It’s a veritable MASH unit in the Motor City right now.
On Monday, Wings GM Ken Holland announced that d-man Brendan Smith would miss the next four weeks with a knee injury, suffered in Saturday’s 2-1 OT loss to the Habs.
Smith got tangled up with Montreal’s Philip Danault with about eight minutes left in the second period, and didn’t return. He was one of two Detroit skaters to exit the game that frame -- the other, forward Tyler Bertuzzi, limped off with 3:13 remaining after a hit from Alexei Emelin.
Holland didn’t have an update on Bertuzzi’s condition today.
On its own, the Smith injury is a problem. The 27-year-old was a lineup fixture this year, averaging over 18 minutes while appearing in 20 games, notching a pair of goals and four points.
And as mentioned above, his injury is just the latest to hit Detroit.
The club is already without Andreas Athanasiou and Darren Helm, who have been sidelined since mid-November. Jimmy Howard left Friday’s game against the Devils with a lower-body injury, and Alexey Marchenko is on injured reserve with an upper-body ailment.
Update: Head coach Jeff Blashill said Bertuzzi, who suffered an ankle injury on the Emelin play, will be out 3-5 weeks (per MLive).