“Jiri Fischer, who works in Red Wings player development, said last year of Ehn: ‘He’s not afraid to try to beat guys one-on-one. He was certainly very good at the U18 World Championships. That’s one of the reasons he caught our scout’s eye. On the faceoffs and in battles, once he gets stronger, he’ll be fantastic.'”

“Wings coach Jeff Blashill said he expects Ehn to be in the lineup Thursday night when the Wings host the Columbus Blue Jackets.

“That one probably surprised me a little bit,” Blashill said. “I said to (general manager) Ken Holland last week I want to make sure we have four lines that I can play and trust and we can put any line out there against anybody at any time and I want to make sure we have a momentum line and a line … I talked to Kris Draper lots about his old line and Scotty (Bowman) used them in a lot of different ways, sometimes it was against the other team’s best, sometimes it was to create momentum off the opening face-off, all that kind of stuff.

“With Ehner, over the course of six or seven exhibition games he’s really shown he knows how to play the right way, knows how to manage his game. He went up against some of the best players in the world and one-on-one handled (Pittsburgh’s Evgeni) Malkin pretty good. I think he’s a real good player who skates well. Again, it’s an everyday league and we’ll see, but so far he’s made a real good impression. I think he’s got some offensive ability, he showed that on the seam pass he made yesterday to Turgeon. I’m excited about where he’s at.”