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The Johan Franzen Mystery Tour rolls on...
Franzen said he's not feeling any better, wouldn't elaborate on whether he's sick or injured and didn't want to comment further.
— Ansar Khan (@AnsarKhanMLive) November 7, 2013
Khan(!) also went on to tweet that The Mule will not play Saturday either, but Ken Holland is hopeful that he'll return next Tuesday. At this point we don't know what exactly is wrong with Franzen. He was sick last week, returned, left during a game, skated this morning and then left the ice early. It might be an injury. Maybe a concussion? I feel like the team would have said something. It's weird that they would be hiding injuries in November (and a potential concussion isn't worth hiding, period). Maybe there's other off ice issues going on. Maybe it's just some Mike Babcock mind games. Regardless, whether you agree or not, this team is better with Franzen in the lineup so hopefully he'll be good to go next week.
The other news of the day?
As expected, #RedWings F Jordin Tootoo clears waivers. Teams has 10 games/30 days to send him to minors for $925,000 in cap relief
— Helene St. James (@HeleneStJames) November 7, 2013
Tootoo will stay with the Red Wings. If he's not traded before now and next week, he'll likely be assigned to Grand Rapids before next Friday's game against the Capitals. Jonathan Ericsson will be eligible to come off LTIR at that point.
And a sad note for many of our readers and Wings fans out there
Smith said his shoulder felt good. He expects to be ready for Tuesday's game vs. Winnipeg, when he can come off short term IR
— Ansar Khan (@AnsarKhanMLive) November 7, 2013
Enjoy your Almquist time now, it's not going to last much longer.
Here are your lineups for tonight (barring last minute changes or injuries)
RED WINGS
Forwards
Henrik Zetterberg | Pavel Datsyuk | Todd Bertuzzi |
Daniel Cleary | Stephen Weiss | Daniel Alfredsson |
Tomas Tatar | Joakim Andersson | Justin Abdelkader |
Drew Miller | Darren Helm | Mikael Samuelsson |
Defensemen
Niklas Kronwall | Danny DeKeyser |
Kyle Quincey | Jakub Kindl |
Adam Almquist | Brian Lashoff |
Goaltenders
Jimmy Howard (starting) |
Jared Coreau |
Scratches: Patrick Eaves, Johan Franzen (something), Jordin Tootoo (waived)
Injuries: Jonas Gustavsson (neck), Brendan Smith (shoulder)
LTIR: Jonathan Ericsson (shoulder)
STARS
Forwards
Jamie Benn | Tyler Seguin | Valeri Nichushkin |
Ray Whitney | Cody Eakin | Alex Chiasson |
Rich Peverley | Vernon Fiddler | Erik Cole |
Ryan Garbutt | Shawn Horcoff | Antoine Roussel |
Defensemen
Stephane Robidas | Brenden Dillon |
Trevor Daley | Sergei Gonchar |
Alex Goligoski | Jordie Benn |
Goaltenders
Kari Lehtonen (starting) |
Dan Ellis |
Let's Go Red Wings.