It’s early, but the Detroit Red Wings are already in regular-season form.
The Wings, who were ravaged by injury last season, lost two key contributors in their opening game of the preseason -- Pavel Datsyuk, who suffered a shoulder injury during Monday’s win over the Penguins, and Darren Helm, who suffered a broken nose and was held off the ice on Tuesday:Babcock said Darren Helm and Ryan Sproul also aren’t skating today.
— Ansar Khan (@AnsarKhanMLive) September 23, 2014
Helm has a broken nose from the stick to the face last night. Sproul is just sore.
— Ansar Khan (@AnsarKhanMLive) September 23, 2014
Helm suffered the injury after taking a Beau Bennett high-stick to the face. The Pens forward was given a double minor on the play.
While it’s unlikely that Helm will miss any significant time with the broken nose, it can’t be seen as a positive that he’s hurt this early into the campaign. The 27-year-old has struggled with a variety of injuries over the last two seasons -- he missed 58 games (extending over two years) with a serious back ailment, then an additional 26 last season with shoulder, head and groin issues.
When healthy, though, he’s an impact guy, scoring 12 goals and 20 points in 42 games last year while displaying the versatility to fill a number of different roles up front.