At the Rink: Rangers at Red Wings

Wednesday, 03.04.2015 / 2:10 PM | Paul Harris  - NHL.com Correspondent

DETROIT -- The Detroit Red Wings will have forward Henrik Zetterberg back and two trade acquisitions making their debuts Wednesday against the New York Rangers (8 p.m. ET, NBCSN, SN1).

Forward Erik Cole, who came from the Dallas Stars for two prospects and a draft choice, and defenseman Marek Zidlicky, from the New Jersey Devils for a conditional draft choice, are excited to play their first game for the Red Wings (35-15-11).

"It's an exciting moment for me to play for this organization," Cole said after the morning skate. "It's just a great opportunity."

He skated on a line with Zetterberg, who returns after a four-game injury absence, and Justin Abdelkader.

"It takes a little bit of time to develop some familiarity with your linemates and guys on the power play," Cole said. "You get a general sense of what we're trying to do with the system here. It's just picking up on guys' movements, if he's disguising a pass or he's going to shoot, his tendencies on the ice, where he is -- things like that. It's all just communication, talking to your teammates on the ice. As it goes on it gets better and better."

Zidlicky, the right-handed shooting defenseman Detroit has been seeking for so long, was paired with Brendan Smith.

Cole and Zidlicky are on different power-play units.

Red Wings coach Mike Babcock spoke to the new players when they got to Joe Louis Arena before practice Tuesday.

"We acquired you to be yourself, so be yourself, do what you do and don't spend a whole lot of time thinking out there," Babcock said. "Don't defer to anybody else. When you get the puck shoot it, and over time you'll find a way to understand exactly what we're doing and how you're best going to fit in, but in the meantime just play."

It is Detroit's first game at Joe Louis Arena since Feb. 16. The Red Wings went 4-1-1 on a six-game road trip against Western Conference teams.

The Rangers (39-17-6) only had a couple of players skate Wednesday morning and there was no media availability.

New York is 8-1-1 in its last 10 games and beat the Nashville Predators 4-1 on Monday.

Defenseman Keith Yandle will be playing his second game with the Rangers since coming from the Arizona Coyotes on Sunday via a trade.

Here are the projected lineups:

RANGERS

Rick Nash - Derick Brassard - Mats Zuccarello

Chris Kreider - Derek Stepan - Martin St. Louis

Carl Hagelin - Kevin Hayes - J.T. Miller

James Sheppard - Dominic Moore - Jesper Fast

Ryan McDonagh - Dan Girardi

Marc Staal - Dan Boyle

Keith Yandle - Kevin Klein

Cam Talbot

Mackenzie Skapski

Scratched: Matt Hunwick, Tanner Glass

Injured: Henrik Lundqvist (throat)

RED WINGS

Tomas Jurco - Pavel Datsyuk - Tomas Tatar

Justin Abdelkader - Henrik Zetterberg - Erik Cole

Stephen Weiss - Riley Sheahan - Gustav Nyquist

Drew Miller - Joakim Andersson - Luke Glendening

Niklas Kronwall - Jonathan Ericsson

Danny DeKeyser - Kyle Quincey

Brendan Smith - Marek Zidlicky

Jimmy Howard

Jonas Gustavsson

Scratched: Daniel Cleary, Jakub Kindl

Injured: Johan Franzen (head), Darren Helm (oblique), Alexey Marchenko (oblique)

Status report: Zetterberg, who had been out since being hit in the head by Jamie Benn of the Dallas Stars on Feb. 21, was cleared to play Wednesday afternoon, general manager Ken Holland said. … Sheppard makes his Rangers debut after being acquired from the San Jose Sharks.

Who's hot: Stepan has nine points (two goals and seven assists) in his past nine games. … Datsyuk has three goals and an assist in his last four games.

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