Although NHL action will soon return, the Red Wings are expected to play this season without Tomas Holmstrom. The right wing will reportedly announce his retirement as early as this week. Holmstrom, who was taken by Detroit in the 1994 NHL entry draft, scored 243 goals and played more than 1,000 games in 15 seasons with the Red Wings. Detroit goalie Jimmy Howard says one of the bigger challenges for goaltenders at the start with the shortened season will be seeing the puck…. The NHL has reportedly set tentative start dates for training camp and regular season games.

With a new Collective Bargaining Agreement tentatively reached by the league and the Players' Association this past weekend, CBC reports the NHL sent out a memo Sunday night to teams saying they anticipate training camps will open sometime between Saturday and next Monday. The report also said the league is hoping to be in a position to start a 48-game regular season beginning Saturday, January 19th. All dates are tentative. It's unclear whether any exhibition games will take place before the start of the regular season.