Blogs > Red Wings Corner

Up-to-the minute updates and insights from the Red Wings locker room at home and on the road. By Chuck Pleiness of The Macomb Daily.

Wednesday, December 23, 2009

Wings will double shift center

UPDATE: Coach Mike Babcock said that he'll double shift one of his three centers, Datsyuk, Helm, Abdelkader, or double shift wing Kris Draper tonight. Ritola won't play the middle although he was there in the morning skate.

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It looks like Mattias Ritola will play center tonight. (Unless Babcock decides to double-shift one of his three other centers.) Ritola, who hasn't played in the middle since he was a kid, is centering the fourth line at the morning skate with Kirk Maltby and Brad May on his wings. Valtteri Filppula is practicing and is on schedule to return to the lineup Saturday.

This morning's lines ...

Bertuzzi-Datsyuk-Holmstrom
Draper-Helm-Eaves
Leino-Abdelkader-Miller
May-Ritola-Maltby
Filppula

Lidstrom-Lilja
Lebda-Stuart
Meech-Janik

Brian Rafalski is not on the ice this morning. I assume is a minor thing and he'll be in the lineup tonight, otherwise they would have put Lidstrom's new partner with him in the practice. Lilja is a placeholder for Rafalski.

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