Ville Leino, Patrick Eaves get a chance

Detroit

If the Red Wings are going to climb back to the top of the Central Division, it might be up to players such as Ville Leino and Patrick Eaves.

Now that Jason Williams (broken right fibula) has joined Johan Franzen (torn left ACL) and Valtteri Filppula (broken right wrist) on long-term injured reserve, players who were looked to for smaller contributions will have to make big ones.

Of course, the bulk of the scoring burden will fall on Henrik Zetterberg, Pavel Datsyuk and Tomas Holmstrom, and to a lesser extent on Todd Bertuzzi and Danny Cleary, but it's players such as Leino and Eaves who could make the difference.

Leino flashed his potential with five goals and four assists in 13 games with the Wings last season. In 57 games with Grand Rapids, he had 15 goals and 31 assists.

In practice Monday, Leino skated on a line with Zetterberg and Cleary.

"He's a guy that needs to play a little bit more to get confidence, to get success," Zetterberg said of Leino. "It's tough. Myself the first year, you didn't get the ice time you wanted to have, you want to play more, you want to get a little bit more chance to play offense. He's been going good defensively -- that role that's been given to him, he's been handling that good -- but now he will get a chance to play a little bit more offense and get a little bit more ice time."

Leino is going to have to adjust to new linemates again, and admitted he needs a spark right now.

"My confidence has been a little bit lost," he said. "Obviously you can build on it a little bit. You always need something to get going and hopefully this is it."

Coach Mike Babcock hopes it is, too.

"We think Ville's a real intelligent hockey player," Babcock said. "He's played real well for us in the past. I think he's at a point his confidence isn't as good as it has been. So he's got to do his part and we're going to try to help him out. Obviously if you end up playing with Z and Clears, those are good players."

As for Eaves, he was back on the ice at practice after missing Saturday's game because of a bruised left foot. Eaves, 25, scored 20 goals as a rookie with Ottawa in 2005-06, and the Wings could certainly use that from him now.

"It's unfortunate that some of the boys have gotten some injuries," Eaves said. "But we have such a long season, that kind of thing happens.

"I'm just trying to make the best of the opportunity to get a regular shift. I'm playing with Drapes (Kris Draper) and Helmer (Darren Helm) and we've been having a lot of fun and we have chemistry together."

Ice chips

Captain Nicklas Lidstrom , Babcock and former Wing Chris Chelios were scheduled to fly to Toronto Monday afternoon to attend the Hockey Hall of Fame induction ceremonies for Wings vice president Steve Yzerman and former Wings Luc Robitaille and Brett Hull .

... Defenseman Brett Lebda did not practice Monday because of illness.

"He came in today and he had a fever so obviously real precautious, try and look after that," Babcock said.

Fellow defensemen Jonathan Ericsson , Brian Rafalski and Niklas Kronwall all missed either games or practices last week because of the flu.

Currently injured Red Wings

Johan Franzen , torn left ACL (Oct. 8), out 4-6 months

Valtteri Filppula , broken right wrist (Oct. 29), out 6-8 weeks

Jason Williams , broken right fibula (Nov. 7), out 8 weeks

Andreas Lilja , severe concussion (Feb. 28), out indefinitely

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