Red Wings make lineup change after first game of the season.

The Detroit Red Wings did not have the start they wanted this week, losing 5-1 in their home opener to a divisional opponent in the Montreal Canadiens, and we are already seeing some significant changes to the team's lineup.

On Saturday, the Red Wings officially announced that veteran defenseman Erik Gustafsson would be stepping out of the lineup, with Gustafsson being sent back down to the American Hockey League's Grand Rapids Griffins, in order to make room for the debut of veteran National Hockey League forward James van Riemsdyk.

It's an interesting move from the Red Wings when you consider that van Riemsdyk missed most of training camp after taking a leave of absence for personal reasons, a leave of absence that caused him to miss the Red Wings first game of the season. In spite of the fact that van Riemsdyk was back with the team the Red Wings chose to give him more time to get back up to speed following his leave of absence, but perhaps the ugly loss at the hands of the Canadiens has already created a sense of urgency within the organization.

In van Riemsdyk the Red Wings get an NHL veteran with over 1000 games of NHL experience into the lineup, the kind of player that can have a positive influence on teammates both on and off the ice. In spite of the fact that he is far removed from the 30 goal scorer he once was, van Riemsdyk is still coming off a decent season that saw him put up 16 goals and 20 assists for 36 points in 71 games last season with the Columbus Blue Jackets.

Whether or not this will have any impact on the outcome of tonight's game against another divisional opponent in the Maple Leafs remains to be seen.

Update: In spite of being activated it sounds like JVR will not be playing tonight. That being said we are going to see a pair of lineup changes with Jonatan Berggren and Jacob Bernard Docker stepping into the lineup to replace Elmer Soderblom and Travis Hamonic.