from Dana Wakiji of DetroitRedWings.com,

Blashill cautioned that the lines that are together in camp might not be the ones that play in exhibition games.

"I wouldn't read too much into the lines to start," Blashill said. "When you divide guys up into three teams, it's a little bit difficult to put guys on lines you might foresee. I also tried to put them in spots where it's just going to be real competitive. Those three young guys together get a chance to show what they can do on their own rather than maybe just benefiting from playing with somebody who's been in the league a long time. It think it's a great opportunity for those guys. But just across the board I wouldn't read too much into the lines."

Whether it is Rasmussen, Zadina, Evgeny Svechnikov or young defensemen like Joe Hicketts, Filip Hronek, Libor Sulak or Dennis Cholowski, the Wings will have a much younger team than in previous seasons.

There could be three or four players younger than 22-year-old Larkin, who has been the youngest since he joined the Wings at age 19.

"I think after two years after not being good enough, it's as wide open a camp as we've had here in a long, long time," Blashill said. "I think it has to be, based on the results we've had. I hope that a bunch of guys we've had on our team got better this summer and they come back way better. As a group then we'll be a better team. Then I hope a bunch if young guys are in position to really challenge and try to take other guys' jobs. They can't be given jobs. If they're given jobs then it means they're not necessarily better. When they earn jobs by taking them, it means they're better than the guys' jobs they're taking. So I think it'll be ultra-competitive in the sense that we're as open as we ever have been to the jobs being to given to whoever earns them."

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