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No wonder teams shied away from making a move to acquire defenseman Mike Green from the Detroit Red Wings at the NHL trade deadline. According to an NHL source, Green will require off-season surgery for a herniated disc in his neck.
“Yeah, we’ll see,” Green told Mlive.com. “It’s something we’ll talk about. As of right now it’s maintenance and get through it.”
The Tampa Bay Lightning were strongly after Green’s services, and he’d even agreed to waive his no-trade clause to enable a move to the Atlantic Division leaders. But oddly enough, it was in a Feb. 15 game at Tampa Bay that Green suffered his neck injury when checked by Lightning forward Adam Erne.
With the realistic concern that Green’s injury would linger and could flare up again at any moment, the Lightning backed away from Green and opted instead to acquire Ryan McDonagh from the New York Rangers. The Washington Capitals, Green’s team prior to his signing with the Wings as a free agent in 2015, also moved on from his trail, as did the San Jose Sharks, the team the Wings play Monday.
“Obviously it was bad timing,” Green said. “At the end of the day, it is what it is. I’m here and I’m focused and I’m happy, so I move forward.”
Might that involve Green, who leads Detroit defensemen with 32 points - he’s one of just 42 NHL rearguards to top 30 points this season - inking a new pact to remain a Red Wing and opting to eschew his second kick at unrestricted free agency?
“I don’t know,” Green said. “Obviously we’ll see how things kind of take place over the next six months.”
Or might his injury and impending surgery scare the Wings off as well? Evidently, that doesn’t seem to be the case.
“We’ve had discussions, yeah,” Green said of the possibility of a new contract with the Wings. “Obviously, the situation’s been a little strange but we had discussions and I hope we’ll have more discussions.”
Back To Front
As the Wings prepared to play the Sharks Monday, Detroit coach Jeff Blashill redistributed the personnel on his power-play units, returning Anthony Mantha to the net-front presence role where he’s enjoyed so much success this season.
“I think when you have (Martin) Frk on the power play, you’ve got a real flank shooter there,” Blashill explained to Detroitredwings.com. He’d moved Mantha to that role when he recently sat out Frk.
“I was real reticent to take him off the net front to be dead honest with you, because that’s an area where I think he’s really grown, really learned to understand the goals that are there to be had there,” Blashill said. “He’s one of the best guys at it.”
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