Preseason

Two games into the preseason. The Grand Rapids Griffins are doing OK, and they managed to beat up a relatively toothless Chicago Blackhawks team. (Get it? Toothless? Because they're hockey players...? Never mind...)

Anyway, it was a preseason game. No huge deal. The Wings (Griffins) won.

More importantly, Johan Franzen is only out for three games, and he will be ready to go for the regular season opener. I'll lay even odds that Mike Babcock holds him back longer than that. According to reports, he and most all of the other marquee players for the Wings will be sitting, and the Griffins will be playing in Chicago again on Saturday.

My musings now turn to what the final roster will look like. The defensive pairings are pretty much set (at least in my mind) but who knows what Mike Babcock is thinking? So... what do you all think of this?

Datsyuk/Holmstrom/Zetterberg
Bertuzzi/Filppula/Franzen
Hudler/Modano/Cleary
Abdelkader/Draper/Helm

Lidstrom/Rafalski
Salei/Stuart
Ericsson/Kronwall

And then all the backup cast, such as Meech, Maltby, Miller, Downey, Eaves, and the more names I type the more I think that the above is going to change within 30 or 40 seconds of you reading this. The other things you should think of is all of the possibilities for the power play units...other GMs and coaches would be drooling over the Wings third line, let alone the top two. Yeah, I said "top two" but I've said it before, and I'll say it again. The Red Wings third line could easily be the first line on just about any other team in the league. Other teams have a couple stars on their team (think Crosby/Malkin, Sedin/Sedin, Ovechkin/Backstrom, etc) but the Wings have a headliner (or TWO) on EACH LINE. Household names, not just in the greater Detroit area, but worldwide. Don't even get me started on the defense...

Looking forward to this season....I'm getting chills.