Red Wings: Notebook

Irked coach has 'slow' Wings pick up pace

Dana Wakiji / The Detroit News

Detroit -- These are strange times indeed for the Red Wings and their fans.

When you look at the standings, Detroit is tied for third in the Central Division with St. Louis and Nashville, both of which have played one less game.

"Right now when you look at the standings, we don't like it," coach Mike Babcock said. "You've got to turn them upside down to like it."

After a lackluster 6-2 loss in Buffalo on Tuesday night, Babcock put the team through a short but intense practice Wednesday.

"I thought we were slow (Tuesday) night," Babcock said. "You're slow because you hesitate; you're slow because you don't know the system maybe and you're thinking; you're slow because you're not skating hard enough. So we basically did a system review and we had them skate very hard."

In the Wings' three losses, there are things Babcock singled out as being problems.

"Our careless play with the puck is hurting us, our faceoff circle is hurting us and then our tempo of our game," Babcock said. "We're not playing near good enough."

Captain Nicklas Lidstrom agreed with Babcock's assessment.

"We haven't played well defensively," Lidstrom said. "We haven't played that well in our own zone. That's something we worked on today a lot in practice and we know we have to correct."

Banged up

Pavel Datsyuk and Niklas Kronwall did not practice Wednesday.

General manager Ken Holland said of Datsyuk, "He had an MRI that shows nothing significant. He's a little banged up --- upper-body injury -- he's day-to-day. They'll make a decision at (today's) pregame skate (whether Datsyuk can play)."

Holland said Kronwall didn't need tests, he was just a little banged up and needed a "maintenance day."

Babcock said Kris Draper , Kirk Maltby and Brett Lebda would return to the lineup tonight against the Los Angeles Kings and other changes would depend on Datsyuk's status before the game.

Kronwall said he planned on playing.

"It's just more precautionary than anything else," Kronwall said. "One of the guys on the other team fell over my leg. I don't see what could hold me out of the lineup."

Franzen feeling fine

Johan Franzen was in the locker room with his teammates Wednesday, less than a week after injuring himself against the Blackhawks.

"It is what it is, there's nothing you can do about it," he said. "All my focus right now is to get back as soon as I can. But I don't want to rush anything. I know it takes time. You've got to take your time to get the knees working again."

Franzen described what happened when he got hurt.

"It was on the first power play in the first period in the left corner. I tried to sneak by (Brent ) Seabrook , I think, but I lost my balance somehow and I got my weight on his weight. The knee didn't hold," he said. "I couldn't get up. It took me a few seconds to get ready to get up again. Then when I got back to the bench, it felt better so I continued. In the intermission, the doctor checked it and it felt pretty stable so I put a brace on and kept going. But the more the game went on, the more it hurt."

Franzen said he was having surgery to repair the ACL on Friday in Birmingham, Ala., and hoped to return around the Olympics break in February. He said he hadn't thought about missing the Olympics with Team Sweden.

"I'm more disappointed about not being able to play with the Red Wings," Franzen said. "If the Olympics start and I'm not in, it would be a bummer but I'm shooting for that, try to get back as soon as possible."