Drew Miller Out 6 Weeks, Teemu Pulkkinen Out 6-8 Weeks
DETROIT, MICH -- The Red Wings got a bit of unfortunate news this morning in terms of Drew Miller and Teemu Pulkkinen's injury status:
#RedWings Drew Miller out 6 weeks with broken jaw, Ken Holland said. Will have surgery tomorrow, have plates installed.
— Ansar Khan (@AnsarKhanMLive) December 4, 2015
#RedWings Teemu Pulkkinen out 6-8 weeks with dislocated shoulder, Ken Holland said. No surgery required as of now.
— Ansar Khan (@AnsarKhanMLive) December 4, 2015
You can see the hits that caused these injuries in our article from earlier this morning. This all but solidifies inevitable call-ups, but Khan went on to give us the Red Wings' plans in terms of that:
Wings won't recall anyone for tomorrow's game vs. Nashville, Holland said. But they will recall someone next week when they play 3 in 4.
— Ansar Khan (@AnsarKhanMLive) December 4, 2015
This means that Andreas Athanasiou is going to get an extended stay here in Detroit, but will likely require another warm body. I highly doubt we see any waiver-eligible player NOT named Daniel Cleary. They could run with the tactics of calling up a player like Mitch Callahan for nine games, then sending him back to Grand Rapids to avoid waivers, then call up another warm body. Personally, I wouldn't mind giving Cally a look in the bottom six.
What about Anthony Mantha? Seems like he's due for a look, but is also returning from an injury. Very unlikely we see him wearing the Winged Wheel anytime soon. Tomas Jurco and Andreas Athanasiou should now be in the lineup every night, so essentially all the team needs is a healthy scratch. The only player who makes sense to be sitting in the press box is Dan Cleary, in my opinion. I don't know about you, but I'm going to get myself ready for him making his triumphant return to the Cabana.