The Detroit Red Wings, on the road to play the St. Louis Blues tonight, recalled forward Matt Luff from the Grand Rapids Griffins under emergency conditions.
What that means is the Red Wings have an unidentified player with an injury that could keep him out of the lineup tonight. If the player does play, Luff must be returned to the Griffins.
The Red Wing recalled Austin Czarnik and Simon Edvinsson under those conditions last week. Forward Robby Fabbri and defenseman Gustav Lindstrom were both injured. Czarnik and Edvinsson played last night in a 5-2 loss to the Florida Panthers. However, Edvinsson suffered a lower body injury during the game. He was being examined afterward, and his status is unknown.
Coach Derek Lalonde said Lindstrom was close to returning, but wasn’t yet 100 percent.
Handling Fabbri With Caution
Lalonde has made it clear that the Red Wing will be cautious with Fabbri (lower body) because he has already experienced three major knee surgeries. Lalonde believes he may be able to return this season.
“I think we’re going to get to a point here on what’s more valuable for him – a little more time to train and rehab or getting a handful of games at the end,” Lalonde said. “I know the competitive player in him probably wants those handful of games. It’s probably more medical. This is a little different than most injuries because we want to be extremely cautious with him. He’s skating, there has been some progress made, but I still think they’re looking at it from a professional doctor view rather than where he is wanting to play.”
Luff, 25, has been a useful player for the Red Wings organization. He has 25 points in 28 games this season for the Griffins and logged seven games for Detroit. He now has 98 NHL games on his resume. Luff scored in his last game with the Griffins over the weekend.
The Griffins are on the outside edge of the AHL Central Division playoff race. They are 10 points back with 11 games to play.
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