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More bad news for slumping Wings as Sheahan (upper body) out

RileySheahan2

March is shaping up to be pretty lousy for Detroit.

The Red Wings, 4-7-1 this month, have now lost the services of yet another forward as Riley Sheahan has been ruled out for “a bit” with an upper-body injury, per head coach Mike Babcock.

Detroit was already without Erik Cole and Pavel Datsyuk -- though the latter could return to the lineup this weekend -- so the Sheahan loss really compounds things. Prior to getting hurt, the 23-year-old had 12 goals and 34 points in 73 games and was playing quite a bit, averaging 15:38 TOI per night.

To be fair to Detroit, there’s not an awful lot to play for at the moment as the club is pretty much locked into the No. 3 spot in the Atlantic. Catching Montreal or Tampa Bay for one of top two spots is a tall order, and it’s unlikely any of Ottawa, Boston or Florida will push the Red Wings for third.

Still, the month of March has to be somewhat concerning, given no team wants to go into the postseason slumping (and there’s also the issue of goalie Jimmy Howard, who’s been inconsistent.)