Red Wings Recall Forward, Place Copp on IR as Injuries Pile Up
Oct 1, 2024; Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA; Detroit Red Wings center Sheldon Dries (15) and Pittsburgh Penguins center Sidney Crosby (87) take a face-off during the third period at PPG Paints Arena. Detroit won 2-1. (Charles LeClaire, Imagn Images)On Monday morning, the Detroit Red Wings re-called forward Sheldon Dries from the Grand Rapids Griffins and placed forward Andrew Copp on injured reserve.
The news comes as Detroit lost a pair of forwards over the weekend to injury. First, Copp went down in Saturday's loss to the Minnesota Wild, then Michael Rasmussen picked up an apparent head injury in Sunday's overtime win over the Anaheim Ducks.
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By placing Copp on injured reserve, he must be out for seven days, suggesting he will miss at least the next three games (at Minnesota Tuesday, home against Columbus Thursday, then at the Blue Jackets for next Saturday's Stadium Series game).
Dries, meanwhile, has 27 points in 48 games for the Griffins this season. Even with both Copp and Rasmussen out, Dries would still likely just be an insurance policy against further forward injury, as the Red Wings (who already re-introduced Tyler Motte to the lineup Sunday with Copp out) still have Christian Fischer waiting in the wings to fill in for Rasmussen.
As of this writing, there is no timetable for Rasmussen's return, but coach Todd McLellan cautioned after Sunday's game, "When a player gets a blow to the head and doesn't return, it's never a good sign." More clarity on Detroit's health and availability moving forward should come at midday, when the Red Wings will hold practice, after which McLellan will speak with the media again.
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