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Well, Eaves cleared waivers and has been assigned to Grand Rapids.
The Wings had an optional skate this morning and there was almost no news that came out of it other than Weiss skated.
I expect to hear much rejoicing from the masses, because Tomas Tatar is in the lineup tonight afterall. The Wings have sent Glendening back to Grand Rapids and Tatar will play.
#RedWings have sent Luke Glendening back to minors, so Tomas Tatar will be in lineup vs. Capitals.
— Helene St. James (@HeleneStJames) November 15, 2013
Without Glendening to center the 4th line, the Wings could have Abby do it, or just center by committee. Or, Franzen could center the 2nd line, Helm the 3rd, and Andersson the 4th. There's no official word what the lines will be, but we'll post updates if they come.
Check the lines from the Morning Skate for reference.
In news that makes me very happy, Jonathan Ericsson will make his return tonight and he said he felt better in practice today than he did before his injury. Speed and timing may be a little off for him after missing 27 days. The Wings have missed Ericsson a ton. How much?
- They are 6-3 with him in the lineup and 3-2-5 without him.
- The Wings also only allowed 18 goals in 9 games with Riggy in the lineup and allowed 27 goals in 10 games without him. Coincidence? I think not. Losing games and not getting depth scoring isn't all on account of being without of #2 defenseman, but our defense is much stronger with him in the lineup.
- 5 of our losses without Riggy being 1 goal games (OT and SO), allowing one less goal is pretty significant.
Here's a pretty interesting look at how the Wings first 19 games this year compare to the first 20 games last year.
| After 20 Games | After 19 Games | |
| Team Stats | Last Season | This Season |
| Overall Record | 9-8-3 (21 pts) | 9-5-5 (23 pts) |
| Home Record | 7-4-1 (15 pts) | 3-2-5 (11 pts) |
| Road Record | 2-4-2 (6 pts) | 6-3-0 (12 pts) |
| Goals For | 57 (2.9 avg) | 47 (2.5 avg) |
| Goals Against | 56 (2.8 avg) | 49 (2.6 avg) |
| Power Play | 15.9% (20th NHL) | 18.6% (15th NHL) |
| Penalty Kill | 77.1% (23rd NHL) | 85.5% (7th NHL) |
| PIM/Game | 12.7 (T14th NHL) | 8.6 (3rd NHL) |
| Man Games Lost | 129 | 59 |
| Player Leaders | Last Season | This Season |
| Points | Zetterberg (25) | Zetterberg (21) |
| Goals | Brunner (10) | Zetterberg (10) |
| Assists | Zetterberg (19) | Datsyuk/Zetterberg/Alfredsson(11) |
| PP Goals | Datsyuk (4) | Bertuzzi/Datsyuk (3) |
| GW Goals | Datsyuk/Zetterberg (2) | Datsyuk (2) |
| PIM | Tootoo (51) | Smith (19) |
| Shots | Brunner (68) | Zetterberg (72) |
| +/- | Quincey (+11) | Zetterberg (+12) |
| Starting Goalie GAA/SV% | Howard (2.83/.903) | Howard (2.67/.910) |
Interesting eh?
Capitals News:
Mike Green has missed the last couple practices with a..are you ready for this... lower body injury, only skated a few laps today before leaving the ice. Green won't play tonight so Tyson Strachan was called up from the Hershey Bears and will make his Capitals debut.
Projected Lines:
| Forwards | ||
| Martin Erat | Nicklas Backstrom | Alex Ovechkin |
| Brooks Laich | Marcus Johansson | Troy Brouwer |
| Jason Chimera | Mikhail Grabovski | Joel Ward |
| Aaron Volpatti | Michael Latta | Tom Wilson |
| Defense | |
| Karl Alzner | John Carlson |
| Nate Schmidt |
|
| Alexander Urbom | Steve Oleksy |
| Goalies |
| Braden Holtby |
| Michal Neuvirth |
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