Eaves In, Abdelkader Out, Howard Starts

By Adam W Parks

Patrick Eaves, an under the radar free agent signing for Detroit, was brought in from Carolina to bolster the third and forth lines. However, even with the Johan Franzen injury and Pavel Datsyuk missing two games, Eaves has not been able to stay on the active roster.

A former Hobie Baker finalist from Boston College and 2003 first round draft pick of the Ottawa Senators, Eaves showed promise in his first two seasons in the NHL but took a step back with the Hurricanes. In three games with the Wings he has yet to produce a point and will have play better to become a regular on the roster ahead of Justin Abdelkader, who is a scratch for tonight's game in Colorado.

After six straight starts, Jimmy Howard will give Chris Osgood a rest. In what was supposed to be a time-share similar to Osgood/Conklin last year, Howard will get just his second start of the season tonight against the Avalanche. His only other start came against the Blues in Sweden where he was torched for five goals on 32 shots.

Howard was selected in the second round by Detroit from the University of Maine in the same draft class as Eaves. He was the third goaltender taken behind number one overall pick Marc-Andre Fleury (Pittsburgh) and second-rounder Corey Crawford (Chicago). Prior to this season Howard had only played in nine games for the Wings and has earned just one victory which came in his rookie campaign. He has been steady at best as the regular starter for the Grand Rapids Griffins, though he has yet to maximize his potential. The Wings need Howard to prove that he is a legitimate NHL puck stopper, and the 25 year old is running out of time. Opposite him tonight will be Craig Anderson, one of the hottest goalies in the league.

Brad May might play tonight. Then again, Kirk Maltby could get the nod. Mike Babcock will wait until after the pre-game skate to make his decision, but expect Malts to be on the fourth line with Darren Helm and Eaves. Why not May? Tough guy Cody McLeod, the guy who picked a fight with May and scored two goals against the Wings last week, was placed on the injured reserved earlier this week.

The lines for tonight's game against Colorado are below:

Datsyuk-Zetterberg-Holmstrom
Leino-Filppula-Williams
Cleary-Draper-Bertuzzi
Eaves-Helm (May or Maltby)

Lidstrom-Kronwall
Stuart-Rafalski
Ericsson-Lebda
Meech scrathed

Howard

Peace.