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Howard re-injures knee, out at least a week -- but not concerned about missing Olympics

On Tuesday, the Red Wings announced goalie Jimmy Howard would miss at least one week of action after re-injuring his knee midway through Monday’s loss to St. Louis.

The news likely affected personnel on two fronts -- in Detroit, where Jonas Gustavsson will start in the interim, and among the U.S. Olympic braintrust, who may be forced to consider replacing Howard as the No. 3 for Sochi.

Howard’s knee issue has already cost him eight games -- he suffered an MCL sprain in November -- and this latest setback will require getting fluid drained, per NHL.com’s Brian Hedger.

The procedure will keep Howard off ice for at least seven days.

According to the Associated Press, Howard “insists he is not concerned about missing the Sochi Games,” but one wonders if the selection committee feels the same way.

Looking at the calendar, this latest injury will keep Howard from playing until Jan. 29 at the earliest, meaning he’ll miss games against Chicago, Montreal, Florida and Philadelphia.

From there -- assuming he’s fit to return -- Howard will have just a handful of games to get into shape for the Olympics. Detroit plays five times from Jan. 31-Feb.8.

With the Olympic tournament set to get underway on Feb. 12 (final roster needs to be the day prior), it’ll be very interesting to see if Team USA makes a call to Bishop, who has reportedly been told he’s the No. 4 goalie on the American depth chart and would be on the team should an injury eliminate one of Howard, Jonathan Quick or Ryan Miller.