Detroit Red Wings hit by successive injuries to star players as playoffs close in -NHL News
The Detroit Red Wings are forced to rely on their affiliates in the American Hockey League (AHL) for backup of injured players as the scare has started taking on the management’s nerve only a week into closure of the trade market.
A number of key players have to be on the sidelines due to multiple injuries and the team all of sudden is finding it difficult to cope with the problem.
To start with, Wings lost their centre, Pavel Datsyuk, to a knee injury on February 21, 2012. The player who had a procedure done on the knee is out for several weeks to get healed and recovered.
He has a significant role in the team, which now stands affected in his absence.
Lucky for Red Wings, they had good news as the netminder, Jimmy Howard, reported back his health and fitness on the day they lost Datsyuk.
Howard missed eight games due an injury to the index finger on his right hand before returning to the ice.
However, he is out yet again with an unspecified lower body injury and the management is not aware of the timeline on his recovery and return. The player, in the meantime, is described to be day-to-day.
Wings have another setback in form of injury to their captain and defenseman, Nicklas Lidstrom, who is out with a bruised ankle. More than a week has lapsed to the injury and he is yet to report back his fitness.
Jonathan Ericsson is another defenseman nursing a fractured wrist injury for a couple of weeks now, and the team remains uncertain about his comeback.
He is joined by another defenseman, Jakub Kindl, who was forced out of the game against Chicago Blackhawks on Sunday (March 04, 2012) with an unknown upper body injury. He did not return for rest of the game and is still out of the squad.
Detroit’s coach, Mike Babcock, said:
"[Kindl], obviously we didn't make a very good decision, between us I don't know if we pressured him or what it was. We knew he was a bit sore [before the game].”
Babcock added:
“We should have called someone up, I guess, in hindsight. Hindsight's great. It doesn't do you much good. Then Howie's got a lower-body injury and left the game and he'll be evaluated and we'll go from there."
So altogether the team is without their half a dozen key players, and with less than a quarter portion of the 2011-2012 National Hockey League (NHL) season left to playoffs, the injury scares do not bode well into their run for the second round of the season.
The situation has changed for the team too soon as only a couple of weeks ago Wings’ management had boasted about the importance of maintaining a healthy and experienced group of players on the blue line.
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