According to Helene St. James of the Detroit Free Press, Ian White will miss ten days with a fractured cheekbone after being hit with a puck during Saturday’s game against Dallas. Todd Bertuzzi was placed on seven-day injured reserve yesterday, meaning that both Bertuzzi and White will not be in action against the Sharks at HP Pavilion on Thursday.
Here’s Helene St. James with more:
General manager Ken Holland said this morning that White won’t need surgery, but he is out at least 10 days. The Wings still have enough healthy defensemen to go around, however, as Mike Commodore has been in reserve.
The team is bringing an extra defenseman to St. Louis this afternoon, using the opportunity to let Brendan Smith burn off the last part of his five-game suspension. There’s roster room for Smith because forward Todd Bertuzzi was put on seven-day injured reserve. Bertuzzi has missed the last four games because of a sinus infection and swelling in his ears. Bertuzzi is planning to go on the trip, to avail himself of the trainers and in hopes he can progress to practicing.
Winging in Motown thinks that second year pro Jakub Kindl has a good shot of replacing Ian White on the Red Wings top pairing, with Jonathan Ericsson also a possibility for that role. Mike Commodore, who has primarily been a healthy scratch for Detroit this season, will play against St. Louis on Tuesday but will fight for playing time with recently recalled defenseman Brendan Smith.
In other League news, the Anaheim Ducks claimed struggling forward Niklas Hagman off re-entry waivers in an attempt to inject some life into a team that has been in a state of perpetual free fall since mid-October. The Ducks are 2-7-3 in their last twelve games, tied for 27th in the NHL with 15 points to their name, and haven’t received the goaltending from Jonas Hiller or the goal support from their lower lines necessary to win hockey games.
A dissapointing start to the year from their top lines hasn’t helped either– Anaheim is a top-heavy hockey club that relies on their impact players to carry the vast majority of the offensive load, but with Ryan Getzlaf, Corey Perry, and Bobby Ryan each hovering around a 0.6 point per game pace, it’s no surprise the Ducks have struggled.
Hagman should help replace the loss of Jason Blake, who was lost for 2-3 months after being cut by the skate of Brent Burns in a game on October 14th, but it remains to be seen how big of an impact he can have on the team in the long run. Hagman struggled immensely in his stint with Calgary, posting 12 goals and 19 assists in 79 games played.
Adding a three-time 20 goal scorer into the mix is a fine play by Ducks General Manager Bob Murray, but unless Anaheim quickly reels off a winning streak, you have to figure more changes could be upcoming for a team that many expected to compete for a low-seed playoff berth.
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