9\30 Luc Robitaille netted two to lead the Wings past Chicago 5-4. Also scoring were Fedorov, 
Fischer, and Roest. The Wings are 5-1 in preseason play with three games to go and seven 
players to trim. Next up: St. Louis at the Joe on Tuesday.
   From the Free Press: "The Wings have decided to open the regular season with seven 
defensemen, general manager Ken Holland said. That means they won't sign a veteran like Steve
 Duchesne or Jiri Slegr, as they had considered doing. With Boyd Devereaux (thumb) and Steve 
Yzerman (knee) out, Sean Avery, Roest and Williams will vie for two forward spots. 
  The Wings are comfortable with Dmitri Bykov, Maxim Kuznetsov and Jesse Wallin as their bottom 
three defensemen, and they think Patrick Boileau can be a capable call-up. But they will watch 
to see if they have to make a move. Their weakness is veteran defensive depth." 

9\28 The Leafs hand the Wings their first exhibition loss 3-1. Scoring was Derek King. 
Next up: at Chicago tomarrow.

9\28 The Wings pummeled the Stars 8-2. Scoring were Hull(3), Zetterberg, Williams(sh), 
Derek King(2), and Fedorov. Next up: at Toronto tonight.
  Steve Yzerman will have a giant mural of him painted on the Cadillac Building in downtown 
Detroit. It replaces the Stanley Cup that's currently pictured. Barry Sanders was there for 
years.

9\25 Pavel Datsyuk shined bright, leading the Wings to a 3-1 win in Columbus. Also scoring were 
Williams and Brown. Cujo got his first Red Wing start. Next up: Dallas at the Joe on Friday.

9\25 The Wings once again looked solid in a 3-2 win against Toronto. Scoring were Zetterberg,
Lidstrom, and Fischer. Manny Legace is working on a 60 minute, two game shutout. Next up: 
at Columbus tonight.
   Former Wings Larry Murphy and Pat Verbeek are trying their hands at broadcasting. Both sat 
in with Ken Daniels last night. The game was not televised.
   Former Wings defenseman Paul Coffey has joined the Coyotes as a special-teams consultant. 

9\24 Boyd Devereaux will miss 4-6 weeks with a broken thumb.  Highly tauted defenseman Dmitri 
Bykov skated for the first time with the team. He arrived Sunday after visa problems delayed 
his arrival from Russia.

9\21 The Wings look impressive in a 3-1 exhibition win in Dallas. Scoring were Avery, Roest(sh), 
and Devereaux. Next up: Toronto at the Joe on Tuesday.

9\17 From the Free Press, " Former coach Scotty Bowman left camp after discussing his new role 
as a consultant with Holland over breakfast. Holland said Bowman would have "no specific job" 
and "no specific schedule." But Bowman will attend NHL games while living in Buffalo, N.Y., 
spending time at his place in Sarasota,Fla., and traveling. Holland asked him to go to Grand 
Rapids two or three times as well. Bowman might do some other scouting, come to Detroit to help 
before the trade deadline and such. "His role's really going to evolve based on how the year's 
going," Holland said. "He's another guy in the organization I'm going to use to bounce ideas 
off of." Bowman has a three-year deal."

9\14 One of my favorites, Mike Vernon, has decided to retire. He compiled a 385-273-92 record 
with Calgary, Detroit, San Jose and Florida. He had 27 career shutouts and a 2.98 GAA. 
  Henrik Zetterberg and Jason Williams stole the show at camp. Williams had a hat trick and 
Zet had like 4 points.

9\13 It seems likely Doug Brown will at least get some exhibition time. Darren McCarty did 
indeed sign the one year $1.95 million qualifying offer. Scrimmages start today.

9\12 38 year old Doug Brown reported to camp and is hoping to regain a spot on the roster. He 
was unsigned last year and refused to go elsewhere because he didn't want to move his family.
During the past year, Doug has been working in sales at Diversified Wire and Cable and filling 
in as a Wings TV analyst for road games. I hope he makes it in some capacity.

9\11 The entire team along with prospects reported to Traverse City today for physicals. They 
will hit the ice Friday.
  CALGARY (AP) _ The Calgary Flames reacquired forward Ladislav Kohn from the Detroit Red Wings 
on Wednesday in exchange for future considerations. Kohn did not score in four games with the 
Stanley Cup champion Red Wings last season. He spent most of the year with Espoo in Finland. 
Kohn has 14 goals and 27 assists in 183 career NHL games with Calgary, Toronto, Anaheim, Atlanta
and Detroit. Kohn was Calgary's ninth choice, 175th overall, in the 1994 draft. 

9\5 Rookies reported to camp today and will be joined by the veterans next Wednesday.

9\4 Darren McCarty has agreed to accept an earlier $1.95 million deal if a long termer can't be 
agreed on by training camp. It looks like the Wings will resign either Duchesne or Slegr.

9\3 Rookies report to camp later this week and veterans will join them late next week. There are 
still a couple guys to sign, such as Darren McCarty. But not Jiri Fischer. He signed a two year 
$2+million deal  today.