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The news on the injury front is just going from bad to worse for the Detroit Red Wings.
Tuesday, it was revealed that Mike Green, the club’s top-scoring defenseman, was out with a recurrence of the virus that put him on the shelf to start the season.
Thursday, Green’s diagnosis worsened.
“Mike Green, his body hasn’t fought off that virus,” Wings coach Jeff Blashill explained to Detroitredwings.com. “He saw a specialist. The recommendation for him is multiple weeks of rest, which puts him out for the season, so he will not play the rest of the season. He’s out for the season.”
And that was only the bad part of the day. Here’s where it got worse.
Dylan Larkin, the club’s leading scorer, will also miss Thursday’s home game against the New York Rangers.
“Dylan Larkin’s had a lingering back issue that he’s tried to play through for the last number of games,” Blashill said. “He had an MRI done this morning. Right now, we’re holding him out tonight. He will not play tonight.
“Dr. Easton, our back specialist, will look at the film here in the next bit and we’ll know more in the next few days where he’s at.”
While the team is listing Larkin as day to day, the fact of the matter is that they truly don’t know for sure when he’ll return.
“I don’t know,” Blashill admitted. “Not long-term, like years, but I don’t have that answer until the specialist looks at it.”
The Wings will contemplate calling up a forward if Larkin’s issue turns out to be a long-term matter.
Well, At Least Zadina Scored
Filip Zadina drilled home a beauty one-timer for his first NHL goal in Tuesday’s loss at Colorado and every Wings fan got their angel.
“It was nice to see but it’s over with the first goal, now we’re going to play against Rangers and I’ve got to be concentrated and focused for the game and hopefully we will win it,” said Zadina, who has yet to celebrate a victory four games into his NHL career.
Blashill assured the that club will max out the nine NHL games Zadina can play before burning a year of his entry-level deal and then he will be returned to AHL Grand Rapids for the Calder Cup playoffs.
He was faced with a more pressing matter Thursday - how to adjust his lines minus Larkin.
“I thought Zadina played his best game that he has with us (in Colorado) and that was with Andreas (Athanasiou) and Glenny (Luke Glendening) as a line,” Blashill said. “I like that line. I like the (Frans) Nielsen, (Thomas) Vanek and (Darren) Helm line. I thought Helm was excellent last game.
“I’ve got to decide how I want to do that in terms of putting a center up with (Anthony) Mantha and Bert (Tyler Bertuzzi). Now, Mantha, Larks and Bert have been our best line on a consistent basis, so I’ve got to figure that part of it.
The reticence I have with moving Andreas away from Zadina is I do think they have played well together and have formed a little chemistry, so we’ll see.”
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