Detroit Red Wings On the Mend, Second Half Starts with Familiar Faces Returning

The NHL All-Star Game has come and gone, and Nick Lidstrom showed us once again that he is brilliant by picking the correct players to play for him and get a win.

Lidstrom scored his first NHL hat trick earlier this year, and the win over the weekend has solidified him as an NHL best, winning the first all-star game that dealt with a player draft.

The resume just keeps getting thicker.

But now that the fun and games is over with, back to the task at hand.

The Detroit Red Wings open the second part of their NHL schedule in a far too familiar place, on the road.

After playing seven of the 11 January games on the road, Detroit gets ready to play eight of their next 14 games away from the Joe Louis Arena.

That's not too bad, but the bigger news is that they will be ready to welcome back three players they have missed dearly back.

After being injured January 14 in an overtime loss to the Columbus Blue jackets, 3-2, Tomas Holmstrom should be back some time this week, most likely Friday, against those same Blue Jackets. 

Detroit only played five games so far in Holmers absence and have a 3-2 record with him out of the lineup.

The news only gets better.

Dan Cleary, after breaking his ankle after taking a Brad Stuart shot off of his ankle against the Minnesota Wild on December 26, should be back against the Ottawa Senators when Detroit opens up their second half up.

Without Cleary in the lineup, Detroit was 8-3-2 in the 13 games with out their second leading goal scorer.

And the icing on the cake, for lack of a better term.

Pavel Datsyuk will be back in the lineup after sitting out the last 15 games with a broken hand sustained against the Vancouver Canucks on December 22. Detroit went on to win that game in overtime 5-4.

Detroit was 9-4-2 without their best player.

This should only make Detroit better with their injured coming back.

Still on the mend for the Red Wings are center Mike Modano, defenseman Brad Stuart and goalie Chris Osgood.

All should be due back mid- to late-March.

The march to the playoffs start Wednesday for the Detroit Red Wings and if they go on the run that they did last year after the Olympic break, it should be an exciting new couple months in Hockeytown leading up to the playoffs.

Games To Look Forward To

After Detroit finishes in Ottawa, they come back home to battle division rival Columbus Blue Jackets on Friday, February 4. Division rivalry doesn't stop there as they will than head out on the road to battle second place Nashville Predators who the Wings are currently six points ahead of. If there was an important back-to-back as of yet for Detroit, this is definitely one of them.

Detroit battles the Boston Bruins in a home-and-home on February 9 in Boston than February 11 in Detroit. 

On February 17, Detroit heads out to Tampa Bay to battle the Lightning, their first game against Steve Yzerman.

At the end of February (26) to Saturday, March 5, Detroit heads out for a five-game road trip, with the highlights being out west against the LA Kings (28), Anaheim Ducks (March 2), then San Jose (March 3) and then ending on Saturday, March 5 against phoenix.

Detroit than has eight more games against division rivals (three against Chicago, two against Nashville, two against St. Louis and one against Columbus).

Trade Deadline: February 28

Detroit is still in need of a backup as they don't want to tire out Jimmy Howard for the playoffs. The trade deadline falls on the last day of the month, so who will they go after?

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