Red Wings: Notebook

Andreas Lilja feels better thanks to May

Chris McCosky / The Detroit News

Detroit -- If Andreas Lilja gets back on the ice sooner than anybody expected this season, he will owe a big debt of gratitude to teammate Brad May.

One of the first things May did when he joined the Red Wings was to refer Lilja to a new-age chiropractor from Vancouver, Don Grant, who has helped several players with similar post-concussion ailments.

"I am starting to feel a lot better," Lilja said Thursday morning. "The guy worked miracles on me. I can't really explain what he did, but I had headaches for eight months and after seeing him once, the headaches disappeared for three days. It was unbelievable."

Lilja, one of the Wings' top five defensemen before suffering a concussion last February, has been practicing with the team every day now since Oct. 28, after he was treated by Grant in Vancouver. He said Grant manipulated some areas of his body over a three-day period and though he's not completely headache-free, he has more good days than bad.

"I am still not putting any clock on (his return), just keep taking it day by day," Lilja said. "I am trying to go full out now and see how the head holds up."

The Red Wings remain cautiously optimistic.

"There is no manual for these things," general manager Ken Holland said. "You just have to wait until Lils says he's ready to go and the doctors say he's ready to go."

But you can tell he's getting closer by how hard he's working in practice, by his almost non-stop smile, and by the way coach Mike Babcock has begun chirping at him again.

"I told him today he's got to stop passing the puck like a coach," Babcock said. "If he's going to be a player, he's got to start playing like a player. But with him, it's kind of like it is with Fil (Valtteri Filppula) and (Johan) Franzen -- if we are waiting for those guys to come back, our season's going to be over. We'll just get on with what we're doing and if we can get a shot in the arm with injured guys coming back, that would be a real positive thing for us."

Lilja, who will have another concussion test done next week, said the next step is to take another hit.

"I have to see how the head takes a big hit," he said. "I don't know who will volunteer for that."

Olympic watch

Babcock, Holland, Steve Yzerman , Kevin Lowe and Doug Armstrong -- pretty much the selection committee for Team Canada -- met Wednesday night for the first time since the Canadian Olympic camp to evaluate the roster and streamline the scouting.

"We talked about the 46 players we invited to camp and the guys who are the flavor of the week -- the guys playing well right now -- and, I don't know if we crossed people off the list, but we prioritized a group that we are going to continue to watch."

Babcock, the coach of Team Canada, reiterated what he has said all along -- it would be hard but not impossible for somebody not on the original tryout roster to make the team.

"I don't know if there's anybody that has a legitimate shot that wasn't among the original group," he said. "It's great to say a guy is playing good, but then ask yourself, whose job is he taking?"

Ice chips

Jonathan Ericsson and Brian Rafalski have shaken the flu bug. Both played.

... Stuart turns 30 today.

chris.mccosky@detnews.com (313) 222-1489