DETROIT \u2013 The Detroit Red Wings have responded to many challenges this season by fashioning one of the best records in the NHL up to this point.<\/p>\n
Now they\u2019ll face another test.<\/p>\n
Top-pair defenseman Simon Edvinsson, out the past two games with a lower-body injury, will miss the next five games leading into the Olympic break, coach Todd McLellan said Monday.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe is a significant piece, but we have others that are going to have to go in and play, and they\u2019ve done that already for a couple games and done admirable job,\u201d McLellan said. \u201cWhen you lose players \u2013 there\u2019s all the cliches — somebody else steps up, all that type of stuff. It just means that everybody has to pull a little harder and do a little bit more. And if you manage the game properly, you can get through it.\u201d<\/p>\n
Edvinsson (6-6) and Moritz Seider (6-3) have formed a formidable top pairing with size, reach, physicality and shutdown ability. Edvinsson is averaging 22:23 minutes per game, second on the team to Seider, is one of the club\u2019s top penalty killers and even produces offensively despite little power play time (six goals, 17 points in 48 games).<\/p>\n
McLellan said Edvinson is expected to return the first game after the Olympic break (Feb. 26 at Ottawa). <\/p>\n
In the meantime, defense pairs will be juggled a bit. Jacob-Bernard Docker, a right shot, has played on the left side with Seider the past two games. Ben Chiarot has extensive experience playing with Seider, but the team might be reluctant to separate him from rookie Axel Sandin-Pellikka.<\/p>\n
\u201cTrent (assistant coach Yawney) is managing that back there during the game, and he\u2019s making some judgment calls,\u201d McLellan said. \u201cIf you look at the Winnipeg game, even the Minnesota game, there\u2019s different pairs of guys going out at different times, and I think that\u2019ll continue. <\/p>\n
\u201cWe don\u2019t want Simon out of the lineup, but the fact that we got to shuffle some things around and guys have to play with other partners and in different situations, that\u2019s not a bad thing for the group. They haven\u2019t had a lot of adversity back there (with) injuries. So now we have to deal with it, and it\u2019s not the end of the world. They\u2019re capable of playing with different partners at different times in different situations.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Red Wings might be in the market to acquire a defenseman by the March 6 trade deadline, but Edvinsson\u2019s injury isn\u2019t going to accelerate the process.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf I came in today and said, \u2018Simon\u2019s done for the season,\u2019 then it may change, but we\u2019re going to get Simon back and it\u2019s not like he\u2019s going to lose his game anywhere,\u201d McLellan said. \u201cWhen he comes back and begins to play again, everybody will be coming off the break, so he\u2019ll fit right in with the rhythm of the team.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"DETROIT \u2013 The Detroit Red Wings have responded to many challenges this season by fashioning one of the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":431448,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[66],"tags":[385,99],"class_list":["post-431447","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nhl","tag-nhl","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/431447","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=431447"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/431447\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/431448"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=431447"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=431447"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=431447"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}