 29 players on the Detroit roster. All teams must have rosters of 23 or fewer active players by 3 p.m. Wednesday.

Still battling for roster spots are forwards Ville Leino, Darren Helm, Darren McCarty and Aaron Downey, defensemen Jonathan Ericsson, Derek Meech and Kyle Quincey.

Also, goalie Jimmy Howard, who was slated to go to Grand Rapids, will remain with the Red Wings until he's ready to return from a broken finger. He will count against the salary cap, but on a pro-rated basis (days with the Red Wings last winter). Howard's cap hit shouldn't be large enough to bump a player to Grand Rapids, but he will count against the 23-man roster limit.

3 Comments:

Anonymous Anonymous said...

Hi Bruce,

Do you think we will see Hossa, Holmstrom, and Datsyuk in the lineup come Thursday? I know the latter two played this evening, but I just want to make sure they felt good following the game.

Also, I know you say they're "still battling for roster spots," but what are the odds that Darren Helm or Ville Leino make this team?

Thanks

October 5, 2008 at 8:30 PM 
Blogger Chuck Pleiness said...

Holmstrom and Datsyuk will be playing unless they have relapses. Hossa is a very high probability of playing. So it's likely that the three will be together Thursday.
For Helm and Leino, I think the front office would like to keep both. It's all going to come down to who they can fit under the cap and who they can protect. Leino has a higher salary and that will make him more likely than Helm to go down. But they're tryint to figure a way right now to fit Leino under the cap.

October 6, 2008 at 9:30 AM 
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Would it be fair to say that Downey has almost no chance of playing in Detroit this season? I personally was pulling for him to make the team, as I feel that an enforcer is important and he would provide alot of grit and toughness and help create more of a balance between gritty players and finesse players. But after his performance against Andrew Peters last night I just don't see him making the team.

October 6, 2008 at 2:03 PM 

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