Red Wings' Octopus Back On Top

It's a sign the Red Wings have made it to the playoffs.

Al the octopus is back on the roof of Joe Louis Arena.

It took crews more than a half hour to assemble the massive purple octopus Thursday morning as they put individual pieces onto a lift and onto the roof.

Mike Stapleton is the owner of Prop Arts Studio in Detroit, which created Al back in 1995.

"It has a steel armiture because it all sleeves together," Stapleton said. "The legs have little trusses in them. It's all styrofoam, and then it's wrapped in an acrylic and a cheesecloth and it's rendered and painted. The cheesecloth gives it a texture that when we paint it, it's like a painting, it's almost a canvas.

Al is 28 feet across and another 28 feet wide. He stands 20 feet tall and weighs 800 pounds.