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Injury update for Phoenix-Detroit game: Rafalski in, Doan out

doanandrafalski

James O’Brien

In a way that parallels their diverging seasons, the Red Wings have some good news while the Coyotes received some not-so-surprising bad news. Both of these bits come from a NHL.com report.

First, Detroit will reportedly welcome defenseman Brian Rafalski back into the fold. He’s been out of action since October 9th, because he underwent arthroscopic knee surgery on the 12th. He only played two games during this season so far, so the Red Wings should enjoy a nice bump on the power play if the talented American defenseman is reasonably close to full strength.

On the other end of the ice, Phoenix will be without captain Shane Doan as expected. He’s out on a week-to-week basis, so it shouldn’t come as much of a surprise that he’s been ruled out of both tonight’s game against the Red Wings and Wednesday’s match against the Blackhawks.

Doan suffered a lower-body injury during Friday’s game at Dallas, and is considered “week to week.” He did not make the trip with the team, and also has been ruled out of Wednesday’s game in Chicago.

It’s the second extended absence for Doan this season, who was suspended for three games in October.

“It’s part of hockey and it’s something I have to deal with and I will be ready to go when I come back,” Doan told the team’s website Saturday. “I hope to be back sooner than later. … We’re getting on it in a hurry here and we’ll get it going, and I’ll be back quickly.”