And unless you've crawled out from under a rock (get out of my rock!), you know I'm the Red Wings blogger here, so:

• Mantha told Fox 17's Steve Amorose and the Hockey Writers' Tom Mitsos that he's been skating on his own for about a week and is aiming for a mid-to-late November return, so he's not even going to have his "skates under him" until late December;
• And Ken Holland remains adamant that Alfredsson avail himself of all the time he needs to determine whether he wants to continue playing before holding any sort of retirement press conference, but it's hard to imagine Alfredsson finding a remedy to his referred back-to-leg nerve pain without a surgical option he seems unwilling to pursue at 42 years of age.