d people are disappointed.The Red Wings also must get production from 24-and-younger players such as Andreas Athanasiou,

DETROIT -- Pavel Datsyuk is not skating with the Detroit Red Wings at the start of a season for the first time since 2000.With newcomers such as Frans Nielsen, the Red Wings hope they finish well enough to earn a 26th consecutive postseason appearance.We do not have a Pavel Datsyuk or Henrik Zetterberg in his prime, general manager Ken Holland said Monday. Were going to have to generate offense by committee, rolling four lines and getting something out of each one.The Red Wings are paying Nielsen $31.5 million over six years to play a key part in their plans to recover from the loss of Datsyuk, who left the NHL to return to Russia to continue his career near his family. Datsyuk had $7.5 million and one year left on his contract, but the Red Wings got salary-cap relief by technically trading him to Arizona last summer even though the dazzling center wont play for the Coyotes.Nielsen, a 32-year-old center from Denmark, had 119 goals and 349 points with the New York Islanders since making his debut with them during the 2006-07 season.We added the best center we could last summer, Holland said. Hes a good, two-way player, who historically has been able to chip in about 50 points a season.Nielsen prides himself on being able to help on defense as much as offense, saying he has patterned his game after Zetterberg.I always looked up to a guy like Zetterberg, Nielsen said while playing for Team Europe in the World Cup of Hockey. But I never had a guy like that on my team.Here are some other things to watch for from the Red Wings, who begin the regular season Oct. 13 at Tampa Bay:COMEBACK CHANCEThe Red Wings signed winger Thomas Vanek to a one-year, $2.6 million deal in free agency shortly after the Minnesota Wild bought out the last year of his three-year, $19.5 million deal. Vanek had a career-low 18 goals last season, his second in Minnesota, after scoring 40-plus goals twice and 30-plus goals in two other seasons.It sounds like the 32-year-old Vanek is very fired up to prove he can still score.Im going to get a chance to go to the front of the net more than I did the past two years, Vanek said.YOUTH MOVEMENTDetroit got a much-needed and relatively unexpected boost last season when rookie Dylan Larkin had 23 goals and 22 assists. The franchise needs the 20-year-old to avoid a sophomore slump.Last year, he came in with very little expectations and he had 45 points and everybody said he had a great year, coach Jeff Blashill said. Now the expectations go through the roof and all of a sudden he might have a real similar year and people are disappointed.The Red Wings also must get production from 24-and-younger players such as Andreas Athanasiou, Anthony Mantha, Riley Sheahan, Alexey Marchenko and Tomas Jurco.INJURY WATCHZetterberg and a fellow Swede, defenseman Niklas Kronwall, chose not to play for their country in the World Cup of Hockey because theyre recovering from knee injuries. Both were skating early in the preseason, hoping to slowly but surely get healthy enough to play.Wed love to have them both ready for Game 1, but it is an 82-game marathon, Holland said. Henrik hurt his knee warming up for the World Cup. For Niklas, he has degenerative problem that hes trying to manage.Jurco is recovering from back surgery and likely will stay out of the lineup until November.BETWEEN THE PIPESPetr Mrazek goes into the season as the No. 1 goaltender after beating out Jimmy Howard for the job.He was one of the leagues top goaltenders until February last year when the wheels came off, Holland said. Were hoping that experience is beneficial for him.COACHING CHANGESBlashill, entering his second season, has a revamped staff. John Torchetti, former interim coach of the Wild, and Doug Houda were hired as assistant coaches. Goaltender coach Jeff Salajko was added to replace Jim Bedard, who had worked for the franchise for 18 seasons.---Follow Larry Lage at www.twitter.com/larrylage and follow his work at www.bigstory.ap.org/content/larry-lage Ronnie Lott Womens Jersey . -- Most satisfying to Russ Smith about No. Steve Young Womens Jersey . Catch all the action on TSN2 at 11pm et/8pm pt. 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SPRINGFIELD, Mo. -- Suspended Missouri State quarterback Breck Ruddick is defending himself against animal abuse allegations.His attorney, Adam Woody, released a statement Monday that said it is nothing short of shameful to see the public react to him so viciously. The statement says Ruddick has received death threats after an unidentified woman alleged in a Facebook post that Ruddick beat her friends dog. The statement also says the Facebook post contains numerous inaccuracies.Ruddick wwas suspended Friday, and Missouri State told the Springfield News-Leader the next day that the suspension was tied to abuse allegations.dddddddddddd Without Ruddick, Missouri State fell to Kansas State 35-0 in a game that was called off at halftime because of dangerous weather in the area.No charges have been filed against Ruddick in Missouris Greene County. ' ' '