[Honolulu_Blue]

Not much new on the Wings' front. The team continues to roll pretty as it has the 15 years or so (outside of being unable to beat Robert Lang and the Blackhawks). At the moment they continue to be a one line team with Datsyuk, Zetterberg, and Holmstrom providing the bulk of the offense. Those three have 16 goals and the rest of the forwards on the team have 12. Guys like Hulder and Filppula will eventually have to start producing, but with around $5 million under the cap expect the Wings to be active at the trade deadline once again as they wil be looking for some additional scoring.

Rafalski has fit in very nicely. He's 4th on the team in points with 2 goals and 8 assists in 10 games.

Hasek is "day-to-day" with a sore hip. That's never a good thing, but Osgood has been playing very well (better than Hasek actually), so they will survive.

The Wings re-called Igor Grigorenko from Grand Rapids. He is their top forward prospect and is in an interesting situation. He was a highly touted prospect a few years ago and then got into a bad car accident that derailed his career a bit. He seems to be back on track and finally came over from Russia this summer. He arrived at training camp completely out of shape. He was unimpressive in pre-season and has been equally un-impressive while playing in Grand Rapids. Besides being out of shape, he doesn't really seem to care that much. He has a lot of talent and some decent size and given the beforementioned lack of scoring outside of the top line, I think the Wings would love for him to develop.

The trick is that, he has the option to return to Russia by November 1. He has a contract with his old club that will pay him about $1 million a year. Odds are, if he's in Grand Rapids (making $70,000), he will likely bolt for Russia and that will, in all likelihood, end his career with the Wings.

If the Wings decide to keep him on the NHL roster, however, they will have to send either Matt Ellis or Aaron Downey down to Grand Rapids. Ellis is an incredibly hard-working forward who has a nice little 4 game point streak going (2 goals, 2 assists). He has been the captain of the Griffons for the last few years and by all accounts was the heart and soul of that team. It'd be really hard to send a guy like that down and keep a guy like Grigorenko. Downey has also worked hard and been a good team player. He adds an element of toughness the Wings' have lacked for a long time, not counting, of course, the six game Brad Norton Era.

It will be interesting to see what the Wings will do in the next week with this situations. Based on comments by the Wings' brass, if Grigorenko doesn't turn things around very soon, I would not be surprised to see him back in Grand Rapids and, therefore, taking the trip back home to Russia. It would be great if he stuck it out, but I find that unlikely.

The Wings re-signed Kris Draper to a 3 year deal that averages out to about $1.65 million a season. That's less than he's making now, but I think it's about right. Draper is an invaluable asset to the team. A great penalty killer, great on face-offs, and all-around good guy. He's easily one of the most personable athletes in Detroit. I never thought he'd test the free agent waters, but it's good to have him back in the fold.

Rumors continue to swirl about someone from the front office leaving to join Toronto. Over the summer it was all about Scotty Bowman. Over the last week or two, they have pretty everyone else possibly joining the Leafs, including Jim Nill, Steve Yzerman, and even Ken Holland.