Helene St. James

Detroit Free Press

Andrej Nestrasil is days from possibly making his debut with the Detroit Red Wings, something no one has a harder time believing than himself.

Nestrasil emerged from an impressive exhibition season as the sole forward prospect remaining in Detroit as rosters across the NHL were whittled to 23 players Tuesday. Nestrasil would have to be exposed on waivers to be sent to Grand Rapids, and after three points in four games, he was deemed worth protecting.

Again, no one expected this less than Nestrasil.

"I was just talking with someone this morning," he said after Tuesday's practice. "If you were to ask me a couple of weeks before camp, I would tell you, 99% they're going to send me down. I thought, tops, I'm going to get two games. The camp was really good. I'm glad I can still be here."

Nestrasil's assets include his size (6-feet-3, 200 pounds) and that he shoots right-handed. He has the speed to catch defensemen flat-footed, and he's a good playmaker.

He has, based on the first two practices this week, beaten out Stephen Weiss and Daniel Cleary for a rotation spot. All were in gray sweaters Monday (a day Pavel Datsyuk practiced with Henrik Zetterberg), and it was Nestrasil who escaped the gray Tuesday. Nestrasil attributes his strong camp to a strong spring.

"I think my confidence level is way higher than it used to be, because my second half of the season last year in Grand Rapids was really good," he said.

Whether Nestrasil, 23, plays Thursday against Boston in the opener hinges on Datsyuk. Datsyuk wore a gray sweater in practice, indicating he'll stay on the short-term injured reserve that keeps him off the roster. He suffered a separated shoulder Sept. 22, and while the original prognosis ran about four weeks, he hasn't been ruled out for Thursday.

Nestrasil practiced with Darren Helm and Gustav Nyquist, and was a part of the second power-play unit, too. Coach Mike Babcock hedged when asked about Nestrasil, as everything depends on what happens with Datsyuk.

Contact Helene St. James: hstjames@freepress.com. Follow her on Twitter @helenestjames.