Midday Updates: Wings Post Lineup

The Red Wings have posted their lineup for tonight's game against the Wild, and it matches what we had in the morning skate:

Damien Brunner - Henrik Zetterberg- Johan Franzen
Todd Bertuzzi - Valtteri Filppula - Pavel Datsyuk
Justin Abdelkader - Darren Helm - Daniel Cleary
Drew Miller - Cory Emmerton - Jordin Tootoo

Niklas Kronwall - Brian Lashoff
Kyle Quincey - Brendan Smith
Kent Huskins - Jakub Kindl

Jimmy Howard (starting)
Thomas McCollum (charting faceoffs)

Interesting that they have Filppula listed as the center on that line and Datsyuk on the right wing. Datsyuk has won 72% of his 43 faceoffs this year. Filppula is 2nd on the team (unless you want to count Franzen and Cleary going 1-for-1). Flip has a 52.4% success rate in 42 draws. Naturally, the responsibilities go beyond just taking faceoffs, but it will be interesting to see who takes which defensive responsibilities between them on the ice.

The morning skate was, as usual, optional. Here's the rundown of the participants:

Ericsson is skating in morning skate for #RedWings. But no Kronwall or Babcock.

— The Wheel Deal (@Bill_Roose) January 25, 2013

Filppula isn't at #RedWings morning skate, either. Helm, Bertuzzi and Kindl are on the ice.

— The Wheel Deal (@Bill_Roose) January 25, 2013

Ericsson is obviously out with a sore hip, but wants to return soon. Kindl's groin will need to hold up tonight. Filppula said yesterday the knee he hurt playing in Finland is still a little sore, so an optional skate probably wouldn't help. Hopefully he'll still have some speed for tonight.

Ian White told Chuck Pleiness that the cut to his knee "could have been a lot worse". I know I was critical of the things he said during the lockout, but I liked him on the ice before his injury and hope he has a speedy recovery.