The Detroit Red Wings probably thought more than once this season that three goalies on the roster were too many. It turns three wasn’t enough.
Hit by a pair of goaltending injuries to Alex Lyon and Ville Husso, the Red Wings found themselves signing Michael Hutchinson to an NHL contract. He joins James Reimer to form the team’s goalie tandem at least through Christmas. The Red Wings have three games over the next four nights starting Wednesday in Winnipeg. They are home Friday against the Philadelphia Flyers and then travel to New Jersey to play the Devils Saturday.
The Red Wings also placed Klim Kostin on the injured list, resulting from the massive hit he took from Anaheim defenseman Radko Gudas.
The Red Wings will be off on Christmas Eve, Christmas Day and the day after Christmas. The hope is that Lyon will be ready right after Christmas.
“Ville will be unavailable for us for a while here, so more in that week to week category,” Detroit coach Derek Lalonde said. “Alex had his first workout today but I do not see him available for us until probably after Christmas.”
Lyon suffered an upper body injury Saturday in Philadelphia and Husso had to be helped off the ice in the first period of Monday’s 4-3 loss to the Ducks.
Red Wings Await Perron Decision
Meanwhile, the Red Wings will find out later today whether David Perron’s six-game suspension (for attempt to injure Artem Zub) will be cut to five games. He has his appeal today at 4 p.m. Perron has already sat out five games.
This is a frustrating time for the Red Wings who are 1-5-1 over the past seven games.
“We got to get our game back in order,” Lalonde said. “Obviously, we lost our identity a little bit with this stretch so I think it’s on all of us to try to be a little better. It’s on us to get this in order.”
Hutchinson, 33, has 153 games of NHL experience. That’s 107 more than Lyon has. This season, Hutchinson is 5-7-1 with a 2.98 goals-against average in Grand Rapids. His new deal is a two-way contract.
Detroit GM Steve Yzerman could have promoted top goalie prospect Sebastian Cossa from Grand Rapids. But he is 21 and only has played 14 games in the American Hockey League.
Detroit’s goalie shuffle continued with John Lethemon movig from the Toledo Walleye to the Grand Rapids. That leaves Jan Bednar (Drafted 107th overall by Detroit in 2020) as Toledo’s No. 1 goalie.
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