Red Wings Will Miss Rasmussen

“Rasumussen will be out on Friday,” Red Wings coach Derek Lalonde was confirming following practice on Wednesday. “He’ll be day to day. I don’t know if we’ll see him over the weekend but we’ll get a better feel Friday.”

Detroit is to play host to the Buffalo Sabres on Sunday afternoon.

Rasmussen has yet to miss a game this season. The hulking 6-foot-6 forward has proven to be a stellar presence on an identity line alongside fellow grinders Andrew Copp and Christian Fischer. With 13 goals this season, Rasmussen is among 13 Red Wings players to net double digits in tallies.

Red Wings Get Hard, North Game From Rasmussen

The Red Wings roster is rich with guys who play a straightahead, hard-nosed game. That’s where Rasmussen’s value is truly measurable.

“We’ve had a little success there getting that line back together, him, Copp and Fisch, eats up really good minutes,” Lalonde said of the success of that unit. “You talk about the dynamic and what it looks like matchup-wise, it’s a different dynamic when those guys are in.

“Maybe the way we’re built, he gives us some hard, and some size. He’s around the net, he’s helping drive his line off the forecheck.

“That will be a miss for us. We’ll feel that a little bit.”

They’ve certainly missed the aspect that Rasmussen brings to the ice in the past. Last season, he was out for 26 games – two due to NHL suspension and 24 due to injury. Detroit went 8-16-2 in Rasmussen’s absence. That’s just 18 out of a possible 52 points gained.

Joe Veleno, who saw limited duty in Monday’s win, seeing only 4:42 of ice time, gets the first chance to fill Rasmussen’s role.

“We’ll probably slide Veleno in there and you hope Joe can give us very similar type of play as far as some size, skating and getting to those hard areas,” Lalonde said.