It looks like the Red Wings and Simon Edvinsson are planning to keep things safe instead of ending up in a sorry state later. The towering 6’6” Swedish defenseman’s status was updated over the weekend, with Coach Todd McLellan revealing that Edvinsson will be out of action for the Red Wings until after the Olympic Break.
Edvinsson, in his second full season in the NHL, was injured in the Red Wings Jan. 21 matchup with the Maple Leafs, though he would end up completing the game. However, in the team’s next matchup against the Minnesota Wild the big swede was a surprise late scratch for Detroit after apparently tweaking the injury in warmups. Edvinsson has assumed a top line role on Detroit’s blueline this year, and his skillset was sorely missed as the Red Wings would end up falling 4-3 to the Wild in overtime.
While the Red Wings were able to trounce the Winnipeg Jets 5-1 to close out the week, the Red Wings have five games against some of the league’s top teams before the Olympics begin. That includes a back to back series with the Colorado Avalanche, who are the league’s best team at 5on5 hockey by a wide margin.
Who's next up?
Detroit had already called up veteran defenseman and fellow swede Erik Gustafsson earlier this month, but are yet to play him. Instead, the team has leaned on a mix of Jacob Bernard-Docker and Ben Chiarot on the top line, with Travis Hamonic inserted into the lineup for the first time since December in Edvinsson’s absence. The Red Wings defense leaned heavily on Seider and Edvinsson throughout this year, with their top line playing north of 25 minutes a night on average.
Without Edvinsson, the Red Wings will need to evaluate whether they have the roster depth to continue a playoff push as the games get tighter and injuries potentially mount up. The trade deadline is March 6 and the NHL will freeze rosters on Feb. 4 for the Olympics. That gives Steve Yzerman and co. potentially only these next five games to evaluate the roster without their second best defenseman, and a very limited number of games after the roster is unfrozen before they are locked into the players they have already on the team. There were already murmurs of the Red Wings pursuing another top four blueliner, and this certainly presses the issue for the Red Wings front office.