The biggest of which is the addition of a proven AHL starting goaltender in Joey MacDonald. If that name sounds familiar, it's because he was in the organization from 2001-02 to the beginning of 2006-07. He was frequently one part of a two-headed split in net, but served his best season as the team's starter, winning 34 games and posting a .926 save percentage.

In 2006-07, Detroit was out of waiver options for him, so they kept him on board as the 3rd string goalie and he played extremely sparingly before Boston claimed him off waivers late in the season. He didn't last long there before the NY Islanders picked him up in the offseason. He spent his first season there in the AHL, but actually emerged as their starting goaltender in 2008-09, before eventually being overtaken by Yann Danis. His numbers were decent for being on the island, and of course he shut out the Red Wings, but he wasn't able to parlay that into a permanent NHL job. He signed with Toronto last offseason and spent all but six games in the AHL, before being traded to Anaheim at the deadline -- though he stayed with Toronto's AHL affiliate because Anaheim did not have one of their own.

And now, with Daniel Larsson in Sweden for the year (hopefully just the year), a void opens up. Thomas McCollum showed flashes of being an elite goaltender but his numbers didn't back that up. Jordan Pearce's inconsistent professional debut means Detroit needed a goaltender for Grand Rapids, to not only help the team win, but to be reliable enough to come up to the NHL in a pinch. Joey is definitely that guy. Holland made it clear a few days ago that he wasn't looking for a starter -- McCollum will be leaned on if he can take it, and I'm sure Pearce will get a look too, so adding a former AHL all-star and, technically, an NHL starting goaltender as a backup isn't a bad deal. No word on the terms yet, but all three of these are probably one-year deals -- though if the organization has doubts about Larsson returning, MacDonald's deal could be two years in case they need a backup should this be Chris Osgood's last season. However, free agency next summer is a more likely route.

The other two signings are to shore up scoring. Detroit typically looks to high skill AHL players to fill out their top lines as most of their prospects aren't proven at the AHL level yet. They've gone through Darren Haydar and Jeremy Williams this past season as these players typically lead the team in scoring but never make an NHL splash. This year they've picked up Chris Minard (22 goals in 40 games last season, sadly good enough for 3rd on Springfield, Edmonton's affiliate last season) as well as Jamie Johnson, who led Florida's affiliate in Rochester with 71 points in 80 games.

Both are natural centers and products of the OHL. Minard, now 29, put up impressive numbers in the CHL and ECHL before finding regular work in the AHL in Pittsburgh's system. He played 35 games over two NHL seasons while scoring right at a steady goal-every-two-games pace. He spent last season in Edmonton's system, appearing in five NHL games. If he stays healthy all year, he could be a 40 goal scorer -- which will help playmakers like Tomas Tatar and Jan Mursak. Johnson is 28, a former 100 point scorer in the OHL who spent a few seasons in the ECHL before finding AHL residence with Iowa (DAL) and Bridgeport (NYI). He spent a year in Finland before coming back to post his career high 71 points this past season. Both players have clear high offensive talent, but will likely see no time in Detroit.

And with that, Grand Rapids roster is pretty much full. The only question left is whether or not Sergei Kolosov will come back to fill out the blueline, or if Detroit might look to a veteran to help the above average amount of rookie blueliners out.

Here's a rough mock up of the lines, with AHL experience in parentheses. Asterisks mean the player could be sent back to juniors, and it seems like one of the forwards will probably be sent back or possibly start off in the ECHL. My money is on Coetzee being sent back, as he only found his game last season.

Chris Minard (5) | Jamie Johnson (4) | Jan Mursak (2)
Mattias Ritola (3) | Ilari Filppula (0) | Tomas Tatar (1)
Jordan Owens (3) | Cory Emmerton (2) | Joakim Andersson (0)
Francis Pare (2) | Brent Raedeke (0*) | Jamie Tardif (4)
Willie Coetzee (0*)

Doug Janik (7) | Brendan Smith (0)
Logan Pyett (2) | Sergei Kolosov (2)
Brian Lashoff (0*) | Travis Ehrhardt (0.5)
Sebastien Piche (0) | Greg Amadio (6) [Griffins-contract]

Thomas McCollum (1) / Joey MacDonald (6)