Detroit Red Wings: Injuries lead to Wade Megan being Recalled

The Wade Megan call up leaves us scratching our head.  Anyhow, he has been called up by the Detroit Red Wings prior to tonight’s game. The Wings have also reassigned defenseman Joe Hicketts to the Grand Rapids Griffins.

The Detroit Red Wings forwards are starting to become quite banged up.  They have recalled 28- year-old center Wade Megan from Grand Rapids, and he is expected to make his debut tonight against the New Jersey Devils. In a corresponding move, the Wings have sent Joe Hicketts back to Grand Rapids.

Wade Megan has recorded 2 goals and 2 assists in 8 games this season for the Grand Rapids Griffins.  He has skated as their top center to start the season.  If the Detroit Red Wings were desperate for someone to play center, I could get behind this move, but they are not precisely shorthanded in the faceoff circle.

Andreas Athanasiou is day to day and could return to the lineup as soon as tonight for the Detroit Red Wings; he plays center.  Darren Helm could play center if the club needed him too.  I will say he isn’t exactly a top line player, but he has found a home on the top line playing beside Dylan Larkin and Anthony Mantha.

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Depending on the day it could be Gustav Nyquist with the pair instead of Mantha.  I say depending on the day because at times Jeff Blashill has Mantha on the top line and with a blink of an eye he has him buried on the bottom line.

Luke Glendening is anchoring the third line center at the moment, and Jacob de La Rose is playing as the fourth line center.  Michael Rasmussen played exceptionally well in Columbus down the middle for the Detroit Red Wings as well.  Basically, the team isn’t desperate for a center so why did we call up Wade Megan instead of Matt Puempel who leads the Grand Rapids Griffins with 4 goals and 6 points in 8 games.  Puempel is also a plus 4 on the young season.

Pump was a point a game player last season for the Griffins as well.  He has some NHL experience with the Ottawa Senators who drafted him in the first round, 24th overall in the 2011 NHL Entry Level Draft.  Matt also had a cup of coffee with the New York Rangers.  The 25-year-old could skate as a bottom-six forward and fill in for Thomas Vanek on the wing for a week or two.  His game has yet to translate to the NHL but he is more of a scoring threat and can work on the second power-play unit.

A lot of people will wonder why Filip Zadina wasn’t the one being recalled.  I think the idea is to call Zadina up when the organization is prepared to keep the forward for the long haul later on in the season rather than as a “two-week” fill-in stint with the Wings.  Detroit will look to call up Zadina mid-season and handle it similar to the way they are treating Rasmussen.  Instead of sending him right back to Grand Rapids if he struggles for a handful of games allow him to gain confidence at the NHL level.

Michael Rasmussen and Filip Zadina are both expected to compete in the world junior tournament this winter.  It will be nice to see if the pair can dominate that competition and lead their respected team throughout the tourney.