Skip navigation
Favorites
Sign up to follow your favorites on all your devices.
Sign up

Lidstrom could be back by Saturday

Detroit Red Wings v Toronto Maple Leafs

TORONTO, CANADA - JANUARY 07: Nicklas Lidstrom #5 of the Detroit Red Wings skates up the ice during NHL action against the Toronto Maple Leafs at the Air Canada Centre January 7, 2012 in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. (Photo by Abelimages/Getty Images)

Getty Images

Good news on the injury front for the reeling Red Wings – captain Nicklas Lidstrom skated for the second straight day today and could be back in action by the weekend.

“We’re hopeful he might be ready Saturday [at home to Carolina],” said coach Mike Babcock, as per The Detroit News.

Lidstrom’s missed the last 10 games with a bruised ankle that’s taken longer to heal than first expected. The Wings are 3-6-1 during that stretch, and while they’ve had numerous other injuries to contend with, it’s clear they’re not the same team without their 41-year-old defenseman. Which doesn’t bode particularly well for their future, but they’ll worry about that later.

“We can’t sit around feeling sorry for ourselves. We’re not going anywhere that way,” defenseman Niklas Kronwall said yesterday after Detroit fell, 5-3, at home to the Capitals. “We have to find a way to come together as a group and move forward, still try to think positive, see things positive.”