The Detroit Red Wings had a very busy week with the trade deadline and extensions that went down. But, something else that happened was that Ville Husso is dealing with a minor injury.
Even being labeled as a minor injury for Husso, it had affected his play against the Kraken, at least in the eyes of Detroit Red Wings head coach Derek Lalonde. He went on to say during an interview that he anticipated that injury would keep Husso off the ice for this weekend, most likely.
The Wings are bringing Alex Nedeljkovic back in an emergency recall due to an injury Ville Husso is dealing with.
— Jeanna Trotman (@JeannaTrotmanTV) March 3, 2023
This is what Lalonde said about Husso in the locker room this afternoon: pic.twitter.com/uW6Bw5MZid
He is expected to be fine in the long term and return to the Red Wings crease once again. But with Husso being deemed injured and unfit to play, the Red Wings had to make a move to replace him for the time being.
It was announced that the Red Wings called up Alex Nedeljkovic from the Grand Rapids Griffins on an emergency loan. He is slated to join the team and could get a chance to start this weekend, including the match-up against the New York Islanders.
Detroit Red Wings recall Alex Nedeljkovic on an emergency loan.
The Red Wings had sent down Nedeljkovic a while back, hoping he could iron some things out. His 2022-23 stats are certainly not pretty whatsoever. With the Red Wings, Nedeljkovic has played in nine games for the Red Wings, where he has a 2-4-2 record with a .880 save percentage and a 4.09 goals-against average.
After being sent down, he made starts with the Griffins and tried to settle his game down. Things definitely went better down in the AHL, but Nedeljkovic needs to regain a hold of his game at the NHL level once again and bring some of that success back to the Red Wings.
Nedeljkovic has a 9-7-2 record with a 2.89 goals-against average and a .909 save percentage in a Griffins uniform. The Red Wings just need to buy a few games until Husso can return. While Magnus Hellberg has been serving as the backup, Nedeljkovic will join the tandem for the weekend.
The Red Wings relied a ton on Husso in 2022-23, and now the hope is that Hellberg and Nedeljkovic can get them through the weekend before things get back on track with the team’s goaltending situation.
Nedeljkovic is not really here to earn a shot to say since it’s an emergency loan, but a solid start could warrant another look down the line. The issue is that Hellberg would have to pass through waivers, and that seems like a tough ask for a player who has been claimed several times.
Hopefully, Husso will be good to go on the other side of the weekend, and the Red Wings can return to the Husso/Hellberg tandem.