Justin Abdelkader was originally expected to miss just Tuesday’s game with a shoulder injury according to the Detroit Free Press.
However, TSN’s Aaron Ward is reporting the Red Wings’ forward could miss as much as two weeks.
Expectation Detroit Red Wings Justin Abdelkader to be out 2 weeks with partially separated shoulder. #TSN
— Aaron Ward (@NHL_AaronWard) December 2, 2014
Abdelkader suffered the injury late in the second period of Detroit’s 5-3 win over the Vancouver Canucks Sunday on a hit from defenseman Luca Sbisa.
The 27-year-old was off to a solid start with seven goals and eight assists through 24 games. He had just 10 goals and 28 points in 70 games last season.
Abdelkader had also developed chemistry of late playing alongside Pavel Datsyuk and Henrik Zetterberg.
“He’s at the net for those guys,” head coach Mike Babcock told the Detroit Free Press. “They don’t need another guy to have the puck, they need somebody at the net to get it back for them.”
Joakim Andersson, who was a healthy scratch Sunday, skated on a line with Drew Miller and Luke Glendening at Monday’s practice as Babcock re-worked his lines for Tuesday’s meeting with the Panthers.