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Guest mindfly

Red Wings' Johan Franzen expects to play Wednesday

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Guest mindfly
Update from Tuesday's late afternoon practice: Johan Franzen (bruised hand) practiced and said he expects to play Wednesday against Nashville. He skated on a line with Valtteri Filppula and Marian Hossa. That bumps Ville Leino to the fourth line. Coach Mike Babcock said he thinks he'll play Leino Wednesday but that he hadn't decided who would sit out on the fourth line.

"(Franzen) shot the puck a ton yesterday (in practice); we were worried about the vibration in his hand and he seems to be fine,'' Babcock said. "Ideally, if everything is good tomorrow at the skate he'll be going.''

Defenseman Brad Stuart (ribs) also practiced and might return in less than the projected two weeks. Brett Lebda was on the ice briefly at the start of practice and remains day-to-day with back spasms.

Also worth noting that Babcock said Darren Helm definitely will be with the team in the playoffs, which doesn't come as a surprise considering the speed and energy he brings and how well he performed in the postseason last year.

Here's the lines they used in practice:

Datsyuk-Zetterberg-Cleary

Franzen-Filppula-Hossa

Hudler-Helm-Samuelsson

Kopecky-Draper-Maltby (Leino)

Darren McCarty also practiced but said he's not sure if he'll be ready to play in Grand Rapids this weekend.

On defense:

Lidstrom-Kronwall

Lilja-Rafalski

Meech-Chelios

Stuart

Conklin (starting)

Osgood

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Guest mindfly

Shouldn't franzen be on the first line though, he's better in front of the net than cleary imo but maybe he needs to get his legs going after missing some games?

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Shouldn't franzen be on the first line though, he's better in front of the net than cleary imo but maybe he needs to get his legs going after missing some games?

That would be my guess, either way it's only going to help the team good see him back in the line-up.

Also really happy to see Helm crack the line up, hopefully he can settle down and get into a groove :clap:

/crosses fingers for keeping leino up over kopecky or malts.

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that's awesome now if only they could fix his ****** so he can be healthy for more then a month :scared: .

I kid Mule lovers, I just don't like the idea of signing injury prone players to huge contracts. Of course if he has another break out post season I am willing to look the other way. Just this once :)

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Cool lines,I'd like to see Leino with Hudler though (and Kopecky in the press box)

really I thought Kopecky has been playing much better, especially when he is playing with the younger lines, if anything sit Draper; all he does is faces offs then goes to the bench. Or Maltby; god bless him he tries.

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For f*** sake with the Kopecky already...so Leino is going to sit now?

WAIVE him.

once again aside from face offs, what does Draper have to offer? Aside from PK what does Maltby have to offer? Keep in mind they are now playing Kopecky on the PK and he has been decent on it, if anyone should sit it should be one of those two. But in general Leino should be playing over any of those 3 and bump Sammy or Cleary down to the grind line.

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once again aside from face offs, what does Draper have to offer? Aside from PK what does Maltby have to offer? Keep in mind they are now playing Kopecky on the PK and he has been decent on it, if anyone should sit it should be one of those two. But in general Leino should be playing over any of those 3 and bump Sammy or Cleary down to the grind line.

I don't disagree with you, but I believe Draper has a NTC, and he also has the loyalty of the organization so I think it's unlikely they'll touch him. Kopecky on the other hand seems to be unjustifiably protected from any benching or trading...I just don't understand it myself.

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