from Helene St. James of the Detroit Free Press,

The season is bound to be fraught with complications — already Darren Helm has been sidelined because of league-mandated COVID protocols, and the Dallas Stars, now in the Wings’ division, have had to delay their season because of positive tests — but against all the problems imposed by the pandemic, the start of the season is like a sunrise after a stormy night.

“The beginning of the year is always time for optimism,” Blashill said. “This is different in the sense that appreciation would be a work I would use, appreciation that we get a chance again to go out and compete at the very highest level of our profession. We were shut down for a long time. We didn’t know if we’d get back going and we didn’t know when. You grow to appreciate what we get a chance to do. That appreciation is strengthened when it gets taken away from you.”

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