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The Detroit Red Wings will begin a two-game swing through Florida Thursday with a game against the Panthers and without one of their leading scorers.
Center Pavel Datsyuk, whose 23-35-58 totals place him second only to captain Henrik Zetterberg (59 points) on the team, is out with an undisclosed injury.
“Nope. Not making the trip,” Detroit coach Mike Babcock said Wednesday after Datsyuk missed practice for a second straight day. “He’s got a lower-body ache.”
Babcock indicated the earliest that Datsyuk might play again would be Sunday afternoon’s home date against the St. Louis Blues.
A knee injury last season limited Datsyuk to 45 games.
Three On Three Thoughts
The NHL has put forward three-on-three overtime as a proposal for next season. The ball is now in the court of the NHLPA, but if players in the Detroit dressing room are gauges, it shouldn’t have much problem getting approval from the guys who play the games.
“It’s a challenge,” Detroit defenseman Brendan Smith said. “I actually played that growing up playing (in youth hockey) for the (Toronto) Marlies in a bunch of tournaments.
“In overtime you would always go to three-on-three. Then it was two-on-two and then it went to one-on-one. But it never got past three-on-three.
“Obviously there’s a lot more scoring chances. When you get to three-on-three it’s going to be a lot of making good decisions and I think skating is the biggest thing, creating offense and maybe catching a man that you’ve got a step on.
“It’ll be interesting to see how it goes. I don’t know what it will be like but I guarantee you there will be more goals.”
Detroit goalie Petr Mrazek played some three-on-three OT in the AHL this season, where it was tried on an experimental basis, and he thinks it’s a positive step, much preferable to deciding a game via shootout.
“It’s fun for fans and for players,” Mrazek said. “I love the open spaces on the ice. It’s going to be fun.
“In the AHL it was the last three or four minutes three-on-three (actually three minutes or less). It was crazy for goalies - lots of chances, two on ones, breakaways.
“One mistake makes a breakaway so it’s going to be lots of fun.”
Smith’s only concern was the potential for fatigue if the NHL opts to stick with the AHL formula of following four-on-four OT with a three-on-three session.
“I mean obviously you’re putting more time in and it can be tough with back to backs,” Smith said. “The toughest part is we already play an 82-game season and there’s a lot of minutes people log to begin with.
“You’re just adding time which I kind of think will be tough on a lot of players.”
Three-on-three OT remains a recommendation at this point and can't become an official rule change until it is approved by the joint NHL-NHLPA competition committee, the NHLPA executive board and the NHL board of governors.
Those groups aren’t slated to meet again until June.
Marchenko Down
Returned to health from an oblique strain, defenseman Alexey Marchenko was assigned Wednesday to AHL Grand Rapids.
Marchenko, 23, played steadily and put up 1-1-2 numbers in 12 games for Detroit, but since Marek Zidlicky was acquired from New Jersey at the NHL trade deadline there was no spot for him among the club’s top six defenders.
Prospect Prospectus
The Wings announced that the club’s annual NHL prospects tournament would return to Centre ICE Arena in Traverse City, Mich., from Sept. 11-15 for the 17th consecutive season.
The Chicago Blackhawks have been added to the eight-team tournament this fall, joining the Carolina Hurricanes, Columbus Blue Jackets, Dallas Stars, Minnesota Wild, New York Rangers, St. Louis Blues and Red Wings.
Among those who’ve played for the Wings this season have participated in the tourney in past years are forwards Joakim Andersson, Tomas Jurco, Gustav Nyquist, Teemu Pulkkinen, and Riley Sheahan, defensemen Marchenko and Brendan Smith and goalie Mrazek.
Helm Update
It’s not 100 per cent solid that forward Darren Helm (oblique) will play against the Panthers, but it’s about as close to that as is possible.
“There’s a few things I have to talk about first, but things are looking good,” Helm said. “I felt good out there. There are just a couple questions I have that need to be cleared up.
The answer as to whether he’s playing will be known for certain when the Wings take the ice for the pre-game warm-up.
“If I’m out there, I’m playing,” Helm said.
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