Leaf rookies in starting lineup

DETROIT - While he has garnered the most attention, 18-year-old Luke Schenn won't be the only Maple Leaf making his NHL debut here tonight.

In the lineup, along with Schenn, are neophyte forwards John Mitchell and Nikolai Kulemin and rookie defenceman Jonas Frogren. Sitting out as healthy scratches tonight are defenceman Anton Stralman and defenceman/right winger Ian White. Left winger Ryan Hollweg is suspended while defenceman Jeff Finger remains out with a bruised foot.

For Mitchell, tonight has additional meaning since he played his junior hockey about a half-hour north of here in Plymouth, a place where he also met his future wife. The Wings were always the team on TV and he got to a few games live during his junior days.

"I've watched a lot of these players for a lot of years," he said. "But I can't be in awe, otherwise I won't be in the right mindset for a hockey game. It's different being down on the ice then it is being in the stands looking down, everybody looks a little bit bigger."

Mitchell, 23, played three seasons with the Marlies, and after scoring eight goals in the AHL playoffs last spring, the Leafs thought he'd be ready to make the next step. He didn't disappoint with a strong showing at camp.

"I'm trying not to get overly excited," he said of his debut tonight. "If you do that, you get nervous. Then if you're nervous, you're not thinking and your brain's not working. You've got to find that happy medium between staying kind of calm but also being jacked up and excited for the game."

At 28, Frogren is realizing a long-time dream to play in the NHL. He'd wanted to come to North America to play since he was a teenager. He was drafted in 1998, by Calgary 206th overall, but never got a look. He says that changed a couple of seasons back when he made a conscious effort to play a more physical game. That's what attracted the Leafs, and he brought that hard-nosed attitude to the ice at camp. After watching him play very well for Sweden at the world championship in the spring, Toronto signed him as a free agent in July.

"I've been waiting for this, really, all my life. I never gave up," he said. "I played a couple of exhibition games and now it's a real game. I'm super pumped."

Stralman also had a strong world championship for Sweden, so he was obviously frustrated that he couldn't follow that up with a strong camp, a disappointment that pushed him out of the lineup last night.

"I understand the situation. I didn't play good at camp. So I'm not bitching about anything," he said. "You knew right away when you got here, it was going to be a hard competition for jobs on the blueline. I'll keep working to try to get a spot. It might take a week. I might take a month. But I'm ready to work for it."

NOTES: Tomas Kaberle, Jamal Mayers and Pavel Kubina will all wear an "A" tonight as assistant captains. They are part of a pool of five players, including Dominic Moore and Nik Antropov, who will take turns getting the designation on a monthly basis. No captain has been named to replace Mats Sundin... Vesa Toskala will start in net, unlike last season when he watched the season-opener from the bench... The Leafs will be on the ice, not in their dressing room, when the Wings hoist their Stanley Cup banner tonight.