Update (4:17 PM): Looks like Kronwall won’t be in the lineup tonight, though Babs continues to tease us (via the Freep):

“I think he’ll play the next game,” Wings coach Mike Babcock said after the morning skate at United Center in Chicago. “They’re just giving him one more day.”

Let’s hope that’s true cause I’d really like to see him back in the lineup and I don’t think I can handle hearing any more about how he’s so very close to being able to play… -Sarah

Tonight is the second of eight games between these two teams this season. The Wings won the first meeting 2-1 on November 2nd, off goals from Robert Lang and Henrik Zetterberg.

The Hawks have gone 8-3-5 since they lost to the Wings and have earned at least a point in every game back to their 2-1 win over the Stars on November 29th. This run of success started when they switched coaches from Trent Yawney to Denis Savard on the 27th. They have won their last two, including a 3-2 win over the Blues in their latest game.

On Sunday, the Hawks signed free agent forward Peter Bondra in a bid to increase their offense. They already have a great goalscorer in Martin Havlat and when Michael Handzus returns, they’ll be a bit of an offensive force to be reckoned with.

The new coach, Savard, was an old teammate of Chris Chelios’ and Cheli had this to say about him in the News today:

“Denis was a gambler as a player, and knowing him, he’s letting the forwards over there take some chances and letting them use their skill. They’re winning games and playing good hockey.”

Honestly, that’s good to hear. I’m no fan of the Hawks, but they’ve been too bad for too long, and I’m willing to accept a change in fortunes for them.

The Wings had a three-game winning streak snapped on Tuesday with an underwhelming performance at home versus the Ottawa Senators. After a dominating first period, the Wings fell apart and the Sens were able to steal a win.

Tonight’s game kicks off a three-game road trip for the Wings, who will travel to New Jersey (Saturday) and Columbus (Monday) before returning home for another game against the Blue Jackets on the 20th.

Johan Franzen is slated to return to the ice tonight after sitting out nine games with a concussion and knee sprain. It will definitely be good to have him back.

Niklas Kronwall may or may not be back in the lineup tonight, the papers say. I’m guessing not. That means Derek Meech will get another game’s worth of NHL experience.

If Kronwall is healthy, though, Meech may just be sent down because otherwise he’d be a scratch, even with Danny Markov still out. The Wings would have six healthy defensemen and wouldn’t have much reason to keep him in town when he could be playing in Grand Rapids. So, the AHL transaction page could be a good indicator of Kronwall’s condition.

The Wings need to rebound from Tuesday night’s embarrassing loss. The Hawks are hot right now and won’t be pushovers but if the Wings play like they did in the first period of the Sens game, they should be able to overwhelm Chicago. Still, they could just run into another suddenly-hot goalie in Nikolai Khabibulin and fall into the same hole they did against Ottawa.