Bad news for the Red Wings…. Erik Cole is done for the year.
BREAKING NEWS: Erik Cole says he’s out for the season. Spinal contusion. Doctors say not worth risk.
— Chuck Pleiness (@wingsfrontman) April 8, 2015
Cole has not played since March 24 vs Arizona. He had 3 goals and 3 assists in 11 games for the Wings after the trade deadline. This hurts the Wings when it comes to having a big body winger in the lineup. Cole being out, along with Johan Franzen and currently Tomas Jurco, means the Wings will have a lack of size for whatever potential playoff run they have.
In regards to the trade with the Stars, the Wings should keep the conditional 3rd round pick that was coming their way from Jim Nill. According to the conditions of the trade listed by Mike Heika in the Dallas Morning News, there is no way Cole can meet the requirements that would see the 3rd round pick head back to the Stars.
The Stars on Sunday acquired prospects Mattias Backman and Mattias Janmark, as well as a second-round draft pick (2015), from Detroit in exchange for Erik Cole and a conditional third-round pick (2015).
The Stars will get the third-round pick back if Detroit makes the Eastern Conference Finals and Cole plays in at least 50 percent of its playoff games.
The key part there being Cole playing in 50 percent of the playoff games. Obviously there’s no chance of that happening now. Ultimately, this is a solid blow for the Red Wings. Cole seemed to be fitting in to the dressing room nicely. In his postgame interview after his first game as a Wing, you could just see the joy in the guy’s eyes and hear it in his voice after the Wings win. The Red Wings will now have to rely on their youth even more and hope that the injury bug doesn’t take down anyone else.
