Notes: Prospects waging a 'fierce battle' for spot on Wings' blue line

DETROIT -- There are two preseason games remaining for the Detroit Red Wings to evaluate their young players.
Then they will have some final roster decisions to make before Tuesday's 5 p.m. deadline.

"Anytime you're evaluating players you'd like as many games as possible and as much information as possible before making final decisions," Wings coach Jeff Blashill said. "So we're going to use the next two games to a large degree to continue to evaluate. I would put tomorrow night's game at a bigger scale. We'll have a better idea probably after tomorrow. Certainly, I have ideas in my head of where I think guys are and who has won jobs but I also know things change.
"The one thing about player evaluation is sometimes guys play great and you get excited and then the next night they don't play as good and you're not as excited. That's why you got to be even-keeled, watch the whole thing and then make a decision when you have to make a decision. We really don't have to do that until next week."
The top four candidates on defense, Dennis Cholowski, Joe Hicketts, Libor Sulak and Filip Hronek, all played in Wednesday's 3-2 overtime win in Boston and Blashill said all four will play Friday in Toronto.
Blashill said Friday night's matchup against the Leafs will feature a more NHL-heavy lineup for both teams.
Cholowski, who scored a power-play goal against the Bruins, leads the group of young defensemen in points with four.
"He looks special out there, there's no doubt about that," veteran defenseman Niklas Kronwall said. "He looks poised, lots of confidence, and makes good decisions. He's played extremely well.
"It's very rare to see a guy come up and play the way he has, straight from juniors pretty much. Very rare. Just hope it continues. He's played great. Happy for him and happy for the team because he can make the team better."
Hicketts, who played in five games with the Wings last year, is the smallest but perhaps the most fearless in his approach.
"(Brad) Marchand was mad at him, (David) Backes was mad him, because he competes so hard," Blashill said. "Guys don't like when it's hard on them. He competes so so hard. He's got great heart, he's got great guts.
"Hicketts expects to win every little battle, expects to win the hockey game every night. It's just who he is. He did that for Team Canada, he did it in GR and we'll see if he gets a chance to do it here."
Hicketts has one assist in five preseason games.
"As a small guy I've got to be willing to not only jump up and try and take a risk, but I have to try and poke at a puck once in a while," Hicketts said Tuesday. "I'm not going to win every physical battle, I know that, but if I can really bear down on those chances and make those plays, hopefully make a good season from here."
Sulak has two assists in five games and Hronek has one assist in four games.
"I think he's getting better and better," Blashill said of Hronek. "I thought last night was his best game. I thought the game before that was his best game. He's just continues to get better. He has said that he's a little bit of a slow starter at times. He's very hard on himself. If it didn't go good early he can be overly hard on himself, so it's something he's got to work through. But he's a really good hockey player, real smart, competes hard. Probably the more competitive and more real the game is the better he is. I think he's taken steps."
Blashill and his coaching staff appreciate how competitive the entire group has been.
"I think it's a fierce battle among those young D and the guys that doesn't get mentioned is Vili Saarijarvi because he didn't have an unreal year last year but he's been great every single time we've played him," Blashill said. "That's five young D that are competing with our veteran group. I think it's a good, fierce battle."
SAARIJARVI BIGGER AND BETTER: Saarijarvi may not be in the mix for Detroit's blue line right now, but as Blashill indicated, he may not be that far off.
"I think on the ice I feel way more comfortable," Saarijarvi said Monday. "The other thing is probably that the game has slowed down for me in my head. So I can control it more and I'm more comfortable to make plays and stuff like that. I think those are the two biggest things. Then I improved my speed this summer so that's been another good thing that's been helping me."
Saarijarvi went through a significant adjustment period to pro hockey last season, especially at the beginning when the AHL's Grand Rapids Griffins had a logjam on defense.
"I had a little rough start," Saarijarvi said. "I was able to go down to Toledo and have big minutes there and kind of get used to playing against pro guys. That was huge for me. I got my confidence up and when I went back to GR, I felt really good. I'm very thankful for the coaches helping me down in Toledo and then GR, of course my teammates. I think it was a little bit, a lot of learning for me last year. It's just going to be helpful for me in the big run."
After returning home to Finland for a while, Saarijarvi spent the last two months of the summer in metro Detroit training with some of the Wings.
"I'm feeling really good," Saarijarvi said. "I've been training well and playing well so I'm comfortable where I'm at. I know there's big competition and I'm trying to do everything to prove that I can play. It's been good so far and just looking forward to this last week of preseason and then we'll see what happens there."
INJURY UPDATE: Defensemen Danny DeKeyser (upper body) and Jonathan Ericsson (upper body) both practiced Thursday afternoon but Trevor Daley (lower body) remained off the ice.
"The first 5-6 days, I didn't really see much progress," Ericsson said. "I've been able to skate pretty hard but it's contact I'm missing right now. I'm not there yet. We'll see. Right now I'm not sure. Hopefully it's going to ramp up. I felt a little bit better the last couple of days here. I've seen some progress so hopefully it's going to go a little quicker here."
DeKeyser said he believed he would be fine for next Thursday's regular season home opener.
"I don't have an update in terms of when (Daley will) start skating," Blashill said. "I think it's slowly been a little bit better but I don't think he's tested it a whole bunch so he will not play this weekend. I'm hoping he's ready for Thursday, the opener, but I can't guarantee it. It just depends how he continues to react to it."
Although he doesn't know when Mike Green (virus) will begin skating again, he did say Green was feeling better.
Forward Evgeny Svechnikov, who missed Wednesday night's game in Boston with "a tweak," returned to practice Thursday.
"I think he'll be available for the weekend," Blashill said.
Blashill said Svechnikov would not play in both games.
STILL UNDEFEATED: With Wednesday's 3-2 overtime win in Boston, the Wings improved to 6-0 in the preseason.
"I wish they carried forward to the regular season," Blashill said. "We've had good records in the preseason for most of the four years I've been here. I think we got good depth in our organization, so that generally tends to help with that. I think this year we've had some good performances from some of the young D, which is a positive thing, because they've had to play lots of these games due to injuries. I think we've taken steps forward in the things we've made important. I thought we've hounded the puck tons, we've won lots of loose puck battles. We wanted to make a point of the last couple games spreading the O-zone out. So we're taking steps in right direction."
Kronwall knows not to put too much stock in exhibition games.
"It's a lot more fun when you win than when you lose," Kronwall said. "Some guys score goals and that's great for their confidence. All in all, life is easier when you win. But this time of year, it's all about showcasing yourself within the team structure. There's all kinds of elements to the game, whether it's forecheck, back-check, neutral zone, how good are you defensively. But all in all, winning is a lot more fun than losing."
ROSTER MOVES: On Thursday afternoon, the Wings announced roster moves, reducing the group to 41 players.
The team assigned center Axel Holmstrom to the Griffins and goaltender Kaden Fulcher to the ECHL's Toledo Walleye.
The Wings also released forwards Colin Campbell, Carter Camper, Turner Elson, Matthew Ford, Dominik Shine and Trevor Yates and defensemen Marcus Crawford, Trevor Hamilton and Mackenze Stewart from their tryout contracts.
Those nine players will report to the Griffins.