Datsyuk placed on IR, while Ouellet and Mrazek have been assigned to Grand Rapids. Nestrasil has made 23-man roster, for now.
— Chuck Pleiness (@wingsfrontman) October 7, 2014
So, barring another injury, trade, or what have you.. The roster is set for now. There is still a chance Xavier Ouellet gets brought back up for the game, but at this point I’m skeptical with just about anything that involves Detroit Red Wings roster management.
Michelle, myself, and probably the rest of us think the wisest choice would be to waive a player like Brian Lashoff, and keep Xavier Ouellet in the lineup. But again, that would make some serious sense.
The cool thing is, Andrej Nestrasil has made the opening night roster.. Which is a pretty big deal considering if you were to tell me he would two months ago, I would have called the cops on you. Of course, the only reason he has made the roster is because of Pavel Datsyuk’s injury.. So once Pavel returns, you can expect Nesty to go through waivers. If he does a great job in his tenure with the Wings, there might be a good chance he gets claimed.
Here’s another interesting note…
<blockquote class=”twitter-tweet” lang=”en”><p><a href=”https://twitter.com/hashtag/RedWings?src=hash”>#RedWings</a> Gustavsson is now getting reps at far end of rink, usually signifying No. 1 goalie status. Howard is the 2 hole as Mrazek watches.</p>— The Wheel Deal (@Bill_Roose) <a href=”https://twitter.com/Bill_Roose/status/519512534295248896″>October 7, 2014</a></blockquote>
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So there’s that. Not sure if this is real life, but if Jonas Gustavsson starts on Thursday and Jimmy Howard does not then I will certainly go into “WTF” mode. Maybe Jimmy’s hurt? Not sure, he seemed pretty damn healthy all summer long, but then again, that was before he started working with the Red Wings again.
Nothing is set in stone, but XO is the better defenseman.. So I’d like to think he ends up in the opening night roster.. But let’s call it cautious optimism. I, for one, will be readying my tin-foil hat this evening.
LGRW
