Helene St. James

Detroit Free Press

Andrej Nestrasil slept like a child, then woke up to the delightful news that he'll be making his NHL debut this evening.

Nestrasil is penned in to play next to Darren Helm and Gustav Nyquist when the Detroit Red Wings open the 2014-15 season by hosting the Boston Bruins at Joe Louis Arena (7:30, FSD).

"I'm really looking forward to it," he said after the morning skate. "The good thing for me is that it's right after the camp. I'm still going to be a little nervous before the game, but I've been here for a month and a half and I'm really familiar with the things we do here. I think I'll be fine."

Nestrasil is in because Pavel Datsyuk is sidelined by a shoulder injury. Datsyuk has skated every day this week, though, and is expected to be back within a week.

The other lines during the morning skate had Henrik Zetterberg with Johan Franzen and Justin Abdelkader, Riley Sheahan with Tomas Tatar and Tomas Jurco and Luke Glendening with Joakim Andersson and Drew Miller. That leaves Stephen Weiss and Daniel Cleary as healthy scratches. Brian Lashoff is the odd man out on the back end.

Picking Nestrasil, 23, over Cleary and Weiss came down to the camp that Nestrasil had. "He played well, and he's earned the right to start here today," coach Mike Babcock said.

The Bruins, who bounced an injury-riddled Detroit team five games into the playoffs last spring, stand as a good early gauge for the Wings because Boston has a big, skilled lineup. The Wings have size of their own at the start of this season -- Nestrasil, Sheahan and Jurco all add size up front to a lineup that includes Franzen and Andersson.

Having started with captain's skates back in early September, then segueing to training camp in Traverse City and back to Detroit for exhibition games, Nestrasil isn't the only Wings player looking forward to tonight.

"Everybody is excited; everybody is going to be a little nervous," Helm said. "It's the start of a new year, and you just have to relax and play hockey and enjoy it."

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