Some difficult injury developments on the Red Wings front Tuesday, as head coach Jeff Blashill announced that veteran d-man Niklas Kronwall and versatile forward Drew Miller will be sidelined with knee injuries.
Both losses are fairly profound.
Though Kronwall will only miss 2-4 weeks compared to Miller’s 4-6 months (torn ACL), his presence is massive. The 35-year-old leads all skaters in ice time, at 22:45 a night, and is tops among d-men with 17 points through 45 games.
Kronwall is also one of just six Detroit skaters to appear in every game this season.
As for Miller -- it’s quite possible this injury will end his campaign, one that already saw him suffer a broken jaw. While the 31-year-old had done little offensively this year -- just a goal and an assist -- he did provide minutes as a penalty killer and bottom-six checking forward. He was also a pretty regular lineup fixture:
Miller had played 190 consecutive games....
— Ted Kulfan (@tkulfan) December 4, 2015
(This was prior to the broken jaw, of course.)
No word yet on who the Wings will recall from AHL Grand Rapids to fill the void.