By the time that the Detroit Red Wings host the New York Rangers on Friday (6:30 PM start on TNT/97.1 FM), the New York Rangers will have played 2 games (at Boston tonight, and vs. Tampa Bay on Thursday night), and will be playing in their 3rd game in 4 nights.

In theory, that gives the rested Red Wings an advantage, but MLive’s Ansar Khan reports that coach Todd McLellan isn’t thrilled with the concept, even though it gives the team both time to negotiate a contract with Simon Edvinsson and it gives Dylan Larkin more healing time from his upper-body injury:

“We don’t live in a perfect world because if we did, we’d like to start right with everybody else,” coach Todd McLellan said. “I think when you’re opening up at home, there’s always that unpredictability that goes into it, regardless of any types of circumstances. And the quicker you can get one under your belt, the better off you are.

“You understand the pace and the intensity of the regular season. After playing a few games, the Rangers will have that. But we also have practice time, and if we use it properly, maybe we can polish up some things that otherwise wouldn’t get addressed.”

Continued; the Red Wings play 14 times over the course of 31 October nights, so the schedule gets plenty busy in the middle of the month.