The Wings also made a trade with the Calgary Flames prior to the deadline.
Detroit sent defenseman Andy Delmore to the Flames for forward Riley Armstrong.
Armstrong, who has played two games in the NHL, has 19 points this season with the Abbotsford Heat of the American Hockey League.
Delmore has spent all season in Grand Rapids. In 54 games his has five goals and 15 assists.

The Wings made one minor move prior to the trade deadline, getting Jordan Owens from the New York Rangers in exchange for Kris Newbury.
Detroit signed Newbury this past summer. He played four games with the Wings and had one goal. In 52 games with Grand Rapids, Newbury had 11 goals and 22 assists, along with a team-high 144 penalty minutes.
Owens has spent his entire career in the minors.

To you from failing hands we throw the torch ...

Yah, that's a bit much unless you happen to be wearing a Montreal Canadiens sweater. Just a note to let anyone who stops in here know that I'm moving on to another assignment. I'm the online editor for The Macomb Daily as of now, which means a day shift ... and that means more family time ... and that means I'm happy.

Chuck Pleiness, who has been on the Red Wings beat with me since I started, is taking over this blog and that's a trade for the betterment of RedWingsCorner.

And thank you to everyone who participated in this blog and over on Twitter. I had the time of my life with this, thanks to you.

Bruce MacLeod

The Red Wings traded forward Ville Leino to Philadelphia today for a fifth-round pick in the 2011 NHL Entry Draft and defenseman Ole-Kristian Tollefsen.

Leino obviously wasn't a favorite of Coach Mike Babcock and quickly became one of Detroit fans' least favorite Wings.

Tollefsen is actually a few months younger than Leino. He's a physical defenseman who Wings fans probably best remember from his seasons in Columbus.

Tollefsen, who's from Norway, could/should challenge Derek Meech and Brett Lebda for a role on the third defense pairing at some point.

Tollefsen has a one-way $600,000 contract that expires this summer. Lebda's cap hit is $650,000 and Meech's is $483,333. Lebda will be unrestricted this summer. Meech and Tollefsen will be restricted free agents.

Jason Williams will be back in the Red Wings' lineup tonight. To make room on the roster, Detroit sent down Justin Abdelkader ... the one Red Wing who didn't have to clear waivers to be assigned.

Also, Brad Stuart is healthy enough to stay in the lineup for tonight's game.

Niklas Kronwall (knee) will be back in the lineup, Tuesday, when the Red Wings host Phoenix. Kronwall, who hasn't played since Nov. 21, is slated to partner with Brad Stuart. Derek Meech is likely going to be scratched.

Other news from today's practice ...

-- Dan Cleary will skate with Pavel Datsyuk and Henrik Zetterberg in an attempt to get the top line going. Todd Bertuzzi will be with Valtteri Filppula and Drew Miller.

-- Andreas Lilja has gone 13 days without concussion symptoms meaning that he's closer to returning to the lineup.

-- Johan Franzen said that he's hoping to get in a couple of games before the Olympic break. The Red Wings have 10 games left before the break.

-- Jason Williams said that he might return from a broken leg as early as Friday.

Goalie Thomas McCollum, in whom the Red Wings invested a first-round draft pick, was recalled by Grand Rapids today after an 18-day stint with Toledo of the ECHL. TO make room, Jordan Pearce was sent to the Walleye.

Here's the Griffins' press release ...


GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. – The Grand Rapids Griffins on Thursday exchanged goaltenders with ECHL Toledo, welcoming back Thomas McCollum and returning Jordan Pearce to the Walleye.

McCollum, 20, was reassigned to Toledo by the Detroit Red Wings on Jan. 2 and has since earned a 2-1-0 record with a 4.48 goals against average and a 0.864 save percentage through four games. Prior to his reassignment, the Cambria, N.Y., native appeared in 18 games with the Griffins, posting a 7-7-0 record with a 3.42 GAA and a 0.877 save percentage.

McCollum will be available for action on Friday when the Griffins host the Toronto Marlies at 7 p.m.

Pearce, 23, shows an 8-8-1 record with a 3.52 GAA and a 0.892 save percentage in 18 games with Toledo this season. Since joining the Griffins on Jan. 2, he posted a 1-2-0 record with a 3.82 GAA and a 0.875 save percentage in five games.

Pearce will be available to make his return to the Toledo net on Friday when the Walleye host the Elmira Jackals at 7 p.m.

At the same time that the Detroit Pistons are being shopped to potential owners, Palace Sports and Entertainment Inc. is hoping to avoid owning a second professional sports franchise, the Tampa Bay Lightning.

Palace Sports and Entertainment sold the Lightning, the team's lease agreement with Hillsborough County (Fla.) and 5 1/2 acres of land adjacent to the St. Pete Times Forum in August 2007, to an ownership group headed by Hollywood producer Oren Koules and former NHL player Len Barrie, who is a resort developer in British Columbia.

The new ownership, however, was financed by a loan from Palace Sports and Entertainment, a loan which is in default.

According to sources in the front offices of the Pistons and Lightning, the NHL is helping to find a new ownership arrangement so that possession of the hockey team will not rebound back to Auburn Hills.

A call to the NHL offices late Wednesday was not returned.

The Palace source said that traditional financing is being sought so that the Pistons will be paid in full for the sale of the Lightning. That source also said that the NHL is setting a Feb. 15 deadline for finding new ownership.

The Lightning source, however, said that Tampa Bay ownership denies that it is working under a deadline.

Restructuring the Lightning ownership group with the addition of new capital is a possibility and one that the current Tampa Bay ownership would prefer. But the source said that: "The most likely scenario is a new owner. The League wants to expedite it."

When Bill Davidson died March 13, ownership of Palace Sports and Entertainment transferred to his wife, Karen Davidson. She put the family vacation home in Colorado up for sale at a list price of $47 million, according to the Wall Street Journal.

Sources at the Palace said that Mrs. Davidson is also looking for a buyer for Palace Sports and Entertainment, which includes the Pistons, the Palace of Auburn Hills and the DTE Energy Music Theatre in Clarkston.

Among the potential owners approaches, according to a Palace source, was the Ilitch family, owners of the Detroit Red Wings. The Ilitches didn't enter negotiations for the Pistons. Had they bought the basketball team, they would have been in the untenable situation of also owning a mortgage on the Tampa Bay Lightning, an NHL rival.

Palace Sports and Entertainment bought the Lightning and the team's home, the St. Pete Times Forum, from then-owner Art Williams on March 3, 1999, subsequently operating the Lightning for eight seasons. During the Palace ownership of the NHL team, the Lightning won the Stanley Cup in 2004.

Jonathan Ericsson will be back in the Red Wings' lineup against Carolina tonight. Ericsson has been shelved since since Dec. 14 with a knee injury. To make room on the roster, Doug Janik was returned to Grand Rapids. Janik was in Detroit on an emergency recall.

"(Ericsson) has been practicing for a while," said Detroit coach Mike Babcock. "If he wasn't ready to go, he wouldn't be in the lineup."

On Janik, Babcock said: "He was fantastic for us. he did everything we asked."

Jakub Kindl will play tonight for the Red Wings, replacing Brian Rafalski, who's out with the flu.