Franzen’s hip flexor ‘has progressively gotten worse’, out vs. Blues

The Detroit Red Wings will be without forward Johan Franzen tonight when they take on St. Louis, according to MLive.com.

GM Ken Holland said that Patrick Eaves — who has been a healthy scratch for the last four games — will draw into the lineup and that Justin Abdelkader will move up and fill Franzen’s spot on the second line.

Franzen is listed as day-to-day with a hip flexor issue, but Holland told MLive the injury isn’t improving.

“It’s day-to-day and has progressively gotten worse,” Holland explained. “We’re going to give him a day off and see how he feels tomorrow.”

Franzen has three goals, six assists and a plus-4 rating in 12 games. He had been playing on a line with Henrik Zetterberg and Damien Brunner.

He now joins Carlo Colaiacovo, Jonas Gustavsson, Darren Helm, Todd Bertuzzi, Mikael Samuelsson and Brendan Smith on the list of Detroit’s walking wounded.