FanHouse Kirk Maltby

It's officially the offseason, meaning the time is right to look into the future. We'll be running our division-by-division preview of the offseason beginning later in the week, but we wanted to give the two top dogs their own space. Today: the summer outlook for the Red Wings. Tomorrow, the Stanley Cup champion Penguins.

The Red Wings came within one game of repeating as Stanley Cup champions. A goal or two here or there, and their mission – and Marian Hossa's – is accomplished.

Instead, Detroit's first question mark going into the summer months is Hossa. It's widely expected he'll re-sign with the Wings for five years or so, but that will push Detroit essentially to the limit when it comes to the cap, which is projected to be about $57 million again.

One of the great Stanley Cup traditions is its presentation. Yes, commissioner Gary Bettman -- after getting booed lustily -- takes a moment to congratulate the owners and general manager who helped put the team together. But the first person to touch the Stanley Cup after it is brought out to the ice surface is not an executive or a coach. It's the captain of the winning team.

Once the captain has his moment, he picks the second player to hoist the Cup. Since we know who gets it first, the only fun we can have is figuring out who will get it second.

After missing six consecutive games with a foot injury, Red Wings forward Pavel Datsyuk appears to be inching closer to a return, as he's expected to be a game-time decision for Thursday's Game 4 in Pittsburgh. In the past three games, he had yet to make it to "game-time decision."

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One of the more confusing story lines in this year's playoffs has been the sudden disappearance of Pavel Datsyuk's offensive production. In Detroit's 13 postseason games, the Hart Trophy finalist has recorded just one goal to go with six assists after putting up his second consecutive 97-point performance in the regular season.

During the Red Wings' overtime win in Game 2, Datsyuk was reportedly injured when he was hit in the foot by a puck, which leaves his availability for Game 3 on Friday up in the air. The 30-year-old forward sat out practice on Thursday, while Helene St. James of the Detroit Free Press reports that Datsyuk will be a game-time decision in Chicago. Could this be the break the Blackhawks need to get back in the series?

Brian Burke's acquisition of tough-guy Brad May helped add to some of the intensity and entertainment value in Thursday's Montreal-Toronto game, as the two teams beat the snot out of one other physically, while the Canadiens dominated on the scoreboard, pulling out a 6-2 win. The victory for Montreal is its third in a row, and eighth in its past 10 games.

We've already talked about the penalties and wrestling matches between Mikhail Grabovski and a linesman, so let's talk about the game itself. The Canadiens jumped out to a 3-1 lead in the first period, thanks to goals from Sergei Kostitsyn, Maxim Lapierre and Guillaume Latendresse. Jaroslav Halak, making his fourth straight start in goal for Montreal, turned aside 30 shots to pick up his eighth win of the season.

Bruins 6, Senators 4: Boston snapped a brief two-game losing skid on Thursday night with a 6-4 win over Ottawa. The Bruins let a 3-1 lead slip away late in the second period, and then scored three consecutive goals of their own in the third, as Ottawa goalie Martin Gerber had a rather forgettable start in goal, stopping only 16 of 21 shots. Marc Savard scored what proved to be the game-winning goal, while also adding two assists.

Media outlets in Detroit are reporting that tonight against Chicago the Red Wings will ice a slightly different lineup than the one that skated to a 6-5 win over Vancouver Thursday. Kirk Maltby will sit out, while Tomas Holmstrom will return.

Maltby suffered a bone bruise in his left ankle when he blocked a Canuck shot Thursday night. He did not skate yesterday and will take both today and tomorrow off as well. He has played in all but one of the Wings' games this season, having been a healthy scratch on October 25th. Maltby's effectiveness has tapered off pretty drastically in recent seasons, but the team has shown an admirable amount of loyalty to one of their longest-serving warriors.

Holmstrom has been out with a sore back ever since an Edmonton Oiler fell on him on November 17th. He first skated Monday and felt good enough to return Thursday. He practiced with Marian Hossa and Pavel Datsyuk, and will replace Dan Cleary on that line tonight. He'll bring his skilled net-front presence back to a team that has sorely missed in his absence.

Wtih Maltby out, Derek Meech will remain in the lineup as a forward despite Holmstrom's return. Meech scored his first NHL goal Thursday night, but likely won't see much ice time against the Blackhawks.

Bruce MacLeod, the hockey beat writer for the Macomb Daily, reports that the Detroit Red Wings will formally shuffle their second, third, and fourth lines for tonight's Game 6 of the Western Conference Finals. The top line, composed of Henrik Zetterberg, Pavel Datsyuk, and Tomas Holmstrom, will remain unchanged.

The main move is the promotion of Jiri Hudler from the fourth line to the second, where he spent much of Game 5. He'll skate on Valtteri Filppula's wing with Dan Cleary.

With 13 points, the diminutive Czech is Detroit's fourth-leading playoff scorer despite averaging just 10:58 in ice time troughout the postseason. He scored the only Detroit goal in Game 5.

Hudler has long produced consistently at a rate out of proportion to his ice time, but has had trouble gaining a second line spot on a deep Detroit squad. He has a bit of a reputation of having a poor work ethic and is considered to be among the weakest Detroit forwards in his own end. The first charge is largely unfounded, as Hudler generally shows a lot of hustle. There's something to the second charge, but he has made enormous strides since hitting the NHL. Apparently, not enough, as his continued relegation to fourth line purgatory indicates.

As a consolation, head coach Mike Babcock lets him out of the doghouse long enough to quarterback the second power play unit. He has matched Zetterberg's power play production this post-season.