Friday Wrap Up

I don’t like to do wrap-up posts but there were a few things of note that were small enough today that I’m not going to put out a post for each of them.

Lidstrom to Skate in Alumni Game
The Red Wings announced today that Nicklas Lidstrom will skate in the alumni games on December 31 at Comerica Park, part of the Hockeytown Winter Festival, the lead-in to the Winter Classic in Ann Arbor on January 1. Much of the rosters for those games were announced last season during the lockout but Lidstrom’s participation was never confirmed.

The Wings released a roster of all of the now-confirmed players and there is one interesting difference. As with last year, four of the Russian Five are confirmed but there has been a change, as Vyacheslav Kozlov is now appearing while Sergei Fedorov is not.

Detroit general manager Ken Holland confirmed that the team is working with both Fedorov and Steve Yzerman in an attempt to secure appearances.

Eaves to Miss 4-6 Weeks
The team confirmed that forward Patrick Eaves will miss up to a month with knee and ankle injuries suffered at Thursday morning’s practice. The sprained ankle and ACL will keep him on injured reserve to start the season. Combined with Darren Helm’s ongoing injury trouble, the team is now salary cap compliant and will only need to reduce their roster by one forward by the start of the season. Gustav Nyquist could be sent to the Grand Rapids Griffins to accomplish that.

Cleary to Wear #71
Daniel Cleary had expected to regain his #11 jersey from Daniel Alfredsson to start the regular season but the NHL nixed that idea, as Alfredsson merchandise for the Winter Classic has already been prepared. Cleary took #71 for training camp and stated that he would switch to #15 for the start of the regular season, with Riley Sheahan moving to #28. Now Cleary says he’ll be keeping #71 for the regular season. No word on whether or not Sheahan will switch now that he doesn’t need to.