One man’s misfortune is another man’s opportunity and in the case of the Detroit Red Wings, the benefactor will be Klim Kostin.
Detroit will be activating Kostin from IR and inserting him into the lineup for Wednesday’s road game against the Florida Panthers. He’ll be replacing the injured Patrick Kane (lower-body).
“Klim coming off IR, he’ll slide right in,” Detroit coach Derek Lalonde said. “Probably won’t have a lot of different looks with the lines. Obviously that (Dylan) Larkin line (wth Lucas Raymond and David Perron) has some chemistry, playing very well of late, as has the (Andrew) Copp line (with Michael Rasmussen and Christian Fischer).
“We have some depth. Put Klim in and go from there. Probably similar 12 and 6 to what we saw the other day.”
Kostin has missed the past 12 games due to an upper-body injury.
Lalonde is considering using both Robby Fabbri and Daniel Sprong alongside J.T. Compher and Alex DeBrincat in the spot left vacant by Kane’s injury.
“Both those guys have hot sticks right now, so I like where we can go with that,” Lalonde said.
Red Wings Walman Still Ailing
Defenseman Jake Walman, who performs in the top pairing alongside Moritz Seider, remains under the weather. He’ll be missing his third successive game on Wednesday.
“Jake Walman is still ill,” Lalonde said. “He won’t be available (Wednesday) but we’re hoping he’ll be able to go for Carolina (on Friday).”
Husso Back On The Ice
Another long-term absentee, goaltender Ville Husso hasn’t been seen in action since suffering a lower-body injury Dec. 18 against the Anaheim Ducks. Husso was back on the ice at practice on Tuesday. However, Lalonde was cautioning that the road ahead for the Detroit netminder remains long.
“Ville is probably still in that week to week range but obviously it’s a good sign that he’s able to take some reps here,” Lalonde said. “It’s a matter of him getting more strength to his lower body before he sees some action.”
Ice Chips
Sunday’s Red Wings game against the Tampa Bay Lightning at Little Caesars Arena has undergone a starting time change. The puck will now drop at 7 p.m. ET, instead of the originally-scheduled 5 p.m. The move was made so as not to clash with the 3 p.m. kickoff at Ford Field for the NFL Playoff game between the Detroit Lions and Tampa Bay Buccaneers . . . The Red Wings and the Toledo Walleye of the ECHL are extending their affiliate agreement for another three years.
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