Wings send Leino, Helm, & Ericsson to GR
In an effort to reach the 23 man roster limit, the Wings have sent Ville Leino, Darren Helm, and Jonathan Ericsson to Grand Rapids. All three impressed the coaching staff during training camp and pre-season, but the Wings just have too much talent to keep everyone who performed well in Detroit. I’m sure that we’ll see all three of them up in Detroit at some point when a current forward or defenseman goes down with an injury during the long season.
While Holland was impressed by the many players at camp and confident that some of them would be ready for the Winged Wheel by next season, Ville Leino seemed to stand out. He was fourth in offensive points this preseason behind forwards Henrik Zetterberg and Johan Franzen and defenseman Nicklas Lidstrom. That’s not bad company right there. He played in eight of the Wings’ nine preseason games with three goals, three assists, and a plus-3 rating.
“We’ve tried to wear him out,” said Detroit coach Mike Babcock. “We did that a few years back with Cleary, tried to kill Cleary. You’re trying to find out how mentally tough a guy is and how bad he wants to be a Red Wing. He’s had a real good camp and we’ll just have to make some decisions.” …
“The puck just follows him (Leino) around,” said Babcock. “He has the ability to hang onto the puck like Pav (Datsyuk) and these guys. He doesn’t skate like Pav though.”
Aaron Downey has been placed on waivers for 24 hours. If he clears, he will be assigned to Grand Rapids as well and we’ll know that by tomorrow. Darren McCarty and Jimmy Howard have been placed on the injured reserved list with Chris Chelios for their respective injuries (sore groin and broken finger).
According to Ansar Khan, the Wings are trying to trade Kyle Quincey. They would ideally like to trade him before the season opener on Thursday, but the team is under the cap so it’s not like they absolutely have to. Once McCarty and/or Chelios return, the team will then have to trade him, but they have bought some time for now.
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