Defenseman Kyle Quincey won’t be returning to action with the Detroit Red Wings for quite some time and it has nothing to do with lingering headaches.

Though he was originally sidelined by a concussion suffered against the Calgary Flames, it’s Quincey’s ankle that is keeping him on the shelf and may very well require that he go under the knife.

Making matters worse, it’s not the left ankle that he underwent surgery on last summer.

“It’s my right ankle,” Quincey said, indicating the injury is somewhat similar to the one he suffered to the other ankle last season. “I’m going to the doctors to get their opinions and see their options.

“The concussion is all clear. I’ve been working out now for about a week now, I feel good.”

Quincey has been battling the issue with his ankle since long before the regular season got underway.

“It was the first day of training camp so it’s been going on for a while,” Quincey said. “I’ve been playing through a lot of pain.

“I’m kind of excited to hopefully clean it out and feel better.”

Despite the injury, Quincey had a strong start to the season and it could be argued that he was Detroit’s best defenseman up to the point he was forced out of action.

“It’s very, very frustrating,” Quincey said. “I felt I got off to a pretty good start dealing with it. Adrenaline is a great thing when you’re dealing with pain. I had a lot of that. I was hoping that after playing through it that it would get slowly better over the season, but with this injury that won’t be the case, it’s only going to get worse and worse.

“We had a couple pictures done and they didn’t like what they saw.”

Quincey has been told if surgery is required, he’ll likely be sidelined for up to six weeks. As to the cause of this and his other ankle injury, it’s simply a matter of wear and tear and the accumulation of ailments over the years he’s played the game.

“What I’ve been hearing it’s hockey injuries from junior, pro, like just really bad ankle sprains,” Quincey said. “My last ankle (surgery over the summer) I broke and dislocated it really, really bad in Junior B when I was 16, that’s what caused that one.

“This one, similar things. There wasn’t a huge break when I was younger, just some bad injuries growing up.”

The hope is that by dealing with the problem now, Quincey will recover fully and enjoy a strong second half of the season leading into the playoffs.

“Once it get clears up I’ll definitely be skating a lot better and pain free,” Quincey said.

Green Feeling Better
Defenseman Mike Green, who has missed the past five games with an upper-body injury suffered in the loss at Calgary, will hopefully be back in the Detroit lineup either Friday at Toronto against the Maple Leafs or Sunday on home ice versus the Dallas Stars.

“This was my first full real practice with the guys,” Green said after Thursday’s workout. “It was a good way to judge.

“I’ll talk to trainers and see where we go.”

Detroit coach Jeff Blashill was in no hurry to make a pronouncement on what’s next for Green.

“That's undetermined right now,” Blashill said. “Green's close.

“Whether he'll play tomorrow night or not we'll decide tomorrow.”

Detroit’s defense has contributed to the offense in recent game and captain Henrik Zetterberg anticipates that element of the Wings’ game will ramp up exponentially with the participation of a healthy Green.

“We were just starting to see how good he really was and then he got injured,” Zetterberg said. “He skates well, he plays well. On the power play, it’s going to be huge for us, and also just joining the play.
“That’s the way you want to play, with defensemen joining the rush and he’s perfect for that.”

Datsyuk Closing In
It won’t be long until the Magic Man is once again working his magic on the ice.

Pavel Datsyuk took turns skating on the top line with Zetterberg, Justin Abdelkader and Dylan Larkin at Thursday’s practice and while he won’t be on the trip to Toronto, he certainly appears to be on pace to meet the mid-November projection for his return from off-season ankle surgery.

“He looks great,” Zetterberg said. “It’s fun to see him out there, fun to see him smiling, see him healthy. It’s a big boost for us to have him out there skating with us.

“He’s getting closer and closer.”

Abdelkader Deal Near
A source close to the negotiations indicated that a long-term deal should soon be signed between the Wings and left-winger Abdelkader. The source indicated the pact would be longer than four years.

Abdelkader, 28, is due to become an unrestricted free agent at season’s end.

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