The Detroit Red Wings’ remarkably good health this season has taken a hit.
The team will be without top pair defenseman Simon Edvinsson at least until the Olympic break, which is five games away for the Wings. They host the Los Angeles Kings on Tuesday, Jan. 27, at Little Caesars Arena.
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Edvinsson ranks second on the Wings in average ice time at 22:35 minutes.
“He’s a pretty significant piece of the lineup,” coach Todd McLellan said Monday. “He’s a significant piece but we have others that are going to have to go in and play, and they have they’ve done that already for a couple of games and done an admirable job.”
The Wings (32-16-5) are coming off a 2-0-1 trip, banking five points as they battle the Tampa Bay Lightning for the top spot in the Atlantic Division.
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Detroit Red Wings defenseman Simon Edvinsson (77) looks on after a play against Carolina Hurricanes during the second period at Little Caesars Arena in Detroit on Monday, Jan. 12, 2026.
Edvinsson, 22, has six goals and 11 assists in 48 games, including a goal against the Toronto Maple Leafs on Jan. 21. Edvinsson finished that game, and took warmups the next night in Minnesota before being pulled from the lineup.
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Simon Edvinsson injury replacements for Red Wings
In his absence, Jacob Bernard-Docker was moved up to play with Moritz Seider, and Travis Hamonic entered the lineup to partner with Albert Johansson. The only pairing left in tact so far has been veteran Ben Chiarot with rookie Axel Sandin-Pelllikka. Veteran Erik Gustafsson is also available.
“When you lose players, there’s all the cliches that somebody else steps up, all that type of stuff,” McLellan said. “It just means that everybody has to pull a little harder and you know and do a little bit more and if you manage the game properly, you can get through it.”
Chiarot has logged many a game partnered with Seider over the years, but so far, defense coach Trent Yawney has skewed towards keeping the veteran with Sandin-Pellikka, who has been prone to making risky plays and been in need of a safety net.
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“Trent’s managing that back there during the game and he’s making some judgment calls,” McLellan said. “if you look at the Winnipeg game, even the Minnesota game, there’s different pairs of guys going out at different times and I think that’ll continue.
“We don’t want Simon out of the lineup, but the fact that we’ve got to shuffle some things around and guys have to play with other partners and in different situations that’s not a bad thing for the group. (ou know they haven’t had a lot of adversity back there, knock on wood, for injuries so now we got to deal with it and it’s not the the end of the world.”
The Wings have enjoyed good health, with Patrick Kane’s nine- and five-game absences the only injury of significance well past the halfway point of the season.
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This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Detroit Red Wings replacements after Simon Edvinsson injury