Folks, we’re on the cusp of the most-hopeful Red Wings season since... well take your pick. I’m a hopeful sucker, so I was probably last this hopeful before game 1 of the Frans Nielsen era.
... let’s not dwell on that. It was a different hope anyway. This year it’s a good thing because it’s not burdened with overly high expectations: Grow a team identity. That’s it. That’s what I want.
Anyway, we’ve been excitedly checking in ever since we learned Elmer Söderblom and Joe Veleno made Detroit’s opening-day 23-man roster trying to figure out what the lines would be for Friday’s opener against Montreal (who notched a stunning last-minute win in their opener against Toronto on Wednesday night)
After the last two days’ worth of practices running with the same lines and wondering how injury questions might play in, we have our first real expectation:
Lalonde confirms this will be tomorrow’s lineup.