According to Ted Kulfan of the Detroit News, Red Wings forward Johan
Franzen will make his return to the lineup tonight when the Wings take on the Chicago Blackhawks at 7:30PM ET at the Joe.
Franzen who has missed the last four games due to a sore groin skated this morning and reiterated on his comments yesterday that he is ready to play.
“I’ve been skating and it feels real good,” Franzen said. “No problems. It looks like we’re getting all our guys back and then it’s just a matter of finding our game and playing real well at the end.”
Pavel Datsyuk on the other hand will miss tonight’s game as he is still recovering from an upper body injury.
“We’ll see,” said Datsyuk about a possible return Wednesday against St. Louis.
Joey MacDonald will also be starting tonight in goal after Jimmy Howard went down in the third period with an injury on Saturday. Howard had an MRI done on his shoulder Sunday that didn’t reveal any damage. It’s officially being listed as a sprained shoulder and he is day-to-day.
“It’s a little sore and stiff, but it’s better than yesterday,” said Howard, who was hurt in Saturday’s victory. “I’ll do more treatment during the game tonight and work out and just get myself out there (in the lineup) as quick as possible.”
Jimmy Howard did do a little light skating this morning.
Like we reported yesterday, the Wings have called up Thomas McCollum from the Toledo Walleye of the ECHL. McCollum was the Wings’ first round draft pick (30th overall) back in 2008.
Source: The Detroit News
