Some Red Wings and NHL news from around the blogosphere and MSM:

• Darren McCarty cleared waivers earlier today. GM Ken Holland had placed him on waivers to make sure the Wings could call up Jimmy Howard if a goaltender got injured or if they needed to call up a defenseman due to an injury.
• You can now join the Wings VIP Mobile Club, which means you will get texts twice a week from the team with team updates, exclusive offers, and more. On December 18th, the team will randomly select one winner to get a phone call from a DRW player as well as an autographed jersey by that same player.
• Ansar Khan at MLive.com has an article about the return of Niklas Kronwall's play from last season including solid offensive output and the big hits at center ice. As Kronner is the WIM favorite, I am personally quite happy to see him returning back to form.
• In early December, the Wings have numerous promotional giveaways for their home games. My favorite and most unusual is the hospital scrub giveaway. The Detroit Medical Center is a team sponsor and they are giving scrubs to the first 10,000 fans on December 1st.
• A Detroit Free Press article argues that while Ty Conklin is not the starter, his play of late certainly warrants a second look by Detroit.
• This NHL.com article is a great look at Wings prospect Mattias Ritola and his journey to where he is today with the Grand Rapids Griffins (AHL).
• James Mirtle at From the Rink links to the fabulous LIFE hockey photos that Google recently archived. The photos that I have seen already look great and I can't wait to go through them more when I have some free time. Second City Hockey also posted some of the great photographs.
  
• Frank at PensBurgh comments on how you're never supposed to step on the logo. So true.
• Lighthouse Hockey talks about former Wings prospect goaltender Joey MacDonald.
• I want to personally welcome new SBN hockey bloggers at In Lou We Trust and Fear the Fin.