DETROIT – The Detroit Red Wings today assigned center Tomas Nosek and goaltender Jared Coreau to the American Hockey League’s Grand Rapids Griffins. Additionally, the Red Wings have removed goaltender Jimmy Howard from injured reserve.
Nosek, 24, was recalled by Detroit on Friday but did not see game action. The Pardubice, Czech Republic, native has skated in 11 games for Grand Rapids this season and is tied for sixth on the team in scoring with 10 points (2-8-10). Nosek made his NHL debut with the Red Wings last year on Dec. 26, 2015 at Nashville and totaled six games with the club, recording two penalty minutes, six hits and three takeaways in 10:08 average time on ice. Nosek has spent the past three seasons with the Griffins, tallying 74 points (28-46-74), a plus-43 rating and 68 penalty minutes in 136 regular-season games and adding eight points (3-5-8) and 33 penalty minutes in 21 postseason games.
A sixth-year pro, Nosek logged 129 professional games in the Czech Extraliga for HC Pardubice, totaling 62 points (24-38-62) and 58 penalty minutes. He posted a career-best 44 points (19-25-44) in 52 games for the club in 2013-14, leading the team in scoring before signing with Detroit in the offseason at the age of 21. The 6-foot-3, 210-lb., center also spent parts of three seasons with HC Chrudim and HC Hradec Kralove of the Czech Republic’s second-highest professional league, picking up 16 points (7-9-16) between the teams from 2010-13. He also racked up 125 points (53-72-125) in 109 games for HC Pardubice at the under-20 level. Nosek captained his country at the 2012 IIHF World Junior Championship, picking up one assist in six games.
Coreau, 25, saw his first NHL action in Detroit’s 5-3 loss to Pittsburgh on Saturday, making 32 saves for the Red Wings. The fourth-year pro has an 8-5-0 record, 2.39 goals-against average, 0.923 save percentage and one shutout in 13 games with the Griffins and has appeared in 90 games with the Griffins since 2013-14, sporting a 53-32-13 record, 2.43 goals-against average, 0.921 save percentage and 10 shutouts. Coreau established new career highs for the Griffins in 2015-16 in games played, wins and shutouts and ranked among the AHL’s top netminders with 29 wins (T4th), a 2.43 goals-against average (10th), 0.922 save percentage (T4th) and six shutouts (3rd) in 47 appearances.
A native of Perth, Ontario, the 6-foot-6, 220-lb., goaltender spent three seasons at Northern Michigan University in the CCHA prior to signing with the Red Wings after the 2012-13 season. In 76 games with the Wildcats, he accumulated a 32-31-8 record, 2.72 goals-against average, 0.919 save percentage and two shutouts. Coreau also spent one season with the Lincoln Stars in the USHL prior to his collegiate career, posting a 3.62 goals-against average and a 0.882 save percentage in 38 games with the team during the 2009-10 campaign.
With Howard coming off the IR and the Wings off for the next two days, sending Nosek and Coreau back down today gives them both the opportunity to rejoin the Griffins in time for their game against the Chicago Wolves tonight. Technically, Detroit only had to send one guy down to make room for Howard to be activated, but they’re not using either right now. There’s also this from Dana Wakiji yesterday indicating the changes to hope for by Friday’s game against Columbus:
#RedWings Blashill said both Howard and Athanasiou should be ready for full practice Thursday.
— Dana Wakiji (@Dwakiji) December 6, 2016
Howard never went on LTIR, so it was only a roster space they needed to make for him. If Athanasiou is removed from LTIR this week, they’ll still have enough cap space to do that without needing another move and the Nosek assignment makes the roster space.
We’ll have to wait and see whether that means both players are jumping back into game action immediately or if they’re just approaching readiness. In the meantime, Brian Lashoff will stay on the NHL roster with the injuries to Marchenko and Smith still being weeks away from healing.
