Nate Danielson’s chances of making the Detroit Red Wings’ opening day roster could be hurt by an injury suffered in Saturday’s loss to the Buffalo Sabres.
“He’ll be out for a little bit,” Detroit coach Todd McLellan said. “I don’t have a time frame whether it’s long or short
term, but we’ll figure that part over the next few days.”
Danielson. 21, has been playing well enough in preseason to compete for a job, and even a short stay on the injured list could undermine his hopes of making the job. Emmitt Finnie, 20, is also playing well, but they are not necessarily competing for a single job. GM Steve Yzerman has multiple times that if young player shows he deserves to be on the team, it’s Yzerman’s job to create a spot for him.
In other injury news, Simon Edvinsson (lower body) practiced with the team. It looks as though he might be ready later this week.
“I hope so,” McLellan said. “We’ll see how his practice went today. He was fully involved. It wasn’t, you know, a pre-game skate. A lot of walk through, not a lot of action. I know they’re working now. Obviously, I’m not out there to see it, but we’ll get an update. He’s getting close. Opening night, I don’t see any reason why he isn’t playing. We’ll make smart decisions with him this week as far as games go. ”
Edvinson isn’t playing tonight at home against Pittsburgh, and he won’t play Tuesday in Chicago, either.
Meanwhile, veteran forward James van Riemsdyk, signed this summer as a free agent, has still not arrived at training camp. He was given permission to miss the start of training for family reasons. It’s unknown whether the Red Wings expected him to miss this much of camp.
“He needs to be here as soon as he can be,” McLellan said. “But again, we’re not on the phone saying, ‘Hey, drop what you’re doing,’ because that’s not what this is about. Can he be ready to play in game one, even based on today? I don’t know.”