Detroit — Pavel Datsyuk limped around quite a bit at the end of last season while trying to play, but the announcement in the spring that he would require surgery on some ruptured ankle ligaments came as a surprise.
Considering the Red Wings would launch the season with their first new coach in a decade, and a rookie head coach in the NHL, it felt a bit unsettling.
Then Johan Franzen's post-concussion problems returned and then injuries to the two big free-agent acquisitions from the summer of 2015 put both offensive defenseman Mike Green and center Brad Richards out of the lineup.