Wings’ lineup is a complete mess ahead of season opener…

You might have thought the Detroit Red Wings’ situation was bad last season when they failed once again to clinch a playoff spot, it seems that things have gotten worse ahead of the new campaign, which kicks off tonight… 

In Hockey Town, there remain question marks on defense due to injuries, and some players could be called up to fill the holes left by Mike Green and Niklas Kronwall, who are out of action. Green has recently been diagnosed with a liver disease. 

“We think it’ll be two more weeks before he’s in full practices, which would leave with two more weeks after that before he’s ready to go,” head coach Jeff Blashill said to reporters on Tuesday, as per NHL.com. “We’re looking at a timeline of a month before we’d have him fully available to us. That timeline is fluid, but that’s what we’re looking at.”

As for Kronwall, for now, there is no timetable. 

“We got to see where everybody is at, who’s healthy, who’s not healthy, before we potentially call some guys up, so we might send some guys down and then call them back up if some guys aren’t healthy,” Blashill added. “I don’t know that answer until we get through tomorrow’s practice.”

The Wings might now have to rely on young rookies to lead the way, even on the power play. Dennis Cholowski is expected to quarterback one power play and it’s possible another rookie, Filip Hronek, if he is called back up, could quarterback another.

This is probably not the start the Red Wings were hoping for, but you have to understand they are probably still patching things together after captain Henrik Zetterberg announced that he could not return to action during training camp last month. 

What a blow, but now, it just seems like the Wings cannot get out of this funk. What can they do? Will they simply use this year to get some young prospects the experience they need to compete as a contender in the coming years? 

You have to admit, the season begins tonight, and yet, Detroit already looks out of the running…