The Detroit Red Wings will be without their best player when they play the Boston Bruins on Thursday night at Joe Louis Arena.
Superstar center Pavel Datsyuk (shoulder) didn’t skate Wednesday and won’t be in the lineup for Detroit’s season opener, per the team. It’s the first season opener the Russian forward will miss since he entered the NHL in 2001.
Datsyuk’s absence will make Boston’s job a little easier. He tallied 37 points (17 goals, 20 assists) in 45 games last season as injuries forced him to miss almost half of the regular season. The 36-year-old veteran returned for the playoffs and scored the winning goal in Game 1 of Detroit’s first-round series against the Bruins, but Boston won the next four contests to advance to the second round.
We could see some changes to the Bruins lineup. Jordan Caron was recalled from the AHL’s Providence Bruins on Thursday and could play a role on the fourth line. Matt Bartkowski could also make his season debut after being a healthy scratch in Wednesday’s 2-1 win over the Philadelphia Flyers.
B’s head coach Claude Julien hasn’t yet announced the starting goaltender. It’s possible that backup netminder Niklas Svedberg could start so Tuukka Rask doesn’t have to begin the season playing a back-to-back.
Here are the projected lineups for both teams:
DETROIT (0-0-0)
Justin Abdelkader–Henrik Zetterberg–Johan Franzen
Tomas Tatar–Riley Sheahan–Tomas Jurco
Gustav Nyquist–Darren Helm–Andrej Nestrasil
Drew Miller–Joakim Andersson–Luke Glendening
Niklas Kronwall–Jonathan Ericsson
Brendan Smith–Danny DeKeyser
Kyle Quincey–Jakub Kindl
BOSTON (1-0-0)
Brad Marchand–Patrice Bergeron–Reilly Smith
Chris Kelly–Carl Soderberg–Loui Eriksson
Milan Lucic–Ryan Spooner–Matt Fraser
Daniel Paille–Craig Cunningham–Jordan Caron/Bobby Robins
Zdeno Chara – Dougie Hamilton
Dennis Seidenberg – Adam McQuaid
Torey Krug – Kevan Miller
Extra: Matt Bartkowski
Photo via Rick Osentoski/USA TODAY Sports Images
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