Danny DeKeyser: Suffers injury to lower left leg, status unclear

“I think I just tried to do everything they asked me to do and played my hardest”, Larkin said after a 4-2 preseason victory over Toronto.

Babcock, who left Detroit as the all-time winningest coach, took over a winning organization and helped maintain its success.

“I might yell something”, Johan Franzen laughed. As for this game, the Leafs generally haven’t looked very good despite playing against a lot of sub-par competition, something that Babcock has been pretty vocal about.

While Kane has not been charged, he remains under investigation but has practiced with the team and has played in a few of the Hawks’ exhibition games. And then two, what’s best for his development as well.

The Red Wings were not done however, and they scored three goals before the end of the period to force overtime.

It was Babcock that gave new Wings coach Jeff Blashill his start in the National Hockey League where he was an assistant for one season before taking over in Grand Rapids for the last three. Ryan Sproul brings a skill set.

“That is exactly what I would be thinking going down”, Larkin said.

“That opening weekend I’d assume both of them will play”, Blashill said Tuesday after practice at Joe Louis Arena.

Larkin likely won’t get another opportunity to prove he deserves to open the season with the Red Wings since he’s not expected to play in tonight’s preseason finale in Toronto. I think thats allowed us to have success in the American League when weve needed it. One thing I never worry about is who is available to us. “You guys are watching”. I always come back to the preparation, the amount of time he spent on hockey. “I don’t want to specifically say it would have to be a top three line but that’s definitely part of the conversation (GM) Ken Holland and I will have”. “I think I did a good job”. I see the Leafs as dependant more on their youth because they’re essentially on the ground level of a rebuild, where the Wings are working to transition from the vets to the youth on the fly. That was fifth among the Red Wings’ forwards, trailing only Henrik Zetterberg, Gustav Nyquist, Justin Abdelkader and Tomas Tatar. With their chance to do better at home, Detroit will have their second group of players ready to take on the brute of Chicago’s main offense. “His speed, it’s lightning fast”. It seems as if he just fell into an awkward hit the wrong way – DeKeyser even went out and skated an additional shift following the collision – but if something is broken, that’s a chunk of time the team could be without him.

Now, Larkin is in a holding pattern until the Red Wings make their final cuts next week. The good depth additions and the big upgrade behind the bench make me hopeful that the team will at least be watchable this season, if a little boring.