Clearly, the Detroit Red Wings are a different team with defenseman Mike Green in the lineup. Since they got him back from a viral infection, the Wings have gone viral.
They are 8-3 with Green. Without Green, they were 1-6-2.
“He makes lots of plays and does lots of good stuff, “Detroit coach Jeff Blashill said. “One thing about Mike that I love is his care level’s off the charts. He wants to keep getting better.
“He’s done some things in the league that not many defensemen have done when you look at his point totals. And he just wants to get better every day and he comes to practice and works his tail off every day.”
Green, naturally, deflects any notion that much of this recent success is of his doing.
“First and foremost, we’re finding ways to win,” Green said. “I think there’s a sense of composure. Even if we’re down a goal we stick with it, we can find a way to get a goal and make it a game. You don’t always want to come from behind. but we’ve been finding a way to do it.
“In this league, at the end of the year, all those points add up and I think the guys have done a good job of committing themselves to those little things that make a difference.”
Long Gone
The time frame of the undisclosed upper-body injury to forward Darren Helm was diagnosed as 6-8 weeks.
“It’s a little disappointing,” Blashill told Mlive.com. “I said yesterday, I think work ethic and competition level separates people in this league and I think everybody is so close talent-wise that lots of times the one way you can separate yourself as a team or as a player is through your work ethic and competition and that’s what he embodies, that’s what he is, that’s why he’s been a real good player and that’s why he helps us win hockey games.
“So certainly disappointing he’s going to be out for a while, disappointing for him given the history of the injuries that he’s had. But it could always be worse. We’ll deal with it. As a hockey team, you can’t spend lots of times worrying about the guys you don’t have. I’ve said that lots, for a multitude of reasons, whether it’s sickness or injury or whatever. We’ll certainly have 20 good enough dressed to win a hockey game tomorrow. We got to execute.”
The news was mixed regarding forward Thomas Vanek and defenseman Jonathan Ericsson, both out with lower-body injuries.
“Vanek, I would say is probable but we’ll know tomorrow for sure,” Blashill said. “We’ll see where he’s at in the morning. Johnny will not play tomorrow.”
Defenseman Dennis Cholowski briefly left Tuesday’s practice to be attended to by the training staff, but Blashill indicated that it was nothing of a serious nature.
“I expect him to be available for tomorrow,” Blashill said.
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